Linux books for beginners

Digital only

Ten Steps to Linux Survival by Jim Lehmer (ebook and PDF)

Bonus links

Fascism For First Time Founders by Mike Masnick. Real innovation happens when companies have to compete on merit, not on who can kiss the leader’s ass most effectively. In a functioning democracy with actual rule of law, the best products have the opportunity to win. In an authoritarian system, the company that makes the dictator happy wins—and that’s it.

HP Is Launching an Ad Business With Laptop-Targeted Ads and a Streaming Service by Lauren Johnson. HP Media Network is selling ads that appear on HP’s own computers and apps. HP is also using its first-party data to sell some offsite ads through adtech firms including Microsoft and Kargo, according to two ad executives with direct knowledge.

The Media’s Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work by Jason Koebler. Despite the fact that generative AI has been a destructive force against their businesses, their industry, and the truth more broadly, media executives still see AI as a business opportunity and a shiny object that they can tell investors and their staffs that they are very bullish on. They have to say this, I guess, because everything else they have tried hasn’t worked, and pretending that they are forward thinking or have any clue what they are doing will perhaps allow a specific type of media executive to squeeze out a few more months of salary. (Pay attention because the future of media is 404 Media. Thanks to services like Ghost and what Substack could have been if they weren’t in an enshittification doom spiral, news sites can run with a much higher tooth-to-tail ratio now.)

How Eurostack could offer Canada a route to digital independence from the United States by Ted Palys. Civil liberties groups such as the Electronic Freedom Foundation, academics and even former Palantir employees have raised alarms about the possibilities for abuse….European governments have attempted to rein in Silicon Valley’s excesses for years. Trump’s re-election and his moves toward potentially weaponizing internet data have further boosted Europe’s resolve to move away from the U.S.-led internet. One newer effort is Eurostack. A joint initiative involving academics, policymakers, companies and governments, it envisions an independent digital ecosystem that better reflects European values — democratic, sovereign, inclusive, transparent, respectful of personal privacy and innovation-driven.

systemd has been a complete, utter, unmitigated success Not only is systemd a worthy successor to traditional init, but I think that it deserves a defense for what it’s done for the landscape – especially given the hostile reception it initially received (and somehow continues to receive? for some reason?).

The Future of Forums is Lies, I Guess by Kyle Kingsbury. (More bots in more places. I was hoping to get back into the local in-person user group scene anyway)

Saving LEGO® MINDSTORMS® … by Laurens Valk. While each of these were brilliant in their own right, some of them now feel outdated or don’t work anymore. But since the technology hasn’t fundamentally changed for 20 years, this presents us with a unique opportunity: Invent a modern and future proof play experience for all LEGO robotics sets.