Plasma – mintCast https://mintcast.org The podcast by the Linux Mint community for all users of Linux Thu, 18 Jul 2024 03:57:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 https://mintcast.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/cropped-small-logo-32x32.png Plasma – mintCast https://mintcast.org 32 32 mintCast false episodic CC-BY-SA 4.0 CC-BY-SA 4.0 podcast Plasma – mintCast https://mintcast.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/big-logo-1600.png https://mintcast.org TV-G 164426984 438 – Copilot Takeover https://mintcast.org/438-copilot-takeover/ Fri, 31 May 2024 23:26:32 +0000 https://mintcast.org/?p=6940 First up in the news: Mozilla Reveals New Features Coming to Firefox, Ubuntu 24.10 to Default to Wayland for NVIDIA Users, KDE Plasma 6.1 Beta Released With Wayland Explicit Sync, Input Capture Portal & More, KDE Plasma 6.1 Lands Dynamic Triple Buffering Support, Btrfs Sends In Fixes For Linux 6.10 & Restores "norecovery" Mount Option, Turkey bans Distrowatch

In security and privacy: High-severity GitLab flaw lets attackers take over accounts, Microsoft unveils Copilot+ PCs with generative AI capabilities baked in, including one that is causing concern for a UK-based watchdog group.

Then in our Wanderings: Joe gets his shots, Bill endeavors to dual boot, Majid creates Frankensteins Ubuntu, and Eric dips his toe into the world of digital art pens and illustration as well as honing his Audacity skills.

]]> First up in the news: Mozilla Reveals New Features Coming to Firefox, Ubuntu 24.10 to Default to Wayland for NVIDIA Users, KDE Plasma 6.1 Beta Released With Wayland Explicit Sync, Input Capture Portal & More, KDE Plasma 6.1 Lands Dynamic Triple Buffering Support, Btrfs Sends In Fixes For Linux 6.10 & Restores “norecovery” Mount Option, Turkey bans Distrowatch

In security and privacy: High-severity GitLab flaw lets attackers take over accounts, Microsoft unveils Copilot+ PCs with generative AI capabilities baked in, including one that is causing concern for a UK-based watchdog group.

Then in our Wanderings: Joe gets his shots, Bill endeavors to dual boot, Majid creates Frankensteins Ubuntu, and Eric dips his toe into the world of digital art pens and illustration as well as honing his Audacity skills.

Full Show Notes Here

The News

Mozilla Reveals New Features Coming to Firefox

Ubuntu 24.10 to Default to Wayland for NVIDIA Users

KDE Plasma 6.1 Beta Released With Wayland Explicit Sync, Input Capture Portal & More

KDE Plasma 6.1 Lands Dynamic Triple Buffering Support

Btrfs Sends In Fixes For Linux 6.10 & Restores “norecovery” Mount Option

Turkey bans Distrowatch

Security and Privacy

High-severity GitLab flaw lets attackers take over accounts

The next two articles will actually be discussed during the innards (next episode) but we’ve linked them here anyway.

Microsoft unveils Copilot+ PCs with generative AI capabilities baked in

UK watchdog looking into Microsoft AI taking screenshots

Contact Info:

Special Thanks To:

  • 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!>
]]> 438 438 Copilot Takeover full 1:35:08 6940 424 – Meh Snap https://mintcast.org/424-meh-snap/ Thu, 02 Nov 2023 05:27:30 +0000 https://mintcast.org/?p=6430 First up in the news: Mint Monthly News; Ubuntu 23.10 re-released; GNOME gets new CEO; new RaspPi Imager released; Plasma 6 Release Dates released; Matrix reaches 115 Million users; Bodhi Linux 7.0 AppPack released

In security and privacy: BlackCat ransomware attacks Linux and VMs; 1Password Breach – no harm, no foul; new vulnerabilities found and patched in XWayland, X.org

Then in our Wanderings: Bill shuffles cards; Joe tests more things; Moss keeps busy

Then in our Innards section: We discuss containerized package systems

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

Download
]]> First up in the news: Mint Monthly News; Ubuntu 23.10 re-released; GNOME gets new CEO; new RaspPi Imager released; Plasma 6 Release Dates released; Matrix reaches 115 Million users; Bodhi Linux 7.0 AppPack released

In security and privacy: BlackCat ransomware attacks Linux and VMs; 1Password Breach – no harm, no foul; new vulnerabilities found and patched in XWayland, X.org

Then in our Wanderings: Bill shuffles cards; Joe tests more things; Moss keeps busy

Then in our Innards section: We discuss containerized package systems

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

  1. 00:00:00 – Intro
  2. 00:01:36 – News
  3. 00:24:26 – Security And Privacy
  4. 00:29:56 – Wanderings
  5. 00:45:57 – Innards
  6. 01:11:52 – Vibrations From The Ether
  7. 01:15:30 – Check This Out
  8. 01:20:45 – Housekeeping and Announcemtns
  9. 01:21:28 – Wrap Up

The News

Mint Monthly News – October 2023

Ubuntu 23.10 Desktop ISOs Re-Released Following Translation Snafu

GNOME Foundation Welcomes Holly Million as Executive Director

Raspberry Pi Imager Gets New Tabbed OS Customization UI, Raspberry Pi 5 Support

KDE Plasma 6.0 Release Date Revealed

Raspberry Pi 5 Available Now

Decentralized Matrix messaging network says it now has 115M users

Bodhi 7.0 64-bit AppPack Released

Security and Privacy

BlackCat ransomware uses new ‘Munchkin’ Linux VM in stealthy attacks

Okta Support System incident and 1Password

XWayland & X.Org Server See New Releases Due To Three More Security Vulnerabilities

Full Show Notes Can Be Found Here

Wrap Up

Special Thanks To:

  • Bill Houser 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 contribution
  • 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!>
]]> 429 429 Meh Snap full 1:25:03 6430 379 – There Can Be Only One https://mintcast.org/379-there-can-be-only-one/ Thu, 10 Mar 2022 16:48:53 +0000 https://mintcast.org/?p=5348 In security, Ubuntu Kernel Security Patches, FGKASLR gets closer to mainline, Data stealing malware hides on Linux servers, Go Daddy data breach
In our Wanderings, Joe does some 3d printing, Josh got a new monitor, Norbert switches OS’s, and Clayton looks back
Download
]]> 1:38 The News
25:43 Security Update
34:58 Bi-Weekly Wanderings
1:00:23 Announcements & Outro

First up in the News, Linux Mint Edge is out, PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition can be ordered, Gnome and Plasma have new versions you can test, Nvidia and Wayland play nicely on Plasma, and we are all mocking Cosmic,

In security, FOSS is a national security issue and Microsoft decides not to force locks.

Then in our Wanderings, Joe fixes things, Moss installs things, Bill works on things and Norbert writes things down.

Twitter. Discord. Telegram. Matrix. Reddit. Youtube.

The News

Security Update

Bi-Weekly Wanderings

  • Joe serviced all the bikes in his backyard and watched the crypto market crash
  • Moss upgraded his RAM and been working on Distrohoppers’ Digest
  • Bill has been working on a new podcast with some of his friends
  • Norbert had a misadventure with Arch linux updates

Announcements

Wrap-up

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

  • Norbert for our audio production
  • Leo for timestamps and publishing
  • Josh Lowe for all his work on the website
  • Hobstar for our logo
  • initrd for the animated Discord logo
  • Londoner for our time sync
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our backup Mumble room
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>
]]> 379 - There Can Be Only One full 1:04:25 5348 375 – Linux! I Choose You! https://mintcast.org/375-linux-i-choose-you/ Fri, 03 Dec 2021 01:17:59 +0000 https://mintcast.org/?p=5285 In security, more ransomware for Linux, EU wants more cyber security, and apt is now safer to use
Then in our Wanderings, Joe has bluetooth problems, Norbert goes mad scientist, Josh does a flip, and Tony has some sad news
Download
]]> 1:47 The News
17:04 Security Update
22:13 Bi-Weekly Wanderings
47:16 Announcements & Outro

First up in the news, a German state chooses Linux, Slackware is closer to release, Cinnamon has an update, and more
In security, more ransomware for Linux, EU wants more cyber security, and apt is now safer to use
Then in our Wanderings, Joe has bluetooth problems, Norbert goes mad scientist, Josh does a flip, and Tony has some sad news

Twitter. Discord. Telegram. Matrix. Reddit. Youtube.

The News

Security Update

Bi-Weekly Wanderings

Announcements

Wrap-up

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

  • Norbert for our audio production
  • Leo for timestamps and publishing
  • Josh Lowe for all his work on the website
  • Hobstar for our logo
  • initrd for the animated Discord logo
  • Londoner for our time sync
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our backup Mumble room
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>
]]> 375 - Linux! I Choose You! full 52:58 5285 372 – Ryzen Sun https://mintcast.org/372-ryzen-sun/ Wed, 20 Oct 2021 04:49:53 +0000 https://mintcast.org/?p=5244 In security Retpolines patches for performance and Azure Linux boot failures
Then in our Wandering, Joe has some Pi, Norbert edits video, Tony Updates a BIOS, and Nishant upgrades Fedora
Download
]]> 1:44 The News
18:21 Security Update
21:43 Bi-Weekly Wanderings
56:20 Announcements & Outro

First up in the news Pinephone Pro, KDE’s 5.23 on their 25th, Ubuntu Frame, Windows 11 Ryzen slowdowns, and Nvidia updates

In security Retpolines patches for performance and Azure Linux boot failures

Then in our Wandering, Joe has some Pi, Norbert edits video, Tony Updates a BIOS, and Nishant upgrades Fedora

Twitter. Discord. Telegram. Matrix. Reddit. Youtube.

The News

Security Update

Bi-Weekly Wanderings

Announcements

Wrap-up

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

  • Bo for our audio production
  • Josh Lowe for all his work on the website
  • Hobstar for our logo
  • initrd for the animated Discord logg
  • Londoner for our time sync
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our backup Mumble room
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>
]]> 372 - Ryzen Sun full 1:03:16 5244 370 – New Wanderers https://mintcast.org/370-new-wanderers/ Wed, 22 Sep 2021 05:40:56 +0000 https://mintcast.org/?p=5214 In security, no encrypted chats are safe
Then in our Wanderings, we hear from the old AND new crew
Download
]]> 1:35 The News
30:19 Security Update
38:58 Bi-Weekly Wanderings
50:36 Announcements & Outro

First up in the news Linux Mint gets a new website, A new point release, Firefox snaps back, Gnome and Plasma get updates, and much more

In security, no encrypted chats are safe

Then in our Wanderings, we hear from the old AND new crew

Twitter. Discord. Telegram. Matrix. Reddit. Youtube.

The News

Security Update

Bi-Weekly Wanderings

Announcements

Wrap-up

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

  • Owen Peery for our audio production, Josh Lowe for all his work on the website, Hobstar for our logo, initrd for the animated Discord logo, and Londoner for our time sync
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our backup Mumble room
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>
]]> 370 - New Wanderers full 1:26:23 5214 369 – Cache Flushing https://mintcast.org/369-cache-flushing/ Wed, 08 Sep 2021 06:05:00 +0000 https://mintcast.org/?p=5198 In security cache flushing and Bluetooth flaws
Then in our Wanderings Joe pines a phone with plasma, Tony walks 500 miles, and I search for a keyboard
Download
]]> 1:49 The News
27:48 Security Update
32:18 Bi-Weekly Wanderings
1:01:28 Announcements & Outro

First up in the news Linux Mint is ready for the facelift, Snaps get an upgrade, Kernel 5.14 is out, and 5.15 is looking good, and Ubuntu gets a release date

In security cache flushing and Bluetooth flaws

Then in our Wanderings Joe pines a phone with plasma, Tony walks 500 miles, and I search for a keyboard

Twitter. Discord. Telegram. Matrix. Reddit. Youtube.

The News

Security Update

Bi-Weekly Wanderings

Announcements

Wrap-up

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

  • Owen Peery for our audio editing, Josh Lowe for all his work on the website, Hobstar for our logo, initrd for the animated Discord logo, and Londoner for our time sync
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our backup Mumble room
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>
]]> 369 - Cache Flushing full 1:05:23 5198 mintCast 353.5 – Well Oiled Machine (mp3) https://mintcast.org/mintcast-353-5-well-oiled-machine-mp3/ Wed, 03 Feb 2021 08:51:01 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4902 And finally, the feedback and a couple suggestions
Download
]]> Download

1:44 Linux Innards
21:01 Vibrations from the Ether
33:46 Check This Out
38:03 Announcements & Outro

In our Innards section, we say how we’ve got on with Linux Mint 20.1 over the past two weeks

And finally, the feedback and a couple suggestions

LINUX INNARDS:

Linux Mint 20.1 … now that we’ve had time to look at it…

  • Moss
    • My two machines upgraded without an actual hitch, although one of them said something didn’t work. I did a clean install on the Dell laptop. I’ve watched a bit of Hypnotix, with most issues seem to be just what happens on streaming TV. I’ve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHXt27qpvGUhad a lockup or two though. I tried once to set up a webapp, but didn’t quite understand it and didn’t have enough spoons to read up on it at the time.
  • TonyH
    • So 20.1 has been on my laptop for just over 2 weeks and it is working just fine. Apart from the Hypnotix app and Web Apps, there doesn’t seem to be much difference that impacts my day to day use on the laptop. I do not print or scan from this PC so for the improvements to this I will have to wait to get 20.1 or above on my Tower PC. I’m sure there were lot’s of things done under the hood to make things smoother, such as the improved hardware acceleration in the video playback client Celluloid.
  • JoshH 
    • 20.1 has been really solid for me. I have been using it now since the beta started and even then it was solid just some of the apps they were releasing with 20.1 were a little rough till it went stable. 
  • Joe
    • It has been on my gaming laptop since the last show.  I have not noticed much of a difference between this and the previous version which is good for an incremental update
      • Has not impacted my work which is always a plus
      • Im able to log in and do all my work just like before
    • I have not used hypnotix at all in the 2 weeks since but that is because i have my own already established flow for watching movies and tv shows on my own schedule
    • Web Apps is extremely useful now that i can set it up with chrome and it creates a menu item.  Very simple to get whatsapp running
    • The only other useful things that i have noticed:
      • Menu search is now by relevance which is useful
    • The only real negative that i have seen is that per monitor fractional scaling is not working yet
  • Leo
    • Has been nothing but amazing. As mentioned before, the upgrade went smoothly and without a single hitch.
    • Cinnamon does feel more responsive on the desktop. To my surprise, I still have yet to see a single skipped frame at 144hz.
    • Edited a 2hr show (Linux User Space) in 20.1.

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER: 

  • John Wallis
kernel.modules_disabled (exp: 1)                 [ DIFFERENT ]

https://forums.whonix.org/t/enforce-kernel-module-software-signature-verification-module-signing-disallow-kernel-module-loading-by-default/7880/40

  • John Wallis, part 2

Lynis has marked the following startup services as unsafe:

- networkd-dispatcher.service:                        [ UNSAFE ]

- ondemand.service:                                   [ UNSAFE ]

- osspd.service:                                      [ UNSAFE ]

- plymouth-start.service:                             [ UNSAFE ]

- polkit.service:                                     [ UNSAFE ]

CHECK THIS OUT!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

Wrap-up:

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

  • Owen Peery for our audio editing, Josh Lowe for all his work on the website, Hobstar for our logo, and Londoner for our time sync
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our backup Mumble room
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>
]]> full 4902 mintCast 353.5 – Well Oiled Machine https://mintcast.org/mintcast-353-5-well-oiled-machine/ Wed, 03 Feb 2021 08:44:09 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4896 And finally, the feedback and a couple suggestions
Download
]]> Download

1:44 Linux Innards
21:01 Vibrations from the Ether
33:46 Check This Out
38:03 Announcements & Outro

In our Innards section, we say how we’ve got on with Linux Mint 20.1 over the past two weeks

And finally, the feedback and a couple suggestions

LINUX INNARDS:

Linux Mint 20.1 … now that we’ve had time to look at it…

  • Moss
    • My two machines upgraded without an actual hitch, although one of them said something didn’t work. I did a clean install on the Dell laptop. I’ve watched a bit of Hypnotix, with most issues seem to be just what happens on streaming TV. I’ve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHXt27qpvGUhad a lockup or two though. I tried once to set up a webapp, but didn’t quite understand it and didn’t have enough spoons to read up on it at the time.
  • TonyH
    • So 20.1 has been on my laptop for just over 2 weeks and it is working just fine. Apart from the Hypnotix app and Web Apps, there doesn’t seem to be much difference that impacts my day to day use on the laptop. I do not print or scan from this PC so for the improvements to this I will have to wait to get 20.1 or above on my Tower PC. I’m sure there were lot’s of things done under the hood to make things smoother, such as the improved hardware acceleration in the video playback client Celluloid.
  • JoshH 
    • 20.1 has been really solid for me. I have been using it now since the beta started and even then it was solid just some of the apps they were releasing with 20.1 were a little rough till it went stable. 
  • Joe
    • It has been on my gaming laptop since the last show.  I have not noticed much of a difference between this and the previous version which is good for an incremental update
      • Has not impacted my work which is always a plus
      • Im able to log in and do all my work just like before
    • I have not used hypnotix at all in the 2 weeks since but that is because i have my own already established flow for watching movies and tv shows on my own schedule
    • Web Apps is extremely useful now that i can set it up with chrome and it creates a menu item.  Very simple to get whatsapp running
    • The only other useful things that i have noticed:
      • Menu search is now by relevance which is useful
    • The only real negative that i have seen is that per monitor fractional scaling is not working yet
  • Leo
    • Has been nothing but amazing. As mentioned before, the upgrade went smoothly and without a single hitch.
    • Cinnamon does feel more responsive on the desktop. To my surprise, I still have yet to see a single skipped frame at 144hz.
    • Edited a 2hr show (Linux User Space) in 20.1.

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER: 

  • John Wallis
kernel.modules_disabled (exp: 1)                 [ DIFFERENT ]

https://forums.whonix.org/t/enforce-kernel-module-software-signature-verification-module-signing-disallow-kernel-module-loading-by-default/7880/40

  • John Wallis, part 2

Lynis has marked the following startup services as unsafe:

- networkd-dispatcher.service:                        [ UNSAFE ]

- ondemand.service:                                   [ UNSAFE ]

- osspd.service:                                      [ UNSAFE ]

- plymouth-start.service:                             [ UNSAFE ]

- polkit.service:                                     [ UNSAFE ]

CHECK THIS OUT!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

Wrap-up:

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

  • Owen Peery for our audio editing, Josh Lowe for all his work on the website, Hobstar for our logo, and Londoner for our time sync
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our backup Mumble room
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>
]]> full 43:19 4896 mintCast 345 – Hawking Chromium (mp3) https://mintcast.org/mintcast-345-hawking-chromium-mp3/ Wed, 07 Oct 2020 06:00:53 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4691 Then, our news Linux Mint gets some love, the Gorilla’s in beta and so is Fedora
In Security, we chat with Josh
Download
]]>

Download

1:42 Wanderings
44:23 News
1:07:43 Security
1:17:24 Outro

First up, in our Wanderings, Leo’s chromium based pixels do a dance, Tony Hughes plays with chaos, Moss has a Fuzzyputer, Joe has an idea… pad, and Josh butters his machine.

Then, our news Linux Mint gets some love, the Gorilla’s in beta and so is Fedora

In Security, we chat with Josh

BI-WEEKLY WANDERINGS:

    • Leo
      • Chromium graphical glitches
      • Playing with Batocera again
    • Tony H
      • Since the last show I have been playing with the waterslide decal paper again, this time to make decals for coffee mugs, I have done a couple of mintCast Mugs and a Distrohoppers Digest Mug. While after they have been cured in the oven for a little while they are hand washable it is suggested if you want to make them dishwasher proof then you use a special lamination sheet during the process, as I don’t have a dishwasher I’ve not done this and they have stood up to hand washing in warm soapy water so I’m happy. 
      • I have again travelled to Woodbrooke so I am in studio Z on the 15” Dell laptop that stands in as my podcast PC when on the road.
      • I’ve written another couple of articles in my Full Circle series on podcast production.
      • So I was wondering what to review on Distrohoppers for the next show and looking on Distrowatch came across KaOS which is a rolling distribution built on Qt and KDE, and uses the Pacman package system, but is totally independent of any other OS. I’ve had a few issues with Dual Booting but it is on one of my Toshiba Z30’s as a solo install.
      • I made a video tutorial of using Drive to store and share files, for a friend using the OBS screen capture facility. So as well as showing her in person she has the tutorial as an aid memoir if not sure what to do.
    • Moss
      • I received a computer from our team’s audio editor, Fuzzy P. This is an HP Z400 workstation, with a quad-core Xeon processor running at 3.20 GHz, 16 Gb RAM, and my first-ever Nvidia graphics card, an FX-1500. I got some help from Dale Miracle and others in our Telegram group on some issues I ran into. I removed the unnecessary RAID card.  It also has only USB 2 ports but lots of them. I will be purchasing a USB 3 card this week, to be installed in the slot vacated by the RAID card. I briefly ran this machine with my old 2 Tb spinning metal drive, then replaced that with my 512 Gb SSD. It still does not boot all the way through, I need to hit F1 when prompted, but it boots fine after that. I’m using the FuzZ400 for this broadcast and will presumably use it for future podcasts.
      • The FuzZ400 would not see the SSD at first, so I threw GPartEd at it and it got recognized. There are 6 distro partitions on this drive, with one of them unused. It wouldn’t boot to Mint, so I installed a fresh Mint 20 MATE on it, which worked fine, and the Nvidia driver was added during updates. I checked the Ubuntu Unity partition and did not have to reinstall, plus it added the Nvidia driver with ease. Bodhi required a reinstall, but it installed the driver during initial installation. On the other hand, Gecko STATIC found the driver and made it available, but did not give me any hints on how to install it, and ditto for OpenMandriva.
      • The other computer I was given is DOA, but might have some good parts. And I haven’t yet installed the new power supply on my old desktop mini.
      • After Episode 16 of Distrohoppers’ Digest, I removed 3 of the 8 distros on my laptop, and have installed Pop!_OS in one of the freed spaces. I’m still looking for what to add to the other two partitions. Does this mean I’ll be reviewing Pop!_OS for October? Wait and see…
      • Episode 15 of Distrohoppers’ Digest has exceeded 600 downloads, a new peak for us. We’re getting a lot of positive feedback on various groups.
      • I got new tires on my car today. Quite a saga here but no need to go into it. 
      • My mother is back in the rehabilitation facility after breaking the pin in her hip.
      • My wife and I are racing through Dead Beat (Book 7) in Dresden Files. He’s on the clock trying to find out how to invoke the Erlking. So I’ll just invoke Joe right now and let him talk about his two weeks.
    • Joe
      • Catching up on podcasts for a little while
      • Also going to listen to a classic from Raymond Feist 
        • Magician Apprentice and Magician Master
      • Battle Grounds from Jim Butcher the most recent Dresden Files book
        • Did enjoy although I am seeing some continuity issues
      • Alastair Stone novels
        • More urban fiction.  Not terrible.
      • Rebuilding a few parts on my 3D printer, lets see how well it works
        • Had to pull apart the hot end because of a clog between the ptfe tubing and the throat, ordered a new block and throat but got the wrong size so I had to clean up the old one and use it again
        • That seemed to work just fine
        • While I had it out and apart I noticed that the teeth on the extruder gear were a little worn but I decided to try it anyway
        • Also while I had it apart I replaced the hot bed with one that wasn’t warped.  This helped but the Y carriage is also warped so it is not perfect.
        • It seemed like the gear was not providing enough force so I decided to change it and the y carriage at the same time
        • This turned out fine and the calibration worked but it turned out the issue was moisture in the filament which was making it difficult to extrude.
        • So after a couple more teardowns and rebuilds I was still having trouble with extrusion even with a fresh roll so I redid the ptfe tubing again but then the thermistor broke and the one I replaced it with was broke but the third one worked fine.
        • Got a good print in
        • Was not able to get CURA to connect to my 3D printer for whatever reason
        • But I was able to get repetier to connect and send commands.  More testing is required
          • It was able to send commands and read the internal sd card
          • I can still use CURA to slice on my other machines and then send the gcode over to the laptop that I have set up and use either X2Go or Octoprint to handle everything
          • Gives me a reason to setup octopi and see what I can do with it
      • Researching building a full keyboard on my own, not because I think it is a good idea but because I think it would be fun
        • Seems like it would be an expensive hobby to get into.
        • Probably couldn’t turn around and sell them to make my money back and I don’t know if I will be able to do a good job at it
        • I prefer my hobbies pay for themselves
        • Currently looking at building a Sick-68 keyboard which seems to be where most people start the process.
        • I did purchase a 60 percent kit and put in the rest of the blues that I have and a set of keycaps.  I already know that the keyboard will not meet spouse approval as it is very loud.
        • Plus the use of the function key for many things is going to take some getting used to
        • But still it is fun and I like it. But I do think that a full keyboard might do better for me
        • Also the battery on the board seems to not hold a charge for very long and take a lot of time to charge.  I am going to look and see what I have that might make a better replacement
        • But the keys are super smooth and I know that Leo will hate it
      • Picked up an ideapad flex 4 for a decent price. 
        • Not the greatest laptop in the world but I am liking the folding screen and after I switched the hard drive to an SSD and installed LM, it is going pretty smooth.  Although I think I should also upgrade the ram to 8Gb from 4 and that would help a lot 
        • The spinning disk that was in it before I am pretty sure had some issues.  It was running windows but after it ran updates it would have problems rebooting and coming back from suspend.  Although the issue with suspend would be solved by a power cycle.
        • I plan on playing around with this device for now but I think I will reinstall Windows on it and pass it on to one of the kids.  Either my middle child or my youngest depending on need.  
    • Josh Hawk
      • Issues and solutions with btrfs! I set up a 3 way raid 1 on three 2tb disks. I decided to use one of those disks to install lmde4 on and I thought since it’s a 3 way raid 1 it would just have the data on the other 2 disks. I did this, and then the other 2 disks would not mount. I spent hours trying to fix this to no avail. Finally I came across a forum post that mentioned needing to remove a disk from the btrfs raid before using it. At that point I felt so stupid cause the solution was so simple. All I have to do is add the drive back to the raid, do a scrub and balance to get the data correctly on the disk, then delete it from the raid and I can use it as I would any other drive.
  • New hardware!  I just purchased a 1Tb NVME M.2 SSD. It has 3400mb read and 3000mb write (not that I will ever need that speed but I have it!).

THE NEWS:

Clicking the burger menu, “Preferences” -> “Miscellaneous”, and add the following line in “Extra MPV Options”:

hwdec=auto-safe
    • Driver Manager having issues with pulling in recommended packages for Nvidia. To fix this:
      • APT recommends will become enabled in Linux Mint 19.x (they already are in Mint 20)
      • The Driver Manager will switch to packagekit.
      • We’ll soon backport new versions of mintsystem and mintdrivers to all 19.x releases and to Linux Mint 20.
    • A bug, noted here and here, affected people with USB printers when they upgraded from Linux Mint 19.3 to 20.
      • Fix it by removing the ippusbxd package.
      • In the future, the package may be replaced with ipp-usb
    • The clickable area on the close, maximize and minimize buttons will be bigger with no change to the looks.
    • Tray icons (fcitx, KDE connect, Redshift, etc.) got a few tweaks.
    • Acknowledgement of the Cinnamon Spices downtime in early September. Migrated to a new server and framework. Report issues!
  • Ubuntu 20.10 Groovy Gorilla Beta Is Out
  • Fedora 33 in Beta

SECURITY UPDATE: 

  • To Josh: Where do you stand on Security/Privacy vs Convenience > aka tinfoil hat?

Announcements:

Our next show will be on October 18, 2020 at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC. Check https://everytimezone.com/s/a5d26573  to convert to your local time.

Wrap-up:

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

  • Josh Lowe for all his work on the website
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our Mumble backup
  • Hobstar for our logo
  • Londoner for our time zone link
  • Owen Peery for our audio editing
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>
]]> full 4691 mintCast 345 – Hawking Chromium https://mintcast.org/mintcast-345-hawking-chromium/ Wed, 07 Oct 2020 05:37:13 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4686 Then, our news Linux Mint gets some love, the Gorilla’s in beta and so is Fedora
In Security, we chat with Josh
Download
]]>

Download

1:42 Wanderings
44:23 News
1:07:43 Security
1:17:24 Outro

First up, in our Wanderings, Leo’s chromium based pixels do a dance, Tony Hughes plays with chaos, Moss has a Fuzzyputer, Joe has an idea… pad, and Josh butters his machine.

Then, our news Linux Mint gets some love, the Gorilla’s in beta and so is Fedora

In Security, we chat with Josh

BI-WEEKLY WANDERINGS:

    • Leo
      • Chromium graphical glitches
      • Playing with Batocera again
    • Tony H
      • Since the last show I have been playing with the waterslide decal paper again, this time to make decals for coffee mugs, I have done a couple of mintCast Mugs and a Distrohoppers Digest Mug. While after they have been cured in the oven for a little while they are hand washable it is suggested if you want to make them dishwasher proof then you use a special lamination sheet during the process, as I don’t have a dishwasher I’ve not done this and they have stood up to hand washing in warm soapy water so I’m happy. 
      • I have again travelled to Woodbrooke so I am in studio Z on the 15” Dell laptop that stands in as my podcast PC when on the road.
      • I’ve written another couple of articles in my Full Circle series on podcast production.
      • So I was wondering what to review on Distrohoppers for the next show and looking on Distrowatch came across KaOS which is a rolling distribution built on Qt and KDE, and uses the Pacman package system, but is totally independent of any other OS. I’ve had a few issues with Dual Booting but it is on one of my Toshiba Z30’s as a solo install.
      • I made a video tutorial of using Drive to store and share files, for a friend using the OBS screen capture facility. So as well as showing her in person she has the tutorial as an aid memoir if not sure what to do.
    • Moss
      • I received a computer from our team’s audio editor, Fuzzy P. This is an HP Z400 workstation, with a quad-core Xeon processor running at 3.20 GHz, 16 Gb RAM, and my first-ever Nvidia graphics card, an FX-1500. I got some help from Dale Miracle and others in our Telegram group on some issues I ran into. I removed the unnecessary RAID card.  It also has only USB 2 ports but lots of them. I will be purchasing a USB 3 card this week, to be installed in the slot vacated by the RAID card. I briefly ran this machine with my old 2 Tb spinning metal drive, then replaced that with my 512 Gb SSD. It still does not boot all the way through, I need to hit F1 when prompted, but it boots fine after that. I’m using the FuzZ400 for this broadcast and will presumably use it for future podcasts.
      • The FuzZ400 would not see the SSD at first, so I threw GPartEd at it and it got recognized. There are 6 distro partitions on this drive, with one of them unused. It wouldn’t boot to Mint, so I installed a fresh Mint 20 MATE on it, which worked fine, and the Nvidia driver was added during updates. I checked the Ubuntu Unity partition and did not have to reinstall, plus it added the Nvidia driver with ease. Bodhi required a reinstall, but it installed the driver during initial installation. On the other hand, Gecko STATIC found the driver and made it available, but did not give me any hints on how to install it, and ditto for OpenMandriva.
      • The other computer I was given is DOA, but might have some good parts. And I haven’t yet installed the new power supply on my old desktop mini.
      • After Episode 16 of Distrohoppers’ Digest, I removed 3 of the 8 distros on my laptop, and have installed Pop!_OS in one of the freed spaces. I’m still looking for what to add to the other two partitions. Does this mean I’ll be reviewing Pop!_OS for October? Wait and see…
      • Episode 15 of Distrohoppers’ Digest has exceeded 600 downloads, a new peak for us. We’re getting a lot of positive feedback on various groups.
      • I got new tires on my car today. Quite a saga here but no need to go into it. 
      • My mother is back in the rehabilitation facility after breaking the pin in her hip.
      • My wife and I are racing through Dead Beat (Book 7) in Dresden Files. He’s on the clock trying to find out how to invoke the Erlking. So I’ll just invoke Joe right now and let him talk about his two weeks.
    • Joe
      • Catching up on podcasts for a little while
      • Also going to listen to a classic from Raymond Feist 
        • Magician Apprentice and Magician Master
      • Battle Grounds from Jim Butcher the most recent Dresden Files book
        • Did enjoy although I am seeing some continuity issues
      • Alastair Stone novels
        • More urban fiction.  Not terrible.
      • Rebuilding a few parts on my 3D printer, lets see how well it works
        • Had to pull apart the hot end because of a clog between the ptfe tubing and the throat, ordered a new block and throat but got the wrong size so I had to clean up the old one and use it again
        • That seemed to work just fine
        • While I had it out and apart I noticed that the teeth on the extruder gear were a little worn but I decided to try it anyway
        • Also while I had it apart I replaced the hot bed with one that wasn’t warped.  This helped but the Y carriage is also warped so it is not perfect.
        • It seemed like the gear was not providing enough force so I decided to change it and the y carriage at the same time
        • This turned out fine and the calibration worked but it turned out the issue was moisture in the filament which was making it difficult to extrude.
        • So after a couple more teardowns and rebuilds I was still having trouble with extrusion even with a fresh roll so I redid the ptfe tubing again but then the thermistor broke and the one I replaced it with was broke but the third one worked fine.
        • Got a good print in
        • Was not able to get CURA to connect to my 3D printer for whatever reason
        • But I was able to get repetier to connect and send commands.  More testing is required
          • It was able to send commands and read the internal sd card
          • I can still use CURA to slice on my other machines and then send the gcode over to the laptop that I have set up and use either X2Go or Octoprint to handle everything
          • Gives me a reason to setup octopi and see what I can do with it
      • Researching building a full keyboard on my own, not because I think it is a good idea but because I think it would be fun
        • Seems like it would be an expensive hobby to get into.
        • Probably couldn’t turn around and sell them to make my money back and I don’t know if I will be able to do a good job at it
        • I prefer my hobbies pay for themselves
        • Currently looking at building a Sick-68 keyboard which seems to be where most people start the process.
        • I did purchase a 60 percent kit and put in the rest of the blues that I have and a set of keycaps.  I already know that the keyboard will not meet spouse approval as it is very loud.
        • Plus the use of the function key for many things is going to take some getting used to
        • But still it is fun and I like it. But I do think that a full keyboard might do better for me
        • Also the battery on the board seems to not hold a charge for very long and take a lot of time to charge.  I am going to look and see what I have that might make a better replacement
        • But the keys are super smooth and I know that Leo will hate it
      • Picked up an ideapad flex 4 for a decent price. 
        • Not the greatest laptop in the world but I am liking the folding screen and after I switched the hard drive to an SSD and installed LM, it is going pretty smooth.  Although I think I should also upgrade the ram to 8Gb from 4 and that would help a lot 
        • The spinning disk that was in it before I am pretty sure had some issues.  It was running windows but after it ran updates it would have problems rebooting and coming back from suspend.  Although the issue with suspend would be solved by a power cycle.
        • I plan on playing around with this device for now but I think I will reinstall Windows on it and pass it on to one of the kids.  Either my middle child or my youngest depending on need.  
    • Josh Hawk
      • Issues and solutions with btrfs! I set up a 3 way raid 1 on three 2tb disks. I decided to use one of those disks to install lmde4 on and I thought since it’s a 3 way raid 1 it would just have the data on the other 2 disks. I did this, and then the other 2 disks would not mount. I spent hours trying to fix this to no avail. Finally I came across a forum post that mentioned needing to remove a disk from the btrfs raid before using it. At that point I felt so stupid cause the solution was so simple. All I have to do is add the drive back to the raid, do a scrub and balance to get the data correctly on the disk, then delete it from the raid and I can use it as I would any other drive.
  • New hardware!  I just purchased a 1Tb NVME M.2 SSD. It has 3400mb read and 3000mb write (not that I will ever need that speed but I have it!).

THE NEWS:

Clicking the burger menu, “Preferences” -> “Miscellaneous”, and add the following line in “Extra MPV Options”:

hwdec=auto-safe
    • Driver Manager having issues with pulling in recommended packages for Nvidia. To fix this:
      • APT recommends will become enabled in Linux Mint 19.x (they already are in Mint 20)
      • The Driver Manager will switch to packagekit.
      • We’ll soon backport new versions of mintsystem and mintdrivers to all 19.x releases and to Linux Mint 20.
    • A bug, noted here and here, affected people with USB printers when they upgraded from Linux Mint 19.3 to 20.
      • Fix it by removing the ippusbxd package.
      • In the future, the package may be replaced with ipp-usb
    • The clickable area on the close, maximize and minimize buttons will be bigger with no change to the looks.
    • Tray icons (fcitx, KDE connect, Redshift, etc.) got a few tweaks.
    • Acknowledgement of the Cinnamon Spices downtime in early September. Migrated to a new server and framework. Report issues!
  • Ubuntu 20.10 Groovy Gorilla Beta Is Out
  • Fedora 33 in Beta

SECURITY UPDATE: 

  • To Josh: Where do you stand on Security/Privacy vs Convenience > aka tinfoil hat?

Announcements:

Our next show will be on October 18, 2020 at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC. Check https://everytimezone.com/s/a5d26573  to convert to your local time.

Wrap-up:

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

  • Josh Lowe for all his work on the website
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our Mumble backup
  • Hobstar for our logo
  • Londoner for our time zone link
  • Owen Peery for our audio editing
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>
]]> full 1:19:26 4686 mintCast 329 – fish Pi and Wine https://mintcast.org/mintcast-329-fish-pi-and-wine/ Wed, 26 Feb 2020 06:30:41 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4241 Then in our news, Python 2 is dying, a new kernel is in the works, ElementaryOS is getting devs paid, and more.
In security, we talk more Firefox woes.
Download
]]>

Download

First up, in our Wanderings, I go fishing, Bo has some Wine, and Joe bakes some Pi.

Then in our news, Python 2 is dying, a new kernel is in the works, ElementaryOS is getting devs paid, and more.

In security, we talk more Firefox woes.

Bi-Weekly Wanderings:

  • Leo
    • Been hearing about “FISH” shell for a while, and never figured I’d need anything more than BASH. Well, that’s still true, but FISH is pretty awesome.
    • We missed the news of Fish’s 3.1.0 release back on the 12th.
    • Great for beginners, but can be a double edged sword.
  • Bo
    • Recorded first session of Star Trek Adventures. Check it out at ecnradio.com
    • I could let Leo have the highest kernel version of the show so I installed kernel 5.5 and borked my Mint installation.
    • Running into Wine installation issues on Mint.
    • I’ve been taking on small Python projects at work.
  • Joe
    • For my reading pleasure
      • Demon accords
      • Stormlight archive book 1 and 2
      • Looking for something new
      • Going to listen to Andy Weir again
        • Listened to the Martian
          • Really good book
        • Have Artemis in my queue
        • Both great books
      • Used voice aloud for Steven Barnes Aubry Knight book 2
        • A classic book, worth the read.  I like it better than the first book and think the third book is a little weak
    • Pulled the screen from an old laptop and converted the monitor so that I could use it with the Pi 4
      • The connection is relatively simple
      • Fabricating the stand for it was a bit more difficult but only because it is a bit out of my normal wheel house
        • Used a soft board that was very light to do it and repurposed an old tablet stand to hold it in the correct position.
        • Attached the controller board and the pi to the back of the screen as well.  The viewing angle is very narrow but it is working great and has a much lower profile than the other screen i was using for it.
      • Also setup the case of the pi so that it connects to the back of the stand.  It looks pretty good.
    • I have never liked any of the BT receivers that I have purchased.  Granted that may be because i buy the cheap ones.
      • But I do have plenty of broken bluetooth headphones.  
      • Solution:  Bust out the soldering iron and convert an old pair of headphones into a bt receiver giving longer battery life and better sound quality
      • The Sony XB650 is not the simplest choice for this as the battery is on the opposite side to the usb port and controls but the end result is pretty low profile and sounds great.  
      • I was even able to use a 4 pole female 3.5mm adapter and wire into the existing microphone so that my gaming headsets will work properly.  Although i used an old 3.5mm extension cable and this added a problem where the speaker audio was being pumped back through the mic. This can be easily fixed by either putting back in the old mic or replacing the jack with a new one.
      • 10 solder points total the cable was a bit difficult to work with and took longer than it should have to connect the headphone wires.  
      • Moved all the electronics from the left ear to the right ear including the battery and shortened all the cables down to about 2 inches.  Had to shave down the supports at the back of the can so I could put in the battery and controller for it along with the NFC tag. 
      • I have done similar in the past with one of the neck band headphones that i have.  That was much simpler. Some speaker wire from each headphone connection to a 3.5mm female jack.  It works well but not pocket friendly. Although the built-in mic is useful.
    • Also received the DIY desktop headphone amplifier 
      • It was fun to put together
      • Good way to practice through hole soldering
      • There was also some surface mount but that was easy
      • Did not quite get the left channel chip soldered properly on the first try and had to go back and fix it
      • End result is pretty good.  It works as an amp and gives me a knob to control the volume
      • Had to switch from my razer krakens to the neo classics in order to have something that could be pushed with minimal distortion(for testing)
      • Good volume but not great quality
      • What do you expect for 9 bucks
    • Went to the lug on saturday.  Spent a lot of time there writing show notes.
    • My son had fun as well.  I was using my 7130 and he was using the 7140.  
    • Lots of discussion about old school linux and new advances.  Discussed powershell on linux and WSL.
    • Had a root canal.  Can’t say it was fun but i will say it was one of my better visits to the dentist.  I do have to go back for the crown and I have already had the cleaning. Also not fun.  
    • I want to ask if anyone knows what to do about cable hardening on headphones. 
      • Something that happens to some headphone wires as they age.  
      • The only thing I know to do is use a hairdryer to get them into the most comfortable position and then live with it or replace the whole dang cable.
    • Ordered the parts to fix my 3d printer
      • Also ordered the mosfet fix this time too so hopefully i don’t have any further board burnout problems
        • I understand that similar things can happen to the mosfets but they are 10 dollars to replace as opposed to 120
        • Will have to keep a close eye on the first couple of run throughs as I hear that some of the fetts come broken. 
        • Will do a slightly difficult test print and see how it comes out and how much time it takes to dial in.
        • Then a few simple prints to test longevity and because i need more headphone desk hooks. And maybe a stand or two

The News:

Security Update:

Announcements:

  • Our Next Episode will be live March 8th, 2020. 2PM CST, 8PM UTC

Wrap-up:

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

  • Josh for all his work on the website and the livestream
  • 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 (Thanks, Clem!)
]]> full 4241 mintCast 329 – fish Pi and Wine (mp3) https://mintcast.org/mintcast-329-fish-pi-and-wine-mp3/ Wed, 26 Feb 2020 06:30:15 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4239 Then in our news, Python 2 is dying, a new kernel is in the works, ElementaryOS is getting devs paid, and more.
In security, we talk more Firefox woes.
Download
]]>

Download

First up, in our Wanderings, I go fishing, Bo has some Wine, and Joe bakes some Pi.

Then in our news, Python 2 is dying, a new kernel is in the works, ElementaryOS is getting devs paid, and more.

In security, we talk more Firefox woes.

Bi-Weekly Wanderings:

  • Leo
    • Been hearing about “FISH” shell for a while, and never figured I’d need anything more than BASH. Well, that’s still true, but FISH is pretty awesome.
    • We missed the news of Fish’s 3.1.0 release back on the 12th.
    • Great for beginners, but can be a double edged sword.
  • Bo
    • Recorded first session of Star Trek Adventures. Check it out at ecnradio.com
    • I could let Leo have the highest kernel version of the show so I installed kernel 5.5 and borked my Mint installation.
    • Running into Wine installation issues on Mint.
    • I’ve been taking on small Python projects at work.
  • Joe
    • For my reading pleasure
      • Demon accords
      • Stormlight archive book 1 and 2
      • Looking for something new
      • Going to listen to Andy Weir again
        • Listened to the Martian
          • Really good book
        • Have Artemis in my queue
        • Both great books
      • Used voice aloud for Steven Barnes Aubry Knight book 2
        • A classic book, worth the read.  I like it better than the first book and think the third book is a little weak
    • Pulled the screen from an old laptop and converted the monitor so that I could use it with the Pi 4
      • The connection is relatively simple
      • Fabricating the stand for it was a bit more difficult but only because it is a bit out of my normal wheel house
        • Used a soft board that was very light to do it and repurposed an old tablet stand to hold it in the correct position.
        • Attached the controller board and the pi to the back of the screen as well.  The viewing angle is very narrow but it is working great and has a much lower profile than the other screen i was using for it.
      • Also setup the case of the pi so that it connects to the back of the stand.  It looks pretty good.
    • I have never liked any of the BT receivers that I have purchased.  Granted that may be because i buy the cheap ones.
      • But I do have plenty of broken bluetooth headphones.  
      • Solution:  Bust out the soldering iron and convert an old pair of headphones into a bt receiver giving longer battery life and better sound quality
      • The Sony XB650 is not the simplest choice for this as the battery is on the opposite side to the usb port and controls but the end result is pretty low profile and sounds great.  
      • I was even able to use a 4 pole female 3.5mm adapter and wire into the existing microphone so that my gaming headsets will work properly.  Although i used an old 3.5mm extension cable and this added a problem where the speaker audio was being pumped back through the mic. This can be easily fixed by either putting back in the old mic or replacing the jack with a new one.
      • 10 solder points total the cable was a bit difficult to work with and took longer than it should have to connect the headphone wires.  
      • Moved all the electronics from the left ear to the right ear including the battery and shortened all the cables down to about 2 inches.  Had to shave down the supports at the back of the can so I could put in the battery and controller for it along with the NFC tag. 
      • I have done similar in the past with one of the neck band headphones that i have.  That was much simpler. Some speaker wire from each headphone connection to a 3.5mm female jack.  It works well but not pocket friendly. Although the built-in mic is useful.
    • Also received the DIY desktop headphone amplifier 
      • It was fun to put together
      • Good way to practice through hole soldering
      • There was also some surface mount but that was easy
      • Did not quite get the left channel chip soldered properly on the first try and had to go back and fix it
      • End result is pretty good.  It works as an amp and gives me a knob to control the volume
      • Had to switch from my razer krakens to the neo classics in order to have something that could be pushed with minimal distortion(for testing)
      • Good volume but not great quality
      • What do you expect for 9 bucks
    • Went to the lug on saturday.  Spent a lot of time there writing show notes.
    • My son had fun as well.  I was using my 7130 and he was using the 7140.  
    • Lots of discussion about old school linux and new advances.  Discussed powershell on linux and WSL.
    • Had a root canal.  Can’t say it was fun but i will say it was one of my better visits to the dentist.  I do have to go back for the crown and I have already had the cleaning. Also not fun.  
    • I want to ask if anyone knows what to do about cable hardening on headphones. 
      • Something that happens to some headphone wires as they age.  
      • The only thing I know to do is use a hairdryer to get them into the most comfortable position and then live with it or replace the whole dang cable.
    • Ordered the parts to fix my 3d printer
      • Also ordered the mosfet fix this time too so hopefully i don’t have any further board burnout problems
        • I understand that similar things can happen to the mosfets but they are 10 dollars to replace as opposed to 120
        • Will have to keep a close eye on the first couple of run throughs as I hear that some of the fetts come broken. 
        • Will do a slightly difficult test print and see how it comes out and how much time it takes to dial in.
        • Then a few simple prints to test longevity and because i need more headphone desk hooks. And maybe a stand or two

The News:

Security Update:

Announcements:

  • Our Next Episode will be live March 8th, 2020. 2PM CST, 8PM UTC

Wrap-up:

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

  • Josh for all his work on the website and the livestream
  • 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 (Thanks, Clem!)
]]> full 4239