Table of Contents

From The Chief Editor's Desk

1. Introducing Inkscape 1.0

2. Inkscape Tutorial: Inkscape 1.0 New Features

3. PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Hamburger Gravy

4. ms_meme's Nook: Linux and I

5. Short Topix: Linux Caves To Social Justice Movement

6. COVID-19 & Digital Rights

7. Ventoy: The Ultimate USB Loader

8. Transfer Files Directly To Your Amazon Fire Stick From Your PC

9. Mind Your Step: Miscellaneous Topics

10. Make A VLC Video Playlist From The Command Line

11. EFF Launches Searchable Database Of Police Agencies & The Tech Tools They Use To Spy On Communities

12. Repo Review: Gscan2pdf

13. PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight: pyjujiop

14. ms_meme's Nook: The Sun Has Got His Hat On

15. PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner Bonus: FRITO PIE aka Walking Taco

16. PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

17. Screenshot Showcase

From The Chief Editor's Desk

August 25 should be an international holiday. Well, it should be if you're a Linux user. Or, maybe it should be a religious holiday. For many Linux users, Linux is somewhat akin to a religion. That's the day in 1991 when Linus Torvalds made the comp.os.minix newsgroup post announcing Linux 0.01. That initial announcement read as follows:

Hello everybody out there using minix -

I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).

I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months, and I'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)

Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)

PS. Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT portable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.

-- Linus Torvalds

The initial code release came a couple of weeks later. You can download Linux 0.01 here, if you want to take a look. With a little digging around on the internet, you should be able to compile the source code, and run it in VirtualBox.

According to Torvalds, Linux began to gain importance in 1992 after the X Window System was ported to Linux by Orest Zborowski, which allowed Linux to support a GUI for the first time.

What we commonly call and hold dear as Linux almost had a different name. Torvalds briefly considered "Linux," a play on his first name and Unix, but considered it too egotistical. So, he changed the name to "Freax," combining the words "free," "freak," and "Unix." However, Ari Lemmke, one of the volunteer administrators of the FTP server at the Helsinki University of Technology at the time, thought "Freax" was a dumb name, and took it upon himself to rename it Linux. The name stuck.

Tux, the Linux mascot, didn't come about until five years later. In 1996, when they were about to select the mascot, Torvalds mentioned he was bitten by a little penguin (Eudyptula minor) on a visit to the National Zoo & Aquarium in Canberra, Australia. Larry Ewing provided the original draft of today's well known mascot based on this description. The name Tux was suggested by James Hughes as derivative of Torvalds' UniX, along with being short for tuxedo, a type of suit with color similar to that of a penguin.

********************

This month's magazine cover was designed by Meemaw. It celebrates the 29th anniversary of the Linux announcement, the announcement of the IBM PC on August 12, 1981, and August being Watermelon Month. During the dog days of summer, there's little else as refreshing as some ice cold watermelon to cool us off.

Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, prosperity, serenity, and continued good health!

Introducing Inkscape 1.0

by The Inkscape Team

Smoother performance, HiDPI support, new & improved Live Path Effects & native macOS app

After a little over three years in development, the team is excited to launch the long awaited Inkscape 1.0 into the world.

Built with the power of a team of volunteers, this open source vector editor represents the work of many hearts and hands from around the world, ensuring that Inkscape remains available free for everyone to download and enjoy.

In fact, translations for over 20 languages were updated for version 1.0, making the software more accessible to people from all over the world.

A major milestone was achieved in enabling Inkscape to use a more recent version of the software used to build the editor's user interface (namely GTK+3). Users with HiDPI (high resolution) screens can thank teamwork that took place during the 2018 Boston Hackfest for setting the updated-GTK wheels in motion.

Smoother performance & first native macOS application

This latest version is available for Linux, Windows and macOS. All macOS users will notice that this latest version is labelled as 'preview', which means that additional improvements are scheduled for the next versions. Overall, 1.0 delivers a smoother, higher performance experience on Linux and Windows, and a better system integration (no more XQuartz!) on macOS.

So many new bells and whistles

One of the first things users will notice is a reorganized tool box, with a more logical order. There are many new and improved Live Path Effect (LPE) features. The new searchable LPE selection dialog now features a very polished interface, descriptions and even the possibility of marking favorite LPEs. Performance improvements are most noticeable when editing node-heavy objects, using the Objects dialog, and when grouping/ungrouping.

The new Live Path Effects Selection dialog

Canvas flexibility & more for freestyle drawing

Freestyle drawing users can now mirror and rotate the canvas, and test out Xray and Split-view modes. The new PowerPencil mode of the Pencil tool provides pressure-dependent width and it is finally possible to create closed paths. Inkscape now allows you to vectorize line drawings, too, in the new unified Trace Bitmap dialog. New path effects that will appeal to the artistic user include Offset, PowerClip and PowerMask LPEs.

The Split View mode allows to easily edit and preview your drawing

Duplicate guides, Corners & Hairlines for technical drawing

Users who work on technical drawings will appreciate being able to create a duplicate guide, aligning grids to the page, the Measure tool's path length indicator and the inverted Y-axis, which makes coordinates match between the SVG code and the Inkscape user interface. Potential favorite new LPEs might be Corners (Fillet/Chamfer) for even rounding / cutting of path corners, Ellipse from Points for construction of circles and ellipses and Measure Segments for architectural plans and other real-world object measuring. A new functionality with the Circle Tool means it can create closed arcs (fillets) with the click of a button. When it comes to SVG and CSS, Inkscape 1.0 can make use of SVG2 vector hatches, and can render and export hairlines.

Even rounding or blunting of corners by a specified radius with the Corners Live Path Effect

PDF export, text & document fixes for designing

Designers will appreciate being able to export PDFs with clickable links and metadata. They can enjoy new palettes and mesh gradients that work in the web browser, as well as the handy on-canvas alignment for objects. When it comes to wrangling text in Inkscape, variable font support, browser-compatible flowed text, simplified, yet powerful line-height settings will make that a joy. New templates for different screen sizes, margin guides and a colorful checkerboard background are now available. Inkscape 1.0 even features an extension for creating interactive mockups to simulate user interaction with an app in the web browser for presentations to clients and usability testing.

Alignment of objects on cavas with a new set of alignment handles

Customizable themes, icons, fonts & UI

For users interested in customizing their user interface, Inkscape 1.0 allows for plenty of tinkering. From menus and toolbars to page sizes and custom font directories, there is lots to discover. Choose from your installed themes to give Inkscape a dark or bright interface, and select one of the available icon sets, which include customizable single-color icons and the newly-designed multicolor icon set. The new dialog for saving the current file as a template, with keywords and title, allows you to always have the template you need available.

Switching themes on-the-fly

Some fundamental changes

The extensions system has undergone some fundamental changes in version 1.0. Over the years, Inkscape users have become used to working with third-party extensions, such as various ones used for laser cutting and exporting to file formats which are not a native part of Inkscape. While outreach to extension developers was undertaken as Inkscape migrates towards Python 3 and a more logical and fully tested extensions API (now hosted in a separate repository), not all third-party extensions have been brought forward to be compatible yet. This will mean that 1.0 may not allow some users to continue with their normal extensions workflow.

For more details on specific updates in Inkscape 1.0, check out the Release Notes.

Download Inkscape 1.0 now! Or, wait until the package reaches the PCLinuxOS repository, and install it via Synaptic.

Inkscape Tutorial: Inkscape 1.0 New Features

by Meemaw

May 4, 2020

"After a little over three years in development, the team is excited to launch the long awaited Inkscape 1.0 into the world.

Built with the power of a team of volunteers, this free and open source vector editor represents the work of many hearts and hands from around the world, ensuring that Inkscape remains available free for everyone to download and enjoy."

Finally! Inkscape 1.0 is out!

Reading the release notes, we can see that there are several new features. I'm going to review just a few.

Rotate the Entire Canvas

Nice! A cool feature I never knew I wanted. While pressing <SHIFT> + <CTRL>, scroll with your mouse to rotate the canvas to your desired angle. The bottom right corner of your window now has a box labeled "R" that shows your angle of rotation.

On-Canvas Alignment

On-canvas alignment allows you to use many alignment options on the fly, rather than opening another window with Align & Distribute. To enable this, open Object > Align and Distribute and toggle the on-canvas button, located just under the word Align in the tool window. After that, the window won't need to be opened.

Clicking the selection 3 times shows the handles (click 1 is select/resize, click 2 is rotate, and click 3 is align)

You'll notice the handles are different now. The ones in the corners align the objects to that corner. The ones on the sides, top and bottom are to align left and right, top and bottom. The square in the center is the align center. Clicking the square aligns horizontally to center. If you hold down the Shift key, it aligns to center vertically.

Custom Inkscape Themes

Earlier, there were only one or two ways to personalize certain things on your Inkscape interface, without actually hazarding a trip to root and file alteration. Now you can just go to Edit > Preferences, select the Interface drop down, and select Theme. Here you can change the entire way Inkscape looks and adjust icon themes and sizes separately.

Live Path Effects Makeover!

The live path effects tool has been changed considerably.

If you want to tinker around with these, select Path > Path Effects to bring up the menu. Then just select any path and hit the "+" icon to Add Path Effect, which brings up this window shown below.

In previous versions, the window only had a list of the live paths you could choose. Now they are in a different window that shows a sample of the effect, so you know you are getting the right one. In the box above, you can see three different ways to display the effects (top center of window). You can choose icons, smaller icons or a list (which has icons on the left end of the description).

More Compact Tool Controls Bar

Some control buttons that have been mutually exclusive (e.g. right-aligned, left-aligned, justified) have been combined into drop-down lists, so they now take up less space.

Context menu

The menu that appears after a right-click on the canvas has been extended at the bottom with the following items, which makes locking/unlocking and hiding/unhiding individual objects much easier:

- Hide selected objects

- Unhide objects below (the mouse cursor)

- Lock selected objects

- Unlock objects below (the mouse cursor)

Pinch-to-zoom

On supported hardware (trackpad, touchpad, multi-touch screen), the canvas can be zoomed with the two-finger pinch gesture. My laptop touchpad doesn't work, but you should try yours. My daughter has an older Wacom Bamboo (CTH-661) and the pinch-to-zoom works when it's connected to my husband's laptop running PCLinuxOS Xfce.

Split View and X-ray Modes

Both of these tools make it easier to see what you have in your drawing, especially if you have several things stacked. With the Split View and the X-ray, you can see them and it will be easier to grab the one you want and edit it, without having to use trial and error to grab what you want or unlayer objects to find the correct one. Split view divides your page in half and shows one side as it is, and the other side with just the frames of your objects without the colors. The line can be moved left & right or up & down using your mouse. X-ray view puts a resizable transparent circle on the drawing that lets you look past all the color and only at the frames of each object.

Split view is found in the View menu or can be activated by pressing <Ctrl> + 6.

X-ray view is found in the View menu or can be activated by pressing <Alt> + 6. The circle that you use can be made larger or smaller by pressing Edit > Preferences > Rendering > Rendering XRay radius.

Snapping

In Edit > Preferences > Behavior > Snapping, a new option was added to disable snapping in new documents or files that are opened with Inkscape for the first time. It's a checkbox saying Enable snapping in new documents.

Center Page in Window

You might have noticed a new tool up in the toolbar with the Zoom buttons (Zoom to fit selection in window, Zoom to fit drawing in window, and Zoom to fit page in window). Now there is also a tool that allows you to center your zoomed object in the window.

If you have zoomed in on an object, you can center that in your window without altering the zoom you have.

It looks like we're all going to be doing some experimentation. This isn't the limit of the new features!

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Hamburger Gravy

Hamburger Gravy

Carbohydrate 14g

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 tablespoons all purpose or unbleached flour

1 tablespoon beef-flavor instant bouillon

2 tablespoons steak sauce

2 cups milk

DIRECTIONS:

In a large skillet, cook ground beef and onion over medium-high heat until beef is thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently.

Stir in flour, bouillon and steak sauce. Gradually stir in milk. Cook and stir 4 to 6 minutes or until mixture boils and thickens, stirring frequently.

If desired, serve over biscuits, mashed potatoes or cooked rice.

ms_meme's Nook: Linux and I

MP3                                                                       OGG

Short Topix: Linux Caves To Social Justice Movement

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Google Photos Sports New Logo, Implements Design Changes

Google Photos services over 1,000,000,000 (yes, billion) users across the world every month. Even if it is from the evil Google Empire [bwahahahaha], there's hardly any photo service that's easier or more convenient to use. But, because it's Google, they really just can't help themselves when it comes to screwing with things that aren't broken.

To start with, Google has changed the logo for Google Photos. Above is an image showing the progression of the various logos Google has used. The Picasa logo actually made sense. The opening in the middle looked like the aperture of a lens (and I'm thinking specifically of Canon's 50mm f 1.8 lens for their DSLRs, which utilizes a five blade aperture). Then came the middle logo, which some could argue (after several drinks) still resembled ... somewhat ... the aperture of a lens. Now, Google has thrust the latest logo upon us, depicted on the right. I'm not sure what flower petals have to do with photography (other than flowers make for some nice photo subjects from time to time). Nothing about the new logo reaches out and says PHOTOS to you. I would expect this kind of logo for a "Google Gardening" app. To say that it is way, way oversimplified is an understatement. As Google has shown us, you can simplify a logo too much, to the point that it loses its identity.

But Google also didn't just stop with the new logo for Google Photos. They also had to mess up a perfectly functional user interface. Many common tasks, like viewing shared photos from a photo "partner," went from being just one click away, to being buried in a menu that now requires multiple clicks to access. Instead, Google decided to give photo memories -- technically called "Memories" carousel -- a larger presence. It was always there before, accessible with just one click, but now it occupies a ridiculous amount of screen real estate, with a garish appearance. Google estimates that 120 million people every month -- or roughly 10 percent or so of its monthly visitors -- access the feature every month. Sure. Let's cater to the 10 percent, and make the other 90 percent of users suffer. Because that makes so much sense. [smh!]

Of course, I'll continue to use Google Photos. For me and my wife, the real attraction for Google Photos is what happens in the background. We both use Google Pixel 3 phones, which gives us unlimited storage of photos at full size and resolution (one of the "perks" of using the Google Pixel 3 phone). Most other users of Google Photos only get to store recompressed, smaller versions of their photos. Plus, almost as soon as we shoot a picture (or whenever our phones find a viable wifi network), our photos are uploaded automatically in the background. Then, we can access them from any device that can connect to Google Photos.

Even though we have a DSLR and a slew of other quite capable digital cameras, we usually have our phones with us no matter where we are. And that is important when you have two active children who do cute things all day long that you want to capture in a photo. That isn't necessarily the case with any of our standalone cameras. We bought the Pixel 3's because it had the absolute best camera of any of the phones available. We know that we use the camera on our phones a lot to take pictures of the kids, so having a high quality camera was the most important consideration when we bought our new phones.

Still, I wish Google would stop changing functional interfaces and features just for the sake of change. That is, after all, what it seems they like to do. Hmmm. Maybe that's what they tell the Google interns that rotate through there. Take this perfectly functioning app and let's see how much you can eff it up before your internship is over.

25 Android Apps That Steal Your Facebook Login Information

IF you still have a Facebook account (lots of people have left the platform in recent years), there is a new threat from rogue Android apps that will attempt to steal your Facebook login credentials.

Google has removed 25 of those rogue apps from the Google Play store, after French cybersecurity firm Evina identified the Facebook credential-stealing malware. Below is the full list of malware apps that Evina discovered, from the Evina website.

Image: Evina

The list of apps include pedometers, flashlight apps, live wallpaper apps, card games, file managers, and other assorted apps. While they are functional in terms of their intended use, the malware apps will also open up a browser window with a fake Facebook login page. When the user fills in the login credentials, the login information is sent to a remote server for collection. The remote server has since been shut down.

Even though Google has removed the malware from the Google Play store, users should check their Android devices to make sure the apps are not installed on those devices. Exclusion from the Google Play store will not affect apps that are already installed on devices. It is up to the end user to remove these apps that might have been installed on their devices.

Stay vigilant! I've said it before, and I'll say it again: your data/information is the modern currency d'jour.

Facebook Improperly Shares User Data With Developers ... AGAIN!

Just when you thought it might be safe to go into the water again, the same ol' shark that you thought was dead resurfaces, looking for another victim. Welcome to the premiere of Jaws 45 in 4D. And so it goes with Facebook, who was discovered to be improperly sharing user information -- email addresses, birthdays, language, gender, etc. -- long past the time that they should have, according to a Mashable article.

Facebook, on its blog, offered a typically vague explanation. When pressed by Mashable for additional information, Facebook did not respond.

If all of this sounds familiar, that's because it is. The very same situation was discovered in 2018 and 2019, and similar statements (yawn) were offered at those times for the overabundance of information given to third-party developers. Follow the links if you think you can stay awake reading essentially the same statement ... over ... and over ... and over again.

It's things like this that make me happy to have NEVER been a Facebook user. Nor will I ever be.

NASA: Watch 10 Years Of Solar Activity

On June 2, 2010, the Solar Dynamics Observatory was deployed. Its mission: watch the sun. While doing so, it took an image of the sun every 0.75 seconds. Over its 10+ years of observation, that amounts to over 425 million solar images.

To commemorate the 10 year milestone, the SDO team put together a video of the sun from that massive amount of images that spans the 10 years of the mission so far. Each day in the video is one second of the video. It even sports a custom music soundtrack. As such, the video goes for 61 minutes. In it, you can see transits of planets, as well as solar eruptions.

You can view the video here. Caution: it's quite hypnotic, and difficult to look away.

Linux Caves To Social Justice Movement

If you haven't heard about the current levels of social unrest sweeping across the landscape, you must have been the lone survivor at a long lost, forgotten moon base with no way to communicate back to the "Mother Planet." The world is descending into absolute crazy madness!

Well, not wanting to be left out of the "virtue signaling" mix, Linus Torvalds signed off onto removing "offensive" terms from the Linux kernel, such as slave, master and blacklist. According to an article on The Register, the removal of these terms is supposed to occur immediately, starting with the latest rc5 release of the 5.8 Linux kernel.

Sooooooo ... where does all of this end? What about all of the curse words that are dispersed throughout the kernel code? Won't some puritanical sort of person take offense to the appearance of those "offensive" words?

Gauging by the comments to the article on The Register (and elsewhere across the internet), the changes are not being well received by Linux aficionados. There is, to say the least, a LOT of backlash against the forthcoming changes, and most of it centers around the types of questions I asked in the previous paragraph.

I Know What You Downloaded Via BitTorrent

Do you think you're safe downloading BitTorrents without a VPN? Prepare to have your mind changed in 1 ... 2 ... 3 seconds.

Even though users can download perfectly legal "stuff" via torrents, such as Linux distros, BitTorrents are commonly used for peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted material, like music and movies, and that is where BitTorrents get their bad rap. Some ISPs even attempt to throttle the download speed of torrent downloads to discourage users from downloading torrents.

Point your browser over to iknowwhatyoudownload.com. Once there, you will see your IP address listed at the top of the page, and all of the BitTorrents downloaded from that IP address listed below it. If the IP address listed is indeed yours, you might be quite surprised at the information revealed. However, if the IP address listed is one of the servers for your VPN service, then relax and know that the VPN is doing its intended job.

I use a VPN, and it's quite an eye opener to see what other customers of the VPN are downloading through the VPN server. None of it points back to the actual user, but it's still quite revealing.

I know. I know. Some of you are going to say something along the lines of "well, I have nothing to hide," or "I don't download torrents, so I have nothing to worry about." This isn't about whether you have anything to hide or not. This also isn't about whether or not you download torrents. This is about privacy. Why should your IP address be associated with the files you upload or download? Is it really the business of anyone else what things interest you?

"No Log" VPN Provider Leaks User Database Online

Cybersecurity firm CompariTech reported that Hong Kong based, "no logs" UFO VPN has been leaking user database files for millions of its users ... daily ... due to poor security. The information includes:

Account passwords in plain text

VPN session secrets and tokens

IP addresses of both user devices and the VPN servers they connected to

Connection timestamps

Geo-tags

Device and OS characteristics

URLs that appear to be domains from which advertisements are injected into free users' web browsers

There are a literal TON of people who would like to snag a record of your online activity, and among them are governments, ISPs, individuals, and advertisers. It is your duty to protect your online activity as much as possible from snooping eyes.

Besides storing the information in easy-to-read plain text files, none of the files were encrypted or secured in any way. The first database breach was reported by CompariTech to UFO VPN on July 1, 2020. A subsequent release of an updated and even larger database file was discovered on July 20, 2020, posted at a different IP address.

UFO VPN boasts serving 20,000,000 users, and possessing "bank level security." I don't know about you, but that's not a bank I'd want to put my money into. While it's unknown just how many records were leaked, it is possible that ALL UFO VPN records were compromised.

Don't worry. This gets even better. There are six Android VPN apps that appear to use the same codebase and setup as UFO VPN. They are:

- Fast VPN

- Free VPN

- Super VPN

- Flash VPN

- Secure VPN

- Rabbit VPN

The decision for UFO VPN users to leave should be an easy one. And overall, this gives VPN services a black eye. But keep in mind that VPN services that are REPUTABLE deserve your trust and business. UFO VPN should not fall into that category. There are VPN services that do not keep logs (UFO VPN just said they didn't, and the database leak proves otherwise), and that go out of their way to protect their clients' privacy and anonymity.

Want to know which VPN service provider is worthy of your trust and business? Check out this "Best VPN Service for 2020" article from TechRadar.

The use of a VPN is NOT the cure-all for protecting your privacy. But, it is a very important cog in a gear that makes up a whole series of things that can help protect your privacy, like enabling two-factor authentication whenever possible, making smart choices for your web browser, stop using the same passwords on multiple sites, etc. If someone or an entity wants to track your movements across the web, they will find a way. Using a good quality, trustworthy VPN service will help make tracking your activity more difficult.

COVID-19 & Digital Rights

by Electronic Frontier Foundation

Reprinted under Creative Commons Attribution License

Many of our digital rights are impacted by COVID-19. Now more than ever, EFF is dedicated to ensuring that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for all the people of the world.

Surveillance. Governments around the world are demanding extraordinary new surveillance powers that many hope will contain the virus' spread. But many of these powers would invade our privacy, inhibit our free speech, and disparately burden vulnerable groups of people. Mindful of the stakes, we ask three questions when analyzing proposals that would provide greater surveillance powers to the government: Would the proposal work? Would it excessively intrude on our freedoms? Are there sufficient safeguards? Different proposals raise different issues. For example:

- We oppose dragnet surveillance of the general public to identify infected people. This includes dragnet surveillance cameras in public places that use face recognition or thermal imaging, and mounting such technologies on .

- We oppose monitoring quarantine of COVID-19 patients with ankle GPS shackles or compulsion to download tracking apps.

- We oppose giving police officers access to any COVID-19 public health data, including the addresses of people who tested positive.

- We oppose immunity passports and verified credentials of test results. Gatekeeping systems that require people to present a digital token of supposed health in order to enter various spaces are a worrisome step towards national digital identification.

- We oppose automated contact tracing based on phone location data. It is insufficiently granular to identify when two people were close enough together to transmit the virus, but it will expose where we've been and what we've been doing.

- Bluetooth proximity is the most promising approach so far to automated COVID tracking. But no app will work absent widespread testing and interview-based contact tracing. Any app needs rigorous security testing and data minimization. No one should be forced to use it.

- Any use of aggregate location data to inform public health decisions need strict safeguards.

Many new government surveillance programs are being built in partnership with corporations that hold vast stores of consumers' personal data. We need new laws to protect our data privacy.

Free Speech. The free flow of ideas about COVID-19 is vital. This includes anonymous whistle-blowing about containment efforts, online criticisms of government responses to the crisis, and prisoner access to social media to tell the world about outbreaks behind bars. Governments will inevitably abuse any new powers to censor what they deem false information about the virus. When online platforms increase their reliance on automated content moderation, in part because human moderators cannot safely come to work, those moderation "decisions" must be temporary, transparent, and easily appealable. Platforms should take into account the Santa Clara Principles for transparent and accountable content moderation. We are troubled by Facebook's plan to limit speech about public protests.

Innovation. New technologies and ideas can help address the public health crisis. We must have free and open access to scientific knowledge about the virus. Tinkerers should be able to fix medical devices, and have easy online access to repair manuals. Open innovation in medical technology will save lives. The federal government should exercise its power to stop patent trolls from endangering COVID-19 testing and treatment, and should not increase patent terms for technologies related to this health crisis.

Fiber For All. Social distancing is causing many of us to spend more time on the Internet. But not all Americans have fast and competitively-priced Internet access. So EFF is advocating for federal and state laws to redouble efforts to build better broadband for everyone. You can take action to support these bills.

Government transparency. Government decision-making about the virus must be transparent. When governments temporarily close the physical spaces where they make decisions, for purposes of social distancing, they must adopt new transparency accommodations, such as broadcasting their proceedings. While government responses to public records requests may be slower during this public health crisis, the outbreak is no excuse to shut them down altogether.

Living More Online. We need better online access to books. As we rely on more online tools to make working from home and distance learning possible, Internet users should update their surveillance self-defense knowledge, for example, to make informed decisions about using online meeting tools, organizing online mutual aid efforts, and avoiding Coronavirus phishing. Although musicians are under real financial stress due to the virus, mandatory automated filters to identify alleged copyright infringement are not the answer.

Protest During COVID-19. People attending demonstrations during the pandemic should take special surveillance self-defense precautions. Police investigating protesters must not have access to COVID-19 public health information.

Support Our Work! You can donate and download our ebook, EFF's Guide to Digital Rights and the Pandemic, which includes our writings through May 4. You can show your support for digital rights during video calls with EFF virtual backgrounds, and learn more by watching our virtual "At Home With EFF" events.

Ventoy: The Ultimate USB Loader

by Alessandro Ebersol (Agent Smith)

USB flash drives on Linux have always been problematic. Aside from the nostalgic unetbootin, the bootable USB solutions on Linux are always lame. Either you don't have all the features of the Windows programs, or it's complicated and laborious to make it work.

Just for comparison, Windows has Wubi, Rufus, Yumi, Universal USB Installer, LiLi USB Creator, and the list goes on and on.

On Linux, we had Unetbootin, which was a very good tool, but which did not continue development in the jump from 32 to 64 bits. Really, it did not improve as it should, lagging behind other solutions. So, we who use Linux have been orphaned of some solution that was practical, easy and that effectively worked.

Ventoy shows up and saves the day

Enter Ventoy, a program that manages the use of the USB flash drive regarding boot management, the flash drive being just one ISO, or multi ISO's. Also, several types of ISO's are supported, from Linux, BSD and even Windows. In addition, they can be mixed without any problem.

How does Ventoy work?

The concept of Ventoy is so simple that it is surprising that nobody had thought about this system before.

Ventoy is a script, a small program, that, when run (as root), partitions a USB stick (which must be specified so that the program can do its job), in two partitions: A 32 MiB partition, in which a loader is installed, and, which also serves as an EFI partition, if the pendrive is used to boot on machines with EFI boot, and the rest of the pendrive is formatted in exFAT, and the pendrive is labeled Ventoy.

Pendrive's layout, after Ventoy's installation

With the above layout, Ventoy becomes compatible with both systems that boot in legacy MBR mode and with more modern EFI/GPT systems. Ventoy, however, does not support secure boot, and it must be disabled.

As for the first partition, by default, Ventoy selects the exFAT file system for the primary partition to store iso files. ExFAT is better compatible with Windows/Linux/Mac and exFAT is suitable for the USB stick.

In Ventoy-1.0.11, you can reformat the first partition with another file system. exFAT, FAT32, NTFS, UDF, XFS, EXT2, EXT3, and EXT4 are supported.

Note that if you choose XFS, EXT2, EXT3, or EXT4, the USB drive will not be available on Windows, and it cannot be used to install Windows. But if you only use Linux, it will be a good choice, because those listed filesystems will perform better on Linux.

As for the second partition, there must be an EFI system partition with the FAT file system, and these are the mandatory requirements of the UEFI specifications. Therefore, this partition is created to hold the EFI boot file and other files needed for Ventoy. Since these files are very small, 32 MiB is sufficient. In addition, the EFI partition can also be in the first partition, but the developer defined it in the second partition, only because in some versions of Windows (like Windows 7), only the first partition on the USB drive is visible to the system. This is good for the protection of Ventoy.

This partition is very small and used by Ventoy, so it is best not to change anything on this partition. And the 1 MB gap? It is used to store the boot loader on Legacy bios systems.

Using Ventoy

To use Ventoy, you will need a pendrive, or what some people refer to as a USB flash drive. To write this article, I used an 8GB USB stick. Again I stress: Ventoy must be run as ROOT.

Now, to the steps for using Ventoy.

1) Download the script, selecting the Linux version: https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/releases/download/v1.0.15/ventoy-1.0.15-linux.tar.gz

The latest version is 1.0.15.

2) After downloading the script, unzip it somewhere in your /home directory. When unzipping, it creates a ventoy-1.0.15 folder. Change to this folder.

3) Connect your USB stick to the computer. You should know how the system identifies your flash drive (sdb, sdc, etc.). If you can't easily find out, use Gparted to find out.

4) The syntax for Ventoy commands is: Ventoy2Disk.sh CMD [OPTION]/dev/sdX, where

CMD:

-i install ventoy on sdX (fails if the disk is already installed with Ventoy)

-I forces to install Ventoy on the sdX (whether installed or not)

-u updates Ventoy in sdX

OPTION: (optional)

-r SIZE_MB preserves some space at the bottom of the disk (for installation only)

-s enables secure boot support (default is disabled)

-g uses GPT partition style, defaults to MBR style (installation only)

In my case, the pendrive was recognized as sdb, so the command was: ./Ventoy2Disk.sh -i /dev/sdb

5) Type Y.

6) It will ask for confirmation, so type Y again.

7) The script will be executed, the USB stick partitioned and formatted, and the Ventoy boot loader installed.

8) After partitioning and installation, the drive layout looks like this:

9) And the drive is ready to be used, being identified by the system as Ventoy.

10) To test, I copied some ISO's to the USB stick (PCLOS Lxqt, PCLOS Br LXDE, SlitAz, etc.)

Did it work? Yes! No doubt! Below are photos of the tests.

1) With the computer turned off, the USB stick was inserted. When turning on, in this case, I pressed F12.

2) The device selection menu appears.

3) Choose the USB drive.

4) Upon boot, the Ventoy menu appears, with all the ISOs stored on the first partition listed.

All the ISO's have booted and executed. However, not all ISO's are compatible with the scheme that Ventoy uses as a bootloader. To check the compatibility of a specific ISO with Ventoy, check the Tested ISO page.

I hope you enjoyed this great tool, which is non-destructive, simple and effective, and works for the management of USB bootable USB drives, whether they are just a single ISO or multiple ISOs.

A big (isolated) hug, and see you next month.

Transfer Files Directly To Your Amazon Fire Stick From Your PC

by Ramchu

Amazon makes some popular devices for streaming video to your TV. In this article, I am going to explain how to connect your computer to your Amazon Fire TV Stick, Fire TV or Fire Cube, using ES File Explorer (on your Fire Stick) and FileZilla (on your computer).

This is an easy and effective way to copy files to and from your computer to your Amazon device.

Right about now you may be asking yourself, "why would I want to do this?"

Well, let's say that you have some photos, videos or even some apk files that you have downloaded onto your computer and want to manually install them onto your Amazon device. This would be the process you will need to follow.

So, let's get started!

1. Startup your Fire TV Stick, and on the Home Screen, click the Search Icon.

2. Type ES File Explorer.

Click the ES File Explorer icon from the results.

Click the Get button.

The app will download and install automatically on the Fire Stick.

Click Open to run the app -- OR - you may run the app later from Your Apps & Channels section.

In Es File Explorer home screen, scroll down until you see View On PC and select it.

Highlight TURN ON and select it.

This will open this screen.

Write down the ftp address that appears on your screen. It will be a two-part address, like this: ftp://192.168.1.17:3721.

192.168.1.7 is the IP address (do not use this address, use what appears on your screen).

3721 is the port number (again, use what appears on your screen).

Now on your computer

You will need an ftp client. We are going to use FileZilla. If you don't already have FileZilla, install it from the PCLinuxOS repository.

Open FileZilla. In the upper left corner, click on the File menu.

Click Site Manager.

Click New Site.

Type the name of your New Site. I called mine Fire Stick, but you can name yours whatever you choose.

Now in the Host box enter the IP address that you wrote down.

In the Port box enter the port number that you recorded from your screen.

Now in the Login Type click on the drop down and click Anonymous.

Now click Connect.

The box that pops up on screen is telling us that we are creating an insecure connection. This is OK though, as you will only be using it in your home and NO user names or passwords will be used or shared.

Click the Always allow insecure plain FTP for this server. Click OK.

Now if you have answered everything correctly, you should see the Fire Stick files on the right side of the FileZilla Screen.

That's it! Now, just copy your files from your computer to your Amazon Fire Stick. It would be a good idea to put your files in the directory that most closely matches the type of file you are copying.

Mind Your Step: Miscellaneous Topics

by phorneker

By now, we have already seen the effects of opening the economy amidst the current pandemic.

For me, this means working twice as long in my retail job as before the pandemic, in addition to keeping the house clean and safe. This also means there will not be much time to write about anything in the near future.

Having said that, there are a few things I would like to share.

Setting Up Flatpak on PCLinuxOS

The Flatpak website (https://flatpak.org) does not list PCLinuxOS as a supported distribution. This should not discourage anyone from installing and using Flatpak as it is available in the repository and installable from Synaptic.

For the use of Flatpak, a connection to the Internet (with an unlimited data plan) is highly recommended as there will be extensive amounts of downloading involved.

Once flatpak has been installed from Synaptic, simple open a terminal window and type:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub

https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Then, go to Flathub (https://flathub.org) to find and install Flatpak applications.

Useful tip: If there is an application not found in our repository to install natively, or that application does not work as expected, chances are you will be able to use that same application as a Flatpak.

Such is the case with Mixxx. The version that was in the repository no longer compiles in PCLinuxOS. However, the Flatpak version of Mixxx does work on PCLinuxOS, and therefore it is no longer necessary to compile a separate version for the repository.

LibreOffice is another application that can run on PCLinuxOS in three ways: natively by installing from lomanager, by way of a Flatpak, and by way of an AppImage file.

Flathub also provides WPS Office, OnlyOffice, and O2O, the last one being a MS Word 2019 clone for those of you whose employers are still stuck in the Microsoft way of doing things.

One downside to using Flatpaks, however, is that the time it takes to install the application is dependent on the number of files that need to be downloaded. Many of these applications are packaged with their own versions of QT, KDE, GTK and GNOME libraries as separate downloads.

Thankfully, the Flatpak system keeps these libraries separated from those that come with PCLinuxOS.

But, once these applications are installed, they appear on your desktop menus as if they were installed through Synaptic.

One advantage to Flatpaks is that applications distributed as Flatpak packages will run on any Linux distribution with Flatpak installed and enabled.

Hence, it is possible to create a PCLinuxOS ISO with Flatpak installed and enabled, instead of major applications such as Firefox or LibreOffice. (Of course, we still would need the GNU Compiler Collection as well as the basic GNU utilities and libraries.) This would reduce the size of the ISO and the size of any updates necessary, leaving the major applications to be installed as Flatpaks.

Don't Forget AppImage

And then there is the AppImage container for application distribution. AppImages are files that package the application, its dependencies and some basic GNU libraries in the ISO9660 format, not unlike the typical data CD/DVD.

Repositories containing AppImage files tend to contain older versions of popular applications (and some not so popular ones as well). To use these, simply download the AppImage file, then in a terminal window, type chmod a+x (name of AppImage file), then execute the file.

Unlike Flatpaks, AppImage files do not place menu entries into your desktop, so you have to keep track of which applications you have downloaded in the AppImage format.

SuSE, Gmbh., through its Open Build Service, makes it easy to create AppImage files. If you have a project you want to distribute through AppImage, the Open Build Service has a template that you can use to build the project into a AppImage file, which can then be executed in PCLinuxOS.

If you are using AppImages, and those images are intended to run on a 32-bit Linux installation, you should install the ia32-libs package from the repository before attempting to run these AppImage files. (You can also install the ia32-libs package by installing wine from the repository as it pulls in the ia32-libs package in the process.)

Thankfully, the Open Build Service can generate 64-bit AppImage files.

The Point Of All Of This?

If you have been following the current trends for Information Technology in general, you will notice that Linux is no longer just about the desktop experience. One current trend brought into the open source world in the past decade is the containerization of applications.

FlatPak and AppImage are two examples of placing applications inside of software containers. This means that software developers can develop his/her applications on one Linux distribution (such as PCLinuxOS), and can then distribute that application as a FlatPak or AppImage rather than creating different RPM packages for different distributions.

In fact, the Open Build Service was originally intended as a platform for developers to use to create RPM and DEB packages for all the major distributions. (Unfortunately, the RPM package options do not include PCLinuxOS. However, you can create AppImage files).

It is not just applications that run inside containers. VirtualBox provides another container, in the form of virtual machines. These are large files that contain the machine's configuration, the operating system, and any applications installed.

To backup these large files, you will need to have a USB flash drive of sufficient capacity or an external hard drive. For VirtualBox, these files are stored in a directory called VirtualBox VMs in your home directory.

So how is a software container different from an emulator? Software containers operate as virtual machines with no specific hardware being emulated. Containers can be accessed the same as servers on a local network.

Emulators are virtual machines that can be configured to emulate specific hardware, be it video, audio, I/O ports, or networking cards, or to run software designed for specific processors such as a 65C02, 680x0, Z80, x86 (32 or 64-bit), Alpha, or ARM processor.

However, emulators are also containers in the sense that applications running in these virtual machines were designed to run in their emulated environment. For example, Hatari is an emulator that was designed to run Atari ST/TT/Falcon applications under EmuTOS (the open source equivalent of Atari TOS), though it is possible to run MiNT, NetBSD, Minix 2, or a 68K version of Linux (the latter having an ancient kernel) on the same emulator.

Whereas, with VirtualBox, you can run any x86 operating system (including FreeDOS and ArcaOS 5.x) inside a virtual machine. You can network virtual machines in VirtualBox the same way as you can network physical machines in a local network.

The Docker platform implements software containers similar to VirtualBox. The difference here is that docker runs as a daemon rather than an application launchable from a menu on your desktop.

Possibilities for PCLinuxOS

I have seen what could be accomplished with certain other distributions. The addition of support for FlatPak and AppImage applications is a great start towards the future of the distribution.

I know we all hate systemd, so I won't even suggest the inclusion of this monstrosity. The original intention of systemd was to simplify the system initialization functions found in SysV INIT scripts as well as the scripts contained in the /etc/rc/rc.d directory into one system controlled by one daemon.

Those of us who have worked with Mac OS-X or Windows in the past know what a PITA it is to maintain these operating systems and their startup routines. After having looked at systemd and its documentation, I do not see any reason why we should ever implement such a thing here!!!!!!

But, what if there was another solution. MX-Linux (formerly MEPIS) has a solution in the form of the systemd API replacement package. Such a package would not be easy to implement, and if anyone had the time to do it, it could be done.

But then, if Flatpak can be implemented without systemd, then is there really any reason why technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, or even QEMU could be implemented without systemd?

(BTW, I got QEMU 5.0 to compile on PCLinuxOS with all emulated processors enabled. It took three hours on my laptop, but it got the job done. I have yet to test it, though.)

Another possibility is to create an ISO with the basics (including the base X.org installation), but without the graphical interface launching at startup. This would be useful for server installations, for low-spec machines, and for those of you who have trouble getting the graphical interface to work at all..

The way to get this in PCLinuxOS is to open a terminal window and type in init 3. This was the default setup for early Red Hat Linux distributions, and is still the default setup for Slackware Linux and the stock version of Arch Linux.

This, of course will take some hand configuration to get things working, but then, that was the way things were done in the early 1990s with Linux.

The console mode would be useful for learning the Linux/UNIX command line, and tasks such as system backups can be done much faster in text mode than in graphical mode. (I know this because I have done it.)

Now the other thing that has been on my mind.

Dating in the Era of the Pandemic

One thing is quite clear here. Dating in the traditional sense has been made impossible due to the Pandemic and the need to social distance. So let us not go there. However, online dating has had a resurgence, and not just with the dating apps for smartphones either.

Videoconferencing services such as Zoom and Google Hangouts made online dating closer to the traditional model, in the sense that you get visual contact as in the traditional methods (not just a phone call or a text message).

But, can that be considered dating? I doubt it. But what is the alternative? Taking a risk of getting COVID with a physical presence? I don't think so.

(Frankly, I could not get a date of any kind years before the COVID pandemic.)

Unfortunately, online services are the only way to go when it comes to meeting people in this era of the pandemic.

We still have Match.com, eHarmony, OkCupid, Our Time, Farmers Only, MyLife (this is a reputation score provider that also happens to have a dating service built on reputation profiles), Plenty Of Fish, and Christian Singles.

There is also LavaLife and Quest Chat, which often advertise on television more than they advertise on the Internet.

But, is this really dating, either? Maybe in a few years (optimistically), we could go back to the traditional methods. Until then, this will have to do.

My main concerns about these services is the integrity and privacy of the data that is posted on these websites. It is possible to create fake profiles on these sites just like it was to create fake profiles on social media. (This is one reason why I don't do social media.) Another concern I have is the security and safety of these websites (as in how vulnerable are they to cyberattacks and data theft.)

In the case of LavaLife and Quest Chat, these services were telephone dating services long before the Internet became available to the masses. You never know who is going to be on the other end of the line.

Make A VLC Video Playlist From The Command Line

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Anyone who hasn't heard of VLC by now has either been living under a rock, or stranded for the past 20 years on a deserted island. VLC is a premiere, multiplatform multimedia player. The open source VLC is available for Linux, Unix, Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android, Tizen and BeOS. There's not much that VLC can't do or play. For me, it's my "go to" video player. Unless I'm playing a whole list of songs, I usually opt for a simpler, lighter program to playback sound files.

Just two years ago, Jean-Baptiste Kempf, the project lead for VLC since 2007 and the creator of the VideoLAN non-profit, refused 10's of millions of Euros to keep VLC ads-free. You have to applaud and admire him for sticking to his principles. There are a LOT of people out there who would have caved in a heartbeat to have access to that kind of wealth.

Background

As I've mentioned, VLC is the program I use as my default video player. And, as I mentioned last month, I have a computer hooked to my HDTV in the living room, serving as a player for digital video files to that TV.

Most anyone who has played music knows about *.m3u files. For those who may not know, m3u files are playlists for (typically) music files. M3u files, in their simplest iteration, are text files containing the paths (optional) and filenames (required) of the digital sound files you want to play, in the order you want to play them.

Here is one for my daughter's favorite pop songs (I wonder if you can tell who she likes):

01-Bobby-McFerrin---Don't-Worry-Be-Happy.mp3

02-Queen----Bohemian-Rhapsody.mp3

03-Queen---We-Will-Rock-You.mp3

04-Queen---We-Are-The-Champions.mp3

05-Queen---Another-One-Bites-the-Dust.mp3

06-Queen---Radio-Ga-Ga.mp3

07-The-Beatles---Yellow-Submarine.mp3

08-The-Beatles---Hey-Jude.mp3

09-The-Beatles---Here-Comes-The-Sun.mp3

10-The-Beatles---Let-It-Be.mp3

11-The-Beatles---Golden-Slumbers-Carry-That-Weight-The-End.mp3

And, VLC (as well as just about every other audio player on the planet) will read m3u files just fine to playback your custom playlist.

But, when it comes to videos, m3u files don't always "make the grade."

VLC supports another playlist format, and from what I can tell, it's "unique" to VLC. It's a bit more complex than a m3u playlist. Its file extension is *.xspf. You can create the xspf playlist from within VLC by building it in VLC's playlist window, then saving the resulting playlist to your hard drive. Go ahead. Create one in VLC and then open it up in a simple text editor. You will see how much more complex a xspf file is than a m3u file.

Except I needed a better, easier way. I wanted a way to build the VLC playlist from within my file manager. I didn't want to open VLC every time I wanted/needed to create a video playlist. Since I'm a devout Xfce user, that file manager is Thunar. I wanted to create a way to build the VLC playlist by way of a Thunar Custom Action. Because of the increased "complexity" of the xspf playlist file (compared to a m3u file), I wouldn't be able to just enter a few commands and have the playlist created. The xspf file creation would have to be controlled by a bash script. Because I'm ultimately calling a bash script from a Thunar Custom Action, I'm certain that the process should be repeatable from KDE and Dolphin, Mate and Caja, and several other file managers with a minimum of extra effort. It will also work from the command line, too.

I'm not the only person who has wondered about creating a xspf playlist file from the command line either, gauging by the number of inquiries I found when seeking out a solution. None of the touted "solutions" worked consistently -- if at all -- for me. So, I set out to create my own solution.

After intensely studying the format of a xspf playlist file actually created by VLC, and applying some "tips" I picked up looking at other "solutions" that didn't fully work out for my use, I was able to duplicate the VLC xspf playlist output accurately via a bash script. You would be hard pressed to differentiate the file list my bash script produces from the one that VLC produces.

I've numbered the lines so you can more easily see what's on each line, since some lines get "wrapped" due to their length.

I've saved the bash file in my $HOME/bin directory, which is in my PATH statement so that it can be easily called into action without having to type in the full path to the bash script every time I need to use it. I called the script make-vlc-xspf-playlist.sh.

To use it from the command line, I first move to directory containing the video files I want to include in my playlist, then execute the command as follows:

make-vlc-xspf-playlist.sh [list of video files with full path and filename]

Or, you can do it more easily, by using wildcards, like the command below, instead of listing the full path and filename of the movies in your playlist individually.

make-vlc-xspf-playlist.sh *.mp4

Here is a sample VLC xspf video playlist produced by the script:

Again, I've applied line numbers to help compensate for the word wrapping, so that it's more intelligible.

Integrating Into Thunar, Via Thunar Custom Action

Once you get into Thunar's "Edit" menu, choose the "Configure Custom Actions…" menu item. Then, fill in the fields of the first tab (Basic) as in the image above. I named it "Make VLC XSPF Playlist," and gave it a description of "Make playlist for VLC video files." Under the command entry, I entered make-vlc-xspf-playlist.sh %F as the command to execute. Click on the "No Icon" button to select an icon to use in Thunar's right-click context menu next to the name.

Switch to the "Appearance Conditions" tab of the dialog box. Enter a single wildcard * in the file pattern, and check the box next to "Video Files." Then, click on OK to save the new Thunar Custom Action.

Now, travel in Thunar to a directory holding the video files you want to place into a VLC xspf playlist. Select the ones you want to add to your video playlist, then right click on them. If you did everything correctly, you should see something like in the image above. Select "Make VLC XSPF Video Playlist" from the right-click context menu.

You should see the image above. Just enter the name for your video playlist, without a file extension. The xspf file extension will be added for you automatically. Your new playlist will be placed in the directory with your videos. When you want to view the videos in that playlist, just double-click on the playlist in Thunar, and VLC should open with the playlist preloaded. In VLC, right click on the video you want to start with (it may not always be the first one listed ... you may be coming back to finish viewing a previous playlist that you didn't complete), and select "Play" from VLC's right-click context menu.

Summary

I'm no bash guru. That is an absolute. I'm more of a bash basher. I have a LOT more room for "growth" when it comes to my bash scripting skills. I can mostly get things done by bashing around in bash. I also have pretty good luck finding code snippets here and there, and then customize them to better fit the task I'm trying to accomplish. So, there may be other ways to achieve what I did in my bash script. But at the end of the day, it works. It works well, in fact. Not too bad for 41 lines of actual code (subtracting the nine blank lines inserted to promote readability), if I do say so myself.

Now, when my son wants to watch a bunch of his animated Transformers episodes (each only about 24 minutes long), I can just load up a whole season at a time by double clicking on the premade VLC video playlist. Then, they play one after another, until the playlist is exhausted.

To make it easier, I've got a copy of the script you can download from the magazine's website. It'll save you a lot of typing, and a lot of possible errors. Just remove the ".txt" file extension, and allow the file to be executed. The download is only 1.6 KiB, so it should download rather quickly.

EFF Launches Searchable Database Of Police Agencies & The Tech Tools They Use To Spy On Communities

by Electronic Frontier Foundation

Reprinted under Creative Commons Attribution License

Editor's note: At least in the U.S., and most likely in most every other part of the world, there is increasing concern about governmental overreach, the invasion of privacy, and the threat of general surveillance without cause. This article will at least let people know what forms of surveillance are employed, and where.

Atlas of Surveillance Shines Light on Deployment of Cameras, Drones, and More

San Francisco -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), in partnership with the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, today launched the largest-ever collection of searchable data on police use of surveillance technologies, created as a tool for the public to learn about facial recognition, drones, license plate readers, and other devices law enforcement agencies are acquiring to spy on our communities.

The Atlas of Surveillance database, containing several thousand data points on over 3,000 city and local police departments and sheriffs' offices nationwide, allows citizens, journalists, and academics to review details about the technologies police are deploying, and provides a resource to check what devices and systems have been purchased locally.

Users can search for information by clicking on regions, towns, and cities, such as Minneapolis, Tampa, or Tucson, on a U.S. map. They can also easily perform text searches by typing the names of cities, counties, or states on a search page that displays text results. The Atlas also allows people to search by specific technologies, which can show how surveillance tools are spreading across the country.

Built using crowdsourcing and data journalism over the last 18 months, the Atlas of Surveillance documents the alarming increase in the use of unchecked high-tech tools that collect biometric records, photos, and videos of people in their communities, locate and track them via their cell phones, and purport to predict where crimes will be committed.

While the use of surveillance apps and face recognition technologies are under scrutiny amid the COVID-19 pandemic and street protests, EFF and students at University of Nevada, Reno, have been studying and collecting information for more than a year in an effort to, for the first time, aggregate data collected from news articles, government meeting agendas, company press releases, and social media posts.

"There are two questions we get all the time: What surveillance is in my hometown, and how are technologies like drones and automated license plate readers spreading across the country?" said Dave Maass, a senior investigative researcher in EFF's Threat Lab and a visiting professor at the Reynolds School of Journalism. "A year a half ago, EFF and the Reynolds School partnered to answer these questions through a massive newsgathering effort, involving hundreds of journalism students and volunteers. What we found is a sprawling spy state that reaches from face recognition in the Hawaiian Islands to predictive policing in Maine, from body-worn cameras in remote Alaska to real-time crime centers along Florida's Gold Coast."

Information was collected on the most pervasive surveillance technologies in use, including drones, body-worn cameras, face recognition, cell-site simulators, automated license plate readers, predictive policing, camera registries, police partnerships with Amazon's Ring camera network, and gunshot detection sensors. It also maps out more than 130 law enforcement tech hubs that process real-time surveillance data. While the Atlas contains a massive amount of data, its content is only the tip of the iceberg and underlines the need for journalists and members of the public to continue demanding transparency from criminal justice agencies. Reporters, students, volunteers, and watchdog groups can submit data or share data sets for inclusion in the Atlas.

"The prevalence of surveillance technologies in our society provides many challenges related to privacy and freedom of expression, but it's one thing to know that in theory, and another to see hard data laid out on a map," Reynolds School Professor and Director of the Center for Advanced Media Studies Gi Yun said. "Over a year and a half, Reynolds School of Journalism students at the University of Nevada, Reno have reviewed thousands of news articles and public records. This project not only informs the public debate but helps these students improve their understanding of surveillance as they advance in their reporting careers."

For the Atlas: https://atlasofsurveillance.org

For more on street-level surveillance: https://www.eff.org/issues/street-level-surveillance

Repo Review: Gscan2pdf

by CgBoy

Gscan2pdf is a document scanning tool that allows you to easily post-process and create PDF or DjVu documents from your scanned pages. It has support for Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and also has a number of different image enhancing filters.

Gscan2pdf is pretty straightforward to use. Just hit the little scanner button in the toolbar to open up the Scan Document window. From here, you can select your scanner from the dropdown menu (Scanning in Gscan2pdf is handled via the SANE library). There are some options available for changing the color mode, page size and rotation, double or single sided page mode, number of pages to be scanned, hue, brightness, white level, and numerous other settings.

The images you scan will appear in the vertical bar on the left, from which you can easily rearrange their order by dragging them into place. You can also load in any normal image files, such as pages you may have already scanned, to process and turn into PDF or DjVu documents.

After you've finished scanning, there are a number of post-processing options you can use to help clean up the scanned images. You can rotate, crop, sharpen, invert, and change the brightness, contrast, and threshold values of each page (The threshold setting will make all pixels darker than a certain value black, and change the rest to white). Gscan2pdf also has a tool to help you better align and center the scanned images, but I did not seem to have great results when using it.

One of Gscan2pdf's more interesting features is the ability to generate text from scanned papers using an Optical Character Recognition engine (Tesseract or Cuneiform must be installed for it to work). The generated text can then be used to allow you to search for words and select text in the saved out DjVu or PDF documents. You can start the OCR process from the Tools menu and view the results in the OCR Output tab. It gives you a few options, such as which OCR engine to use, which language to recognize, and whether or not to apply any threshold changes in order to make the text on the scanned image easier for the computer to read. The whole OCR process is not terribly fast and can give mixed results. However, it is still a useful option to have.

Gscan2pdf can export your scanned pages to DjVu and obviously PDF documents, as well as a variety of different image formats. If you have used the OCR tool, you can also export the document as just a plain TXT file containing the text generated by the OCR engine.

Summary

I found Gscan2pdf to work fairly well for stitching together some scanned pages I had from an old telescope manual. I did experience some lag with the user interface at times, but I think that was probably related to the OCR feature, which seemed to slow things down a bit when used. All in all, Gscan2pdf is an excellent tool for anyone who needs to scan a large amount of paperwork.

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight: pyjujiop

As told to MrCrankyPants-YouCanToo

What is your name/username?

John Cate, or pyjujiop on the forums, which is a handle I've used on the Internet for 20 years. I originally created it for use on the AnandTech swaplist.

How old are you?

47

Are you married, single?

Engaged and soon to be married to Kayrenne Walker.

How about Kids, Grandkids (names and ages)?

When we marry, I will pick up a stepdaughter, Natalie, who is 35. I have long considered her to be family anyway.

Do you have pets, what is your favorite?

At the present time, we have no pets.

Are you retired, still working and if working, what do you do?

I am a professional journalist who has been in the profession since 1993. At the current time I am a freelancer working for media relations firms and open to new clients! My main client is operated by an old colleague of mine, who is hoping to bring me on full-time.

Where do you call home? What is it like? IE: weather, scenery

Presently in Mount Airy, NC. Probably will move closer to the Raleigh area once this coronavirus epidemic has run its course. This is in the foothills of the North Carolina mountains, and while it is not truly Mayberry, there's a lot to see around here.

Where did you go to school and what is your education level?

I have an AA degree and am very close to a bachelor's degree from Strayer University, but not currently attending.

What kind of things do you like doing? hobbies, travel, fishing, camping?

We travel a lot, and I'm a computer enthusiast, as you might imagine, and do a lot of that sort of thing on the side. I could get the A+ cert anytime I wanted to and probably will at some point.

Why and when did you start using Linux?

The first time I tried it was around the turn of the century, when the only computing experiences I had ever had were CP/M machines in the 1980s, followed by the classic Mac OS and Windows 3x and 9x in the 1990s. I'd heard about Linux a lot, living in the Raleigh area at the time, where Red Hat was always in the news.

I dabbled with it off and on (the first distro I ever tried was Mandrake, an ancestor of PCLinuxOS), but never had time to really learn much about it. The first time I used Linux seriously was Puppy 4.1.2 in the mid-2000s on older hardware, and later on, I used the old Zen-mini variant of PCLinuxOS on my main computers as a secondary OS around 2009-2012. However, I couldn't use Linux as my primary OS due to my work needing Windows. When I finally was able to make the move, late in 2015, I converted to Mint Cinnamon. I returned to PCLinuxOS as my main OS in January of 2019.

What specific equipment do you currently use with PCLinuxOS?

I have two computers presently running PCLinuxOS as their primary OS. One is a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop that has been completely overhauled; it now runs a 3.06 GHz T9900 CPU, 6 GB of RAM, and has both a 256GB SSD and a 640GB HDD installed. The other is a desktop with an Athlon X4 870K CPU at 3.9 GHz, with 16 GB of RAM and several HDDs and SSDs installed in the case. We have two other Windows machines and an Amazon tablet that Kay uses.

Do you feel that your use of Linux influences the reactions you receive from your computer peers or family? If so, how?

Not really, because I have pretty much been using my personal computer equipment for both personal use and work for many years. I have the ability to choose my own tools for the job and have never been questioned on it. We still have a Windows system at home because Kay requires it for certain things, but I have not used Windows as my primary OS for almost five years.

Most reactions I get are on the Q-and-A website called Quora, where I frequently discuss Linux and my choice of PCLinuxOS.

What would you like to see happen within PCLinuxOS that would make it a better place. What are your feelings?

Honestly, I have no complaints about it. I would like PCLinuxOS to gain more users, but only because it would hopefully get more people to donate. I have no idea how Tex and the community manage to keep it as well maintained as they do. I returned to PCLinuxOS because I preferred the community-based model and the philosophy of this distro over using anything related to Ubuntu.

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight is an exclusive, monthly column by YouCanToo, featuring PCLinuxOS forum members. This column will allow "the rest of us" to get to know our forum family members better, and will give those featured an opportunity to share their PCLinuxOS story with the rest of the world.

If you would like to be featured in PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight, please send a private message to youcantoo, parnote or Meemaw in the PCLinuxOS forum expressing your interest.

ms_meme's Nook: The Sun Has Got His Hat On

MP3                                                             OGG

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner Bonus: FRITO PIE aka Walking Taco

FRITO PIE aka Walking Taco

INGREDIENTS:

1 large bag of Fritos

1 can of chili (your favorite)

2 cups shredded cheddar

1 onion

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the chili in a pan.

Shred the cheese.

Dice the onion.

Open the bag of Fritos.

Take a bowl, put as many fritos in the bottom as you'd like, then pour some hot chili on top, and sprinkle on some onions and cheese.

TIPS:

Add sour cream, jalapeños chives, bacon, olives, whatever you want.

PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

Sudoku

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Scrappler

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Crossword

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

WordFind

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Mixed Up meme Scrambler

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Screenshot Showcase

Posted by brisvegas, July 2, 2020, running Mate

Posted by golf4fun, July 8, 2020, running KDE

Posted by luikki, July 8, 2020, running KDE

Posted by Mr. Cranky Pants - YouCanToo, July 1, 2020, running KDE

Posted by Meemaw, July 24, 2020, running Xfce

Posted by OnlyHuman, July 9, 2020, running e24

Posted by parnote, July 19, 2020, running Xfce

Posted by Snubbi, July 4, 2020, running Mate

Posted by tuxlink, July 6, 2020, running KDE

Posted by Yankee, July 9, 2020, running lxde

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