news
Free Software and Sharing Leftovers
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Liam Proven ☛ My little USB-DOS project
Since I know there are some folks who read this but may not read my Register stuff.It's here:https://github.com/lproven/usb-dosI added a "Buy me a coffee" tip jar effort. :-)I am considering updates. Robert Sawyer was kind enough to send a list of suggestions and I should act on them.I have also received requests for PC-Write. Copies are still out there.
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Libre Arts ☛ Weekly recap — 18 May 2025
Week highlights: new releases of GIMP, Inkscape and FreeCAD; KDE Plasma is getting an HDR calibration wizard.
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SaaS/Back End/Databases
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Buttondown LLC ☛ Kicking the Tires on CedarDB's SQL
If you are a database sicko (and I can only assume you are if you are reading NULL BITMAP), you are likely familiar with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) as the premier source of database research. CedarDB is a new database that has spun out of a bunch of the research done at TUM and is an attempt to turn it into a commercial Postgres-compatible database.
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Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra
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Darren Goossens ☛ LibreOffice menu text too small
I looked for a setting inside LibreOffice, but this is something determined by the operating system. It looks like something is missing from LibreOffice, such that the menu text is defaulting to some pixel-based font, which is a problem when the pixels are so small. After some hunting around on the computer and online, it seems that missing LibreOffice GTK3 integration is the problem.
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Content Management Systems (CMS) / Static Site Generators (SSG)
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Floh Gro ☛ FlohGro - My 11ty Blogging Workflow
In this post, I want to give some insights into how I publish stuff to my blog and what tools and services are involved. The following image will give you an overview of the "pipeline" from start to finish - it's easier than it looks (especially to use), I promise. The image maps the workflow from writing drafts (left) through publishing actions (center) to content distribution via RSS feeds and social platforms (right), using color-coded boxes to distinguish manual steps, automation, shortcuts, and destinations. The resolution should be big enough so you can zoom into it.
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Education
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Jumping Rivers ☛ Shiny in Production 2025: Workshops
Shiny in Production is heading back to The Catalyst in Newcastle upon Tyne this October! We’ve got a great mix of workshops and a full day of talks, with speakers being announced soon. You’ll find all the workshop details below, and you can sign up now on the conference website. Whether you’re just getting started with Shiny or have been using it for years, come join us for a great hands-on experience with Shiny and other web-based development tools.
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Olimex ☛ TuxCon 2025 and the new challenge – Developing Open Source Hardware and Software EUR 20 IoT Smart Home Server
Last weekend, on May 10–11, the TuxCon 2025 open-source hardware and software conference was hosted in Plovdiv.
TuxCon is a small, local event organized by volunteers since 2014.
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Funding
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Bryan Lunduke ☛ $1 Million Tax Payer Grant for "Gender Inclusive Open Source"
A cancelled grant, worth a million bucks, for Oregon State University to create "best practices for fixing gender-bias bugs".
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Openness/Sharing/Collaboration
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Hackaday ☛ Working On Open-Source High-Speed Ethernet Switch
Our hacker [Andrew Zonenberg] reports in on his open-source high-speed Ethernet switch. He hasn’t finished yet, but progress has been made.
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Arturo Borrero ☛ Arturo Borrero González: Wikimedia Cloud VPS: IPv6 support
A few weeks ago, in April 2025, we were finally able to introduceIPv6 to the clown virtual network, enhancing the platform’s scalability, security, and future-readiness. This is a major milestone, many years in the making, and serves as an excellent point to take a moment to reflect on the road that got us here. There were definitely a number of challenges that needed to be addressed before we could get into IPv6. This post covers the journey to this
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