Latest articles & site news

updated January 6, 2018, category: Car reviews

Here's a 12-minute video clip of me driving a Lotus Exige S at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on a track day, in dry conditions. You've already had an article detailed that experience, and now, you also get moving pictures.

For those with foggy memory and/or a lazy finger, a brief recap of what you're about to see: Lotus Exige S is a rather UNSAFE car. The example that I drove had two mechanical failures. Several times, I received WRONG and dangerous directions from my instructor - left instead of right and alike. I was faster in the Megane in the WET than in the Exige in the DRY. The previous time, I was merrily overtaking Porsche 911s. This time, it was nothing more than pointless, expensive frustration. There's a spinout, too.

Read more ... (Youtube link)

updated January 5, 2018, category: Software & security

Countries that feature the adjective Democratic in their official title rarely exhibit the traits you expect from a nation state run in a democratic fashion. Similarly, companies that keep frequently reminding you that they are committed to freedom and privacy probably are not quite as liberal and open-minded as they seem.

Case in point, Firefox and the Mr. Robot shield study fiasco. Several weeks ago, Mozilla pushed a promotional advert for a TV series in the guise of one of its studies to millions of Firefox users, doing all this nice and remote like and without user consent. Now that the dust has settled but the smell of a fresh turd remains, let us debate.

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updated January 3, 2018, category: Software & security

Several weeks ago, I reported that my Lenovo IdeaPad G50-70 laptop, which I mostly use for multi-boot Linux distribution testing, has had its UEFI (BIOS) NVRAM go read-only, refusing to boot from external media. It would also not allow any UEFI settings to be changed.

A few days ago, I finally managed to resolve this issue, by using the mainline kernel 4.14.10, which offered a new set of (affected) drivers that unbricked the UEFI memory. I would like to show you the full sequence of steps you need to undertake to resolve the problem. After me.

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updated January 3, 2018, category: Dedoimedo

Ladies and gentlemen, in the coming weeks, Dedoimedo will undergo a slight to moderate visual theme change. The new looks will include a pure HTML5/CSS3 theme, mobile support, and should prove even easier to read and search for content. Speaking of content, it remains the same. Do not worry, Dedoimedo is not reforming, mellowing down, or anything like that. Same stuff, just a small decor revamp.

During the transition phase, as I slowly and carefully test everything, you may notice different articles sporting different themes, the old and the new one. Do not be alarmed, that's perfectly normal and expected. Thank you for your support, and I hope you will be pleased with the change. If not, start compiling your rants.

Stay tuned ...

updated January 1, 2018, category: Software & security

For those of you wondering, uMatrix is a point-and-click matrix-based privacy tool, offered in the form of a Web extension for both Firefox and Chrome, and it can be used to control what domains can do while you browse. In essence, it is somewhat similar to Noscript, although the primary focus is not specifically on blocking scripts.

After having written a tutorial on how to use the new WebExtension Noscript 10, I wanted to do the same with uMatrix. The main reasons are: 1) I am currently checking whether this add-on merits further use, also possibly as a backup and alternative to any issues that may arise with Noscript following the migration to the new WebExtensions framework 2) the usage model is not straightforward. So let's see what uMatrix can do. And how.

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updated December 29, 2017, category: Software & security

Onward we must make haste. Time to submit another Linux distribution to a test, and today, we shall explore the wonders and pitfalls of Mint 18.3 Sylvia. For many years, Mint has been one of my favorite distributions, scoring most highly in reviews as well as annual best-of wrap ups. Less so in recent years.

Still, the last version - 18.2 Sonya - was really decent, and alongside Kubuntu Zesty, it remains one of the top pickings of the otherwise fairly dismal 2017. Now, let's see if can sustain the momentum. I will be testing on an older system - the LG laptop that comes with an Nvidia card, so there ought to be snags. But then, Sylvia is based on the LTS edition of Ubuntu, which means it shouldn't have any of the nonsense we have seen recently. Follow me.

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updated December 27, 2017, category: Computer games

I have been playing Bohemia Interactive's Operation Flashpoint and ArmA franchise for a good 16-17 years now, and still going strong. ArmA 3 is the latest current installment, and even though its continuous DLC model is rather annoying, the game itself is superb. And so, when the company does release proper expansion packs, I am willing to part with my hard-earned money and get the extras. In this case, the APEX bundle.

It looks like an interesting deal - it is a sort of cumulative update, so you get all those other DLC that you skipped on principle, but most importantly, the game features a brand new island archipelago of Tanoa, several new factions, some new weapons, and a co-op multiplayer campaign mode. We are exploring.

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updated December 25, 2017, category: Software & security

Onward we must make haste. Time to submit another Linux distribution to a test, and today, we shall explore the wonders and pitfalls of Mint 18.3 Sylvia. For many years, Mint has been one of my favorite distributions, scoring most highly in reviews as well as annual best-of wrap ups. Less so in recent years.

Still, the last version - 18.2 Sonya - was really decent, and alongside Kubuntu Zesty, it remains one of the top pickings of the otherwise fairly dismal 2017. Now, let's see if can sustain the momentum. I will be testing on an older system - the LG laptop that comes with an Nvidia card, so there ought to be snags. But then, Sylvia is based on the LTS edition of Ubuntu, which means it shouldn't have any of the nonsense we have seen recently. Follow me.

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updated December 23, 2017, category: Software & security

One more. After exploring the ups and downs of the Gnome and KDE/Plasma crop of this year, we now focus on what Xfce can deliver us. Arguably, this is the third largest, most important desktop environment in the open-source universe, straddling the chasm between the two opposing philosophies of the G and K worlds.

Back in 2016, I found Xfce to be a very vibrant, healthy, innovative technology, with a good string of successes, and a range of balanced, practical distributions. There were no cardinal revolutions, but then also, there were no wild swings in quality, either. It was all rather stolid. Now, let's see what 2017 can tell us.

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updated December 22, 2017, category: Software & security

What if the results in your recent reviews are a result of changing your test laptop from Lenovo G50 to LG RD510? This is a very smart question that one of my readers asked. What if some of my findings are indeed hardware dependent?

My first argument is that products must be resilient enough to account for variance in hardware. My second argument is that my test methods are consistent. My third argument is that it's no so much that things don't really work in recent Linux distributions, it is that they do not work consistently. If the same thing works with one distro and does not work with another, it's not the hardware. All that said, I decided to test Ubuntu 14.04, which I found to be amazing in all scenarios, on the LG laptop. Let's see what gives.

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updated December 20, 2017, category: Software & security

With the release of Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (Build 1709), the most superb and elegant Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) is no longer available or can be installed on this operating system. Instead, these mitigations are now an integral part of Windows 10.

Since I'm a huge fan of EMET, and I'm using it on all my Windows machines, I decided to write a detailed, practical and real-life use guide on how to deploy and tweak the new mitigations in Windows 10. Please follow me.

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updated December 20, 2017, category: Free books

It's the end of the year as we know it, it's the end of the year as we know it, and I feel benevolent. Commencing December 18 through December 31, ALL of my Kindle format books will be free for grabs on Amazon. D'you hear? All of them! Different books on different days, but in essence, you get two full weeks of free giveaways. Now that is what I call a holiday gift.

Now, I'd like to ask you for a favor. Actually, two favors. Please spread the word. And if you do get a freebie, and you do happen to read it, then please write a review on either Goodreads or Amazon, or both. There you go. Happy festivities and whatnot.

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updated December 18, 2017, category: Software & security

Plasma me, Plasma you, a-ha, there was nothing we could do. But wait! Yes we can. Let us glimpse back upon Year 2017, and try to figure out which Linux distribution delivered the best overall user experience whilst adorned with the Plasma desktop environment. Continuing what we did with Gnome, we will now focus on the other other side of the fence.

Last year, Plasma was an okay player, but it kept to the shadows. I was cautiously optimistic, feeling that the environment had a lot of potential, but it has not been utilized to the max. Back then, Kubuntu Yak took the crown with best overall performance if still a somewhat lukewarm outcome. What shall this end-of-year summary bring us?

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updated December 16, 2017, category: Software & security

With the media aswirl with the news of iPhone 8 and iPhone X, any talk about a device two versions old - at the very least - probably means very little to hardcore fans and users. However, in my case, it's the simple matter of getting access to a device I've not really used before, and writing a review of my experience, trends and media hype notwithstanding. In this case, Apple iPhone 6s.

You will recall that I did test iPhone 6 and used it for a long while, writing a follow-up six-month review about it. I was rather impressed with the build quality and the camera, less so by the extremely restricted ecospace that forces you to tune into the world of Apple. With the operating system bumped to iOS 11 and the hardware spec upgraded nicely, iPhone 6 is an interesting little product. I'm betting: not my cup of tea, but still, worth exploring. With all the reserved judgment of an Apple shareholder that I am, follow me.

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updated December 15, 2017, category: Software & security

Recently, I've tested Ubuntu Artful Aardvark, and I was not impressed. It's buggy, it's not visually impressive, and the underlying Gnome 3 framework makes things very difficult for the end user. So I thought, let's cobble together a guide that helps achieve the most from this Ubuntu release.

So, in a similar fashion to what we've done with openSUSE Leap 42.3, let's try to make Ubuntu better, nicer, smarter, more efficient, and more productive. I'll give you a handful of pointers and tips on how to achieve this without going over the top, or any extensive system hacking. Let's begin.

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updated December 13, 2017, category: Software & security

I was really thinking hard what the best, most descriptive and useful title for the topic today could be, and I came up with this. Long story short, my Lenovo G50 test laptop, which runs an eight-boot setup with Windows and various Linux distributions, has recently had its NVRAM go read only. I cannot change any UEFI settings, and therefore, I also cannot boot from external media and install any new systems.

However, I still want to somehow be able to make changes to the existing setup, so I spent a bit of time thinking, is there a way around this? Yes there is! What I'm going to show you today is a somewhat dangerous (data wise) trick that allows me to install new systems despite the obvious hardware limitation I'm facing. Follow me.

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updated December 11, 2017, category: Software & security

Spotlight corner! Dedoimedo prowls the many corners of the Web, searching for textogenic faces for a fresh new interview. Truth to be told, finding the candidate for today's slot wasn't too difficult. Roy Schestowitz is a familiar name round the Tux block. Nowadays, you will most likely find him on tuxmachines.org, a community-driven news site.

News aggregation can be tricky; finding the right balance of quality content isn't easy, but even with the relatively recent change of ownership, tuxmachines marches on with solid consistency, ardently trying to offer its readers the best the open-source world has to report. I have always been a great fan and supporter, and I approached Roy for an interview. He agreed.

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updated December 9, 2017, category: Software & security

Following in the best of traditions, it is that time of the year, when we wrap up the previous twelve months of hard work, software scrutiny, pain, tears, joy, and hope, all mixed and blended inside one big, scalding cauldron that we call Linux. We shall commence with the Gnome desktop environment.

If you look at my last year's summary, I was somewhat moderately enthused about Gnome, with decent results from the Fedora branch. In fact, Red Hat flavors dominated the article, with multiple Fedora versions and forks. This does not come as a surprise, given the fact Gnome is closely tied to Red Hat. But then, it was a surprise, as Gnome is not among the most efficient or ergonomic desktop environments, nor have I ever really been fond of its third reincarnation. And yet, I was rather pleased overall. This year? Let's see.

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updated December 8, 2017, category: Software & security

Snow, chestnuts, holiday festivities. Or perhaps, darkness, smog and dry cough. For me, the distro testing recently is definitely heading in the wrong direction, with release after release od mediocre, underwhelming, zero-QA-ed systems. But maybe Fedora can redeem us all?

My impression of the predecessor was not good. Fedora 26 is definitely not as polished and smart as Fedora 26 minus one, so I'm worried. We'll be running the experiment on the olden but golden LG RD510 machine, with 4 GB of RAM and Nvidia graphics. Sit down, relax and read.

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updated December 6, 2017, category: Software & security

System76 is a known player in the Linux world - one of the few vendors that choose to ship their hardware with Linux preinstalled. So far, they've done it with Ubuntu, but now, there's a custom new operating system bearing a funky name POP!_OS. It still has Ubuntu blood underneath, but it tries to be different. The words minimalistic and developer focused are mentioned, and I'm wary. But professional Linux offerings are far and few in between. So this could be refreshing. Or maybe not.

Well, given the ultra-lukewarm performance by Ubuntu 17.10 and its siblings, I am actually quite looking forward to this test. Perhaps this new and shiny POP!_OS will be able to redeem the family and offer something nice to the users come the winter. Let's see how it goes.

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updated December 4, 2017, category: Software & security

Several weeks ago, Microsoft released the fall edition of their so-called Creators Update, build number 1709. After waiting for the noise and dust to settle, I embarked on testing the new version of the operating system. Technically, it's supposed to be the same product, but with the whole agile-mantra product cycle, you never know.

So far, my impression of Windows 10 is okay - not too good, not too bad, in line with the predecessors, albeit with some extra annoyances, a less productive UI, more online and touch nonsense, and decent security. The previous Creators Update didn't bring anything too drastic to the table. Let's see what this one does. After me, brave people.

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updated December 2, 2017, category: Software & security

Over the past few years, I have had a chance to test and review different versions of Able2Extract PDF Converter, a professional document conversion software, each time invited by the company's office to examine their product and write an article about it. This year, it's even more interesting. I have been asked to take a look at the pre-release edition of the latest version, PDF Converter 12.

With the expected disclaimer that things may not be 100% polished or ready in the RC spin, I set about testing. Like the last few times, I will focus on the speed and quality of conversion of various PDF documents, the batch processing, and other features. Follow me.

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updated December 1, 2017, category: Software & security

As I've written once upon a time, like Alien vs Predator, only completely different and totally unrelated. Several weeks ago, I birthed an article pitting a number of Firefox-based browsers against each other, testing their overall goodness for daily consumption - but in a good way - especially given the radical changes introduced by Firefox 57.

You asked, so it's time to do the same for Chrome and Vivaldi. Not a browser benchmark. Again, as I've outlined in the review above, testing browser speed is not an exact science, it's an approximation that requires thousands of users, and it can never be accurately done in a lab. Even Google will tell you so. Besides, that's not the reason why we're here. More sort of, Chrome and the most popular Chromium-based browser, what gives?

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updated November 30, 2017, category: Software & security

The age is strong in this one. I bought my Samsung Galaxy tablet back in 2013, and at first, I found it quite adorable. But over time, I realized there were diminishing returns in the touch factor, making it useful only for casual Internet stuff. Phones make sense, because you have no expectations. So do laptops. But tablets are a false hope.

And yet, it's my duty to please that ... to conduct reviews. Indeed, I've recently converted my Ubuntu-powered Aquaris M10 machine to Android, and spent some time playing and testing. The change has given it a fresh new - and fast - beginning. So I figured, let's see if the Samsung tablet can also benefit from some airing and dusting. Shall we?

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updated November 27, 2017, category: Software & security

Today, we shall pimp. Pimp this distro into submission. Make it good. My review of the situation reveals many glaring problems - hardware issues all over the place, problems with media playback, software conflicts, system hangs and freezes, and many other annoyances.

In this guide, I would like to show you a long series of tricks, workarounds and changes you will need to exact upon your openSUSE Leap 42.3 box so that it appears modern, fully cooperates with your hardware, and offers you all the delights of day-to-day stuff. Let us begin the ordeal.

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updated November 26, 2017, category: Software & security

Once upon a time in the West, the hopes were high. The man with no name rode into town, promising Linux for all, on desktop and phone alike. Later on, we learned the man's name was Harmonica, and I got confused. But I really loved the dream that Canonical tried to create, and I bought myself an Aquaris phone and an Aquaris tablet. I believed this could be big.

But then, the dream was dashed, and I was left with a pretty nifty, decent, mid-range tablet gathering proverbial dust, and real dust, and nostalgia. With the choice of keeping it as is for memorabilia sake, or converting the now irrelevant Ubuntu Touch device into something with more day-to-day relevant, I opted for going Android.

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updated November 24, 2017, category: Software & security

Let's take a look at another member of the Ubuntu species. This autumn, we have a series reboot, with a fresh alphabetic start. With Ubuntu, the change was more than symbolic, including a shift from Unity to Gnome, with some rather disappointing results. Then, I tested Kubuntu 17.10, and again, the regressions and problems were aplenty, to my great chagrin, dismay and sadness.

It's time to see if the Xfce beastling can deliver - I am bracing myself for bugs that ought not to be there, even though technically, Xubuntu should not have experienced any major disruptions. It's also been relatively stable and true, with good pace of innovation without losing grip on its identity. Aardvark, show me the light please.

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updated November 22, 2017, category: Software & security

Firefox 57 is out. And so is Noscript Security Suite 10, the first WebExtension version of this highly popular and successful Firefox addon. The redesigned addon brings in a whole range of changes and frustrations. So if you feel surprised, taken aback or just confused by the way Noscript works post 5.x series, I will try to unravel some of the fog in this tutorial.

Please note that this is the first edition of this guide - there will be updates and follow ups, as Noscript will inevitably change and improve. I will try to provide the simplest explanations and hints, so that your journey, and mine, can be more pleasant. I believe Noscript is an essential part of the Web, the primary reason to still stick with Firefox, and this is why I decide to compile this howto. Follow me.

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updated November 20, 2017, category: Software & security

Are you familiar with the lyrics of The Reflex, by Duran Duran? The reflex is a lonely child, who's waiting by the ... and so on. Well, Firefox is not a lonely child. In fact, the Firefox family has many members, and now that we're facing the crucial moment of truth, whether to use Firefox or not, at all, given the radical change a-coming' with Firefox 57, it is time to give the entire series some extra spotlight.

In other words, let's try to figure out which of the Firefox siblings is the most suitable for everyday use. We're talking look, compatibility, the ultra-important extensions, security, performance, and such. Today, we'll have a wrestling match between Firefox, Waterfox and Pale Moon. As requested by you, readers. Shall we?

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updated November 20, 2017, category: Books

Let us have some pre-holidays holiday festivities! Next week, Friday to Sunday, November 24 from midnight till November 26 11pm (2300 hours), The Betrayed, the first book in The Lost Words series, will be available at a nice, discounted price of only USD0.99. This is a very neat 67% saving compared to the original tag, so you may want to pencil the dates down and take advantage of this nifty little Kindle Countdown Deal.

As always, I welcome feedback, suggestions - and of course - reviews, so should you read it, please jot down your thoughts, whatever they may be. Either way, I hope you will find this deal valuable, and stay tuned for more news, updates and special offers as we approach the inevitable conclusion of 2017. Peace.

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updated November 18, 2017, category: Software & security

I love Linux. Which is why, whenever there's a new distro release and it's less than optimal (read, horrible), a unicorn dies somewhere. And since unicorns are pretty much mythical, it tells you how bad the situation is. On a more serious note, I've started my autumn crop of distro testing, and the results are rather discouraging. Worse than just bad results, we get inconsistent results. This is possibly even worse than having a product that works badly. The wild emotional seesaw of love-hate, hope-despair plays havoc with users and their loyalty.

Looking back to similar tests in previous years, it's as if nothing has changed. We're spinning. Literally. Distro releases happen in a sort of intellectual vacuum, isolated from one another, with little to no cross-cooperation or cohesion. This got me thinking. Are there any mechanisms that could help strengthen partnership among different distro teams, so that our desktops looks and behave with more quality and consistency?

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updated November 17, 2017, category: Software & security

ABCDEF U Kubun-tu. Yes, it's time to embark upon yet more autumn season distro testing, and we shall continue with the freshly released Aardvark edition wearing the KDE uniform. I was highly unimpressed by the new Ubuntu. It was buggy, underwhelming, just sad really. So it's interesting to see how Plasma will fare, and how much badness shall drift over across the family tree. It's happened before. When 'buntu goes down, they all go down.

This test is going to be even more intriguing because: 1) I was immensely impressed with Kubuntu Zesty, and I even crowned it the perfect distro, and it worked beautifully on my HP Pavilion laptop, equipped with Nvidia graphics 2) Plasma has just been such a stable and elegant delight recently, showing great promise and quality. To wit, we will be testing on an Nvidia-powered laptop, my older LG RD510 machine, which has recently seen a slew of reviews. Let us.

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updated November 15, 2017, category: Software & security

Do you occasionally take screenshots in your Plasma desktop? You do? Well, then you may have noticed that the created images (PNG) come with a relatively large transparent border, which makes image manipulation somewhat quirky. Say you want to be able to make screenshots without any borders, like Gnome or such. What now?

In this tutorial, I will actually show you three or four different methods that can help you make your images prettier, easier to use, and without any need to handle the transparency. Follow me.

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updated November 13, 2017, category: Software & security

The golden rule of computing is, you should never check your system error log for errors if your system is working fine. That's the quick route to madness. You will end up trying to figure out solutions to trivial issues that do not affect your day-to-day usage. But then, you may suddenly have your desktop freeze. If you're lucky, it recovers. If not, you will have to reboot to gain back your session.

Now that you should check the logs, you discover the following error in the logs just prior to the problem: *ERROR* Atomic update failure on pipe A ... Sounds ominous, and it is the topic of our article today. Let's see what gives here and how we can fix this.

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updated November 11, 2017, category: Computer games

We all know that GTA Vice City is one of the finest games ever released. I reviewed and praised this excellent title in one of the first three or four articles ever written on Dedoimedo some eleven years ago. It's a game that blends style with nostalgia in a supreme manner, and I still play it often. In fact, recently I purchased the remastered Steam version.

Alas, I discovered a bunch of problems in trying to get the game going. One, it would crash on startup. Two, the old save games from the Retail version are not compatible with the Steam version. Now, I did battle some issues with running Vice City on Windows 7, mostly around mouse control, as I've shown you in a neat little tutorial, but this was a new set of problems. Not to worry, there's a solution to all this. Let us fix the issues and enjoy GTA!

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updated November 10, 2017, category: Software & security

Fresh start. A new alphabetic series, a new desktop environment. With the unfortunate demise of Unity as its user interface, Ubuntu has now embraced Gnome 3 as the thing what users ought to experience when they use this operating system. I find this quite troubling, and with a heavy heart, I am commencing this review.

But perhaps not all is bad. This is an opportunity for Canonical to revitalize itself, to show a bold new face and take us forward. After all, the Linux desktop has been stagnant for a good few years, and a radical initiative is needed. Perhaps this might be the beginning of that adventure. Perhaps not. Let us explore.

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updated November 8, 2017, category: Software & security

A question that I often get to hear is - how does one go about having a pretty interface in VLC, replete with a dope playlist and whatnot? Not in so many eloquent words, but you get the gist. People usually only get to see the one face of VideoLAN, that of a fairly utilitarian if extremely versatile media player, which hides most of its nerdy functions beneath the hood.

Today, I'd like to show you how you can make VLC ever so slightly prettier, more accessible and more fun to use. We'll focus on two major features - playlists and skins. Both these can help transform VLC into something more like a typical flashy player that you'd expect, without sacrificing any of the awesome functionality. Let us.

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updated November 6, 2017, category: Software & security

If you've noticed a brief absence of wisdom and rant on Dedoimedo in the previous week or so, that was because I was busy attending and presenting at the Open Source Summit in Prague, Czech Republic. For those wondering, yes, this is the new unified event combining the likes of LinuxCon and CloudOpen and similar venues under a single umbrella.

So let me give you a somewhat longer overview of how it went and what it was like, and finally, tell you a bit more about my own presentation. Images, philosophy, chocolates, the whole nine yards, and whatnot. After me.

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updated November 4, 2017, category: Software & security

PCLinuxOS. Once upon a time, this was the distro. Super friendly, unique, loaded with awesome features. But then, as years went by, my experience with it became less and less successful, until I declared a big goodbye with the 2014 Full Monty release. It was a sad moment.

Recently, I achieved rather decent results with Mageia 6 on my old-new LG RD510 laptop, so I thought this could be a good opportunity to give PCLinuxOS another shot. After all, both these are based on Mandriva, both very similar in spirit and behavior, so why not. Hence, we're testing PCLinuxOS once again, the 2017.07 KDE release. Let's do it.

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updated November 3, 2017, category: Software & security

I have not tested Mageia in a long time. The primary reason is, at some point, this distro stopped booting on most of my test hardware, a range of laptops really, and I just never got around to really nailing it down. My last attempt was the unsuccessful endeavor with the third release.

However, now, with my Lenovo G50 on the blink, so to speak, I decided to give it a shot on a much older piece of hardware, a 2009-era LG RD510 machine with an Nvidia card. So let's what Mageia can do. It should definitely be an interesting experiment.

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updated November 1, 2017, category: Books & short stories

Let's continue the month of November with some really good news. Just a Silly Robot, a sci-fi themed short story of mine, has just been published in Allegory ezine, a bi-annual online magazine of science fiction, fantasy and horror, Volume 32/59, Fall/Winter 2017.

What is the story about? Well, let's keept it short and sweet, no spoilers. Here's the pitch: The purpose of life is to be. To survive. On a space colonization mission to Epsilon Eridani, a robot faces the question of his existence - and that of his human comrades. Without further ado, take a look and enjoy!

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updated November 1, 2017, category: Software & security

I've noticed an interesting phenomenon. On my Lenovo G50 machine, which multi-boots Windows 10 with a host of Linux distributions, every time I launch the Microsoft operating system, the time is off by one hour. The timezone is set correctly, but the little digital widget in the right bottom corner fakes it by 60 minutes.

I started exploring, reading and checking, and realized that I should write a little tutorial on this. Now, the problem may also affect people who use Windows 10 standalone, without any reference to other operating systems. Either way, we will focus on the solution on the Windows side of things, and how we can work around the issue.

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updated October 30, 2017, category: Software & security

The word best used to describe Linux is variety. That, or fragmentation. Whichever part of the desktop system you choose, from the environment to the text editor to the underlying software packaging mechanism, there's always a huge number of options. Alas, plenty != choice. In fact, most of the subsystems are incompatible with one another, leading to significant management overhead.

If you want to run your software on multiple distributions, you essentially need to compile it against many subsets of libraries, some of which follow different naming schemes and hierarchy, and it takes a lot of work to achieve simple results. Instead, what makes a lot more sense is the approach embodied in the Windows-like world; self-contained plug-n-play applications. Recently, Linux has begun adopting this weight-slimming approach with AppImage, Snap, and there's also Flatpak, which is the topic of our article today.

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updated October 21, 2017, category: Software & security

With my Lenovo G50 machine currently out of action vis-a-vis new distro testing, I wanted to revisit my elementary Loki experience from about a year ago on a different platform. At the moment, I'm using the Nvidia-powered oldie LG machine from 2009 as my rig au test, and it has also proven a tough cookie to nail. Most distros struggle with this ancient item just as badly as they do with UEFI systems.

Anyway, the idea is to check and possibly install elementary OS alongside Antergos, the one distro currently managing the hardware reasonably well, with a couple of neat disappointment in the form of BunsenLabs Linux and Korora. Let's see how it goes, and whether my impression has changes, for better or worse. My own tolerance for problems, too. Continue, we shall.

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updated October 20, 2017, category: Car reviews

Driving cars is fun. Driving cars fast is also fun. Doing it legally is the best. Which means if you can go to a race track for a nice and elegant track day, you've got all your angles covered. This was the foundation of my second visit to Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, for some more precise technical aggression.

Back in 2014, I drove a Renault Megane RS 265 in rainy conditions, and 'twas delightful. Now though, it was a bright and sunny day, dry tarmac, and the car of choice - well, more of a necessity, because that's what the RSR Spa team had available at that time - a Lotus Exige S, a two-door mid-engined sports car with 218 HP, a humble torque output of just 215 Nm from its supercharged 1.8-liter Toyota unit, and 0-100 km/h time of 4.1 seconds. On paper, this ought to be more fun than the Megane. But was it? Let's see.

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updated October 18, 2017, category: Software & security

Just a few short days ago, the KDE team released Plasma 5.11, the latest edition of this desktop environment, plied with a range of bug fixes as well as some new features. Reason enough to celebrate, but even more so when you consider the fact that Plasma has been slowly, steadily - and consistently - improving over the past few years.

For me, the culmination of this effort is my great satisfaction with Plasma - epitomized in the shape and form of Kubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zoltan, including the most excellent twining of the distro with my HP Pavilion laptop. And on this very machine, I will be testing the KDE neon live edition, furnished with the latest desktop version. So let's see what it does.

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updated October 16, 2017, category: Software & security

In just a few weeks, the Fist of Odin and Thor's Hammer will fall down on Firefox users. The browser switches from the old extensions model to the brave new world of WebExtensions, and everything breaks. Or does it?

I've already mentioned the upcoming Armageddon in my review of Firefox 54, and what it offered given the drastic, radical changes gripping the Mozilla world. Now, as the official release of Firefox 57 nears, it's time for another look. Join me, please.

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updated October 14, 2017, category: Software & security

In general, Fedora is an okay distribution. It has steadily improved over the years, reaching a sweet spot with the 24-25 releases, and then turning rather meh with the underwhelming 26th edition. I found it just too rough, and consequently did not update my Lenovo G50 test box. But then, there's Korora.

In a way, Korora is unto Fedora what Stella is unto CentOS, Mint unto Ubuntu; an attempt to make a fully out-of-the-box usable system, without any political, ideological and other games. As it should be. My last encounter with this distro, Korora 23 Coral was reasonable if not quite the best. So let's see what we have here, shall we?

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updated October 13, 2017, category: Software & security

Interviews. The bread and butter of people talking and some recording the stuff. But it's also a great opportunity to learn more about interesting people, unique projects and fun stuff. While the Linux world has not be the most engaging rollercoaster lately, Xfce does stand out as a stable, fairly mature and fairly consistent piece of technology in the wider Tuxospace.

So, I'm happy to announce an interview with a member of both the Xfce and Xubuntu teams, who will tell us more about what these guys and gals are all about, what goes behind the scenes of one of the most important and steadfast desktop environments, and what we should expect from Xfce in the coming years.

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updated October 11, 2017, category: Software & security

If there's one person who will push their hardware to the limit, it's me. In early 2015, I purchased a Lenovo Ideapad G50-70 machine, which I've wholly dedicated to software testing, including many a Linux distro. Fast forward two and a half years, things have changed.

So what happened? The way I always do, I downloaded a fresh distro ISO, wrote it onto a thumb drive and then cycled the laptop, so it would boot from the external device. Only this did not happen. The device wasn't recognized. What. Me no likely. Thinking there was a problem with a particular version of Etcher, the software of choice for the data writing task, I tried an older version of the program, with the same result. Tried a different thumb drive. Nope. Tried three different distributions, two of which are actually installed on the box, nothing.

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updated October 9, 2017, category: Software & security

Today, we venture away from the more common, more popular and explore the slightly more niche (or nicher) - BunsenLabs, the spiritual and material successor to CrunchBang, a lightweight distro based on Debian and running Openbox.

I do not know why CrunchBang was EOL-ed, but then, it does not matter. We will focus on what this little system can and cannot do. The test machine is, for reasons that shall be revealed soon, my older but golder LG RD510 laptop, currently dual-booting a few distros, but it is still an interesting setup, with an Nvidia card thrown into the lot. No UEFI. Let's start.

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updated October 7, 2017, category: Software & security

Music and lyrics. Distros and fonts. This is a tricky tricky topic, which is why when I hear about professional attempts to introduce new fonts into the Linux world, I always perk up and listen. System76 is a known player in the distro field, offering Ubuntu-based hardware for some time now. And recently, they've announced their own distro flavor, which is going to be using a custom theme and icon set simply known as POP! Sounds groovy.

Anyway, you have probably read my Fedora font saga and the recent attempt to actually make openSUSE usable, and like me, you are yearning for high-quality fonts, and in general, a professional level of text ergonomics. So far, Ubuntu seems to be the one distro that has it done well. And System76 aims to build on top of that. Let's see.

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updated October 6, 2017, category: Software & security

I believe you will find today's article to be extremely niche and yet extremely satisfying, as it offers a solution to a rather innocent but annoying problem. If you're using the icons-only task manager in Plasma, you cannot easily pin custom apps. Moreover, you cannot pin WINE programs (Windows software running through WINE). You can use widgets, but then, you can't shuffle them around.

We've talked about the icons-only task manager and the advantages it offers, but now, we will take this to another level. We will create custom app launchers, pin them to the task manager, move them about, everything. This also covers WINE, so seemingly something that shouldn't be be possible. Let us, let us, let us!

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updated October 4, 2017, category: Software & security

May I rhyme? Let me rhyme. UNetbootin, I am hootin', for you won't let me burn. Cue the intro. UNetbootin is a cross-platform USB image write, which you can use to create live USB systems, mostly but not limited to Linux distributions. Except the mission is easier said than done.

On a sunny day sometime in June, I spent a good hour or two fighting UNetbootin, trying to get it to do its job. Alas, it would not, giving me all sorts of problems. The two chief amongst them were: 1) not running at all in Fedora 25, Wayland or no Wayland 2) and then, it would not burn any images, as it felt the external USB drivers were not mounted, an issue that came about both in Kubuntu as well as Fedora. Let's solve them, shall we.

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updated October 2, 2017, category: Software & security

May I rhyme? Let me rhyme. UNetbootin, I am hootin', for you won't let me burn. Cue the intro. UNetbootin is a cross-platform USB image write, which you can use to create live USB systems, mostly but not limited to Linux distributions. Except the mission is easier said than done.

On a sunny day sometime in June, I spent a good hour or two fighting UNetbootin, trying to get it to do its job. Alas, it would not, giving me all sorts of problems. The two chief amongst them were: 1) not running at all in Fedora 25, Wayland or no Wayland 2) and then, it would not burn any images, as it felt the external USB drivers were not mounted, an issue that came about both in Kubuntu as well as Fedora. Let's solve them, shall we.

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updated September 30, 2017, category: Computer games

Operation Migraine was supposed to be a short sabotage mission behind enemy lines, designed to disrupt the buildup of NATO forces on the island. The intelligence report indicated the enemy was trying to consolidate its positions around the towns of Athira and Frini, bringing in long-range artillery as well as a significant cargo of ATGM, which would make any offensive by our light armor prohibitive. The army command felt we needed to take the sting out of a rapidly escalating situation, and Operation Migraine was scheduled for the early afternoon hours of June 24th.

My team was tasked with this dangerous mission, having undertaken several high-risk assignments in the previous months. We were well familiar with the island's topography, we had a good sense of the terrain, and we were accustomed to the muggy summer heat.

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updated September 29, 2017, category: Software & security

Qt desktops are many and varied. So one may ask, all right, if you have to choose one, which one? Well, the answer is both complicated and philosophical. First, because taste is subjective, and my immediate answer would be Plasma, hands down. The way it is realized in Kubuntu 17.04 is just awesome. The best Linux has to offer on the market right now.

But let's say you want to choose from one of the other available Qt-based desktops. What do you do then? Well, that's why we're here, and I'd like to give you a multi-dimensional overview and comparison of these different Qt desktop environments. After all, we talked about them a fair bit recently, so let's narrow it down, shall we?

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updated September 27, 2017, category: Software & security

Recently, I have been having a lot of fun with the Plasma desktop. It all started with Zesty Zapus, a phenomenal release that redeemed KDE. In fact, I've boldly proclaimed that my next serious box to use Linux will be running Kubuntu, most likely the upcoming 2018 LTS. It hasn't been this merry since roughly 2006 or so. Happy days.

With so much time and pleasure spent on Kubuntu, I've dubbed the perfect distro, and then, I've also shown you how to deftly pimp it into sweet submission, as well as graced you with a few more tips and tricks that should make your Plasma experience sweeter still. Now, we will discuss another less known feature in this desktop environment, and that's the task manager. Shall we.

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updated September 25, 2017, category: Software & security

Say no to Arch, but say yes to Arch derivatives. Pain has never been my thing, even when visiting the best Amsterdam dunge - just kidding, who has time and money for that, what. Indeed, I have never keen on doing manual work when setting up Linux distributions, with an odd exception here and there. But I do find the notion of Arch-based systems quite fascinating, as they simplify the oddly and unnecessarily laborious.

Manjaro is a good example, and getting gooder with time, it seemeth, and now I'm going to explore another player named Antergos. Unlike most of my distro tests, completed on the Lenovo G50 box, this one will take place on the older LG RD510 machine. The reasons are as follows: 1) once upon a time, Antergos would not even boot on the G50 machine, as I've shown you in my first rejection report 2) the Lenovo laptop is currently having some funky trouble with its NVRAM, and I shall tell you a story about that another time. First, let's explore Antergos. Here we go.

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updated September 23, 2017, category: Software & security

As a whole, the Linux desktop isn't the most polished family of products in the universe. Due to the chaotic nature of software products, there's a nonlinear correlation between quality and the amount of effort required to achieve it, and there just isn't enough human power to fix it all. It's easy to get to that 90% complete milestone, but then it becomes harder and harder and finally, impossible. Among all the little bugs and issues, fonts reign supreme.

Recently, I tested openSUSE Leap 42.3, and it turned out to be a very . incomplete distro. I spent ages fixing it, and finally got it working in due order. But then, if you compare the quality of fonts there to a very similar Plasma-powered system like Kubuntu 17.04, the differences are huge and appalling. Today, I shall endeavor to resolve this issue. Follow me.

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updated September 22, 2017, category: Life topics

Recently, I've come across a bunch of references, mentions and rumors that several companies, names like Mozilla, Google, and maybe some others, are interested in introducing new, novels mechanisms to combat the phenomena of misinformation and fake news. Then, I've read some more on the Vivaldi browser and what their CEO had to say about Google, and I decided to write an article on modern censorship and how it comes to bear in the digital age dominated by a number of data companies.

Let's begin with a simple statement - mine. Censorship is horrible. It's a short and slippery slope from benevolent intentions to fascism. People do not need to be sheltered from information. If they lack the ability to exercise judgment, then they should also not be entrusted with things like cars, guns or children. Morality and law are two completely separate things. Finally, the big question, who gets to be in charge and decides what is good and what is wrong? Onwards.

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updated September 20, 2017, category: Software & security

Xfce, the final frontier. These are the escapades of the BSS Dedo. It's continuing mission, to seek out new goats and new distributions, to boldly tweak where no one hath tweaked before. Manjaro, a nice system, founded in the blood of sacrificial animals and that distro which reviles noobs the most, AKA the special distro what Dedo won't really test. But that's not the important thing here. What we want to do is tweak Manjaro, so it's even nicer than in its default guise.

Anyway, recently, I've presented you with a fresh new pimping guide for Xfce, which elaborates on several new tips and tricks that you can use to make here be desktop environment behave in a more productive, elegant and visually pleasing way, building on the experiences way back from Ubuntu Pangolin era. Now we shall expand, but with a very specific focus on Manjaro and how it does things. After me.

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updated September 18, 2017, category: Software & security

If you happen to write or review products, I warmly recommend you go back and read some of your earlier stuff, especially if you happen to be doing a fresh article on a topic you've already covered. You may be surprised by your own findings. I sure know I was. Anyway.

Calligra Suite has never featured strongly on Dedoimedo. It just ... hasn't. No special reason. I did review the product in my 2013 office suite comparison run, and back then, it behaved reasonably well, even though it had a rather quirky, non-intuitive workflow. Now, with Kubuntu 17.04 staring at me, goading me, I decided to give the de-facto KDE office suite its full, proper run. Follow me.

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updated September 16, 2017, category: Software & security

Back in the 80s, Tom Clancy contemplated writing this book, but instead, he went with a more submarine-focused bestseller. Fast forward to 2017, we still do not have a real file manager with tabs, at least one sponsored by Microsoft. Windows Explorer doggedly remains a one-view application.

This isn't necessarily bad, but there are times when you might want to have tabs, or even a saved session of tabs, so you can quickly restore your work state after a reboot. All of which calls for a supplementary program. Which one? A good question. Hence the hunt.

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updated September 15, 2017, category: Software & security

My HP pavilion laptop comes with roughly seven years of nice memories. I remember buying the machine, configuring its dual-boot setup, playing games, enjoying the benefits and thrills of the i5 family of processors, this be the first generation I believe, a nice Nvidia graphics card, and 4 GB RAM, which were not negligible back then.

I even used it to put together my very first serious Dedoimedo video production, the artistic Frankenstein movie, with kdenline and other sweet tools, and then for a while, it ran Linux Mint, and I did a lot of testing with distros installed to external disks, then it became a pure test machine, but now I've decided to repurpose it for a more permanent usage, Linux wise. The reason? The near-perfection that Kubuntu Zesty gave me, and the decision to have some near-future edition of this distro powering my next laptop. So this is a primer, if you will. Let's see.

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updated September 13, 2017, category: Software & security

How does one go about enabling and disabling startup items in Windows 8 onwards? Very simple. You open the task manager, click on the right tab, and then enable/disable items as you see fit. However, this is not the case if you run a limited account that does not have administrative privileges by default.

In this guide, I would like to show you several convenient methods how you can selectively enable/disable startup programs if you are running a limited account in Windows 10 without having to actually log into an (the) administrator user. Let us.

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updated September 11, 2017, category: Computer games

In between difficult, life-sapping missions in ArmA 3, now and then, you want to relax. Step back from the gritty realism and just enjoy the game for its wonderful graphics, smooth physics, and a colorful plethora of accurate weaponry. And then, also exploit the game's notoriously buggy runtime engine, which has almost become a tradition, even since the glorious days of Operation Flashpoint. Indeed.

So let me showcase some silly, crazy, pointless moments, captured for posterity through screenshots over the many hours of fun I've had this with ArmA 3 in the past few years. We're talking bad scripting, input validation, stupidity, and just pure nonsense. In essence, the same mature, sensible stuff we did in ArmA 2, and then some. Party time, excellent!

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updated September 9, 2017, category: Software & security

Welcome, children of the Internet. Uncle Dedo is going to show you some nice wizardly tricks on how you can improve the look and feel of your Xfce desktop environment. Simple things that are not always available by default, and yet they make so much difference, especially to people used to a higher level of functional aesthetics.

Say you've switched from Plasma, Gnome or Windows to Xfce, and now you're wondering why some things look so awkward. Not to worry. We will fix all them woes. Inspired by my recent testing and exploration of Manjaro 17.0.1 Gellivara. Now, roll your sleeves. We begin.

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updated September 6, 2017, category: Best of the best

The greatest list of best websites on, well, the Web, has grown plus two. Proudly suggesting, Atlas Obscure and Jupiter Broadcasting. In a few more words: weird historic facts, odd places, oddest facts about weirdest places, culture and nature. Atlas Obscura covers them all, but to make it more interesting, it usually goes for the less obvious, the less popular, the hidden and the forgotten in its narrative. Which is why it tickled my eye and left me browsing more than a day's worth of Internet.

And then, I am not fond of video blogs. Or any sort of casting. Normally, I do not have time nor patience to sit and listen/watch, in real time, other people debate topics of life, philosophy, science and technology. Without participating myself. The presenters must have exceptional skills to keep me engaged. Indeed, Jupiter Broadcasting is an exception to the rule.

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updated September 6, 2017, category: Software & security

If you've been reading Dedoimedo for the past elevenish years, you know that I'm not too fond of security software. But I do test security products, just to see how they behave in the wider scope of things. Such a selfless practice also allows me to compare and judge software, especially against the golden benchmark of Windows security programs, the most glorious, useful and no-nonsense EMET. There.

Anyway, a few months ago, I ran a scan with a MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) on a Windows 7 machine, and in the middle of the scan, I had a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). Not good. Upon recovery, I started the mother of all investigations. Follow me.

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updated September 4, 2017, category: Software & security

You know I have a soft spot for SUSE in my heart. This will always be the case with your first distro. Which is why my heart always breaks a little when there's a bad release, and it's been like this for a long while now. OpenSUSE seems to have lost the gusto that it once had, and releases are too rushed, and software support funky.

But then, I always reset the emotions meter and start fresh, whenever there's a new release out there, and there's one like that right now. Numbered 42.3, it's the third Leap edition. So let's test it a rather complicated multi-boot setup and see if it can deliver the perfect experience that it had once. Onward, commence.

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updated September 2, 2017, category: Car reviews

The Eurotrip saga continues. So far, we've visited a bunch of countries, in a bunch of cars. We started off with Croatia, in a diesel Opel Insignia, followed it up in a Ford C-Max through Italy, and then bravely ventured into Belgium and Germany in a very posh and elegant Skoda Superb estate. After that, we did our Netherlands journey, driving a Volvo XC60, and finally ended up on the British isles, with a variety of cars. It is time to ... go back to Germany and Belgium! Forsprung durch trip!

The car of choice is the most awesome BMW M4 - you've already seen it in my namesake review, but then I should tell you some more about the whole cross-country driving experience. Six days, seven nights, hi hi, and about 1,100 km of roads covered, with and without speed limits. And of course, how could we not, Spa-Francorchamps. Follow me.

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updated September 1, 2017, category: Software & security

Is there a perfect media player? Of course not. All right, then how about a reasonable one, combining a pleasant and intuitive interface plus a wide rage of great features? That sounds like a nice, ambitious idea, but I have yet to find the software that ticks all the relevant boxes.

For the past decade and a half, I've mostly resorted to using whatever default program operating systems throw at me, slowly gravitating toward VideoLAN (VLC) as my app of choice, mostly because of its super-powerful codec backend. But then I've also played with many other software, with a sweet spot for Amarok. Now, I think I may have found my unicorn, and Clementine be its name.

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