Welcome to mintCast

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

This is Episode 493

Recorded on Sunday, September 13, 2026.

Still hot, Im Joe; Good to be back, I’m Bill; … Majid; … I’m here it’s Charles; cat as catch can, I’m Jim

(Insert Intro)

• First up in the news
  Mint Monthly News August,
• In security and privacy
  Anthropic Researcher Resigns, Warns of Existential Risks from Self-Improving AI
• In Check this Out
  iOS 27 with Siri AI will be available on September 14
• Wanderings
  Give a hint of the wanderings
• In Vibrations from the Ether
  Give a hint of what is coming up.

Show Segments

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.

• The News (15 min.)
  Mint Monthly News – August 2026
  From Clem in the Mint Blog (via londoner)

  XApp The XApp project started within Linux Mint but it has grown a lot since then. Its libraries, tools and applications are used in many desktops and distributions. It was given a new website to make it easier to discover all its components: https://xapp-project.org
  Library Thingy, known as the “Library” in the desktop, was redesigned. Until now, documents were grouped by application. For instance, PDF files and all the other document types supported by XReader were grouped together under “Document Viewer”. The library now organizes documents by type instead. It no longer matters which applications are installed or which formats they support.

  The sidebar comes with predefined groups for common types of documents. You can choose which groups are visible and change their order.

  You can also create your own groups and decide which types of files they contain.

  For instance, you could create a group for a particular project, limited to a work directory and grouping multiple document types. The library also lets you remove individual items from the list or clear the entire list of recently opened documents at once.
  Xepub Xepub is a new EPUB reader. It provides a reading experience similar to what you would find on a Kindle or a Kobo. In the desktop it will appear as your “Book Reader”.

  You can navigate between chapters, search the contents of the book, add bookmarks and quickly navigate between them.

  When you reopen a book, Xepub remembers where you were, so you can simply continue reading.
  If you select a word, a menu gives you quick access to search engines, so you can look it up in a dictionary, find it on Wikipedia or translate it. The search engines are fully configurable in the preferences.

  You can change their URLs or add anything you might find useful. If you select a passage, it gets highlighted as an annotation. You can give it the color of your choice and add a note.   And of course, you can adjust the zoom level, choose your preferred fonts and customize the reading experience to your liking.
  Clockenstein
  Clockenstein is a brand new calendar application and the latest addition to the XApp family.

  It supports multiple calendars and works with local calendars, Google Calendar and CalDAV services such as Nextcloud. You can create and edit events and choose which calendar they belong to.

  When we worked on Clockenstein, one of the things we really wanted was to always know what was going on with remote calendars. Are they connected? Are they synchronized? And if something goes wrong, why?
  Clockenstein keeps track of the state of each remote calendar and reports connection and synchronization issues in the application. If a calendar can’t be reached, you can still see its events, but it becomes read-only until the connection is restored.

  Clockenstein has its own daemon and its own notification agent. So it doesn’t matter whether the Calendar application is open or not. The daemon keeps remote calendars synchronized and keeps an eye on upcoming events for calendars that have reminders enabled. When a reminder is due, the notification agent presents it on the desktop. You can dismiss it or snooze it to be reminded again later.

  Finally, Clockenstein provides interfaces for desktop environments to interact with it, and even to replace its notification agent. The Cinnamon clock applet is fully compatible with these interfaces, so just like in the past, you’ll see your calendar events directly from the panel.

• Security and Privacy (5 min.)

  Gambling with our lives’: Anthropic researcher quits, warns against self-improving AI

  ‘Gambling with our lives’: Anthropic researcher quits, warns against self-improving AI 

• Wanderings (25 min.)

  Joe

  • OK a bit of a different track for me but i started setting up some things in software. First up Heimdall. My son was complaining that he didnt know the addresses for the local plex and jellyfin and things like that so i wanted to make things a little bit easier for him and anyone else that was using my set top boxes. So i need a homepage that has links to all the pages that might be needed. Pretty easy to do, installed on one of the proxmox boxes and then added the different things in conjunction with pihole. I could have just used the ip addresses but instead i set the local dns record and then added it to heimdall. i put plex jellyfin proxmox audiobookshelf pihole and homeassistant on there so that they are easily accessible. And since they are in pihole if the ip changes or if i change the service i can make the change there and not have to update heimdall. Then i decided to add a couple of external services as well. The Roku channel is a good free service that i think is under rated. Tubi is great for horrible movies. I added netflix and prime video as well. I also started using tags so that the main page would not be so crowded. This allowed me to hold links for all of the proxmox stuff that i want instant access to without needing to dive through the nodes to get to. I had looked at Heimdal before but did not have time to dive into it to see if it would meet my needs. I am glad that i came back to it and gave it another chance.
  • Next I like to tell about about the things that i enjoy which includes letting them know about the podcasts that i am on and they always ask for the websites for them. It gets to be a pain to send them the links or to have them type them in so i decided to try and and set up a qr code to a website that holds all of the links to the pod casts and another that has links to all of the methods to contact me and another that has a copy of my resume if i want to apply to positions quickly in person. i dont think that last one will get used often if at all but still fun. I had started building the website on my own using HTML but i did not like the final result so i set up a second instance of heimdall and messed around with tags until it was set up so that the multiple pages were separate from each other and not directly accessible from the main page. So no navigating from one to the other. Then i password protected the page so that i am the only one that make changes. Next step is to forward a port and get the qr codes made so that i can give out the information as needed.
    In the midst of all of this i started having trouble logging into my openMediaVault.  I was still able to access all of shares so i was not too worried about it but still it was a problem.  I went to proxmox and logged into the command line and tried to a manual update but it was saying that the disk was full even though it was not.  I tried expanding the disk space and moving it to another device and restarting the whole node and nothing worked.  So i thought about deleting the whole node and and making a new vm but instead what i did was i attached a new clean disk detached the old disk and and attached the iso for OMV and adjusted the boot order.  This left all of the other disks attached as well as the script that i have running after the vm is up.  Saves some work later on.  So i reinstalled and recreated the shares and i did have to shuffle them a couple of times to get them put in the correct order so that all of the other vms were using them correctly again but after that everything was as it was before.  i was considering getting all of the data off of them and moving another of the 8tb drives on to it and setting it up as raid.  That should increase some of the transfer rates and reduce some of the complexity in the shares.  it might also make recovery more difficult in the future though so i dont know.  I do have one more slot available on the motherboard so i just need another mounting position and i could bring that other drive over.
  • I also started using tdarr to go through all of my video files and reencode them smaller. It is an interesting application that you can set up on proxmox and then have nodes on various computers and vm’s. The nodes do the heavy lifting with ffmpeg and looking at the work that has been done so far most space savings are between 25 to 50 percent. most coming closer to 50 percent. It is also not a super fast process the way that i have things set up since it using CPU but that tends to have less errors and result in better file sizes. It will take a long time to go through my library but it does seem to be doing a good job and if i get the file sizes down i may be able to consolidate to fewer drives and start the process of creating a raid. I dont know yet what all will be required for that but we shall see. I am just using the standard settings for tdarr and have not gone through and and tried to optimize for the most space savings but from what i can see i am not really losing any quality. But it may be a couple of months before i have all of the movies and tv shows done so i dont know and if i have to do it all again because of setting up the raid and having to repull all of the data i will be mildly annoyed.
  • Setting it up is pretty easy. Just install the proxmox node and record the ip address. On the satellite systems just download the node software and add in the ip address and the port of 8266 but before you do that make sure that you have the samba share mounted in the same location so you dont have to worry about the path translations and on the server you need to set up a location that accessible on the share to store the temp files and then set the number of cpus/gpus to use for transcoding and health checks. Once my current library is complete i can set up some automation so that it happens whenever i add a new file and just stick to the node that is created when i create the server. for now i have 2 computers and two vms working. I may add 2 more temporary vms to do some of the work and make things faster. i could also probably add another computer or two dedicated to it if i really wanted to get things moving.
  • I also picked up some more hardware from the goodwill but i think i am going to save that for next time.

  Bill

  Majid

  Charles

  HP Printer Enshittification

  • HP’s Instant Ink subscription ties printer function to an active subscription — the printer tracks usage, ships replacement cartridges automatically, and those cartridges only function while the subscription is active.
  • The moment you cancel, the cartridges stop working immediately — even if they’re still nearly full.
  • HP+ printers require constant internet connectivity; disconnecting from Wi-Fi or letting a subscription lapse triggers a firmware lockout that renders the hardware unusable, with restrictions applying even to USB-only printing.
  • Canceling Instant Ink locks partially-used cartridges even if they still contain ink, and separately, HP’s “Dynamic Security” firmware can block or disable third-party/aftermarket cartridges via updates. cybernews
  • On HP’s “All-In Plan,” customers are effectively leasing the printer and must return it if they cancel — Instant Ink only covers ink delivery for a printer you actually own.

• Apple Releases iOS 27 with Siri AI and Major OS Updates on September 14 https://www.engadget.com/2254005/ios-27-with-siri-ai-will-be-available-on-september-14/

  • Overview of the September 14 Releases Apple’s newest operating systems—iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 (codenamed Golden Gate), and watchOS 27—will roll out simultaneously, marking a substantial update cycle predominantly focused on integrating Siri AI and refining user interfaces. • iOS 27 and iPadOS 27: Introduce the publicly released Siri AI assistant, performance boosts, updated Liquid Glass design elements, and expanded child safety features. • macOS 27 (Golden Gate): Integrates Siri AI tightly with the Spotlight search utility and offers Mac-specific Liquid Glass UI enhancements. • watchOS 27: Launches alongside the other updates with unspecified details focused on performance.

  Jim

  • Nitter & XCancel Uncanceled: Seems like Nitter’s attorneys gave them the green light to continue despite the legal threats and the recent cease and desist from Twitter. The Firefox extension is back to working to auto-forward X (Twitter) links to XCancel so one can read the Tweet as well as all replies even without an account. RSS readers are working again with Nitter to follow X accounts.
  • Discord Enshittification: Can no longer change one’s user name per server unless you pay for Nitro, unless the server owner pre-enables a per-server nickname in their invite link.
  • YT-DLP: The PPA (tomtomtom/yt-dlp) I was using to keep up with the latest version of yt-dlp is long outdated since it hasn’t been updated since March 17th, 2026 version. I discovered that it is now easy to download and install the latest yt-dlp through the Github with curl or wget in the terminal. I did have to copy the tiny executable to /usr/bin and ~/.local/bin on one of my main Mint computers, probably because I also removed the PPA as a source and purged the app on one of my computers, but not the other. I’m hoping it will update through the software updater going forward, but it also is seemingly updatable on demand through yt-dlp -U in the terminal.
    • GoFile.io: No longer working through yt-dlp. Message says [“Piracy] This website is no longer supported since it has been determined to be primarily used for piracy. DO NOT open issues for it”. I find it odd that a tool like yt-dlp is taking a stand in this way.
  • cat-catch: Firefox extension to download video from many sources in web browser. It is deceptively powerful with several related tools and protocols that I have found allows people to download from otherwise difficult to download web sites. Tubi.tv for example wasn’t allowing yt-dlp to download the videos I wanted recently but it was easy to identify and download the relevant .mp4 video and audio files separately with the cat-catch pop-up window and then trivial to merge the video and audio files with ffmpeg in the terminal afterwards.
  • Simple Screen Recorder: If all else fails to download videos online, this simple app, much more straightforward than OBS for example, is the no-fail screen and audio recording tool to capture live streams or on-demand streams from any source, even the most locked down sources. Best practices are to full screen the video with F11 and then use a keyboard shortcut to trigger Simple Screen Recorder. Then use ffmpeg in the terminal to trim off anything you don’t want at the beginning or end of the clips The resulting videos with an .MKV extension (or another of your choice) are perfectly in sync and indistinguishable from file downloads.
  • Tab Picker: Firefox extension with a customizable shortcut that allows one to instantly jump between twenty tabs from left to right with a single letter press after triggering the extension in addition to the default CTRL + 1 through CTRL + 8 to go to the first eight tabs left to right or CTRL + 9 to go to the right most tab. It also allows one to trigger the extension then select forward slash and type the name of the tab to jump there. In my case with more than 150 tabs open across multiple groupings in one window, the dual letter tags it generates are way too many to be usable. However, I can use the trigger, ALT + L in my case, then forward slash, then type the first few letters name of the open tab to jump there quickly without navigating away from or closing the tab you are in. This is superior to the alternative Firefox of opening a new tab with CTRL + T for example, then typing SHIFT + 5 for the percent symbol to search among open tabs specifically, then typing the name of an open tab.
  • Cycle Last Used Tabs: Firefox extension indispensable to quick navigation between tabs.
    • Quick switch – Use to switch quickly among last 2 to 4 tabs. (Suggested: Alt+X)
    • Normal switch backward (Suggested: Alt+Z)
    • Normal switch forward (Suggested: Alt+Shift+Z)

• Check This Out (5 min.)

• Vibrations from the Ether (10 min.)
  (Topics from the Matrix chat & feedback received)

General

Thank you for listening to this episode of mintCast!

If you see something that you think we should be talking about, tell us!
Chat with us on Matrix at mintcast.org/matrix or send us email at [email protected]

Next Saturday will be a roundtable episode at 2pm US Central Time (convert to your time zone). Everyone is welcome to join us at mintcast.org/roundtable. Just click the link. No software required. Everyone’s welcome to take part, with a camera or not, or come join us in the Live Chat on YouTube.

The week after will be a News/Wanderings episode at 2 pm US Central Time (convert to your time zone). Come join us in the Live Chat on YouTube.

Listen to other Podcasts of the Linux Syndicate Family

Join Bill, Majid, Eric and Charlie on Linux OTC, Linux Off The Cuff, for an unscripted and unpredictable conversation about all things Linux, open source and more.

Join Dale and Majid on Distrohoppers’ Digest to hear about their experiences and challenges with trying out different Linux distros.

Our Hosts

Joe – jeboylan on Matrix, [email protected], & The Linux Link Podcast, The Linux Lug Cast, Buy him coffee on Ko-fi as Joeeb.

Bill – Bill_H on Matrix, [email protected], wchouser3 on fosstodon.org.

Majid – AtypicalDoctor on Matrix, [email protected], & The Atypical Doctor Podcast.

Jim – GNU2Linux on Matrix, [email protected], & The Linux Shortcut on YouTube

Eric – esa1975 on Matrix, [email protected].

Charles – Mr PDX on Matrix, [email protected]

Acknowledgements

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

Bill for our audio editing, hosting & maintaining our Nextcloud & web servers.

Londoner for his contributions, from News to Time Syncs.

The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about. Thanks Clem & Team.

(Insert Outro)