F.O.S.S

by: Abhishek Prakash

Pay attention if you use Amazon Kindle. Starting 26th Feb, Amazon won't allow 'Download and transfer via USB' feature anymore. That's the feature people used to download the Kindle books they purchased and convert them to EPUB or PDF to read on other eBook readers like Kobo or their computers. In other words, your Kindle purchases will be restricted completely for Kindle devices.

If you want the control of your Kindle purchased books, take action and download the books before the deadline, remove DRM and convert them to PDF or EPUB.

Use Calibre to Remove DRM from Kindle Books and Convert to PDF

Own your content by removing DRM from Kindle books with the help of open source tool Calibre.

It's FOSSSagar Sharma

If you have hundreds of Kindle books, there is a script that can be used to download them in bulk. I have not tested it yet.

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

• GNOME's website getting a makeover.

• Fedora being threatened with a lawsuit.

• openSUSE making waves with recent moves.

• And other Linux news, tips, and, of course, memes!

• This edition of FOSS Weekly is supported by ANY.RUN.

❇️ Sandbox to Rescue

Infosec head at an EU bank shared insights on how they:

• Prevent hundreds of potential security incidents every year  

• Stay lean and efficient with limited resources

• Help the business avoid cyber attacks and protect clients

Must-read for all security professionals operating on a tight budget.

How I Used a Sandbox to Strengthen Bank’s Security

Discover how an investment bank cut threat response time in half and prevented hundreds of security incidents with ANY.RUN’s sandbox.

ANY.RUN's Cybersecurity BlogName

📰 Linux and Open Source News

• GNOME's website has received a complete revamp.

• AI-powered edit predictions have arrived on Zed editor.

• openSUSE has decided to ditch AppArmor for Tumbleweed.

• They are also considering dropping Legacy BIOS support for Leap and SLES.

• Nitrux has introduced a new kernel builder tool for Debian-based distros.

• Popular system stability testing and monitoring tool OCCT has arrived on Linux.

And we gear up for the Ubuntu 25.04 release.

Ubuntu 25.04 Features and Release Date: Here’s What You Need to Know

Here are the best Ubuntu 25.04 features.

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

The string of dramas in the Linux space don't seem to stop, huh? This time, it is Fedora getting threatened with a lawsuit by OBS Studio.

Open Sue! OBS Studio Threatens Fedora With Legal Action

Another day, another Linux-related drama. This time, it’s OBS Studio and Fedora going at it.

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials and More

• Setting up Conky on Ubuntu is quite straightforward.

• We debunk the most common myths surrounding Linux.

• Learn how to always keep a window on top in GNOME.

• Using the night light feature on Linux Mint.

👷 Maker's and AI Corner

Sharing my experience of using this unusual device that converts an SBC into a laptop.

CrowView Note: Turning Raspberry Pi into a Laptop, Sort of

A highly crowdfunded device to add a portable workstation to your Raspberry Pi and other SBCs.

It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

And a little about running a LLM locally as a coding assistant in VS Code.

✨ Apps highlight

Plank Reloaded is a modern successor to the beloved Plank dock.

Plank Reloaded is a Fresh Take on the Classic Dock Experience

Plank Reloaded aims to refine what the classic Plank dock offered by staying simple but with a modern take on it.

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

Who needs a GUI to listen to music when you could use kew?

🛍️ Deal You Would Love

15 Linux and DevOps books for just $18 plus your purchase supports Code for America organization. Get them on Humble Bundle.

Humble Tech Book Bundle: Linux from Beginner to Professional by O’Reilly

Learn Linux with ease using this library of coding and programming courses by O’Reilly. Pay what you want & support Code For America.

Humble Bundle

📽️ Video We are Creating for You

Subscribe to It's FOSS YouTube Channel

🧩 Quiz Time

Call yourself a Fedora buff? Prove it by beating this quiz.

Fedora Trivia Quiz

An enjoyable trivia quiz about Fedora Linux.

It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

💡 Quick Handy Tip

With the Extensions List GNOME extension, you can toggle extensions, access their settings, visit its home page, etc. right from the top panel. There is no need to open an additional extension app like Extension Manager.

You can install the Extensions List extension and get started right away.

🤣 Meme of the Week

We all have that friend. 😆

🗓️ Tech Trivia

February 15, 1999, marked Windows Refund Day, when Linux users staged protests outside Microsoft offices in the San Francisco Bay Area. The event aimed to raise awareness of Microsoft’s practice of bundling Windows with PCs and not offering refunds.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 FOSSverse Corner

Pro FOSSer Neville shares his experience with Meld. Have you used it before?

Meld is very useful for programming work

I have been editing some R code . I work in a temporary copy, in an R workspace. I have some modifications ready… I want to add them to the new version, but I cant simply copy in the .R files, because my temporary workspace is out of date. So I have to re-edit all the changes into the new version’s files. Here is how You can see my workspace screeen with a terminal for editing the new version on the left. On the right top you see a meld screen, comparing the new version file with the te…

It's FOSS Communitynevj

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Enjoy FOSS 😄

by: Abhishek Prakash

If you are starting to use and learn Linux, remember this:

• Linux is not magic 🪄

• It's sudo science 🔬

Okay...sorry... my dad jokes urges get the better of me at times 😁

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

• Cropping a video in VLC (no, seriously)

• Cloning SD card in Raspberry Pi

• Modern terminals with modern features

• And other Linux news, tips, and, of course, memes!

• This edition of FOSS Weekly is supported by PikaPods.

📰 Linux and Open Source News

• DietPi's new release supports Pi-hole v6

• Nextcloud Hub 10 is available now

• Mozilla introduces 'terms of use' for Firefox

Answering the difficult question. Is Linux any better for gaming in 2025?

Is Linux Ready For Mainstream Gaming In 2025?

Linux is quietly gaining ground on Windows in the gaming space. But how well does it actually perform? Here’s what I experienced.

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

The RSS feed matters more than ever.

• Why I Still Love and Use RSS Feeds in 2025

• RSS feeds are classic. And surprisingly, they are still relevant in 2025.

It's FOSS NewsAbhishek

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials and More

• Cropping a video in VLC: is that even a thing?

• See the devices connected to your local network on Linux

• Although I prefer using yay, here are some other AUR helpers, Arch users.

Here are some modern Linux terminals with not-so-traditional features.

7 Linux Terminals From the Future

Just when I thought the terminals cannot be innovated, there is an influx of modern terminal emulators with interesting new features.

It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

👷 Maker's and AI Corner

The easiest way to back up your Raspberry Pi is by cloning it. Am I right?

• Clone Existing Raspberry Pi OS to a Bigger SD Card

• Need more space on your Pi? How about cloning it to a bigger SD card? Here’s how to do that.

It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

✨ Apps highlight

Alright! Obsidian is not open source but it is awesome.

• Obsidian Review: Notion Alternative for the Markdown Pros

• This second brain tool has taken the first brain of Markdown lovers by storm.

It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

🛍️ Deal Ending Soon

And I know there is Logseq, its open source alternative. Between you and me, we have a tutorial series planned on Logseq, covering its features and tips on using it.

15 Linux and DevOps books for just $18 plus your purchase supports Code for America organization. Get them on Humble Bundle.

Humble Tech Book Bundle: Linux from Beginner to Professional by O’Reilly

Learn Linux with ease using this library of coding and programming courses by O’Reilly. Pay what you want & support Code For America.

Humble Bundle

📽️ Video I am Creating for You

It's a small topic but often confuses the Arch beginners.

Subscribe to It's FOSS YouTube Channel

🧩 Quiz Time

Test your Linux file permission knowledge by taking this quiz.

• Linux File Permission

• The Linux file permission is an important concept to know about. Test your knowledge.

It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

💡 Quick Handy Tip

In Nautilus file manager (GNOME's file explorer), you can use the Shortcut CTRL + S to start a quick "Select Items Matching".

In the dialog box, enter the glob pattern matching, like *.png to select all PNG files, or *.txt to match all txt files.

🤣 Meme of the Week

I laughed harder than I should have on this meme. If you know Linux Mint, you would laugh too.

And if you are interested, learn the logic behind the codenames of popular distro releases.

🗓️ Tech Trivia

The first web browser was introduced by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web on 26th Feb 1991. It was named WorldWideWeb at first but renamed later to Nexus to avoid the confusion.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 FOSSverse Corner

FOSSers are discussing the future 🖲️

In 50 years, what will our computers look like?

Imagine, it’s the mid-term future. What will desktop computers look like? What specs will they have?

It's FOSS Communityxahodo

❤️ With love

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 😄

by: Abhishek Prakash

In the previous newsletter, I shared the new tools directory page proposal and asked for your feedback. From the responses I got, an overwhelming majority of FOSSers liked this idea.

So I'll work on such pages. Since I want them to have some additional features, they will take a little longer. I'll inform you once they are live. Stay tuned 😄

Would you like to see more pages like this?

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

• A new Hyprland release.

• FSF's new commemorative logo.

• Microsoft's popular offering being handed a lawsuit.

• And other Linux news, tips and, of course, memes!

• This edition of FOSS Weekly is supported by ONLYOFFICE.

✨ONLYOFFICE PDF Editor: Create, Edit and Collaborate on PDFs on Linux

The ONLYOFFICE suite now offers an updated PDF editor that comes equipped with collaborative PDF editing and other useful features.

Deploy ONLYOFFICE Docs on your Linux server and integrate it with your favourite platform, such as Nextcloud, ownCloud, Drupal, Moodle, WordPress, Redmine and more. Alternatively, you can download the free desktop app for your Linux distro.

Online PDF editor, reader and converter | ONLYOFFICE

View and create PDF files from any text document, spreadsheet or presentation, convert PDF to DOCX online, create fillable PDF forms.

ONLYOFFICE

📰 Linux and Open Source News

• Hyprland 0.47.0 released with HDR support and squircles.

• Bitwarden has tightened security for accounts without 2FA enabled.

• Mozilla Thunderbird 134 has landed with a new notification system.

• A few offers on Data Privacy Day.

• Microsoft has launched DocumentDB, an open source document store platform.

• The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has unveiled a fresh logo to commemorate its forthcoming 40th anniversary.

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

Facebook is banning the links from many Linux websites.

Everything is Spam on Facebook Unless It is Paid Post (or Actual Spam)

Linux websites are getting ill-treatment by Facebook.

It's FOSS News Abhishek

Microsoft's popular social media platform, LinkedIn, has been dragged to court over alleged misuse of user data.

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials and More

• Moving away from Google's ecosystem is a smart move in the long run.

• You can share files between guest and host operating system in GNOME boxes.

• Small tip on tracking changes and version control with LibreOffice.

• Learn to merge PDF files in Linux.

• And some tips on customizing the launcher in Ubuntu.

👷 Maker's and AI Corner

Running the impressive DeepSeek R1 AI model on a Raspberry Pi 5 is possible.

I Ran Deepseek R1 on Raspberry Pi 5 and No, it Wasn’t 200 tokens/s

Everyone is seeking Deepseek R1 these days. Is it really as good as everyone claims? Let me share my experiments of running it on a Raspberry Pi.

It's FOSSAbhishek Kumar

✨ Apps highlight

If you like listening to audiobooks, then Cozy can be a great addition to your Linux system.

Cozy: A Super Useful Open Source Audiobook Player for Linux

Cozy makes audiobook listening easy with simple controls and an intuitive interface.

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

Take your music anywhere with the open source Musify app.

🛍️ Deal You Would Love

15 Linux and DevOps books for just $18 plus your purchase supports Code for America organization. Get them on Humble Bundle.

Humble Tech Book Bundle: Linux from Beginner to Professional by O’Reilly

Learn Linux with ease using this library of coding and programming courses by O’Reilly. Pay what you want & support Code For America.

Humble Bundle

🎟️ Event alert

Foss FEST 2025 is open for registration. Groups of international students can participate in the hackathon and win prizes worth 4,000 euros. It's FOSS is an official media partner for this event.

Foss FEST 2025: International Hackathon

OpenSource Science B.V.

🧩 Quiz Time

Can you beat this Linux Directory Structure puzzle?

Linux Directory Structure: Puzzle

The Linux directory structure is fascinating and an important thing to know about. Take a guess to solve this puzzle!

It's FOSSAnkush Das

💡 Quick Handy Tip

You can easily open new windows for running apps by either Middle-Clicking or Ctrl+Left-Clicking on the app from the dock. It also works for apps that are not running.

Usually, the apps open in the same workspace, however in multi-monitor setups, this might open new app windows on the other monitor.

🤣 Meme of the Week

Windows got destroyed hard. 🤭

🗓️ Tech Trivia

Apple launched the iPad on April 3, 2010, redefining mobile computing with its touch-based, versatile design. It bridged the gap between smartphones and laptops, setting the standard for tablets. The iPad's success has reshaped the tech world and inspired countless imitators.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 FOSSverse Corner

Pro FOSSer, Daniel is showcasing his Gentoo virtual machine setup on his laptop.

Gentoo vm install on my laptop

Up early this morning putting the finishing touches to Gentoo VM, to reboot to the CLI!! I have compiled two kernels, a gentoo-source, that I did a manual compile and a gentoo-kernel-dis for backup!! If the gentoo-source kernel works, I will nuke the gentoo-kernel. Just for fun, take a look-see Been awhile since we have had a 8 inch snow!!!

It's FOSS CommunityDaniel_Phillips

❤️ With love

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 😄

by: Abhishek Prakash

You want to be good at Linux? Start using it. Linux doesn't get easier. You get better at it.

The more you use it as your daily driver, the more you explore it and the more you learn. You won't even realize how much you have improved from day zero 💪

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

• New LibreOffice and ONLYOFFICE releases.

• DeepSeek making its way into a Linux terminal.

• New EndeavourOS release

• And other Linux news, tips and, of course, memes!

• This edition of FOSS Weekly is supported by Internxt.

❇️ Future-Proof Your Cloud Storage With Post-Quantum Encryption

Get 85% off any Internxt lifetime plan—a one-time payment for private, post-quantum encrypted cloud storage. No subscriptions, no recurring fees.

⌛ Offer valid Feb 10 – Feb 25

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P.S. There is a 30-day money back policy. Take advantage of it to try it and see if it fits your need.

📰 Linux and Open Source News

• EndeavourOS Mercury shows up as a modest release.

• DeepSeek support lands in the latest Warp Terminal release.

• Proxmox has been made a toplevel platform for Fedora CoreOS.

• The Open Euro LLM initiative is Europe's bet on achieving transparent AI.

• LibreOffice 25.2 and ONLYOFFICE Docs 8.3 have arrived with many notable improvements.

KDE Plasma 6.3 arrives with some digital artist-focused changes.

KDE Plasma 6.3 Release Aims to Be the Ultimate Desktop for Digital Artists

KDE Plasma 6.3 has arrived with some pretty exciting changes for digital artists.

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

After the recent Linux kernel drama, a new policy has been introduced for Rust.

After Recent Kernel Drama, Rust for Linux Policy Put in Place

The recent Linux kernel drama over Rust code has resulted in the creation of a Rust kernel policy.

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials and More

• Dual-booted and now Windows is not showing in Grub? You can fix that.

• Installing Arch Linux with BTRFS and disk encryption is fairly straightforward.

• If you are not up for that, why not get started with Fedora for your next distrohop?

Here are some elementary but necessary tips on using the Linux commands in terminal.

19 Basic But Essential Linux Terminal Tips You Must Know

Learn some small, basic but often ignored things about the terminal. With the small tips, you should be able to use the terminal with slightly more efficiency.

It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

👷 Maker's and AI Corner

Ditch the cloud with these five local AI tools for image creation.

Tailscale makes SSHing into your Raspberry Pi simple and secure.

SSH into Raspberry Pi from Outside Home Network Using Tailscale

Learn how you can use Tailscale to secure connect to your Raspberry Pi from outside your home network.

It's FOSSAbhishek Kumar

✨ Apps highlight

Feeling the winds change? Time to check out a cool open source weather app. 🌤️

Another day, another IDE with AI features. Flexpilot joins the list.

Flexpilot is an Open Source IDE for AI-Assisted Coding Experience 🚀

Flexpilot is almost like VS Code, only a bit better with built-in AI features. Learn why I created it and how you can use it.

It's FOSSCommunity

🛍️ Deal You Would Love

15 Linux and DevOps books for just $18 plus your purchase supports Code for America organization. Get them on Humble Bundle.

Humble Tech Book Bundle: Linux from Beginner to Professional by O’Reilly

Learn Linux with ease using this library of coding and programming courses by O’Reilly. Pay what you want & support Code For America.

Humble Bundle

📽️ Video I am Creating for You

Subscribe to It's FOSS YouTube Channel

🧩 Quiz Time

In the most intelligent photo ever taken, do you know all the people?

The Most Intelligent Photo for Curious Minds

Did you know about the individuals in this photo? We help you here.

It's FOSSAnkush Das

💡 Quick Handy Tip

In KDE Plasma, you can assign a temporary shortcut to a window so that you can bring it to the foreground when needed. For this, right-click on the title bar of the required window and select More Actions → Set Window Shortcut…

Now, enter a shortcut by activating the desired keyboard shortcut combination and press OK.

And, that's it. Now you can see that the title of the window is modified to show the new temporary window shortcut. Use the keyboard shortcut combination to bring the window to the foreground.

🤣 Meme of the Week

The clock's ticking, Windows 10 users! ⏰

🗓️ Tech Trivia

On February 10, 1996, IBM’s Deep Blue became the first computer to defeat a reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, in a single game. Kasparov won the match 4–2.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 FOSSverse Corner

Have you heard of the Haiku Project? It is an open source operating system that focuses on personal computing. Join other FOSSers in the discussion over it!

Haiku Project looks interesting!

So, there’s this other OS, it’s not Linux, nor a *BSD. It’s Haiku. A continuation of BeOS, which was meant as a competitor to Windows, it has quite some interesting features. It boots fast, REALLY fast, and I only tried its live mode in a VM! Yes, it’s rough around the edges (that’s why it hasn’t got a 1.0 yet), but already it looks promising. Its GUI is really responsive and looks and behaves quite different than the Windows or MacOS-esque GUIs, so takes some getting used to. So, what do you…

It's FOSS Communityxahodo

❤️ With love

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.

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Enjoy FOSS 😄

by: Abhishek Prakash

When you think of essential Raspberry Pi accessories, you count a screen, monitor and mouse if you want to use it as a regular desktop computer.

How about turning it into a laptop?

There are a few projects that work on this one. Elecrow's CrowView Note is such a device that lets you attach your Raspberry Pi or Jetson Nano or other SBCs to a laptop like interface.

This sounds interesting, right? Let me share my experience of using CrowView Note.

Just so that you know, Elecrow sent me CrowView Note. The views expressed here are my own and not influenced by Elecrow.

CrowView Note: What is it?

The CrowView Note by Elecrow is a portable, all-in-one monitor with an integrated keyboard and trackpad designed to transform SBCs like Raspberry Pi into a laptop.

Elecrow is a Hong Kong based company that creates and sells hardware for makers and tinkerers. If you are into Raspberry Pi and SBCs, you might have come across their CrowPi kit.

CrowView Note features a 14-inch Full-HD (1920×1080) IPS display with built-in speakers and a 5000mAh battery. There is no CPU, HDD/SSD or even camera here.

The good thing here is that CrowView is not just limited to Raspberry Pi. It's like an external screen with a keyboard and touchpad. You attach it to any single board computer using the Mini HDMI and USB cables.

You can also connect it to your Android smartphone (thanks to features like DeX) and gaming consoles like Steam Deck etc. You should be able to use it with digital cameras, Chromecast like devices and Blu-ray/DVD players (if you still use them).

It is powered by a 12V DC power supply to charge the 5000mAh battery. You can disconnect direct power and run it on battery like a regular laptop.

Technical specifications

Here are the specs that might interest you:

• Display: 14″ IPS (1920×1080), 100% sRGB, 60Hz refresh rate, 16:9 aspect ratio, 300 nit brightness

• Ports: 1x USB-C (full), 1x USB-C (power), 2x USB-A, 1x Mini HDMI

• Audio: 2W speakers, 3.5 mm audio jack, microphone

• Power: 12V DC charging and 5000 mAh battery

• Size: 33.5cm*22cm*1.7cm

• Weight: 1.2 Kg

The device is priced at $169 excluding shipping and custom fee. More details can be found on its official page.

Experiencing CrowView Note

If you look at CrowView at a glance, it looks like a regular laptop. Not a premium one. Just a regular, entry-level, inexpensive but lightweight laptop.

You pick it up and it feels light. My Asus ZenBook and Dell XPS are almost the same weight, I guess.

Which made me curious because I was under an impression that there are not much hardware inside it. The Raspberry Pi is attached from the side, externally. So, there is no CPU, motherboard or graphics inside, or so I am guessing.

I am so tempted to open it up and have a peek inside it. Perhaps I'll do that after a few weeks when I have explored all other aspects of this device.

Bottom View of CrowView Note

There are on-board speakers at the bottom that are not great with 2W of power and I am not complaining. You get the sound feature, at least. If you want something better, connect a headphone or speaker.

So, it is a laptop-like device but there are no processors inside it. You attach a Raspberry Pi to its left side using a dedicated bridge board. This way, you don't need to separately power the Raspberry Pi.

CrowView with a Raspberry Pi 5 attached to it

This connector bridge is also available for NVIDIA Jetson Nano, purchased separately for $7.

The bridge is not necessary. You can connect to Pi or other devices using mini HDMI and USB cables. The device needs to be powered separately in this case.

My other Pi device inside the Pironman case got successfully connected this way.

I also connected it to my ArmSoM Sige7 SBC and it worked the same without any issues.

CrowView Note with ArmSoM Sige7

Display

CrowView Note features a 14 inches, full-HD (1080p) display and there is nothing to complain about it. The IPS display looks sharp and there is no noticeable glare. The 60Hz refresh rate is pretty standard.

Although it looks like there is a webcam in the middle, that's not the case. Which is disappointing, to be honest. I would expect a laptop to have a functioning webcam.

Keyboard

The keyboard is fine. Not premium but fine. Again, I am not complaining. It is definitely better than the cheap Bluetooth keyboard people usually use with SBCs.

In fact, I feel the keyboard felt better than the official Pi keyboard. The plastic on the keyboard feels a bit rough, just like the official Pi keyboard.

There are dedicated function keys that provide additional features to the CrowView Note:

• F1 key lets you switch between devices if you are connected via Type C on the right and HDMI/USB on the left

• F7 key gives you OSD (On-screen display) to access color settings for the display

• F11 key quickly shows the battery status

Other than that, there are function keys for volume, media and brightness control. There is a Num-Lock key to access the number pad on the same keyboard.

Keyboard

Touchpad

Touchpad has invisible left and right click buttons at the bottom. I prefer tapping finger and thankfully, you can also tap to click here. Two finger tap for right click also works in Raspberry Pi OS.

There is one thing that does bother me here. The double click actually takes three tap. You know, you double-click on a folder or file to open it. Two taps don't work. You have to quickly tap it three times. Surprisingly, the left click button at the bottom works fine with two clicks.

There is a thin plastic film on the touchpad. I can see bubbles at the lower part, I am not sure if it is supposed to come out. I tried taking it out but I could not grab the edge. So I left it as it is. The touchpad works, so why bother unnecessarily?

Touchpad close up

CrowView is flexible till 180 degrees. I am not sure if that is very helpful for practical use cases. I let you decide that.

CrowView Note stretched at 180 degrees

Battery

The on-board 5000 mAh battery is not much but it is decent enough to power your Raspberry Pi for a few hours comfortably.

The minor inconveniences

While I was able to connect CrowView Note to my ArmSoM Sige7 through mini HDMI and USB, I could not connect my Samsung Galaxy with it. I tried opening Dex but it was expecting either wireless or HDMI connection.

Another minor annoyance is that when I shut down the Raspberry Pi from within the system, the CrowView still runs on battery. I can see the battery indicator on and Pi's power indicator stays red (meaning it is off but still connected to a power source).

I am guessing it doesn't consume as much power but it is not completely shut down. It can be turned off completely by pressing the on-board power button.

I have mentioned it earlier. Lack of webcam is certainly a disappointment.

I was also wondering about all this bridge system to connect Pi to CrowView. A Pi attached to a laptop looks odd.

Why on the side? Why not a box where it could be plugged in at the bottom? That will make it less weird. Perhaps Elecrow wanted to expose the GPIO pins. Plugging it in at the bottom will also heat it up as there will be no scope to put in a fan without increasing the thickness of the 'laptop'.

Also, Elecrow already has a device like this in the form of the famous CrowPi. So this time, they took a different approach.

Conclusion

The one thing that I am glad CrowView Note it is not confined to just Raspberry Pi. You can use it with various devices and that is indeed a good thing. If you are spending $169 for a display-keyboard setup, it only makes sense that it works for all kinds of computers you have.

In simpler words, it adds more value to the offering.

It is a well-thought device, too. The function keys work irrespective of the devices and operating systems. At least, that's what I noticed in my experiment with it. The idea to add dedicated buttons for battery status and source change is excellent.

Should you buy CrowView Note? That is really up to you. See if you need or even want a gadget like this and if it is well under your budget.

For me, the device targets a specific set of users. And considering the fact that its Crowdfunded campaign attracted 27 times of its initial funding goal, I would say there is a significant interest in CrowView Note.

More Details on CrowView Note

💬 Your turn now. What do you think of Elecrow's CrowView Note? Is it something you need or want?

by: Community

A new (or perhaps old) way of enjoying music for the command-line enthusiasts.

I've seen things... seen things that you people wouldn't believe... Linux developed by governments, Linux on mobiles, and terminal audio players.

Yes, it could be funny, but it's real, you could play music from your command-line.

And that's just one of the many unusual things you can do in the terminal.

Subscribe to It's FOSS YouTube Channel

Meet Kew

When you use the terminal more often than the graphical tools, you would perhaps enjoy playing music from the terminal.

I came across Kew, a terminal music player fully written in C. It's small (not more than 1 MiB), with a low memory profile. You can create and play your own playlists!

Kew music player running in the terminal

First things go first: Installation

It's straightforward to install Kew because it's available in the repositories of the common Linux Distributions like Arch Linux, Debian, Gentoo., etc.

For Debian and Ubuntu-based distros, use:

sudo apt install kew

You can use an AUR helper for Arch-based distros. Let's you use yay:

sudo yay -S kew

For openSUSE, use zypper:

sudo zypper install kew 

Exploring music with Kew

One of the most interesting and surprising things it's that kew can search in your music directory (usually ~/Music, or you could change it) only with one word:

kew bruce

And you're immediately listening to the Boss!!

You can see the album cover while you're listening to it.

You can make a playlist based on the content of a directory (and the others inside it recursively). The playlist can be edited/modified inside Kew in the Playlist view.

You can play the songs from the playlist using:

kew kew.m3u

Direct Functions

Kew provides some direct functions that you can type with kew:

• <none>: You go straight to the music library.

• dir <album name>: Play a full directory.

• song <song name>: Play only a song.

• list <playlist name>: Play a playlist that you could define.

• shuffle <album name>|<playlist name>: shuffles the album or playlist

• artistA:artistB:artistC: shuffles all 3 artists.
  Just to mention some of their fantastic functions. You could get all the commands here.

Views

There are different views for different functions that can be accessed via a function key.

F2 : Current Playlist

F3 : Library view

F4 : Track View

Kew music player running in the terminal

F5 : Search view

F6 : Help

Press F6 to get the keyboard shortcuts info

Key bindings

If you decided to use Kew regularly, it would be much better to use and remember various keyboard shortcuts. You can surely configure your own.

Press F6 and it will show the key bindings:

• + (or =), keys to adjust the volume.

• ←, → or h, l keys to switch tracks.

• space, p to toggle pause.

• F2 or Shift + z to show/hide the playlist.

• F3 or Shift + x to show/hide the library.

• F4 or Shift + c to show/hide the track view.

• F5 or Shift + v to search.

• F6 or Shift + b to show/hide key bindings.

• u to update the library.

• v to toggle the spectrum visualizer.

• i to switch between using your regular color scheme or colors derived from the track cover.

• b to toggle album covers drawn in ascii or as a normal image.

• r to repeat the current song.

• s to shuffle the playlist.

• a to seek back.

• d to seek forward.

• x to save the currently loaded playlist to a m3u file in your music folder.

• Tab to switch between views.

• gg go to first song.

• number + G, g or Enter, go to specific song number in the playlist.

• g go to last song.

• . to add current song to kew.m3u (run with "kew .").

• Esc to quit.

Conclusion

There are several terminal audio players like Cmus, MOC - Music on Console, Musikcube, etc. Kew can be placed in this list of terminal tools.

Written in C, with a small memory blueprint, Kew is worth trying for a terminal dweller.

If you give it a try, do share its experience in the comments.

Author Info

Jose Antonio Tenés
A Communication engineer by education, and Linux user by passion. In my spare time, I play chess, do you dare?

by: Abhishek Prakash
Thu, 02 Jan 2025 06:11:30 GMT

Happy new year 2025 🥳

The Tuxmas Days continue in full swing. Main highlights are:

Tuxmas Day 3 introduced the new commenting system. You'll see it in action when you leave a comment on the website.

Tuxmas Day 4 introduced the lifetime membership option. Instead of a recurring fee, you get the Plus membership forever with a single payment of $76 till 7th January. After that it will be $99. If you wanted to support It's FOSS with Plus membership, this would be the best time and chance 🙏

Tuxmas Day 5 has Linux Terminal and Bash series converted into downloadable PDF eBook.

Follow the entire Tuxmas series here. And your feedback is greatly appreciated.

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

• Serpent OS's alpha release.

• An open source 3D printer.

• Rediscovering an operating system.

• And other Linux news, videos and, of course, memes!

📰 Linux and Open Source News

• Serpent OS Alpha is out for testing with new hardware support.

• GNOME's new image viewer is set to receive some handy upgrades.

• A new open source 3D printer has appeared, can be built using off-the-shelf parts.

• NVIDIA says that it will open source Run:ai, a platform that it is said to have acquired for $700M.

And finally, open source tools are adding AI features. Better late than never.

Kdenlive is Adding an AI Background Removal Tool

You can easily remove backgrounds with this new tool.

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

What's your new year resolution?

My Linux and Open Source Resolutions for 2025

Here’s what I have decided for 2025. What are your resolutions?

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

Ankush's favorite distro of 2024 is one that you might not have expected.

My Favorite Linux Distro for 2024 is Not Ubuntu, Not Mint, It’s This

Revealing my favorite Linux distribution before 2024 ends.

It's FOSS NewsAnkush Das

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials and More

• Start 2025 with some good note-taking apps.

• If you were looking to distro hop, you could take ArchBang Linux for a run.

• Following that, you could learn how to use the apt search and apt show commands in Ubuntu.

And if you are still unfamiliar with the Linux command line, use the new year motivation and get acquainted with the essentials in this series.

Linux Command Line Introduction [Free Course]

Want to know the basics of the Linux command line? Here’s a tutorial series with a hands-on approach.

It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

👷 Maker's and AI Corner

Your homelab will thank you for using a dashboard tool to manage it effectively.

Imagine that the genius minds like Ken Thompson, Brian Kernighan and Bjarne Stroustrup collaborated on a new operating system and yet it flopped.

Rediscovering Plan9 from Bell Labs

An OS that was developed by the likes of Rob Pike, Ken Thompson, Brian Kernighan, Bjarne Stroustrup and yet it did not achieve the success.

It's FOSSBill Dyer

📹 Videos we are watching

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, too

✨ Discover handy tools

A dope looking GUI-based system monitor for Linux.

NeoHtop - Modern System Monitor

A beautiful, efficient system monitor built with Rust and Svelte. Monitor processes, CPU, and memory usage in real-time.

NeoHtopYour Name

🧩 Quiz Time

Call yourself a terminal junkie? Find the wrong paths with this puzzle.

Find The Wrong Path

Spot what’s wrong, and solve the quizzes!

It's FOSSAnkush Das

If that's too tricky, then you can try your hand at the Essential Ubuntu Shortcuts puzzle.

💡 Quick Handy Tip

In a terminal, you might already know that you can select a word by double-clicking on it.

However, if you hold the Shift key and left-click on another word after that, all the text between the first and last selected text will also be highlighted. No need to manually drag the cursor to select those.

It may not work in all the terminal emulators (i.e. terminal applications).

🤣 Meme of the Week

Oh, that would be something. 🤌 ✨

🗓️ Tech Trivia

On December 31, 1889, American Bell reorganized and transferred its assets to AT&T to bypass Massachusetts laws. By becoming the parent company, AT&T took control of the Bell System. This move eventually led to AT&T becoming a legalized monopoly in the U.S.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 FOSSverse Corner

What was your favorite distro in 2024? Join other FOSSers and share yours!

What’s your favourite Linux distro? Why do you use that one?

You have to move with the times. When you retire you may have the luxury of doing it your way. Snaps are like static binaries, but with some extra crud to fit them into the package system. I dont see why they should startup slowly… there must be some clunky scripts involved. A static binary is large, but not so large that it would affect load time. I have one app (keenwrite) that comes as a static binary… it loads quite fast and my machine is rather like your Dell with early corei7 and…

It's FOSS Communitynevj

❤️ With love

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 using Linux in 2025 🐧

by: Abhishek Prakash
Thu, 02 Jan 2025 06:11:30 GMT

Happy new year 2025 🥳

The Tuxmas Days continue in full swing. Main highlights are:

Tuxmas Day 3 introduced the new commenting system. You'll see it in action when you leave a comment on the website.

Tuxmas Day 4 introduced the lifetime membership option. Instead of a recurring fee, you get the Plus membership forever with a single payment of $76 till 7th January. After that it will be $99. If you wanted to support It's FOSS with Plus membership, this would be the best time and chance 🙏

Tuxmas Day 5 has Linux Terminal and Bash series converted into downloadable PDF eBook.

Follow the entire Tuxmas series here. And your feedback is greatly appreciated.

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

• Serpent OS's alpha release.

• An open source 3D printer.

• Rediscovering an operating system.

• And other Linux news, videos and, of course, memes!

📰 Linux and Open Source News

• Serpent OS Alpha is out for testing with new hardware support.

• GNOME's new image viewer is set to receive some handy upgrades.

• A new open source 3D printer has appeared, can be built using off-the-shelf parts.

• NVIDIA says that it will open source Run:ai, a platform that it is said to have acquired for $700M.

And finally, open source tools are adding AI features. Better late than never.

Kdenlive is Adding an AI Background Removal Tool

You can easily remove backgrounds with this new tool.

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

What's your new year resolution?

My Linux and Open Source Resolutions for 2025

Here’s what I have decided for 2025. What are your resolutions?

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

Ankush's favorite distro of 2024 is one that you might not have expected.

My Favorite Linux Distro for 2024 is Not Ubuntu, Not Mint, It’s This

Revealing my favorite Linux distribution before 2024 ends.

It's FOSS NewsAnkush Das

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials and More

• Start 2025 with some good note-taking apps.

• If you were looking to distro hop, you could take ArchBang Linux for a run.

• Following that, you could learn how to use the apt search and apt show commands in Ubuntu.

And if you are still unfamiliar with the Linux command line, use the new year motivation and get acquainted with the essentials in this series.

Linux Command Line Introduction [Free Course]

Want to know the basics of the Linux command line? Here’s a tutorial series with a hands-on approach.

It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

👷 Maker's and AI Corner

Your homelab will thank you for using a dashboard tool to manage it effectively.

Imagine that the genius minds like Ken Thompson, Brian Kernighan and Bjarne Stroustrup collaborated on a new operating system and yet it flopped.

Rediscovering Plan9 from Bell Labs

An OS that was developed by the likes of Rob Pike, Ken Thompson, Brian Kernighan, Bjarne Stroustrup and yet it did not achieve the success.

It's FOSSBill Dyer

📹 Videos we are watching

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, too

✨ Discover handy tools

A dope looking GUI-based system monitor for Linux.

NeoHtop - Modern System Monitor

A beautiful, efficient system monitor built with Rust and Svelte. Monitor processes, CPU, and memory usage in real-time.

NeoHtopYour Name

🧩 Quiz Time

Call yourself a terminal junkie? Find the wrong paths with this puzzle.

Find The Wrong Path

Spot what’s wrong, and solve the quizzes!

It's FOSSAnkush Das

If that's too tricky, then you can try your hand at the Essential Ubuntu Shortcuts puzzle.

💡 Quick Handy Tip

In a terminal, you might already know that you can select a word by double-clicking on it.

However, if you hold the Shift key and left-click on another word after that, all the text between the first and last selected text will also be highlighted. No need to manually drag the cursor to select those.

It may not work in all the terminal emulators (i.e. terminal applications).

🤣 Meme of the Week

Oh, that would be something. 🤌 ✨

🗓️ Tech Trivia

On December 31, 1889, American Bell reorganized and transferred its assets to AT&T to bypass Massachusetts laws. By becoming the parent company, AT&T took control of the Bell System. This move eventually led to AT&T becoming a legalized monopoly in the U.S.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 FOSSverse Corner

What was your favorite distro in 2024? Join other FOSSers and share yours!

What’s your favourite Linux distro? Why do you use that one?

You have to move with the times. When you retire you may have the luxury of doing it your way. Snaps are like static binaries, but with some extra crud to fit them into the package system. I dont see why they should startup slowly… there must be some clunky scripts involved. A static binary is large, but not so large that it would affect load time. I have one app (keenwrite) that comes as a static binary… it loads quite fast and my machine is rather like your Dell with early corei7 and…

It's FOSS Communitynevj

❤️ With love

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 using Linux in 2025 🐧