Rabu, 11 Juni 2025

FOSS Weekly #25.24: Nano Tips, Wayland-only Ubuntu, End of Mint 20 and 13 Years of It's FOSS

FOSS Weekly #25.24: Nano Tips, Wayland-only Ubuntu, End of Mint 20 and 13 Years of It's FOSS

It's FOSS is turning 13 this week!

It was created on 14th June, 2012 as a personal notebook where I shared my Linux discoveries. I didn't know that it will become a force to reckon with, a place to look up to for suggestions and advice on using Linux.

In the 13 years, it's been viewed over 200 million times and formed a community of hundreds of thousands of Linux lovers from all parts of the world, with the US, Germany, Russia, UK and India taking the top 5 spots.

I would like this opportunity to express my gratitude to all of you for your continued support 🙏 We shall continue to grow together and help the growth of the Linux community and open source software movement 💪

As a token of appreciation, I would like to unveil the new It's FOSS Plus website. This portal organizes the existing resources from the main website into course format which can be enjoyed by our paid members. Thank you for supporting us.

To celebrate 13 years of It's FOSS, I have brought back the lifetime membership option with reduced pricing of $76 instead of the usual $99. If you ever wanted to support us with Plus membership but didn't like the recurring subscription, this is your chance 😃

Get It's FOSS Lifetime Membership

💬 Let's see what else you get in this edition

  • Ubuntu ditching Xorg.
  • Linux Mint 20.x reaching EOL.
  • Nano editor tips.
  • Tower cases for your Raspberry Pi.
  • And other Linux news, tips, and, of course, memes!

📰 Linux and Open Source News

Linux Mint 20.x has reached end of life. Here's what you can do about it.

Attention! Linux Mint 20 Has Reached Its End
It’s time to upgrade! Linux Mint 20.x has reached end of life.
FOSS Weekly #25.24: Nano Tips, Wayland-only Ubuntu, End of Mint 20 and 13 Years of It's FOSS

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

Big Tech doesn't like self-hosting and media server content. Heck, even posting about it on social media results in post removal.

Self-Hosting and Media Servers are Big Tech’s Next Target
YouTube is actively silencing legitimate self-hosting content. They don’t want you to own your data?
FOSS Weekly #25.24: Nano Tips, Wayland-only Ubuntu, End of Mint 20 and 13 Years of It's FOSS

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials and More

Explore the not-so-known features of the magnificent Nano editor.

10 Tips to Get More Out of Nano Editor
Learn and use these tips and tricks to utilize lesser known Nano editor features.
FOSS Weekly #25.24: Nano Tips, Wayland-only Ubuntu, End of Mint 20 and 13 Years of It's FOSS

Desktop Linux is mostly neglected by the industry but loved by the community. For the past 12 years, It's FOSS has been helping people use Linux on their personal computers. And we are now facing the existential threat from AI models stealing our content.

If you like what we do and would love to support our work, please become It's FOSS Plus member. It costs $24 a year (less than the cost of a burger meal each month) and you get an ad-free reading experience with the satisfaction of helping the desktop Linux community.

Join It's FOSS Plus

👷 Homelab and Maker's Corner

Level up your Raspberry Pi 5 with a gaming tower case.

Raspberry Pi 5 Tower Cases to Give it Desktop Gaming Rig Look
Pi 5 is a remarkable device and it deserves an awesome case. Transform your Raspberry Pi 5 into a miniature desktop tower PC with these cases.
FOSS Weekly #25.24: Nano Tips, Wayland-only Ubuntu, End of Mint 20 and 13 Years of It's FOSS

If that doesn't interest you, how about an open source accessible keyboard that you can build.

✨ Project Highlight

Packet is a Quick Share client for Linux that facilitates wireless file transfers from Android devices.

GitHub - nozwock/packet: Quick Share client for Linux
Quick Share client for Linux. Contribute to nozwock/packet development by creating an account on GitHub.
FOSS Weekly #25.24: Nano Tips, Wayland-only Ubuntu, End of Mint 20 and 13 Years of It's FOSS

📽️ Videos I am Creating for You

Like the terminal customization video, I made another detailed one about transforming the looks of Linux Mint.

🧩 Quiz Time

Arch users, can you beat the Pacman Command Quiz?

Pacman Command Quiz
BTW, do you use Arch Linux? If yes, can you answer all these questions correctly?
FOSS Weekly #25.24: Nano Tips, Wayland-only Ubuntu, End of Mint 20 and 13 Years of It's FOSS

💡 Quick Handy Tip

In the Dolphin file manager, you can open a folder while dragging a file to it. This is helpful if you want to drag and drop a file into a nested folder arrangement. To enable this, click on the Top-right Hamburger menu ⇾ Configure ⇾ Configure Dolphin.

Here, go to the View section, select the General tab and toggle the Open folders during drag operations checkbox.

Now, you can open a folder by dragging files and hovering them over it.

🤣 Meme of the Week

An unbreakable bond! 🫂

FOSS Weekly #25.24: Nano Tips, Wayland-only Ubuntu, End of Mint 20 and 13 Years of It's FOSS

🗓️ Tech Trivia

On June 10, 1977, Apple began shipping the Apple II, a home computer that quickly became a hit, especially in schools, thanks to its user-friendly design and color graphics.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 FOSSverse Corner

Pro FOSSer Neville, is wondering whether ChatGPT has access to books?

How does ChatGPT access books?
I have not tried this, but there is a suggestion here that ChatGPT can reproduce material from a copyrighted book. Books were definitely included in their information intake, but I wonder how far they went. I bet they did not access older books that are only available in libraries or collections. If that is so, their information is biased toward modern material. There was a Google project many years ago to photocopy every book and make them freely available online. They were stopped by…
FOSS Weekly #25.24: Nano Tips, Wayland-only Ubuntu, End of Mint 20 and 13 Years of It's FOSS

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Please share it with your Linux-using friends and encourage them to subscribe (hint: it's here).

Share the articles in Linux Subreddits and community forums.

Follow us on Google News and stay updated in your News feed.

Opt for It's FOSS Plus membership and support us 🙏

Enjoy FOSS 😄



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Sabtu, 07 Juni 2025

Transform Your Raspberry Pi 5 Into Miniature Desktop Gaming Rig With These Tower Cases

Transform Your Raspberry Pi 5 Into Miniature Desktop Gaming Rig With These Tower Cases

The bare Raspberry Pi board has a different appeal but I prefer keeping my Pis under cover, in protective cases.

Now, there are tons of interesting cases available. You can also build your own with a 3D printer.

The official Raspberry Pi 5 case and other small box design cases are okay for protection and they don't cost much.

Transform Your Raspberry Pi 5 Into Miniature Desktop Gaming Rig With These Tower Cases
Raspberry Pi 5 official case beside Pironman 5

However, lately, I have been fascinated with the tower cases. With the semi-transparent design and RGB lightings, they look dope. Like those customized gaming rigs people spend hundreds of dollars on.

Thankfully, the Raspberry Pi is a small device so their tower cases are also not that expensive.

Let me share a few of such beautiful mini tower PC like protective cases you can get for your Raspberry Pi 5 in the buyer's guide.

Pironman 5: Full mini PC experience

Transform Your Raspberry Pi 5 Into Miniature Desktop Gaming Rig With These Tower Cases

Pironman 5 is the ultimate case that got me into the tower PC fetish. It's my prized Pi accessory, beautifully sitting there on my secondary work desk.

The Pironman 5 case transforms your Raspberry Pi 5 into a sleek aluminum mini-tower with advanced cooling, NVMe M.2 SSD support, customizable RGB lighting, dual standard HDMI ports, and a secure power switch.

Yes, you read that right. It upgrades your Pi 5's mini HDMI ports into full HDMI ports and also allows you to use NVMe M.2 SSD. Do check the list of supported SSDs.

Key Features:

  • Adds a NVMe M.2 slot for SSD
  • Tower cooler
  • Dual RGB fans with dust filters
  • 0.96" OLED display showing real-time system metrics
  • Safe shutdown functionality and IR receiver
  • Dual full-size HDMI ports and external GPIO access
  • Active support and community
  • US duties and EU VAT included in the pricing

💸 Price: $79.99

Tom's Hardware found it could handle overclocked Pi 5s at 3GHz while maintaining excellent temperatures. I didn't do such extensive testing but you can still read my full experience of Pironman 5 in the review I did earlier.

Pironman 5 Review: Best Raspberry Pi 5 Case You Can get
It’s a cooling case with RGB lighting but it turns your Raspberry Pi into a mini PC.
Transform Your Raspberry Pi 5 Into Miniature Desktop Gaming Rig With These Tower Cases

Pironman 5 Max: NAS/AI option

Transform Your Raspberry Pi 5 Into Miniature Desktop Gaming Rig With These Tower Cases

Pironman 5 Max is a slight upgrade to the previous entry. What's different here? Well, it primarily adds an additional NVMe M.2 slot so that you can use it as NAS RAID 0/1 setup or add Hailo-8L AI accelerator.

There might be a few small differences, like the OLED screen has the tap to wake feature, but the main difference is that Pironman 5 Max has an additional NVMe slot. Oh, the black design gives it a more badass look.

Key Features:

  • Dual expandable NVMe M.2 slots with RAID 0/1 support
  • AI accelerator compatibility (e.g., Hailo-8L) for advanced edge AI applications
  • Smart OLED display with vibration wake-up and tap-to-wake functionality
  • Advanced cooling with tower cooler and dual RGB fans
  • Sleeker black aluminum chassis with semi-transparent panels
  • Dual full-size HDMI ports and external GPIO access
  • Active support and community
  • Safe shutdown functionality and IR receiver

💸 Price: $94.99 (Early bird: $71.24 for first 500 units)

Clearly, it is suitable for NAS builds, AI edge computing, and Home Assistant hubs.

💡 And at the moment, the pre-order discount makes it cheaper than its predecessor. Grab it before the pricing goes back to normal.

GeeekPi Tower Kit: Classic Pi plus M.2 NVMe

Transform Your Raspberry Pi 5 Into Miniature Desktop Gaming Rig With These Tower Cases

The GeeekPi Tower kit comes into two variants: with and without N07 M.2 NVMe SSD PCIe peripheral.

The design is not a lot different from Pironman cases, at least from the outside. But here, you DO NOT get full HDMI slots. You access the usual Pi 5 ports. That makes it cheaper than Pironman cases.

You have one Ice tower cooler with RGB lights to keep the Pi cool.

Key Features:

  • ICE Tower Cooler with LED fan for effective temperature control
  • 0.96" OLED screen for displaying system status information
  • Two acrylic panels offering clear view of internal components
  • N07 M.2 NVMe support in the upgraded model
  • RGB lighting that cycles through colors
  • Regular Pi 5 ports, no full HDMI slots

💸 Price: $49 for the basic model

Yahboom CUBE Pi: Boxed Tower

Transform Your Raspberry Pi 5 Into Miniature Desktop Gaming Rig With These Tower Cases

Ignore the quirky Yahboom brand name ;)

The CUBE Pi features a boxy aluminum alloy construction with 270° panoramic view that clearly displays internal components.

There is only one fan with blue light at the top but it has ducts at top and bottom for better ventilation. The top is covered by a magnetic mesh.

You also get programmable RGB lighting to add the oomph factor. The mini-HDMI ports are converted into full HDMI, so that's a good thing.

There is an OLED display to show you the system stats hidden inside the case instead of being on the exterior.

The case has enough space for adding an active radiator or M.2 SSD, you have to make those purchases separately.

Key Features:

  • Metal chassis with three highly transparent acrylic side plates offering 270° panoramic view
  • Blue light cooling fan with dual cooling ducts
  • Full HDMI ports
  • Dust-proof magnetic nets to effectively block dust intrusion
  • RGB lighting
  • OLED display inside the case
  • Scope for NVMe M.2 SSD slot (sold separately)

💸 Price: ~$49

ElectroCookie: The Minimalist Champion

Transform Your Raspberry Pi 5 Into Miniature Desktop Gaming Rig With These Tower Cases

Sometimes less is more. ElectroCookie's aluminum mini tower combines a large heat dissipation structure with an RGB-lit PWM fan that automatically adjusts speed based on CPU temperature.

There is scope for the NVMe SSD HAT but you have to purchase it separately. There is a separate model that comes with the HAT.

And that's it. It's just a case and doesn't add extra ports or slots to it. There is no OLED display, either.

However, the case comes in five different colors to choose from. Now that's something, right?

Key Features:

  • Large active cooler with RGB PWM fan
  • Compatible M.2 HAT NVMe SSD support (sold separately)
  • Easy access to GPIO pins, SD card slot, and all ports
  • Soft-touch power button
  • Available in silver, black, red, blue and pink colors0-40 (M.2 HAT sold separately)

Price: ~$32

Which one to choose?

Pick Pironman 5 if you want the complete package with professional features and don't mind paying premium pricing.

Pick Pironman 5 Max if you need extra storage slot for a NAS or AI options to an overall mini PC build and don't mind the price tag.

GeeekPi if you want a cool looking mini tower PC with focus on tower cooling and not focused on additional slots.

Pick Yahboom if you don't necessarily want extra features but agree to pay a premium price for just a beautiful RGB lit tower case.

Pick ElectroCookie if you want a tower case in your choice of color and don't need fancy features to keep the pricing in check.

All these cases transform your Pi 5 from exposed board to desktop-class computer. Well, a miniature desktop computer.

The cooling performance across all options is pretty good - you cannot function a Raspberry Pi as a desktop computer without proper thermal management.

I am a fan of the Pironman cases. They are on the expensive side when compared to the rest but they also provide more features than the rest of the lot.



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Rabu, 04 Juni 2025

FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

There is some interesting news from this month's desktop Linux market share update.

Linux has reached an all-time high market share of 2.69% in the latest Steam Survey. Also, CachyOS has found itself a spot in Linux-specific desktop market share in Steam Survey.

FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

💬 Let's see what else you get in this edition

  • Ubuntu keyboard shortcuts.
  • The World Bank open sourcing a tool.
  • Swiss privacy debacle.
  • Obsidian plugins suggestion.
  • And other Linux news, tips, and, of course, memes!
  • This edition of FOSS Weekly is supported by ANY.RUN.

🌟 OtterCookie: New Malware from North Korea Targets Tech and Finance Professionals

Lazarus Group is currently distributing a stealer malware in fake job offer attacks. Here's how it goes:

  • Lure via LinkedIn: Attackers offer freelance work to fix a minor DApp bug.
  • Triggered Failure: An intentional app error fetches and executes malicious code from external API
  • Malware Execution: OtterCookie infects the system, stealing victims' browser data and crypto wallets.

Read detailed analysis on ANY.RUN's blog.

OtterCookie: Analysis of New Lazarus Group Malware
Explore in-depth technical analysis of OtterCookie, a new North Korean Lazarus APT malware that steals victims’ crypto and credentials.
FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

📰 Linux and Open Source News

Arch Linux is working on a way to handle sponsorships.

Sponsorships Seem to Be Coming to Arch Linux!
A proposal looks to introduce a transparent sponsorship process to Arch Linux.
FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

Switzerland is going down a very dystopian path. I hope the law doesn't pass.

No More Safe Haven for Privacy? Switzerland Drifts Toward a Surveillance State Due to New Controversial Laws
Proposed privacy law changes, if passed in parliament, threaten Switzerland’s reputation as a privacy haven.
FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials and More

I Installed macOS on Linux in a VM (for fun sake)
Installing macOS as a virtual machine in a Linux system? Well, let’s do it for the sake of some ‘virtual fun’
FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

Desktop Linux is mostly neglected by the industry but loved by the community. For the past 12 years, It's FOSS has been helping people use Linux on their personal computers. And we are now facing the existential threat from AI models stealing our content.

If you like what we do and would love to support our work, please become It's FOSS Plus member. It costs $24 a year (less than the cost of a burger meal each month) and you get an ad-free reading experience with the satisfaction of helping the desktop Linux community.

Join It's FOSS Plus

👷 Homelab and Maker's Corner

Looks like a cyberdeck. Works like a classroom. The CrowPi 3 surprised me with its versatility.

CrowPi 3: An All-in-one AI Learning Kit With Cyberdeck Feel
A Swiss Army knife for coding education as this kit transforms the programming concepts into tangible experiences. Learn from more than a hundred interactive projects.
FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

✨ Project Highlight

Markdown meets the power of LaTeX in this modern typesetting system with Quarkdown.

GitHub - iamgio/quarkdown: 🪐 Markdown with superpowers — from ideas to presentations, articles and books.
🪐 Markdown with superpowers — from ideas to presentations, articles and books. - iamgio/quarkdown
FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

Helwan Linux is a distro out of Egypt that feels quite nice.

Helwan Linux: A Made-in-Egypt Linux Distribution
Check out what this distro out of Egypt has to offer.
FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

📽️ Videos I am Creating for You

Essential Ubuntu keyboard shortcuts in action in this week's video.

🧩 Quiz Time

This time, we have a puzzle for deciphering scrambled application names.

Decipher The Scrambled Words
Can you guess the scrambled words? Give it a try!
FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

💡 Quick Handy Tip

In VirtualBox, you can send keyboard shortcuts like CTRL+ALT+DEL to logout, and a bunch of other keyboard shortcuts to the guest (the virtual machine), without affecting the host (your computer).

FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

To send CTRL+ALT+DEL, use Host+Delete. The Host key is usually the Right CTRL key on a keyboard. In the top menu, go to Input ⇾ Keyboard → Keyboard Settings to view and customize additional keyboard shortcuts for interacting with the virtual machine.

FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

If you need more input options, you can use the Input ⇾ Keyboard → Soft Keyboard menu to open a virtual keyboard for the guest VM.

🤣 Meme of the Week

Linux users, together, strong! 🤜🤛

FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

🗓️ Tech Trivia

Before Spotify or iTunes, there was Napster. Launched on June 1, 1999, by 18-year-old Shawn Fanning, who built it in his college dorm room, Napster quickly attracted over 20 million users (and viruses).

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 FOSSverse Corner

One of our regular FOSSers, Laura, is looking to compare notes on building Linux and open source software from source.

Building Linux and FLOSS programs from source code
Starting a thread on discussion of building parts of Linux, LFS and various packages from source code. This is a spot to compare notes on building from source. We can also discuss pros and cons of various packages/projects to figure out which might be most useful to build from source and which might have less dependencies.
FOSS Weekly #25.23: Helwan Linux, Quarkdown, Konsole Tweaks, Keyboard Shortcuts and More Linux Stuff

❤️ With love

Please share it with your Linux-using friends and encourage them to subscribe (hint: it's here).

Share the articles in Linux Subreddits and community forums.

Follow us on Google News and stay updated in your News feed.

Opt for It's FOSS Plus membership and support us 🙏

Enjoy FOSS 😄



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