Welcome to mintCast

the Podcast by the Linux Mint Community for All Users of Linux

This is Episode 451!

This is Episode 451.5!

Recorded on Sunday, December 8, 2024.

Still here im Joe; hinging on, I’m Moss; Frozen Stiff, I’m Bill; Steaming that Deck, I’m Majid; and, happy with my second hand tech, I’m Eric.

— Play Standard Intro —

First up in the news: mintCast turned 16 while we weren’t watching, Mint 22.1 being tested, Cinnamon 6.4 Desktop Environment released, US lawyers pushing Google to divest Chrome, El Capitan takes the lead,
In security and privacy: Hackers push fake BitWarden updates, Chinese hackers push Linux-focused WolfsBane, WordPress security flaw gives hackers admin access,
Then in our Wanderings: Bill cools the runnings, Joe cools his printer, Moss cools his ereaders, Majid gives in to temptation, and Eric finds value and delight in his secondhand hardware.

In our Innards section: We talk “servers” and mintCast infrastructure
And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions
Please remember if you want to follow along with our discussions, the full show notes for this episode are linked in the show’s description

— Play News Transition Bumper —

The News

20 minutes

mintCast is 16!
- On November 18, 2008, the very first episode of mintCast was published. Charles Olsen was the solo host for the first two episodes, and was then joined by Rothgar from episode 3 onward. All episodes, including these very early ones, are available on mintcast.org
Linux Mint 22.1 ISOs are now being tested – Eric
- From the Mint Community website (via londoner)
- As of yesterday (Dec 7) the latest ISOs for Mint 22.1 have entered the testing phase. This leads us in to the next article…
Cinnamon 6.4 Desktop Environment released – Eric
- From 9to5 Linux (via londoner)
- On November 28, the Linux Mint team released the Cinnamon 6.4 desktop environment, which will be the default in the upcoming Linux Mint 22.1 (Xia – yes that’s the new code name!) release expected in late December 2024 near the Christmas holidays, or possibly early January.
- Highlights of the Cinnamon 6.4 desktop environment include a new default theme that’s much darker and more contrasted. The revamped theme features rounded elements, redesigned modal dialogs, support for panel highlights, support for colored buttons in dialogs, and a gap between the applets and the panel.
- The new default Cinnamon theme also features updated styling for the calendar applet and the power applet menu, updated switch styling to match the new background color, and reduced horizontal padding on notification buttons. The revamped theme will be enabled by default on all new Linux Mint installations.
- Cinnamon 6.4 also comes with a built-in Night Light feature in Display settings to help reduce eyestrain when working at night on your computer, a “Force Quit” dialog rewritten in Clutter that will appear when an application is frozen and no longer responds, as well as a new status applet.
- On top of that, Cinnamon 6.4 modernizes the media buttons and workspace OSDs, improves notifications, animations, and the application launcher, renames the “Quit” option to “Shut Down” in the main menu, and renames the “Log Out” option and capitalizes the Lock Screen option in the main menu.
- It also adds Power Profile options to the power module, along with support for FreeDesktop.org PowerProfiles DBus, adds support for running the NetworkManager applet (nm-applet) during session fallback, adds an option for showing notifications in full-screen, and makes notification states immutable.
- Last but not least, Cinnamon 6.4 adds support for more battery device labels and icons in the Power settings, improves previews for JXL (JPEG-XL) image files, fixes HiDPI support for sound device icons, adapts to the new overamplification setting, and adds support for using numpad arrows to navigate the main menu.
- The Grouped Window List applet has also been updated with a new option to list windows only from the current monitor. In addition, Cinnamon will now play a volume change sound after dragging a slider and always shows the panel if a menu is open on top of it.
- As mentioned before, Cinnamon 6.4 will be the default desktop environment in the forthcoming Linux Mint 22.1 (Xia) distribution, due out next month, but you should also be able to install it on other GNU/Linux distributions that offer the most recent Cinnamon release (e.g. Arch Linux) via the stable software repositories.
US lawyers will reportedly try to force Google to sell Chrome and unbundle Android – Bill
- from The Verge
- The Department of Justice is planning to ask for Google’s antitrust trial judge to force the company to sell off its Chrome browser after the judge ruled the company has maintained an illegal search monopoly, reports Bloomberg.
- Chrome is the world’s most widely used browser, and the government’s lawyers have argued that its use in cross-promoting Google’s products is one of the things limiting available channels and incentives for competition to grow.
- Requirements that officials are preparing to propose include that Google separate Android from Search and Google Play, but without trying to force Google to sell off Android. Another requirement would say it has to share more information with advertisers and that it “give them more control over where their ads appear,” the outlet writes.
- Bloomberg also reports that officials will recommend that the company “give websites more options to prevent their content from being used by Google’s artificial intelligence products.” Finally, they will reportedly push for “a ban on the type of exclusive contracts that were at the center of the case against Google.”
- Google’s regulatory affairs VP, Lee-Anne Mulholland, said that the DOJ “continues to push a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case,” Bloomberg writes.
All hail our new leader — AMD-powered El Capitan becomes officially the world’s fastest supercomputer – Moss
- from TechRadar
- The global supercomputing leaderboard has a new presence at top spot, as the AMD-powered El Capitan takes over prime position to become the world’s most powerful setup.
- With a sustained compute power of 1.7 exaflops and a peak of over 2.7 exaflops, El Capitan knocks previous leader Frontier to second on the list of the most powerful supercomputers in the world.
- El Capitan was built by HPE for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to simulate nuclear weapons tests. It is powered by AMD instinct MI300A APUs and is not only the fastest but also in the top 20 of the greenest computers too.
- For perspective, El Capitan can achieve a task in less than one second that requires one human to do one calculation every second since the earth formed and then again for nine more earths.
- The supercomputer will enable LLNL to significantly improve the ability to predict and model nuclear weapon performance as the stockpile gets older and new systems are introduced.
- This will help LLNL to better understand and make informed decisions for safety. It will also be leveraged for a range of other missions to help understand emergencies such as natural disasters and manmade crises.
- It does this by providing higher resolutions in 3D modelling that were either not possible with previous machines or too computationally expensive to regularly run.

— Play Security Transition Bumper —

Security and Privacy

10 minutes

Hackers pushing fake Bitwarden updates hit thousands of devices with data stealing malware – Joe
- from TechRadar
- Bitdefender has warned hackers are using the Facebook advertising platform to trick Bitwarden users into installing a fake security update that steals personal data and credit card information from businesses and individuals alike.
- The advert lures a user through a string of redirected URLs before landing them at a phishing page designed to mimic the official Chrome Web Store.
- Once downloaded, the malware leeches data from Facebook’s Graph API which is then sent to the attacker via a Google Script URL that acts as a command and control (C2) server.
- The fake adverts create a sense of urgency for users, displaying messages such as “Warning: Your Passwords Are at Risk!” and using Bitwarden branding to appear as a legitimate advert.
- Once lured to the fake Chrome Web Store, users then download a zip file that is manually loaded as a Chrome browser extension using Developer mode, avoiding the usual security checks that would take place when adding a browser extension.
- The extension then asks for permission to operate on all websites, modify network requests, and access storage and cookies allowing it to collect and exfiltrate the data your browser has access to. Once the extension is opened, the malware looks for the ‘c_user’ cookie on Facebook, which contains the Facebook user ID.
- The malware also uses a background.js script to harvest data from Facebook cookies, including information on location and IP address, and uses the Facebook Graph API to extract all of the stolen data to the hackers C2 server.
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- Bitdefender recommends that users and security teams keep an eye out for extensions that request excessive permissions, as well as those with obfuscated functions such as ‘chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener’ and signatures that request to graph.facebook.com APIs.
- Users should also double check the authenticity of an update with the manufacturer, pay close attention to updates pushed through adverts and social media, and use one of the best antivirus services available as an additional line of defense.
- While this campaign has since been taken down, the attack shows the potential for malicious actors to use Facebook advertising and social media to push further malware on a global scale.
Chinese hackers target Linux with new WolfsBane malware – Eric
- from Bleeping Computer
- A new Linux backdoor called ‘WolfsBane’ has been discovered, believed to be a port of Windows malware used by the Chinese ‘Gelsemium’ hacking group.
- ESET security researchers who analyzed WolfsBane report that WolfsBane is a complete malware tool featuring a dropper, launcher, and backdoor, while it also uses a modified open-source rootkit to evade detection.
- The researchers also discovered ‘FireWood,’ another Linux malware that appears linked to the ‘Project Wood’ Windows malware.
- However, FireWood is more likely a shared tool used by multiple Chinese APT groups rather than an exclusive/private tool created by Gelsemium.
- ESET says the two malware families, both appearing on VirusTotal over the last year, are part of a broader trend where APT groups increasingly target Linux platforms due to Windows security getting stronger.
- “The trend of APT groups focusing on Linux malware is becoming more noticeable. We believe this shift is due to improvements in Windows email and endpoint security, such as the widespread use of endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools and Microsoft’s decision to disable Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default. Consequently, threat actors are exploring new attack avenues, with a growing focus on exploiting vulnerabilities in internet-facing systems, most of which run on Linux.”
- WolfsBane is introduced to targets via a dropper named ‘cron,’ which drops the launcher component disguised as a KDE desktop component.
- Depending on the privileges it runs with, it disables SELinux, creates system service files, or modifies user configuration files to establish persistence.
- The launcher loads the privacy malware component, ‘udevd,’ which loads three encrypted libraries containing its core functionality and command and control (C2) communication configuration.
- Finally, a modified version of the BEURK userland rootkit is loaded via ‘/etc/ld.so.preload’ for system-wide hooking to help hide processes, files, and network traffic related to WolfsBane’s activities.
- “The WolfsBane Hider rootkit hooks many basic standard C library functions such as open, stat, readdir, and access,” explains ESET.
- “While these hooked functions invoke the original ones, they filter out any results related to the WolfsBane malware.”
- WolfsBane’s main operation is to execute commands received from the C2 server using predefined command-function mappings, which is the same mechanism as the one used in its Windows counterpart.
- These commands include file operations, data exfiltration, and system manipulation, giving Gelsemium total control over compromised systems.
- Though only loosely linked to Gelsemium, FireWood is another Linux backdoor that could enable versatile, long-term espionage campaigns.
- Its command execution capabilities enable operators to perform file operations, shell command execution, library loading/unloading, and data exfiltration.
- ESET identified a file named ‘usbdev.ko,’ which is suspected of operating as a kernel-level rootkit, providing FireWood with the ability to hide processes.
- The malware sets its persistence on the host by creating an autostart file (gnome-control.desktop) in ‘.config/autostart/,’ while it can also include commands in this file to execute them automatically on system startup.
- A comprehensive list of indicators of compromise associated with the two new Linux malware families and Gelsemium’s latest campaigns are available on this GitHub repository.
Security plugin flaw in millions of WordPress sites gives admin access – Moss
- from Bleeping Computer
- A critical authentication bypass vulnerability has been discovered impacting the WordPress plugin ‘Really Simple Security’ (formerly ‘Really Simple SSL’), including both free and Pro versions.
- Really Simple Security is a security plugin for the WordPress platform, offering SSL configuration, login protection, a two-factor authentication layer, and real-time vulnerability detection. Its free version alone is used in over four million websites.
- Wordfence, which publicly disclosed the flaw, calls it one of the most severe vulnerabilities reported in its 12-year history, warning that it allows remote attackers to gain full administrative access to impacted sites.
- To make matters worse, the flaw can be exploited en masse using automated scripts, potentially leading to large-scale website takeover campaigns.
- Such is the risk that Wordfence proposes that hosting providers force-update the plugin on customer sites and scan their databases to ensure nobody runs a vulnerable version.
- 2FA leading to weaker security: The critical severity flaw in question is CVE-2024-10924, discovered by Wordfence’s researcher István Márton on November 6, 2024. It is caused by improper handling of user authentication in the plugin’s two-factor REST API actions, enabling unauthorized access to any user account, including administrators.
- Specifically, the problem lies in the ‘check_login_and_get_user()’ function that verifies user identities by checking the ‘user_id’ and ‘login_nonce’ parameters.
- When ‘login_nonce’ is invalid, the request isn’t rejected, as it should, but instead invokes ‘authenticate_and_redirect(),’ which authenticates the user based on the ‘user_id’ alone, effectively allowing authentication bypass.
- The flaw is exploitable when two-factor authentication (2FA) is enabled, and even though it’s disabled by default, many administrators will allow it for stronger account security.
- CVE-2024-10924 impacts plugin versions from 9.0.0 and up to 9.1.1.1 of the “free,” “Pro,” and “Pro Multisite” releases.
- The developer addressed the flaw by ensuring that the code now correctly handles ‘login_nonce’ verification fails, exiting the ‘check_login_and_get_user()’ function immediately.
- The fixes were applied to version 9.1.2 of the plugin, released on November 12 for the Pro version and November 14 for free users.
- The vendor coordinated with WordPress.org to perform force security updates on users of the plugin, but website administrators still need to check and ensure they’re running the latest version (9.1.2).
- Users of the Pro version have their auto-updates disabled when the license expires, so they must manually update 9.1.2.
- As of yesterday, the WordPress.org stats site, which monitors installs of the free version of the plugin, showed approximately 450,000 downloads, leaving 3,500,000 sites potentially exposed to the flaw.

— Play Wanderings Transition Bumper —

Bi-Weekly Wanderings

30 minutes (~5-8 mins each)

Bill
- Not much to report this week. The american thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. I’ve never really been much for holidays throughout my adult life. One thing I was looking forward to was the annual 2 Fat Truckers Black Friday dinner. Once a year a bunch of us meet at an out of the way steakhouse in rural Bronson, Michigan for a rather gluttonous red meat feast. Admittedly, I’ve always prefered the company of friends. The biggest reason I’ve traditonally not enjoyed family get togethers is becausse of the anxiety over possibly offending people with my personality. At least around friends, I’m near like-minded people who may better understand the rhetoric if not take part themselves. The military and the trucking world is kindof condusive to the culture of folks giving each other a little crap. If we tug at you a little, it’s because we like you, and consider you an equal. If we don’t like you, we don’t talk to you. It’s physics. Turns out, not everyone is able to shoulder said crap. It stresses me, because I really don’t want to hurt people’s feelings, though at the same time I wish people would stop being such little weenies.
- Okay so tech; let’s see… alright…I did do some work on the servers over the 4 day weekend. I decided to remove some PCIe cards that weren’t doing anything. I got rid of a couple of cards that I put in to make the usb2 ports on the top of the servers work. There’s already two other usb3 ports that are wired directly to the motherboard headers. One of the servers runs on an NVMe hard disk, so I decided to preempt any possible over-heating problems. I purchased a Thermalright HR-09 2280 PRO SSD heatsink from Amazon. It’s a big honking over-kill bit of hardware that has excellent reviews. It actually screws fast to the NVMe drive, and cools the drive really well. This is especially important for servers that are running containerized services twenty four hours a day, and seven days a week. The improvement in overall operating temperature is actually pretty dramatic. I’ve not taken the time to put together real data, but I may talk about it at more depth in the future.
- I’ve decided to switch back to my Electro-Voice RE320 microphone. For some time now, I’ve been using my Samson Q9x for some time now. Recently, I’ve seen some rather scathing review videos, all hating on the Q9x, and loving on the RE320. While I don’t necessarily agree with the negative reviews of the Q9, I’ve been considering switching back to the 320 for a while now. I’ve got a lot of mics, some I’ve used many times, others have yet to be even plugged in. Some mics are just better suited for podcasting than others. Some mics are only really suitable for being displayed, I think.
Joe
- Lots of 3D printing fun. I had gotten a roll of petg to run through. I have previously done a lot of printing with PETG but switched to PLA for a while since it was easier to print with. PETG is supposed to be more durable and flexible than PLA so better for practicle applications while not really being any more expensive.
- I used it to print some olympic adapters for my adjustable dumbells. It actually printed out really well after I put some hairspray on my PEI bed and dropped the cooling to nearly nothing. I was somewhat disappointed as I found the final product to be extremely brittle compared to the PLA version I printed.
- This is probably due to the fact that I rely on walls for strength instead of infill and usually use lightning infill to save on material. I will probably have to change this for certain prints going forward
- After that I redesigned the STL that I had gotten from thingiverse so that it was shorter and had less of a back stop so that it would fit better on the stubby dunbells that I have. Final product came out very well and should be adaptable enough for me to mix olympic and standard weights if I need to. And I was able to get 4 of them out of one roll with plenty of material left over. Plus the smaller size increases the strength of the infil
- I also printed out some screw together cylinders that I can use to store some of the 4mm screw driver kits that I have where the original container is no longer in good condition. I was also able to get one together for the larger bits using the 3D printed handle that I had made before.
- I have still been practicing my 3D design skills and while I would not call myself good at it I would say that I am improving. I designed and 3D printed a holder with seperate compartments for my vaporizer and ejuice that screws into the side of my chair in the garage to replace the cheap single pocket one that I had hanging there previously. Did not take long to design and did not take long to print.
- I started the process with the negative space in tinkercad which made the process very easy. I have also been watching several youtube videos on the topic of 3D design and have found some interesting things there that will help me in the future.
- Final product came out great also printed in PETG and is screwed into the arm of my chair for convenience. I also love how my prints are coming out right now.
- Well I need to go through all of my Bluetooth headphones again. I am down to the last couple that are working properly and I will need to start replacing cables again and probably cleaning switches. Might also have to look into new batteries for some of them. But I think I have those sourced. I am also on the look out for alternatives and while some companies do make low cost neck band headphones they rarely seem to have decent microphones. So the hunt will continue for now.
- Still on the lookout for a new SBC or mini PC or two to replace my previous DNS sinkhole and Wireguard build that died. I was thinking of getting something similar to the machine that Moss had me fix a couple of weeks ago, the M700 Tiny, which I think I could set all that up on and still use it as set top box. But in the meantime I am thinking that I should get a Docker setup running either my server or on my gaming laptop. I rarely use it for gaming any more since I got the Steam Deck and I would still be able to do a lot of the things that I normaly do by moving around another monitor.
- Found out that the Dell Venue 7140 audio no longer works on modern kernels. I tried for a couple of hours to get it to work but nothing so far and others have reported the same. At least for built in audio. Obviously USB audio still works and it looks like the mini HDMI ports audio works and surprisingly the camera works perfect which if I remember right never used to. I guess the broadwellrt-286 is just too old to be properly supported.
- I mean I dont use the built-in audio much anyway and most 3.5mm jacks from the time suck. But its still nicer when everything is working. Getting harder to keep recommending it though.
- My wife got me a nightstand organizer that is a little smaller than the old one. It has a place to set up your phone either standing or laid down for a wireless charger. It has a small shelf I assume for wallet and two pegs for keys and rings. There is also a cutout for watches to hang.
- Its pretty cool but needs some modification to be useful for me so I took the design that I had for a watch stand for the Galaxy Watch 5 and modified it so that it would slide over the watch hanger that is on the stand. Took some measuring but worked pretty well on the first try.
- Next the phone holder has a slot for a usb cable but it does not hold it into position and the slot at the bottom of the angled holder is not wide enough to properly fit my phone and case so I designed a block to fill the that bottom holding slot and then created a lip to go through the USB slot that will press fit into place around the current hardware. I also created a channel to hold a usb cable into place so that you can slide the phone directly into place
- Going to design another hanger to go on the back of the organizer so that I have a place for my neckbacd headsets and I want to design a slotted tray for my old challenge coins that fits into the wireless charging slot that is there. Probably with some room left for earrings and rings. Maybe a ring holder?
Moss
- I haven’t been feeling well the past several weeks. I almost canceled being here just for general malaise, and am considering taking yet another sabbatical. I have only had 2 days of work the past 4 weeks. And I have withdrawn my application to attend ETSU as the current political situation is not welcoming to either me or my intended studies.
- My PineTab 2 stopped working, just as I was getting deep into the second trilogy by former mintCast guest Ken McConnell. It started to boot, got to the lock screen, I entered my password, it loaded Plasma, loaded the login box for my wifi … and then booted down before I can even either enter that password or close the box (as I don’t need wifi to read a book on the device). I was told in the PineTab group that it sounded like the battery wasn’t charged enough, but I’ve had it plugged in lots in the past couple of days. After more trouble-shooting, I put it back in the keyboard/case and plugged it in… and 6 hours later, it was fully charged and working again.
- “dieselnutjob” released a new Debian version for the PineTab 2 featuring the 6.11 Linux kernel (Danct build). I installed it on my PineTab 2. Believe it or not, I think I liked the Arch version better, it boots to Plasma and recognizably so, whereas the Debian version boots to a mostly blank screen which you have to slide left to get to the program manager. Also, the pull-down menu which includes things like logging into your wifi and shutting the system down is not shown in the Debian version, you have to know to pull it down from the top right corner. In the Arch version, everything looks like a normal desktop. Perhaps the Debian version uses Plasma Mobile while the Arch version uses Plasma Desktop?
- My PineTime is still working for what I need. No, the accelerometer doesn’t seem to work, but I’m not counting steps anyhow.
- Now I’m going to have to load all those books onto my new-to-me Kindle Oasis, mentioned last episode, which is working just fine. Which also brings up another point: why is it so easy to add books to your Kindle reader, but nearly impossible to take them off for storage?
- We had the power steering motor start to go out on our Hyundai Elantra. We had to take it back to the shop three times for this, as the wrong part kept being sent, but the 3rd time was, indeed, the charm. And one of the tie rod boots on my Mazda 2 is starting to deteriorate, although the mechanics say it could wait a month or four (and will cost around $360, they can’t just replace the boot).
- My 72nd birthday also happened since the last show. And my wife and I celebrated our 8^th Anniversary, you know what they say, the 6^th time’s the charm.
- In terms of celebrations, I only have 3 more episodes of mintCast to do before I move into 4^th place on the Hosting List. But will my health hold out long enough?
Majid
- So after my epic fail with trying to shoe horn a gaming PC into my mums old tower, I decided that all of these attmepts of trying to get into gaming (buying a bluetooth controller for my tablet, loading Steam and Xbox on my Ryzen machine, having an Xbox Series, amongst others) were really attempts to avoid buying a Steam Deck. Hence I bought a used Steam Deck OLED through an interest free deal (via Klarna). It arrived yesterday and I am busy loading up some games onto it (as I don’t have the most extensive Steam library). It’s going to take me a while to get the hang of the controls. I was worried the 720p screen would be an issue since we have 1080p and QHD devices these days. But so far so good. There are more details on that builiding a rig experiement on Linux OTC Asus of Theseus.
- I really enjoy our OTC episodes, I love the way conversations go from the sublime to the ridiculous!
- A colleague at work was looking for a device for his son’s birthday, I managed to get him to buy the Lenovo Miix 520 tablet I had. It wasn’t really getting used. He wanted Windows on it, and though it has got much easier to install than “back in the day”, it still isn’t an easy process, took me a good couple of hours.
- My next distrohop is going to Elementary OS 8. The only question, is which device: the laptop or this podcasting rig. Since we have this episode to do today, I thought I’d do it afterwards rather then just before doing the show.
- I might have mentioened that I’d gotten a Snapdragon Elite laptop (another interest-free purchase: damn you, Black Friday!). Yes, it runs Windows, as there isnt a proper Linux distro release yet (though there is an alpha of Ubuntu 24.10 around). Battery life is amazing, and it’s got a great screen with which I’m watching Day of the Jackal.
- As I am using that more, I do miss the “it just works” of Linux. Why does Windows have so many random issues? You’d think a multi-billion dollar company can do better. But hey, that’s Microsoft for you. On the plus side, LibreOffice works well on Windows. Great for editing PDFs I find…
- Black Friday was lean for me this year, only real deal I got was the CMF Watch Pro. A steal at £50. Yes, it’s limited; no, you can’t use it for payments, and the notifications are a bit hit-and-miss. But the battery life is measured in weeks rather then days. I went for the square style (Apple watch like) as something different.
- I have stuck to Tidal for my music, I can get all the features of YouTube Premium by using YouTube in the Brave Browser, and I don’t like the quality of YouTube music. Liking the new Linkin Park album, and the new music from Killswitch Engage. AptX codec seems better then LDAC for Tidal which I found interesting, though I have no idea why it would. It does mean I use more mobile data when I’m out an about though.
- Finished Citadel: Diana on Prime. Decent, but not the best ending. I mentioned Day of the Jackal, I love it. It’s one of those shows you can binge, and switch off from the world. I do think that’s what I use, and a lot of my decisions are based on. I work in such a high pressure situtation, that I need to switch off mentally. Recently we had child who died in our ER, I was ND in the care of the child, and it was traumatic for all of us. Unfortunately, a lot of us in healthcare get used to death, but children and parents are difficult to deal with.
- Starting taking some Creatine along with my protein shakes and gym work to try and consolidate my gains. Does cause a bit of stomach upset, so may need to adjust the dose accordingly.
- Hopefully fewer spelling mistakes as I am using a different keyboard. Just a spare we had in the house, hopefully will mean less editing for Moss! (LOL No, not really – Moss)
Eric
- Dell Latitude 2-in-1 tablet PC – Best Purchase Ever?
  - It was originally released and sold new in 2018, making it five years old when I bought it used on eBay last October for $155. I have used it extensively over the past 14 months. It has become the computer I take with me, taking the place of my Dell XPS 15 9570, which is also of 2018 vintage. As an aside, both of these systems continue to work perfectly fine and, unless some catastrophe occurs, won’t be replaced anytime soon. Maybe if I needed to do more intensive things I’d want something newer but these are more than powerful enough for me.
  - Anyway, I digress. The specs of the Latitude are:
    
    Dell Latitude 5290 2-in-1 tablet PC, 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8350U Processor (15W TDP Quad Core), 16GB LPDDR3 2133MHz, M.2 512GB PCIe NVMe, 12.3” Touch 3:2 WUXGA+ (1920 x 1280)
  - The form factor is essentially perfect for a small laptop. It’s toes the line perfectly between too small and just big enough with the crisp screen and fractional scaling in Linux being a big part of why it works so well, even though my eyesight continues to get worse.
  - The battery lasts for about three hours which is mostly because it’s at just under 60% health. If I needed more time away from an outlet, I’d consider replacing the battery but the OEM replacement is about as much a I paid for the entire device so I’m not motivated to do that anytime soon. I suppose that’s the single greatest con to buying a five year old battery powered device. It most likely could use a new battery to be as good as it could be but you can either just live with it like I do, get a larger power bank so you can get a few more hours away from an outlet, or just replace the battery, even though it is expensive relative to the purchase price of the device. It’s still a bargain if you do in my opinion. For example, my daughter is likely going to need a decent laptop to carry around. This thing is 2.65 pounds with the keyboard cover which is pretty light considering how well built and durable it is. If I can get her something like this for around $300 all-in, that’s a pretty sweet deal.
  - All of this is, of course, made better by the form factor. It really is a tablet, a shameless knockoff of a Surface Pro actually, so not only is it a great laptop, you can pull the keyboard case off and watch a movie. Or, you can buy the optional pen and use it for digital artwork. The versatility is really impressive.
  - So, the entire point of me going into this much detail is twofold. First, I love how much I enjoy this exceptional bargain of a computer along with the versatility it provides. But, perhaps even more important, is that this is all possible because used hardware is comparitively so inexpensive and still has so much life left in it. I used to poke fun at the Thinkpad and other used laptop contingent of the Linux community but I get it now. It feels like winning somehow, like I figured out a way to beat the system. Maybe that’s hyperbole but everytime I use this thing and am delighted while doing so, it makes me feel good knowing that I saved money and also saved a used computer from potentially being scrapped.
- Enjoying the Google Pixel Watch 3
  - I’m sure out privacy focused listeners are cringing to hear me say that I have a product from the big G strapped to my wrist 99% of the time but for someone with my type of health conditions, it has turned out to be invaluable for tracking vitals and other things like sleep and activity levels.
  - I saved around $130 by purchasing it second hand (is that a watch pun?). I found one listed as ‘mint’ condition and it seemed to be barely used.
  - I also like fact that it just looks like a traditional watch with a round face, something I thought might be a problem due to displaying things formatted for a square screen on a round one i.e. the square peg in a round hole conundrum. That hasn’t been an issue. I also opted for the larger 45mm face which they claim allows for 40% more space compared to the 41mm version.
  - Most smartwatches seem to be squarely aimed at the fitness market, with a lot of the focus being on fitness tracking, steps, calories, workouts, and so on. Unfortunately, this can detract from it being a smartphone companion but I think Google does a decent job integrating the Pixel watch with my Pixel 7 phone. It’s nowhere near as sophistocated as Apple’s convergence features but I’m happy with what they’ve done.
  - In keeping with the fitness tracking focus, the stock band is chunky silicone that is actually comfortable but holds sweat which, unbeknownst to me, leads to smartwatch funk. This is a stinky cheese smell that happens because of the sweat and buildup of dead skin cells and other stuff that gets trapped under the band. It’s not a big deal but I was curious to see how a different material would perform. I bought a few inexpensive bands, my favorite being one that feels like stretchy cotton. It uses a magnetic clasp and is comfortable. It also seems to generate less funk but there’s still some because the bottom of the watch sits tight against the skin.
  - I am clumsy and tend to scratch things made of glass and plastic so I have a screen protector and a case on it. They are both inobtrusive in my opinion and will keep me from beating it up.
  - The battery life is usually about 36 hours. I can stretch it to 48 hours if I keep the screen brightness low and the battery saver option enabled. Of course I’d love it if it were to last two weeks like the PineTime seemed to but considering how much this thing does, 36 hours seems reasonable. Plus, I am never that far from a plug and it takes less than an hour to fully charge from near dead so it hasn’t been an issue.
  - A featue that I assumed would be a gimmick has turned out to unexpectedly be very useful and usable. I’m talking about the speakerphone. Pro tip… If your hands are full or you have an injury like me, you can either tell it to pick up on your watch or, even more fun, use the tip of your nose to tap the answer button. The volume and call quality are reasonable for such a small device. It apparently sounds at least as good as a typical smartphone speakerphone call since nobody has complained about me using it. The volume isn’t loud enough to be useful in a noisy environment but that’s hardly surprising. What is surprising is how loud and clear the speaker is considering how small it must be.
  - So, for now at least, I am happy with this watch. It has also shown me that I really enjoy the concept and utility of a smartwatch, even if much of the fitness tracker features are wasted on me. I’m curious to see where smartwatch technology goes from here.

— Play Innards Transition Bumper —

Linux Innards

30 minutes (~5-8 minutes each)

Bill Talks Servers and mintCast infrastructure.
- Learning servers is like learning computers all over again
  - networking
    - Static IP addressing
    - Dynamic DNS (what is DNS?)
    - Port Forwarding
    - Firewalls (Do I need one?)
  - ssl
    - Lets Encrypt
    - OpenSSL
  - types of web servers (Apache and NgINX)
  - Docker
  - Reverse Proxy
  - Cloudflare
  - Security
  - Maintenance
- Why would you possibly want to run a server?
  - Jellyfin
  - Plex
  - Audiobookshelf
  - WordPress
  - NAS
  - Nextcloud (this one is a doosey)
  - others?
- “What type of machine do I need to run server tasks?”
- “Server” distros are not specifically required, though there are some available, including, but not limited to:
  - Ubuntu Server
  - Fedora Server
  - Debian
  - RedHat
    - CentOS Stream
    - Rocky Linux
    - Alma Linux
  - Although different server distros offer differing levels of support for different workloads, a “server” distro is not strictly required for running a server. You could even run a server with Linux Mint!
    - “Do I need to learn the terminal?”
    - “Can I use a desktop environment with a server distro?”
- While learning to set up and use servers can be a bit like learning how to walk all over again, the experience can be rather rewarding. You will learn much more than you may think by simply making the attempt. Your understanding of networking, security, and online services will grow as you go through the process.
- Of all the stuff we discussed, which of these things are we using for the infrastructure of mintCast?
  - Well, almost all
- Some Useful Resources:
  - https://learnlinux.tv
  - https://perfectmediaserver.com/
  - https://linuxserver.io (somewhat Docker specific)

— Play Vibrations Transition Bumper —

Vibrations from the Ether

20 minutes (~5 minutes each)

Wayne

Hi folks,

Thanks for the show, I admire the long standing run Mintcast has been

making.

On listening back to previous shows, I heard ye bring up the Dell

tablets that run linux well. On hearing about these, I purchased a Dell

5290 tablet (which is kinda like the SurfacePro). I am running PopOS on

it which has been a reasonably good experience and Im happy with it. I

haven’t however managed to get the webcam working. Do ye have any

pointers in getting the webcam to work in a Debian based distro? Other

than that, the 5290 has been a great experience on Linux.

Best wishes,

Wayne.

Joe RESPONSE

The Dell cameras are notorious on Linux for not working. Eric and myself tend to use external webcams or none at all.

But i did find some instructions so maybe we are wrong.

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000129819/a-guide-to-webcams-on-dell-notebook-and-desktop-pcs-with-ubuntu-operating-systems

Wayne RESPONSE

Hi Joe,

Thanks for your speedy response.

I see, I wasn’t sure if I was missing out on something.

I notice in the article they speak about Dell systems that are already Ubuntu ready.

I’ll give this a go and report back.

Many thanks,

Wayne.

— Play Check This Transition Bumper —

Check This Out

10 minutes

Housekeeping & Announcements

Thank you for listening to this episode of mintCast!
If you see something that you’d like to hear about, tell us!

Send us email at [email protected]

Join us live on Youtube

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Chat with us on Telegram and Discord,

Or post directly at https://mintcast.org

Next Episode – 2 pm US Central time on Sunday, December 22, 2024.
Get mintCast converted to your time zone
for 451 Next Roundtable Live Stream – 2 pm US Central time on Saturday, December 14, 2024.
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Livestream information is at mintcast.org/livestream

Wrap-up

Joe – Tllts.org, linuxlugcast.com, [email protected], Buy Joe a coffee
Moss – Full Circle Weekly News, [email protected], Mastodon @[email protected], occasionally on HPR
Bill – [email protected], Bill_H on Discord, @[email protected] on Mastodon, also checkout my other two podcasts Linux OTC and 3 Fat Truckers
Majid – [email protected] @[email protected], AtypicalDr on Instagram and Threads and The Atypical Doctor Podcast on Spotify and also Linux OTC.
Eric – I can be reached by email at [email protected].

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

Bill for our audio editing
Archive.org for hosting our audio files
Hobstar for our logo, initrd for the animated Discord logo
Londoner for our time syncs and various other contributions
Bill Houser for hosting the server which runs our website, website maintenance, and the NextCloud server on which we host our show notes and raw audio
The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem … and co!>

— Play Closing Music and Standard Outro —

Episode 451 Show Notes