 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1067, 22 April 2024 |
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Welcome to this year's 17th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Providing support for specific hardware takes time and resources. Each new device, architecture, and CPU platform requires development work, testing, and (in some cases) certification. Distributions need to pick and choose which platforms and which devices they will support. In this week's Questions and Answers column we talk about CPU architecture levels and how to look up which levels your processor can support. Our Opinion Poll then asks which architecture level your CPU supports. Let us know below! Then, in our News section, we talk about AlmaLinux OS re-adding support for devices dropped from the distribution's upstream source, Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We also report on the APT package manager getting a new visual tool while Fedora evaluates a proposal to make the distribution's packages reproducible. Fedora is not the only project looking to move forward with reproducible builds and openSUSE is nearing completion of their work to make the Factory and Tumbleweed repositories reproducible. We also cover the release of LXQt and progress being made by the lightweight desktop's developers. Before we dive into those bits of news we discuss LocalSend, a tool for sharing files between almost any two (or more) devices on the same network. LocalSend is intended to be an easy to use alternative to AirDrop and we discuss how it works on mobile and desktop devices in this week's Feature Story. Plus 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!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
LocalSend - sharing files on a local network
LocalSend is a free, open-source app that allows you to securely share files and messages with nearby devices over your local network without needing an Internet connection. In other words, connections are peer-to-peer over the local network. The application does not rely on any third-party server and cloud services are not required.
The LocalSend application is available for a wide range of platforms and in a variety of formats. The application supports Windows, macOS, desktop Linux, Android (there are download options for the Play store and F-Droid), and iOS. It's been packaged for Linux with tar bundles, Deb packages, an AppImage, and Flatpak download options supported. LocalSend is also available through the Arch User Repository, and Nix repository. In other words, there are a lot of ways to get LocalSend, on most desktop and mobile platforms.
The application is licensed under the MIT permissive license and has few requirements. It's a fairly small download (the Flatpak was about 17MB) and the service just requires that we allow access (both TCP and UDP) over network port 53,317.
Getting started
I decided to install LocalSend on my laptop, making use of the Flatpak bundle and installed it on my Murena phone using the F-Droid repository. Opening the desktop application presents us with a window that has three tabs or buttons down the left side of the screen. These tabs are labelled Receive, Send, and Settings. On the right side of the window we see controls for the selected screen or category. The Receive screen is the page displayed by default.
The Receive page shows a nickname that has been assigned to our computer ("Special Lemon" was my computer's name in my case). This Receive page has three buttons. One to show a history of past transfers, one which pops-up a tip telling us our computer's IP address along with the network port we are using to receive files. (53,317 is the default network port.) There is also a button to toggle Quick Save on/off. By default Quick Save is off and we must manually accept each transfer. However, with Quick Save enabled files will be saved directly to our Downloads directory.
LocalSend -- Ready to receive a file on the Murena phone
(full image size: 158kB, resolution: 1440x2960 pixels)
The Send page has three sections. At the top we select which files, directories, or text we want to send. We can also send the contents of our clipboard. Under that we can select how we're going to find another device running LocalSend which will receive our file or text. This can be done by scanning for devices, entering an IP address, picking an old contact from a list of favourites, and we can also choose to send to multiple devices at once. The last step is to select the device(s) we want to send our file, or text, to from the list of available options.
LocalSend -- Preparing to send a file from the Murena phone
(full image size: 199kB, resolution: 1440x2960 pixels)
The Settings page has four sections. The first lets us pick a theme, select our language, and enable auto-start at login. We can also enable/disable animations in the application. The second section deals with receiving behaviour. For example, here we can enable Quick Save and pick the directory where we will save received files.
Below this, we find network settings which allow us to change our device's name and restart the background LocalSend service. There is an Advanced section where we can change our device type, which network port to use, and disable encryption (encryption is enabled by default).
LocalSend -- Browsing the Settings page
(full image size: 150kB, resolution: 1440x2960 pixels)
The application's interface on phone and laptop devices are almost identical. The exception is on my phone the three tab buttons (Receive, Send, and Settings) are placed across the bottom of the window instead of down the left side. And my phone's nickname was "Fast Strawberry".
Sending and receiving files
I tested transferring files between my phone and laptop as well as between my Murena phone and another person's iPhone. I also sent text messages back and forth between the three devices. In each case the transfer completed successfully. I was prompted to accept file transfers and shown a list of received items along with the option of saving new files to an alternative location.
LocalSend -- Receiving files on my laptop
(full image size: 32kB, resolution: 900x600 pixels)
Something I appreciate about LocalSend is it integrates with Android's Share feature. Which means we can select any file, tap the Share button, and LocalSend will appear in the list of services we can use to send the file. This feature did not work on iOS.
When text was sent between devices the received text would be displayed on the LocalSend's Receive screen. The message was displayed until it was cleared. On the Receive screen, when we receive text, a button labelled Copy appears in case we wish to copy and paste the text to another application.
Other observations
When receiving a file or text message, neither Android or the desktop version displayed a notification to the user. The file transfer or received text quietly waits until we switch to LocalSend's Receive window and acknowledge the transfer. This struck me as odd at first as I thought a desktop notification would let me know when new files arrived. However, since LocalSend seems to be intended to be used as an AirDrop alternative, a tool which is used when people are in the same room together, perhaps a notification alert is unnecessary.
LocalSend is bit heavy in memory and uses around 150MB of resident RAM on my laptop when sitting idle. However, it consumes virtually no CPU resources.
A key point with LocalSend is the application needs to be open on both devices to start a transfer, there is no notice or ping letting us know someone wants to send us something. This means we need to keep LocalSend open or be notified through other means when we should open it. Usually it seems as though two people would negotiate when to use the application in face-to-face conversations.
When receiving files we can see a list of files which were saved to our Downloads directory. We cannot tap or click on the names of newly received files to open them from within LocalSend. We need to switch to another application, such as a file manager, to open the received items.
The application seems to be geared entirely toward helping people share files and messages in face-to-face environments, where they can talk and agree to open the app. (Not to mention share the quirky name of their devices.) The lack of a desktop notification, the LAN-oriented nature of LocalSend, and the semi-anonymous default naming approach the application uses doesn't lend itself to larger office environments or situations where people are not communicating in-person.
I'd say LocalSend is similar to Warpinator, though perhaps even more streamlined and more geared toward mobile devices. I wouldn't recommend this application for an office environment, for instance, where people might want to share files asynchronously. However, this is a great tool for sharing files between friends who are in the same room. LocalSend is unusually easy to use, it has sane defaults, it can work with just a few taps, and it runs on virtually all desktop and mobile platforms.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
New visual design for APT, Fedora moves closer to being reproducible, openSUSE reaches new reproducible milestone, LXQt 2.0.0 released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support removed from RHEL
People who use the APT package manager a lot will be interested to know that APT 3.0 is introducing some visual changes which adjust the structure of the command's output and introduces colours. "APT developer and Canonical engineer Julian Andres Klode took to LinkedIn to present the revamped APT interface powered by the upcoming APT 3.0 package manager that looks to give users a more concise and well-laid-out command-line output when updating, installing, or removing packages via the terminal emulator." APT 3.0 will likely be present in Ubuntu 24.10 and Debian 13. It's currently available to Debian's Unstable (Sid) users.
* * * * *
A build is considered "reproducible" if given the same source code, build environment and build instructions, any party can recreate bit-by-bit identical copies of all specified artifacts. Reproducible builds are considered a key element in securing software, making it possible to confirm programs are being built cleanly and without customized changes or additions. While some Linux distributions, such as Debian and Arch Linux, have made strong progress in making their packages reproducible, the Fedora project has not made reproducible builds a focus. As the Fedora documentation states, "Because of this strong control over the build process, reproducible builds haven't historically been a priority in Fedora."
Fedora is currently evaluating a change proposal which would help make Fedora packages reproducible: "Reproducible builds will allow our users to be able to independently verify that the RPMs have not been tampered with (either maliciously or via hardware/software fault): someone can do an independent rebuild of a package and confirm that they get identical binaries when building with the same versions of the compiler and other tools. This Change allows us to move forward in this direction by removing the common sources of irreproducibility. add-determinism is a Rust program which, as its name suggests, adds determinism to files that are given as input by attempting to standardize metadata contained in binary or source files to ensure consistency...."
* * * * *
At the same time, openSUSE has announced the distribution's Factory and Tumbleweed branches are now almost entirely bit-for-bit reproducible. The announcement from openSUSE states a little work is remaining: "It will take some time to do this verification for all packages to see how many of our packages are reproducible to this detail. Previous verifications, while ignoring some differences that this fixed, succeeded for more than 95 percent of packages."
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The LXQt project develops a lightweight desktop based on the Qt development libraries. The project has launched LXQt 2.0.0 which migrates from Qt5 to Qt6 and paves the way for improved Wayland support. "The LXQt team announces the release of LXQt 2.0.0, the Lightweight Qt Desktop Environment. LXQt 2.0.0 is based on Qt >= 6.6. For supporting styling and LXQt File Dialog with Qt5-based apps, libqtxdg-3.12.0, lxqt-qtplugin-1.4.1 and libfm-qt-1.4.0 can be installed alongside their Qt6-based versions in LXQt 2.0.0. PCManFM-Qt's desktop module, LXQt Runner and LXQt Desktop Notifications are completely ready to be used under Wayland compositors which support the 'layer shell protocol', like LabWC, Wayfire, kwin_wayland, Hyprland, Sway... Wayland will be the main target for LXQt 2.1.0, as Qt6 was for LXQt 2.0.0. The components which are not ready for Wayland yet include ScreenGrab, LXQt Global Shortcuts, LXQt Panel's task-bar and keyboard indicator (but LXQt Panel can be used under Wayland without those plugins), some input settings, and settings of monitor, power button, and screen locker." Additional information on this new milestone release can be found in the project's announcement and images of the desktop can be found on the project's screenshots page.
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Earlier this month we talked about how the AlmaLinux project has managed to patch a security flaw ahead of its upstream distribution, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The AlmaLinux team is continuing to offer additional benefits to its users, with the distribution adding (or re-adding) support for hardware RHEL no longer supports. FOSS Force reports, quoting Benny Vasquez, chairperson of the AlmaLinux Foundation: "'This move is made directly at the request of the AlmaLinux community,' the Foundation said in a statement. 'Everyone from industries across the world to hardware enthusiasts to the various labs and groups researching the very nature of our existence need to be able to keep their systems running updated operating systems without the added expense and hassle of being forced to migrate to new hardware. Supporting older hardware makes sense for the good of our community and the good of our planet.'
Vasquez told me that the final decision to return support for devices that had been deprecated by RHEL was made last month after some work was done in that direction at a hackathon. She says that going forward, the distro will be seeking feedback from users, and that she has gone so far as to post a thread in the AlmaLinux forums that seeks further input from users."
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Detecting supported architectures
How-modern-are-we asks: With all the talk of x86_64 package optimizations, like x86-64-v3, how can I tell what version my CPU supports? Is there a test I can run?
DistroWatch answers: There is a command you can run on virtually any Linux distribution to see which CPU architecture levels your system supports. To see which x86_64 version your CPU can handle, run the following command:
ld.so --help
This will print out a whole bunch of information, much of it about running executable programs and options the ld.so software can handle. Toward the bottom it will display a list of directories where shared libraries can be found, followed by supported CPU architecture levels.
Should you wish to narrow down the information to just the relevant data about which x86_64 processor levels your CPU supports you can filter the information using the grep command. Here is what this looks like on my laptop:
$ ld.so --help | grep x86-64-v
x86-64-v4 (supported, searched)
x86-64-v3 (supported, searched)
x86-64-v2 (supported, searched)
As we can see here, levels 2, 3, and 4 are all supported. If an architecture level is not supported, it may still show up in the list, but without the "supported" text next to it. Here is what happens when I run the same command on a computer which only supports up to level 3:
$ ld.so --help | grep x86-64-v
x86-64-v4
x86-64-v3 (supported, searched)
x86-64-v2 (supported, searched)
As we can see in the above output, the ld.so software recognizes that x86-64-v4 exists, but it is not supported on this processor.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
KANOTIX 2024
KANOTIX is a Linux distribution based on the latest stable release of Debian and available in KDE and LXDE flavours. The project's latest snapshot, KANOTIX 2024, is based on Debian 12. "For Easter 2024 there were new KANOTIX 'Slowfire' ISO images based on Debian 12 'Bookworm'. All editions are available for 32-bit and 64-bit systems and can also be found in the Downloads menu. Specifications: Linux kernel 6.6.13; LibreOffice 24.2.2 (only in the 64-bit edition); Compiz (all ISO images with LXDE, start without Compiz with cheat code 'nocompiz'); acritoxinstaller (recommended); git (default); testing Wayland (only in the 64-bit KDE edition since 7 April 2024 in, X11 default); Calamares installer; find (all 64-bit editions); you can activate refind later in the installation with command '# find-install'." The release announcement also includes links to the project's latest ISO image files.
KANOTIX 2024 -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
(full image size: 1.8MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Clonezilla Live 3.1.2-22
The Clonezilla Live distribution provides disk and partition cloning tools through a live DVD/USB platform. The project's latest release introduces kernel upgrades and reverts the xz package to an older, safe version. "This release of Clonezilla Live (3.1.2-22) includes major enhancements and bug fixes. Enhancements and changes from 3.1.2-9: the underlying GNU/Linux operating system has been upgraded, this release is based on the Debian Sid repository as of 2024-04-08; Linux kernel has been updated to 6.7.9; the ezio package was updated to 2.0.11; new format messages sending to ocsmgrd; a comma (,) is used to separate the messages; rotate Clonezilla-related log files and receive new format messages from clients; include powermgmt-base and pdsh in live system; xz-utils was reverted back to the 5.4.5 version; removed 'ip=' from boot parameters. Bug fixes: no message sent to ocsmgrd in BT mode; update disable_sudo_use_pty, negate it explicitly, not just comment it - this should avoid distortion of gpm with jfbterm." The release announcement for Clonezilla Live 3.1.2-22 includes additional details.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| 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: 2,985
- Total data uploaded: 44.3TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
What is the latest architecture level your computer's CPU supports?
In this week's Questions and Answers section we talked about CPU architecture levels and how to find out which ones your computer's CPU can support. These days it's fairly common for x86_64 machines to support v2 and some to support v3 and v4. We'd like to hear what the most modern extension your main computer supports.
You can see the results of our previous poll on minimal computing devices in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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My CPU supports x86 architecture levels up to version....
| x86-64-v1: | 58 (4%) |
| x86-64-v2: | 324 (24%) |
| x86-64-v3: | 433 (32%) |
| x86-64-v4: | 168 (12%) |
| Unsure: | 362 (26%) |
| I do not run an x86_64: | 24 (2%) |
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| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 29 April 2024. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. 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)
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • AlmaLinux (by Simon on 2024-04-22 00:47:25 GMT from New Zealand)
Great to see this RHEL clone filling that gap that Red Hat created when it sabotaged CentOS.
2 • Localsend - comparison (by sooth_sayer on 2024-04-22 01:11:10 GMT from United States)
Isn't it offering overlapping capabilities with KDEconnect?
3 • Missing word (by Allan on 2024-04-22 02:18:11 GMT from Mexico)
I think there the word "reproducible" is missing in the second Miscellaneous News about fedora reproducible packages:
"While some Linux distributions, such as Debian and Arch Linux, have made strong progress in making their packages (*) the Fedora project has not made reproducible builds a focus."
4 • LocalSend vs SyncThing (by Pumpino on 2024-04-22 04:36:46 GMT from Australia)
I hadn't heard of LocalSend, but I've been a happy SyncThing user for a couple of years. I assume I'm not the only one here. For those that have used both, what are the differences?
5 • Command not found (by LinuxMintUser on 2024-04-22 05:15:34 GMT from United Kingdom)
john@john-HP-Pavilion-g6-Notebook-PC:~$ ld.so --help
ld.so: command not found
john@john-HP-Pavilion-g6-Notebook-PC:~$
6 • @1 (Alma Linux) (by Microlinux on 2024-04-22 05:18:23 GMT from France)
Rocky Linux is already filling that gap perfectly. They remain bit for bit (and bug for bug) compatible with RHEL, and with the RESF the project has a strong legal foundation that prevents "paradigm shifts" like we've seen when CentOS pulled the rug from under our feet.
On a side note, I've been a CentOS user (in production) since 4.x and when CentOS made its infamous announcement, I had a brief stint with Oracle Linux after migrating all my stuff to Rocky Linux. They also have an extremely nice community.
7 • My CPU supports ...? (by Guido on 2024-04-22 05:50:06 GMT from Philippines)
The command "ld.so --help" is unknown on a typical Ubuntu/Mint installation!
What can we use instead?
There is /usr/bin/ld installed, but it will not show this information.
8 • re 5 & 7 (by Someguy on 2024-04-22 06:36:32 GMT from United Kingdom)
...same result - command not found. [Mint23.2].
9 • Sending files over local network (by Mint on 2024-04-22 06:39:46 GMT from Australia)
I use Warpinator and I reckon I have never been happier with any single piece of software as I have with it. Transfers large files quickly from phone to laptop and has allowed me to leave the much slower Bluetooth behind for this purpose.
Yet another of the great utilities developed by Mint, along with a top notch distro.
10 • @5 A better script to text x86_64 version (by Hellfire103 on 2024-04-22 07:28:23 GMT from The Netherlands)
Here's an awk script that should determine your x86_64 version:
#!/usr/bin/awk -f
BEGIN {
while (!/flags/) if (getline < "/proc/cpuinfo" != 1) exit 1
if (/lm/&&/cmov/&&/cx8/&&/fpu/&&/fxsr/&&/mmx/&&/syscall/&&/sse2/) level = 1
if (level == 1 && /cx16/&&/lahf/&&/popcnt/&&/sse4_1/&&/sse4_2/&&/ssse3/) level = 2
if (level == 2 && /avx/&&/avx2/&&/bmi1/&&/bmi2/&&/f16c/&&/fma/&&/abm/&&/movbe/&&/xsave/) level = 3
if (level == 3 && /avx512f/&&/avx512bw/&&/avx512cd/&&/avx512dq/&&/avx512vl/) level = 4
if (level > 0) { print "CPU supports x86-64-v" level; exit level + 1 }
exit 1
}
11 • LXQt (by Kazlu on 2024-04-22 08:04:36 GMT from France)
I must tip my hat to LXQt devs for successfully merging two already large enough projects (RazorQt and LXDE) and keeping such an active and pertinent developpment in the long term.
This project fills a nich no other project sits in (a lightweight DE using Qt). I am no longer using LXQt but I did for a while last year and I found it pleasant, quite to my taste, coming from the conservative Xfce user that I am. I am no longer using it because the theming consistency in a distro not thought for using it (Ubuntu Studio) eventually put me off and I am no longer ready to dig and solve this by hand. So, no fault of LXQt!
For the recors, this is exactly why I am actually happy to see spins of various distros here and there which focus on just using a new DE on an existing distro, as long as it's done with care of course. It is actually useful. Otherwise I stick with the defaukt (KDE is serviceable in Ubuntu Studio), Xfce being my #1 choice.
12 • LocalSend (by rayburn on 2024-04-22 08:18:01 GMT from United Kingdom)
Thanks for reviewing this tool Jesse, I had never heard of it before so I just installed it on Desktop and Android and it works perfectly - brilliant app.
13 • ld.so --help | grep x86-64-v output (by bassplayer69 on 2024-04-22 08:53:31 GMT from United States)
x86-64-v4
x86-64-v3 (supported, searched)
x86-64-v2 (supported, searched)
AMD 4 CPU Ryzen 9 5950X 16-Core Processor
14 • Wayland (by Mike on 2024-04-22 09:53:05 GMT from The Netherlands)
I recently moved to Solus OS with Plasma. The default is Wayland, but I noticed my Nvidia 1050 doesn't play well with Wayland. When I use Youtube, the videos keep stuttering. Is this "normal"? It doesn't look like Wayland has matured enough to be the default. Does anyone recognise this?
15 • sending files; CPU level (by Anthony on 2024-04-22 10:15:02 GMT from Czechia)
I never yet heard of LocalSend, but after unsuccessfully trying Warpinator and croc (and after seeing
the unholy amount of dependencies for KDE Connect), I settled with magic-wormhole run in termux on my phone. It works, and I don't even need to set up firewall rules.
I, too, lack the ld.so program. For me, it seems to be `/lib/ld-linux.so.2 --help`, but it only mentions i686, tls and sse2. According to @Hellfire103's script, my CPU supports level 3. (i3-8100)
16 • LocalSend and ld.so (by Jesse on 2024-04-22 11:51:09 GMT from Canada)
@2: "Isn't it offering overlapping capabilities with KDEconnect?
"
Not really. KDE Connect is for managing two devices you own and linking them together. This requires pairing the devices, configuring which modules to use/allow, and then it will allow you to manage one device from the other. This happens to include sharing files between devices.
LocalSend is for just sharing files between two devices, one of which you don't control. It's for friends or co-workers to share files, usually when in the same room or office together. It requires no pairing, no setup, and no configuration.
@7: "The command "ld.so --help" is unknown on a typical Ubuntu/Mint installation!
What can we use instead?"
If ld.so is not in your path then there is probably an equivalent in /usr/lib64/. This will typically be something like "/usr/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2" or "/usr/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.3". Typically distributions, including Debian-based ones make ld.so a symbolic link to the full path.
17 • Alma, Rocky, Nobara (by Otis on 2024-04-22 11:59:16 GMT from United States)
@1 @6 Nobara as an alternative is a beginner friendly version of Fedora.. RHEL vs Fedora and resultant Alma, Rocky, Nobara, CentOS etc (many more) interesting discussions abound, but home users vary in their needs (just like true Enterprise users in the business universe).
https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/red-hat-website-should-rewrite-their-relationship-with-fedora/47190/2
18 • ld.so on ubuntu/linux mint (by ferd on 2024-04-22 14:56:26 GMT from United States)
I found that if I run '/lib64/ld-linux-x86_64.so.2 --help' on my linux mint (ubuntu derivative) it'll do the thing that Jesse is explaining.
19 • Kanotix out of nostalgy (by Ennio on 2024-04-22 15:44:59 GMT from The Netherlands)
Thanks to Jörg Schirottke, whom goes by the artistic name of “Kano”, for bringing Kanotix again into the spotlight. Although Distrowatch stops the counter at the 2013 edition, Kano has never abandoned his scripts and builds, together with Andreas Loibl of Acritox fame (where you can find the nightlies). Wikipedia says it all...
20 • LocalSend (by Bernhard on 2024-04-22 16:13:41 GMT from Germany)
Thanks for introducing this gem. I used Warpinator for transferring some files from my laptop (Arch) to the desktop (Ubuntu). Although there's an app for mobile phones, I couldn't get it working on mine.
LocalSend on the other hand just works! Installed the AppImage version on my laptop and the version from FDroid for my phone. Great software.
21 • Local Send and Tailscale (by Gary on 2024-04-22 20:51:30 GMT from Canada)
Of interest to iOS users who also enjoy using Local Send is description by Martn Wimpress in episode 18 of the 'Linux Matters' podcast combining Tailscale and Local Send to expand it beyond being 'local' !
https://linuxmatters.sh/18/
From the show notes:
Snap, Crackle and Desktop
EP 18: Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023
Martin creates an Open-Source Apple AirDrop-alike for sending files around the aether with LocalSend
I'm not affiliated with this podcast but enjoy it's topics!
22 • Local Send and Tailscale (by Gary on 2024-04-22 21:10:58 GMT from Canada)
@21
Forgot to mention for anyone who listens to episode 18,
tune in at the 19 minute mark for Martin's description using
Local Send with Tailscale/Zerotier.
Also, it's easy to change the name of your device in Local Send settings
dialogue. Click the square to stop, highlight and change the name to what you want.
23 • RetroShare and OnionShare (by Random Experienced Void User on 2024-04-23 18:09:19 GMT from United States)
RetroShare runs on desktops only, OnionShare on everything. RetroShare handles LAN or Internet transfers, with tor being optional. OnionShare runs strictly over tor.
https://retrosharedocs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/concept/topology/
The RetroShare project has some work done on a mobile app. All development talk happens on RetroShare channels, join if interested. The Void Linux RetroShare package is out of date and orphaned; use the AppImage or Flatpak.
24 • Kanotix keeping the faith (by Kingneutron on 2024-04-23 18:18:01 GMT from United States)
Really nice to see KANOTIX making the news, since KNOPPIX has kind of fallen by the wayside and hasn't had an official (torrentable) release in a few years.
25 • Fedora woes (by ThomasAnderson on 2024-04-23 23:20:54 GMT from Australia)
Just my thought for the day as Fedora40 released
Fedoras release cycle is a disadvantage for most users.
"The Fedora Project releases a new version of Fedora Linux approximately every six months and provides updated packages (maintenance) to these releases for approximately 13 months"
Why I think this?
With such an intense release cycle of 6 months for new versions and maintenance for only 13 months, having to upgrade becomes a never ending chore of backups and reinstalls.
Backing up an entire drive is a chore. Yes there are automated tools but if you want to have more control, you will do it yourself folder by folder and this can take an entire day depending on the size of your drive/s
If the new releases only provides maintenance to packages and kernel, why this has to be entirely new version?
Why can't packages and kernel be updated for longer? Is there some limitation on package and kernel updates in Fedora? Is their team not capable of updating packages and providing new kernels for more than 6 months? Packages and kernel should be able to be updated indefintely like on a rolling distro? Why is there then a need for a new version every 6 months? You can still "freeze" packages for 6 months for stability and then release new versions without having to create an entirely new version of Fedora.
26 • Fedora release cycle (by Otis on 2024-04-24 00:03:07 GMT from United States)
@25 Some of us have opted for rolling release iterations of our favorite release cycle distros. There are many rolling release forks/siblings of Fedora, and quite well done I might add.
27 • Detecting supported architectures : ld.so --help (by eb on 2024-04-24 09:51:48 GMT from France)
@18 : thanks, the same on Slackware :
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 is a symbolic link to /lib64/ld-2.33.so
28 • Fedora, Rolling (by Jan on 2024-04-24 10:26:23 GMT from The Netherlands)
@25 @26
I agree on comment 25.
@26 A rolling release version of Fedora I could not find. And if there exists one, it probably has not the solid backing/management/safety which Fedora seems to have.
The only alternative with a solid backing/management/safety i could find is OpenSUSE TW, and maybe MX,
29 • Command not found (by Relative on 2024-04-24 17:31:51 GMT from United States)
Running the command on a 2009 iMac with 64-bit version of Mate 21.3 gets:
/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 --help | grep x86-64-v
x86-64-v4
x86-64-v3
x86-64-v2
Does that mean the iMac is running v1?
30 • Fedora (by ThomasAnderson on 2024-04-24 23:18:30 GMT from Australia)
The problem with Fedora is that application delivery is coupled to operating system delivery, whereas ideally, these should be seperated.
Operating system delivery means primarily the kernel and "core system apps" and gnome.
Application delivery means user apps like Firefox, LibreOffice etc....
Fedora lumping both together, means they need to create frequent 6 month releases, which is causing the issues for users.
Why doesn't Fedora and other distros, have a seperation in place?
An example of such a distro would be that the release of Fedora 40 includes all the latest stable versions and updates for everything;
-user apps receive updates when apps updates are available
-security updates for kernel and gnome etc are provided when they are released
-the kernel remains the same for 6 months as do the versions for system apps
After 6 months of testing by Fedora, they release a new kernel and system apps in an update
That's it. No bleeding edge kernel, but it is stable and updated every 6 months and apps which the user needs which are updated to current when available.
No need for constantly messing with users every 6 months.
31 • Fedora, @25, @26, @30 (by Mr. Moto on 2024-04-25 05:48:40 GMT from Philippines)
I'm a long-term Linux user, but no expert, so maybe I'm missing something. Why go through full drive backups and reinstalls for every new Fedora version (@25) when they offer a very simple upgrade process? I had Fedora 39 running on a VM. This week I opened the software app and out came a popup -"A new version of Fedora is available, would you like to download it?" And a caveat: "Restart required." I downloaded and restarted and now I'm running Fedora 40 with the same settings I had on the old version. Not only that, but the old kernel is still available just in case. Granted, it took a good 10 minutes for a restart, and it looked very much like a Windows upgrade: "Do not turn off your computer or the world as you know it will end." But once done I was back to my familiar desktop as if nothing had transpired. Risk? No more than the frequent updates on a rolling release. I'm running Ubuntu 23.10 on my SSD, and plan to upgrade to 24.04 as soon as the update app allows. Just as simple as with Fedora. Linux Mint also offers upgrades from their own updates app, after they notify you of such availability.
https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/upgrading-fedora-new-release/
I have nothing against rolling. I ran Endeavour and Garuda and like them very much. Also ran Tumbleweed for a while although it had more hiccups. Today, I have no need for the cutting edge, and the constant updates grew tedious. That's all. To each their own.
32 • Fedora (by ThomasAnderson on 2024-04-25 07:45:21 GMT from Australia)
@31
Why full drive backups?
In the case where you have your /home encrypted and installing new release.
Also just as a good habit for data protection the backups can be done when you do a reinstall.
If you don't have a NAS, it has to be done manually or automated, however automated backup there is always the chance that maybe you miss something or there is an issue with certain file types....but they are getting better.
Upgrading vs reinstall?
Personal preference is always to start from a clean slate. I had issues with upgrades and borked systems, which was a pain and I have a limit on my internet downloads
Ubuntu 23.10 (Mantic Minotaur) released Oct 2023, end of support Jul 2024
This is a 9 month cycle. Better than Fedora imo.
33 • @32Fedora (by Mr. Moto on 2024-04-25 08:39:46 GMT from Philippines)
@32, "This is a 9 month cycle. Better than Fedora imo." Fedora releases are supported for around 13 months. That's longer than Ubuntu's semiannual releases, not in my opinion but in fact. Of course, Ubuntu LTS offers 5 years support.
Don't know what an encrypted home has to do with a full drive backup.
If reinstalling is a personal preference, you are not being forced, as has been stated in these comments and they are not "constantly messing with users."
"I had issues with upgrades and borked systems." I haven't had any, but I've had issues with rolling release updates. Twelve vs. a dozen, choose one.
"I have a limit on my internet downloads" I guess it depends on how the limits work. Over time, more bandwidth will be used with rolling.
34 • Fedora/Nobara (by Otis on 2024-04-26 14:17:32 GMT from United States)
@33 etc I'm an advocate for Nobara as it cycles/updates almost as a rolling release, along with being fitted with all that's missing in Fedora. I have mistakenly referred to Nobara as a rolling release. It just seems that way to me.
35 • Thoughts on Fedora and *buntus (by ThomasAnderson on 2024-04-26 23:51:46 GMT from Australia)
So good point about Nobara however for some reason you cannot skip versions. For example you cannot go from Nobara 37 to Nobara 39.
A whole bunch of *buntus just dropped which is cool however with Ubuntu Kylin, I can't help but wonder if anyone else thinks this is a spyware honeypot from China? Not the underlying base, but the Kylin desktop. Has it been audited?
Instinctively I don't trust any software from China.
Number of Comments: 35
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| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
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| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
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| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
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| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
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