First Linux Kernel 5.12 Release Candidate Is Now Available for Public Testing

The merge window that opened with the launch of the Linux 5.11 kernel series two weeks ago is now closed and Linus Torvalds published the first Release Candindate in the upcoming Linux kernel 5.12 series, giving us an early taste of the new features and improvements. The final release of Linux kernel 5.12 is expected to hit Linux distros sometime this Spring in late April 2021, either on the 18th or the 25th, which depends on how many Release Candidate milestones will be published during the entire development cycle.

Review: LibreELEC 9.2 and Kodi

I recently got into a discussion with someone who had purchased a second television for their house and, knowing that I have a fondness for open source and do-it-yourself projects, they asked if there was a suitable alternative to Fire TV. For those not familiar with the device, a Fire TV stick is a small device which looks like a large USB thumb drive and attaches to the HDMI port of a television. The device connects wirelessly to local networks and can be used to stream shows and movies from a variety of services like Netflix and Disney+. The device is operated by a small, dedicated remote control. I was pretty sure a minimal Linux distribution running on a spare, minimal personal computer or a single-board device like a Raspberry Pi would probably be a suitable replacement. I figured a distribution that ran Kodi could probably do the work, connecting to the TV through an HDMI cable. The user could likely use the Kodi mobile app in place of a dedicated remote control. For the sake of comparison, I looked up information on the Fire TV stick which was $55 USD if i wanted it in two weeks or $60 if I wanted it in one week. The person I was talking with already had one and knew it was a "plug and play" type device, so the total set up time would be under ten minutes. I did some on-line shopping in my area and the closest open source style equivalent I could come up with was a Raspberry Pi 3B. The Pi was $47 USD. The Pi included a Wi-Fi option, but no microSD card, no HDMI cable, and no power supply. Adding these items to my tally brought my total up to $78, including tax. In other words, even with a free software solution, it looked like the open source route was going to be slightly more expensive with parts available in my region.

today's howtos

• How to Install Papirus Icon Theme on Linux Mint 20 – Linux Hint

  Papirus is a popular and eye-catching icon theme. The Papirus icon theme works with various desktop environments, i.e., Cinnamon, GNOME, Unity, etc., and is available in multiple variants. It can be installed on Linux Mint from the PPA repository, installer script, and Debian package.

• How to Setup Synology NAS? – Linux Hint

  Synology specializes in Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices and software. Synology NAS devices are easy to use and configure. Its built-in DSM (DiskStation Manager) web app allows you to access and configure the NAS from a web browser. Synology’s management web interface, the DSM web app, is one of the best NAS management tools out there. The DSM web app differentiates the Synology NAS from its competitors.

• How to Install WireGuard VPN on CentOS 8 – Linux Hint

  WireGuard is a popular point-to-point open-source communication protocol that is used to create a secure and fast Virtual Private Network tunnel. This VPN was designed for use in the Linux Kernel. WireGuard is a lightweight VPN that provides extremely fast speeds to users. This article shows you how to install and set up WireGuard on your CentOS 8 system. The installation and setup of WireGuard are much easier than the already-existing VPNs, like OpenVPN, and this is a major reason behind its growing popularity in the Linux community.

• How to Install Yarn on Linux Mint 20 – Linux Hint

  Yarn is a JavaScript package and dependency management tool that helps users to automate the tasks of installing, updating, removing, and configuring NPM packages. Yarn is an open-source package manager that saves a lot of time for JavaScript programmers because it creates a cache of downloaded packages. Using Yarn, a programmer can easily access and re-use a package without re-downloading it every time. This article shows you how to install Yarn on Linux Mint 20.

• Linux List All IP Addresses on the Interface – Linux Hint

  All the people who belong to the networking background know that an IP address acts as a unique identifier of the devices within a network. Therefore, we must know the IP addresses of the devices within a network to enable smooth network communication. Today’s article will focus on the different methods of listing all the IP addresses on the Interface in Linux Mint 20.

• Running Docker Containers on Synology NAS – Linux Hint

  Docker is a containerization platform. Docker is used to running lightweight containers on your computer. Synology NAS has official support for Docker. Docker can be an alternative to virtual machines. If you don’t have enough memory to run virtual machines on your Synology NAS, you can run Docker containers instead. Docker containers require a very little amount of memory and system resources to run. In this article, I will show you how to install and use Docker on Synology NAS. So, let’s get started.

• How to Enable Automatic Login on Ubuntu 20.04? – Linux Hint

  For Ubuntu’s latest versions, users can enable automatic login for the ease of users. If enabled, then users do not need to type the password whenever they try logging in. If you are the only user of your system, then it is a very useful method for easy access to relevant files. In this article, we will analyze the methods of enabling the automatic login on the Ubuntu 20.04 system.