Linux Luddites

not all change is progress


October 16, 2016

Episode #89


Direct download links: MP3 & Ogg

00:06:51 News
00:54:57 KDE Plasma 5.8
01:15:47 Feedback
01:24:51 Phoenix OS

With Joe and Jesse positively gushing over Plasma 5.8, this is clearly not your great-grandfather’s KDE. And sticking with the desktop theme, we also span up Phoenix OS, a properly windowed Android for your PC or tablet.

00:06:51 News

Global PC Shipments Declined for the Eighth Consecutive Quarter
Lenovo in talks to buy Fujitsu’s loss-making PC business

Running Ubuntu on Intel Bay Trail and Cherry Trail Devices
GCC RISC-V Support Allegedly Held Up Due To University Lawyers

Mobile developers now top 12 million, and they can’t get enough of Android
Cyanogen OS goes modular: Offers phone makers option to license specific features

Video: Fireside Chat with David Rusling and Linus Torvalds
Video: Lennart Poettering: State of the Union/Portable Services

Here’s Everything Google Announced Today
Google may just have silently snuffed the tablet computer
Many Android 7.1 features are Pixel-exclusive, and Nexuses can’t get it yet
Verizon will control Android updates for Google Pixel phones it sells
Pixel and Pixel XL: Google Declares War on Samsung and Apple
Samsung just bought a potential Siri-killer from the guys who originally created Siri
Samsung – Collision course

Google is demoting Hangouts to “optional” in the Google Apps package for Android, to be replaced by Duo
Google will ‘increasingly focus’ Hangouts on business customers

Disappearing messages for Signal
Wire, the Encrypted Chat App, Is Now Available for Linux

Apple to Block WoSign Intermediate Certificates
WoSign Incidents Report Update — 7th Oct 2016
Remediation Plan for WoSign and StartCom
StartSSL certs are now valid for 3 years

Black Lab Linux is going commercial only
Tim Berners-Lee just gave us an opening to stop DRM in Web standards

00:54:57 KDE Plasma 5.8

With Jesse back running KaOS, Joe took another look at the KDE Plasma desktop in the form of KDE neon. And he found much to like, in particular the KDEConnect mobile-to-desktop bridge.

01:15:47 Feedback

A huge thank you to Patrizio Bekerle, William Mason and Peter Jones for becoming our latest Monthly Supporters — thanks, guys!

As ever, our conversation with friend of the show Rob Landley went down well, with praise coming in from Patrizio Bekerle, LukeVideo, Bacon Zombie and CubicleNate; and Rob got involved in the comments, writing lengthy replies to Will and Campbell Barton. A suggestion that we hear from somebody on the other side of the GPL enforcement debate was made by Will, and all we can say is that we’d be very open to that — so if Bradley or Karen are listening, do get in touch.

Jesse apologised to Dr M Majid Saleem on behalf of us all for overlooking his email about a short blog series he wrote explaining why he thinks that GNOME is the best desktop to run on a touchscreen convertible device.

Hauke Laging wrote to chastise us for suggesting that listeners ought to look around for a local event tied in with the upcoming Linux Presentation Day, and pointed out that perhaps we should have recommended they organise their own. Fair point, Hauke, but perhaps a little optimistic. As, sadly, was CubicleNate’s suggestion that if some of the big names in the Linux space could set their differences aside, they could come together to take on iOS and Android in the mobile space. A lovely idea, but one likely never to be realised due to der Narzissmus der kleinen Differenzen.

Joe ended the feedback segment by mentioning our affiliate relationship with Digital Ocean. We wouldn’t recommend a service if we didn’t use it ourselves and rate it highly; we do, and they’re great! So if you are looking for a cost-effective box in the public cloud with a big fat pipe out to the rest of the world, do give them a try with a free $10 credit courtesy of your Luddites.

01:24:51 PhoenixOS

We’ve looked at several OSs that attempt to turn Android into a usable desktop, but it’s fair to say that none have worked quite as slickly as PhoenixOS. That’s not to say that the provenance of Phoenix didn’t cause us a few issues, and both its symbiotic relation with Windows and lack of clarity on licensing also raise some big red flags. But we thought you’d like a glimpse of the sort of future that Google may have planned for us all, so settle back and hear how we got on with this properly windowing desktop Android.


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