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ByteDance as the Chinese company behind TikTok has been working on a number of Linux kernel optimizations the past few years and their most recent work is for faster Kexec rebooting of the kernel. With their massive fleet of servers powering TikTok and other apps, they will do whatever they can to shave milliseconds off the boot/reboot time of their servers and that is what most of their Linux optimizations have been about -- including this newest patch series for faster Kexec reboots...

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Samsung has posted a set of Linux kernel patches for enabling their Trinity neural processing unit (NPU) hardware as accelerators found within some of their embedded systems. Samsung Trinity NPUs have been in use since 2018 and their newer Trinity "TRIV2" accelerator is found within the latest Samsung TVs for AI purposes. Samsung hopes to upstream this new Linux driver simply named "trinity" into the mainline kernel...

Samsung Post Linux Patches For Trinity NPU Accelerator Driver  Phoronix

Intel and MediaTek have just announced a strategic partnership where some future chips for MediaTek will be manufactured by Intel Foundry Services (IFS)...

The VKMS driver within the Linux kernel allows for virtual kernel mode-setting as a software-only KMS/DRM driver that can be used for virtual testing purposes and other uses around headless systems. New patches out of Google are working on ConfigFS support for this virtual display driver and from there making it easy to build out your own virtual graphics device configuration with VKMS...

Linux VKMS Driver Patches Making It Easier To Build Your Own Virtual Graphics Devices  Phoronix

RISC-V Default Linux Kernel Configuration Tweaked So It's Easier Running Docker, Snaps  Phoronix

With the upcoming Linux 5.20 cycle the RISC-V CPU architecture's default kernel configuration "defconfig" is being tweaked so it's capable of running Docker out-of-the-box...

Koodo is an All-in-one Open Source eBook Reader for Linux  It's FOSS

The post How to Setup Two-Factor Authentication For SSH In Linux first appeared on Tecmint: Linux Howtos, Tutorials & Guides .

By default, SSH already uses secure data communication between remote machines, but if you want to add some extra security layer to your SSH connections, you can add a Google Authenticator (two-factor authentication) module

The post How to Setup Two-Factor Authentication For SSH In Linux first appeared on Tecmint: Linux Howtos, Tutorials & Guides.

9to5Linux Weekly Roundup: July 24th, 2022  9to5Linux

Postgres is most transformative open source technology since Linux: EnterpriseDB  DATAQUEST

Tour Collabora Online, an open source alternative to Google Workspace Heike Jurzik Mon, 07/25/2022 - 03:00 Register or Login to like Register or Login to like

Setting up your own cloud office is an important step towards digital sovereignty. Collabora Online is an open source office suite for the cloud or on-premises that protects users' privacy and allows them to keep full control of their data. The software is developed by Collabora Ltd, Cambridge, UK, and their team working around the world. Collabora Online is based on LibreOffice Technology and is primarily licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0.

There are two editions available from the supplier:

• The production-ready and stable version Collabora Online (COOL)
• The Collabora Online Development Edition (CODE), aimed at developers, home users, and small teams

Collabora Online is an open source alternative to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. The LibreOffice-based online office suite supports all major document, spreadsheet, and presentation file formats and collaborative editing.

Get started with Collabora Online

Before I look at some of Collabora Online's features, I'll just clarify: Collabora Online is not stand-alone software. Instead, the online office suite integrates into an existing infrastructure and requires a cloud solution as a foundation, such as EGroupware, Nextcloud, ownCloud, or Pydio. The Collabora website also lists Alfresco, Microsoft SharePoint 2016 Server, Nuxeo, or Moodle as integration options.

Alternatively, there is a supported appliance for Collabora Online built on Univention Corporate Server (UCS), a Debian-based enterprise Linux distribution with an integrated identity and infrastructure management system. The Univention App Center offers two appliances, one with Nextcloud and one with ownCloud as the base.

If you don't want to install Collabora Online yourself, there is a list of partners—including hosting partners—who offer Collabora Online as a SaaS solution.

Standard file formats

Collabora Online works in any modern web browser; no plug-ins or add-ons are necessary. The cloud office includes a word processor (Writer), a spreadsheet (Calc), and presentation software (Impress). The icing on the cake is an application for creating vector graphics (Draw)—neither Google nor Microsoft offer a dedicated drawing program.

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(Heike Jurzik, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Apart from the Open Document Format (ODT, ODS, ODP, etc.), Collabora Online can open and process various Microsoft Office formats (DOC/DOCX, XLS/XLSX, PPT/PPTX). Basically, the cloud office supports the same file formats as LibreOffice, including older standards and exotics. Exchanging documents with other users works well, provided everyone knows how to work with style sheets and the difference between tabs and spaces. This knowledge applies to importing and exporting files between different office suites—online or offline—as well.

More great content Free online course: RHEL technical overview Learn advanced Linux commands Download cheat sheets Find an open source alternative Explore open source resources Look and feel of Collabora Online

Starting with version 6.4, Collabora Online offers the Tabbed view as an alternative user interface to the classic Compact view. It's not only designed to provide easy access to all features but also helps Microsoft Office users get used to the interface.

In current Collabora versions, users can choose their preferred look and feel via the View menu. In previous versions, the administrator had to adjust the server-side settings by editing the file loolwsd.xml (after version 21.11, this was called coolwsd.xml), section user_interface.

Please note that changing the XML file affects the look and feel for all users. EGroupware offers to modify the toolbar individually. Users choose their preferred interface in the personal settings, section File manager, tab Collabora Online. Here they can select Standard Toolbar from the drop-down menu and click Apply.

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(Heike Jurzik, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Collabora Online vs Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace

Here are some key collaboration features to see how Collabora Online performs compared to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace:

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(Heike Jurzik, CC BY-SA 4.0)

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(Heike Jurzik, CC BY-SA 4.0)

• Version history: This depends on the integration, i.e., the underlying host system. Most platforms list existing versions with timestamps. For example, in EGroupware, you must open a document and select File/See history. Nextcloud and ownCloud offer a version history via the integrated file manager (click on the dots and select Details).
• Manage changes: The menu Review not only contains a spellchecker and a thesaurus, but it also offers functions for commenting, recording, and managing changes. Users are given different colors when editing documents collaboratively, and the changes appear in near real-time. Added text appears highlighted and underlined, and deleted text is highlighted and crossed through.
• Comments: Marking words, lines, and entire sections, leaving and replying to comments, marking threads as resolved and unresolved—it all works like a charm.
• Shares: Sharing documents with other users (internally and externally) is straightforward. In integrations like Nextcloud and ownCloud, this all happens via the file manager and the sharing icon. The Sharing tab shows existing shares, offers to create public links, and sets up passwords and expiration dates. In EGroupware, you must right-click a document in the file manager and select the Share/Writable Collabora Online link. Alternatively, you can use the shared folders feature on all platforms to grant internal access to your documents.

Mobile access to your office suite

Mobile apps available for Android and iOS allow you to edit documents on your smartphone or tablet and even work offline. While all basic functions work fine, there is still room for improvement in formatting documents.

In any case, it's more convenient to work in the web browser of mobile devices. Thanks to the responsive layouts of the underlying platforms, this works well. Even collaborative and simultaneous editing of documents in Collabora Online runs smoothly. Admittedly, reading long documents is not much fun on a small display, and typing longer texts on the keyboard of a smartphone or tablet is not ideal either—but it works.

Control your office suite the open source way

There are no major differences between the cloud offices of the big players—at least for end users. All basic functions work fine, and there are no complaints about importing and exporting documents and dealing with different office formats. The biggest challenge might be installing and setting up the cloud office on a dedicated server with another cloud solution as a foundation. Regardless of your integration, you must take care of the installation and maintenance yourself.

Admittedly, this requires a little more effort than setting up an account with Google or Microsoft, but the data is stored on your own server or in a private cloud if you opt for a SaaS solution. Anyone who values digital sovereignty and wants to retain complete control of their data should consider it. Check out the online demo if you want to give Collabora Online a try.

Collabora Online is an open source office suite for the cloud or on-premises that protects users' privacy and allows them to keep full control of their data.

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Opensource.com

Alternatives What to read next Get started with EGroupware, an open source alternative to Microsoft 365 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License. Register or Login to post a comment.

How to use LibreOffice Writer templates Jim Hall Mon, 07/25/2022 - 03:00 Register or Login to like Register or Login to like

A staple in any office software suite is the word processor. Whether your needs are small or large, from jotting down a note to writing a book, the word processor gets the job done. Most Linux distributions include the LibreOffice suite, and I use LibreOffice Writer as my word processor.

LibreOffice Writer provides lots of flexibility through its toolbar, keyboard shortcuts, and menus. But if you just want to start a document without too much hassle, you can use one of the pre-loaded templates. Here's how to use LibreOffice Writer templates to make your work easier.

More great content Free online course: RHEL technical overview Learn advanced Linux commands Download cheat sheets Find an open source alternative Explore open source resources Start a new document

LibreOffice Writer starts with a blank document. Most folks just begin writing, but this is also the place to create a new document from a template.

First, open the File menu, then select New and Templates. This option opens the Templates selection:

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(Jim Hall, CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Templates selection dialog shows the different templates available on your system. The default LibreOffice Writer installation includes templates for different kinds of business letters, resumes, and other documents. You can browse the list or narrow the results with the filter options at the top of the dialog.

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(Jim Hall, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Click on the template you want and click Open to start a new Writer document using this template. Some templates include boilerplate text or other sample material you can use to get started in your new document. For example, the Modern business letter consists of this "lorem ipsum" sample text:

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(Jim Hall, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Other document templates just give you a starting point in an empty document with some nice-looking defaults. For example, the Modern document template uses a sans-serif font (such as Carlito on Linux systems) for the text body:

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(Jim Hall, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Download a template

You can download a suitable document template from LibreOffice's website if you don't find the template you're looking for in the built-in choices. Navigate to LibreOffice Extensions to start working with the LibreOffice extensions and templates library.

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(Jim Hall, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Enter a search term in the box to find the document template you need. For example, students might search for "APA" to find document templates already set up for APA style, a common style for academic papers.

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(Jim Hall, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wrap up

If you need to write a document, explore the LibreOffice templates to find one that works for you. Using templates means you spend less time setting up a document to look a certain way and instead get to work faster. Look for other document templates in the LibreOffice extensions and templates library that support your work.

Get started writing on Linux in a flash by using a LibreOffice template.

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Original photo by jetheriot. Modified by Rikki Endsley. CC BY-SA 2.0.

LibreOffice What to read next How to make LibreOffice templates to save time This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License. Register or Login to post a comment.

The secret to making self-organized teams work in open source Kelsea Zhang Mon, 07/25/2022 - 03:00 Register or Login to like Register or Login to like

Managers and executives are in the business of managing people and resources. Because many of our models for organization are built with the assumption that there's a manager involved, there's an expectation that there's some level of control over all the moving parts of the mechanisms we build. And for that reason, when you propose the idea of self-organizing teams to a manager, the response is often that it's just not possible. Surely everything will spin out of control. Surely the only way to maintain momentum and direction is through the guidance of a project manager and a technical manager.

It's not just management that gets confounded by the concept of self-organizing teams, though. It can give pause to team members, too. After all, in traditional organizations a developer only needs to deal with the technical manager. However, in a self-organizing team, a developer has to face at least seven or eight pairs of eyes (their team members.) That can be a pretty overwhelming prospect.

Is it possible for self-organizing teams to thrive?

Take the example of a team I have coached. One day at a daily standup meeting, a technical manager stood behind the team without saying a word.

Leeroy: "I have no tasks to claim today."

Jenkins: "Why? There's one unclaimed task."

Leeroy: "That one? I'm not sure what its requirements are."

Jenkins: "Why didn't you mention you weren't clear in the backlog refinement meeting?"

Leeroy: "There were so many people at the meeting, it was noisy, and I wasn't able to hear clearly."

Jenkins: "So why is everyone clear about its requirement except you?"

Leeroy: "Well…"

Jenkins: "You've mentioned before that you could support testing in addition to coding, haven’t you? You can go do testing."

Leeroy: "Alright!"

See, in a self-organizing team, everyone is accountable for the goal of the whole team, and everyone sees each other. It used to be that the technical manager was in charge of such arrangements, but now things get done without the technical manager even having to talk. The technical manager can cut out his micromanagement efforts and do what's more needed of them.

More open source career advice Open source cheat sheets Linux starter kit for developers 7 questions sysadmins should ask a potential employer before taking a job Resources for IT artchitects Cheat sheet: IT job interviews Work visualization

Self-organization doesn't mean you let everything go. You have to visualize your work while self-organizing.

In traditional organizations, a team member's work was in a "black box". What happens depends on how frequently the technical manager asked about it, and how honestly the team member answered. However, in a self-organizing team, the team's work is crystal clear. Whether it's on a physical task board, or in an electronic system, whoever wants to know the real-time status is able to find out, and without interrupting anyone else's work.

With such transparency in your work, do you still worry about projects getting out of control? In a self-organized team, you're able to analyze all kinds of data to find problems, and then take action to correct them over time. With self-organization, control is not weakened but enhanced.

Servant leadership

A manager still may be left wondering, "If everyone self-organizes, who do I organize? What's the value of my position?"

Self-organization is not the absence of management, nor does it require no management. It's instead the change of management style.

Without the burden of micromanagement, technical managers can create a good environment for the growth of team members. This includes:

Technical experts

With years of experience and deep knowledge of technology, the technical manager can take on the role of a technical expert. You could participate in technical reviews and code walkthroughs, as well as technical practices and technical platform improvements.

Take another example from a team I have coached:

One of the team members didn't adapt to new changes as easily as expected. He said that all of a sudden there was no one to assign him tasks, no one to do the detailed design. He felt that he had to start everything on his own.

To solve this problem, it was decided to form a technical advisory group consisting of the technical manager and several senior developers. However, the technical advisory group wasn't responsible for assigning tasks or for providing active supervision, it served only to provide support when team members needed advice or reviews. It allowed everyone to move away from the old working model and transition to a new working model, improving their overall competence and self-confidence.

In fact, technical managers reportedly feel more relaxed in the new working model. In the past, their subordinates just performed mechanical implementation or even dealt with the tasks assigned by the technical manager in a perfunctory way. All the pressure was on the technical manager's side.

In a self-organizing team, the pressure is shared by the whole team. Everyone's sense of responsibility is enhanced. The team discusses a problem together to make the solution more comprehensive and reliable.

Metrics drive

You might imagine a scrum master reacting to this concept with some reservation: "We can't move too fast. Now that we're self-organizing, each task in each iteration has no one to specify when it must be started and when it must be finished, and it's really getting a little out of control".

Self-organization is the final goal, not the starting point. You can't achieve self-organization in a few seconds, and it's not something you declare once and then forget about.

Instead of having to traditionally micromanage a team's work by giving them instructions at every step, scrum masters let everyone take initiative. However, scrum masters need to refine statistics and analysis of the data in every iteration to find where there's room for improvement. You might analyze whether everyone's schedule is reasonable, whether there are deviations from expected progress, and whether a task split is more conducive to cooperation. Through these analyses, scrum masters are able to help teams improve their self-management, as well as team's self-organization.

Coaching

Coaching isn't a way to reveal answers directly, nor is it a command-and-control instruction set. The subject of coaching has to solve problems, but the scrum master guides and inspires a team member to recognize potential improvement points and avenues that may lead to an innovative solution.

[ Related read: What's the difference between a manager and a coach? ]

The truth about self-organization

Self-organization requires effort and it requires skill. Ultimately, it builds stronger teams of stronger individuals.

Here are the important principles to keep in mind:

• Create a blame-free working environment
• Help to apply for budget for team building
• Establish a proper mechanism to encourage everyone to read more and share more
• Establish a proper valuation mechanism to help improve professional skills
• Self-organization doesn't mean you can play it any way you want.
• Self-organization is not the absence of management, but the change of management style.
• Self-organization is not the absence of rules, but self-driven under commonly agreed rules.
• Self-organization is not worry-free, but team members from all levels input greater and work hard for a common goal.
• Self-organization doesn't mean that leaders can be hands-off bosses. In means they get closer to teams, and provide more support.

This article is translated from Xu Dongwei's blog and is republished with permission.

Self-organization requires effort and it requires skill. Ultimately, it builds stronger teams of stronger individuals.

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Careers Project management What to read next 5 tips to avoid these common agile mistakes A comprehensive guide to agile project management This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License. Register or Login to post a comment.

New Asahi Linux Release Brings Support for Apple M1 Ultra and M2 CPUs  InfoQ.com

The 4 Best MP3 Tag and Metadata Editors for Linux  MUO - MakeUseOf

As was expected given all the recent kernel activity, Linux 5.19-rc8 was released today rather than going straight to the Linux 5.19 stable release, which has been diverted now to next Sunday. Linux 5.19-rc8 ships with many last minute fixes for this summer 2022 kernel update...

Linux 5.19-rc8 Released With More Retbleed Fixes, Intel GuC Firmware Fix  Phoronix