GNU/Linux and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Apr 18, 2026

• HowTo Geek ☛ Linux promises freedom from Windows, but it demands something harder in return

  I've been using Linux on and off for over 20 years at this point, I'd dual-boot for a few months, or always have a Linux VM or two spooled up on my Windows PC to keep abreast of the latest state of open-source operating systems. The first time I used Linux as my daily driver OS was during my postgraduate studies, where the little netbook I took to class could only handle Linux and not Windows.

• HowTo Geek ☛ This Linux shell revives the worst version of Windows, and it's glorious

  Believe it or not, there are people who actually miss the Windows 8 interface. One enthusiast liked it so much that they decided to recreate the Windows 8 Metro user interface for Linux systems. I tried it, and it's easily the most janky-but-lovable graphical interface I've ever seen.

• Audiocasts/Shows

  • Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 264: Jon Penney on Chilling Effects in the Digital Age

    “Chilling effects” is a term people hear all the time: in court rulings, in debates over content moderation, in dealing with online harms, or in news coverage of surveillance and legal reforms. The focus is typically on how legal rules may make speaking out more challenging, risky, or even dangerous. But what if our understanding of chilling effects actually understates the issue?

• Kernel Space / File Systems / Virtualization

  • It's FOSS ☛ Russian Baikal CPUs Are Losing Their Place in the Linux Kernel

    After sanctions, bankruptcy and removal of kernel maintainers, Baikal's unfinished kernel code is being removed.

  • [Old] Snow flurry ☛ .: Detecting DOSBox from within the Box

    If you're the sort of person who reads blogs, I assume you need no introduction to DOSBox. It's an MS-DOS emulator, which necessitates it being a sort of x86 emulator. But unlike x86 emulators like 86Box or QEMU, the DOS parts are an inextricable part of it. There are BIOS interrupts and a POST, but not a BIOS in the sense of "a ROM chip mapped into memory." There isn't even really a DOS, in the traditional sense. But when you're running inside DOSBox, you wouldn't know it. Almost any DOS API you can expect is available, and effort was put into making sure features like Long File Names don't appear if your reported version is too old to have supported it. So how can you detect that which seeks not to be detected?

• Distributions and Operating Systems

  • EasyOS

    • Barry Kauler ☛ ROX-Filer back and forward buttons

      Previous blog post, l0wt3ch fixed a memory leak: [...]

    • Barry Kauler ☛ ROX-Filer copy leak fixed

      Forum member l0wt3ch has done some superb detective work, discovering and fixing a leak: [...]