Open-source News

How to Install and Use Bitwarden on Linux  MUO - MakeUseOf

How to install Borgmatic for easy Linux server backups  TechRepublic

How to Use chattr Command on Linux  BollyInside

Intel today has lifted the embargo on SYCLomatic, their new open-source tool to help migrate code-bases targeting NVIDIA's CUDA so they can be re-purposed to target C++ and SYCL -- thereby being able to leverage Intel's graphics processors and jiving with their oneAPI goals...

The KDE development community today announced the release of the Plasma 5.25 beta...

Canonical Job Advert Suggests Expanding 'Ubuntu Gaming' Team  Tom's Hardware

Red Hat 2022: Linux In a New Avatar, OpenShift Upgrades, and Other Announcements  Toolbox tech news

Linux OS Market Anticipated to Surpass USD 21.05 Billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 17.93% - Report by Market Research Future (MRFR)  GlobeNewswire

Linux OS Market Anticipated to Surpass USD 21.05 Billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 17.93% - Report by Market Research Future (MRFR)  GlobeNewswire

Linux OS Market Anticipated to Surpass USD 21.05 Billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 17.93% - Report by Market Research Future (MRFR)  Yahoo Finance

Distro Delights, New Release Mania, Forking KDE, Windows in a Bottle  LinuxInsider.com

Intel's Clear Linux Outpacing Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Fedora 36 & Other H1'2022 Distros  Phoronix

Given the recent releases of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Fedora 36 among other recent OS updates, it's time for a fresh look at how various Linux distributions are performing. This Linux benchmarking bout is looking at the Xeon Platinum 8380 2P "Ice Lake" performance across Arch Linux, Debian, openSUSE, CentOS Stream, AlmaLinux, Fedora, Ubuntu, and Intel's Clear Linux.

Last week I wrote about how well known Mesa developer Samuel Pitoiset who is employed by Valve already started working on GFX11 (RDNA3) support for RADV, the open-source Radeon Vulkan driver in Mesa that isn't officially supported by AMD but remains more popular than their own "AMDVLK" driver. More GFX11/RDNA3 preparation work remains ongoing and it's looking like if trends continue this open-source driver could be ready for RDNA3 graphics cards in time for launch...

POCL as the "Portable Computing Language" that gets OpenCL running on CPUs as well as via LLVM allowing for targeting NVIDIA GPUs, AMD HSA environments, and other cases, is now preparing to roll-out OpenCL 3.0 support...

Multi-Gen LRU (MGLRU) remains a very promising effort for enhancing Linux system performance and particularly about providing a superior experience when the Linux kernel is dealing with system memory pressure. MGLRU v11 was posted this week while we await to see if it will be mainlined come the v5.19 merge window...

MGLRU Revved Once More For Promising Linux Performance Improvements  Phoronix

Back in 2017 for the Linux 4.11 kernel the statx system call was added for allowing enhanced file information reporting. Since then various file-systems began adding Statx support and worked its way up into Glibc and the like in user-space for Linux finally having file creation time reporting and other attributes. Two separate statx-related additions are now working their way to the kernel...

The Linux Foundation and Fintech Open Source Foundation Announce the Schedule for Open Source in Finance Forum London 2022, July 13  PR Newswire

Use this open source screen reader on Windows Peter Cheer Thu, 05/19/2022 - 03:00 1 reader likes this 1 reader likes this

Screen readers are a specialized area of assistive technology software that reads and then speaks the content of a computer screen. People with no sight at all are just a fraction of those with visual impairments, and screen reader software can help all groups. Screen readers are mostly specific to an operating system, and they're used by people with visual impairments and accessibility trainers, as well as developers and accessibility consultants wanting to test how accessible a website or application is.

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 How to use the NVDA screen reader

The WebAIM screen reader user surveys began in 2009 and ran to 2021. In the first survey, the most common screen reader used was JAWS at 74%. It is a commercial product for Microsoft Windows, and the long-time market leader. NVDA, then a relatively new open source screen reader for Windows came in at just 8%. Fast forward to 2021 and JAWS comes in with 53.7% with NVDA at 30.7%.

You can download the latest release of NVDA from the NVAccess website. Why do I use NVDA and recommend it to my MS Windows using clients? Well, it is open source, fast, powerful, easy to install, supports a wide variety of languages, can be run as a portable application, has a large user base, and there is a regular release cycle for new versions.

NVDA has been translated into fifty-five languages and is used in one-hundred and seventy-five different countries. There is also an active developer community with their own Community Add-ons website. Any add-ons you choose to install will depend on your needs and there are a lot to choose from, including extensions for common video conferencing platforms.

Like all screen readers, there are a lot of key combinations to learn with NVDA. Using any screen reader proficiently takes training and practice.

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(Peter Cheer, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Teaching NVDA to people familiar with computers and who have keyboard skills is not too difficult. Teaching basic computer skills (without the mouse, touch pad, and keyboard skills) and working with NVDA to a complete beginner is far more of a challenge. Individual learning styles and preferences differ. In addition, people may not need to learn how to do everything if all that they want to do is browse the web and use email. A good source of links to NVDA tutorials and resources is Accessibility Central.

It becomes easier once you have mastered operating NVDA with keyboard commands, but there is also a menu-driven system for many configuration tasks.

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(Peter Cheer, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Test for accessibility

The inaccessibility of some websites to screen reader users has been a problem for many years, and still is despite disability equality legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). An excellent use for NVDA in the sighted community is for website accessibility testing. NVDA is free to download, and by running a portable version, website developers don't even need to install it. Run NVDA, turn off your monitor or close your eyes, and see how well you can navigate a website or application.

NVDA can also be used for testing when working through the (often ignored) task of properly tagging a PDF document for accessibility.

There are several guides that concentrate on using NVDA for accessibility testing. I can recommend Testing Web Pages with NVDA and Using NVDA to Evaluate Web Accessibility.

In honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, learn about the NVDA open source screen reader and how you can get involved to improve accessibility for all web users.

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