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Submission + - Sovereign Tech Fund invests over €1 million in KDE software development (kde.org)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: The Sovereign Tech Agency, a subsidiary of the German government Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation, invests over 1 million Euros , which will be used to strengthen the structural reliability and security of KDE's core infrastructure, including Plasma, KDE Linux, and the frameworks underlying its communication services. For 30 years, KDE has been providing the free and open-source software essential for digital sovereignty in personal, corporate, and public infrastructures: operating systems, desktop environments, document viewers, image and video editors, software development libraries, and much more. KDE’s software is competitive, publicly auditable, and freely available. It can be maintained, adapted, and improved in-house or by local software companies. And modifications (along with their source code) can be freely distributed to all users and departments within an organization. KDE will use Sovereign Tech Fund’s investment to push its essential software products to the next level, providing every individual, business, and public administration with the opportunity to regain their privacy, security, and control over their digital sovereignty.

Submission + - CERN Open Sources Its KiCad Component Libraries

Submitted by ewhac
ewhac writes: CERN, a long-time Open Source pioneer, has made several contributions over the years to KiCad ("KEE-kad"), an Open Source EDA (Electronic Design Automation) package widely used in the hobbyist and professional electronics communities. It's gotten so widely used that users can now submit their KiCad design files directly to several electronics fabricators (rather than the traditional step of converting the layouts to Gerber files). Over the years, CERN have also developed their own symbol and footprint libraries to support their own internal electronic designs. Last week, CERN released those KiCad component libraries, containing over 17,000 symbols, under the CERN Open Hardware License (permissive version).

Submission + - KDE Plasma 6.6 released (kde.org)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: KDE Plasma is a popular desktop (and mobile too) environment for GNU/Linux and other UNIX-like operating systems. Among other things, it also powers the desktop mode of the Steam Deck gaming handheld. The KDE community today announced the latest release: Plasma 6.6 . In this new major release Spectacle can recognize texts from screenshots, a new on-screen keybord and new login manager are available for testing, and a first-time wizard Plasma Setup was added. Your current theme can be saved as a new global theme, which can also be used for the day and night theme switching feature. Emoji selector got a new easier way to select skin tone. If your computer has a camera available you can now connect to a Wi-Fi network by scanning a QR code. Application sound volume can now be changed by scrolling over an application taskbar button via mouse wheel. When screencasting and sharing your desktop you can now filter windows so they are not shared. A setting was added to enable having virtual desktops only on the primary screen. If your device has an ambient light sensor you can enable automatic screen brightness adjustment. Game controllers can now be used as regular input devices. For complete list of new features and changes check out the KDE Plasma 6.6 release announcement and the complete changelog.

Comment Re:Highly recommend openSUSE Tumbleweed with KDE (Score 1) 13

by jrepin (#65742292) Attached to: KDE Plasma 6.5 Released
I agree. I also find openSUSE (using Tumbleweed and Slowroll) to be one of the best when it comes to proper KDE Plasma support (next to KDE Neon, Fedora and Kubuntu). Also their YaST system configuration GUI os one of the thngs many other distros do not have. I have only used Mandriva/Mageia which had something similar. And openSUSE also has great integration of BTRFS snappshotting and snapper and their system configuration utilities. So snappshost are automatically made when changing system settings or installing package updates and you can easily revert back to an older snappshot if something goes wrong. It even ads a special boot entry into GRUB boot loader so you can choose to boot to an older snappshot. So all this makes it one of the best rolling release Linux distributions. Another fact is that they put their package updates through a quite extensive CI/QA before releasing them so yeah openSUSSE Tumbleweed is the most stable/reliable rolling release Linux distribution I have used. Highly recommend it.

Comment Re:Ideal workstation (Score 1) 13

by jrepin (#65742284) Attached to: KDE Plasma 6.5 Released
Not only this, nowdays KDE Plasma is lighter on CPU and memory than GNOME despite being much more feature-full and customizable and such. And yeah it is so customizable you can configure it to look and work almost exactly as other desktops. So yeah it reaquires a bit of work to do it but you can turin it almost into what GNOME does.

Submission + - KDE Plasma 6.5 released (kde.org)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: Plasma is a popular desktop (and mobile) environment for GNU/Linux and other UNIX-like operating systems. Among other things it also powers the desktop mode of Steam Deck gaming handheld. The KDE community today announced the latest release: Plasma 6.5. This fresh new release is all about fine-tuning, fresh features, and a making everything smooth and sleek for everyone.

The new version brings automatic light-to-dark theme switching based on the time of day. You can configure which global themes it switches between. You can also configure whether you want the wallpaper to switch between its light and dark versions based on the color scheme, the time of day, or be always light or dark. Next up is a “Pinned clipboard items” feature, which lets you save text you use regularly into the clipboard. Breeze-themed windows will now have the same level of roundness in all four corners, even the bottom one. Flatpak Permissions page has been transformed into a general Application Permissions page, where you can configure applications’ ability to do things like take screenshots and accept remote control requests. The utility that reads the level of ink or toner from your printer now informs you when it’s running low or empty. For the gamers out there, you can now see more relevant info about game controllers on System Settings’ Game Controller page. Artists among you can now configure any rotary dials and touch rings on your drawing tablet. Users sensitive to color can now make use of a grayscale color filter, which desaturates or removes color systemwide. Plasma 6.5 implements support for an experimental version of the Wayland picture-in-picture protocol that promises to allow apps like Firefox to eventually display proper PiP windows that stay above others automatically. Support for “overlay planes” was added, which can reduce CPU usage and power draw when displaying full-screen content using a compatible GPU.

You can read more about these and many other other new features in the Plasma 6.5 release anounncement and complete changelog.

Submission + - Tech Workers Versus Enshittification

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Writing for the Communications of the ACM, Corey Doctorow makes the case for unionization in Tech Workers Versus Enshittification:

"Now that tech workers are as disposable as Amazon warehouse workers and drivers, as disposable as the factory workers in iPhone City, it’s only a matter of time until the job conditions are harmonized downward. Jeff Bezos doesn’t force his delivery drivers to relieve themselves in bottles because he hates delivery drivers. Jeff Bezos doesn’t allow his coders to use a restroom whenever they need to because he loves hackers. The factor that determines how Jeff Bezos treats workers is 'What is the worst treatment those workers can be forced to accept?'"

"Throughout the entire history of human civilization, there has only ever been one way to guarantee fair wages and decent conditions for workers: unions. Even non-union workers benefit from unions, because strong unions are the force that causes labor protection laws to be passed, which protect all workers. [...] Now is the time to get organized. Your boss has made it clear how you’d be treated if they had their way. They’re about to get it. Walking a picket line is a slog, to be sure, but picket lines beat piss bottles, hands down."

Submission + - Windows 10 refugees flock to Linux in what devs call their "biggest launch ever" (neowin.net)

Submitted by darwinmac
darwinmac writes: Windows 10 is officially dead, and the vultures are circling. Or maybe they are liberators, depending on your point of view. Zorin Group strategically released its major upgrade, Zorin OS 18, on October 14, the exact day Microsoft pulled the plug on its old OS. The company is now reporting a massive influx of new users.

In a recent post, Zorin Group said:

Zorin OS 18 just reached 100,000 downloads in a little over 2 days... Over 72% of these downloads came from Windows, reflecting our mission to provide a better alternative... Thank you for making this our biggest launch ever!

For months, groups like The Document Foundation and the "End of 10" campaign have been trying to poach Microsoft customers, arguing that Linux is a better home for the millions of PCs that cannot officially run Windows 11.

Zorin OS 18 sweetens the deal with features aimed at switchers, including a familiar desktop, a new window tiling manager that improves on Windows 11s Snap Layouts, and better compatibility for running Windows apps.

Submission + - KDE Plasma 6.4 released (kde.org)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: Plasma is a popular desktop (and mobile) environment for GNU/Linux and other UNIX-like operating systems. Among other things it also powers the desktop mode of Steam Deck gaming handheld. The KDE community today announced the latest release: Plasma 6.4 . This fresh new release improves on nearly every front, with progress being made in accessibility, color rendering, tablet support, window management, and more.

Plasma already offered virtual desktops and customizable tiles to help organize your windows and activities, and now it lets you choose a different configuration of tiles on each virtual desktop. The Wayland session brings some new accessibility features: you can now move the pointer using your keyboard’s number pad keys, or use a three-finger touchpad pinch gesture to zoom in or out. Plasma file transfer notification now shows a speed graph, giving you a more visual idea of how fast the transfer is going, and how long it will take to complete. When any applications are in full screen mode Plasma will now enter Do Not Disturb mode and only show urgent notifications, and when you exit full screen mode, you’ll see a summary of any notifications you missed. Now when an application tries to access the microphone and finds it muted, a notification will pop up. A new feature in the Application Launcher widget will place a green New! tag next to newly installed apps, so you can easily find where something you just installed lives in the menu. The Display and Monitor page in System Settings comes with a brand new HDR calibration wizard, and support for Extended Dynamic Range (a different kind of HDR) and P010 video color format has been added. System Monitor now supports usage monitoring for AMD and Intel graphic cards, it can even show the GPU usage on a per-process basis. Spectacle, the built-in app for taking screenshots and screen recordings, has much improved design and more streamlined functionality. The background of the desktop or window now darkens when an authentication dialog shows up, helping you locate and focus on the window asking for your password. There’s a brand-new Animations page in System Settings that groups all the settings for purely visual animated effects into one place, making it easier to find and configure them. Aurorae is a newly added SVG vector graphics theme engine for KWin window decorations.

You can read more about these and many other other features in the Plasma 6.4 anounncement and complete changelog.

Submission + - Using AI to write degrades your mental performance (arxiv.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Brain-to-LLM users exhibited higher memory recall and activation of occipito-parietal and prefrontal areas, similar to Search Engine users. Self-reported ownership of essays was the lowest in the LLM group and the highest in the Brain-only group. LLM users also struggled to accurately quote their own work. While LLMs offer immediate convenience, our findings highlight potential cognitive costs. Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.

Submission + - Schneier on the Musk AI Government (theatlantic.com) 3

Submitted by databasecowgirl
databasecowgirl writes: Schneier and Sanders have an interesting essay in the Atlantic,Itâ(TM)s Time to Worry About DOGEâ(TM)s AI Plans Schneier, who has written extensively about the beneficial uses of AI in government covers some important concerns regarding Musk's plans.

Central to these are the ability to enable Blackbox Policy changes at the click of a button instead of having to create and pass changes legislatively through a potentially opposing Senate and House. Maybe not a concern for those who voted him in, but will it be a good idea to have implemented this system should a subsequent administration, holding opposing views, has access to the centralised power Musk envisions?

Submission + - KDE Plasma 6.3 released (kde.org)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: Almost after a year since the first release in the sixth generation of the popular Linux and UNIX desktop environment, KDE community announces the release of the latest version of KDE Plasma 6.3 . In this major release the System Settings’ Drawing Tablet page has been overhauled and split into multiple tabs to improve how things are organized, and new configuration options have been added to each section. KWin window manager makes a stronger effort to snap things to the screen’s pixel grid, greatly reducing blurriness and visual gaps everywhere and producing sharper and crisper images. In the color department, screen colors are more accurate when using the Night Light feature both with and without ICC profiles, and KWin offers the option to choose screen color accuracy. Hardware and system monitoring and information tools have also received new features and performance optimizations. KRunner (the built-in search tool that also does conversions, calculations, definitions, graph plotting, and much more) now let you jump between categories using keyboard shortcuts. A security enhancement landing in Discover software management/app store application highlights sandboxed apps whose permissions will change after being updated. If you’re a fan of the forecasts provided by Deutcher Wetterdienst, you’re in luck: Plasma 6.3’s weather widget allows using this source for weather data. You can now configure its built-in touchpad to switch off automatically, so it doesn’t interfere with your typing. When you drag a file out of a window that’s partially below other windows, it no longer jumps to the top, potentially obscuring what you wanted to drag it into. Plasma panels can now be cloned You can also use scripting to change your panels’ opacity levels and what screen they appear on. And there’s much more. To see the full list of changes, check out the complete changelog for KDE Plasma 6.3.

Submission + - Wired Is Covering the Musk Takeover of the US Government

Submitted by kilgoreTrout1968
kilgoreTrout1968 writes: Wired magazine's Vittoria Elliot is doing invaluable journalism covering Musk's invasion of the US Government's IT infrastructure. Wired is not giving glowing coverage. This is Wired magazine, folks, the people who know Musk best and most likely to be his fans

https://www.wired.com/author/v...
https://www.wired.com/story/th...

Comment Re:KDE (Score 2) 48

by jrepin (#64850505) Attached to: KDE Plasma 6.2 Released
Well there is a huge grain of truth in this. KDE Plasma is in fact quite a flexible and customizable framework and it can be used to quite easily imitate any existing desktop environment. So yeah even if it was the only DE it would still mean very much different layouts and look and feel for different "distributions" or form-factors of KDE Plasma.

Comment Re:Oh yes, wayland! (Score 2) 48

by jrepin (#64850237) Attached to: KDE Plasma 6.2 Released
Also proper support for scaling, including fractional scaling, and really tear-free rendering. There is a lot of solutions that Wayland brings. Unfortunately there are also some regressions. I especially miss the proper session management and restoration of applications from X11. But even here KDE Plasma did a very nice job, much better than any other desktop environment out there.

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