Author: Andrew Conway

It is time for our annual list of things we really want for Christmas things we want geeks throughout the world to receive for Christmas. Partners, friends and relatives of geeks take note! TuxJam will return to its usual format for a December Christmas show.

Stocking Fillers (below £10)

• Ticket to Ride Ultimate Train set No2 (Multicolor 3D print) – Al
• Tux Pin Badge – Kevie
• Tiny 2350 – Andrew
• Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W – Dave
• Linux computer sticker – Kevie
• Wireless Retro Telephone Handset Receiver – Dave

Low price (£10-£25)

• Ransom Notes – Dave
• Shadows and Gestures by Robert Lloyd Parry – Andrew
• Battery Storage Case with Tester – Al
• NES Cartridge Drinking Flask – Kevie
• Tabletop Fire Bowl – Dave
• Sea harrier over the Falklands by Cmdr “Sharkey” Ward – Andrew

Mid range (£25-£100)

• USS Enterprise Advent Calendar – Dave
• Mini Projector – Kevie
• Electric socks – Andrew
• INIU Power Bank – Al
• Atari 3D Joystick Decanter Set – Dave
• Dune Imperium Uprising Board Game – Kevie

High End (over £100)

• Razer Anzu Smart Lenses – Kevie
• CyberAxon D3: 13-in-1 Multifunctional Stream Control Dock – Al
• Star Wars Death Star Wall Panel Light – Dave
• Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope – Andrew

WOW, you REALLY love them (£silly money)

• SmartSpa – Kevie
• The Self-Contained Hootenanny – Dave
• Lego Millennium Falcon – Andrew
• https://hyperlaps.io/en/ – Video – Al

Festive Creative Commons tracks played on this episode:

1. Flashinmusic – Deck the halls and rock
2. Softwire – Next Christmas
3. piccadillyCircus – Silent Night
4. Vince Costa – Home Before Christmas
5. Mapa – Christmas Choir

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This episode may not be live as in TuxJam 115 from Oggcamp but your friendly foursome of Al, Dave (thelovebug), Kevie and Andrew (mcnalu) are very much alive to treats of Free and Open Source Software and Creative Commons tunes.

We start, as always, with our roundup of recent releases from the watch of the distros and then move on to try out two applications.

First up, Andrew and Kevie find out how much duplicated data is clogging up their hard drives using the command line tools fdupes.

Next, at the more visual and non-command-liney end of the software spectrum, Dave and Al try out Immich (say it out loud) which is a self-hosted video and photo management solution.

Following a round of feedback we close out the show. Our next edition which will be our annual Gifts for Geeks, so rein in your reindeer until then Santa! Please do contact us if you have any comments on what we’ve said or indeed any suggested geeky gift ideas.

Come and join us to celebrate the winter solstice at our online podcrawl on Saturday 21 December 2024 at 18:00 UTC.

Creative commons tunes played in this episode are:

1. John Covert – Still 21
2. Liz Sumner – Firm Thighs
3. Donny Boi – When I Get There
4. The Moose – Let’s Get Out

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Al, Dave, Andrew and Kevie brave heat and cold and everything in between to bring you free bits and bytes and CC tunes. We start off with our usual roundup of recent releases on distrowatch.

We only have one item for review in this show: the Ultramarine distro based on Fedora. Dave and Al look at the version that runs on regular PCs whereas Kevie and Andrew try out the images provided for 64 bit Raspberry Pis.

We finish up with a brief round-up of feedback and how to contact us.

Music licensed under some kind of Creative Commons license played in this show are:

1. Eversame – warmth of your snow
2. Richard Shekari – Amazing
3. Mahidevran – Empty Ocean
4. Mystic Crock – Crossing Styx

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Don’t dial 112 but deign to digest our dalliance with Dillo and entertain our engagement with Entroware. Kevie, Dave (aka thelovebug), Andrew and Al are back with another helping of free and open source software peppered with Creative Commons musical goodness.

As ever, we begin with a nose around recent releases on distrowatch.com with a few having a distinctly ARMy aroma.

Dave and Andrew then discuss there experiences with Proteus laptops from the UK company Entroware. Andrew’s laptop was purchased earlier this year and Daves’ a couple of years ago and so the chipset revisions and specs do differ:

Andrew’s 15″ Proteus £1648.96 including shipping and VAT

• Processor: Core i7-1360P, 13th Gen 12 cores
• Memory: 64GB DDR5 4800MT/s
• Storage: 4TB PCIe NVMe SSD

Daves’s 15″ Proteus

• Processor: Core i7-1165G7, 11th Gen 4 cores
• Memory: 32GB
• Storage: 1TB SSD

Al and Kevie then take a look at venerable no-frills, and somewhat retro Dillo web browser which has had a release after almost a decade of inactivity. Note that the official Dillo website is not dillo.org at present but dillo-browser.github.io for reasons explained here.

We finish with a review of the recent Podcrawl and a round-up of feedback since the last episode.

Creative commons tracks played in this episode include:#

• Swiss Portrait – Always
• Western Jaguar – Repossess
• Dr Groove Gang – Sweet Soul Musik
• Like a Song – YONDER BREAKS 

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TuxJam’s quartet of Al, Kevie, Dave (aka thelovebug) and Andrew (aka mcnalu) return to bring you picks from the world of free and open source software peppered with creative commons tunes. And, no, we have not become slaves to AI – Artifical Intelligence – but are grateful to Al, our newest co-host, for suggesting both reviews in this show. As usual, we begin with our usual round-up from recent releases mentioned on distrowatch.com.

We then take a look at the resurrection of the venerable Damn Small Linux which first appeared back in 2005. Originally this packed a lean but functional linux distro into a mere 50MB which could be put on credit card sized CDs or USB thumb drives back then. These days such a small distro wouldn’t be as useful so the limit has been increased to 700MB. We take a look at DSL 2024RC1.

Have you ever dreamt of simulating electrical circuits using free and open source software that you don’t need to compile or even install? If you have you might want to seek professional help, but dream no more, such a thing exists in the form of circuitjs: a menu-driven, point, click and drag app that runs in your browser.

We finish up with feedback we have received. Please do leave feedback either by commenting here or using the various methods list here.

Creative commons licensed tunes played in this episode are:

• Forget The Whale – Without You
• Mahidevran – Drifter
• Weathered Pages – Don’t Give Up
• Koresma – Drift Away

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We don’t start with our usual round up from distrowatch, nor do we review anything nor conclude with feedback. We do however have tunes and a yarn with Kevie and Andrew (aka mcnalu). This is just a short show we recorded to inform listeners of the upcoming Podcrawl Jitsi at 18:00BST (17:00 UTC) on Saturday 19 August. Hope to see you there!

The creative common tune played during this show is:

Drink up me mateys by Black Bones

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TuxJam 101? Are we going back to basics? Yes! The basics being the usual creative commons tunes, free and open source software and good beer. In this show, Kevie, Dave (aka thelovebug) and Andrew (aka mcnalu) start with their usual roundup from distrowatch.com.

We take a look at Vanilla OS and, although we liked what we saw, we didn’t get to see as much as we’d like due to various technical issues which we will feed back to the developers.

Next up, we look at the beverage taste tracking app Flavordex and – purely as a service to you, dear listener – force ourselves to consume beer and whisky (with no e!) so we can enter something into the app.

We end with a roundup of feedback and note that Andrew will be attending (or have attended) FOSDEM on 4-5 Feb 2023 and co-manning the Free Culture Podcasts stand there. The next podcrawl is set for 25 March, just after the vernal equinox, in which we will raise a glass to the arrival of spring.

Creative commons licensed tunes played in this episode:

• Rude – Cold Inside
• Forget the Whale – The Little Robot
• Fallen To Flux – From The Outside Looking In
• Steep – Let Me Go

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In our first show of the new year Dave (aka thelovebug), Kevie and Andrew (aka mcnalu) start with their usual distrowatch roundup, which includes a special recommendation from friend of the show Peter “MintSpider”.

Next we take a look at Quickemu, developed by Martin “Wimpy” Wimpress, and its handy graphical front-end Quickgui, co-developed by another friend of the show, Yannick Mauray along with Mark Johnson. With our serious look at emulation out of the way we play around with Super Retro Mega Wars, an app available via F-Droid and Google Play for Android that helps us relive our misspent arcade game playing youth. Warning: Games were played during the recording.

We finish up with our roundup of feedback, a review of our best-attended podcrawl to date and announcement of the next podcrawl on Saturday 26 February – details will appear here. Please do let us have any feedback and feel to bring it along with a beer or two to the podcrawl. Kevie briefly discusses a Christmas present he received: a retro style bluetooth speaker and FM radio.

Creative Commons tunes played in this episode include:

• Aspirin – Try
• Always the Alibi – Killing Me Inside
• Micaroni and Vulcano – Polarized
• WhiteCat – Start Over Together

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Following our usual summer hiatus we are back at our microphones to bring you some ear chutney lovingly made from recent falls of free and open source software, spiced with creative commons musical goodness.

After we have scanned distrowatch for recently releases we turn our attention to non-linux non-distro called Serenity OS. It is built from the ground up as a love letter to the UNIXy operating systems of the late 90s and early naughties. An era which your hosts remember with varying degrees of fondness. Next up is a review of a simple android app called Planisphere. If you are looking for a no-frills FOSS app to help you find your way around the night sky then this may be for you. We end, as always, with a round-up of comments from you, dear listeners.

Creative Commons tunes played in this episode are:

1. Bumy Goldson – Bluebird
2. Bessonn&Sa – Your Love Explodes
3. Red Crickets – Flowers (From Her Gun)
4. Eventual Groove – Melda One
   

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Kevie, Dave (aka thelovebug) and Andrew (aka mcnalu) are joined by Marshall (aka timttmy), who, while not crushing rocks, has set up and run a Snikket server for instant messaging.

We discuss how we use Snikket via its app in preparing each episode of TuxJam (yes, unbelievable perhaps, but we do try!) and Marshall’s experience of installing and maintaining the server.

We also take a look at recent releases listed on distrowatch and have a look at the Solus linux distro with the Budgie desktop. As usual, we bring things to a close with a round up of feedback.

Creative Commons tunes played in this episode are:

• Glass Violet – Hourglass
• Back On Earth – I Don’t Wanna Let You Know
• David Krystal – Say You Love Me
• Smoking With Poets – Pain(t) On Me
  

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