Rocket.Chat: An Amazing Open-Source Alternative to Slack That You Can Self-host

Brief: Rocket.Chat is an open-source team communication application with features and looks similar to Slack. You are free to self-host it or opt for their managed service for a fee.

Slack is a useful and popular team communication app that potentially replaces emails for work. A lot of big and small teams use it, even we at It’s FOSS relied on Slack initially.

However, we needed a good open-source alternative to Slack and that’s when we came across Rocket.Chat. Sure, there are several other open-source slack alternatives, but we opted for Rocket.Chat for its similarity with Slack and ease of deployment.

Rocket.Chat: An Open Source Communication Platform

Rocket.Chat is an open-source communication platform for team collaboration.

You get all the essential features to facilitate proper communication along with the option to get started for free, opt for hosted service by the Rocket.Chat team or deploy it on your server.

You can totally customize as per your requirements when deploying it on your server. No matter what you choose to do, the feature-set is impressive.

Let us take a look at what it offers.

Features of Rocket.Chat

Rocket.Chat is a powerful and flexible team communication tool. Here’s what you can expect from it:

• Easy file sharing (drag and drop support)
• Audio file sharing support
• Video conferencing with Jitsi Meet integration
• Separate channels (private and public options)
• End-to-End encryption support
• Customize the theme of the service (including the ability to customize it)
• Guest access support
• Unlimited message history (depending on the storage of your server for self-managed setup)
• Broadcast channel support
• RSS Integration
• Several 3rd party app integration support
• White label (optional if you want a custom branding)
• Read receipt (Enterprise plan)
• Push notifications support
• Customizable user permission
• 24 x 7 Support (depending on the pricing plan)
• LiveChat integration support which you can add on your website
• Real-time translation
• Self-host support
• Cross-platform support (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux)

In addition to all the key points mentioned above, there are a lot of little nifty features that should come in useful in Rocket.Chat.

Installing Rocket.Chat client on Linux

If you have a Rocket.Chat instance deployed or hosted by Rocket Chat itself, you can access it through web browser, desktop clients and mobile apps.

Can’t self-host Rocket.Chat? Let us help you

Deploying open source applications and managing Linux servers takes some expertise and time. If you lack either but still want to have your own instance of open source software, we can help you out.
With our new project, High on Cloud, you can leave the deployment and server management part to us while you focus on your work.

On Linux, Rocket.Chat is available as a snap and a Flatpak package. You can go through our guides on using snap or Flatpak on Linux to get started.

I would recommend installing it as a Flatpak (that’s how I use it) to get the latest version. Of course, if you prefer to use it as a snap package, you can go with that as well.

In either case, you can explore the source code on their GitHub page if you need.

Rocket.Chat

My Thoughts on Using Rocket.Chat

I’ve been using Rocket.Chat for quite a while now (for our internal communication at It’s FOSS). Even though I was not the one who deployed it on our server, the documentation hints at a swift process to set it up on your server.

It supports automation tools like Ansible, Kubernetes, etc and also gives you the option to deploy it as a docker container directly.

You will find plenty of administrative options to tweak the experience on your instance of Rocket.Chat. It is easy to customize many things even if you are not an expert at self-managed projects.

Personally, I appreciate the ability to customize the theme (it is easy to add a dark mode toggle as well). You get all the essential options available on smartphone as well. Overall, it is indeed an exciting switch from Slack and it should be a similar experience for most of you.

What do you think about Rocket.Chat? Do you prefer something else over Rocket.Chat? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Font Manager: A Simple Open-Source App for GTK+ Desktop

Brief: A dead simple font manager app that lets you focus on tweaking the fonts on your Linux system.

If you are an experienced Linux user, you might be utilizing the terminal or the tweak tool to manage fonts on your Linux system.

Honestly, no matter how useful the GNOME tweak tool is — it could be a little too overwhelming just to manage fonts. So, a separate application would be perfectly fine to help you manage fonts.

Font Manager: An Open-Source App To Help Manage Fonts

Font Manager (that’s literally the name of the app) is a dedicated application to help you manage the fonts.

You get the details of the font family, variations available, and the ability to filter and tweak based on their height, width, spacing, and more. Considering it is a simple app, you do not find a bunch of features but I’ll briefly highlight a few things below.

Features of Font Manager

• Ability to add fonts
• Ability to remove fonts
• Easily filter fonts based on family, vendor, spacing, height, etc
• Tweak the scaling factor of fonts
• Adjust the anti-aliasing (softness/sharpness) of the font
• Add font sources to preview them before installing it
• Offers keyboard shortcuts to quickly manage things
• Google fonts integration available out-of-the-box
• Get detailed information on characters available in the family font, license, size of the font, vendor, file type, spacing, width, and style

Overall, you can easily install or remove fonts. But, you get quite a few perks while managing the fonts as shown in the screenshot above.

Installing Font Manager on Linux

You get a variety of options (depending on the Linux distro you use) for installation.

If you have an Ubuntu-based distro, you can easily add the PPA through the commands below to install font manager:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:font-manager/staging
sudo apt update
sudo apt install font-manager

In case you’re not a fan of PPAs (which is how I prefer to install this), you can also install a Flatpak package available on any Linux distribution.

You just need to enable Flatpak on your Linux system and then search for it on your software center (if it supports Flatpak integration) or just type in the following command to install it:

flatpak install flathub org.gnome.FontManager

In case you’re an Arch user, you can find the package in the AUR.

For further installation instructions, you might want to refer its official website and the GitHub page.

Download Font Manager

Wrapping Up

Font Manager is a simple solution for any GTK+ based desktop environment. Primarily for GNOME but you can also utilize it for other desktop environments as well.

You get a lot of useful information while being able to add or remove fonts and it is clearly a no-nonsense font manager, I think.

What do you think about Font Manager? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Troubleshooting “No Bootable Medium Found” Error in VirtualBox

Many VirtualBox users have experienced at least once the message ‘FATAL: Could not read from the boot medium! System halted.‘ Sometimes it is also shown ‘No Bootable Medium Found! System halted‘.

This error is more common when trying to start a new virtual machine, but it is not impossible to happen at an existing virtual machine if the virtual hard drive is missing.

Note: This problem has to do purely with VirtualBox, and can be experienced on any host operating system be it Windows, Mac OS or Linux.

What causes this “Could not read from the boot medium” error?

There are two main reasons behind this issue:

• VirtualBox doesn’t point to an operating system, either a mounted iso or a virtual hard disk with a bootable OS. When you create a virtual machine for a first time, you need to mount a bootable iso like Ubuntu. If you mount a bootable iso before you start your virtual machine, you will be successful booting up the system.
• The CD/ DVD storage device controller is configured as SATA. Another issue can be appeared, if you mount accidentally the bootable iso to a SATA storage device controller instead of IDE. VirtualBox works without any problems when a SATA storage device points to a virtual hard drive, but this is not the case for a bootable iso.

How to solve it?

If you are not sure which of the 2 reasons apply to you, I can show you a solution that covers both, and finally stop receiving the error message.

Step 1: Right click on the virtual machine that isn’t a bootable state and click on settings.

Step 2: Once the settings menu is open, follow the steps access storage > Controller:IDE > Choose the bootable iso and click ok.

Step 3: Start your virtual machine and you should be able to boot normally from the mounted iso.

Conclusion

VirtualBox boot issue is very common, and easy to fix but can be frustrating if you don’t know what to do. If you are a regular reader of It’s FOSS, you know already that virtualization technology is among my interests. If you discovered us recently and you are curious to start exploring the features of VirtualBox, I suggest to start experimenting with this guide that covers Fedora installation on VirtualBox, as you can go beyond a simple installation.

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How to Install RPM Files on Fedora Linux [Beginner’s Tutorial]

This beginner article explains how to install RPM packages on Fedora and Red Hat Linux. It also shows you how to remove those RPM packages afterwards.

When you start using Fedora Linux in the Red Hat domain, sooner or later, you’ll come across .rpm files. Like .exe files in Windows and .deb files in Ubuntu and Debian, .rpm files enable you to quickly install a software from it on Fedora.

You could find and install plenty of software from the software center, specially if you enable additional repositories in Fedora. But sometimes you’ll find software available on their website in RPM format.

Like .exe files in Windows, you download the .rpm file and double click on it to install it. Don’t worry, I’ll show you the detailed steps.

Installing RPM files on Fedora and Red Hat Linux

I’ll be showing you three ways to install RPM files:

• Install RPM files with software center (GUI method)
• Install RPM files using DNF command (CLI method)
• Install RPM files using Yum command (CLI method for Red Hat)

Method 1: Use software center

The simplest method is to use the default software center in Fedora. It’s really simple. Go to the folder where you downloaded the .rpm file. It is usually the Downloads folder.

Just double click on the RPM file and it will be opened in the software center.

Alternatively, you can right click on the file and choose to install it via Software Center.

Either double click or right click and choose Software Install

When it is opened in the software center, you should see the installation option. Just hit the install button and enter your account’s password when prompted for it.

Install RPM via Fedora Software Center

It’s easy, right?

Method 2: Use DNF command to install RPM file

This is the command line method. Fedora uses the new DNF package manager and you can use it to install downloaded RPM files as well.

Open a terminal and switch to the directory where you have the RPM file downloaded. You can also provide the path to the RPM file. Use the DNF command like this:

sudo dnf install rpm_file_name

Here’s a screenshot where I installed Google Chrome on Fedora with dnf command:

Installing RPM files using DNF command

Method 3: Install RPM files in Red Hat using Yum command

Unlike Fedora, Red Hat still uses the good old Yum package manager. You won’t find the DNF command here, yet.

The process is the same as DNF command. You go to the directory where the RPM file is located or provide its path.

sudo yum install path_to_RPM_file

That’s it. Nothing fancier.

How to remove RPM packages

Removing a RPM package isn’t a big deal either. And no, you don’t need the original rpm file that you used to install the program.

You may find the installed package in the software center and remove application from there.

Removing RPM Package

Alternatively, you can use the DNF or YUM command with remove option.

With DNF, use this command:

sudo dnf remove rpm_package_name

With Yum, use this command:

sudo yum remove rpm_package_name

You probably won’t remember the exact package name and that’s fine. What you can do is to type the first few letters of the package and then hit tab. This is assuming that you have tab completion enabled which usually is.

Ad that’s all you need to do here. Pretty simple, right? Being a beginner, you may struggle with a simple task like this and I hope you feel more confident with Fedora thanks to quick tutorials like this.

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Radicle: An Open-Source Decentralized App for Code Collaboration [P2P GitHub Alternative]

Brief: Radicle is an open-source project that aims to facilitate peer-to-peer code collaboration without depending on a centralized server. In other words, it’s a P2P alternative to GitHub.

Most of the open-source projects that we talk about are usually hosted at GitHub or other GitHub alternatives like GitLab. Even though you get many benefits and features from such platforms (not to mention the potential exposure), there are also downsides of using it.

For instance, youtube-dl project was taken down by Microsoft to comply with a DMCA request.

With a centralized approach, you do not have a lot of control and privacy. Of course, this may not be a big deal for many folks but if you are someone who does not want centralized servers, want to have peer-to-peer code collaboration feature, and something that works offline, Radicle will be a good tool for them.

Radicle: A Peer-to-Peer Code Collaboration Platform

Radicle is an open-source project that aims to provide a decentralized app for code collaboration. You can connect peer-to-peer if you need to share the project and work along with someone else.

It is still something in beta but it is definitely worth looking at. I did some quick tests without our team to see if the basic features to share the project works or not.

But, before you try it out, let me highlight the important features that you get with Radicle and what you can expect from it in the near future.

Features of Radicle

• Ability to add multiple remote peers
• Manage multiple peers
• Feature to follow a project from a specific peer
• Share your project using a unique ID
• Does not depend on central servers
• No censorship
• One network interconnected with peers
• Ability to work offline
• Local issues & patches
• Built on Git to make it easy and comfortable for most developers
• Your infrastructure
• Ability to receive funding from your supporters (Ethereum)
• Manage codebases together

Expect more features for bug reporting and code review in the near future considering that it is still in early development.

Recommended Read:

Meet LBRY, A Blockchain-based Decentralized Alternative to YouTube

LBRY is a new Blockchain-based, open source platform for sharing digital content. It is gaining popularity as a decentralized alternative to YouTube but LBRY is more than just a video sharing service.

Installing Radicle on Linux

It provides an AppImage for Linux distributions. So, no matter whether you have an Ubuntu-based system or an Arch system, you can easily use it on your Linux system. In case you do not know, please refer to our guide on using AppImage in Linux to get started quickly.

Download Radicle

Thoughts on Using Radicle

If you are familiar with Git version control system, using this should be a breeze. I just did some basic testing where I created a test repository and shared it with my teammate.

It works quite well. But, you need to configure Git with your name and email address before you get started.

Of course, you will need the terminal to configure and use the git version control, but the GUI is easy to use and understand. It is easy to manage remotes, copy the unique ID to share the project, and you can explore more when you try to use it for your projects.

I’d advise you to experiment with it and go through the documentation, official site, along with their GitHub page before trying it out for an important project.

What do you think about Radicle? Even though it is in BETA phase, do you think it will gain traction and be something popular among the open-source developers?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Here are the Worthy Replacements of CentOS 8 for Your Production Linux Servers

CentOS is one of the most popular server distributions in the world. It is an open source fork of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and provides the goodness of RHEL without the cost associated with RHEL.

However, things have changed recently. Red Hat is converting a stable CentOS to a rolling release model in the form of CentOS Stream. CentOS 8 was supposed to be supported till 2029 but it is now forced discontinued by the end of 2021.

If you are using CentOS for your servers, it may make you wonder where to go from here.

See, the first and foremost choice for replacing CentOS 8 is CentOS Stream. The process to upgrade CentOS 8 to CentOS Stream is simple and you don’t have to worry about reinstalling anything here.

However, since CentOS Stream is of rolling release nature, you may want to consider something that is more stable for a production server. I’ll help you with that decision by suggestion some recommendations in this article.

RHEL-based server Linux distributions you may want to consider for replacing CentOS

I’ll start the list with some of the RHEL forks that are being developed with the sole purpose of replacing CentOS 8. After that, I’ll list the server distributions that you may use right away.

Rocky Linux (under development)

The same day Red Hat announced its plans to replace stable CentOS 8 with rolling release CentOS Stream, the original developer of CentOS announced a new project to provide RHEL fork to CentOS users.

This new project is called Rocky Linux. It is named in the memory of one of the co-creators of the original CentOS project. It’s been forked from RHEL 8 and aims to be “100% bug-for-bug compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux”.

The project is under rapid development and may not be usable at the moment. But this is one of the top choices to replace CentOS 8 when the support ends by the end of 2021.

Project Lenix (under development)

This is another RHEL fork created on a day after the announcement of CentOS Stream becoming the default.

Project Lenix is being created by CloudLinux, an enterprise oriented service that has been providing customized CentOS server for several years now. Cosnidering their years of experience with CentOS and enterprise servers, Project Lenix should be a promising RHEL fork to replace CentOS Stream.

Oracle Linux

Probably the only RHEL fork in this list that is read to use in the best possible manner. Not only ready to use, you can even migrate from existing CentOS install to Oracle Linux without reinstalling it.

Oracle Linux has been available since 2006. It is 00% application binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and it provides an equivalent to each RHEL release. And no, you don’t need to sign any agreement with Oracle for using Oracle Linux.

Oracle Linux comes with two choices of Linux kernels: the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) for Oracle Linux or the Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK).

It’s just that track record of Oracle is not very good with open source projects and probably this is the reason why a true community fork in the form of CentOS was preferred over Oracle Linux. With CentOS being replaced with CentOS Stream, perhaps it is the right time to give Oracle a chance?

ClearOS (from HP)

ClearOS is offered by HP on its HPE ProLiant servers. Though it is not clearly mentioned on their website, ClearOS is based on RHEL and CentOS.

Clear Center and HPE have partnered on this project. The open source ClearOS available for free to the community. They have their own app marketplace with a mix of free and paid applications. You don’t pay for the OS but you may have to pay for the apps, if you opt for a paid one.

It might not be that popular but with CentOS Stream becoming default, ClearOS stands to gain some user base, if HP plays its cards right. Will they do it? I am not so sure. Oracle is trying to lure CentOS users but I have seen no such efforts from HP.

Springdale Linux (academic project from Princeton University)

A Red Hat fork maintained by academicians? That’s Scientific Linux, right? But Scientific Linux has been dead for over a year.

Springdale Linux (SDL) is another such project by Princeton University. It was previously known as PUIAS (Princeton University Institute for Advanced Study).

There is no RHEL 8 equivalent of Springdale Linux yet which gives some hint about the speed of development here.

Server distributions that are not based on Red Hat

Alright! So far, the list mentions the distributions based on Red Hat. It’s time to look at some of the server distributions that have nothing to do with RHEL but the are still a good choice for your production server.

YunoHost (Specially customized for web servers)

YunoHost is based on Debian and customized for the purpose of provide you a system for hosting your web servers.

You can use it on ARM boards like Raspberry Pi, old desktops and computers of course on virtual private servers.

YunoHost also provides a web-based admin interface (inspired by Webmin?) so that you can manage the system graphically. This is a great relief for someone who wants to host a web server but without getting too much into the command line stuff.

Debian Linux

The universal operating system provides a rock-solid server distribution. An ideal choice for those who want a stable system.

If you had invested too much time and skill in CentOS, you may find Debian slightly different, specially the package management system. Though, I believe, it should not be much of a trouble for a seasoned Linux sysadmin.

openSUSE

SUSE is one of the direct competitors of Red Hat. They have the enterprise offering in the form of SUSE Linux Enterprise. Their open source offering openSUSE is also quite popular, both as desktop and server.

openSUSE makes up a good choice for a server Linux distribution. People these days won’t understand what a relief YAST tool of SUSE brought for users in the last 90s and early 2000s. It is still a handy utility for managing the SUSE system.

openSUSE comes in two formats: the rolling release Tumbleweed and the stable point release Leap. I am guessing you are looking for stability so Leap is what you should be aiming for.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is the most popular distribution in the world, both on servers and desktops. This is the reason why this list could not have been completed without Ubuntu.

Since I have been using Ubuntu for a long time, I feel comfortable hosting my web servers on Ubuntu. But that’s just me. If you are coming from the RHEL domain, package management is different here along with a few networking and management components.

Ubuntu LTS version come with five years of support which is half of what a CentOS release provided. You may opt for a paid extended support for an outdated LTS version if you don’t want to upgrade versions.

What’s your choice?

I have listed some of the top recommendations for RHEL based distributions as well as for generic server distributions.

Now it’s your turn. Which of the above listed distributions you liked the most? Do you have any other suggestions to add to this list? The comment section is all yours.

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Garuda Linux Provides a Hassle-free Arch Experience With a Beautiful Neon Look [Review with Video]

Many Arch-based Linux distributions have mushroomed lately. I am pretty much satisfied with Manjaro and Arch Linux, so I couldn’t care less until I came across Garuda Linux. This beautiful Linux distribution shows some promises.

Garuda Linux is fairly new to the Linux world and is aiming to provide the greatest performance, offering all the modern and attractive features. Even though you can choose various desktop environments, it is clear that their flagship desktop is a heavily customized KDE Plasma with a dark, neon look. Cyberpunk, anyone?

Its Ultimate edition is optimized for gaming, and the recently introduced Dragonized (Dr460nized) version is aesthetically “lavish”.

Arch Linux installation can be a milestone for many Linux users, let alone to optimize your system at the level that Garuda Linux offers behind the convenience of Calamares installer.

As I like a more traditional desktop, I started to test the MATE version of Garuda Linux, but I ended up taking the screenshots to the beautiful Dragonized edition.

Garuda Linux Review: Beauty and the Arch

We made a video showing Garuda Linux in action. The video is not a review but it highlights the main features of Garuda Linux KDE edition.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Linux videos

Now, let me my experience with Garuda Linux. There are so many desktop environment options available with Garuda Linux:

• KDE Plasma
• Xfce
• GNOME
• Cinnamon
• LXQt
• MATE
• Deepin
• UKUI
• Wayfire
• BSPWM
• i3WM

I settled with MATE and KDE Plasma for my testing. I am including KDE screenshots because that’s the one which looks the most beautiful of them all, in my opinion.

Easy installation with Calamares installer

Though I encourage everyone to install Arch Linux the “traditional” way as part of their learning process, I can understand that this task is time-consuming and intimidating to some users. Like the most popular Arch-based distribution Manjaro, Garuda Linux is up and running within a few clicks, thanks to Calamares installer.

Garuda Installer

B-tree file system (BTRFS)

“Better F S” as I prefer to pronounce it, might not be used by default to the majority of Linux distributions. It is more than a decade old and considered stable although. It was introduced to address a number of lacking features of the Linux file system like snapshots and checksums.

Garuda Linux comes with BTRFS as the default filesystem.

Automatic snapshots accessible from GRUB

Garuda Linux is a bleeding edge rolling release and less tested software might break your system after an upgrade. Timeshift backs up the system automatically before each update, and you can access the latest 5 snapshots of your system directly from the GRUB. Now that’s something cool, right?

Garuda Snapshots

Pamac package manager

Inherited from Manjaro, graphical package manager Pamac is a great alternative to command line package manager pacman. Support for the AUR is enabled by default, and you have also the option to enable Snap and Flatpak support.

Garuda Pamac

Garuda Assistant to easily access admin settings

Garuda Assistant is a graphical interface that makes the operating system’s administrative tasks, a simple point and click process. In the example below, you can see how easy is to enable the systemd services.

Garuda Assistant

You can also use it to update your system, clear logs, remove database lock, refresh mirrorlists and edit repositories. It’s handy tool for those who don’t want to go into terminal.

Garuda settings manager

Manjaro Linux users will have a deja vu once they open Garuda Settings Manager, as it is identical to Manjaro Settings Manager. Though Arch wiki offers a solution to every problem, the convenience of selecting a different kernel or the proprietary Nvidia driver through Garuda settings manager is second to none.

Garuda Settings Manager

Garuda Gamer – GUI for curated gaming packages

Arch Linux is a distribution that made me to stop distrohopping but when it comes to gaming on Linux, my suggestion to a new Linux user is Pop OS. The package selection of the Garuda Gamer GUI can make the Linux gamers to chuckle when they open it.

Garuda Gamer

Trivia

In Hindu mythology, Garuda is the king of birds and vehicle mount of Vishnu, one of the principal Hindu Gods. Garuda is a cultural symbol in India, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia.

Now, you can understand why Garuda Linux uses a Hawk/Eagle-kind of bird for its logo and mascot.

Conclusion

Garuda Linux is one of the Linux distributions that represents a real passion from the developers side, and this can be observed from the amazing selection of tools, features and configurations.

The focus on providing GUI applications for most common tasks makes Garuda Linux an ideal choice for users who want to try Arch Linux but not comfortable using terminal all the time.

With only one extra repository on top of Arch Linux repos, it is very close to pure Arch. I have to admit that I was amazed by Garuda Linux, and definitely extend my testing period to unravel every hidden spot.

Have you experienced Garuda Linux? How’s your experience with it? If not, after reading this Garuda Linux review, will you be willing to give it a try?

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