 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 918, 24 May 2021 |
Welcome to this year's 20th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Open source operating systems offer a lot of flexibility which makes them well suited to a wide range of tasks. Sometimes these tasks may be especially useful, such as providing the ability to run many network services on a tiny Raspberry Pi computer. Other times the flexibility of open source might take us in unusual and less practical, though certainly interesting, directions. In our Questions and Answers section this week we talk about using open source technologies to set up home-based chat room software to keep a family connected. Do you run any home-based network services? Let us know about them in this week's Opinion Poll. First though we explore a few less conventional projects, including the Debian-based TeLOS distribution which runs the KDE Plasma desktop and promotes web-based solutions. We also talk about the snakeware operating system which uses the Python interpreter as its user interface. Plus, in our News section, we talk about Fedora providing a compatibility layer for older SDL-based games and OpenBSD's migration from the GNU Compiler Collection to Clang. We also report on how open source projects like Haiku and Gentoo are responding to the Freenode network's change in ownership. Finally, we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
|
| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
TeLOS
This past week I decided to pick a couple of projects at random from the DistroWatch waiting list to see what new, different, or interesting distributions are being developed. The first project I decided to try was TeLOS. TeLOS is a Debian-based project which uses Debian's Testing and Unstable branches as its foundation. The distribution runs the KDE Plasma desktop and its website lists an odd combination of features. The TeLOS website claims the distribution is lightweight and full-featured; customizeable and not bloated. It also reportedly honours open source software while including non-free firmware, Steam, and the proprietary Chrome web browser. In other words, each line of the project's description seems to contradict the previous line:
TeLOS Linux is lightweight and attempts to be fully-featured and easily customizable without being bloated. It is freely distributed and honours free, open source software. Nevertheless, some non-free proprietary packages are included to widely support common modern hardware. The most popular browser, Google Chrome, is also included.
I was curious to see what sort of result would come from trying to meet these design goals. TeLOS is available for 64-bit (x86_64) machines exclusively. It reportedly ships with Flatpak support, is touch screen friendly, includes a tool for downloading YouTube videos, and includes both Kodi and beta builds of Chrome. The project appears to publish weekly snapshots of its rolling release distribution and these snapshots are about 2.5GB in size.
Booting from the TeLOS live media displays the Debian logo for a few seconds and then displays a full screen web browser window. The live media runs the Chrome browser in full screen mode and opens a page which shows a Google search bar. There are also links to Google's on-line applications, Microsoft Office 365, and Netflix on the home page. The system was slow and unresponsive which I found was due to TeLOS gobbling up 100% of my CPU resources.
The web browser can be closed, either by restoring it to its usual windowed mode or by pressing ALT+F4. Terminating the browser shows us the KDE Plasma desktop. The desktop appears to be laid out in a manner to make it suitable for touch screens. There are giant icons on a vertical, transparent panel for launching the file manager and Chrome browser. There is another icon for launching the system installer. There is an application menu button which, when clicked, opens a full screen launcher with a grid of large icons.
TeLOS -- The KDE Plasma desktop with vertical panel
(full image size: 302kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Even with the Chrome browser closed and having given the system several minutes to settle down, TeLOS continued to consume 100% of the CPU. A closer examination shows the plasmashell process eats up all available CPU cycles, causing the system to respond at a sluggish crawl.
I decided not to go ahead with trying to install TeLOS. The hungry plasmashell process would have resulted in an install time of several hours and the desktop looks like an awkward mess. I suspect TeLOS is intended to be used as a web kiosk with a touch-based interface as I can't think of any other reason to force the user to run Chrome in full screen mode and promote proprietary services by default.
* * * * *
snakeware 0.0.6
Since TeLOS was running far too slowly to be practical and seemed to be focused on providing a platform for web services, I turned my attention elsewhere. Honestly, I handed a list of distributions I had not tried yet to someone else and asked them to select one for me. Their choice was snakeware. The snakeware project is highly unusual in that the entire user environment is the Python interpreter, which acts like a command line shell:
snakeware is a free Linux distro with a Python userspace inspired by the Commodore 64. You are booted directly into a Python interpreter, which you can use to do whatever you want with your computer.
The idea here is that we can copy, move, open, and modify data files and run applications by running Python scripting commands at the prompt. We are told that snakeware can run in QEMU and VirtualBox environments a well as some physical hardware. There is even a graphical user interface, called snakewm we can run from the Python prompt.
The current release of snakeware supports saving persistent data to live USB media under the /snakeuser directory. The project is designed to run on x86_64 machines and the Raspberry Pi 4. The download for the former architecture is 72MB while the Raspberry Pi build is 192MB.
The snakeware distribution boots almost instantly to a Python 3.8.2 prompt. Apart from the colour theme (white on black) one can immediately see the connection between snakeware and the Commodore 64 BASIC interpreter.
From the command line we can run lines of Python code in what appears to be effectively a single-user environment. As the documentation promises, we can run the snakewm command to start a graphical interface. At first there are no screen elements to examine or click. Nothing happens if we click or right-click on the desktop, which is a solid colour across the whole screen. We can press the meta key (left Windows key on most keyboards) to open an application menu.
The menu contains five entries: Clock, Fun, Games, System, and Tools. Each of these categories offers a few applications we can run. We can run a system monitor to see CPU usage, play Pong, open a command line shell to run Python commands inside a terminal. It is a very minimal, yet functional and responsive window manager.
snakeware 0.0.6 -- Running the snakewm interface and some applications
(full image size: 122kB, resolution: 800x600 pixels)
I did run into trouble when trying to exit the graphical interface. Trying to shutdown the system or close snakewm caused the system to lock up. I was able to restart the computer from within snakewm.
Under the Python interpreter snakeware is still a Linux distribution and I found the operating system would run in both VirtualBox and on my laptop. There were some limitations though. The distribution failed to detect my laptop's wireless card and was unable to boot in UEFI mode. My laptop could run snakeware in Legacy BIOS mode.
The distribution does not do much, offer many services, include any obvious form of package management, a web browser, or much of the way of common operating system functions. However, I don't think it is intended to act like other Linux distributions. The snakeware project feels more like a proof of concept, a way to show people they can, technically, run a basic operating system from within a Python environment. It's not something many people will want to do, unless they really like the idea of immersing themselves inside Python, perhaps to learn the language in an intense fashion. Technically Python can manipulate files, run graphical applications, and can be highly flexible through the use of modules.
I learned a lot of my early programming knowledge through BASIC interpreters and I can see the value of teaching children Python the same way, though I wouldn't want to use snakeware as a general purpose operating system.
* * * * *
Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a de-branded HP laptop with the following
specifications:
- Processor: Intel i3 2.5GHz CPU
- Display: Intel integrated video
- Storage: Western Digital 700GB hard drive
- Memory: 6GB of RAM
- Wired network device: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast
- Wireless network device: Realtek RTL8188EE Wireless network card
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Fedora provides compatibility layer for older SDL projects, OpenBSD's compiler migration progress, Haiku transitions away from Freenode network
Simple DirectMedia Layer (often called SDL) is a commonly used software library for developing games. Version 1.2 of the SDL library was a popular platform for many open source games and has since been replaced by SDL 2.0. However, due to incompatibilities between the two versions of SDL, many games have not been ported to the newer version of the library. This has left distributions with the task of packaging both versions of the library to allow a wider range of games and applications to run. The Fedora team is trying to address this extra maintenance burden. "SDL 1.2 development ended long ago, with SDL 2.0 replacing it. However, many older games still use SDL 1.2 and cannot change to SDL 2.0. In order to help move SDL 1.2 games into the modern world, let's replace SDL 1.2 with sdl12-compat, which uses SDL 2.0." The sdl12-compat package provides a compatibility layer for SDL 1.2 programs which uses the newer version of SDL behind the scenes.
* * * * *
The OpenBSD project has been migrating away from obsolete versions of the GNU Compiler Collection to the Clang compiler. The migration allows for more modern standards and bug fixes than what was available in older versions of the GNU Compiler. Frederic Cambus presents some history behind the compiler migration along with the current state of progress. "For most of the 2010s, the OpenBSD base system has been stuck with GCC 4.2.1. It was released in July 2007, imported into the OpenBSD source tree in October 2009, and became the default compiler on the amd64, i386, hppa, sparc64, socppc and macppc platforms in OpenBSD 4.8, released in November 2010. As specified in the commit message during import, this is the last version released under the GPLv2 license. OpenBSD was not the only operating system sticking to GCC 4.2.1 for licensing reasons, FreeBSD did the same, and Mac OS X as well. As a general rule, and this is not OpenBSD specific, being stuck with old compilers is problematic for several reasons."
* * * * *
The Haiku project is one of several open source teams to announce that they are planning to migrate away from the Freenode IRC network following a change in the network's ownership. "To those not familiar what's happening, Freenode recently went through a major internal reorganization, which resulted in the overwhelming majority of well-established staff members either being forcefully removed or resigning from their roles as administrators of the network." Meanwhile the Gentoo project has stated their team have not yet migrated, but warned users seeking assistance that people on other IRC networks are impersonating Gentoo developers. "It has came to our attention that certain individuals have been using the situation to impersonate Gentoo developers on other IRC networks. The official Gentoo developers can be identified on Freenode by their gentoo/developer cloak. If we move to another network, we will announce claiming a respective cloak." In a follow-up, Gentoo's team announced a move to the Libra Chat IRC network.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Minimal chat room for the home
As-a-family asks: Is there simple chat room software I can set up on my Pi at home that all my family can access through a web browser? Nothing fancy, we just need to be able to share messages which each other.
DistroWatch answers: For people looking to host their own chat room software, there are certainly options out there. The tricky part here is you have three feature boxes you're trying to check: chat room, self-hosted, and web-based interface. Each one of these individually is quite common, but it's rare to find one simple solution that provides all three options at once. You may need to install two or three separate components and make them talk together if you want to provide your family with a web-based experience.
I don't have experience with many self-hosted chat servers, but I have set up a few IRC chat servers for small organizations which wanted an informal way to communicate. You could install a small, portable IRC server package, such as InspIRCd, on your Raspberry Pi. This will give you the chat server, but not a web front-end to which people can easily connect.
The web client would be a separate piece of software. For this you can install a package such as Kiwi IRC. This software communicates with the IRC server and presents a friendly user interface through the visitor's web browser.
These two packages are not the only solutions, but I think they are two of the more straight forward packages to install on a home system. If you're set on self-hosting the solution, I would start with this approach.
Having said this, if you are looking to help a small number of people to communicate there may be other approaches which require less work on your part. Having everyone e-mail a family group in their preferred e-mail client or putting everyone on a third-party messaging service would probably work just as well. There are lots of third-party messaging platforms, many of them open source. The Pidgin open source client can talk to almost all of them. Either of these approaches would require almost no effort on your part and still be easy for your family to use.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
NetBSD 9.2
NetBSD is a free, secure, and highly portable UNIX-like Open Source operating system available for many platforms, from 64-bit AlphaServers and desktop systems to handheld and embedded devices. The project's latest release is NetBSD 9.2 which introduces a number of networking fixes as well as ZFS stability improvements when working with network shares. "netinet: avoid information disclosure, NetBSD-SA2021-001: Predictable ID disclosures in IPv4 and IPv6. netinet: fixed 'multicast router sends multicast packet with invalid UDP checksum'. xen: fixes for XSA-362 - backends treating grant mapping errors as bugs. A malicious DomU could trigger a Dom0 kernel panic. xen: removed support for rx-flip mode in xennet(4) and xvif(4) as part of XSA-362 fixes (driver already defaulted to the faster rx-copy mode). zfs: various stability fixes. Fixed 'panic when creating a directory on a NFS served ZFS'. coda: fixed 'coda client opens wrong files instead of cache containers'. hyperv: fixed 'unable to ifconfig(8) up/down with hvn device'. msdosfs: fixed 'BOOTSIG0 and BOOTSIG1 checks prevent mounting Raspberry Pi Pico's USB mass storage'." A complete list of changes can be found in the project's release notes.
GeckoLinux 999.210517.0
GeckoLinux is a Linux spin based on the openSUSE distribution, with a focus on polish and out-of-the-box usability on the desktop. The project's latest rolling release snapshot carries the version number 999.210517.0 and features a number of new features. Btrfs is now used as the default filesystem, zRAM is enabled, and the EarlyOOM service is enabled to terminate applications which are using too much memory. "This release offers several quality of life improvements for GeckoLinux ROLLING users. By majority vote, the default filesystem for the various Calamares guided installation options is now Btrfs with transparent Zstd data compression. Of course, all other modern Linux filesystems are also still supported via the custom partitioning option. Additionally, zRAM swap is enabled out of the box, and the EarlyOOM daemon is also enabled to help prevent unrecoverable system freezes in low memory situations." Further changes and details can be found in the project's release announcement.
GeckoLinux 999.210517.0 -- Running the MATE desktop
(full image size: 1.6MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4
Red Hat has announced the release of the fourth update to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.x series, an enterprise-class Linux distribution with comprehensive support options. This version provides access to OSTree repositories and facilitates off-line installations: "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.4 is generally available to customers as of May 19, 2021. Delivered as part of the predictable, six-month cadence of RHEL releases 8.4 brings important features for hybrid cloud, edge deployments and enhancements for operators, developers and organizations standardized on RHEL. With RHEL 8.3 we announced a deployment option for RHEL to help solve challenges common to edge computing environments. With 8.4, we have built on that work to improve the user experience around the edge computing capabilities in RHEL. RHEL 8.4 simplifies updates, provides additional options for installing to disconnected systems (as many edge systems are) and adds the ability to use OSTree repositories with OCI container images. Read about the improvements in Ben Breard's post on new edge features for 8.4." Read the release announcement and the detailed release notes for further information.
Lakka 3.0
Tomáš Kelemen has announced the release of Lakka 3.0, a major new release of the project's LibreELEC-based lightweight Linux distribution with the goal of turning a small computer into a full-blown game console. This release is based on LibreELEC 9.2: "It has been over a year since our latest release, therefore there are many changes in this update. During this time we were working hard to bring you the new and updated Lakka. As usual the release includes the latest RetroArch version at the time, which is currently 1.9.3, as well as updates to all the supported cores to the most recent versions, even some new cores were added. This time we recommend doing a clean install to avoid any incompatibility issues, as significant changes to the underlaying operating system and RetroArch were made. The size of the boot partition was increased to 2 GB, which is not compatible with previous installations. Highlights of this release include: operating system based on LibreELEC 9.2 build system; Vulkan API enabled for AMD and Intel GPUs (Generic) and for Raspberry Pi 4; support for joycons...." Read the detailed release announcement for a complete changelog.
antiX 19.4
The developers of antiX, a lightweight desktop Linux distribution featuring IceWM as the default window manager, have released version 19.4. The new build of the project's Debian-based distribution (with a choice of SysV and Runit init systems, available for i386 and x86_64 architectures) updates the IceWM window manager to version 2.3.4 and introduces the SeaMonkey web browser to some of its editions: "antiX-19.4 (Grup Yorum) available. All new ISO images are bug-fix, upgrades, improvements of antiX-19 SysV and Runit series. Changes: more options in the installer; SeaMonkey browser included in Full and Base editions; mps-tube removed (it seems to be broken); ytfzf included - it opens and downloads YouTube clips using mpv and youtube-dl; improved and updated localisation; newer 4.9 Linux kernel; Firefox 78.10.0esr; LibreOffice 7.0.4rc2; IceWM upgraded to the latest upstream version (2.3.4); latest firmware backported from Debian 'sid'; various upstream Debian security upgrades; base edition fits on a CD; iso-snashot-cli replaces iso-snapshot (gui) on base edition...." See the release announcement for further details and known issues.
AVLinux 2021.05.22
Glen MacArthur has announced the release of AV Linux 2021.05.22, an updated build of the project's MX Linux-based distribution optimised for audio and video production and available for x86_64 and i386 architectures: "What began as a bug-fix and maintenance release has snowballed into a quasi new-features release, especially in the case of the 64-bit edition, with a move to Openbox and SLiM in an effort to put Xfce on Keto. Changelog: changed window manager to Openbox; removed xfwm and xfdesktop; changed wallpaper application to Nitrogen; changed login manager to SliM; created and added some background helper scripts for Openbox; corrected Liquorix repository for 'Buster'; removed now obsolete libfaudio OBS repository; updated and enhanced User Manual significantly; updates and improvements to the AVL-MXE Assistant to make it take up less screen space; tweaks to Default Diehard theme, AVL-MXE logo and new DH wallpapers; move to a more traditional panel and taskbar from the previous dock setup; added some new audio plugins - Drops, MZuther...." Continue to the release announcement for a full changelog.
AVLinux 2021.05.22 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 1.7MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,451
- Total data uploaded: 37.7TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Hosting your own network services
This week's Questions and Answers column talked about hosting chat server software at home. There are a lot of open source tools for running your own websites, e-mail, chat servers, synchronized file storage, and media streaming. Do you have any of these services set up at home? Let us know about your home-brew setups in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on preferred Red Hat Enterprise Linux clones in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
I use the following self-hosted services
| Chat/IM software: | 11 (1%) |
| E-mail: | 26 (2%) |
| File sync: | 52 (5%) |
| Media streaming: | 82 (8%) |
| Shared document editing: | 2 (0%) |
| Website: | 24 (2%) |
| Other: | 35 (3%) |
| A combination of the above: | 207 (19%) |
| All of the above: | 22 (2%) |
| None of the above: | 612 (57%) |
|
|
| Website News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- Cyclone. Cyclone is an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the Xfce desktop. The distribution features Russian language support and many extra desktop applications.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 31 May 2021. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (podcast)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 0, value: US$0.00) |
|
|
|
 bc1qtede6f7adcce4kjpgx0e5j68wwgtdxrek2qvc4  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le |
|
| Linux Foundation Training |
|
| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Self host and Snakeware (by Arthur on 2021-05-24 01:57:58 GMT from Australia)
I host my own Pihole DNS.
Snakeware looks like a fun project, it it very reminiscent of the computers of old.
2 • self hosting (by Matt on 2021-05-24 05:47:51 GMT from United States)
I run my own Nextcloud server. It makes syncing and transfer of files easy between my phone, laptop, and desktop.
3 • selfhosting (by papapito on 2021-05-24 06:23:39 GMT from Australia)
nextcloud so i can carry on from desktop/laptop/tablet/phone without much of an issue
VPN and DNS
SearX instance
mail and gemini
4 • terminal command talk (by the might of the unix shell on 2021-05-24 06:43:46 GMT from Germany)
In my opinion the real minimal chatroom tool is the talk comand in the terminal. I read about it in a 25 years old book about using UNIX. So its still exit. On some distros its soon installed. On my xubuntu 20.4 if did sudo apt install talk an one can read the manual: type in man talk in the terminal.
5 • antiX (by Hank on 2021-05-24 06:46:41 GMT from Switzerland)
AntiX is to me the most useful Debian Based linux system presently available, tested to run on anything I threw it at.
Unofficial versions available for really old or very new hardware. An excellent and helpful forum.
Low memory and CPU usage along with ICEWM, lightning fast desktop.
Worst part is to understand all the options antiX provides, I run live from a usb stick, on USB 2 or 3 no real need to install, it is fast and very portable.
Settig up ICEWM my way does include editing a couple of text files, it is pretty easy though, I have all commonly used applications in an autohide task bar, works great and gives max screen space. Never saw the sense in desktop icons always forcing me to move or close windows to access them.
No buggy system D, init choice, love it.
6 • Self hosted services (by James on 2021-05-24 11:37:20 GMT from United States)
Self hosted services are probably beyond my technical abilities.
7 • Home network services (by Mark B on 2021-05-24 12:16:51 GMT from United Kingdom)
I have Samba shares on a 2.5" USB drive connected to my router, a Xubuntu server running Subsonic and Emby, a self-built NAS running OpenMediaVault. There is also a Freesat PVR with modified firmware that provides Samba & FTP access as well as a MediaTomb server.
8 • Self hosting (by Pete on 2021-05-24 13:45:16 GMT from United Kingdom)
Me too @6 no idea. @5 totally agree I run antiX on various machines from a 2006 Dell to a modern i5.
9 • Local network IM (by Ankleface Wroughlandmire on 2021-05-24 16:45:44 GMT from Ecuador)
For local network messaging, I would definitely recommend to not use a server at all. The best solution would be the Bonjour protocol, supported by Pidgin and Empathy. Basically the clients will all find each other on the network and be able to talk with each other, no fuss no muss.
10 • Snake & Stuff (by Sam Burns on 2021-05-24 17:23:37 GMT from United States)
snake oil salesman came to mind while reading or use of and problem with snakeware.
Thanks for the heads up on TeLoS. What a mess.
I don't do any chatting or other IRC stuff.
11 • Running services at home (by Scott Dowdle on 2021-05-24 18:37:35 GMT from United States)
NextCloud might be a good way to go. It does more than chat but it can handle chat just fine.
12 • Talk (by brad on 2021-05-24 21:30:03 GMT from United States)
@ 4 - I forgot about talk! A great program, unfortunately not usable in today's PC world.
On a bunch of connected 11/780's, Dec10's, DEC20's, etc. it was lots of fun...
13 • Talk again (by brad on 2021-05-24 21:31:51 GMT from United States)
It's on my Manjaro distro...
14 • self hosting services (by Steve on 2021-05-24 22:16:37 GMT from United States)
At home I have yet to justify self hosting anything (except maybe for the fun of it).
At work (when I still worked for a living) I did self hosting for a living. My last job was a non-profit and I built and managed servers for web, email (Postfix, Dovecot, Mailman, Spamassassin, Openwebmail), SFTP, DNS, DHCP, VPN, NTP, Syslog, Backup, MRTG, Nagios and probably a couple more things I can't recall right now.
I wanted to set up a self hosted "cloud" server but the tide was turning as folks were being replaced in the office and my way (hosting services in house) was being pushed out in favor of out sourcing services. It was fun while it lasted and I was happy to go when that crap started.
15 • Self-Hosted Chat Server (by Kyle on 2021-05-24 23:54:24 GMT from United States)
I tried running a RocketChat server a while ago. It is designed to be a self-hosted alternative to popular team and community chat services such as Slack and Discord, so I wouldn't exactly call it "simple." It has capabilities for creating multiple chat rooms on one server and managing user permissions on a per-channel basis, which may be overkill if you just need a chat service for a single household.
On the other hand, it is self-hosted, and it offers both a built-in web interface and a suite of client applications for desktop and mobile devices. People who are already familiar with similar chat services will find a lot of the same features here, plus some privacy-oriented ones like OTR encryption for user-to-user messages.
Server installation does require some command-line steps, but I found them to be well-documented on the official website's downloads page. The only component that I needed to install separately was nginx, which is required for SSL support. I was able to get it up and running within a day, although I already had some experience with self-hosting a couple of other servers in the past. From the end user's perspective, all that is needed is to either direct their web browser or client application to your server's address, then create an account.
I liked the concept, but found that the administration controls were granular to the point of being tedious to work with. Combined with the fact that the mobile clients had some issues with rendering images posted to the chat rooms, I ended up scrapping that server. That was a couple of years ago, though, so maybe I'll try it again to see what has improved.
16 • IRC Works well (by John on 2021-05-25 01:02:20 GMT from United States)
Hi All,
I use IRC to chat regularly. The only problem I have had is no logging in irssi. Otherwise it works without a hitch.
It is a real joy to use.
John
17 • rygel(media streaming) and XMPP protocol(chat/IM software) (by lincoln on 2021-05-25 05:18:41 GMT from Brazil)
I use rygel for streaming media. 1000% satisfied with its simplicity and effectiveness.
For chat/IM software, I use the XMPP protocol. A light, open, standardized, decentralized, secure and flexible solution with web and mobile support.
18 • "talk" memories.. (by al Fred on 2021-05-25 06:00:10 GMT from New Zealand)
I recall writing a similar tool to "talk" for a Sinix system around 1990. We had serial terminals around the plant and knew which ttys were located where, so it was used to message specific people on system issues that impacted their department. Did we as sysadmins ever use it for some 'fun'? Nah, "never"TM.
19 • Self Hosting (by Pihole and... on 2021-05-25 07:31:50 GMT from United States)
I'm kind of surprised, given the utility for more complicated home networks (among other plausible benefits), that DNS wasn't on the poll.
I've got Pihole running on a Pi, and also an older tt-rss (I know, I'm looking into a more graceful fix) running on a Pi. I picked the 1B+ for the project (lowest power draw that has a built-in ethernet port)... and quickly learned that this is maybe not the hardware to run things that try to run in Docker on. Docker itself would run with a bit of convincing, but both Pihole and tt-rss apparently do not like the version of ARM on the Pi 1 (and implicitly 0?) series. I do get the appeal of assuming Docker just works, but alas that means my RSS solution is going to involve more than a little tinkering to get updates at some point.
In its current state though I set up a small resource monitoring over time script and the single core is surprisingly underutilized outside of when I'm directly loading something (and even then, it rarely gets overwhelmed). I have to imagine if I'd felt good about using a Pi 2 instead, there'd be more than enough power there to do a few web services for many common household sizes (though I'd maybe pick something slightly more power-hungry if I were planning on doing streaming with it).
20 • Running services at home on SBC's (by Jimbi on 2021-05-25 07:52:06 GMT from New Zealand)
Just to chip in here - I have running :
2 x Piholes; primary and secondary on orange pi zero plus & raspberry pi 1.
1 x Nextcloud server w/ vsftp for my 3 ip cameras using odroid xu4q
1 x Airsonic server on raspberry pi 2
Future plans include a jumphost into my home network and possibly replacing firewall with an embedded sbc solution.
21 • selfhosting (by zcatav on 2021-05-25 08:07:24 GMT from Turkey)
Selfhosting is very simple with special servers like yunohost and freedombox. I use yunohost for this purpouse.
22 • Web-based Chat (by eganonoa on 2021-05-25 10:16:10 GMT from Netherlands)
As others have said, Nextcloud (Talk) is probably your best bet for a RPI-based chat with a web-based interface, with the bonus of nice mobile Talk apps. It is certainly overkill if all you are looking for is chat alone because chat is only one of very many things it does. But it does it well, with good bridges to other types of chat (IRC, matrix, slack, etc.), excellent video calling for one-to-one conversations and conversations for a family unit (6 or less, any more and you need the high-performance backend), and loads of different integrations, eg. with files, calendar, contacts, etc.
What you can't do is go the other way: and go from web-based talk to something via a desktop client. Nextcloud Talk is the one part of the core Nextcloud services without ability to link to a desktop client (files, contacts, calendar, all can be linked). I find that frustrating. It ultimately makes it a less-than-suitable chat app as it requires a browser to be always open and logged in. But for someone who only wants a self-hosted, RPI-based, web-based chat app, it is an excellent choice.
23 • Home LAN Chat Options Are Many (by QuahZei7 on 2021-05-25 10:49:10 GMT from United States)
For home LAN chat a web browser is not ideal. It would mean JavaScript in already buggy bloatware. With physical machine access, install something better/faster/stronger.
Another take on "self-hosted" is "peer-to-peer." Try RetroShare, it's cross-platform and does many forms of messaging. It can restrict to LAN, but is already a trust network. There is a Raspbian package and other distros on ARM also have it. Run the latest version, not all distros have yet shipped 0.66.
Another option is a mumble server. Perhaps the most minimalist is "minitalk" by Andrew Benson.
Those are Linux-viable options. You'll find dozens of LAN-only chatters in the Windows world, say realpopup.it for one. Most do Win/Mac and possibly phones, not Linux. You might have luck with WINE if you want to go there. Things would be easy on the non-Linux machines that way, and no web browser needed.
If you just search "web chat" you'll find numerous web-based options. Those servers are already set up.
24 • self host ? Buddy list (by Frank N. on 2021-05-25 11:11:09 GMT from Japan)
I've long thought that something like the old AOL Buddy List but self-hosted for family only (if it could be secured) would be great.
Family members distributed across country (son in college, parents in another time zone, siblings and cousins) could see who was online and available to communicate without worrying about if it is too late/early to call.
25 • PiHole et al (by Mark B on 2021-05-25 11:20:35 GMT from United Kingdom)
@19 and @20
Like you, I tried PiHole and liked it. I also gave AdGuard a try on a Raspberry Pi. Then I discovered I could just use AdGuard's DNS servers to filter out the ads and free up my Pi for something else. You just alter your router's default DNS settings for those shown here: https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html
26 • Zero Trust Home Server? (by Cozy Berenstain on 2021-05-25 18:41:05 GMT from Sweden)
I joke, but seriously, is zombiefied home PCs, servers, still a thing? You better know your stuff, lock that poop down tight, especially if you traffic sensitive info on your home 'honey-pot', lol. :D Losta hackin' goin on, India just got mega blasted by a huge hack. Somebody is busy, hijacked pipeline, anyone? Bueller?
27 • Buddy List (by QuahZei7 on 2021-05-26 05:11:46 GMT from United States)
@24 For buddy list, see GadgeteerZA on YouTube, "Overview of the RetroShare Peer-To-Peer Social Network" at 15:10. The whole vid covers all modalities of messaging, and demystifies the software.
28 • Snakeware (by Otis on 2021-05-26 13:08:29 GMT from United States)
@10 No. "Snake Oil?" No. From the github blurb: "The idea is that a Python OS would be fun to use and very easy to contribute to. Even relative beginners might be able to find ways to meaningfully contribute apps and other code to this distro....The goal is to eventually have a usable set of userspace apps and utilities written entirely in Python, because Python is fun and it Just Werks.
I find that admirable. I had the feeling after Jesse's review that it might be a "for students by students" distro. It is my opinion that the Linux world is very well served by such a project. Need more.
29 • Self hosting (by Cheker on 2021-05-26 14:39:03 GMT from Portugal)
At some point I will probably try to self host a DNS server, just for the sport of it
30 • Freenode (by Justin on 2021-05-27 21:30:31 GMT from United States)
I'm sorry to see what's happened. The Wikipedia and tech press have more details to those who are interested. Here is one such article: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/freenode-irc-has-been-taken-over-by-the-crown-prince-of-korea/
FOSS works because it is based on access and collaboration. However, cooperation fails when someone abuses it by being competitive because they can take everything from everyone. This event feels like that. The Freenode staffers don't object because they care more about making stuff work and giving. Freenode is now "owned" by someone who claims it is with more money to silence anyone who says otherwise. Sound familiar to anyone?
31 • Red Hat (by penguinx86 on 2021-05-28 07:47:23 GMT from United States)
I tried Red Hat. It's good, but there are lots of enterprise features that I just don't need on a home computer with only 1 user. I tried Red Hat's 30 day trial, but I had to go through the sales department and practically beg for it. After 30 days, the sales department said I'd have to pay for the $179 annual license renewal if I wanted to continue using Red Hat. I'm sorry, but that's too much to pay for a home user in trying to learn Red Hat in a casual learning environment. Red Hat should offer free 120 day no hassle trials, like Microsoft does. Sorry Red Hat, I'm switching to something else.
32 • self hosted, irc (by hulondalo on 2021-05-28 11:28:54 GMT from Indonesia)
thank goodness i'm not the only lazy person in this world :)
why does everybody hate freenode? sry, too lazy to read news ;) skimmed the register article but failed to understand as to why. rly hate being coerced/persuaded to hate something just because folks hate it
33 • IRC? (by Tad Strange on 2021-05-28 12:45:08 GMT from Canada)
IRC is still a thing? It's been 20 years since I've used it. Wild times with dial-up and lag and lousy connections. Today it would be like hearing that someone doesn't use a cell phone because they have a CB radio.
I suppose Usenet must also remain a thriving anachronism...
34 • Red Hat subscription (by Jesse on 2021-05-28 12:55:11 GMT from Canada)
@31: "Red Hat should offer free 120 day no hassle trials, like Microsoft does. Sorry Red Hat, I'm switching to something else."
For home users and developers Red Hat offers entirely free subscriptions for as long as you want. You signed up for a 30-day free trial of their production subscription. You can sign up for an entirely free trial that doesn't expire for home use.
35 • IRC (by CS on 2021-05-28 18:25:29 GMT from United States)
Twitch chat used to be built on IRC. I imagine they ditched that at some point. Probably the last semi-serious use of the protocol. Gotta be at least a dozen better options these days.
36 • @32 (by Justin on 2021-05-28 19:17:49 GMT from United States)
tl;dr: Someone not associated with Freenode bought it from someone who didn't own the service. That person then forcibly took control from those who ran it using the shell company as an excuse. Because that person has waay more money than those from whom the service was taken, that person wins because no one can afford the costs and hassles of a legal challenge. The rest is the ugly fallout including seizing control of other business's communication channels and blocking over 700 organizations from using the service without warning.
To many people, having one's work and livelihood stolen from them in this manner feels ethically wrong. To others, having a wealthy person come in and ruin something they think is good in the name of greed also feels wrong. The wealthy person just moves on to other businesses without a second thought. The people negatively affected are left to put together the pieces that they had nothing to do with breaking.
You can hate or not hate Freenode because of this. You can read both sides of the story or not. It's up to you. This is my take and why I would be angry. Whether or not the law would allow it, this behavior feels morally wrong. I would not want someone to treat me in this manner, so I choose to not give them or their other businesses my time, money, etc. There are a lot of services this person owns and other companies that have disappeared under mysterious circumstances (a really famous one in 2018). I'm not putting names here to not give them free advertising or offend people who like those services. I personally cannot support this behavior, and there are enough alternatives that I'm not forced to use them.
37 • @33 - Usenet (by Uncle Slacky on 2021-05-28 19:41:03 GMT from France)
You can still access Usenet, there's a free service at https://www.eternal-september.org (excludes binary groups) which you can access with Thunderbird or specialist newsreader software like Pan: http://pan.rebelbase.com
Number of Comments: 37
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
| | |
| 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.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Issue 1035 (2023-09-04): Debian GNU/Hurd 2023, PCLinuxOS 2023.07, do home users need a firewall, AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux commits to RHEL compatibility, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian runs wallpaper contest |
| • Issue 1034 (2023-08-28): Void 20230628, types of memory usage, FreeBSD receives port of Linux NVIDIA driver, Fedora plans improved theme handling for Qt applications, Canonical's plans for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1033 (2023-08-21): MiniOS 20230606, system user accounts, how Red Hat clones are moving forward, Haiku improves WINE performance, Debian turns 30 |
| • Issue 1032 (2023-08-14): MX Linux 23, positioning new windows on the desktop, Linux Containers adopts LXD fork, Oracle, SUSE, and CIQ form OpenELA |
| • Issue 1031 (2023-08-07): Peppermint OS 2023-07-01, preventing a file from being changed, Asahi Linux partners with Fedora, Linux Mint plans new releases |
| • Issue 1030 (2023-07-31): Solus 4.4, Linux Mint 21.2, Debian introduces RISC-V support, Ubuntu patches custom kernel bugs, FreeBSD imports OpenSSL 3 |
| • Issue 1029 (2023-07-24): Running Murena on the Fairphone 4, Flatpak vs Snap sandboxing technologies, Redox OS plans to borrow Linux drivers to expand hardware support, Debian updates Bookworm media |
| • Issue 1028 (2023-07-17): KDE Connect; Oracle, SUSE, and AlmaLinux repsond to Red Hat's source code policy change, KaOS issues media fix, Slackware turns 30; security and immutable distributions |
| • Issue 1027 (2023-07-10): Crystal Linux 2023-03-16, StartOS (embassyOS 0.3.4.2), changing options on a mounted filesystem, Murena launches Fairphone 4 in North America, Fedora debates telemetry for desktop team |
| • Issue 1026 (2023-07-03): Kumander Linux 1.0, Red Hat changing its approach to sharing source code, TrueNAS offers SMB Multichannel, Zorin OS introduces upgrade utility |
| • Issue 1025 (2023-06-26): KaOS with Plasma 6, information which can leak from desktop environments, Red Hat closes door on sharing RHEL source code, SUSE introduces new security features |
| • Issue 1024 (2023-06-19): Debian 12, a safer way to use dd, Debian releases GNU/Hurd 2023, Ubuntu 22.10 nears its end of life, FreeBSD turns 30 |
| • Issue 1023 (2023-06-12): openSUSE 15.5 Leap, the differences between independent distributions, openSUSE lengthens Leap life, Murena offers new phone for North America |
| • Issue 1022 (2023-06-05): GetFreeOS 2023.05.01, Slint 15.0-3, Liya N4Si, cleaning up crowded directories, Ubuntu plans Snap-based variant, Red Hat dropping LireOffice RPM packages |
| • Issue 1021 (2023-05-29): rlxos GNU/Linux, colours in command line output, an overview of Void's unique features, how to use awk, Microsoft publishes a Linux distro |
| • Issue 1020 (2023-05-22): UBports 20.04, finding another machine's IP address, finding distros with a specific kernel, Debian prepares for Bookworm |
| • Issue 1019 (2023-05-15): Rhino Linux (Beta), checking which applications reply on a package, NethServer reborn, System76 improving application responsiveness |
| • Issue 1018 (2023-05-08): Fedora 38, finding relevant manual pages, merging audio files, Fedora plans new immutable edition, Mint works to fix Secure Boot issues |
| • Issue 1017 (2023-05-01): Xubuntu 23.04, Debian elects Project Leaders and updates media, systemd to speed up restarts, Guix System offering ground-up source builds, where package managers install files |
| • Issue 1016 (2023-04-24): Qubes OS 4.1.2, tracking bandwidth usage, Solus resuming development, FreeBSD publishes status report, KaOS offers preview of Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1015 (2023-04-17): Manjaro Linux 22.0, Trisquel GNU/Linux 11.0, Arch Linux powering PINE64 tablets, Ubuntu offering live patching on HWE kernels, gaining compression on ex4 |
| • Issue 1014 (2023-04-10): Quick looks at carbonOS, LibreELEC, and Kodi, Mint polishes themes, Fedora rolls out more encryption plans, elementary OS improves sideloading experience |
| • Issue 1013 (2023-04-03): Alpine Linux 3.17.2, printing manual pages, Ubuntu Cinnamon becomes official flavour, Endeavour OS plans for new installer, HardenedBSD plans for outage |
| • Issue 1012 (2023-03-27): siduction 22.1.1, protecting privacy from proprietary applications, GNOME team shares new features, Canonical updates Ubuntu 20.04, politics and the Linux kernel |
| • Issue 1011 (2023-03-20): Serpent OS, Security Onion 2.3, Gentoo Live, replacing the scp utility, openSUSE sees surge in downloads, Debian runs elction with one candidate |
| • Issue 1010 (2023-03-13): blendOS 2023.01.26, keeping track of which files a package installs, improved network widget coming to elementary OS, Vanilla OS changes its base distro |
| • Issue 1009 (2023-03-06): Nemo Mobile and the PinePhone, matching the performance of one distro on another, Linux Mint adds performance boosts and security, custom Ubuntu and Debian builds through Cubic |
| • Issue 1008 (2023-02-27): elementary OS 7.0, the benefits of boot environments, Purism offers lapdock for Librem 5, Ubuntu community flavours directed to drop Flatpak support for Snap |
| • Issue 1007 (2023-02-20): helloSystem 0.8.0, underrated distributions, Solus team working to repair their website, SUSE testing Micro edition, Canonical publishes real-time edition of Ubuntu 22.04 |
| • Issue 1006 (2023-02-13): Playing music with UBports on a PinePhone, quick command line and shell scripting questions, Fedora expands third-party software support, Vanilla OS adds Nix package support |
| • Issue 1005 (2023-02-06): NuTyX 22.12.0 running CDE, user identification numbers, Pop!_OS shares COSMIC progress, Mint makes keyboard and mouse options more accessible |
| • Issue 1004 (2023-01-30): OpenMandriva ROME, checking the health of a disk, Debian adopting OpenSnitch, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1003 (2023-01-23): risiOS 37, mixing package types, Fedora seeks installer feedback, Sparky offers easier persistence with USB writer |
| • Issue 1002 (2023-01-16): Vanilla OS 22.10, Nobara Project 37, verifying torrent downloads, Haiku improvements, HAMMER2 being ports to NetBSD |
| • Issue 1001 (2023-01-09): Arch Linux, Ubuntu tests new system installer, porting KDE software to OpenBSD, verifying files copied properly |
| • Issue 1000 (2023-01-02): Our favourite projects of all time, Fedora trying out unified kernel images and trying to speed up shutdowns, Slackware tests new kernel, detecting what is taking up disk space |
| • Issue 999 (2022-12-19): Favourite distributions of 2022, Fedora plans Budgie spin, UBports releasing security patches for 16.04, Haiku working on new ports |
| • Issue 998 (2022-12-12): OpenBSD 7.2, Asahi Linux enages video hardware acceleration on Apple ARM computers, Manjaro drops proprietary codecs from Mesa package |
| • Issue 997 (2022-12-05): CachyOS 221023 and AgarimOS, working with filenames which contain special characters, elementary OS team fixes delta updates, new features coming to Xfce |
| • Issue 996 (2022-11-28): Void 20221001, remotely shutting down a machine, complex aliases, Fedora tests new web-based installer, Refox OS running on real hardware |
| • Issue 995 (2022-11-21): Fedora 37, swap files vs swap partitions, Unity running on Arch, UBports seeks testers, Murena adds support for more devices |
| • Issue 994 (2022-11-14): Redcore Linux 2201, changing the terminal font size, Fedora plans Phosh spin, openSUSE publishes on-line manual pages, disabling Snap auto-updates |
| • Issue 993 (2022-11-07): Static Linux, working with just a kernel, Mint streamlines Flatpak management, updates coming to elementary OS |
| • Issue 992 (2022-10-31): Lubuntu 22.10, setting permissions on home directories, Linux may drop i486, Fedora delays next version for OpenSSL bug |
| • Issue 991 (2022-10-24): XeroLinux 2022.09, learning who ran sudo, exploring firewall tools, Rolling Rhino Remix gets a fresh start, Fedora plans to revamp live media |
| • Issue 990 (2022-10-17): ravynOS 0.4.0, Lion Linux 3.0, accessing low numbered network ports, Pop!_OS makes progress on COSMIC, Murena launches new phone |
| • Issue 989 (2022-10-10): Ubuntu Unity, kernel bug causes issues with Intel cards, Canonical offers free Ubuntu Pro subscriptions, customizing the command line prompt |
| • Issue 988 (2022-10-03): SpiralLinux 11.220628, finding distros for older equipment and other purposes, SUSE begins releasing ALP prototypes, Debian votes on non-free firmware in installer |
| • Issue 987 (2022-09-26): openSUSE's MicroOS, converting people to using Linux, pfSense updates base system and PHP, Python 2 dropped from Arch |
| • Issue 986 (2022-09-19): Porteus 5.0, remotely wiping a hard drive, a new software centre for Ubuntu, Proxmox offers offline updates |
| • 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.
|
| Shells.com |
Your own personal Linux computer in the cloud, available on any device. Supported operating systems include Android, Debian, Fedora, KDE neon, Kubuntu, Linux Mint, Manjaro and Ubuntu, ready in minutes.
Starting at US$4.95 per month, 7-day money-back guarantee
|
| Random Distribution | 
Clusterix
Clusterix was a modular Linux live CD based on Morphix, Knoppix and Debian GNU/Linux. Clusterix features the openMosix clustering software for setting up clusters without much effort.
Status: Discontinued
|
| Tips, Tricks, Q&As | | Tips and tricks: More utilities via moreutils |
| Tips and tricks: Nix package manager on alternative Linux distributions |
| Tips and tricks: Command line weather, ionice, rename files, video preview snapshot, calednar, ls colour settings |
| Tips and tricks: Extracting package lists from various distributions |
| Questions and answers: Packet filters and legacy technology |
| Tips and tricks: Find common words in text, find high memory processs, cd short-cuts, pushd & popd, record desktop |
| Tips and tricks: Play nicely, drop secure shell sessions cleanly, check init's name |
| Questions and answers: Security and the size of a distribution's team, update on streaming Netflix on Raspbian |
| Tips and tricks: Managing multimedia files |
| Tips and tricks: Fix filenames, manage networks from the command line and more command line tips |
| 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.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
