Recently, when my son asked me to digitally convert some old DVDs of his high school basketball games, I immediately knew I would use Handbrake. It is an open source package that has all the tools necessary to easily convert video into formats that can be played on MacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and other platforms.

Handbrake is open source and distributable under the GPLv2 license. It's easy to install on MacOS, Windows, and Linux, including both Fedora and Ubuntu. In Linux, once it's installed, it can be launched from the command line with $ handbrake or selected from the graphical user interface. (In my case, that is GNOME 3.)

• Best Linux remote desktop clients of 2018

  This article has been fully updated, and was provided to TechRadar by Linux Format, the number one magazine to boost your knowledge on Linux, open source developments, distro releases and much more. It appeared in issue 220, published February 2017. Subscribe to the print or digital version of Linux Format here.

  SSH has been the staple remote access tool for system administrators from day one. Admins use SSH to mount remote directories, backup remote servers, spring-clean remote databases, and even forward X11 connections. The popularity of single-board computers, such as the Raspberry Pi, has introduced SSH into the parlance of everyday desktop users as well.

  While SSH is useful for securely accessing one-off applications, it’s usually overkill, especially if you aren’t concerned about the network’s security. There are times when you need to remotely access the complete desktop session rather than just a single application. You may want to guide the person on the other end through installing software or want to tweak settings on a Windows machine from the comfort of your Linux desktop yourself.

• EncryptPad: Encrypted Text Editor For Your Secrets

  EncryptPad is a simple, free and open source text editor that encrypts saved text files and allows protecting them with passwords, key files, or both. It's available on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

  The application comes with a GUI as well as a command line interface, and it also offers a tool for encrypting and decrypting binary files.

• Aria2 WebUI: Clean Web Frontend for aria2

  Aria2 WebUI is an open source web frontend for aria2. The software bills itself as the finest interface to interact with aria2. That’s a lofty goal considering the competition from the likes of uGet Download Manager (which offers an aria2 plugin).

  Aria2 WebUI started as part of the GSOC program 2012. But a lot has changed since the software’s creation under that initiative. While the pace of development has lessened considerably in recent years, the software has not been abandoned.

• qbs 1.12 released

  We are happy to announce version 1.12.0 of the Qbs build tool.

  [...]

  All command descriptions now list the product name to which the generated artifact belongs. This is particularly helpful for larger projects where several products contain files of the same name, or even use the same source file.

  The vcs module no longer requires a repository to create the header file. If the project is not in a repository, then the VCS_REPO_STATE macro will evaluate to a placeholder string.

  It is now possible to generate Makefiles from Qbs projects. While it is unlikely that complex Qbs projects are completely representable in the Makefile format, this feature might still be helpful for debugging purposes.

When it is updated, you can also use the Krita Lime PPA to install Krita 4.1.1 on Ubuntu and derivatives. We are working on an updated snap.

• whowatch – Monitor Linux Users and Processes in Real Time

  whowatch is a simple, easy-to-use interactive who-like command line program for monitoring processes and users on a Linux system. It shows who is logged on to your system and what they are doing, in a similar fashion as the w command in real-time.

  It shows total number of users on the system and number of users per connection type (local, telnet, ssh and others). whowatch also shows system uptime and displays information such as user’s login name, tty, host, processes as well as the type of the connection.

• Notes/Domino is alive! Second beta of version 10 is imminent

  IBM’s effort to make its Notes/Domino platform relevant for the future kicks up a gear this week, as the company prepares a second beta of a new version 10.

  Notes combined messaging and an application development environment, which set hearts a-fluttering in the early-to-mid 1990s. IBM laid out a then-record $3bn to acquire Lotus, which invented Notes, and drove the product to great prominence. IBM re-branded Notes’ back end as Domino and kept the Notes name for the client. But once Microsoft launched Outlook, bound it to Exchange and web-based development took off, both faded.

  And faded and faded until October 2017 when IBM decided it had had enough and did a deal with HCL that saw the latter company pledge to take on future development work.

• Curse of the CSV monster

• Curl Command Examples

• How to Install and Use GIMP 2.10 on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

• What is Hostname in Linux and How Can You Change It?

• How to install Ubuntu Minimal Server

• Five-or-More Modernisation - Progress Report

  Over the course of the past couple of months, I was able to achieve a promising progress in modernising Five or More, although I would have to say there is a fair share of aspects to tackle yet.

  I opted for rewriting the code module by module, without combining C and Vala code. There was was an old attempt to port Five or More to Vala, but I chose not to use it due to the fact that the partial port was 4 years old and it definitely needed an update, which might have taken quite some time, and might have produced some nasty bugs. While doing so, I paid extra attention to keep things nicely separated: all of the currently ported modules separate the game logic from the drawing logic and the UI.

  I also managed to port the app menu and the preferences window. However, due to the new design gudelines, which are currently only in the state of a proposal, the app menu might require future alterations.

• GUADEC18 Developer Center BoF Part 2: Possible Audiences

  This is Part 2 of a blog post series summarizing the Developer Center BoF. See also Part 1: The Developer Experience.

  Hi Again! As promised I will now cover our discussion of possible audiences at the GUADEC Developer Center BoF.