Bits of Linux: 2015 #3

In this edition: An interview with Trisquel founder Ruben Rodríguez, 2 new Chromebooks for eduction announced by Acer, the Gluglug Libreboot X200 was certfified by the FSF and a special message from Bill Gates.

📰 Articles / Videos

Emacs is My New Window Manager

If the title doesn't scare you too much (hello vi users) read Howard Abrams's article on how he uses Emacs as his window manager to get his daily business done.

Interview with Trisquel founder Ruben Rodríguez

Ruben Rodríguez, founder of Trisquel GNU/Linux, joined Linux Action Show #349 to discuss Trisquel's mission, the project's past, present and future and the focus on freedom and privacy. As usual the show covers different topics such as Mark Shuttleworth's view on Ubuntu powered robots and drones and a review of KDE Plasma 5.2 desktop, the interview with Ruben starts at 31:46.

💬 Discussions / Q&A

Bodhi Linux returns

After taking a step back from managing the Bodhi project late last year, Jeff Hoogland announced his return to work on the Enlightened Linux Distribution.

Cool stuff to do with Android and Linux

Tips for what you can do with Android and Linux from the Reddit community, some examples:

Use DriveDroid to boot your PC from ISO/IMG files stored on your phone, requires root.
Download a terminal emulator app and Busybox to get a lot of Linux utilities on your phone.
Install FolderSync and enjoy cloud-less file synchronization over SSH.
Install SSH Tunnel and use your computer as an encrypted proxy on shitty public wifi.
Run Owncloud and sync your calendar and contacts with it instead of Google.

Would you buy a better-built, but more expensive Chromebook?

I don't know, I kind of like the fact that it's cheap. It's one of the only devices I feel okay throwing it around or not being super careful with it. My main rig is a desktop that I don't mind pouring money into. But for a laptop, the C720s performance, portability, and affordability are perfect.

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💻 Linux Devices

Acer announced 2 new Chromebooks for the education market

Acer announced 2 new Chromebook models targeted at the education market, the Acer Chromebook C910 and Acer Chromebook C740. Both of them have a durable design and offer an affordable and proven platform for student learning.

Gluglug Libreboot X200

The Gluglug Libreboot X200 is a lightweight, durable and freedom-friendly laptop with a 12.1 inch screen powered by a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor.

New laptop comparison pages

In addition to the existing laptop comparison chart I added one with Linux netbooks only and one for comparing Chromebooks.

📖 Open Source Software

shellfire - namespaced, composable shell function libraries

shellfire is an MIT licensed framework for building modular applications in POSIX-compliant shell script (bash, sh and dash).

syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization

The syncthing project has 2 main goals:

Define a protocol for synchronization of a folder between a number of collaborating devices. The protocol should be well defined, unambiguous, easily understood, free to use, efficient, secure and language neutral.
Provide the reference implementation to demonstrate the usability of said protocol. This is the syncthing utility. It is the hope that alternative, compatible implementations of the protocol will come to exist.

😎 Fun Stuff

Bill Gates on Facebook with a picture Ubuntu users

Bill Gates posted a message on Facebook together with this picture of students using Ubuntu Linux!

Linux kernel development disturbed

Linux kernel development was seriously in danger because Linus' coffee machine broke, but apparently the threat is over now. Still, worth asking how someone with so much experience leading a large scale software project had no backup solution for this scenario.

Bash Fork Bomb T-Shirt Green Print

Bash is the default shell in many Linux distributions. People, especially clueless Windows promoters, often argue that you cannot use Linux without a terminal. While this has been wrong for a while, many Linux people love hacking the command line.

One command you should not try is a fork bomb, unless you're doing it for science. This somewhat cryptic form of a fork bomb in Bash fits nicely on a shirt and is guaranteed to get some attention.

Bits of Linux is a bi-weekly round-up of interesting articles, discussions, Q&A, open source software projects, new Linux devices and reviews as well as a dose of fun stuff related to Linux, that have been published or I have discovered during the past 2 weeks. To not miss posts in this series, subscribe to the Bits of Linux RSS feed.

February 02, 2015

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