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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Yeah I auto start a few things.. (by Brad on 2019-03-11 00:08:33 GMT from United States)
Clementine
Gimp
Chromium
Hexchat
thunderbird
I use these every day..
2 • Machine unique id's (by Mortis Climeurger on 2019-03-11 01:44:23 GMT from Canada)
@1 - Thanks for the deeply insightful comment Brad, this is why I come to Distrowatch.
Also, who's wanting to give each machine a unique ID number? You think this is a good idea? Is this something we will eventually need to carry on a flip card to present when demanded?
NO NO NO...You are all going in the Wrong direction...Freedom is That Way...Up the road not down the road...y'all need to turn around now.
Seriously.
3 • Autostart (by DaveW on 2019-03-11 01:58:28 GMT from United States)
Is it safe to say that most modern distros have a list of programs that are automatically started? If so, then the question that should be asked is, have you added any programs to the list? I have; I've taken some off, as well.
4 • Auto Start (by M.Z. on 2019-03-11 01:59:53 GMT from United States)
The only program I set to auto start is Yakuake, because when I hit F12 in KDE I want my drop down terminal, though I'd prefer not to have to play with so many KDE settings to do it post install. Otherwise I change Cinnamon to start the terminal with Ctrl-F12, just for the sake of speed & consistency.
5 • Autostarting applications. (by Gregory Zeng on 2019-03-11 02:15:47 GMT from Australia)
It would be good if Linux had ways to check autostarts. One bothersome application is the update checks. Generally useful, but not every time, please. The other compulsory autostart is Gkrellm. It explains to me if any application or process is hoggy my CPU, drives, etc. and if the machine is locked, forcing a hard & cold reboot.
6 • Autostart Desktop Applications Question (by Andy Figueroa on 2019-03-11 02:31:01 GMT from United States)
Heck no. Gross.
7 • Machine ID (by Andy Figueroa on 2019-03-11 02:32:34 GMT from United States)
Re: /etc/machine-id
Crap, where did that come from? Yes, I have one in Gentoo. I'm not happy.
8 • Machine ID (by DaveW on 2019-03-11 02:55:28 GMT from United States)
Manjaro, Arch, the Ubuntus and derivatives also have it. The ones I see are all 128 bit random binary. Is that good or bad?
9 • "Gross" If Done Wrong (by M.Z. on 2019-03-11 05:17:52 GMT from United States)
@6
"Heck no. Gross."
That's why you load them in the background. Set Yakuake to not open automatically, for example. I'm sure you could do the same thing with Clementine, though I want my music player tucked away on the lower right desktop/workspace after I launch it, not hiding behind some icon automatically. That's just a user preference thing for me. I'm sure there are a few around who want some window appearing automatically; however, I can't see doing anything but a innocuous background load or two myself.
It's not hard to do auto starting in an out of the way fashion, if you have the right program.
10 • Machine ID (by Antonie van der Tweel on 2019-03-11 07:47:12 GMT from Netherlands)
Is this file somehow hidden ? I don't see it on Debian 8, 9 or Kubuntu
11 • Machine ID (by Icarus on 2019-03-11 09:04:16 GMT from United States)
I was unaware of the /etc/machine-id file after 10+ years of running linux systems. Sure enough, my system has one. Good to know I've been broadcasting a tracking ID no different than proprietary OSes all this time (or at least as long as I've been using systemd).
12 • Autostart? (by Ostro on 2019-03-11 09:49:12 GMT from Poland)
Well, its better autostart as less as possible apps, if possible. Better check your /etc/xdg/autostart from time to time.
13 • autostarting=yes (by blob69 on 2019-03-11 10:02:43 GMT from United States)
I autostart application/programs via .xinitrc
These are redshift, xterm, vlc, palemoon/firefox, xscreensaver-demo, and finally pavucontrol.
SOme of this depends on what machine I am using.
14 • Easy OS (by Bob Hayden on 2019-03-11 10:43:35 GMT from United States)
Thanks for the review of Easy OS. I have followed Puppy since version 2 and think Barry Kauler is a genius. Whether one likes his distros or not, they are always innovative. That's appreciated in a world where most Linux distros are just cosmetic redecorations of one another. While I really need the huge package repository of something like Debian for my main OS, I always keep a Puppy CD at hand and install at least one version of Barry's OSs on all my machines. These are my go to OSs to boot when other OSs tank. They let me do open heart surgery on other OSs without putting up all kinds of obstacles to protect me from myself.
15 • Machine ID (by Steel on 2019-03-11 11:25:37 GMT from Germany)
Unique Machine ID stinks. It is present in Manjaro and Arch as well as devuan and debian. I delete it quite often so a different one is generated.
I would welcome a new random number every boot, along with no system D would be another good reason to move more than just servers to Devuan..
I wish for Firefox as delivered set to opt in for data reporting not as is, opt out in all the distros I have installed recently.
I disconnect from Internet for first start of any browser before allowing access to the internet.
In Manjaro I have also added dummy packages to stop geolocation (Ihope).
I am not at all happy that tracking technology is included as standard in mainstream linux distributions.
I would not be as bothered if it was all opt in for those who are blithely unconcerned.
16 • Machine Id (by Garon on 2019-03-11 12:17:31 GMT from United States)
@11, 15
If Devuan has this machine id, then systemd had nothing to do with it. Maybe you should ask who doesn't have it?
17 • Machine ID (by Chris on 2019-03-11 12:50:07 GMT from United States)
No /etc/machine-id file on Salix 14.2. Slackware for the win!! (again)
18 • Machine ID etc (by Friar Tux on 2019-03-11 14:18:15 GMT from Canada)
Not the least bit concerned about this machine ID silliness. Every computer is uniquely ID'ed in various ways. It has to be to be able to communicate on a network. This does not means people will know the colour of your underwear, or how much money you have in the bank, or if you honestly paid your taxes, and such. It just means the when you machine puts out a call, the network/Internet knows which machine to answer. I'm surprised that most of you fellow geeks are getting your shorts in a knot over this.
As for auto-starting stuff, I have one or two that I like started (plus the background services). My only beef, so far, is that almost all the postit/sticky note applications do NOT auto-start. Yes, I have the auto-start option checked in Preferences AND they're entered in System Settings > Auto-start Programs. The ONLY stickies program ( yes, only in capitals) that auto-starts is Indicator-Stickynotes, So, kudos to Umang Varma for getting it right. OK, enough ranting, I'm getting THAT LOOK from The Wife again.
19 • Machine-id is used by Dbus (by SA on 2019-03-11 14:25:31 GMT from France)
When I used a BSD system recently, I installed it with the command line.
I ran commands to install packages, and I notice that for instance, NetSurf would not run if there was not a /etc/machine-id (there was a DBus error message)
I had to run "dbus-uuidgen > /etc/machine-id" (as root)
(I don t remember the exact name of "dbus-uuidgen:")
Most GUI software would not start, without this file. (Firefox and others)
I even made a mistake by using another "uuidgen" command (not from Dbus) and it would not start too.
(this was a very shorter uuid that was generated)
20 • Machine ID... (by Sitwon on 2019-03-11 14:27:51 GMT from United States)
Are you paranoid that your machine is broadcasting uniquely identifiable information about you?
Test your invisibility with this free tool from the EFF: https://panopticlick.eff.org/
Not all unique IDs can be sanitized or avoided, but Tails is probably your best bet if you want to avoid easily uniquely identified... as long as you don't mind sticking out as someone who is deliberately trying to avoid being identified.
It's like walking around wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and a black hoodie. Other people might not be able to see your face, but you look just like every other anon who is probably up to no good.
At this point, you can't effectively avoid being uniquely tracked on the Internet. Either, stop using the Internet entirely, or change your model of "privacy" to accept that certain data is going to be collected as a cost of entry. For both social and technological reasons, there's no going back now.
21 • machine ID (by Ronald on 2019-03-11 14:35:00 GMT from United States)
I'm glad that Slackware 14.2 and Slackware-Current doesn't use Machine IDs.
22 • Unique Machine ID? (by CPUID on 2019-03-11 15:30:14 GMT from United States)
@20 "there's no going back now"?
Not if accept defeat already.
First identify "Chromium" as Google, then you have a focus for where to start getting our privacy back.
23 • @15 Unique ID? (by Ostro on 2019-03-11 15:55:33 GMT from Poland)
Worried about your machine's unique ID? Why should you? After all, it is yours, and you are unique. Hmm...
24 • Slackware Machine ID (by Angel on 2019-03-11 16:21:26 GMT from Philippines)
@17, @21 look in /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
See comment by Friar Tux @18
25 • Machine ID (by Mortis Climeurger on 2019-03-11 16:30:19 GMT from Canada)
So the cats outta the bag, it would seem.
Linux distros (most) are just as sneeky as the commercial OS.
What happened to the days when Linux OS would koo mainstream OS users by saying such things as "Come over to linux, buddy, we understand your concerns about privacy" "We're different, we wont track you"
Ha, seems we've all been taken in once again...does it ever end?
Take systemd for example. Im not sure whats up with it but my spidey senses are tingling and 'they' sure are trying real hard to get it embedded in every flavour of Linux.
Why?
Because they think its a great bit of code?
Ya, no one pushes this hard for somethng unless theres a really good reason for it.
And to those who say "I have nothing to hide, so I dont care about being tracked", Shame!
Just because you have fallen, lost your moral compass and wish to be an assigned cog, in an emotionless, privacy void machine does not mean we all should follow suit.
I for one am still human and wish to remain so, enjoingy the freedoms to explore this world unabated.
Is it too late for u thoughs? Has the clock struck 12?
I say no, though it is hard to see through the veils of War...and if you havent realized it yet, Yes, humanity Is at war and under attack. Not a war of weapons this times, but a war of ideas, of words, of legislation.
If we fail at winning this war, then our punishment will be an electronic prison cell where every thought will be known, judged and the appropriate punishments dished out up too And including, removal.
Those with insight who can look far down the roa where this is all headed, will understand what I'm saying.
Your Children and your Childrens children will never know what freedom is...and still yo arer willing to roll over and say "Ah yes, I have nothing to hide"
Really? What complete selfishness.
Shame!
We should have put the brakes on the electronic age instead of leaving itunchecked to run amuck and in All the wrong directions... but it seems most people cant see beyond their nose, let alone 'down the road'.
I, for one, have no cell phone nor tablet nor Any electronic device be it handheld or vehicle mounted. This one computer I use sparingly because, well, lets face it...being Outside In reality is much more enjoyable and satisfying than being connected to data...borning electronic data.
Pfff.
So, think about it, if you will from time to time, will you?
The most important gift you can pass on to your family and future generations isnt wealth or fame, but unabated Freedom and ones own Privacy to just think a thought all for yourself, and in that thought, find you are Human, and not a cog in a machine.
Breath !
Thank you.
26 • /etc/machine-id and MAC addresses (by nano-me on 2019-03-11 16:53:29 GMT from United Kingdom)
@15 etc: I just checked Devuan 2.0: mine has no /etc/machine-id file. Chromium emits a message complaining that this file is missing, but otherwise seems to work [displays lkml.org]. People running Firefox/Chromium with Firejail can try [temporarily] setting the machine-id to a random value with
firejail --machine-id firefox
however, I don't know how to verify that this works [help?].
I would be more worried that the MAC address of the ethernet device [12 hex digits] appears to be visible to web sites? Whilst I believe the MAC address can be changed [temporarily] using firejail:
firejail --net=eth0 --mac=00:11:22:33:44:55 firefox
but my experiment with this failed!
27 • Re: Machine ID... (by Sitwon on 2019-03-11 17:00:42 GMT from United States)
Don't be mad at me. Try Panopticlick. Read the source code for it. Read up on what else the EFF has to say about their tool.
Yeah, you found and plugged this ONE leaky hole, but you're using a colander as your boat. Don't be mad at me for pointing out the truth to you.
It is literally impossible to participate on the modern Internet without necessarily giving up a significant amount of information that could be used to ID you at the least as a unique visitor.
Tap your own network traffic and inspect what is coming and going from your network and why.
Load up Tails and try Panopticlick again, while watching you tap.
It doesn't matter how paranoid you want to be, or how how high you want to stand on your ideological horse. The nature of the modern web negates your idealistic and antiquated vision of "privacy". You need to adapt your model if you want to regain any meaningful protection of your rights.
You can't stop the collection of the data, but you can advocate for policy changes to restrict how that data can be used and shared.
I could dump days worth of videos to public talks given at hacker conferences around the globe over the past decade that all say the same thing: privacy is dead and policy/oversight is our last and only resort.
28 • Firejail and machine-id (by Jesse on 2019-03-11 17:02:16 GMT from Canada)
@26: If you run Firejail with "--machine-id" it will generate a random ID if the /etc/machine-id file already exists. However, if /etc/machine-id does not exist, then Firejail does not create the file or ID inside the sandbox.
You can verify this by running
cat /etc/machine-id
firejail --machine-id
cat /etc/machine-id
Assuming the file exists on your machine, the above three commands will yield two different ID strings.
29 • /etc/machine-id [addendum] (by nano-me on 2019-03-11 17:13:13 GMT from United Kingdom)
I just noticed that on my Void Linux machine /var/lib/dbus/machine-id contains a 33 hex character string, though this file is blacklisted [hidden] by my use of Firejail. As I have never used systemd, this must be a dbus "initiative".
30 • The Standared For 'machine-id' & Actual Issues (by M.Z. on 2019-03-11 17:52:11 GMT from United States)
According to the link in the DW post about the original discussion:
"This ID uniquely identifies the host. It should be considered "confidential", and must not be exposed in untrusted environments, in particular on the network. If a stable unique identifier that is tied to the machine is needed for some application, the machine ID or any part of it must not be used directly. ..."
My precursory searches on the topic didn't reveal much about the how & why of actual uses in the real world; however, my instinct tells me the best use would be as part of a crash report to ID the machine where something is going wrong. If the ID is unique & know only to the local admin rather than the whole world, one could trace back where the issue happened & recreate whatever caused a crash as part of troubleshooting problems. Again, the best use I can think of given the standard says to keep it private.
The question is, what is machine-id actually used for in the real world, both good & bad? I feel fine with Privacy Badger installed in Firefox & won't worry about privacy issues dealing with machine-id unless I hear good reason to think this is being abused.
I do worry about my privacy & would like to know if there is any good reason to start to worry about this, but it needs to be a bona fide source that knows these issues & thinks it's a problem.
31 • machine-id confidential? (by Mike on 2019-03-11 19:50:21 GMT from United States)
From www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/machine-id.html
"This ID uniquely identifies the host. It should be considered "confidential", and must not be exposed in untrusted environments ..."
Um, lots of confusion here - wouldn't expect a file that is "confidential" to have these permissions:
mike@debian:/etc$ ls -l machine-id
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 33 May 29 2017 machine-id
This file is obviously not confidential, it's world readable.
32 • re: machine-id confidential? (by nano-me on 2019-03-11 20:13:26 GMT from United Kingdom)
@31: the question is whether the machine-id [from /etc or /var/lib/dbus] is readable from within a web browser with a javascript or html5 script sitting on a web site containing malware? Or does the sandbox in the browser protect against this?
33 • autostart (by 32 on 2019-03-11 20:31:14 GMT from Canada)
Usually I use this feature more like an autostop..... as in I usually stop things like blue-tooth. Then any other stuff that doesn't really need to start automatically.
34 • @25 Mortis Climeurger: (by dragonmouth on 2019-03-11 20:47:13 GMT from United States)
As a wise man once said "If you believe you don't need a right to privacy because you have nothing to hide, then you don't need the right of free speech either, because you obviously have nothing to say."
35 • Ubuntu Studio (by D. Esktorp on 2019-03-11 20:49:18 GMT from United States)
Yet another redundant project sings its swan song, as the affiliate's misplaced sense of entitlement publicly clashes with the marketing interests of the brand owner. Godspeed, Ubuntu Studio. Ride the Shuttleworth Express deep in to the darkest hours of the night. May your rebirth be phoenix-like and without a silly name. Praise be to the mighty Canonical. Choke out any runts or weaklings who might sully thy sacred, gilded reputation.
The problem with any of these *Studio distros is that they are always trying to play too wide of an audience, with too small of a team. I'm all for decentralization, but the amount of lost efficiency between these overlapping distros has always been absurd. When you have 3+ projects with identical goals, simultaneously struggling to exist (Ubuntu* KX* 64 Studio, etc?) the solution to pool energies seems obvious.
And Ubuntufolk, please stop with these pretentious cliquey 'Council' heirarchy systems that accomplish nothing but inflating egos and tearing projects apart. It's so archaic and weird. Just because you're sitting in a chair doesn't mean you have to refer to yourself as a chair.
36 • Ubuntu studio (by jeffrydada on 2019-03-11 21:27:27 GMT from United States)
How do we save UB Studio? I use this OS daily as my recording studio. How can those of us who use this OS encourage Ubuntu to give upload acess to UB Studio devs?
37 • @36 only humility can save them now (by D. Esktorp on 2019-03-11 21:56:28 GMT from United States)
The Ubuntu Studio people should not cry or grovel for something they are probably not going to get. It's as if they must be publicly humiliated in exchange for free repository space. That's all this is really about; getting someone else to pay the bills and only secondarily about riding the Ubuntu's marketing coattails. I doubt they really care about namesake. The bottom line is always money.
If they are strategic thinkers, the Ubuntu Studio guys will place a low priority on non-audio packaging and forge an alliance under the banner of Filipe Coelho (FalkTX). He needs the assistance and they need the guidance. However, I doubt they are humble enough to commit to KX Studio without a guarantee of permanently holding the reins.
38 • autostart (by Titus_Groan on 2019-03-11 22:55:00 GMT from New Zealand)
Never really thought about it.
When I shutdown and then later bootup, the desktop and all applications that were open when I shutdown are all back where I left them.
i.e. Firefox tabs are up and open unless a login for the site is required, then the site login page is displayed.
File manager reopened where I left it. It may be complaining about a missing USB device if I have removed it after the shutdown tho'.
The terminal is open but no longer open as root, but that is quickly remedied.
I consider an open root terminal a security risk, so I am happy to do that.
So, I guess, for me, auto-start is automatically enabled.
So that's what is missing in those other distros!, I never really noted it as an issue ;-)
39 • Ubuntu studio (by jeffrydada on 2019-03-11 23:06:07 GMT from United States)
Brilliant! KX and UB Studios should merge!! falkTX allready has a repo, I already do this in my own studio UB Studio with KX Studio repos!! It just makes sense.
40 • Privacy vs anonymity (by Angel on 2019-03-12 02:18:00 GMT from Philippines)
I think people confuse privacy with anonymity. If I want the pizza guy and the mailman to deliver, I need to give them an address so they will know where I live. If I go out in my car, it has markings to identify it as mine to anyone with the means and interest. These are not violations of privacy. But if I want to remain anonymous, when I go out I need to don my Groucho mask, sneak out unseen to a car with fake plates, looking very suspicious. To make calls I'd need a "burner" phone, and I could never ever order pizza, which would be a tragedy!
When I log in to my bank's website, it knows my machine. It needs no machine-id file. It fingerprints my browser. If I log in to my web mail from an new device, I'll get a notice asking: "Is this you?" It knows the machine I normally use. To the readers here I may be just a name and country location, but the DW servers get an IP address, etc. There's all kinds of information about me being broadcast when I'm online. I can limit that, but eliminating it would be impossible and/or very inconvenient. I can of course remain in my hut and cower a la Mortis @25, or if I want to be anonymous, I can don the virtual Groucho mask, get in my fake plates car and damn the ID files. Quite a few ways to do that when wanted.
Funny, but sometimes the effort to be less identifiable can backfire. Just by using Linux one's possible identity is already in a small percentage of the population. Good place to look and see:
https://amiunique.org/
41 • machine-id and startup times (by Tony Zark on 2019-03-12 02:40:20 GMT from New Zealand)
Yikes! Thanks for the light on /etc/machine-id. There are SO many hidden crevices in Linux distros now, it has become like the jump from DOS to Win95 - nobody has the full picture any longer of what is where. Checked Mint, MX and Manjaro - all infected.
And speaking of infections, I recently needed to get a Win10 for one specific task. For fun we (a group of friends) compared startup times, etc. Yes, its a fresh, uncluttered install for now, times may expand with usage.
Power switch turned on to login screen: Linuxes 49s to 55s, Win10 24s
Pressing enter after pw to useable desktop: Linuxes 13s to 36s, Win10 3s
Click on Firefox to browser ready to use: Linuxes 21s to 23s, Win10 7s
Open youtube (click to fully loaded): Linuxes 5s to 7s, Win10 5s
Shutdown clicked to machine off: Linuxes 6s to 7s, Win10 23s
The machines were:
Win10 was Dell i7
Mint Cinnamon on Samsung i7
Manjaro Cinnamon on MSI i3
Manjaro xcfe on HP i5
It was good to take a real, hard look at the 'landscape'.
42 • Privacy (by Pat Menendez on 2019-03-12 03:14:08 GMT from Canada)
This silly notion about online privacy and security. "When I log in to my bank's website, it knows my machine" is pure rubbish. Data mines, tracking cookies, etc., etc do not and can not provide even the least bit of privacy or security. Their one and only purpose is to deny us any privacy or security. I can log into any computer NEVER used before and log into email or social media, as can anyone with my user name and password! So after the fact I get an email stating that my account was logged into from a different machine. Way too little way too late! Websites that refuse to let you open them without allowing them to set a data mine or 20 or 80 is inexcusable! I find the information or product elsewhere! By their very nature ALL web browsers are set by default to deny the user any privacy or security! Your mobile phone as well is set by default to deny you any privacy or security. And we accept that willingly and gladly. it is no longer a slippery slope! The majority are drowning in the stinking slough at the bottom of the slope. The NSA, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, etc., etc. demand unfettered access to all our data and in the utterly nonsense guise of "service" or "security". The majority of users are more than willing to sell their soul. We have neither privacy or security now! It was all a lie! It is appalling to me that any distro or software willingly trades it's users privacy, install a "back door", for whatever they get out of it. There should be NOTHING "opt out"! All tracking technologies, machine ID, back doors, etc., should be "opt in" and any website that refuses to let you access it without disabling privacy or security features, including allowing them to set data mines, should be black listed as unsafe. Any website that sets a tracking pixel etc., without consent should be fined for invasion of privacy! It is not lost. We can claw back the internet but it will take tough legislation that will be fought vigorously every step of the way by "big data".
43 • /etc/machine-id should not be unique. end of story. (by F U Google. on 2019-03-12 03:39:23 GMT from United States)
set /etc/machine-id as 0 or 1 and forget it.
44 • Privacy, etc. @42 (by Angel on 2019-03-12 03:47:07 GMT from Philippines)
I don't see how you can misunderstand unless it's on purpose. It is quite simple. If I log in to my bank from a different machine, I have to play 20 questions. Matter of convenience, not extra security. My web mail service knows which machine I use, sometimes down to brand and model of device. That's a fact, not an endorsement. The point is that no ID file is needed to identify a particular machine. I don't see how my bank's keeping cookies and such violates my privacy, since as soon as I log in, they figure it's me. I can't very well log in to my bank account anonymously.
There is no God-given right to use Google. It is a service provided at a cost. Don't want to pay the price? Don't use it. Same goes for other web merchants, services. etc. Any time I go out in public I take risks. I go shopping, some marketer could be observing what I choose or don't, what I pick up and put back. Going on the web is like going out in public. Want anonymity? Learn how to preserve it, or stay home.
45 • @40 (by Its me on 2019-03-12 03:47:12 GMT from United States)
@40. Very funny comment. Thanks for the link provided. Interesting. Most of the other paranoid comments I quickly pass over.
46 • Zealots on privacy, etc. (by Angel on 2019-03-12 09:45:11 GMT from Philippines)
One mark of those who yearn to save one from oneself is the use of "we." Who is "we?" If they include me, they are mistaken. I did not appoint a savior. Then there's the "selling of one's soul." If my soul consists of whether someone at my location eats lots of Goobers, loves beef jerky, or even orders crotch-less panties; and if in return for that information I am offered a host of incredible conveniences, then hell yes! I will gladly sell.
Then there's the call for legislation. (There ought'ta be a law.) So for fear that someone or may steal (or just view) my chickens, I should call in the fox to guard them?
Google and others want to make money from me. That's the purpose of their data gathering. In return, among countless other things, I can be in a strange city, ask my phone for a restaurant and I can get something like: "Two blocks, turn left, on the right." If we drive Google and others out of business, who will provide those conveniences? The governments? For what motive? Profit motive I understand, but governments are by nature coercive. I doubt that anytime in the future the Microsoft police will come to my door announcing: "You are under arrest for having an Apple device in MS country." But something like that from a government? Definitely possible, or probable. I trust MS. Amazon, Apple, Google, et al. with my data a lot more than I would trust the governments of China, the US, the EU, the UK, Russia, and on and on. . .
47 • @44 (by blob69 on 2019-03-12 09:56:42 GMT from United States)
@44 - About logging into bank account, and may I add any account online particularly sites like google; why then following your argument, does google, should you decide to use a different machine to login, then balk, and make you identify yourself?
48 • Machine id (by Sundar on 2019-03-12 11:00:19 GMT from India)
Machine ids are in different forms. Mozilla firefox generates random dir name to keep its profile.
Atleast that should be sufficient, because those who care about their unique id they can delete and recreate their profile and still use the browser. I think some other browsers also do the same to keep their unique id.
If the unique id is generated for each bootup then it is good. Or atleast unique machine id can be used for each bootup or for a week or permenantely (if it is corporate).
49 • Privacy (by jan on 2019-03-12 13:52:08 GMT from Poland)
It seems like machine-id is just another ID that if used improperly can cause a lot of harm (but this likely was not the purpose of its creation). For the lovers of convenience, I'd like to refresh your memory about what was going on in Germany before WWII. There were conducted a number of population censuses, heavily aided by American business - i would even say enthusiastic support especially of IBM and its CEO Thomas Watson - for his efforts to further the practical use of statistics in the services of the Third Reich he received a Medal of Merit in person from the hands of Adolf Hitler. Now, as far as the convenience goes, population censuses are very convenient - the make it easier for the goverment to plan for new hospitals, roads, lay out development plans for the future, or if the need be, precisely locate the areas with the highest population of the unwanted element, like, in the case of the Third Reich - the Jews, Gypsies, Poles, and other untermenschen - so that as to make it so much more easier and convenient to load them quickly and efficiently into cattle railcars and ship them to death camps. It is not a fairy tale, but an account of how the technology can be used to exterminate millions of people in an efficient and convenient from the point of view of the government way. So if you like convenience, please reflect that if you get by chance (or by algorithm) categorized in a unique group of people, judged to be the enemy of whoever controls the algorithm, you, my friend, are already a toast - and there is not much you can do - they already know how to conveniently find and remove you.
50 • @18 (by Jeremy on 2019-03-12 13:53:01 GMT from Moldova, Republic of)
> when you machine puts out a call, the network/Internet knows which machine to answer.
Sorry to break it to you, but you don't (well, shouldn't) need any unique-id-file for network communication. IP addresses (and MAC addresses in case of one hops) are used for that. (Seriously??!)
51 • @41 startup times (by mandog on 2019-03-12 13:53:25 GMT from Peru)
Really you must be a windows freak
Arch Linux using Gnome desktop = 12-13 secs to a working fully working functional desktop.
I mean fully functional.
Win10 go make a coffee while it reaches a fully functional desktop 3mins, turn off fastboot as its suspend not a cold boot, Arch Linux gnome from suspend= 2secs, win10= 15secs, win7= 6secs,
Firefox Arch= 2 secs cold boot, then instant. win10 15sec cold boot, then 5secs, if pre-started in the boot start menu 8-10 cold boot then 5secs
This is on a Amd 6 core 8gb ram.
52 • Machine-Id (by Semiarticulate on 2019-03-12 14:52:30 GMT from United States)
Oh Debian, how swiftly you are falling from grace. Going back to an LFS approach is starting to sound like the reasonable thing to do. I've gotten comfortable with operating systems that "just work", but there is obviously a price to be paid for that convenience.
I'm certain that many of us knew this time was coming, but it saddens me all the same now that it is here. There was no way that Linux was going to be left free to skirt all the spying and data mining. And now that Linux has become such a behemoth, it is all-too-easy to slip in "features" such as this.
If this is where the modern desktop is taking us, then I'm going back to the command line where I'm comfortable anyway. A small LFS base with carefully chosen applications sounds like the order of the day; a system that can be understood from top to bottom. The days of blindly trusting the software we are given have come and gone.
I foresee software taking a step backwards. There are those who don't mind being sheered and will continue to use what they are given, but the tech-savvy who care about the important things will be looking for a different path forward. I'm excited, and apprehensive, about what the future of computing will look like.
53 • @49, Privacy vs convenience (by Angel on 2019-03-12 15:35:41 GMT from Philippines)
So by letting Google feed me ads or info about a merchant around the corner selling things I may want rather than on the other side of the world selling something on no interest to me, I am only a step or two away from being labeled a member of the untermenschen and risk prompt extermination. Got it. Thanks! I'll take my chances.
54 • uuid (by Tim on 2019-03-12 16:03:39 GMT from United States)
I think the first time I ever saw anything like this was when I tried to make a second copy of a virtual machine running an older version of Ubuntu. Virtualbox wouldn't mount the machine, because it had the same uuid as the other. I can see the importance in this case- if I had the virtual machines with access to different services Virtualbox wouldn't have an easy time distinguishing them. Maybe that's a reason, especially on servers where virtualization is common?
55 • @53: " letting Google feed me ads" (by Sir Veiled on 2019-03-12 17:07:54 GMT from United States)
You do have some choice about what see -- for now -- but soon every site will require what you don't mention there: "letting" them surveil you to unique identify or you get zero "service".
In other comments you talk about banking over the internet, but have you ever stopped and thought that privilege could be removed from you forever with literally just one click? You wouldn't be eating, or paying any bills. You'd be as already predicted in "1984", an UNPERSON.
China is already surveilling people and giving a "good citizen" score: if lose it, then you don't get to ride trains. That's a frightening degree of social control, and it'll soon be in place everywhere.
On the "machine ID": there's no good reason for it.
56 • Real Uses Vs. Both Naive & Paranoid (by M.Z. on 2019-03-12 18:18:45 GMT from United States)
The unique ID that I found an actual use for was UUIDs on my hard drive partitions. It seem that when you give a partition a UUID that is statistically impossible to for your computer encounter elsewhere, you eliminate problems related to different drives in & getting two partitions both labeled sda1 or whatever. I've used this on occasion to point /etc/fstab to different partitions on my system, specifically while multi-booting with a shared /data partition. There could be a potential similar benefit to machine-id as @54 points out, though I'm not sure where it is needed & why.
And as before if someone has a good reason to think the privacy policy regarding machine-id is being ignored & this is being abused I'd like to know about it. A little research on Wikipedia reveals that these things have been around for like 30 years. If there is an actual reason to think this is a serious issue, then please give me a reason to think those worried about this aren't as paranoid & ignorant as the anti-vaccine crowd.
@52
"...There was no way that Linux was going to be left free to skirt all the spying and data mining. ..."
That happened years ago & it was called the "Unity Shopping Lens". The makers of Ubuntu decided it would be nice to fund their project in part by collecting info about what users were typing into the search mechanism built into the Unity desktop & using that info to display adds right in the desktop regardless of whether you intended to search the web or local files.
I for one was & am strongly against sending personal info over the web like that & tracking users. There was a lot of talk about how benign the spyware feature that tracked you local searches was, how it could be opted out of if you know where the setting was, & how it generated revenue for Canonical; however, there was also back pedaling related to the spying & attempts to water down the effect before the feature was completely killed. It killed Ubuntu as a serious option for me long before that & the Unity desktop was also killed by Ubuntu & replaced with Gnome 3 & its mess of a UI. The one good thing that came of it was that the biggest name in desktop Linux backed down & gave users back some of the privacy that they should have a right to.
We have already had actual fights over real privacy concerns on Linux & the side of privacy rights won. I still don't see any actual harm related to unique ID's, though I'm more than happy to get loud when there is a real privacy concern.
57 • Serial madness (by CS on 2019-03-12 18:37:39 GMT from United States)
If you're alarmed about /etc/machine-id, please, for the love of god, don't run dmidecode unless your tinfoil hat is firmly secured in place.
58 • @53 (by Icarus on 2019-03-12 19:09:55 GMT from United States)
I've never seen anyone quite so enthused about exchanging all of his personal information for such a trifling amount of mediocre service. Good for you, I guess. But dumb and evangelical isn't a great combo. Some of us do care about our privacy and will happily pass on exchanging it for the benevolence of ad-infested glacially slow web services. No one wants to prevent you from exercising your right to idiocy, we just don't want to be opted in to it by default without informed consent.
59 • Security and Privacy Concerns (by dragonmouth on 2019-03-12 20:28:40 GMT from United States)
Resistance is futile! We are heading towards a Borg hive mind. Pretty soon everything will be known about everybody. Unfortunately, the requisite hive mind integration and organization are nowhere on the horizon.
60 • machine-id (by GreginNC on 2019-03-12 21:25:50 GMT from United States)
To all those saying there is no /etc/machine-id in X distro I found mine in /var/dbus/machine-is. Just a heads up to us locate not just look in a certain location.
61 • machine-id followup (by GreginNC on 2019-03-12 21:57:34 GMT from United States)
I guess I spoke out of ignorance before. Apparently the /var/lib/dbus/machine-id is a different file with the same name so PcLinux doesnt have the one under discussion. From what I.ve read the one I found is rewritten on just about every boot while the one in /etc/machine-id IS created by Systemd. I must assume that the reason a distro like devuan has it is from whatever compatibility workaround they use to use software from Debian.
62 • machine-id, convenient idiocy (by Angel on 2019-03-12 22:49:55 GMT from Philippines)
@61. It's the same file. When systemd is present, the one in /var/lib becomes a symlink to the one in /etc.
@58, I've managed to make it through a war, traveled, lived and spent time in some unsavory places. Know computers and communications pretty well. Have done troubleshooting and consulting. One time I had my credit card used fraudulently. That was in Colombia back in the Escobar days, when they used those sliding carbon paper thingies. Called the bank to replace the credit card, and used others I carried meanwhile. Once someone tried to download a trojan to my Windows PC, caught by the AV. I shudder!
Still wander a bit in my old age, this week on my way to Macau and Hong Kong. Yep, Google knows about that since I used it to search for needed info, and will use their maps while there. I suppose all this time I could have been intelligent and stayed private under the sheets at home with my tinfoil hat on, but it's more fun been a convenient idiot.
63 • Tails and the machine-id (by tom joad on 2019-03-13 02:48:53 GMT from United Kingdom)
Tails seems to create a new machine-id on ever boot. Every time I have looked at it, the ID was very different. In my limited number of usb's and cd's I have found no other software that does that.
64 • @49 Numbers, "Birth certification", big wars = profitable large scale murder (by mannersmaketh on 2019-03-13 03:27:38 GMT from United Kingdom)
Bro, do you even read red cross reports? When information rivers get polluted we go back to the source. Remember the legend of the minotaur.
65 • start times (by Pete56 on 2019-03-13 03:50:47 GMT from New Zealand)
Cold start vs coming out of hibernate - not any comparison. Funny, most Win10 systems churn for 2-3 minutes from cold to login, and another minute+ from login to desktop loaded. I find the times recorded very strange... maybe the fresh install was at play.
I think we all instinctively know that Linux from the kernel up has "had the talk" with the men in dark suits. But we love to deny that and are proud of being "so secure." The machine-id should be no surprise. How many other 'gifts' await our eventual discovery? Linux is very fragmented with 1000's of distros, exposing a huge attack surface from an OpSec point of view. But even if Linux is "under management" it is miles ahead of MacOS or Windows, esp W10 which is a privacy nightmare at best.
66 • Machine Id. So? (by Garon on 2019-03-14 12:34:54 GMT from United States)
Everybody acts like this is something new. It is not. I can't believe how many people here want to be isolationist. When someone can give a real world example of the damage that a machine-id has done, then I will give it more credence. Until then it's not worth my time to worry about. "Stay calm and slowly back away".
67 • @66 Machine ID (by Friar Tux on 2019-03-14 17:33:58 GMT from Canada)
Thank you Garon. I agree whole heartedly. Machine ID/data collection (the computer version for the sake of this thread) HAS been going on for years. Why we are just now soiling our undies over it I really don't get. It cannot be separated from normal, everyday computer use. Nor do we want to try. True, there are a few tinfoil hats out there finding demons under every rock but, though they squeak the loudest, they are not in the majority (thank God). By the way, to #49, I was born in Germany, just after the war, and my Grandfathers, both were conscientious objectors (one even suffered a blown ear drum in one of the concentration camp pressure chambers. I say this to tell you that using that census by IBM as an argument against machine ID is ridiculous. Counting the populace has been going on since long before ancient Egypt. And for the same reasons you mentioned in your comment. Machine ID is nowhere near the counting-the-populace idea. If it were I would be four different people. However, any network I'm on can tell all four of my computers from the other and direct the require response to the right machine - thanks to machine ID.
68 • /etc/machine-id (by DaveT on 2019-03-14 20:56:24 GMT from United Kingdom)
I run OpenBSD on my laptop so I was somewhat perturbed that it had a /etc/machine-id, and even more perturbed when I discovered it doesn't change after a reboot!
Mr. Grumpy intends to do something about that...
69 • please don't disparage or demean the effort of those striving to protect privacy (by tim on 2019-03-14 22:30:11 GMT from United States)
Although YOU (or some among us) may have "just now" become aware of the machine-id fingerprinting, thankfully some among us keep an eye open for and strive to mitigate such privacy-infringing behaviors.
Nov 2013: discussion (and formulated action) to intervene regarding machine-id
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/refracta/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=347
Elsewhere (firejail bugtracker, for instance) you can confirm the detail mentioned in comment #26. A WEB BROWSWER is bent on reading this file, and complains if the file does not exist or is not readable. If you're "okay with that", bless your heart, but please respect the fact that some of us are not "okay with that".
Who said (who would dare to decree, and how dare they?) that this file should be present in every operating system installation across the linuxverse? Well, freedesktop.org did, in a sense... and via Chrome's behavior, Google is colluding with freedesktop toward enforcing the "decree". If you're "okay with that", with loss of the freedom to say "no" (or the ability to enforce "none ya damn business!") understand that some of us are not.
"You have a choice. You can choose to NOT use Chrome browser" is beside the point.
"Fifty other ways they can track you anhow" is beside the point.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Those who do not demand their freedom will get everything they deserve.
70 • DBus (by RJA on 2019-03-15 01:00:10 GMT from United States)
@69 It's likely DBus that's complaining. Based on what post #19 said.
I'm a bit surprised I didn't recall complaints from people about this a good while ago, like people did with systemd.
71 • EasyOS Puppy @14 (by puppunculus on 2019-03-15 09:54:33 GMT from Russia)
@71There are Puppy / Quirky and such example as Tiny Linux what can be good for people what don't like when something unintentionally changed / broke on their system.
Such people like to reinstall whole OS if they got any hw/sw problem
I think that EasyOS's innovations will be apprehended in other Puppy forks and eliminate need in fairjails/containers.
Also I would like to see in the future wine/dosbox gui's for create containers for such alien technologies on EasyOS/Puppy.
72 • EasyOS (by nano-me on 2019-03-15 14:15:45 GMT from United Kingdom)
@14 and @71. EasyOS: Barry Kauler has built a number of interesting ideas into his latest creation, which I "installed" from USB. I like "Everything is a Container". I don't mind "Everything is a GUI". However, I am worried with promoting the idea of running as root [remember MS Windows], even though privilages can be dropped down to an ordinary user on a per-container basis. Containers only stop harm escaping into the wider OS.
His container code is 590 lines of C compared to 29,000 for Firejail [although the latter has an extensive CLI and UI]. I still can't decide if containers are a better isolation mechanism than the more memory-intensive QubesOS and its Xen VMs.
73 • What wrong with MS Windows? (by Akoy on 2019-03-15 14:56:35 GMT from United Kingdom)
>>I don't mind "Everything is a GUI". However, I am worried with promoting the idea of running as root [remember MS Windows],...
I remember, and use it in the evening, everyday. So, what's wrong with MS Windows..?
74 • re: what's wrong with MS Windows..? (by nano-me on 2019-03-15 15:14:07 GMT from United Kingdom)
@73: I meant that Windows only in recent years made the distinction between Administrator and User capabilities. There is a place to discuss why anything coming out of Redmond is a Poc, but this is not it [eg DistroWatch is for Linux & BSD].
75 • anti-tracking apps (by Jordan on 2019-03-15 17:44:40 GMT from United States)
I've installed a few here and there, including adjusting settings in the Firefox web browser to avoid the tracking that nearly all websites do now.
There's a link to "Privacy Badger" here in this comments area. I highly recommend it.
For some reason people who are of the mind to do what I am doing about being tracked are being attacked here and there. I find that fact interesting anywhere, but particularly here at a linux/bsd website.
76 • @74 re: Admin vs User on Windows (by Rev_Don on 2019-03-15 18:18:53 GMT from United States)
"I meant that Windows only in recent years made the distinction between Administrator and User capabilities."
They made that distinction back in the mid 1990's with NT and in 2001 with XP for mainstream users. That isn't that recent.
77 • @68 • /etc/machine-id (by DaveT on 2019-03-16 10:24:22 GMT from United Kingdom)
update: I edited /etc/machine-id on my laptop running OpenBSD so it is an empty file. And happily everything still works.
I use fluxbox as the window manager and have very little software from Freedesktop.org.
I grepped through the OpenBSD source code and found no reference to it. Ported applications from linux are a different matter of course.
78 • Privacy Thoughts (by M.Z. on 2019-03-16 17:59:14 GMT from United States)
Well, I've heard a whole lot of nothing regarding actual harm from machine-id. I do think privacy is a serious topic & recommend things like Duckduckgo & Privacy Badger to anyone who cares. The only post that seemed like it might have something relevant linked to a thread about installing things via usb, which is sorry, neither authoritative, nor relevant (that I could see).
If you want people to take privacy seriously you do yourself & our cause harm by coming up with irrelevant non-issues. When there is no harm & you jump to attack, you just make us all look like uninformed people search for a fight, rather than intelligent advocates for a better way of doing things.
Regarding browsers & such looking at machine-id, well that's potentially a bit creepy; however, you don't seem to be saying anything about machine-id actually being involved in tracking, just being a bit eerie. For a point of comparison, there are vaccine-haters howling at the wind about how their kids developed autism at the same time they received vaccines. That's extremely unfortunate, but there is a time test scientific principle that correlation does not necessarily equal causation. What does the overwhelming majority of science say regarding vaccines? All non-debunked info says kids start showing autism symptoms at the same time they should be scheduled for vaccines; however, aside from a coincidence in timing there is absolutely no link between vaccines & autism. Indeed railing against vaccines has done far more harm than good for children's health than scheduled vaccinations by any reasonable measure.
Now to a similar, though admittedly far lesser degree, people seem to be doing the quest for privacy harm by over-blowing machine-id as if it were a serious part of privacy issues. Okay, so a unique ID tag can be creepy, there is a bit of correlation there, but I see no intelligent reason to think this is a cause of privacy problems. I poked around a little and came up with a big fat nothing that substantiates machine-id fears. Perhaps we would be better off with fewer unique IDs of all kinds, but that's about all I think can be reasonably said against machine-id. I'm open to changing my mind if someone finds a good reason, but most of what I see is fear-mongering, which is never good.
We should be worried about privacy issues, let's just be worried about the right ones.
79 • Machine-ID (by Kragle von Schnitzelbank on 2019-03-17 02:21:12 GMT from United States)
I, for one, appreciate someone noticing yet another point of vulnerability (machine-id). Few programmers consider defensive measures when first developing software; hindsight is not always timely enough to forestall damage.
...
On the vaccine analogy,
Flu vaccine is, at best, effective at prevention only 18% of the time; anyone have similar data for the current issue (measles)? Converseley, how effective is Quarantine?
Any vaccination depends on immune system response - is that capability always measured before vaccination? Isn't that just one reason suppliers demand immunity ... from liability? ("If there's no danger, why demand this?")
...
I wonder whether any (security) distro other than TAILS includes anonymizing this?
.
.
.
(If you have nothing to hide, why are you wearing clothing?)
80 • @79 (by Mgv on 2019-03-17 13:39:18 GMT from Romania)
Dude, if I would meet you in person, would you have your face covered? How many door handles have you left your fingerprints on?
There is a problem of perspective, I see you mention some isolated facts, you generalize and you speculate the worst case scenarios. While skepticism is to some degree healthy and kudos for championing it, the extreme of skepticism - paranoia - is quite unhealthy.
We aren't isolated entities, we are part of society: identification, reliance on others and exchange should happen every day in order for us to move forward. And when the model of trust is broken we should be there together to set is straight. You cannot foresee all use cases of a uid when it is created, as some have tried to explain there are cases where an ID is required. And policies should be put in place and enforced in order for the legitimate use of that ID to function.
And we must be vigilant and participative all the time, not only when we crawl out from under the bridge...
81 • privacy (by dick on 2019-03-17 15:03:00 GMT from Canada)
@79 (If you have nothing to hide, why are you wearing clothing?)
Outside... it is 30 below,
have to go out and shovel snow,
do not want to freeze... little-joe.
82 • machine-id (by Newby on 2019-03-17 21:22:43 GMT from Canada)
@77 DaveT re machine-id:
Tried your suggestion about editing machine-id so it was an empty file. When restarting X (with startx, and using xfce), X would not start. Got a dbus error message about invalid machine-id. Programs running from terminal, no problem; but X was completely inoperative. Fortunately, had made backup and simply restored the file.
Reading up about dbus, found it is used by a lot of programs. I gather some of this has to do about identifying stuff on a network, but if that is the case, then this is truly worrying. Thought that was what MAC addressing was used for. Personally, not knowledgeable enough to understand why this is needed. Was this just a bad design decision in the development of dbus, or is there something more nefarious going on?
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| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
PureOS
PureOS is a GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian. It is a desktop distribution that can be used as live media (CD or USB) or as full-featured operating systems installed on a hard disk. PureOS uses free and open source software exclusively and is endorsed by the Free Software Foundation. It ships with some privacy features enabled by default such as using DuckDuckGo as the search engine and the HTTPS Everywhere browser extension is enabled.
Status: Active
|
| Tips, Tricks, Q&As | | Myths and misunderstandings: Does physical access mean root access? |
| Questions and answers: Using ownCloud at home without dedicated hardware |
| Tips and tricks: Keep terminal programs running, using the at command, reverse OpenSSH connections |
| Tips and tricks: Creating, removing, modifying, and ignoring aliases |
| Tips and tricks: Choosing good passwords |
| Tips and tricks: Basename, for loop, dirname, aliases, bash history, xsel clipboard |
| Questions and answers: DistroWatch visitor number growth |
| Tips and tricks: Adding an AppImage to the application menu |
| Questions and answers: LSB - does it matter? |
| Tips and tricks: Running Fedora "Rawhide" |
| More Tips & Tricks and Questions & Answers |
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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