mintCast 334.5 – Fossa Fuel

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LINUX INNARDS: 

Let’s Talk About Ubuntu 20.04 (See OMGubuntu article on 20.04 flavors)

• Ubuntu (Gnome) Features

• • Linux Kernel 5.4
  • Faster boot speeds
  • OEM logo displayed during boot
  • Improved appearance
  • Dark theme
  • Fractional scaling setting
  • Ships with GNOME 3.36
  • Redesigned login screen
  • New lock screen
  • Snap-based Ubuntu Software app
  • Improved GNOME Shell performance
  • Refined ZFS install support
  • Game mode added to the archives

• • Joe – Installed Ubuntu 20.04 on my 7140 tablet with gnome.  Had some small problems with Gnome and the touchpad left and right click not wanting to work although both did work with an external mouse.  So I installed Cinnamon and Mate and my touchpad worked fine in both.
    • Rotation also worked without a hitch in Gnome and Cinnamon but I did not search for the setting in Mate since I will use that with X2go for remote access
    • Haven’t set up my normal scripting for file movement and sshfs yet but it should work fine. 
    • Noticed a series of games already installed.  Very Windows XP style
    • Turning on touchpad scrolling did not work until after reboot
    • I also didn’t like the touchpad acceleration.  After I adjusted it I did not notice any change until after a reboot and then it was fine
    • Boot times are fast and smooth although there is a device related problem with reboot
    • Looks beautiful and runs smooth
    • Still haven’t installed UKUU and upgraded to the most recent kernel
    • But I did check out snap which is built in.  works great. 
      • Installed the snap for Standard Notes and Mumble and was able to use auto completion with no issues and they immediately were available in the start menu
  • Leo
    • Installed Ubuntu 20.04 Beta on the T450s. This laptop!
    • Tried to stick with the default install on all of the apps I use. This meant installing lots and lots of things via Snap. The only reason I tend to shy away from Snaps is the theming issues (the wonky looking cursor, off-looking GTK Themes, and slow startup times).
    • Talked to Martin Wimpress about these on BDLL last night and got some clarification about where the Ubuntu team is headed. These issues are absolutely on their radar, but got pushed back for some more technical issues that needed to land in 20.04. These issues are now a priority again and will land soon!
    • Another thing we ended up talking about was the fact that all desktop installations of Ubuntu are automatically set up to take the HWE kernel when it drops. So no more confusion about whether you’re on a point release or not and what that means.
    • Historically, if you installed with 18.04, you didn’t get the HWE kernel. You could opt in, but required installing a couple of packages. If you installed 18.04.1 or later, you got the HWE kernel automatically.
    • Stuck with it until a little after release when the Gnome desktop really started to grind on me. It was great overall, and fine on my desktop, but on my laptop, the animations were struggling to stay smooth. I’m petty enough to allow that to be a game breaker. I know that to get things to look “nicer” that sometimes comes with more animations. I just figured that a business-class laptop from 2015 would be able to handle it!

• Ubuntu MATE Features

• • • Ubuntu MATE 20.04 features include better support for HiDPI rendering throughout the UI, minimised window previews in the task bar, and new Notification Indicator settings (including a do-not-disturb mode).
    • The distro has decided to drop Compiz and Compton from the default install as they’re no longer considered necessary (and this is an LTS release).

• There’s also a new GTK frontend for the fwupd application. This will make it easy to check for firmware updates for connected devices and apply said updates if available.

• • Finally, all the goodies present in the upstream MATE desktop 1.24 release are present here.

• • Who on the team has tried it?
  • Moss’ biggest peeve: The icons for “End the Current Session”, “Lock Screen”, and “Turn Off the Device” are not evocative of those features in any way and are tinier than ever. This is a serious problem for visually impaired people, and the icons themselves are an issue for everyone. Question: Is this a MATE issue, or just Ubuntu MATE?
    • Otherwise, this felt like the old, familiar shirt you’ve worn for the last 10 years when you just want to relax. Nothing feels new, everything works.

• Kubuntu Features

• recent KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS release

• For instance, there’s a new colour emoji selector, better theming of GTK apps, refined app and system notifications, and a system tray toggle for the Night Color option.

• • A swathe of updated KDE applications are available through Discover (the software store), including newer versions of Kdenlive, KDE Connect, and Latte Dock.
  • there’s a new default music player in Kubuntu 20.04. The distro has chosen to switch from the Qt-based Cantata to the Qt-based Elisa as of this release.

• • Moss – I installed Kubuntu 20.04 on my Galago Pro. 
  • I tried to use Clementine music player in Kubuntu 20.04, I was using it in the beta. But it seemed to freak out to the point of appearing to wipe my music drive and bombarding me with tons of notifications, but in fact just freaked out all by itself; the drive is fine. That gave me a chance to update my backups. I saw later on YouTube where sneekylinux had the same issue with Clementine on Xubuntu, and switched to Strawberry Player, so I did the same. I’m also having some issues with Konsole in Kubuntu, it looks like it tears under each line almost like thin underlining. Might be my resolution.

• • Leo
    • Moved to Kubuntu 20.04 and have been there ever since. Animations are smooth, no slowdowns that I notice, and TERMINAL. BLUR. So, so so so nice. It’s a touch that I didn’t realize made the terminal feel “premium.”
  • Tony W briefly, only from live USB)
    • Ran just fine on my low powered Dell 7130 tablet.  No performance issues, touchpad/touchscreen etc all work well

• Xubuntu Features

• • No release notes for new features
  • There is a new dark theme

• • Who on the team has tried it?

• Ubuntu Budgie Features

• • Chief amongst these is a brand new application menu inspired by Slingshot, the stock app launcher used in elementary OS. The app launcher has an optional ‘power strip’ mode which embeds session management buttons into the app launcher, beside the search box.
  • There’s also a new, native Network Manager applet for managing wired and wi-fi web connections, better HiDPI support, a new ‘desktop layout’ chooser, and better ‘Window Shuffler’ too.
  • App wise the Ubuntu Budgie team has replaced GNOME MPV with its successor, Celluloid, and adds the (really terrific) Drawing app to its default software roster.

• Ubuntu Studio Features

• • The audio plugin selection is expanded further, with a handful of new plugins included for audio production needs.
  • MyPaint returns to the default install, where it sits alongside the latest version of the GIMP image editor.
  • The Ubuntu Studio Controls utility now lets you assign names to pulseaudio-Jack bridges and has been organized a touch to make it take up less screen space.

• Who on the team has tried it? (Moss, briefly)

• • Tony W (briefly, only from live USB)
    • 3.6GB ISO is actually not bad at all, for everything it comes with
    • IT LOOKS AMAZING!
    • I am LOVING the selection of pre-installed goodies!
    • Video goodies – It comes with OBS pre-installed, along with both Kdenlive and Openshot
    • Audio – more than you can shake a stick at.  
      • Ardour, Audacity, 
      • Loads of custom soundcard support, including the ENVY24 utility that my old school sound card/audio interface needs
      • Guitarix, rackarack, a looper, multiple drum samplers, the list goes on
      • Multiple media players – VLC, Parole, Xjadeo
      • BONUS – KDE Connect!

• Lubuntu Features

• First Lubuntu LTS with LXQt

• • Who on the team has tried it? (Moss attempted to install it but couldn’t get past Calamares UEFI installer requirements for some reason)

• Ubuntu Kylin Features

• • new Qt-based desktop environment
  • Who on the team has tried it?

• Ubuntu Cinnamon Respin

• • Features?
  • Who on the team has tried it?

• Ubuntu Lumina Respin

• • Based on Lumina from TrueOS

• Overall Issues with Ubuntu 20.04

• • We have commented on the fact that this is a new LTS. Several apps did not work properly in 18.04 which worked fine in 16.04 and had to be reworked, and in this vein several users have noted a problem with Clementine music player. Any others noted?

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER:

• Londoner (Telegram)

• K Wisher (mewe)

• x1cygnus, Scott (Telegram)

• Dale Miracle (Telegram)

• Dave W. (Email)

• Larry P. (Email)

http://170.187.156.171/2020/04/29/mintcast-333-5-efired/

• John Wallis Security Saga

CHECK THIS OUT!

• Listener John Wallis
  • Mastering Linux Security and Hardening by Donald A Tevault
• Leo
  • Bashtop
  • For John Wallis, but really, anybody that wants a look into Kernel Parameters
    • https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/managing_monitoring_and_updating_the_kernel/configuring-kernel-parameters-at-runtime_managing-monitoring-and-updating-the-kernel
• Joe
  • Ben Heck Hacks
  • RaspbianX
    • X86 emulation on the piz
    • Runs steam games

Announcements: 

• Our next episode will be at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC, May 17, 2020. That’s 8 pm British Summer Time.

Wrap-up:

• Joe – www.Tllts.org  linuxlugcast.com MeWe [email protected] 
• Bo – ecnradio.com
• Moss – Triad Bardic College, Peaceful Hippo, MeWe, music on Bandcamp and Moss Bliss’ YouTube channel or Robert Warren’s channel, I should have my ReverbNation site back soon, [email protected], [email protected], Sponsus (Now with Tiers, and a Donate Button!)!
• Tony Hughes – HPR –  http://hackerpublicradio.org/correspondents.php?hostid=338 Occasional Blog https://tony-hughes.blogspot.com/ Twitter @TonyH1212, [email protected] [email protected]   
• Tony Watts – [email protected], Echoes of Savages (band)
• Josh – [email protected], [email protected], edublocks.org and @all_about_code on Twitter
• Leo – leochavez.org and @leochavez on Twitter, and you can get your five minute news digest at Full Circle Weekly News

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

• Hobstar for his work on the new logo
• Josh for all his work on the website
• Hacker Public Radio for the Mumble server we are using to record
• Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
• Archive.org for hosting our audio files
• The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about.

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