Lmst

FOSS NEWS

Foss FEST 2025 takes place in 21-22 February, on multiple locations worldwide, for university student, who can compete on building solutions for given projects, and have Masterclasses in different topics:
https://os-sci.com/event/foss-fest-2025-international-hackathon-14/register

GIMP 3.0 RC2 released with bug fixes, new public filter API, initial AppImage version, improved Darktable integration:
https://alternativeto.net/news/2024/12/gimp-3-0-rc2-released-with-bug-fixes-new-public-filter-api-initial-appimage-and-more/

LineageOS 22.1 released with Android 15 base, support for more than 100 devices, latest version of SeedVault and Etar, WebView upgraded to 131.0.6778.200, enhanced extract utilities, support for virtIO targets (QEMU, crosvm, UTM), new music player and PDF reader:
https://alternativeto.net/news/2025/1/lineageos-22-1-based-on-android-15-is-now-available-for-more-than-100-devices/

New terminal emulator Ghostty saw first public release, aiming to be fast, feature-rich and platform-native while still being cross-platform:
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/12/ghostty-terminal-linux-open-source-release

Mozilla releases Orbit, a new AI assistant extension for Firefox:
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/12/orbit-by-mozilla-ai-assistant-firefox-extension
(Thanks nope, I won't install it)

IVPN acquires Safing, creators of Portmaster and SPN:
https://alternativeto.net/news/2024/12/ivpn-acquires-safing-marking-the-beginning-of-a-new-era/
(At least they aren't purchased by a shady ad company, it's the good type of acquisition like Proton - SimpleLogin, Proton - Standard Notes or Tor - Tails)

Kdenlive to get Auto Masking feature for easier background removal, already available in alpha builds:
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/12/kdenlive-automatic-object-masking-feature

Fish Shell 4.0 released, written is Rust instead of C++:
https://alternativeto.net/news/2025/1/fish-shell-4-0-drops-c--for-rust-to-simplify-development-and-enhance-performance/

(Linux news in original post)

#WeeklyNews #FOSS #OpenSource #OpenSourceNews #FOSSNews #GIMP #GIMP3 #LineageOS #Ghostty #Mozilla #Orbit #Firefox #AI #IVPN #Safing #Kdenlive #Fish #FishShell #ImageManipulation #CustomRom #Terminal #TerminalEmulator #VideoEditor #ContentCreation #VideoEditing #BackgroundRemoval #Rust #FosseryTech

Looks like the open-source application firewall Portmaster has been acquired by the VPN provider IVPN.

I have tried out Portmaster in the past, it worked quite well. It is GPL licensed and will hopefully stay that way. But in my experience, an acquisition of a widely used open-source tool usually leads to a non-foss license change down the line, let's hope that doesn't happen here... there are no indicators of that happening other than my own cynicism. But my cynicism has been well-fed over the last years by corporations acquiring and enshittifying previously open-source projects. Maybe IVPN is different, I know nothing about them.

https://safing.io/blog/2024/12/03/a-new-chapter-begins/#disabled

#portmaster #safing #firewall #foss #opensource #acquisition #gpl #ivpn

#Safing, developers of Portmaster (open-source application #firewall) and SPN (Safing Privacy Network) have been friendly acquired by #IVPN.

"This decision comes after months of collaboration and careful consideration, and we believe it will bring significant benefits to our users and the privacy community as a whole."

"...no unexpected changes:
* #Portmaster and #SPN will remain open source.
* IVPN is committed to maintaining and improving the software and services you rely on.
* IVPN has no plans to change the business model, pricing, or policies in ways that would present a disadvantage."

https://safing.io/blog/2024/12/03/a-new-chapter-begins/

#FOSS

Extra features:
- Start short from beginning with J
- Go to the next or previous frame of the video
- Set default playback rate when first opening shorts
- Auto skip short with likes below custom threshold (e.g. 500 likes)
- Auto open comment section on each short
- Hide overlay on shorts (title, channel, etc.)
- Go to the next frame or previous frame with . and , while paused
- View counter and upload date above video title

*Enhancer for YouTube™ - *take control of YouTube and boost your user experience!

Built to get the most out of YouTube, this extension comes packed with all sorts of features that allow you, among other things, to control the playback speed and the volume level with the mouse wheel, automate repetitive tasks such as selecting the appropriate playback quality, configure dozens of keyboard shortcuts to control YouTube like a pro, and much more... Give it a try! But be aware that you will never want to use YouTube without it again ;)

*Personal usage: boost volume, video effects, loop*

*Return YouTube Dislike - *returns ability to see dislikes, really hate YouTube's decision to hide them.

*SponsorBlock for YouTube* - Skip Sponsorships

Skip sponsorships, subscription begging and more on YouTube videos. Report sponsors on videos you watch to save others' time.
SponsorBlock lets you skip over sponsors, intros, outros, subscription reminders, and other annoying parts of YouTube videos. SponsorBlock is a crowdsourced browser extension that lets anyone submit the start and end times of sponsored segments and other segments of YouTube videos. Once one person submits this information, everyone else with this extension will skip right over the sponsored segment.

You can also skip over non music sections of music videos.

Supports Invidious, old YouTube and mobile YouTube.

With this extension, you will automatically skip YouTube sponsors.

*Personal usage: I skip annoying sponsors, fillers, intros, asks to subscribe or like, and intros.*

*DeArrow* - a browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube. The goal of DeArrow is to make titles accurate and reduce sensationalism.

*Personal usage and reasons: I'm tired of MrBeastification and clickbait thumbnails and titles. This extension helps me to see what videos are actually do look like, so I can decide myself whether to watch this video or not.*

*TubeMod - *TubeMod allows you to customize YouTube's UI to your preferences, by keeping you focused on what matters!

*Personal history and usage: today I discovered this extension, because YouTube recommended it to me. See the video for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf0kLSZO-wc . My own usage is that I hide everything that I don't need. Very useful, especially if you tired of your adblocker (like uBlock Origin) making weird spaces after videos, the spaces that are actually hidden ads.*

*YouTube High Definition* - this extension is powerful tool that will let you play all videos in HD and change video player size automatically.

YouTube High Definition solves a number of annoying YouTube issues.

Features

Automatically play all YouTube videos in the highest resolution possible

Specify your preferred resolution (4k, 1440p,1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p, 240p, 144p)

Change video player size

Control auto-mute volume and auto-stop video play

Supports HD play when videos are embedded in external sites like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and others

---

Well, these aren't all extensions that I have installed, but most of them.

Rest of them are either for Mastodon, either for Bluesky, or just homepage extensions. For example, I personally use Bonjourr.

I didn't gave you all extensions names, but I did shared all privacy-focused extensions and all YouTube-related extensions.

Some of these extensions are made for increasing the volume on else websites then YouTube, and some are just vertical tabs extensions, but I don't use them because I don't need them. Why?

Well, it's because it's time to share my setup, I think :-)

I use @zenbrowser as my main and @brave as secondary. I as well have @safing 's Portmaster app installed since it is privacy-focused.

So, I use personally Linux Mint, 20.3, Cinnamon as my OS.

My default search engine is Brave.

So, this is basically all it :-)

10K characters weren't enough for me, huh :-)

#mastodon #privacy #google #bluesky #firefox #zenbrowser #linux #linuxmint #youtube #safing #brave #bravesearch #bravebrowser #ublockorigin

I have been busy trying to get the folks at Port Master (Safing) to update their list.

https://github.com/safing/intel-data/issues

#PortMaster #Safing

@protonvpn my whole family uses #Chrome browser and #Google services only.

My family as well uses #Meta 's #Facebook , #Instagram and #Whatsapp and as well #Windows .

My insisting attempts to tell them how does that *insanely* violates their #privacy was mocked.

Fix: use @Vivaldi / @Waterfox with @safing 's Portmaster and SPN installed and with #uBlockOrigin . Use #Linux instead of windows.

#safing #safingio #spn

I've set up 6 #Safing #Privacy #Network nodes, 3 on my German servers, and one small vm each in Cyprus, Greece and Sweden to help diversify the SPN and improve people's privacy. Clear text traffic will not exit through these community nodes though.

@iUseLinuxBtw @fatboy The GUI does take forever and a day. Their beta testing VPN is sleeker but the CLI works the best.

Although just found #Portmaster from #safing and think I am leaving regular VPNs altogether. It's been two weeks now with Portmaster and I think I am getting the hang of it - not that it requires that much time but it is different.

@safing

@thelinuxEXP I have been watching your vids on #TILvids. Ran across your #SPN sponsor- #portmaster w/ #safing. So cool! Had no idea what SPNs were until that video and checked it out. Merci mille!

@tilvids

PS: how long have SPNs been around? How have I been missing this for so long!!!