LACT - Linux GPU Configuration And Monitoring Tool for AMD, Nvidia or Intel GPUs Detailed GPU information reporting, monitoring (with historical graphs), power configuration, thermals configuration, overclocking, and settings profiles. GPU configuration is handled by a system service that does not depend on a graphical session (Wayland/X11). The service can also be used standalone with a config file, for example in headless scenarios. It's even possible to have the LACT daemon running on one machine, and then manage it remotely from another. See

GitHub

GitHub - ilya-zlobintsev/LACT: Linux GPU Configuration And Monitoring Tool

Linux GPU Configuration And Monitoring Tool. Contribute to ilya-zlobintsev/LACT development by creating an account on GitHub.

#technology #Linux #opensource #GPU

Fantastic News! South Africa's Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe to steam ahead again after 19 years “The return of the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe steam train, which was officially announced on Monday, will not just be the revival of a beloved heritage attraction, but a major economic boost for the entire region.” It really looks like everything is in place now for this to happen. This is an incredibly beautiful piece of railway line, and I'll certainly make an effort to get there to once again experience this train ride. Hopefully the ride also encourages slightly longer stays by tourists too. But it looks like the full line opening could take nearly two years to complete. See

George Herald

Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe to steam ahead again after 19 years

GEORGE NEWS - The return of the Outeniqua...

#southafrica #tourism #steamlocomotives

The Discord Hack is Every User’s Worst Nightmare — Why Uploaded IDs are a Problem “A hack impacting Discord’s age verification process shows in stark terms the risk of tech companies collecting users’ ID documents. Now the hackers are posting peoples’ IDs and other sensitive information online.” This was EXACTLY my concern about having to upload one's ID document to any private (or government) website. Neither a private organisation nor most government websites are immune to hacking. A password is easy to change, but an ID document is often a nightmare to change, and the ID number anyway stays the same. A fine does absolutely zero to benefit any end users, either. In South Africa we do have the POPI Act that has restrictions on what sort of data may be collected and stored about individuals, but in practice that is still a big problem as companies always want to collect for the sake of collecting. We've yet to see any CEO or a government official do jail time for weak controls of hacked sites. We need more severe penalties for companies (and governments) who lose control of private data, as well as for the hackers, and also to limit want really needs to be collected. At least I am finding now most banks and private organisations, who require some personal data for tax purposes, do insist it is encrypted with a password before sending over e-mail. Things are improving, but are still way behind where they need to be by now in 2025. See

404 Media

The Discord Hack is Every User’s Worst Nightmare

A hack impacting Discord’s age verification process shows in stark terms the risk of tech companies collecting users’ ID documents. Now the hac...

#technology #privacy #hacks

ProtonUp-Qt v2.14 Brings New Proton-EM Compatibility Tool “ProtonUp-Qt, an open-source GUI that streamlines the installation and updating of Proton-GE and Wine-based compatibility layers, enabling Linux gamers to run Windows-exclusive titles on their preferred distributions, has rolled out the brand-new 2.14 version. The key change in this release is the addition of Proton-EM, a new compatibility tool that places emphasis on Wayland, expanding gaming support for users who rely on custom Proton builds.” The tool has gotten really useful actually as I see you can also see which layers are not in use by any games, and the game list view shows which games are using which layers as well as which ones are compatible, and you can change those. I'm just not seeing the Proton-EM option yet for Wayland. See

Linuxiac

ProtonUp-Qt v2.14 Brings New Proton-EM Compatibility Tool

ProtonUp-Qt 2.14 adds Proton-EM support, drops NorthStar tool, and improves compatibility for Steam, Lutris, and Heroic users.

#technology #gaming #Linux

South Africans can now spend cryptocurrency directly at more than 650 000 Scan to Pay-enabled stores “The integration allows users of major exchanges — including Binance, Luno, Blink and VALR — to pay merchants using bitcoin, stablecoins and other digital assets without first converting them into rand. Payments are made instantly via QR code at checkout, while merchants still receive settlement in local currency.” I have successfully used the CryptoQR app to pay for my groceries at Pick 'n Pay a year or two back. It seems MoneyBadger works much the same way, and good to see it quickly integrated with my existing Muun wallet on my phone. It also integrates with Bitcoin Lightning accounts, so this seems like it will also cut out having to convert from one crypto networks across others, before being able to use funds. See

TechCentral

Crypto hits checkout counters in South Africa

South Africans can now spend cryptocurrency directly at more than 650 000 Scan to Pay-enabled stores nationwide.

#technology #southafrica #crypto

Google Confirms Non-ADB APK Installs Will Require Developer Registration I get there is still ADB installation as an option, but that often requires a cable connection and disabling security in the Dev settings of the phone. The whole philosophy around Android was having the freedom of choice to do what you wanted with your phone (a bit like some countries used to have freedoms of choice and speech). Many countries for example have abortion as a perfectly legal procedure, and those countries want the choice to freely access abortion apps if they want to. I get too that Android is proposing a free alternative for Devs that would still allow sideloading, but this has serious restrictions in terms of how the app can be distributed there, including limited numbers of installs. The biggest loss here would be for privacy. Apps like Bitchat are intended to be 100% private with zero registration or exposure, and the app can be directly sent to other users. The new proposal completely kills this method of transfer. I do also realise that many average/mass users do maybe need more protection from rogue apps, but then just pop up a message to make it more difficult, and to inform the user of possible risks. But let users decide whether they want to take the risk or not. There are also web apps yes, but they require online access, and usually also don't do push alerts. Google has already not been very popular since they ditched their “Do No Evil” slogan, and this just screams of more control, wanting to know who everybody is, etc. Imagine if your desktop OS would only allow you to install apps from the official store? Linux would collapse, as it was founded on the freedom to choose! As it is, Microsoft is now apparently wanting to restrict users to not being able to register their Windows OS with offline account registration. I'm for protecting mass users, but I am also FOR other users being able to exercise their own choices at their own risk. That is called a win-win. See

Hackaday

Google Confirms Non-ADB APK Installs Will Require Developer Registration

After the news cycle recently exploded with the announcement that Google would require every single Android app to be from a registered and verifie...

#technology #Android #privacy #freedoms

Cairo-Dock 3.6 Released With Wayland Support and HiDPI Display Handling “Cairo-Dock 3.6 is ported to Wayland to mark the project's return to relevance now in 2025 in working with the many Wayland-focused desktops. Cairo-Dock 3.6 is working with the likes of the Wayfire, KDE KWin, Labwc, COSMIC, Sway, Hyprland, and other Wayland compositors. But GNOME/Mutter is not currently supported.” Yes, it has been a very long (years) time since Cairo-Dock had any major update. I thought it was dying. The global keyboard shortcuts I think is more a limitation of Wayland, as I'm having to use ydotool for my shortcuts with my Elgato Stream Deck still under Wayland. The HiDPI support will handle higher resolution screens and proper scaling of the displays. See

Cairo-Dock 3.6 Released With Wayland Support & HiDPI - Phoronix

Cairo-Dock is back after a decade hiatus! From the early 2010's you may remember Cairo-Dock / GLX-Dock as a complementary dock for your Linux ...

#technology #Linux #Wayland #CairoDock #opensource

Linux 6.18 Will Be A Big Improvement For Servers Encountering DDoS Attacks “A set of patches merged via the networking pull request for the Linux 6.18 will help servers better cope with distributed denial of service “DDoS” attacks. Thanks to a Google engineer there are some significant optimisations found in the Linux 6.18 kernel code for more efficiently handling of UDP receive performance under stress, such as in DDoS scenarios.” This will be welcome news to most hosting services. The only issue though down the line may be that with cybersecurity, the goalposts also keep shifting and evolving. The details though are in the linked post. See

Linux 6.18 Will Be A Big Improvement For Servers Encountering DDoS Attacks - Phoronix

A set of patches merged via the networking pull request for the Linux 6.18 will help servers better cope with distributed denial of service 'D...

#technology #hosting #opensource

Austria's military has switched from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice "Austria's military has completed a major IT overhaul, replacing Microsoft Office with the open-source LibreOffice suite across all its desktop systems. The change, finalised this month, affects approximately 16,000 workstations in the Austrian Armed Forces. This move will substantially reduce Austria's software bill. At $33.75 per user per month, a Microsoft 365 E3 subscription for 16,000 workstations costs approximately $6,480,000 per year, compared to LibreOffice's zero cost." But despite all the cost savings, the main reason for the change was in fact for digital sovereignty and to gain control over critical data. The whole marketing towards moving everything into foreign controlled clouds not only creates a dependency and lock-in to those services, it also often means reducing an organisation's own capacity to support itself. Any organisation should be basing its decisions on a very holistic view of all the factors involved. Be very wary of the allure of glitzy PR and nice-to-haves. See

ZDNET

This European military just ditched Microsoft for open-source LibreOffice - here's why

It's not about the cost savings, either. Many government organizations are replacing Microsoft software for a more important reason.

#technology #Austria #opensource #digitalsovereignty

Why Molten Salt Won’t Be the Future of Industrial Heat Storage “Molten salt has long been positioned as the workhorse of high temperature thermal storage. Its story began with research in the 1980s and early deployment in Spanish parabolic trough plants in the 2000s. The technology was appealing on paper. A mixture of sodium and potassium nitrate has a high heat capacity, a density almost twice that of water, and can remain liquid over a wide temperature range. Two insulated steel tanks, one cold and one hot, allow operators to circulate the salt through solar receivers or electric heaters to charge, and then through heat exchangers to generate steam when discharge is required.” An interesting read. Many ideas are really great in their time, but then also get superseded by better technology. Other technologies are pretty inefficient in the original times, and then dramatically improve, such as solar panels and batteries. But for whatever is being looked at, one does always want to consider its full life cycle, as well as efficiency. Too often fanatical supports, or detractors, of a technology just cherry-pick aspects of it to highlight to make their case. But for molten salt, its inefficiency is what really counts against it when there are better and more efficient solutions. Hydrogen I recall had its great efficiency touted by its supporters, but it lost out dramatically on the costs around storage and transport. See

CleanTechnica

Why Molten Salt Won’t Be the Future of Industrial Heat Storage - CleanTechnica

Molten salt proved thermal storage at scale, yet faces limits in efficiency, cost, and risk. Simpler industrial heat solutions are overtaking it.

#technology #greentechnology #environment