Open-source News

AMD-Xilinx XDMA Driver Being Merged For Linux 6.3

Phoronix - Fri, 02/24/2023 - 22:00
Adding to all of the other AMD changes coming with Linux 6.3 is now also having the AMD-Xilinx XDMA driver in tow. Getting this XDMA subsystem driver upstreamed is important for unblocking more Xilinx-based feature code to be merged into the Linux kernel...

Open Source Security Foundation's Criticality Score 2.0 Debuts To Rank Important OSS Projects

Phoronix - Fri, 02/24/2023 - 20:34
Back in 2020 Google and the Open-Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) came up with a "Criticality Score" to rank the importance/criticality of open-source projects. The Criticality Score is a means of quantifying the importance of an open-source project such as if in need of funding or development assistance. Criticality Score 2.0 has now been published...

Linux 6.3 Bringing Proper Support For The 8BitDo Pro 2 Wired Controller

Phoronix - Fri, 02/24/2023 - 19:50
The 8BitDo Pro 2 Wired Controller as a popular ~$35 USD gaming controller will see proper support with the Linux 6.3 kernel...

Microsoft's CBL-Mariner Linux Shows Increasing HPC Interest

Phoronix - Fri, 02/24/2023 - 19:00
Microsoft's in-house Linux distribution CBL-Mariner has been public now for about two years. CBL-Mariner has been in use for Microsoft's use-cases from their Azure cloud to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) while their newest release continues a recent trend of pointing towards a high performance computing (HPC) workloads focus too...

Mesa's Radeon "RADV" Driver Can Now Handle Cyberpunk 2077 Ray-Tracing

Phoronix - Fri, 02/24/2023 - 18:00
Merged on Thursday to Mesa 23.1 was implementing VK_EXT_pipeline_library_group_handles using hashed stages with support for caching and replay. What makes this work notable is that it in turn allows the popular game Cyberpunk 2077 running with Steam Play / VKD3D-Proton on Linux to begin enjoying ray-tracing support...

Linux 6.3 Scheduler Updates Bring Fixes & Minor Optimizations

Phoronix - Fri, 02/24/2023 - 17:00
The Linux 6.3 scheduler changes were merged earlier this week that overall provide a collection of minor improvements to this important area of the kernel...

5 open source tools to take control of your own data

opensource.com - Fri, 02/24/2023 - 16:00
5 open source tools to take control of your own data wsamh Fri, 02/24/2023 - 03:00

Back in the old days, there was no cloud. Everything was on your phone. Maybe you had a microSD card that you backed up everything on. Eventually, the SD card would stop working, and you lost everything unless you'd saved it on a writable CD or DVD or stored it on your PC. Self-hosting was tough in those days, and it was expensive. Software wasn't as accessible as it is now.

Today, it's common for phones not to have an SD card slot. The good news is that software is good enough that you can back up everything you own on a single Raspberry Pi, spare laptop, or mini-PC.

You can own your own data and data stack by self-hosting. Containers and personal cloud software make it possible. In this article, I share several of my favorite ways to make that happen.

Linux Containers What are Linux containers? What is Kubernetes? Free online course: Deploy containerized applications eBook: A guide to Kubernetes for SREs and sysadmins Free online course: Running containers with Red Hat technical overview Podman cheat sheet The latest articles on Linux containers Containers

A container is software consisting of everything required for an application to work. Each container acts as its own computer and doesn't affect other containers or software on your host server. With this technology, you can keep your software up to date without breaking your system. It also allows you to control where data is stored, making backing up your data easy.

Learning to use containers can be intimidating. I started with Docker, although many other container engines exist, including Podman and Istio. It didn't take long for me to get the hang of it. I found that containers make self-hosting services easier than ever. If you're familiar with installing applications on the Linux terminal, you'll get the hang of it quickly.

Syncthing

One of the easiest ways to back up your data is through Syncthing. This open source software synchronizes data across different devices. Select the folder you want to exist on two (or more) devices, and then that data and any changes to it are reliably kept updated on each device.

This isn't just a convenient way to share data; it's also a backup scheme. Should one hard drive go down, you have a copy of your important data on another device. Once you restore the broken PC, you can reconnect with Syncthing, and it synchronizes everything you lost. Syncthing is useful for storing data on multiple devices in different locations, including on machines outside your house (at a friend or family member's home, for instance). It's also a great off-site backup tool.

Nextcloud

Nextcloud is an open source alternative to Google Drive or Dropbox. It's also multi-user, so once you install Nextcloud, you can set up distinct logins for each user. There are a variety of Nextcloud apps for phones and PCs. You can auto-synchronize your photos and then view photos from the app or a web browser. You can mark files public to share them with the rest of the internet.

Similar to Syncthing, a client can also synchronize files between your server and your desktop or laptop. Nextcloud also has components to let you manage contacts and calendars, and of course, you can synchronize them between other devices.

In fact, you can install many kinds of apps on Nextcloud, including programs to store notes, manage email, chat with others, and more. The Nextcloud environment includes an "app store" of open source applications.

Jellyfin

If you're interested in managing your own media server, then you're in luck. Jellyfin takes your media, like movies, TV shows, and music, and makes them available to any device you allow access. You can use Jellyfin to scrape the web for metadata, automatically retrieving cover art and media information.

Jellyfin also works without the internet. When your internet goes out and you can't connect to your favorite streaming service, you can use your local network to connect to your Jellyfin server and watch or listen to your media. I have had this happen, and I can attest that it's a great way to keep yourself and your family entertained.

Home server

These are just a few services you can install on any Linux PC or laptop. You need a server that's always on to ensure your services are constantly available. That doesn't necessitate a major investment, though. You can use many kinds of computers as Linux servers. The easiest and most inexpensive is a Raspberry Pi, which has excellent support with a helpful and enthusiastic community.

Getting a Raspberry Pi set up is "as easy as pie," thanks to the Raspberry Pi imager. It only needs about 5W of power, so it doesn't take much energy to keep it running. There are many similar low-powered devices, including the Odroid, Orange Pi, and Rockpi.

You can also install Linux on any PC or laptop and run it as a server. It's a great way to repurpose old computers.

Finally, you could use a Virtual Private Server (VPS). A VPS is a "slice" of space on a server located in a big data center. You pay rent on the server space and maintain it as you wish.

Your own data

When you put data on the cloud, it can be used without your control or consent. It may even be used without your knowledge. I don't foresee that issue improving.

We don't need private companies handling our data anymore. You can often replace corporate services to reduce the amount of data you're giving away.

In my opinion, we should all own our data, and we need to do it correctly, with open source. We can host services for personal use and for family and friends. I synchronize my calendar and contacts with my personal server (a Raspberry Pi in my home). I think it's worth fighting for, and there's no better time than right now.

Take your data out of the hands of proprietary corporations and into your own hands with open source solutions.

Image by:

Opensource.com

Containers Nextcloud Linux Raspberry Pi SCaLE What to read next This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License. Register or Login to post a comment.

Fedora Considers Dropping Delta RPMs

Phoronix - Fri, 02/24/2023 - 07:38
For many years now there has been delta RPM support built into Fedora to allow just downloading the binary difference between the currently installed RPM package and the updated version. While this made sense during the days of limited Internet connectivity/bandwidth, delta RPMs haven't proven useful in years and now Fedora Linux is considering removing this support...

Mesa 23.1 Zink Change Further Lowers CPU Overhead, Less vRAM Utilization

Phoronix - Fri, 02/24/2023 - 05:00
Yet another Zink OpenGL-on-Vulkan driver optimization has landed in Mesa 23.1 ahead of its official release next quarter...

Pages