Review of FuryBSD 12.0

FuryBSD is the most recent addition to the DistroWatch database and provides a live desktop operating system based on FreeBSD. FuryBSD is not entirely different in its goals from NomadBSD, which we discussed recently. I wanted to take this FreeBSD-based project for a test drive and see how it compares to NomadBSD and other desktop-oriented projects in the FreeBSD family. FuryBSD supplies hybrid ISO/USB images which can be used to run a live desktop. There are two desktop editions currently, both for 64-bit (x86_64) machines: Xfce and KDE Plasma. The Xfce edition is 1.4GB in size and is the flavour I downloaded. The KDE Plasma edition is about 3.0GB in size. Booting from the live media brings up the Xfce 4.14 desktop environment. Along the bottom of the screen is a panel which holds the application menu, task switcher and system tray. Icons on the desktop open the Thunar file manager, launch the system installer, and provide quick access to a Getting Started document. There are two more icons for accessing X.Org configuration options and showing system information. The Getting Started document is a quick reference text file containing command line instructions for setting up networking and installing video drivers. The System Information icon opens the Firefox web browser and displays a locally generated page which contains general information about our computer and its resource usage.

DebConf20: offer to speak in Palestine censored

On 20 December 2019, a Debian Developer posted the message below to the debian-project mailing list, offering to give the same talk at both DebConf20 in Haifa, Israel and again in Palestine. The message never appeared in the list and can't be found in the list archive for December. Alexander Wirt (formorer) has previously declared that he will censor messages about Israel due to anti-semitism. Yet the message below doesn't include anything against Israel and doesn't mention the boycott campaign. It is simply a volunteer offering to give up more of his time to help a population in Palestine who suffer from extraordinary discrimination. Is Wirt really fighting anti-semitism, or could the DebConf20 organizers simply be afraid of any discussion that may deter wealthy Israeli sponsors?

Shows and Screencasts: Linux Action News, Open Source Security Podcast, GNU World Order and More

• Linux Action News 142

  The real reason Rocket League is dropping support for Linux, Wine has a massive release, and the potential for Canonical's new Android in the cloud service. Plus, our take on the FSF's Upcycle Windows 7 campaign, and the clever Chrome OS strategy upgrade for education in 2020.

• Open Source Security Podcast: Episode 180 - A Tale of Two Vulnerabilities

  Josh and Kurt talk about two recent vulnerabilities that have had very different outcomes. One was the Citrix remote code execution flaw. While the flaw is bad, the handling of the flaw was possibly worse than the flaw itself. The other was the Microsoft ECC encryption flaw. It was well handled even though it was hard to understand and it is a pretty big deal. As all these things go, fixing and disclosing vulnerabilities is hard.

• GNU World Order 337

  The **acct** command from the Slackware **ap** software series.

• Podcast.__init__: Simplifying Social Login For Your Web Applications

  A standard feature in most modern web applications is the ability to log in or register using accounts that you already own on other sites such as Google, Facebook, or Twitter. Building your own integrations for each service can be complex and time consuming, distracting you from the features that you and your users actually care about. Fortunately the Python social auth library makes it easy to support third party authentication with a large and growing number of services with minimal effort. In this episode Matías Aguirre discusses his motivation for creating the library, how he has designed it to allow for flexibility and ease of use, and the benefits of delegating identity and authentication to third parties rather than managing passwords yourself.

• Solus 4.1 Budgie Run Through

  In this video, we are looking at Solus 4.1 Budgie.

today's howtos

• How to install Wine 5.0 on Zorin OS 15.1

• Ansible Playbooks Quick Start Guide with Examples

• Get Linux System and Hardware Details on the Command Line

• Using systemd Path Units to Monitor Files and Directories

• git mr: easily downloading gitlab merge requests

• How To Amend Git Commit Message