KDE Plasma 6 MegaRelease, cover your Tails, CIQ's Rocky credibility & more Linux news

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SHOW NOTES ►► thisweekinlinux.com/255
KDE has finally blessed us with the latest release of KDE Plasma and this isnt just any release but a massive megarelease as they call it. That's right, KDE Plasma 6 is here! We also got some new distro releases from the privacy focused distro Tails, Tiny Core Linux and apparently one project is trying to see just how accessible coconuts can be. CIQ is in the news this week by making some controversial moves. All of this and more on this episode of This Week in Linux, Your Source for Linux GNews!
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:50 KDE Plasma 6 Released
07:03 Tails 6.0 Released
09:14 Will CIQs Paid-Only Programs Hurt Rocky Linux?
18:57 Sponsored by Kasm
20:25 Tiny Core Linux 15 Released
21:50 Sway 1.9 Released
22:51 Accessible-Coconut 22.04.3 Released
24:42 HexChat 2.16.2 is the Latest & Final Release
26:32 Ardour 8.4 Open-Source DAW Released
28:26 Giada Loop Machine 1.0 Released
29:49 Outro
SHOW NOTES ►► thisweekinlinux.com/255
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Thanks For Watching!
#Linux #TechNews #Podcast

[@hindigente]

I'm more excited for the reported performance improvements in Plasma 6 than new features.

[@michael_tunnell]

That’s also very exciting but I also like new and shiny features 😎😆

[@mx338]

There is making money to fund your community project, and there is self-interested profiteering that goes against the community. I am not sure yet on which side this move by Rocky will come out as.

[@Mackenway]

28:28 "giada" is pronounced with a soft "g" and stress on the first "a", and means "jade" in Italian! Thanks for the news, I have liked the smash button

[@bittin1]

i am still rocking irc with irssi

[@MarcelPeters-wx5he]

I do use IRC still a lot. My main client is weechat or the native kde plasma irc client as both are pretty customizable still preferring weechat as a TUI app

[@michadybczak4862]

6.0.2 is already there. Many small bugs are gone. Nice!

[@JureRepinc]

Can't wait for KDE Plasma 6 to come to openSUSE Tumbleweed

[@michael_tunnell]

I think that will be pretty soon and a fairly compelling combination

[@fuseteam]

Thanks for validating Alma >>> Rocky for me xd

[@gaiusbaltar7122]

KDE Neon here!

[@OraOraOra]

Thanks for the news! Yes a more in depth video about RedHat and the Drama would be awesome! It's very confusing as a person, that recently got into Linux.

[@michael_tunnell]

Thank you for commenting. I think it will be an interesting video to make but it will take quite a bit of time so I might do it as a series rather than a single complete history

[@Sam-iy1kv]

Thanks for the video ! How is the fractional scaling for dual monitor ? like one is high DPI one is lower.

[@michael_tunnell]

Thank you very much! To answer your question, KDE Plasma handles different DPI monitors just fine but that does require using Wayland to work properly

[@Bob-of-Zoid]

I'm on Arch, but they haven't released Plasma 6 yet because there are a few things they need to work out before they want to trust it won't cause any trouble. I can wait though, and rather be safe than sorry too. In Ardour (pro audio software in general) a "Control surface" in my case is my Novation 61SL MKII keyboard because it has assignable buttons and knobs to control things in the DAW, so you don't have to grab the mouse or use the computers keyboard, and so can make changes with one hand on the fly while playing notes (live) with the other... So the control surface file has a default configuration of all of the controls of whatever device it's for. My Novation doesn't have a profile yet, and so I have to make one manually which can be done, if I can figure it out that is, and maybe someone will beat me to it. It's an incredibly good professional keyboard with a real touch sensitive piano feel and lots of bells and whistles, and wasn't cheep for that matter. It's a MIDI controller only, meaning it has no sounds of its own. Penguin love to everyone!🐧🐧🐧🥰

[@michael_tunnell]

Waiting for releases to be tested doesn’t sound like an Arch thing to do.I mean they shipped Plasma 5 way before it was ready and it caused massive failures. They broke my entire install by shipping it so I don’t know if it’s about testing for trouble lol

[@Bob-of-Zoid]

@@michael_tunnellMaybe just getting the package build right.

[@guilherme5094]

👍Thanks!

[@hindigente]

Didn't know about Hexchat. Cool project.

[@ernestoditerribile]

Blender doesn’t work on Fedora 40 on M2 Max. In Fedora 39 everything I do on Linux worked just fine. Also a lot of themes aren’t upgraded yet. Kuserfeedback also gave a nasty error till I removed it. KDE 5 worked just fine.

[@michael_tunnell]

Are you talking about Fedora Asahi?

[@ernestoditerribile]

@@michael_tunnell yes I am. I’m running Fedora Asahi on an M2 Max with KDE 6. Because other distros don’t work on it. I mostly run headless servers with Almalinux(before that CentOS), RHEL, SLES, Proxmox, VMWare, Xenserver and Debian for various companies. At home I mostly use MacOS, Proxmox, And Kali Linux(because it’s a rolling release of Debian and have to run pentests regularly). I wish there was a Debian derived distro for the M-series Macs.

[@illum1n4ti]

Can u please talk about rhel, almalinux and rockylinux. A lot of people bashing that RedHat is going closed that’s totally wrong. They still support a lot of opensource projects

[@michael_tunnell]

Thanks for commenting! I think this would be an interesting video for sure. 👍

[@AbdullahALSHRIQI]

Good Episood and finally support Islamic Calnder on kde 6 I Hope Gnome do this to I Prefeer konversation and pidgin than Hexchat

[@michael_tunnell]

thank you, glad you liked it. That is nice and hope GNOME does it too as well. Konversation is pretty dope :D

[@sam_alderson]

Which distribution you are using?

[@michael_tunnell]

I use many distros on multiple machines so it really depends. I also sometimes use things I dont recommend to people so its a bit of a complicated answer. With that said, I am currently using Fedora, blendOS, Kubuntu all with KDE Plasma and also Ubuntu

[@Furn427]

Is the issue with online chat accounts fixed ? I'm thinking about the telepathy-morse issue(s)

[@michael_tunnell]

I’m not aware of that issue. What app is it with?

[@candyczar]

Weechat for IRC, leave it running in a tmux session.

[@TheCzele]

19:17 DRRRRRRRROPLETS

[@zxuiji]

25:56, yeah that made me laugh too, still laughing tbh XD

[@ShaunakHub]

Good Morning! It is one of very few things I look up to every Sunday. I always wondered why there was no click to tap on any Linux desktops by default. I think only Ubuntu enables it by default.

[@michael_tunnell]

Thank you so much! I appreciate you being part of the TWILerverse :D Not having tap-to-click has always baffled me but its there now for KDE . . . well I guess not really since none of the practical KDE distros have Plasma 6 yet but its going to happen at least :D

[@majstorgile]

Do more about topic related to Rocky and Alma, it's quite interesting.

[@bitterseeds]

For IRC, irssi has been my fav. since Epic kind of died.

[@RedSaint83]

I like Hexchat. But then again, I come from windows and mIRC and Hexchat feels like a close spiritual successor. Not that mIRC isn't still around, heck I even own a license, but it's windows only.

[@bitterseeds]

@@RedSaint83I come from a background of having been on IRC since 1992 when one had to telnet to the shell server to IRC and so I'm just used to shell IRC clients. :) I usually have IRC in a tmux session, have for a couple decades.

[@tmendoza6]

oh yeah lets do it I have my donuts and coffee

[@SlinkyD]

Bug-for-bug compatible doesn't mean code only.

[@michael_tunnell]

Please clarify if you don’t mind

[@muskrat7312]

The paywall was not the issue that Rocky and others had with RHEL. It was the fact that RHEL put a restriction that you could not redistribute the source code EVEN IF YOU PAID. This is AGAINST the GPL 2.0 since it is a limit placed on redistribution rights. Anyone can charge for their changes but they MUST redistribute the code to those customers if requested and they CANNOT put limitations on the customer's distribution rights of that code.

[@michael_tunnell]

That’s not what Red Hat did. They are allowing redistribution of the code but they are not agreeing to let people continuously have access after redistribution. Continuous access is not a requirement of the GPL and so it is not against the terms of the GPL. However, Rocky people have certainly complained about the paywall thing.

[@muskrat7312]

@@michael_tunnell no, the agreement explicitly said that you shouldnt redistribute it unmodified or something. Correct the gpl doesnt require unrestricted free access but they cant try stopping someone from redistribution of their code.

[@michael_tunnell]

Red Hat has this in their terms of service: 1.4 End User and Open Source License Agreements. The Red Hat Software is governed by the End User License Agreements (“EULAs”) set forth at www.redhat.com/agreements. Software Subscriptions and Subscription Services are term-based and will expire if not renewed. This Agreement establishes the rights and obligations associated with Subscription Services and is not intended to limit your rights to software code under the terms of an open source license. This means you are allowed to redistribute the code under the GPL but they moved access to the code to customers, not even paying customers but free customers as well. The thing is that Red Hat is not obligated by any license, not even the GPL, to allow anyone to be their customer. It is an American business right to deny service to someone if they cause damage or something. The GPL does not require anyone to make sure source code is available to all, instead it says that only people who receive the binaries are required to get the source code. Red Hat does this but they reserve the right ago they give binaries to and this reserve the right to who they give source code to. Here’s what I find problematic, this new CIQ/Rocky program is doing the exact same thing. Only people who pay get the source code, wait no, it’s not the same because Red Hat lets people get it for free and Rocky doesn’t so it’s actually worse.

[@muskrat7312]

@@michael_tunnell yes you posted their section which makes it seem all is kosher while ignoring previous sections stating they can end your subscription if you violate their terms which state RHEL code is for paying customers only. This is them trying to act like they are compliant while threatening punishment if you exercise yout GPLv2 rights.

[@EZBlast]

I run this under Zorin 17 pro and have those features.

[@michael_tunnell]

which features are you referring to with Zorin?

[@Daniel-wn5ye]

Zorin doesn't use KDE Plasma but Gnome, heavily customized!

[@EZBlast]

@@Daniel-wn5yeNot true - it just is not their suggested front end, however, it is downloadable as an option, and fully supported in it's environment . It isn't the cutting edge of KDE - being at 5.24.7 - but as Zorin updates so progresses the kde build.

[@michael_tunnell]

It is true that Zorin OS uses GNOME, not KDE but it is also true that you can use KDE in Zorin but that is only because it is based on Ubuntu and Ubuntu has the KDE packages in their repo. Zorin is not involved in the KDE implementation at all. The latest 5 series is 5.27 and latest Plasma is 6.0. That is far from cutting edge, Plasma 5.24 is from 2022 which makes sense with Zorin OS being based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. If you were to use Zorin OS with KDE Plasma that means you will not get another update to KDE Plasma until Zorin OS 18 which will probably be 1 to 1.5 years from now. Whereas if you ran Kubuntu you would already have Plasma 5.27 and in 6 months would get Plasma 6. I am curious . . . why use an unsupported DE on a distro that wont update the DE you use for years when you can use one that is also based on Ubuntu but gets updates 4x faster?

[@EZBlast]

@@michael_tunnellReliability first, then the rest, kde neon is my back-up os but still has little glitches Zorin lacks issues of - though running similar Ubuntu kernels. Same reason I do not just use Ubuntu or Debian os - would spend a world of time tailoring - already done in Zorin..

[@wcdeich4]

Tap to click is bad for people with big hands because we can't avoid constantly tapping the scratch pad

[@michael_tunnell]

True but as long the “disable while typing works” feature works then it should be fine

[@wcdeich4]

@@michael_tunnellYeah, it's great how Linux gives you options.

[@fuseteam]

I also find it disturbing that company A takes the code as is from company B and then offers the same paid subscription as company B

[@michael_tunnell]

I agree with the taking code part and not doing much if anything to customize it but the subscription option has much more weight for Red Hat. Sure company A offers cheaper support but Red Hat actually makes it so while I agree with the foundation of what you’re saying, I think “same paid subscription” is giving too much credit to company A. 😀

[@fuseteam]

@@michael_tunnell i tend to do that, i'm too soft xd

[@appoficeapophis9083]

still using irc with hexchat

[@michael_tunnell]

Do you plan on switching after this news?

[@niijima6556]

Michael, I don't usually leave comments, but there's something important I want to bring to your attention. I believe it's necessary for you to visit a doctor for a check-up, as I think you may be developing either a neurological or cognitive issue. I noticed in your last video that your speech seems more stuttered, and you appear to be tripping over your words. This is quite different from your older videos, and the fact that you mentioned not knowing what's wrong is concerning. I'm no medical expert, I just have a knack for noticing micro-changes and putting one piece of information with another. I only watch your videos every few months when i binge into Linux , however i find you to be the best source of Linux news.

[@chlorophyllphile]

I know you mean well, but I think you are way overreacting. Ironically you might have an issue, namely hypochondriasis.

[@niijima6556]

@@chlorophyllphileI seldom worry. Maybe i am incorrect. Could just be stress, who knows? I was just saying what I am sure no one else is perceptive enough to comment on.

[@michael_tunnell]

HI @niijima6556, I appreciate your concern. It's not something I would have expected to see in a youtube comment so yea, I really do appreciate the concern and taking the time to comment. I wont go into it too deeply but yes I do have a lot of stress, TWIL is actually pretty stressful itself. The process of making TWIL is a lot such as: digging around to find topics, making notes for each topic during recording, record each topic, editing the show, and after all that there is still metadata prep and graphics for the thumbnail before I can publish the show. Then after I am done, the process starts all over from scratch because with a news show, I can't do any of this in advance, I have to do it all fresh each episode. However, with that said, this fresh new episode each week sometimes results in a wide variety of presentations from me. Depending on what time of the day I record on and which day I record on there are different presentation styles. There are also differences with other factors that can result in me being stressed or relaxed in the delivery. There are also times where I script the show too much and it feels robotic and times where I dont script enough and it comes across as unprepared and rambling. It is very hard to find a balance for doing this show because 95% of the show changes every week and nothing can be pre-recorded. I even re-record the outro every episode because it looks weird if the camera looks different or if I am wearing a different shirt and etc. It is stressful but its not a cognitive thing. For example, I couldnt remember which episode of DL I interviewed the DreamWorks guy in because that was an interview I conducted in early November 2023, we didnt release it until a month after that, and it has been 2 months since the release. I also didnt think about saying what the number was until the recording so I didnt look it up in advance which I normally do. This was just a case where I didnt have the info and I didnt care to edit out the awkwardness of looking it up because I found it funny. I have been doing this show for almost 7 years and yea sometimes I get some stress from it and an episode or many might feel a bit off because of that. With all that said, I think I found a new way of writing the notes for the show which should improve the delivery and the flow of the show as well as make it more efficient for me to make it overall. This next episode, 256 will be the test for that. :D

[@BeesCantSwim]

Single-click to open is better.

[@michael_tunnell]

Are you saying it’s better technically speaking or better to be default?

[@Daniel-wn5ye]

It's better only in theory, in practice it has too many problems!

[@johanb.7869]

Even on KDE neon 6 shut down doesn't work. Maybe Plasma 6 was released to soon?

[@JureRepinc]

As far as I understand it was packaging problem on KDE Neon and already fixed by latest system updates.

[@johanb.7869]

@@JureRepinc okay didn't know that, but for now I stick with MX Linux. With old reliable Xfce😉

[@michael_tunnell]

Neon is a testing distro in my opinion, this is the reason why. It’s not a plasma issue but a neon issue 😎

[@johanb.7869]

@@michael_tunnell A update has fixed the issue, but for now I stick with MX Linux. And the name is neon not Newton.

[@michael_tunnell]

That was an “auto-correct” from the phone 😂

[@louisfifteen]

About the KDE window manager or Dolphin. I always change it into Apple or Sweet DE, to make it look more simple and aesthetic and beautiful. Do you have any idea why they keep, not changing, this ugly WM with its ugly borders and all. Gnome has done a wonderful job at this.

[@sotecluxan4221]

[@vasulibhai3156]

good stuff