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I Feel Like a Hacker Using These Cool Linux Terminal Tools
by: Sreenath I found it cool enough to watch someone, often portrayed as a hacker, use the Linux terminal, especially in the movies. What if I try to become one of the super cool hackers from the Hollywood movies? 😎 Now that I'm older, I'm no longer fooled by those movie skits 😌 But, I'm still a kid at heart, and I want others to think that I am a secretive hacker when they see me using the terminal. To pursue that, I started exploring a list of cool Linux terminal tools that I can use for the job. If I can feel like a hacker with these tools, you can too! Let's give them a try! 💡 You can use CTRL+C to exit the terminal after running these tools. 1. genactDo you often feel like all you do in the terminal is run update commands, with nothing impressive to show off? Don’t worry—genact is here for you! 0:00 /1:02 1× Running genact in a terminalRunning genact in a terminal This little command will fill package download, network and other entries to your terminal. Those watching will think you are compiling some great programs. You can install this from the Ubuntu Snap store or grab the prebuilt binary for genact from the official GitHub repository as per your CPU architecture. If you downloaded the binary, open a terminal in the downloaded directory, and give the file execution permission with the following command: chmod +x ./genact-file-name The file name will look like genact-1.4.2-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu Next, execute it using: ./genact-file-name genact 2. CmatrixAnyone who has seen The Matrix movie cannot forget the iconic effect of characters raining down the screen. With CMatrix, you can recreate this mesmerizing display right in your terminal. 0:00 /0:09 1× Cmatrix command running in terminal. You can install Cmatrix from the official repository of most Linux distributions. For instance, here's the command for Ubuntu-based distributions: sudo apt install cmatrix Now, just run it using the command: cmatrix For more fun, you can pair it with other fun terminal tools like lolcat, one of the fun ASCII art tools. 3. HollywoodHollywood is that command which will make others think that your system has been hacked my someone. It will burst a huge text and animation effects on your terminal, where regular keyboard entries will do nothing. For a minute, I forgot I had to stop it to continue writing the article, it looked so cool! 😎 To install hollywood on Ubuntu, use the command: sudo apt install hollywood Hollywood 4. TEXTREMEDo you want a text editor that will show all types of fancy animation for character entry and deletion? Textreme is for you. This is not a regular text editor, where you will code swiftly, but a cool fancy text editor, that gives a festive party vibe while you write something. You can grab an executable binary from the official website. And, extract the tar file and double-click on the file to start the editor. TEXTREME 5. No More SecretsNo More secrets will show an encrypt/decrypt effect for everything piped into it. It tries to recreate the famous data decryption effect seen on screen in the 1992 hacker movie Sneakers. There are no release files for this package. So, you need to compile it from GitHub. Make sure you have git and essential build tools like make installed. Then use the following commands to proceed: git clone https://github.com/bartobri/no-more-secrets.git cd ./no-more-secrets make nms make sneakers sudo make install This will install two tools, no-more-secrets or nms and sneakers. SneakersSneakers recreates the movie clip for you. Once the command completes printing encrypted characters, press any key to start the decrypting effect. No More SecretsPipe any text output to this command and see the effect for yourself. If you would rather not press a key to start decryption, use: cat agatha.txt | nms -a This will print the contents of the file in encrypted form and then automatically start to decrypt it and show the original content. You can experiment with it to show different colors as well! No More Secrets 6. Cool Retro TermSometimes the feeling of a hacker or a whiz comes from retro tools. This is one of the super cool terminal emulators that helps achieve what we want here. You can install the Cool Retro Term terminal emulator application on Ubuntu using the command: sudo apt install cool-retro-term Next, open the terminal from your Activities Overview or app menu: Do not forget to right-click on the terminal and explore the settings. There are more effects waiting! Cool Retro Term Settings Cool Retro Term 7. gpingDid you ever use the Ping command to check whether you have an active internet connection? Or to check whether a site is up and running? The ping command is just a text command, where you need to look at the values to get the picture. You can do the same, but have some aesthetically pleasing outputs (graph) using gping. Install GPing on Ubuntu using the command: sudo apt install gping 0:00 /0:43 1× Gping command gping 8. BpytopBpytop is a htop alternative that prints system information neatly. You can use this command to make someone think that you're monitoring super serious aspects of your computer. To install it, use the command: sudo apt install bpytop 0:00 /0:30 1× Bpytop command with options Bpytop When it comes to Linux terminal tools, there are endless options from various individual developers. Here, I have shared the ones that I tried to make myself look like a hacker to anyone who observes me when I use the computer 😄 You can also choose to explore some terminal emulators or system monitoring tools to have fun with: Top 14 Terminal Emulators for Linux (With Extra Features or Amazing Looks) Want a terminal that looks cool or has extra features? Here are the best Linux terminal emulators you can get. It's FOSSAnkush Das 💬 What is your favorite on the list? Do you have some fun tools that I missed listing here? Do share your thoughts in the comments below.
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10 Best Laptops for Coding and Programming in India 2025
by: Neeraj Mishra Mon, 13 Jan 2025 15:38:00 +0000 This article will guide you to choose the best laptop for coding and programming and some of my top laptop picks for developers and students in India. I have also given the best picks based on prices under 1 Lakh, 70000, 60000, 50000, 40000, etc. As a programmer or developer, it becomes really confusing to pick the best laptop from thousands of laptops available in the market. It becomes even more difficult for a person who is just starting programming. Below I have shared some key points that will definitely help you to pick the perfect laptop for working on any programming technologies, C, C++, C#, Java, Python, SQL, Android, etc. Image Source How to Choose the Best Laptop for Programming?RAMIt is the first and most important thing that you should look for. A laptop with 8GB RAM is an ideal choice but 16GB RAM would be the best choice. If your budget is too low then you can go with 4GB RAM also. Believe me, it really sucks working on a low-performance machine. Earlier I used to do Android app development on a laptop with 4GB RAM. It was so annoying because everything works really slowly. So I would highly recommend you a 16GB RAM laptop if you are an app developer. Best Choice: 16GB RAM or High Ideal Choice: 8GB RAMProcessorGood processor and RAM should be your highest priority when choosing a laptop for programming. As a programmer or developer, we have to do multitasking. When I do programming or development I have to open a few IDEs along with a browser with several tabs opened. For such a purpose, a good processor is required. A laptop with an i5 processor is an ideal choice. You can go with i7 processor if you have a good budget and for a low budget, you can go with i3 processor. Best Choice: i7 Processor or High Ideal Choice: i5 ProcessorNote: Now Apple laptops are powered by M1 & M2 Chips. It is also a good choice for programming. Graphics CardAn external graphics card is not necessary until you are not doing game development or some high graphics-related work. But if you are a game developer then you must go with a laptop with an external graphic card. Best Choice (Especially For Game Developers): External Graphic Card (4GB or High) Ideal and Low Budget Choice (For Other Developers): Integrated Graphic Card StorageSSD and HDD are two storage types that laptops have. SSD gives faster performance but is costlier than HDD. It’s great if you can afford an SSD storage-type laptop. But if you can’t then go with HDD and later on you can use some external SSD storage or upgrade. Battery LifeIf you mostly work at places where the power supply is not available then you must choose a laptop with huge battery life. Otherwise these days almost all laptops come with moderate battery backup. You can get custom programmer laptop stickers at www.stickeryou.com. Below I have shared some laptops that I believe are good for programmers in India. Even if you don’t like any of them you can consider the above points to pick the best laptop according to your usage. Laptops Under 1 LakhApple MacBook Air with M2 ChipThe Apple MacBook Air 2022 edition defines innovation, bringing together Apple’s renowned M2 chip with a lightweight design, perfect for programmers who appreciate both power and portability. FeaturesDetailsProcessorNext-gen 8-core CPU, up to 10-core GPU, 24GB unified memoryDisplay13.6-inch Liquid Retina, 500+ nits brightnessMemory & StorageUnified 24GB Memory (not specified storage)GraphicsIntegrated with M2 ChipDesignStrikingly thin, weighs 1.24 kgBatteryUp to 18 hoursCamera & Audio1080p FaceTime HD, three-mic array, four-speaker system with Spatial AudioPorts & ConnectivityMagSafe charging, two Thunderbolt ports, headphone jackCheck Price Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5Offering the power of Intel’s 12th Gen processors, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 promises dependable performance in a sleek package, making it a developer’s reliable sidekick. FeaturesDetailsProcessor12th Gen Intel Core i7-1255U, 10 Cores, 12 Threads, 12MB CacheDisplay15.6″ FHD, 300 nits brightness, Anti-Glare, IPSMemory & Storage16GB RAM DDR4-3200, 512 GB SSDGraphicsIntegrated Intel Iris XeDesign1.69 cm thin, 1.85 kg weight, Aluminium topBattery8 Hours, 76WhCamera & AudioFHD 1080p, Fixed Focus, Privacy Shutter, Dual Array Microphone, 2 x 2W Stereo Speakers, Dolby AudioPorts & ConnectivityUSB-A, USB-C, HDMI 1.4b, 4-in-1 media readerCheck Price HP Pavilion 14Fusing HP’s commitment to sustainability with Intel’s 12th Gen might, the HP Pavilion 14 offers an eco-conscious choice without sacrificing performance, making it a top pick for developers. FeaturesDetailsProcessorIntel Core i7-1255U (up to 4.7 GHz), 10 cores, 12 threadsDisplay14″ FHD, IPS, micro-edge, BrightView, 250 nitsMemory & Storage16 GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM, 1 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSDGraphicsIntel UHD GraphicsDesignCompact form with backlit keyboardBattery3-cell, 43 Wh Li-ionCamera & AudioHP Wide Vision 720p HD camera, Audio by B&O, Dual SpeakersPorts & ConnectivityUSB Type-C, USB Type-A, HDMI 2.1Check Price Laptops Under 70000ASUS Vivobook Pro 15The ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 offers impressive hardware specifications encapsulated within an ultra-portable design. With the power of AMD’s Ryzen 5 and NVIDIA’s RTX 3060, it promises to be a powerhouse for programmers and multitaskers alike. FeatureDetailsProcessorAMD Ryzen 5 5600H (4.2 GHz, 6 cores)RAM16 GB DDR4Storage512 GB SSDGraphicsNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (4 GB GDDR6)Display15.6-inch FHD LED (1920 x 1080) with 144Hz refresh rateOperating SystemWindows 11 HomeSpecial FeaturesFingerprint Reader, HD Audio, Backlit Keyboard, Memory Card SlotConnectivityUSB Type C, Micro USB Type A, 3.5mm Audio, Bluetooth 5Battery Life6 HoursCheck Price HP Pavilion 14HP Pavilion 14 pairs the latest 12th Gen Intel Core i5 with robust memory and storage options. It is engineered for performance and designed with elegance, boasting a slim profile and long-lasting battery. FeatureDetailsProcessor10-core 12th Gen Intel Core i5-1235U with Intel Iris Xᵉ graphicsRAM16 GB DDR4Storage512GB PCle NVMe M.2 SSDDisplay14-inch FHD Micro-edge display (250-nit)Operating SystemWindows 11 (MS Office 2019 pre-loaded)ConnectivityWi-Fi 6 (2×2), Bluetooth 5.2, USB Type-C, 2x USB Type-A, HDMI 2.1Battery LifeFast charging (up to 50% in 30 mins)Additional FeaturesHP Wide Vision 720p HD camera, Audio by B&O, Fingerprint readerCheck Price Lenovo ThinkPad E14Renowned for its rugged build and reliability, the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 offers a solid combination of performance and durability. Featuring a 12th Gen Intel Core i5, it is perfect for professionals on the go. FeatureDetailsProcessor12th Gen Intel Core i5-1235UG4 (up to 4.4 GHz, 10 cores)RAM16GB DDR4 3200 MHz (Upgradable up to 40GB)Storage512GB SSD M.2 (Upgradable up to 2 TB)Display14-inch FHD Anti-glare display (250 Nits)GraphicsIntegrated Intel Iris Xe GraphicsOperating SystemWindows 11 Home SL (MS Office Home & Student 2021 pre-installed)PortsUSB 2.0, USB 3.2 Gen 1, Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, Ethernet (RJ-45)Battery LifeUp to 9.4 hours (Rapid Charge up to 80% in 1hr)Check Price HP Laptop 15HP’s Laptop 15 elevates the user experience with its 13th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, ensuring a smooth multitasking environment. The spacious 15.6-inch display paired with an efficient battery life ensures productivity throughout the day. FeatureDetailsProcessor13th Gen Intel Core i5-1335U, 10-coreRAM16 GB DDR4Storage512 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSDGraphicsIntegrated Intel Iris Xᵉ graphicsDisplay15.6-inch FHD, 250-nit, Micro-edgeConnectivityWi-Fi 6 (1×1), Bluetooth 5.3, USB Type-C/A, HDMI 1.4bOperating SystemWindows 11 with MS Office 2021BatteryFast Charge (50% in 45 mins)Check Price Acer Nitro 5The Acer Nitro 5 stands as a gaming powerhouse, fueled by the 12th Gen Intel Core i5. Aided by NVIDIA’s RTX 3050 graphics, the 144 Hz vibrant display promises an immersive experience, making it an excellent choice for developers and gamers alike. FeatureDetailsProcessorIntel Core i5 12th GenRAM16 GB DDR4 (upgradable to 32 GB)Display15.6″ Full HD, Acer ComfyView LED-backlit TFT LCD, 144 HzGraphicsNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050, 4 GB GDDR6Storage512 GB PCIe Gen4 SSDOperating SystemWindows 11 Home 64-bitWeight2.5 KgSpecial FeaturesRGB Backlit Keyboard, Thunderbolt 4PortsUSB 3.2 Gen 2 (with power-off charging), USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 4), USB 3.2 Gen 1Check Price ASUS Vivobook 16Crafted for modern professionals, the ASUS Vivobook 16 blends a sleek design with robust performance. Its 16-inch FHD+ display and integrated graphics ensure clarity, while the Core i5-1335U processor offers smooth multitasking, making it ideal for coders and content creators. FeatureDetailsProcessorIntel Core i5-1335U (1.3 GHz base, up to 4.6 GHz)RAM & Storage16GB 3200MHz (8GB onboard + 8GB SO-DIMM) & 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSDDisplay16.0-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200), 60Hz, 45% NTSC Anti-glareGraphicsIntegrated Intel Iris XᵉOperating System & SoftwareWindows 11 Home with Pre-Installed Office Home and Student 2021 & 1-Year McAfee Anti-VirusDesignThin (1.99 cm) & Light (1.88 kg), 42WHrs Battery (Up to 6 hours)KeyboardBacklit Chiclet with Num-keyPortsUSB 2.0 Type-A, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C (supporting power delivery), USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, HDMI 1.4, 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, DC-inOther Features720p HD camera (with privacy shutter), Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5, US MIL-STD 810H military-grade standard, SonicMaster audio with Cortana supportCheck Price Dell 14 Metal Body LaptopBoasting a sturdy metal body, Dell’s 14-inch laptop strikes a balance between style and function. Powered by the 12th Gen Intel i5-1235U and integrated graphics, this machine promises efficiency and versatility for programmers, complemented by enhanced security features. FeatureDetailsProcessorIntel Core i5-1235U 12th Generation (up to 4.40 GHz)RAM & Storage16GB DDR4 3200MHz (2 DIMM Slots, Expandable up to 16GB) & 512GB SSDDisplay14.0″ FHD WVA AG Narrow Border 250 nitsGraphicsIntegrated Onboard GraphicsOperating System & SoftwareWin 11 Home + Office H&S 2021 with 15 Months McAfee antivirus subscriptionKeyboardBacklit + Fingerprint ReaderPortsUSB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C (with DisplayPort 1.4), USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 2.0, Headset jack, HDMI 1.4, Flip-Down RJ-45 (10/100/1000 Mbps), SD 3.0 card slotFeaturesTÜV Rheinland certified Dell ComfortView, Waves Maxx Audio, Hardware-based TPM 2.0 security chipCheck Price Laptops Under 60000Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3, with its latest 12th Gen Intel i5 processor, ensures optimal performance for programmers. Its slim design and advanced features, such as the Lenovo Aware and Whisper Voice, prioritize user convenience and eye safety. The Xbox GamePass Ultimate subscription further enhances its appeal to gamers and developers alike. FeaturesDetailsProcessor12th Gen Intel i5-1235U, 10 Cores, 1.3 / 4.4GHz (P-core)Display15.6″ FHD (1920×1080) TN, 250nits Anti-glareMemory & Storage16GB DDR4-3200 (Max), 512GB SSDGraphicsIntegrated Intel Iris Xe GraphicsOS & SoftwareWindows 11 Home 64, Office Home and Student 2021Design & Weight4 Side Narrow Bezel, 1.99 cm Thin, 1.63 kgBattery LifeUp to 6 Hours, Rapid ChargeAudio & Camera2x 1.5W Stereo Speakers, HD Audio, Dolby Audio, HD 720p with Privacy ShutterPortsUSB-A, USB-C, HDMI, 4-in-1 media readerAdditional Features & WarrantyLenovo Aware, Whisper Voice, Eye Care, 2 Years onsite manufacturer warrantyCheck Price HP Laptop 14sHP Laptop 14s, a blend of reliability and efficiency, boasts a 12th Gen Intel Core processor and micro-edge display for enhanced visuals. Its long battery life, coupled with HP Fast Charge, is ideal for developers on the go. Integrated with the HP True Vision camera and dual speakers, it’s perfect for seamless conferencing. FeaturesDetailsProcessor12-core 12th Gen Intel Core i5-1240P, 16 threads, 12MB L3 cacheDisplay14-inch, FHD, 250-nit, micro-edgeMemory & Storage8GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSDGraphicsIntel Iris Xe graphicsConnectivityWi-Fi 5 (2×2), Bluetooth 5.0Battery Life & Charging41Wh, HP Fast ChargeCamera & AudioHP True Vision 720p HD camera, Dual speakersPortsUSB Type-C, USB Type-A, HDMI 1.4bSoftware & CertificationWin 11, MS Office 2021, EPEAT Silver registered, ENERGY STAR certifiedWarranty & Design1-year on-site standard warranty, Made of recycled plasticsCheck Price HONOR MagicBook X14HONOR MagicBook X14, encapsulating speed with style, delivers an exceptional experience with its 12th Gen Intel Core processor and lightweight body. A standout feature is its 2-in-1 Fingerprint Power Button, ensuring utmost privacy. The TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification affirms that it’s eye-friendly, suitable for prolonged usage. FeaturesDetailsProcessor12th Gen Intel Core i5-12450H, 8 Cores, 2.0 GHz base speed, 4.4 GHz Max SpeedDisplay14” Full HD IPS Anti-GlareMemory & Storage8GB LPDDR4x RAM, 512GB PCIe NVMe SSDGraphicsIntel UHD GraphicsCharging & Battery65W Type-C Fast Charging, 60Wh Battery, Up to 12 hoursSecurity & Webcam2-in-1 Fingerprint Power Button, 720P HD WebcamKeyboardBacklit KeyboardPortsMulti-Purpose Type-C Connector, Supports Charging & Data Transfer, Reverse Charging & DisplayDesign & WeightPremium Aluminium Metal Body, 16.5MM Thickness, 1.4kgOperating SystemPre-Loaded Windows 11 Home 64-bitCheck Price Comment below if I have any tips for choosing the best laptop for programming and development. You can also ask your queries related to buying a good coding and programming laptop. The post 10 Best Laptops for Coding and Programming in India 2025 appeared first on The Crazy Programmer.
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How to Wait for the sibling-count() and sibling-index() Functions
by: Juan Diego Rodríguez Mon, 13 Jan 2025 15:08:01 +0000 New features don’t just pop up in CSS (but I wish they did). Rather, they go through an extensive process of discussions and considerations, defining, writing, prototyping, testing, shipping handling support, and many more verbs that I can’t even begin to imagine. That process is long, and despite how much I want to get my hands on a new feature, as an everyday developer, I can only wait. I can, however, control how I wait: do I avoid all possible interfaces or demos that are possible with that one feature? Or do I push the boundaries of CSS and try to do them anyway? As ambitious and curious developers, many of us choose the latter option. CSS would grow stagnant without that mentality. That’s why, today, I want to look at two upcoming functions: sibling-count() and sibling-index(). We’re waiting for them — and have been for several years — so I’m letting my natural curiosity get the best of me so I can get a feel for what to be excited about. Join me! The tree-counting functionsAt some point, you’ve probably wanted to know the position of an element amongst its siblings or how many children an element has to calculate something in CSS, maybe for some staggering animation in which each element has a longer delay, or perhaps for changing an element’s background-color depending on its number of siblings. This has been a long-awaited deal on my CSS wishlists. Take this CSSWG GitHub Issue from 2017: However, counters work using strings, rendering them useless inside a calc() function that deals with numbers. We need a set of similar functions that return as integers the index of an element and the count of siblings. This doesn’t seem too much to ask. We can currently query an element by its tree position using the :nth-child() pseudo-selector (and its variants), not to mention query an element based on how many items it has using the :has() pseudo-selector. Luckily, this year the CSSWG approved implementing the sibling-count() and sibling-index() functions! And we already have something in the spec written down: How much time do we have to wait to use them? Earlier this year Adam Argyle said that “a Chromium engineer mentioned wanting to do it, but we don’t have a flag to try it out with yet. I’ll share when we do!” So, while I am hopeful to get more news in 2025, we probably won’t see them shipped soon. In the meantime, let’s get to what we can do right now! Rubbing two sticks togetherThe closest we can get to tree counting functions in terms of syntax and usage is with custom properties. However, the biggest problem is populating them with the correct index and count. The simplest and longest method is hardcoding each using only CSS: we can use the nth-child() selector to give each element its corresponding index: li:nth-child(1) { --sibling-index: 1; } li:nth-child(2) { --sibling-index: 2; } li:nth-child(3) { --sibling-index: 3; } /* and so on... */Setting the sibling-count() equivalent has a bit more nuance since we will need to use quantity queries with the :has() selector. A quantity query has the following syntax: .container:has(> :last-child:nth-child(m)) { }…where m is the number of elements we want to target. It works by checking if the last element of a container is also the nth element we are targeting; thus it has only that number of elements. You can create your custom quantity queries using this tool by Temani Afif. In this case, our quantity queries would look like the following: ol:has(> :nth-child(1)) { --sibling-count: 1; } ol:has(> :last-child:nth-child(2)) { --sibling-count: 2; } ol:has(> :last-child:nth-child(3)) { --sibling-count: 3; } /* and so on... */This example is intentionally light on the number of elements for brevity, but as the list grows it will become unmanageable. Maybe we could use a preprocessor like Sass to write them for us, but we want to focus on a vanilla CSS solution here. For example, the following demo can support up to 12 elements, and you can already see how ugly it gets in the code. That’s 24 rules to know the index and count of 12 elements for those of you keeping score. It surely feels like we could get that number down to something more manageable, but if we hardcode each index we are bound increase the amount of code we write. The best we can do is rewrite our CSS so we can nest the --sibling-index and --sibling-count properties together. Instead of writing each property by itself: li:nth-child(2) { --sibling-index: 2; } ol:has(> :last-child:nth-child(2)) { --sibling-count: 2; }We could instead nest the --sibling-count rule inside the --sibling-index rule. li:nth-child(2) { --sibling-index: 2; ol:has(> &:last-child) { --sibling-count: 2; } }While it may seem wacky to nest a parent inside its children, the following CSS code is completely valid; we are selecting the second li element, and inside, we are selecting an ol element if its second li element is also the last, so the list only has two elements. Which syntax is easier to manage? It’s up to you. But that’s just a slight improvement. If we had, say, 100 elements we would still need to hardcode the --sibling-index and --sibling-count properties 100 times. Luckily, the following method will increase rules in a logarithmic way, specifically base-2. So instead of writing 100 rules for 100 elements, we will be writing closer to 10 rules for around 100 elements. Flint and steelThis method was first described by Roman Komarov in October last year, in which he prototypes both tree counting functions and the future random() function. It’s an amazing post, so I strongly encourage you to read it. This method also uses custom properties, but instead of hardcoding each one, we will be using two custom properties that will build up the --sibling-index property for each element. Just to be consistent with Roman’s post, we will call them --si1 and --si2, both starting at 0: li { --si1: 0; --si2: 0; }The real --sibling-index will be constructed using both properties and a factor (F) that represents an integer greater or equal to 2 that tells us how many elements we can select according to the formula sqrt(F) - 1. So… For a factor of 2, we can select 3 elements. For a factor of 3, we can select 8 elements. For a factor of 5, we can select 24 elements. For a factor of 10, we can select 99 elements. For a factor of 25, we can select 624 elements. As you can see, increasing the factor by one will give us exponential gains on how many elements we can select. But how does all this translate to CSS? The first thing to know is that the formula for calculating the --sibling-index property is calc(F * var(--si2) + var(--si1)). If we take a factor of 3, it would look like the following: li { --si1: 0; --si2: 0; /* factor of 3; it's a harcoded number */ --sibling-index: calc(3 * var(--si2) + var(--si1)); }The following selectors may be random but stay with me here. For the --si1 property, we will write rules selecting elements that are multiples of the factor and offset them by one 1 until we reach F - 1, then set --si1 to the offset. This translates to the following CSS: li:nth-child(Fn + 1) { --si1: 1; } li:nth-child(Fn + 2) { --si1: 2; } /* ... */ li:nth-child(Fn+(F-1)) { --si1: (F-1) }So if our factor is 3, we will write the following rules until we reach F-1, so 2 rules: li:nth-child(3n + 1) { --si1: 1; } li:nth-child(3n + 2) { --si1: 2; }For the --si2 property, we will write rules selecting elements in batches of the factor (so if our factor is 3, we will select 3 elements per rule), going from the last possible index (in this case 8) backward until we simply are unable to select more elements in batches. This is a little more convoluted to write in CSS: li:nth-child(n + F*1):nth-child(-n + F*1-1){--si2: 1;} li:nth-child(n + F*2):nth-child(-n + F*2-1){--si2: 2;} /* ... */ li:nth-child(n+(F*(F-1))):nth-child(-n+(F*F-1)) { --si2: (F-1) }Again, if our factor is 3, we will write the following two rules: li:nth-child(n + 3):nth-child(-n + 5) { --si2: 1; } li:nth-child(n + 6):nth-child(-n + 8) { --si2: 2; }And that’s it! By only setting those two values for --si1 and --si2 we can count up to 8 total elements. The math behind how it works seems wacky at first, but once you visually get it, it all clicks. I made this interactive demo in which you can see how all elements can be reached using this formula. Hover over the code snippets to see which elements can be selected, and click on each snippet to combine them into a possible index. If you crank the elements and factor to the max, you can see that we can select 49 elements using only 14 snippets! Wait, one thing is missing: the sibling-count() function. Luckily, we will be reusing all we have learned from prototyping --sibling-index. We will start with two custom properties: --sc1 and --sc1 at the container, both starting at 0 as well. The formula for calculating --sibling-count is the same. ol { --sc1: 0; --sc2: 0; /* factor of 3; also a harcoded number */ --sibling-count: calc(3 * var(--sc2) + var(--sc1)); }Roman’s post also explains how to write selectors for the --sibling-count property by themselves, but we will use the :has() selection method from our first technique so we don’t have to write extra selectors. We can cram those --sc1 and --sc2 properties into the rules where we defined the sibling-index() properties: /* --si1 and --sc1 */ li:nth-child(3n + 1) { --si1: 1; ol:has(> &:last-child) { --sc1: 1; } } li:nth-child(3n + 2) { --si1: 2; ol:has(> &:last-child) { --sc1: 2; } } /* --si2 and --sc2 */ li:nth-child(n + 3):nth-child(-n + 5) { --si2: 1; ol:has(> &:last-child) { --sc2: 1; } } li:nth-child(n + 6):nth-child(-n + 8) { --si2: 2; ol:has(> &:last-child) { --sc2: 2; } }This is using a factor of 3, so we can count up to eight elements with only four rules. The following example has a factor of 7, so we can count up to 48 elements with only 14 rules. This method is great, but may not be the best fit for everyone due to the almost magical way of how it works, or simply because you don’t find it aesthetically pleasing. While for avid hands lighting a fire with flint and steel is a breeze, many won’t get their fire started. Using a flamethrowerFor this method, we will use once again custom properties to mimic the tree counting functions, and what’s best, we will write less than 20 lines of code to count up to infinity—or I guess to 1.7976931348623157e+308, which is the double precision floating point limit! We will be using the Mutation Observer API, so of course it takes JavaScript. I know that’s like admitting defeat for many, but I disagree. If the JavaScript method is simpler (which it is, by far, in this case), then it’s the most appropriate choice. Just as a side note, if performance is your main worry, stick to hard-coding each index in CSS or HTML. First, we will grab our container from the DOM: const elements = document.querySelector("ol");Then we’ll create a function that sets the --sibling-index property in each element and the --sibling-count in the container (it will be available to its children due to the cascade). For the --sibling-index, we have to loop through the elements.children, and we can get the --sibling-count from elements.children.length. const updateCustomProperties = () => { let index = 1; for (element of elements.children) { element.style.setProperty("--sibling-index", index); index++; } elements.style.setProperty("--sibling-count", elements.children.length); };Once we have our function, remember to call it once so we have our initial tree counting properties: updateCustomProperties();Lastly, the Mutation Observer. We need to initiate a new observer using the MutationObserver constructor. It takes a callback that gets invoked each time the elements change, so we write our updateCustomProperties function. With the resulting observer object, we can call its observe() method which takes two parameters: the element we want to observe, and a config object that defines what we want to observe through three boolean properties: attributes, childList, and subtree. In this case, we just want to check for changes in the child list, so we set that one to true: const observer = new MutationObserver(updateCustomProperties); const config = {attributes: false, childList: true, subtree: false}; observer.observe(elements, config);That would be all we need! Using this method we can count many elements, in the following demo I set the max to 100, but it can easily reach tenfold: So yeah, that’s our flamethrower right there. It definitely gets the fire started, but it’s plenty overkill for the vast majority of use cases. But that’s what we have while we wait for the perfect lighter. More information and tutorialsPossible Future CSS: Tree-Counting Functions and Random Values (Roman Komarov) View Transitions Staggering (Chris Coyier) Element Indexes (Chris Coyier) Related IssuesEnable the use of counter() inside calc() #1026 Proposal: add sibling-count() and sibling-index() #4559 Extend sibling-index() and sibling-count() with a selector argument #9572 Proposal: children-count() function #11068 Proposal: descendant-count() function #11069 How to Wait for the sibling-count() and sibling-index() Functions originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.
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RepublicLabs
by: aiparabellum.com Mon, 13 Jan 2025 05:36:03 +0000 https://republiclabs.ai/gen-ai-tools RepublicLabs.ai is a cutting-edge platform designed to revolutionize the way we create visual content. By leveraging advanced AI generative models, this tool allows users to create stunning images and videos effortlessly. Whether you’re looking to generate professional headshots, artistic visuals, or even fantasy animations, RepublicLabs.ai offers a wide range of tools to cater to your creative needs. It empowers individuals, professionals, and businesses to bring their ideas to life without requiring complex technical skills. Features of RepublicLabs.ai RepublicLabs.ai boasts an extensive suite of features tailored to meet diverse creative demands. Here are some of its standout features: AI Face Generator: Create realistic human faces with ease. AI Art Generator: Craft artistic visuals and paintings with AI assistance. Cartoon AI Generator: Turn photos into cartoon-style images. Fantasy AI: Design imaginative and surreal visuals effortlessly. Unrestricted AI Image Generator: Generate any image without limitations. Professional Headshot Generator: Create high-quality headshots for professional use. AI LinkedIn Photo Generator: Perfect LinkedIn profile pictures created by AI. Ecommerce Photography Tool: Generate product images optimized for online stores. Pyramid Flow Video Generator: Produce visually appealing videos with AI technology. Anime Image Generator: Create anime-style images with ease. Text-to-Art Generator: Transform text into stunning artwork. AI Product Advertisement Generator: Create compelling product ads for business needs. Deep AI Image Generator: Produce high-quality, AI-driven images. Minimax AI Video Generator: Generate videos with minimal effort. Uncensored and Unfiltered AI Generators: Produce unrestricted creative content. How RepublicLabs.ai Works Creating images and videos with RepublicLabs.ai is simple and user-friendly. Here’s how it works: Choose a Tool: Select the desired AI tool from the variety of options available on the platform. Input Your Ideas: Provide a prompt, text, or upload an image to guide the AI in generating content. Customize Outputs: Adjust styles, colors, and other parameters to personalize the results. Preview and Download: Review the generated content and download it for use. The platform is designed with a seamless workflow, ensuring efficiency and quality in every output. Benefits of RepublicLabs.ai RepublicLabs.ai offers numerous advantages that make it an invaluable tool for creators: Ease of Use: No technical expertise required; the platform is beginner-friendly. Versatility: Supports a wide range of creative needs, from professional to personal projects. Time-Saving: Generates high-quality visuals and videos in just a few minutes. Cost-Effective: Eliminates the need for expensive photography or design services. Unrestricted Creativity: Enables users to explore limitless possibilities without boundaries. Professional Results: Produces content that meets high-quality standards suitable for business use. Pricing of RepublicLabs.ai RepublicLabs.ai offers flexible pricing plans to cater to various user needs. Users can explore free tools like the AI Headshot Generator and other trial options. For advanced features and unrestricted access, premium plans are available. Pricing details can be found on the platform to suit individual and organizational budgets. Review of RepublicLabs.ai RepublicLabs.ai has garnered positive reviews from users across different industries. Creators appreciate its user-friendly interface, diverse features, and the quality of its outputs. Professionals have highlighted its efficiency in generating marketing materials, while artists commend its ability to bring imaginative concepts to life. The platform is widely regarded as a game-changer in the field of AI-driven content creation. Conclusion RepublicLabs.ai is a versatile and powerful platform that bridges the gap between creativity and technology. With its vast array of AI tools, it empowers users to transform their ideas into captivating images and videos effortlessly. Whether you’re an artist, a marketer, or someone looking to enhance their personal portfolio, RepublicLabs.ai provides the tools you need to succeed. Explore the endless possibilities and let your creativity shine with this innovative AI-powered platform. Visit Website The post RepublicLabs appeared first on AI Parabellum.
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ArmSoM AIM7: A Promising Upcoming Rockchip Device for AI Development
by: Abhishek Kumar When ArmSoM kindly offered to send me their upcoming RK3588 AI Module 7 (AIM7), along with the AIM-IO carrier board, I was thrilled. Having worked with AI hardware like Nvidia’s Jetson Nano and Raspberry Pi boards, I’m always curious about devices that promise powerful AI capabilities without requiring a large physical setup or heavy power draw. The RK3588 AI Module 7 (AIM7), powered by the Rockchip RK3588, seemed to hit that sweet spot, a compact module with robust processing power, efficient energy use, and versatile connectivity options for a range of projects. What intrigued me most was its potential to handle AI tasks like object detection and image processing while also supporting multimedia applications, all while being small enough to integrate into custom enclosures or embedded systems where space is a premium. Here’s my hands-on experience with this exciting piece of hardware. 📋 RK3588 AI Module 7 is an upcoming product in the crowdfunding pre-launch phase. My experience is with a product in early stages and the product will improve with the feedback provided by me and other reviewers. ArmSoM RK3588 AI Module 7 AIM7 specifications The RK3588 AI Module 7 is a compact yet powerful board built around the Rockchip RK3588 SoC, an octa-core processor with a quad-core Cortex-A76 and a quad-core Cortex-A55, clocked up to 2.4 GHz. Complementing this powerhouse is the ARM Mali-G610 MP4 GPU with a 6 TOPS NPU, making it an excellent choice for AI workloads and multimedia applications. Its small size and versatile connectivity options make it suitable for embedded applications and development projects. The unit I received came with 8 GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 32 GB of eMMC storage. Feature ArmSoM RK3588(Rockchip) CPU Cores Quad-core ARM Cortex-A76 + Quad-core ARM Cortex-A55 GPU Cores ARM Mali-G610 MP4 Memory 8 GB/32 GB LPDDR4x, 2112 MHz Storage microSD card, 32GB eMMC 5.1 flash storage Video Encoding 8K@30 fps H.265 / H.264 Video Decoding 8K@60 fps H.265/VP9/AVS2, 8K@30 H.264 AVC/MVC USB Ports 1x USB 3.0, 3x USB 2.0 Ethernet 1x 10/100/1000 BASE-T CSI Interfaces 12 channels (4x2) MIPI CSI-2 D-PHY1.1 (18 Gbps) I/O 3 UARTs, 2 SPIs, 2 I2S, 4 I2Cs, multiple GPIOs PCIe 1x 1/2/4 lane PCIe 3.0 & 1x 1 lane PCIe 2.0 HDMI Output 1x HDMI 2.1 / 1x eDP 1.4 DP Interface 1x DP 1.4a eDP/DP Interface 1x eDP 1.4 / 1x HDMI 2.1 out DSI Interface 1x DSI (1x2) 2 sync OS Support Debian, Ubuntu, Armbian AIM-IO Carrier Board Specifications The AIM-IO carrier board is designed to complement the RK3588 AI Module 7. It offers a rich set of features, including multiple USB ports, display outputs, and expansion options, making it an ideal platform for development and prototyping. Feature Specification USB Ports 4x USB 3.0 Type-A Display 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI-out Networking Gigabit Ethernet GPIO 40-pin expansion header Power Connectors DC Barrel jack for 5V input, PoE support Expansion M.2 (E-key, PCIe/USB/SDIO/UART), microSD MIPI DSI 1x 4 lanes MIPI DSI up to 4K@60 fps MIPI CSI0/1 2x 2 lanes MIPI CSI, Max 2.5Gbps per lane MIPI CSI2/3 1x 4 lanes MIPI CSI, Max 2.5Gbps per lane Firmware Flashing and device mode via USB Type-C Dimensions 100 x 80 x 29 mm Unboxing and first impressionsThe RK3588 AI Module 7 arrived in a compact, well-packaged generic box alongside the AIM-IO board, which is essential for getting the module up and running. At first glance, the AIM7 itself is tiny, measuring just 69.6 x 45 mm—almost identical in size to the Jetson Nano’s core module. I added the heatsink on my own The carrier board, too, shares the same dimensions as the Jetson Nano Developer Kit’s carrier board, making it an easy swap for those already familiar with Nvidia’s ecosystem. The build quality of both the module and the carrier board is solid. The AIM-IO board’s layout is clean, with clearly labeled ports and connectors. It features four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, a 40-pin GPIO header and an M.2 slot for expansion, a welcome addition for developers looking to push the hardware’s limits. Setting it upInstalling the RK3588 AI Module 7 onto the AIM-IO board was straightforward. The edge connector design, similar to the Jetson Nano’s, meant it slotted in effortlessly. Powering it up required a standard 5V barrel jack. I know these Rockchip SBCs get real hot, so I got a generic passive heat sink. Active cooling options were way too expensive. Since I was hoping to use this device for home automation projects, I also got myself a DIY-built case. Don’t judge me, I’m moving out, so I haven’t even peeled the protective plastic off of acrylic yet (to protect from scratches)! OS installation📋 ArmSoM devices come with a Debian installed on eMMC but in Chinese. I decided to install a distro of my choice by replacing the default OS. Now, let’s talk about the OS installation. Spoiled by the ease of the Raspberry Pi Imager, I found myself on a steep learning curve while working with RKDevTool. Burning an image for the Rockchip device required me to watch several videos and read multiple pieces of documentation. After much trial and error, I managed to flash the provided Ubuntu image successfully. I’ve written a dedicated guide to help you install an OS on Rockchip devices using RKDevTool. One hiccup worth mentioning: I couldn’t test the SD card support as it didn’t work for me at all. This was disappointing, but the onboard eMMC storage provided a reliable fallback. Performance testingTo gauge the RK3588 AI Module 7’s capabilities, I ran a series of benchmarks and real-world tests. Here’s how it fared: 📋 For general testing, I opted for the Armbian image, which worked well, though I couldn’t test the AI capabilities of the NPU on it. To explore those, I later switched to the Ubuntu image. Geekbench ScoresHere you can see the single-core and multi-core performance of RK3588, which is quite impressive. I mean, the results speaks for themselves. The Cortex-A76 cores are a significant upgrade. You can see the full single-core performance of RK3588: Multi-core performance: The RK3588’s multi-core performance blew the Raspberry Pi and even Jetson Nano out of the water, with scores nearly double in most tests. Source: ArmSoM AI WorkloadsThe RK3588 AI Module 7’s 6 TOPS NPU is designed to handle AI inference efficiently. It supports RKNN-LLM, a toolkit that enables deploying lightweight language models on Rockchip hardware. I tested the TinyLLAMA model with 1.1 billion parameters, and the performance was amazing, achieving 16 tokens per second. Output result: root@armsom-aim7-io:/# ./llm_demo tinyLlama.rkllm rkllm init start rkllm-runtime version: 1.0.1, rknpu driver version: 0.9.6, platform: RK3588 rkllm init success **********************可输入以下问题对应序号获取回答/或自定义输入******************** [0] what is a hypervisor? ************************************************************************* user: 0 what is a hypervisor? robot: A hypervisor is software, firmware, or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines (VMs).There are two types: Type 1 (bare-metal, runs directly on hardware) and Type 2 (hosted, runs on top of an OS). tokens 50 time 3.12 Token/s : 16.01While I couldn’t test all the other supported models, here’s a list of models and their performance, courtesy of Radxa:TinyLLAMA 1.1B – 15.03 tokens/sQwen 1.8B – 14.18 tokens/sPhi3 3.8B – 6.46 tokens/sChatGLM3 – 3.67 tokens/s The RKNN-LLM toolkit supports deploying lightweight language models on Rockchip hardware, and the NPU’s efficiency makes it a compelling option for AI workloads. The performance varies depending on the model size and parameters, with larger models naturally running slower. The NPU also consumes less power than the GPU, freeing it up for other tasks. Image & video processingI couldn’t process live video and images as I didn’t have a compatible camera module. I own an RPi camera module but lacked the compatible ribbon cable to connect it to the AIM-IO board. Despite this, I tested the image processing capabilities using the YOLOv8 model for Object detection on the demo images provided with it. Took me a lot of time to understand how to use it (will cover that in separate article, hopefully) but thanks to Radxa's well-structured documentation, which provided a step-by-step guide. The results were impressive, showcasing the board’s ability to handle complex image recognition tasks efficiently. What Could It Be Used For?The RK3588 AI Module 7 (AIM7) offers a wide range of potential applications, making it a versatile tool for developers and hobbyists alike. Here are some possible use cases: Home Automation: AIM7’s low power consumption and robust processing capabilities make it ideal for smart home setups. From controlling IoT devices to running edge AI for home security systems, the AIM7 can handle it all. AI-Powered Applications: With its 6 TOPS NPU, the AIM7 excels in tasks like object detection, natural language processing, and image recognition. It’s a great choice for deploying lightweight AI models at the edge. Media Centers: The ability to decode and encode 8K video makes it a powerful option for creating custom media centers or streaming setups. Robotics: AIM7’s compact size and versatile connectivity options make it suitable for robotics projects that require real-time processing and AI inference. Educational Projects: For students and educators, the AIM7 provides a hands-on platform to learn about embedded systems, AI, and computer vision. Industrial Automation: Its robust hardware and software support make it a reliable choice for industrial applications like predictive maintenance and process automation. DIY Projects: Whether you’re building a smart mirror, an AI-powered camera, or a custom NAS, the AIM7 offers the flexibility and power to bring your ideas to life. If you are not interested in all of the above, you can always use it as your secondary desktop, at the end it is essentially a single board computer. 😉 Final thoughtsAfter spending some time with the RK3588 AI Module 7, I can confidently say that it’s an impressive piece of hardware. I installed Ubuntu on it, and the desktop experience was surprisingly smooth. The onboard eMMC storage really made the experience smooth, it made app launches fast and responsive, offering a noticeable speed boost compared to traditional SD card setups. Watching YouTube at 1080p was smooth, something that’s still a bit of a challenge for Raspberry Pi in the same resolution. The playback was consistent, without any stuttering, which is a big win for media-heavy applications. The RKNN-LLM toolkit enabled me to deploy lightweight models, and the NPU’s power efficiency freed up the GPU for other tasks, which is perfect for edge AI applications. My only gripe is the lack of extensive documentation from ArmSoM. While it’s available, it often doesn’t cover everything, and I found myself relying on Radxa and Mixtile forums to work around issues. ArmSoM told me that documentation will be improved after the crowdfunding launch. You can follow the crowdfunding campaign and other developments on the dedicate page. RK3588 AI Module7 A low-power AI module compatible with the Nvidia Jetson Nano ecosystem Crowd Supply I’m looking forward to exploring more of its potential in my home automation projects, especially as I integrate AI for smarter, more efficient systems.
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How to Prepare for Data Scientist Interview in 2025?
by: Neeraj Mishra Sat, 11 Jan 2025 10:39:00 +0000 One of the fastest-growing domains in the recent years is data science. For those who don’t know, data science revolves around different subjects that ultimately lead to one goal. Subjects include math, statistics, specialized programming, advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI. Working with these subjects, a data scientist uses his expertise to help generate useful insights for guiding an organization with respect to the data they have. Organizing and explaining this data for strategic planning is what a data scientist does and should be skilled at. It’s an exciting field, and if you’re an expert or someone who wants to excel as a data scientist, then you must be adept at what you do. When that’s done, make sure to apply for as many postings in reputed organizations as possible since the job’s quite in demand. As for the interview process, it can be tough and hectic since you need to demonstrate a good insight into the domain to ensure that you’re an expert. Companies don’t tend to hire people who aren’t insightful or can’t contribute more than they’re already achieving. Therefore, let’s get into how you can prepare for a data science interview and excel at getting a job at the company of your liking: 1. Preparing for Coding InterviewsOne of the hardest phases of any data science interview is the coding phase. Since the position requires skilled expertise in coding, it’s imperative that you prepare yourself for it. Coding interviews consist of various coding challenges comprising data structures, learning algorithms, statistics, and other related subjects. In order to prepare for these, you should focus on the foundational concepts for each subject. In addition, you should practice various problems, scaling from easy to professional to emergency levels, so that you can prepare for any real-time situation provided in the interview. If you want you can find various online courses that you can view and even enroll in to get a certification. Having a certification with your experience will surely do you good in interviews. 2. Preparing for Virtual InterviewsMost companies that are hiring data scientists don’t directly call candidates for physical interviews. They scrutinize available candidates and narrow them down to the optimal ones via virtual interviews. This usually involves pre-assessment coding tests as well as a short virtual interview that gives the recruiters a better idea of whether the candidate should appear for a second interview or not. That’s why you should take good measures and prepare for your virtual interviews as well. It’s likely that you’ll be interviewed live and will have to complete an online assessment while being live on your cam. For that, ensure that you have a professional workspace, room, and dressing. Also, ensure you’re using a stable internet so that you don’t get buffering or any botherations during the time you’re on call. Amongst recommendations, we suggest checking out plans from Xfinity or contacting Xfinity customer services to choose from available reliable options. Apart from this, ensure your equipment is working properly including your microphone, camera, keyboard, etc. so that any interruptions won’t undermine your value during the interview. 3. Brushing Up for Technical InterviewIn addition to the coding interview, you also need to prepare yourself for a technical interview. This usually happens within the coding interview; however, there can be multiple rounds for it. That is why you need to polish your technical knowledge in order to prepare for it. Here are different steps that you can deploy for it: Programming LanguagesTo begin, you need to go through programming languages including Python, R, SQL, etc. necessary for the purpose. This also includes creating code for different pertaining problems as well as utilizing inventiveness for the given situation. Data Structures & AlgorithmsSince the technical round will comprise various algorithms, you’ll need to go through data structures and algorithms too. This will prepare you for any given situation dealing with the algorithms on different difficulty levels. Data Manipulation & AnalysisData manipulation is quite important when it comes to being a data scientist since it’s everything. From retrieving to analyzing the information to data cleaning and applying statistics, you should be versed in the technicalities of data manipulation. Also, you need to be versed in techniques needed for comprehending statistical elements via various techniques such as regression analysis, probabilistic distributions, etc. For that, you’ll need to go through these practices to ensure that you know how real-time problems will be solved. 4. Familiarizing with Business & Financial ConceptsYou’ll also need to familiarize yourself with the company’s web pages as well as networking sites so that you can adapt your responses accordingly. This will also require you to study in-depth about the job position you’re applying for so that you can orient your answers to what’s required by the company. Closing ThoughtsWith these pointers, you should be able to prepare yourself for a data science interview. Ensure to keep these handy while you’re preparing for one, and excel at your next interview. The post How to Prepare for Data Scientist Interview in 2025? appeared first on The Crazy Programmer.
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Remembering Usenet - The OG Social Network that Existed Even Before the World Wide Web
by: Bill Dyer Before Reddit, before GitHub, and even before the World Wide Web went online, there was Usenet. This decentralized network of discussion groups was a main line of communication of the early internet - ideas were exchanged, debates raged, research conducted, and friendships formed. For those of us who experienced it, Usenet was more than just a communication tool; it was a community, a center of innovation, and a proving ground for the ideas. 📋 It is also culturally and historically significant in that it popularized concepts and terms such as "LOL (first used in a newsgroup in 1990)," FAQ," "flame," "spam," and,"sockpuppet". Oldest network that is still in useUsenet is one of the oldest computer network communications systems still in widespread use. It went online in 1980, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University. 1980 is significant in that it was pre-World Wide Web by over a decade. In fact, the "Internet" was basically a network of privately owned ARPANet sites. Usenet was created to be the network for the general public - before the general public even had access to the Internet. I see Usenet as the first social network. Over time, Usenet grew to include thousands of discussion groups (called newsgroups) and millions of users. Users read and write posts, called articles, using software called a newsreader. In the 1990s, early Web browsers and email programs often had a built-in newsreader. Topics were many; if you could imagine a topic, there was probably a group made for it and, if a group didn't exist, one could be made. The culture of Usenet: Learning the ropesWhile I say that Usenet was the first social network, it was never really organized to be one. Each group owner could - and usually did - set their own rules. Before participating in discussions, it was common advice to “lurk” for a while - read the group without posting - to learn the rules, norms, and tone of the community. Every Usenet group had its own etiquette, usually unwritten, and failing to follow it could lead to a “flaming.” These public scoldings, were often harsh, but they reinforced the importance of respecting the group’s culture. For groups like comp.std.doc and comp.text, lurking was essential to understand the technical depth and specificity of the conversations. Jumping in without preparation wasn’t just risky - it was almost a rite of passage to survive the initial corrections from seasoned members. Yet, once you earned their respect, you became part of a tightly knit network of expertise and camaraderie - you belonged. Usenet and the birth of LinuxOne newsgroup, comp.os.minix, became legendary when Linus Torvalds posted about a new project he was working on. In August 1991, Linus announced the creation of Linux, a hobby project of a free operating system. Usenet's structure - decentralized, threaded, and open - can be seen as the first demonstration of the values of open-source development. Anyone with a connection and a bit of technical know-how could hop on and join in a conversation. For developers, Usenet quickly became the main tool for keeping up with rapidly evolving programming languages, paradigms, and methodologies. It's not a stretch to see how Usenet also became an essential platform for code collaborating, bug tracking, and intellectual exchange - it thrived in this ecosystem. The discussions were sometimes messy - flame wars and off-topic posts were common - but they were also authentic. Problems were solved not in isolation but through collective effort. Without Usenet, the early growth of Linux may well have been much slower. A personal memory: Helping across continentsMy own experience with Usenet wasn’t just about reading discussions or solving technical problems. It became a bridge to collaboration and friendship. I remember one particular interaction well: a Finnish academic working on her doctoral dissertation on documentation standards posted a query to a group I frequented. By chance, I had the information she needed. At the time, I spent a lot of my time in groups like comp.std.doc and comp.text, where discussions about documentation standards and text processing were common. She was working with SGML standards, while I was more focused on HTML. Despite our different areas of expertise, Usenet made it easy for the two of us to connect and share knowledge. She later wrote back to say my input had helped her complete her dissertation. This took place in the mid-1990s and that brief collaboration turned into a friendship that lasts to this day. Although we may go long periods without writing, we’ve always kept in touch. It’s evidence to how Usenet didn’t just encourage innovation but also created a lasting friendship across continents. The decline and legacy of UsenetAs the internet evolved, Usenet's use has been fading. The rise of web-based forums, social media, and version-control platforms like GitHub made Usenet feel clunky and outdated, and there are concerns that it is largely being used to send spam and conduct flame wars and binary (no text) exchanges. On February 22, 2024, Google stopped Usenet support for these reasons. Users can no longer post or subscribe, or view new content. Historical content, before the cut-off date can be viewed, however. This doesn't mean that Usenet is dead; far from it. Giganews, Newsdemon, and Usenet are still running, if you are interested in looking into this. Both require a subscription, but Eternal September provides free access. If Usenet's use has been declining, then why look into it? Its archives. The archives hold detailed discussions, insights, questions and answers, and snippets of code - a good deal of which is still relevant to today’s software hurdles. ConclusionI would guess that, for those of us who were there, Usenet remains a nostalgic memory. It does for me. The quirks of its culture - from FAQs to "RTFM" responses - were part of its charm. It was chaotic, imperfect, and sometimes frustrating, but it was also a place where real work got done and real connections were made. Looking back, my time on Usenet was one of the foundational chapters in my journey through technology. Helping a stranger across the globe complete a dissertation might seem like a small thing, but it’s emblematic of what Usenet stood for: collaboration without boundaries. It bears repeating: It was a place where knowledge was freely shared and where the seeds of ideas could grow into something great. And in this case, it helped create a friendship that continues to remind me of Usenet’s unique power to connect people. As Linux fans, we owe a lot to Usenet. Without it, Linux might have remained a small hobby project instead of becoming the force of computing that it has become. So, the next time you’re diving into a Linux distro or collaborating on an open-source project, take a moment to appreciate the platform that helped make it all possible.
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QR Codes and Linux: Bridging Open-Source Technology with Seamless Connectivity
By: Janus Atienza Thu, 09 Jan 2025 17:34:55 +0000 QR codes have revolutionized how we share information, offering a fast and efficient way to connect physical and digital worlds. In the Linux ecosystem, the adaptability of QR codes aligns seamlessly with the open-source philosophy, enabling developers, administrators, and users to integrate QR code functionality into various workflows. Leveraging a qr code generator free can simplify this process, making it accessible even for those new to the technology. From system administration to enhancing user interfaces, using QR codes in Linux environments is both practical and innovative. QR Codes on Linux: Where and How They Are UsedQR codes serve diverse purposes in Linux systems, providing solutions that enhance functionality and user experience. For instance, Linux administrators can generate QR codes to link to system logs or troubleshooting guides, offering easy access during remote sessions. In secure file sharing, QR codes can embed links to files, enabling safe resource sharing without exposing the system to vulnerabilities. Additionally, Linux’s prevalence in IoT device management is complemented by QR codes, which simplify pairing and configuring devices. Teachers and learners attach QR codes to scripts, tutorials, or resources in education, ensuring quick access to valuable materials. These examples demonstrate how QR codes integrate seamlessly into Linux workflows to improve efficiency and usability. How to Generate QR Codes on LinuxLinux users have several methods to create QR codes, from terminal-based commands to online tools like me-qr.com, which offer user-friendly interfaces. Here’s a list of ways to generate QR codes within Linux environments: Automate QR code generation with cron jobs for time-sensitive data. Encode secure access tokens or one-time passwords in QR codes. Store Linux commands in QR codes for quick scanning and execution. Use QR codes for encrypted messages using tools. Create QR codes linking to installation scripts or system resources. In Linux environments, QR codes are not limited to traditional uses. For instance, remote server management becomes more secure with QR codes containing SSH keys or login credentials, allowing encrypted device connections. Similarly, QR codes can be used in disaster recovery processes to store encryption keys or recovery instructions. For Linux-based applications, developers embed QR codes into app interfaces to direct users to support pages or additional features, decluttering the UI. Additionally, collaborative workflows benefit from QR codes directly linking to Git repositories, enabling seamless project sharing among teams. These creative applications illustrate the versatility of QR codes in enhancing functionality and security within Linux systems. The Open-Source Potential of QR Codes on LinuxAs Linux continues to power diverse applications, from servers to IoT devices, QR codes add a layer of simplicity and connectivity. Whether you’re looking to generate QR code free for file sharing or embed codes into an application, Linux users have a wealth of options at their fingertips. Platforms like me-qr.com provide an intuitive and accessible way to create QR codes, while command-line tools offer flexibility for advanced users. With their ability to streamline workflows and enhance user experiences, QR codes are an indispensable asset in the Linux ecosystem. Let the power of open-source meet the versatility of QR codes, and watch your Linux environment transform into a hub of connectivity and innovation. The post QR Codes and Linux: Bridging Open-Source Technology with Seamless Connectivity appeared first on Unixmen.
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Tight Mode: Why Browsers Produce Different Performance Results
by: Geoff Graham Thu, 09 Jan 2025 16:16:15 +0000 I wrote a post for Smashing Magazine that was published today about this thing that Chrome and Safari have called “Tight Mode” and how it impacts page performance. I’d never heard the term until DebugBear’s Matt Zeunert mentioned it in a passing conversation, but it’s a not-so-new deal and yet there’s precious little documentation about it anywhere. So, Matt shared a couple of resources with me and I used those to put some notes together that wound up becoming the article that was published. In short: The implications are huge, as it means resources are not treated equally at face value. And yet the way Chrome and Safari approach it is wildly different, meaning the implications are wildly different depending on which browser is being evaluated. Firefox doesn’t enforce it, so we’re effectively looking at three distinct flavors of how resources are fetched and rendered on the page. It’s no wonder web performance is a hard discipline when we have these moving targets. Sure, it’s great that we now have a consistent set of metrics for evaluating, diagnosing, and discussing performance in the form of Core Web Vitals — but those metrics will never be consistent from browser to browser when the way resources are accessed and prioritized varies. Tight Mode: Why Browsers Produce Different Performance Results originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.
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9 Best Free Node.js Hosting 2025
by: Zainab Sutarwala Thu, 09 Jan 2025 10:46:00 +0000 Are you looking for the best free Nodejs hosting platforms? You are at the right place. Node.js is a highly popular JavaScript open-source server environment used by many developers across the world. Right from its commencement in 2009, the server has grown in huge popularity and is used by a lot of businesses. The industry and business sectors primarily make use of Node.js. At present, Node.js is a most loved and well-known open-source server environment. Besides this, it provides the most convenient structure, which supports JavaScript as well as resolves various obstacles. Furthermore, it has made JavaScript easily understandable for programmers on the devices. In this article, we will check out the best free Nodejs hosting platforms that will prove very helpful. By the end, you will have a strong understanding of various options available for the free Node.js hosting solutions accessible for your Node JavaScript projects and can make an informed choice on which service suits your requirements. RenderRender is a new company that offers free static hosting. It offers a wide range of free services that include Node.js & Docker hosting. Its pricing page static site, Redis, PostgreSQL, and services for free. Though there’s a little catch for PostgreSQL it runs only for 90 days free. Render has the smoothest and easiest developer experience as well and deploying the Node app was easy to use. It has comprehensive docs that will help you deploy Node.js apps for free and also host various other languages as well as frameworks. There are a few other things that you may deploy on the Render app and they are Go, Python, Docker, and PHP (Laravel). You can host various other Node.js choices on Render such as Bun.js and Deno. Features: Simple deployment with just one click. Get 1 GB of free storage. Auto Scaling for traffic surges. Constant deployment that will keep applications updated. SSL Certificates for safe communication with the users for free.Try Render VercelEarlier known as Zeit, the Vercel app acts as the top layer of AWS Lambda which will make running your applications easy. It’s the serverless platform that will run a range of things with stronger attention on the front end. Vercel hosting platform is a popular hosting service with a lot of cutting-edge functions as well as amazing developer experience. Even though Vercel mainly focuses on front-end applications, it has built-in support that will host serverless Node.js features in a free tier. Vercel will be configured for retaining server experience with the help of the Legacy Serverful Behavior. Thus, Vercel is the best hosting platform, which is loved by a lot of developers, and hosting Node APIs on this platform will be a great benefit. Features: Integrate Git hosting solutions like GitLab, GitHub, and BitBucket Vercel provides a generous free plan and does not need a credit card It supports some popular front-end structures such as Next, React, Vue, and Gatsby Deploy & execute server-less features Various project themes to bootstrap the new app Vercel analytics will monitor the performance Try Vercel GlitchIf you are looking for the best and most free Node.js hosting API for some fun projects, Glitch’s free feature plan is a perfect application for you. It is the best for fun prototyping or apps. For some serious projects, you have to check out their Pro program which runs for over $8 monthly (paid on an annual basis). Their free plan allows you to create the app anonymously, although you will have to log in through Facebook or GitHub if you want this project to be live (any anonymous applications will expire within 5 days). Fastly acquired Glitch in 2022, and started offering their Pro plan as the best way to expand on limits. It was made by Stack Exchange, Stack Overflow, and Trello. Features: Limitless project uptime Custom domains offered Additional disk space Friendly UI Tutorials to get you running Integrate with APIs & other techTry Glitch CyclicCyclic offers full-stack Node.js services for free. This is the serverless wrapper made on top of AWS. As mentioned on their pricing page it has the self-claimed free tier to deploy one app and can easily be invoked ten thousand times in one month. It has some soft and hard limits stated on its limits page. As mentioned on its pricing page it has a self-claimed free tier to deploy one app which can be invoked ten thousand times in one month. It has some soft and hard limits on its page. Features: 1GB runtime memory 10,000 API requests 1GB Object Storage 512MB storage 3 Cron tasksTry Cyclic Google CloudNow developers can experience low latency networks & host your apps for your Google products with Google Cloud. With the Google App Engine, developers can focus more on writing down code without worrying about managing its underlying infrastructure. Also, you will pay only for the resources you are going to use. This service provides a vast choice of products or services that you can select from. It is simple to start with the App Engine guide. All customers and developers can take benefits of more than 25 free products on its monthly usage limits. Besides, Google Cloud service is the best selection for webmasters looking to compare their features as well as select a good web hosting service for their websites. It offers the most intuitive user interface & scalability choices. What’s more, the pricing is competitive and straightforward. Features: Friendly UI and scalability options More than 25 free products Affordable, simple to use, and flexible Range of products Simple to start with user manualTry Google Cloud Amazon AWSAmazon Web Services or AWS powers the whole internet. It might be a little exaggerating but would be incorrect to not talk about its popularity. The platform integrates many services that make them the top options as the Node.js free hosting app. AWS is a cloud-based server that doesn’t offer hosting with the physical server but uses the virtual server. The majority of users prefer cloud hosting since it won’t ask you to pay for any additional resources when buying. Instead, it just charges you for used-up space. The company offers a free hosting plan that will give you a very good start. For its paid plans you need to pay for every hour for the service category that will be for one to three years period. Separate costing for storage, computing, migration, database, and transfer, networking and content delivery, media service, developer tools, analytics, and more are present. To start with AWS hosting is very simple. All you have to do is just upload the code and allow AWS to provision & deploy everything for you. There’s no cost of using its Elastic Beanstalk service and you are charged for services provided by AWS. Features: Pay only for used storage space Simple integration of plugins Monitoring included Load balancing and auto-scaling to scale an application Free plans will expire after a year You need to couple the paid services and free services to launch the fully functional website AWS paid services are costly Good for web apps & SaSS platformsTry Amazon AWS Microsoft AzureMicrosoft Azure is a robust cloud computing server that makes it simple to host & deploy Node.js apps. It provides an App Service that includes fully managed service for Node.js web hosting applications without any upfront commitment & cancel option. Their service provides the most sophisticated vision, language, speech, and AI models, hence you will be able to create your machine-learning system. You can create applications that can detect & classify various concepts and objects Many web developers find their service to be highly reliable and powerful, especially for cloud computing. It helps to create various web apps. With Azure you can find some amazing functions that you can start quickly, their AI models have advanced options. The platform offers free core services and you also get a credit of $200 as an incentive for trying out this platform. Features: Applications can detect and classify objects Fully managed Node.js app hosting High-class vision, speech, language, and decision-making AI models Cloud computing platform to create online apps Scale web apps Sophisticated AI models provide advanced optionsTry Microsoft Azure NetlifyNetlify is yet another popular platform to deploy web projects and apps. The platform provides a free hosting program that has an integrated system to deploy various projects and software from GitHub and GitLab. You just need the project URL to create features, and you are all set to start. Netlify has a friendly user interface with free SSL, it gives you fast CDN access. Besides, Netlify has Serverless support, so you can use their Functions Playground and create the Serverless features and deploy The Gatsby with WordPress API immediately. Netlify maintains a very active project GitHub page. Till now, they have published over 240 packages for open-source collaboration. Their web hosting function is created by the developers for developers. Features: Create history so you may roll back when any issue presents itself. Deploy project is done automatically with Git. private or personal repos. Access to Edge network – distributed CDN globally. Host a wide range of websites. 100GB bandwidth and 6 hours of build time.Try Netlify QoveryIf you do not have any prior experience in managing cloud infrastructure, Qovery is the best choice for you. This platform was made from scratch to help startups improve their operations. At present, Qover is accessible for DigitalOcean, AWS, and Scaleway users. To make it clear and use Qovery solutions, you will require an account on those cloud solutions. With AWS free plans and a combination of Qovery – it will create a most powerful combo for use. At least for the small-scale projects, that you are not yet ready to commit to complete. If that is not a big trouble, you may take complete benefit of Qovery’s core functions. Build from Git, and deploy in different stages, and utilize Kubernetes to scale while demand exceeds. Features: Over 1 cluster Unlimited Developers One-click Preview Environment Over 5 EnvironmentsTry Qovery Conclusion So here you have the complete list of different platforms where you may host the Node.js projects. All the hosts in this guide provide excellent web services & generous free tiers. Besides, they will help you to build a strong website. Finally, it comes down to what type of experience that you want. We hope this blog post on the best free Nodejs hosting platform has helped you find the right hosting service! The post 9 Best Free Node.js Hosting 2025 appeared first on The Crazy Programmer.
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FOSS Weekly #25.02: Absolute Linux, ShredOS, AI in Kdenlive, Fossify File Manager and More
by: Abhishek Prakash The holidays are over and so do the Tuxmas Days. 12 days of 12 new features, changes and announcements. As mentioned on Tuxmas Day 11, It's FOSS Lifetime membership now also gets you lifetime Reader-level membership of Linux Handbook, our other portal focused on sysadmin, DevOps and self-hosting. If you are one of the 73 people (so far) who opted for the Lifetime plan, you'll get a separate email on Linux Handbook's membership. Meanwhile, please download the 'Linux for DevOps' book for free as part of your Plus membership. Please note that this combined benefit of free lifetime Linux Handbook Reader level membership (usually costs $18 per year) is only available till 11th January. Thereafter, it will cost $99 and won't include Linux Handbook's membership. Get the additional advantage before the time runs out. Get It's FOSS Lifetime Membership 💬 Let's see what else you get in this edition SteamOS rolling out Kdenlive working on a new AI-powered feature. Nobara being the first one to introduce a release in 2025. And other Linux news, videos and, of course, memes! 📰 Linux and Open Source NewsNobara 41 is the first Linux distro release of 2025. 2025 has hardly started and we have some bad news already as Absolute Linux is discontinued. Kdenlive is working on adding an AI-powered background removal tool. If rumors are to be believed, a 16 GB variant of the Raspberry Pi 5 could be coming very soon. Soon, you'll be able to install SteamOS on other handheld gaming devices. Did you know there is a dedicated Linux distribution for wiping disks? ShredOS is a Linux Distro Built to Wipe Your Data A Linux distro built to help you destroy data. Sounds pretty cool! It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra 🧠 What We’re Thinking AboutSourav switched to Proton VPN after going through many other VPN services, here's what he thinks of it: I Switched to Proton VPN and Here’s What I Honestly Think About It Proton VPN is an impressive solution. Here’s my experience with it. It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra 🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials and MoreLearn how to install and use Neovim on various distros. Updating your Python packages is crucial, and it's effortless with pip. Optimize your workflow by auto-starting AppImages on your Linux workstation. And an analogy to explain why there are so many Linux distributions. What is Linux? Why There are 100’s of Linux OS? Cannot figure out what is Linux and why there are so many of Linux? This analogy explains things in a simpler manner. It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash 👷 Maker's and AI CornerDid you know you could run LLMs locally on a Raspberry Pi? How to Run LLMs Locally on Raspberry Pi Using Ollama AI Got a Raspberry Pi? How about using it ton run some LLMs using Ollama for your own private AI? It's FOSSAbhishek Kumar 📹 Videos we are watchingDo you really need a media server software? Subscribe to our YouTube channe ✨ Apps of the WeekMullvad Browser is a very solid privacy-focused alternative to the likes of Google Chrome. Mullvad Browser: A Super Privacy-Focused Browser Based on Firefox Mullvad is Firefox, but enhanced for privacy, pretty interesting take as a cross-platform private browser app. It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra If you are looking for a change in file management on Android, then you could go for Fossify File Manager. 🧩 Quiz TimeHave some fun finding the logos of distros and open source projects. Spot All The Logos: Image Puzzle Let’s see if you can spot the hidden items in the image! It's FOSSAnkush Das 💡 Quick Handy TipIf you are a Xfce user with a multi-monitor setup, then you can span the Xfce panel across monitors. First, right-click on the panel you want to span and then go to Panel → Panel Preferences. Here, in the Display tab, set Output as Automatic and enable the “Span monitors” checkbox. 🤣 Meme of the WeekThe pain is real. 😥 🗓️ Tech TriviaHitachi announced the first 1 MB memory chip on January 6, 1984. At the time, this was a revolutionary leap in storage technology. Today, we carry more memory in our pockets than entire systems from that era! 🧑🤝🧑 FOSSverse CornerPro FOSSer Neville shares his experience with Chimera Linux on virt-manager. This is a detailed write-up, so be prepared for a lengthy read. Chimera Linux in virt-manager with Plasma | Wayland | APK | Clang/LLVM | musl | dinit | BSD core tools Chimera Linux in virt-manager with Plasma and Wayland Want to try something really different? Chimera Linux have just released new images as of 4/12/24. Chimera is a new distro build from scratch using Linux kernel 6.12 core tools from FreeBSD apk package system from Alpine Clang/LLVM toolchain Musl C library Gnome and Plasma desktops with Wayland &/or X11 multiple architectures - Intel/AMD, ARM AArch64, POWER, and RISC-V the dinit init system A real mix. One could debate whether it is L… It's FOSS Communitynevj ❤️ With loveShare 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 🙏 Keep on enjoying Linux in 2025 🐧
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Installing Listmonk - Self-hosted Newsletter and Mailing List Manager
As a tech-enthusiast content creator, I'm always on the lookout for innovative ways to connect with my audience and share my passion for technology and self-sufficiency. But as my newsletter grew in popularity, I found myself struggling with the financial burden of relying on external services like Mailgun - a problem many creators face when trying to scale their outreach efforts without sacrificing quality. That's when I discovered Listmonk, a free and open-source mailing list manager that not only promises high performance but also gives me complete control over my data. In this article, I'll walk you through how I successfully installed and deployed Listmonk locally using Docker, sharing my experiences and lessons learned along the way. I used Linode's cloud server to test the scenario. You may try either of Linode or DigitalOcean or your own servers. Customer Referral Landing Page - $100Cut Your Cloud Bills in Half Deploy more with Linux virtual machines, global infrastructure, and simple pricing. No surprise bills, no lock-in, and theLinodeGet started on Linode with a $100, 60-day credit for new users. DigitalOcean – The developer cloudHelping millions of developers easily build, test, manage, and scale applications of any size – faster than ever before.Explore our productsGet started on DigitalOcean with a $100, 60-day credit for new users. PrerequisitesBefore diving into the setup process, make sure you have the following: Docker and Docker Compose installed on your server.A custom domain that you want to use for Listmonk.Basic knowledge of shell commands and editing configuration files.If you are absolutely new to Docker, we have a course just for you: Learn Docker: Complete Beginner’s CourseLearn Docker, an important skill to have for any DevOps and modern sysadmin. Learn all the essentials of Docker in this series.Linux HandbookAbdullah TarekStep 1: Set up the project directoryThe first thing you need to do is create the directory where you'll store all the necessary files for Listmonk, I like an organized setup (helps in troubleshooting). In your terminal, run: mkdir listmonk cd listmonk This will set up a dedicated directory for Listmonk’s files. Step 2: Create the Docker compose fileListmonk has made it incredibly easy to get started with Docker. Their official documentation provides a detailed guide and even a sample docker-compose.yml file to help you get up and running quickly. Download the sample file to the current directory: curl -LO https://github.com/knadh/listmonk/raw/master/docker-compose.yml Here is the sample docker-compose.yml file, I tweaked some default environment variables: 💡It's crucial to keep your credentials safe! Store them in a separate .env file, not hardcoded in your docker-compose.yml. I know, I know, I did it for this tutorial... but you're smarter than that, right? 😉For most users, this setup should be sufficient but you can always tweak settings to your own needs. then run the container in the background: docker compose up -dOnce you've run these commands, you can access Listmonk by navigating to http://localhost:9000 in your browser. Setting up SSLBy default, Listmonk runs over HTTP and doesn’t include built-in SSL support. It is kinda important if you are running any service these days. So the next thing we need to do is to set up SSL support. While I personally prefer using Cloudflare Tunnels for SSL and remote access, this tutorial will focus on Caddy for its straightforward integration with Docker. Start by creating a folder named caddy in the same directory as your docker-compose.yml file: mkdir caddyInside the caddy folder, create a file named Caddyfile with the following content:th the following contents: listmonk.example.com { reverse_proxy app:9000 }Replace listmonk.example.com with your actual domain name. This tells Caddy to proxy requests from your domain to the Listmonk service running on port 9000. Ensure your domain is correctly configured in DNS. Add an A record pointing to your server's IP address (in my case, the Linode server's IP). If you’re using Cloudflare, set the proxy status to DNS only during the initial setup to let Caddy handle SSL certificates. Next, add the Caddy service to your docker-compose.yml file. Here’s the configuration to include: caddy: image: caddy:latest restart: unless-stopped container_name: caddy ports: - 80:80 - 443:443 volumes: - ./caddy/Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile - ./caddy/caddy_data:/data - ./caddy/caddy_config:/config networks: - listmonkThis configuration sets up Caddy to handle HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443) traffic, automatically obtain SSL certificates, and reverse proxy requests to the Listmonk container. Finally, restart your containers to apply the new settings: docker-compose restartOnce the containers are up and running, navigate to your domain (e.g., https://listmonk.example.com) in a browser. Caddy will handle the SSL certificate issuance and proxy the traffic to Listmonk seamlessly. Step 3: Accessing Listmonk webUIOnce Listmonk is up and running, it’s time to access the web interface and complete the initial setup. Open your browser and navigate to your domain or IP address where Listmonk is hosted. If you’ve configured HTTPS, the URL should look something like this: https://listmonk.yourdomain.com and you’ll be greeted with the login page. Click Login to proceed. Creating the admin userOn the login screen, you’ll be prompted to create an administrator account. Enter your email address, a username, and a secure password, then click Continue. This account will serve as the primary admin for managing Listmonk. Configure general settingsOnce logged in, navigate to Settings > Settings in the left sidebar. Under the General tab, customize the following: Site Name: Enter a name for your Listmonk instance.Root URL: Replace the default http://localhost:9000 with your domain (e.g., https://listmonk.yourdomain.com).Admin Email: Add an email address for administrative notifications.Click Save to apply these changes. Configure SMTP settingsTo send emails, you’ll need to configure SMTP settings: Click on the SMTP tab in the settings.Fill in the details:Host: smtp.emailhost.comPort: 465Auth Protocol: LoginUsername: Your email addressPassword: Your email password (or Gmail App password, generated via Google’s security settings)TLS: SSL/TLSClick Save to confirm the settings.Create a new campaign listNow, let’s create a list to manage your subscribers: Go to All Lists in the left sidebar and click + New.Give your list a name, set it to Public, and choose between Single Opt-In or Double Opt-In.Add a description, then click Save.Your newsletter subscription form will now be available at: https://listmonk.yourdomain.com/subscription/form With everything set up and running smoothly, it’s time to put Listmonk to work. You can easily import your existing subscribers, customize the look and feel of your emails, and even change the logo to match your brand. Final thoughtsAnd that’s it! You’ve successfully set up Listmonk, configured SMTP, and created your first campaign list. From here, you can start sending newsletters and growing your audience. I’m currently testing Listmonk for my own newsletter solution on my website, and while it’s a robust solution, I’m curious to see how it performs in a production environment. That said, I’m genuinely impressed by the thought and effort that Kailash Nadh and the contributors have put into this software, it’s a remarkable achievement. For any questions or challenges you encounter, the Listmonk GitHub page is an excellent resource and the developers are highly responsive. Finally, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Share your feedback, comments, or suggestions below. I’d love to hear about your experience with Listmonk and how you’re using it for your projects. Happy emailing! 📨 https://linuxhandbook.com/content/images/2025/01/listmon-self-hosting.png
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LambdaTest Review 2025 – Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons
by: Zainab Sutarwala Tue, 07 Jan 2025 11:33:00 +0000 LambdaTest has today emerged as a popular name especially in the field of cross-browser testing, helping businesses and developers to ensure the functionality and compatibility of their web applications over a wide variety of devices and browsers. With the quick evolution of web technologies and the diverse landscape of devices and browsers, cross-browsing testing today has become an indispensable feature of web development. LambdaTest mainly addresses this challenge by offering a strong and user-friendly platform that enables developers to test their web applications and websites on real browsers and operating systems, allowing them to deliver a smooth user experience to their audience. What is LambdaTest?The dynamic digital age necessitates high-performance and innovative web tools. In this massive world of website testing and software development, LambdaTest holds a desirable reputation as a cloud-based, cross-browser testing software. LambdaTest is one of the most intuitive platforms developed to make web testing simple and trouble-free. It allows you to smoothly test your web application and website compatibility over more than 3000 different web browser environments, offering comprehensive and detailed testing at your fingertips. No matter whether it is about debugging problems or tracking the layout, this application covers everything with grace. The software makes it very simple to make your websites responsive, future-proof, and adaptive over a wide range of devices and operating systems. Features of LambdaTestGiven the list of some amazing features that LambdaTest offers, let’s check them out: Live Interactive Testing: The live browser testing of LambdaTest allows users to interactively test websites in real-time in various browsers, resolutions, operating systems, and versions. Automated Screenshot Testing: This particular feature helps the users to carry out screenshot testing on a wide range of desktop and mobile browsers concurrently, thus reducing the testing time. Responsive Testing: Check how your website pages look on different devices including tablets, desktops, and mobile and screen resolutions to ensure proper compatibility over the board. Smart Testing Feature: Another amazing feature of LambdaTest is it allows users to locally or privately test hosted pages. Additionally, it offers the newest versions of different developer tools like Chrome DevTools for nuanced testing and bug detection. Integration: The software allows integration with popular project management and communication tools such as Jira, Trello, Slack, Bitbucket, etc.Pricing of LambdaTestThe costing structure of LambdaTest is designed keeping in mind their range of customers. Lite Plan: It begins with the ‘Lite’ package which is totally free but has limited capabilities. It is perfect for individual developers and small startups just starting their testing journey. Live Plan: The ‘Live’ package starts at $15 monthly when billed yearly. The ‘Mobile $ Web Browser Automation’ package begins from $79 monthly and is made for automated browser testing requirements. All-In-One Plan: If you are looking for full functionality and accessibility, there’s an All-In-One package priced at $99 monthly. It enables unlimited real-testing, responsive testing, screenshot testing, and more.All these three plans come with a 14-day free trial so that the potential users will experience firsthand what LambdaTest will do for them before they commit to any particular plan. Key Benefits of Using LambdaTestThe cornerstone of LambdaTest’s value proposition lies in its exclusive set of benefits and these include: Rapid Testing: It supports parallel testing that considerably reduces the execution time of the test. Wide-Ranging Browser Support: It covers the widest range of mobile and desktop browsers. Local Testing: This function makes sure safe testing of your locally hosted pages before deploying live. Smart Visual UI Testing: Now users can automatically company and identify visual deviations that offer pixel-perfect layouts. Debugging Tools: This testing platform comes fully loaded with pre-installed developer tools that will make bug detection a breeze. Scalable Cloud Grid: Offers you a scalable selenium grid for much faster automation tests and parallel execution of the test.How Will LambdaTest Help You Test Multiple Browsers?Being the cloud-based testing platform, LambdaTest allows you to eliminate the need for virtual machine or device labs. You just have to select the platform and browser and start your testing process. From the latest Chrome version to the oldest Internet Explorer version, LambdaTest keeps it well-covered. This ability to stimulate and emulate a broad range of devices, web browsers, and screen resolutions allows you to test over a wide range of browser environments without any need for massive hardware investments. Pros and Cons of LambdaTestJust like any other tool, LambdaTest isn’t without its benefits and drawbacks Pros: Broad Spectrum Compatibility – Allows you to test on a wide range of browsers and OS combinations. Collaborative Tool: LambdaTest geographically supports dispersed teams in tracking, sharing, and managing bugs from one place. Constant Support: Provides robust and 24/7 support for troubleshooting or queries.Cons: Features appear overwhelming: It may be overwhelming for beginners because of the wealth of features accessible. Sluggish: Some users have reported experiencing slowness during peak hours. Requires Frequent Updating: The latest browser versions sometimes aren’t available instantly on this platform.ConclusionIn the world of digital presence, ensuring your web apps and websites perform perfectly on each browser and platform is very important. With a lot of amazing features and compatibility, LamdaTest appears to be a powerful tool that is perfect for meeting the demanding cross-browser testing requirements of today. LambdaTest is the browser compatibility tool that punches over its weight, delivering strong performance just to ensure your website’s smooth and optimum operation over a wide range of browser environments. The post LambdaTest Review 2025 – Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons appeared first on The Crazy Programmer.
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Chris’ Corner: User Control
by: Chris Coyier Mon, 06 Jan 2025 20:47:37 +0000 Like Miriam Suzanne says: I like the idea of controlling my own experience when browsing and using the web. Bump up that default font size, you’re worth it. Here’s another version of control. If you publish a truncated RSS feed on your site, but the site itself has more content, I reserve the right to go fetch that content and read it through a custom RSS feed. I feel like that’s essentially the same thing as if I had an elaborate user stylesheet that I applied just to that website that made it look how I wanted it to look. It would be weird to be anti user-stylesheet. I probably don’t take enough control over my own experience on sites, really. Sometimes it’s just a time constraint where I don’t have the spoons to do a bunch of customization. But the spoon math changes when it has to do with doing my job better. I was thinking about this when someone poked me that an article I published had a wrong link in it. As I was writing it in WordPress, somehow I linked the link to some internal admin screen URL instead of where I was trying to link to. Worse, I bet I’ve made that same mistake 10 times this year. I don’t know what the heck the problem is (some kinda fat finger issue, probably) but the same problem is happening too much. What can help? User stylesheets can help! I love it when CSS helps me do my job in weird subtle ways better. I’ve applied this CSS now: .editor-visual-editor a[href*="/wp-admin/"]::after { content: " DERP!"; color: red; } That first class is just something to scope down the editor area in WordPress, then I select any links that have “wp-admin” in them, which I almost certainly do not want to be linking to, and show a visual warning. It’s a little silly, but it will literally work to stop this mistake I keep making. I find it surprising that only Safari has entirely native support for a linking up your own user CSS, but there are ways to do it via extension or other features in all browsers. Welp now that we’re talking about CSS I can’t help but share some of my favorite links in that area now. Dave put his finger on an idea I’m wildly jealous of: CSS wants to be a system. Yes! It so does! CSS wants to be a system! Alone, it’s just selectors, key/value pairs, and a smattering of other features. It doesn’t tell you how to do it, it is lumber and hardware saying build me into a tower! And also: do it your way! And the people do. Some people’s personality is: I have made this system, follow me, disciples, and embrace me. Other people’s personality is: I have also made a system, it is mine, my own, my prec… please step back behind the rope. Annnnnnd more. CSS Surprise Manga Lines from Alvaro are fun and weird and clever. Whirl: “CSS loading animations with minimal effort!” Jhey’s got 108 of them open sourced so far (like, 5 years ago, but I’m just seeing it.) Next-level frosted glass with backdrop-filter. Josh covers ideas (with credit all the way back to Jamie Gray) related to the “blur the stuff behind it” look. Yes, backdrop-filter does the heavy lifting, but there are SO MANY DETAILS to juice it up. Custom Top and Bottom CSS Container Masks from Andrew is a nice technique. I like the idea of a “safe” way to build non-rectangular containers where the content you put inside is actually placed safely.
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The Importance of Investing in Soft Skills in the Age of AI
by: Andy Bell Mon, 06 Jan 2025 14:58:46 +0000 I’ll set out my stall and let you know I am still an AI skeptic. Heck, I still wrap “AI” in quotes a lot of the time I talk about it. I am, however, skeptical of the present, rather than the future. I wouldn’t say I’m positive or even excited about where AI is going, but there’s an inevitability that in development circles, it will be further engrained in our work. We joke in the industry that the suggestions that AI gives us are more often than not, terrible, but that will only improve in time. A good basis for that theory is how fast generative AI has improved with image and video generation. Sure, generated images still have that “shrink-wrapped” look about them, and generated images of people have extra… um… limbs, but consider how much generated AI images have improved, even in the last 12 months. There’s also the case that VC money is seemingly exclusively being invested in AI, industry-wide. Pair that with a continuously turbulent tech recruitment situation, with endless major layoffs and even a skeptic like myself can see the writing on the wall with how our jobs as developers are going to be affected. The biggest risk factor I can foresee is that if your sole responsibility is to write code, your job is almost certainly at risk. I don’t think this is an imminent risk in a lot of cases, but as generative AI improves its code output — just like it has for images and video — it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a redundancy risk for actual human developers. Do I think this is right? Absolutely not. Do I think it’s time to panic? Not yet, but I do see a lot of value in evolving your skillset beyond writing code. I especially see the value in improving your soft skills. What are soft skills? A good way to think of soft skills is that they are life skills. Soft skills include: communicating with others, organizing yourself and others, making decisions, and adapting to difficult situations. I believe so much in soft skills that I call them core skills and for the rest of this article, I’ll refer to them as core skills, to underline their importance. The path to becoming a truly great developer is down to more than just coding. It comes down to how you approach everything else, like communication, giving and receiving feedback, finding a pragmatic solution, planning — and even thinking like a web developer. I’ve been working with CSS for over 15 years at this point and a lot has changed in its capabilities. What hasn’t changed though, is the core skills — often called “soft skills” — that are required to push you to the next level. I’ve spent a large chunk of those 15 years as a consultant, helping organizations — both global corporations and small startups — write better CSS. In almost every single case, an improvement of the organization’s core skills was the overarching difference. The main reason for this is a lot of the time, the organizations I worked with coded themselves into a corner. They’d done that because they just plowed through — Jira ticket after Jira ticket — rather than step back and question, “is our approach actually working?” By focusing on their team’s core skills, we were often — and very quickly — able to identify problem areas and come up with pragmatic solutions that were almost never development solutions. These solutions were instead: Improving communication and collaboration between design and development teams Reducing design “hand-off” and instead, making the web-based output the source of truth Moving slowly and methodically to move fast Putting a sharp focus on planning and collaboration between developers and designers, way in advance of production work being started Changing the mindset of “plow on” to taking a step back, thoroughly evaluating the problem, and then developing a collaborative and by proxy, much simpler solution Will improving my core skills actually help? One thing AI cannot do — and (hopefully) never will be able to do — is be human. Core skills — especially communication skills — are very difficult for AI to recreate well because the way we communicate is uniquely human. I’ve been doing this job a long time and something that’s certainly propelled my career is the fact I’ve always been versatile. Having a multifaceted skillset — like in my case, learning CSS and HTML to improve my design work — will only benefit you. It opens up other opportunities for you too, which is especially important with the way the tech industry currently is. If you’re wondering how to get started on improving your core skills, I’ve got you. I produced a course called Complete CSS this year but it’s a slight rug-pull because it’s actually a core skills course that uses CSS as a context. You get to learn some iron-clad CSS skills alongside those core skills too, as a bonus. It’s definitely worth checking out if you are interested in developing your core skills, especially so if you receive a training budget from your employer. Wrapping up The main message I want to get across is developing your core skills is as important — if not more important — than keeping up to date with the latest CSS or JavaScript thing. It might be uncomfortable for you to do that, but trust me, being able to stand yourself out over AI is only going to be a good thing, and improving your core skills is a sure-fire way to do exactly that. The Importance of Investing in Soft Skills in the Age of AI originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.
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Getting Started With Linux Terminal
by: Abhishek Prakash The Linux terminal could be intimidating. The dark screen with just commands to use. It's easy to feel lost. The thing is that Linux command line is a vast topic. You can manage the entire system using just the commands. I mean that's the role of sysadmins, network engineers and many other jobs. The aim of this tutorial collection is not to make you job-ready. It intends to give you the starting point of your Linux command line journey. It will give you enough to navigate the terminal and understand a few basic things like reading files and editing them. Since it's just the beginning, most of the tutorials are in the 'file operation' category. That's where most Linux books and courses begin. 📋 The best way to learn is by doing it yourself. I have written the tutorials in 'hands-on mode' so you can follow the examples on your Linux system. Each chapter in the series contains some sample exercises to practice your learning. Follow, practice and you'll be getting better at Linux command line in no time. PrerequisiteWhen you are absolutely new to the terminal, you'll find yourself lost even while reading the tutorials. That's because you may not always understand even the simplest of terms. The article below will help you with some of that. While some of the tips I shared may be a little advance or not-so-useful for you at this moment, you'll find plenty of useful stuff. 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 What will you learn here?Changing directories: In the first chapter, learn to switch directories (folders) using absolute and relative paths. This way, you can navigate in the Linux command line. Making directories: Now that you know about switching directories, learn about creating new ones. Listing directory content: You are getting a good grasp of the directories. Learn to see inside directories and see what files and subdirectories do they have. Creating files: Enough about directories. Learn to create new files in the Linux command line. Reading files: What's inside the file? Learn to read text files in this chapter. Deleting files and directories: Now that you have learned to create new files and folders, it's time to delete them. Copying files and directories: Keep on with the file operations and learn to copy files and directories in this installment of the terminal basics series. Moving files and directories: Moving file operation is like cut-paste. You can use the same method for renaming files and directories as well. Editing files: As the last major file operation, learn to edit text files in the command line. Getting help: Now that you have learned plenty of the basic Linux command line operation, it's time to know how you can get help in the terminal itself. Where to go from here?Now that you are more comfortable with the terminal and know the basic file operations in the command line, you may wonder what comes next. I will suggest getting a Linux book like How Linux Works. However, you can start with any Linux book you come across. Here are a few Linux books I love. Best Linux Books For Beginners to Advanced Linux Users Here are some Linux book recommendations to improve your knowledge. These books cater to the need of beginners and experts and help you master Linux concepts. It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash Don't want to spend money on books yet? No worries! Here are some free Linux ebooks you can download. 20 Best Linux Books You Can Download For Free Legally Let me share the best resource to learn Linux for free. This is a collection of Linux PDFs that you can download for free to learn Linux. It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash Bash scripting is also an integral part of Linux learning. Even if you don't have to write shell scripts, if you know the basics, you should be able to understand scripts you come across while using Linux. Learn Bash Scripting For Free With This Tutorial Series New to bash? Start learning bash scripting with this series in am organized manner. Each chapter also includes sample exercises to practice your learning. It's FOSS There is no limit to learning. It's impossible to know it all. Yet, if you know at least the basics, it helps you in using the system more effectively. 🗨 I hope you like this Linux terminal tutorial series. Do share your feedback in the comments section.
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Understanding File Descriptors in Linux
File descriptors are a core concept in Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. They provide a way for programs to interact with files, devices, and other input/output (I/O) resources. Simply put, a file descriptor is like a "ticket" or "handle" that a program uses to access these resources. Every time a program opens a file or creates an I/O resource (like a socket or pipe), the operating system assigns it a unique number called a file descriptor. This number allows the program to read, write, or perform other operations on the resource. And as we all know, in Linux, almost everything is treated as a file—whether it's a text file, a keyboard input, or even network communication. File descriptors make it possible to handle all these resources in a consistent and efficient way. What Are File Descriptors?A file descriptor is a non-negative integer assigned by your operating system whenever a program opens a file or another I/O resource. It acts as an identifier that the program uses to interact with the resource. For example: When you open a text file, the operating system assigns it a file descriptor (e.g., 3).If you open another file, it gets the next available file descriptor (e.g., 4).These numbers are used internally by the program to perform operations like reading from or writing to the resource. This simple mechanism allows programs to interact with different resources without needing to worry about how these resources are implemented underneath. For instance, whether you're reading from a keyboard or writing to a network socket, you use file descriptors in the same way! The three standard file descriptorsEvery process in Linux starts with three predefined file descriptors: Standard Input (stdin), Standard Output (stdout), and Standard Error (stderr). Here's a brief summary of their use: Descriptor Integer Value Symbolic Constant Purpose stdin 0 STDIN_FILENO Standard input (keyboard input by default) stdout 1 STDOUT_FILENO Standard output (screen output by default) stderr 2 STDERR_FILENO Standard error (error messages by default) Now, let's address each file descriptor with details. 1. Standard Input (stdin)- Descriptor: 0The purpose of the standard input stream is to receive input data. By default, it reads input from the keyboard unless redirected to another source like a file or pipe. Programs use stdin to accept user input interactively or process data from external sources. When you type something into the terminal and press Enter, the data is sent to the program's stdin. This stream can also be redirected to read from files or other programs using shell redirection operators (<). One simple example of stdin would be a script that takes input from the user and prints it: #!/bin/bash # Prompt the user to enter their name echo -n "Enter your name: " # Read the input from the user read name # Print a greeting message echo "Hello, $name!" Here's what the output looks like: But there is another way of using the input stream–redirecting the input itself. You can create a text file and redirect the input stream. For example, here I have created a sample text file named input.txt which contains my name Satoshi. Later I redirected the input stream using <: As you can see, rather than waiting for my input, it took data from the text file and we somewhat automated this. 2. Standard Output (stdout)- Descriptor: 1The standard output stream is used for displaying normal output generated by programs. By default, it writes output to the terminal screen unless redirected elsewhere. In simple terms, programs use stdout to print results or messages. This stream can be redirected to write output to files or other programs using shell operators (> or |). Let's take a simple script that prints a greeting message: #!/bin/bash # Print a message to standard output echo "This is standard output." Here's the simple output (nothing crazy but a decent example): Now, if I want to redirect the output to a file, rather than showing it on the terminal screen, then I can use > as shown here: ./stdout.sh > output.txtAnother good example can be the redirecting output of a command to a text file: ls > output.txt3. Standard Error (stderr)- Descriptor: 2The standard error stream is used for displaying error messages and diagnostics. It is separate from stdout so that errors can be handled independently of normal program output. For better understanding, I wrote a script that will trigger the stderr signal as I have used the exit 1 to mimic a faulty execution: #!/bin/bash # Print a message to standard output echo "This is standard output." # Print an error message to standard error echo "This is an error message." >&2 # Exit with a non-zero status to indicate an error exit 1 But if you were to execute this script, it would simply print "This is an error message." To understand better, you can redirect the output and error to different files. For example, here, I have redirected the error message to stderr.log and the normal output will go into stdout.log: ./stderr.sh > stdout.log 2> stderr.logBonus: Types of limits on file descriptorsLinux kernel puts a limit on the number of file descriptors a process can use. These limits help manage system resources and prevent any single process from using too many. There are different types of limits, each serving a specific purpose. Soft Limits: The default maximum number of file descriptors a process can open. Users can temporarily increase this limit up to the hard limit for their session.Hard Limits: The absolute maximum number of file descriptors a process can open. Only the system admin can increase this limit to ensure system stability.Process-Level Limits: Each process has its own set of file descriptor limits, inherited from its parent process, to prevent any single process from overusing resources.System-Level Limits: The total number of file descriptors available across all processes on the system. This ensures fairness and prevents global resource exhaustion.User-Level Limits: Custom limits set for specific users or groups to allocate resources differently based on their needs.Wrapping Up...In this explainer, I went through what file descriptors are in Linux and shared some practical examples to explain their function. I tried to cover the types of limits in detail but then I had to drop the "detail" to stick to the main idea of this article. But if you want, I can surely write a detailed article on the types of limits on file descriptors. Also, if you have any questions or suggestions, leave us a comment. https://linuxhandbook.com/content/images/2025/01/file-descriptor-in-linux.png
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Autostart AppImage Applications in Linux
by: Abhishek Prakash One of the main downside of using AppImages is the lack of desktop integration. This can be achived using AppImage Launcher tool. Another problematic part is the lack of support for autostarting an AppImage application when the system restarts. With some effort, you can achieve that, too. The method involves twp steps: Creating a desktop file for the application Adding this desktop file to autostart application list Let me show you the process in detail. Step 1: Create a desktop fileDesktop files are text files that contain metadata about applications, such as their name, icon, and the command to run them. These files are stored in specific locations, and the system menu uses them to allow users to launch applications from the menu. For user-installed applications, the desktop file is typically stored in ~/.local/share/applications. Before you explore autostarting an AppImage file, let’s first create a desktop file for your AppImage package. Method 1: Using AppImage LauncherAppImageLauncher is a handy tool that integrates AppImages with your Linux system. This way, you can find the AppImage apps in the system menu. Although, AppImage Launcher hasn't see a new release in almost three years, it still works. For Ubuntu and other Debian-based systems, you can use the deb package to install AppImage Launcher. First, go to the releases page and download the deb file. Download AppImageLauncher Deb File 📋 You can either download the stable release file, released in 2020 or the continuous build file, released in 2022. Then install the deb file to your system. If you are an Arch Linux user, you can install AppImageLauncher from AUR using an AUR helper like Yay. yay -S appimagelauncherThere are release files for Fedora on the official releases page. Once AppImageLauncher is installed, right-click on an AppImage app file and select "Open with AppImageLauncher". Open AppImage with AppImageLauncher For the first time, it will ask you to select a centralized location. Go for the default (~/Applications). Click OK. Now, this is where all your AppImage files will be stored. Default AppImage location Now, in the next window, chose "Integrate and Run". Integrate and Run the AppImage That's it. Your AppImage is now integrated to your system. You can now find the app you just ran with AppImage launcher in the system menu. And it creates the required desktop file which is located at ~/.local/share/application. Method 2: Creating desktop file manually📋 This part requires you to have basic knowledge of Linux commands. If you do not want to use AppImage Launcher, you can also create a desktop file manually. Create a file called <your-app-name>.desktop in ~/.local/share/applications. For example, if you are using ClickUp, name it ~/.local/share/applications/clickup.desktop Inside this file, add the following lines in this manner: [Desktop Entry] Type=Application Name=Logseq Comment=A Note taking and Knowledge Management Application Exec=/home/$USER/Applications/Logseq.AppImage Icon=/home/$USER/Applications/Images/Logseq.png Terminal=false Categories=Office;This is a very minimal desktop file for an application. Here, the fields should be filled with data: Replace the Name and Comment field with the name and description for your application. The Exec field should point to the absolute path of the AppImage file. The Icon field should point to the absolute path of the icon image file. Terminal=false means that the application does not require a terminal to run. For most graphical applications like AppImages, this is the desired setting. Categories is where your Application will appear in the system menu. Once done, save the file. That's it. You have created a desktop file for the AppImage. 💡 I advise placing all the AppImage files in a dedicated directory for better organization and avoiding accidental removal of the AppImage files. Step 2: Autostart the applicationOnce you have the AppImage desktop file ready, you can easily autostart the application by just copy and pasting it to the ~/.config/autostart directory. Use the cp command to copy the file: cp ~/.local/share/applications/Logseq.desktop ~/.config/autostartThere is a dedicated GUI tool to autostart programs in Ubuntu. You may use that, if you want. Now, when you restart your system, the selected application will be auto-started. ConclusionOut of Snap, Flatpak and AppImages, I like AppImage for the protability feature. You download the AppImage file, make it executable and run it. The ease of use comes with a few downsides. The desktop integration is the most obvious one. You cannot launch them from the system menu. However, this can be achived using the third-party AppImage Launcher tool. Not able to auto start an AppImage app when the system starts is another pain point. With some effort, that can also be achieved. I so wish that AppImage ecosystem provides these feature by default. I mean if a third party AppImage Launcher can allow desktop integration, it can surely be integrated by AppImage officialy. What do you think?
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How to Change Your Prompt in Bash Shell in Ubuntu
I don’t like my prompt, i want to change it. it has my username and host, but the formatting is not what i want. This blog will get you started quickly on doing exactly that. This is my current prompt below: To change the prompt you will update .bashrc and set the PS1 environment variable to a new value. Here is a cheatsheet of the prompt options: You can use these placeholders for customization: \u – Username \h – Hostname \w – Current working directory \W – Basename of the current working directory \$ – Shows $ for a normal user and # for the root user \t – Current time (HH:MM:SS) \d – Date (e.g., "Mon Jan 05") \! – History number of the command \# – Command number I want to change my prompt to say Here is my new prompt I am going to use: export PS1="linuxhint@mybox \w: " Can you guess what that does? Yes for my article writing this is exactly what i want. Here is the screenshot: A lot of people will want the Username, Hostname, for my example i don’t! But you can use \u and \h for that. I used \w to show what directory i am in. You can also show date and time, etc. You can also play with setting colors in the prompt with these variables: Foreground Colors: \e[30m – Black \e[31m – Red \e[32m – Green \e[33m – Yellow \e[34m – Blue \e[35m – Magenta \e[36m – Cyan \e[37m – White Background Colors: \e[40m – Black \e[41m – Red \e[42m – Green \e[43m – Yellow \e[44m – Blue \e[45m – Magenta \e[46m – Cyan \e[47m – White Reset Color: \e[0m – Reset to default Here is my colorful version. The backslashes are primarily needed to ensure proper formatting of the prompt and avoid breaking its functionality. export PS1="\[\e[35m\]linuxhint\[\e[0m\]@\[\e[34m\]mybox\[\e[0m\] \[\e[31m\]\w\[\e[0m\]: " This uses Magenta, Blue and Red coloring for different parts of the prompt. Conclusion You can see how to customize your bash prompt with PS1 environment in Ubuntu. Hope this helps you be happy with your environment in linux.
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7 Best AI Interview Tools 2025
by: Zainab Sutarwala Sun, 05 Jan 2025 11:25:00 +0000 In a fast-paced and competitive job marketplace, an interview needs not only good industry knowledge but also a very high level of confidence and adaptability. Luckily, technology provides some of the most innovative solutions that will help the candidates to prepare efficiently for their important day. AI-powered interview preparation tools are now revolutionizing the way job hunters approach the interviews, offering personalized feedback, and fostering some necessary skills to excel. No matter whether you are aiming for a role in finance, marketing, tech, or any other particular field, these platforms provide tailored practices that mimic real-life scenarios, thus ensuring you are well-prepared and poised for success. Given are the top AI interviewer tools that stand out for their comprehensive features, user-friendly interfaces, and more. These tools are really helpful for job seekers as well as recruiters. Without wasting any time, let’s check them out in detail. 1. Skillora.aiSkillora offers an amazing AI interviewer, providing instant feedback on performances. No matter whether you are looking for a Frontend Developer, Financial Analyst, or Digital Marketing Specialist, Skillora covers a huge range of different job roles, catering to various industries. The platform emphasizes on realistic environments and personalized feedback, aiming to improve your confidence and expertise in handling interviews. Features: Safe and instant job interview practice Comprehensive training tool Personalized mock interviews Different types of job rolesProsConsSafe and reliableNeeds more customizationScoring system for improvement Complete flexibility 2. Final RoundFinal Round AI focuses mainly on end-to-end career support, sharing success stories from individuals who have secured roles in top organizations like Citi Bank, Google, and McKinsey & Company. This tool is perfect for candidates aiming for a career leap, offering in-depth guidance and practice for facing complex interview challenges in different sectors. Features: Offers an interactive Co-pilot interview Tool caters to various industries Helps individuals to land jobs in big companies Provides cover letter revisionProsConsTailored prep for high profile company interviewsUseful for larger companies than startups or smaller firmsOne-on-one interview prep End-to-end career support 3. Interview Warmup by GoogleInterview Warmup is an initiative of Google to help job hunters warm up for the interviews with some key questions and insights. This straightforward and quick practice tool is made to enhance comfort levels during interviews, suitable for anybody looking to brush up on their interviewing skills promptly. Features: Real-time transcriptions Get interview questions specially curated by experts Detects insights like skills, experience and lessons learnedProsConsAuthenticity is paramountTime limited voice recordingInterface is easy and smoothLess comprehensiveProvides voice and text both feature 4. WizcoWizco provides a unique platform for both individuals and organizations to simulate interviews, emphasizing a wide spectrum of roles and industries. The comprehensive database and customization features make it an excellent tool for those searching to prepare for diverse interview scenarios. Features: Modified range of questions Dual mode of interview Analyze your communication tone Real-time transcripts Adaptive questionsProsConsCustomized questionsMobile app feature not availableVoice and text answering optionsInterview prep has just 5 questionsStays updated with current industry standardsDual focus means less personalized service 5. Interviewer.aiInterviewer.ai aims to prepare candidates using an AI-driven approach, evaluating different aspects like speech clarity, technical knowledge, and soft skills. The tool is made to mirror real interview conditions, offering actionable feedback to refine both your communication skills and technical abilities. Features: Automate pre-screening process Identity right candidate quickly Collaborate efficiently Easily schedule interviews ProsConsHigh-quality video interviewsNo phone appExcellent customer supportErrors in transcriptOn-demand video interviews 6. Interview IgniterInterview Igniter was made by Vidal Graupera with an aim to help job hunters to excel in job interviews. It simulates realistics interview scenarios, offering both candidates and employers a dynamic platform for practice and assessment. Features: AI-driven interview simulations A wide range of industry-specifics question Provide detailed feedbacks and tips Coding interview tool, allow practice in various programming languagesProsConsSpecialised for tech professionalsAlienating non-tech job seekersProvide real-world questionsLess comprehensivePersonalised and adaptive learning 7. HuruLast, but not least, Huru is yet another AI-powered interview app for a job interview and preparation coaching that is possible through personalized interviews, more than 20,000 prepared questions, and instant feedback. With the Huru app, candidate can simulate interviews, review their videos and record answers anywhere and anytime, thus making it the most effective tool for acing interviews and improving communication skills. Features: More than 20,000 mock interviews Instant AI feedback and answer tips Unlimited job interviews Record the interview and provide tipsProsConsInclusive of all career levelsLack the depth of tech specific preparationIntegrate seamlessly with job boardsAI feedback may not capture nuancesImmediate feedback enhances learning The above-given AI Interview Tools represent the cutting-edge in job preparation technology. By leveraging these platforms, candidates will be able to enhance their interview performance, transforming a traditionally daunting process in a confidently navigated pathway to career advancement. The post 7 Best AI Interview Tools 2025 appeared first on The Crazy Programmer.
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9 Best AI Tools for Programming Assistance in 2025
by: Neeraj Mishra Fri, 03 Jan 2025 16:28:00 +0000 Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing software development by enhancing productivity, improving code quality, and automating routine tasks. Developers now have access to various AI-powered tools that assist in coding, debugging, and documentation. This article provides a detailed overview of the best AI programming tools in 2025. 1. GitHub CopilotIt is one of the most popular AI-powered coding assistant tools developed by GitHub and OpenAI. It uses OpenAI’s Codex, a language model trained on a vast amount of code from public repositories on GitHub. Key FeaturesReal-time Code Suggestions: Provides intelligent code completions as you type, suggesting whole lines or blocks of code. Multi-language Support: Supports a wide range of programming languages including Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Ruby, and Go. Integration with IDEs: Works seamlessly with Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains suite, Neovim, and more.ProsEnhanced Productivity: Helps developers write code faster by providing context-aware suggestions. Learning Tool: Useful for beginners to learn coding patterns and best practices. Community Support: Large user base and active community contributing to continuous improvement.ConsPrivacy Concerns: Since it is trained on public repositories, there may be concerns about code privacy and intellectual property.2. Amazon CodeWhispererAmazon CodeWhisperer is a machine learning-powered code suggestion tool from Amazon Web Services (AWS). It aims to help programmers write code faster and more securely. Key FeaturesContextual Code Recommendations: Offers code suggestions based on the context of your existing code and comments. Security Integration: Integrates with Amazon CodeGuru to scan for security vulnerabilities in your code. Multi-language Support: Supports popular languages including Python, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, and more.ProsSecurity Focus: Provides real-time security recommendations, helping developers write more secure code. AWS Ecosystem Integration: Works well within the AWS environment, making it a great choice for developers using AWS services. Accurate Code Suggestions: Delivers highly relevant code suggestions that adapt to your coding style.ConsLimited Free Tier: Advanced features are available only in the paid version. 3. TabnineTabnine is an AI-powered code completion tool that integrates with popular IDEs. It uses deep learning models to predict and suggest code completions. Key FeaturesDeep Learning Models: Uses advanced AI models to provide accurate code completions. Privacy and Security: Offers on-premise deployment options, ensuring code privacy and security. IDE Integration: Compatible with VSCode, IntelliJ, Sublime Text, Atom, and more.ProsEnhanced Productivity: Significantly speeds up coding by providing relevant code suggestions. Privacy Control: On-premise deployment ensures that sensitive code remains secure. Supports Multiple Languages: Provides support for a wide range of programming languages.ConsResource Intensive: Running deep learning models locally can be resource-intensive.4. Replit AIReplit AI is part of the Replit platform, an online IDE that offers a collaborative coding environment with built-in AI tools for code completion and debugging. Key FeaturesCollaborative Coding: Allows multiple developers to work on the same codebase simultaneously. AI Code Completion: This feature offers intelligent code completions depending on the context of your code. Multi-language Support: Supports a variety of programming languages including JavaScript, Python, and HTML/CSS.ProsReal-time Collaboration: Enhances teamwork by allowing real-time collaboration on code. Educational Tool: Great for learning and teaching coding due to its user-friendly interface and collaborative features. Integrated AI Tools: AI-powered code suggestions and debugging tools improve coding efficiency.ConsLimited Offline Use: Being an online platform, it requires an internet connection to access.5. CodeT5CodeT5, developed by Salesforce, is an open-source AI model designed for code understanding and generation tasks. It leverages a transformer-based architecture similar to that of GPT-3. Key FeaturesText-to-Code Generation: Converts natural language descriptions into code. Code-to-Code Translation: Translates code from one programming language to another. Code Summarization: Generates summaries of code snippets to explain their functionality.ProsVersatile Tool: Useful for various tasks including code generation, translation, and summarization. Open Source: Being open-source, it is freely available for use and customization. Community Support: Active development and support from the open-source community.ConsRequires Setup: May require setup and configuration for optimal use.6. CodeGPTCodeGPT is a VSCode extension that provides AI-driven code assistance using various models, including OpenAI’s GPT-3. Key FeaturesAI Chat Assistance: Allows you to ask coding-related questions and get instant answers. Auto-completion and Error Checking: Provides intelligent code completions and checks for errors. Model Flexibility: Supports multiple AI models from different providers like OpenAI and Microsoft Azure.ProsInstant Assistance: Offers real-time assistance, reducing the need to search for solutions online. Enhanced Productivity: Speeds up coding by providing relevant suggestions and error corrections. Flexible Integration: Works with various AI models, giving users flexibility in choosing the best one for their needs.ConsLimited to VSCode: Currently only available as a VSCode extension.7. AskCodiAskCodi, powered by OpenAI GPT, offers a suite of tools to assist with coding, documentation, and error correction. Key FeaturesCode Generation: Generates code snippets based on natural language descriptions. Documentation Assistance: Helps in creating and improving code documentation. Error Correction: Identifies and suggests fixes for coding errors.ProsComprehensive Toolset: Provides a wide range of functionalities beyond just code completion. Improves Code Quality: Assists in writing cleaner and well-documented code. User-friendly: Easy to use, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced developers.ConsRequires OpenAI API: Relies on access to OpenAI’s API, which may involve costs.8. ChatGPTChatGPT by OpenAI is a versatile AI chatbot that can assist with various coding tasks, including writing, debugging, and planning. Key FeaturesVersatile Use Cases: Can be used for coding, debugging, brainstorming, and more. Follow-up Questions: Capable of asking follow-up questions to better understand your queries. Code Review: Can help identify and correct errors in your code.ProsFlexible Tool: Useful for a wide range of tasks beyond just coding. Improves Debugging: Helps in identifying and fixing coding errors. Easy Access: Available for free with additional features in the Plus plan.ConsLimited Context Retention: May lose track of context in longer conversations.9. CodeiumCodeium is an AI-powered code completion and generation tool that focuses on enhancing coding productivity and accuracy. Key FeaturesAI-driven Code Suggestions: Provides intelligent code completions and suggestions. Multi-language Support: Supports various programming languages, enhancing its versatility. Integration with IDEs: Compatible with popular IDEs like VSCode and JetBrains.ProsEnhanced Productivity: Speeds up coding by providing relevant suggestions. Improves Code Quality: Helps in writing cleaner and more efficient code. Easy Integration: Works seamlessly with popular development environments.ConsDependency on AI Models: Performance depends on the quality and training of the underlying AI models.Final ThoughtsAI-powered tools are transforming the landscape of software development by automating routine tasks, improving code quality, and enhancing productivity. From GitHub Copilot’s real-time code suggestions to Amazon CodeWhisperer’s security-focused recommendations, these tools offer a variety of features to assist developers at every stage of the coding process. Whether you are a beginner looking to learn best practices or an experienced developer aiming to boost productivity, there is an AI tool tailored to your needs. The post 9 Best AI Tools for Programming Assistance in 2025 appeared first on The Crazy Programmer.
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FOSS Weekly #25.01: 2 New Free Books, Homelab Dashboards, Plan 9 and More
by: Abhishek Prakash 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 NewsSerpent 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 AboutWhat'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 MoreStart 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 CornerYour 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 watchingSubscribe to our YouTube channel, too ✨ Discover handy toolsA 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 TimeCall 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 TipIn 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 WeekOh, that would be something. 🤌 ✨ 🗓️ Tech TriviaOn 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 CornerWhat 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 loveShare 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 🐧
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FOSS Weekly #25.01: 2 New Free Books, Homelab Dashboards, Plan 9 and More
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 NewsSerpent 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 AboutWhat'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 MoreStart 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 CornerYour 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 watchingSubscribe to our YouTube channel, too ✨ Discover handy toolsA 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 TimeCall 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 TipIn 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 WeekOh, that would be something. 🤌 ✨ 🗓️ Tech TriviaOn 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 CornerWhat 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 loveShare 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 🐧
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FOSS Weekly #25.01: 2 New Free Books, Homelab Dashboards, Plan 9 and More
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 NewsSerpent 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 AboutWhat'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 MoreStart 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 CornerYour 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 watchingSubscribe to our YouTube channel, too ✨ Discover handy toolsA 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 TimeCall 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 TipIn 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 WeekOh, that would be something. 🤌 ✨ 🗓️ Tech TriviaOn 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 CornerWhat 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 loveShare 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 🐧
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ScraperAPI Review 2025 – Scrape Data at Scale Easily
by: Pulkit Govrani Wed, 01 Jan 2025 17:55:00 +0000 Web scraping is the process by which we extract data from the websites. If you are a programmer then you can write complete code to scrape data as per your needs. Different programming languages like Python or JavaScript can be used along with their libraries i.e., selenium and puppeteer to scrape information from the websites. In this article, we have reviewed a great scraping API that lets you perform data collection easily at scale. About ScraperAPIScraperAPI is a web scraping tool that has the capability to integrate with the most powerful programming languages like Python, Javascript, Java, Ruby & PHP. There is a detailed documentation available on the ScraperAPI website for all these languages. ScraperAPI handles CAPTCHA, does automate proxy rotation, allows users to rate limit requests, and provides many more important features. ScraperAPI has various other products along with scraping-api like data pipeline, async scraper service, and large-scale data acquisition. ScraperAPI promises you to navigate into any website and access the data by bypassing their anti bot systems with its statistical and artificial intelligence models. As a user, you can take a free trial of up to 7 days to test ScraperAPI’s functionality. Core Features of ScraperAPIIP Geotargetting: The service allows users to target specific geographic locations for their scraping tasks by using millions of proxies from different countries. It can help scraping region specific data and provide accurate results. Unlimited Bandwidth: ScraperAPI allows users to scrape websites without worrying about bandwidth limitations, ensuring that large amounts of data can be collected efficiently 99.99% Uptime Guarantee: ScraperAPI ensures high availability and reliability of its service with a 99.9% uptime guarantee, making it a trustworthy tool for critical scraping operations Larger Scalability: ScraperAPI can handle anything from small-scale projects to large-scale enterprise scraping needs, with support for millions of requests per month. Users can book a call with ScraperAPI’s team to test for a longer duration in larger projects. How to Implement ScraperAPI?There are different ways to use ScraperAPI in your program. Multiple methods like API Endpoint, and Proxy Port SDK can be used to integrate ScraperAPI. Let us look at the below example where I have integrated ScraperAPI in JavaScript. Implementing ScraperAPI in NodeJs using SDK Method:const ScraperAPI = require('scraperapi-sdk'); const apiKey = 'YOUR_SCRAPERAPI_KEY'; // Replace with your ScraperAPI key const scraper = new ScraperAPI(apiKey); async function scrapeWebsiteContent(url) { try { let response = await scraperapiClient.get(url); console.log('Response data:', response); } catch (error) { console.error('Error scraping website:', error); } } let url = 'https://google.com'; // Replace with the URL you want to scrape scrapeWebsiteContent(url);Note: You need to scraperapi-sdk in your project beforehand to run the code written above. It can be simply done by writing “npm install scraperapi-sdk” command in the terminal & it will install the mentioned dependency. Code Explanation:Import ScraperAPI SDK: The program imports the scraperapi-sdk in its first line. Provide ScraperAPI Key: You need to provide your ScraperAPI key (which you receive after registering) by replacing ‘YOUR_SCRAPERAPI_KEY’. Initialize ScraperAPI: Initialize the ScraperAPI client with your API key. Declare Async Function: An asynchronous function scrapeWebsiteContent is declared, which takes the website URL as an argument. Try-Catch Block: A try-catch block is added to handle any potential errors. Inside the try block, a GET request is made using the scraper.get method. Log Response Data: The response data is logged to the console if the request is successful. Define URL and Call Function: An example website URL is stored in the URL variable, and the scrapeWebsiteContent function is called with this URL. The program imports the scraperapi-sdk in its first line and then you need to provide your ScraperAPI key (which you have got after registering). Now an async function is declared which takes the website URL as an argument & try catch block is added to debug any related errors. Inside the try block, a get request is made using scraperapiClient method. Finally, an example website URL is stored in the URL keyword & the function is called respectively. Read detailed documentation here https://www.scraperapi.com/documentation Scraper API PricingPricing CategoriesHobbyStartupBusinessEnterpriseAPI Credits100,000 API Credits1,000,000 API Credits3,000,000 API CreditsCustom API Credits (more than 3,000,000)Concurrent Threads2050100400GeotargettingUS & EUUS & EUAllAllJS RenderingYESYESYESYES99.9% Uptime GuaranteeYESYESYESYESThere are many more features like Smart Proxy Rotation, Automatic Retries, Custom Session Support, Premium Proxies, Custom Header Support, CAPTCHA & Anit-Bot Detection, JSON Auto Parsing & Unlimited bandwidth which are supported in all the plans. To view the pricing plans in a detailed manner, visit the official website at https://www.scraperapi.com/pricing/ Try ScraperAPI for Free FAQsAre there any free plans? Yes, after signing up every user gets 1000 API credits and you can request to increase it by contacting their support team. Can I get a refund? Yes, within 7 days of purchase, there is no question of refund policy. Which programming languages does ScraperAPI support? Any programming language that can make HTTP requests can use ScraperAPI. There is official documentation as well for programming languages like Python, JavaScript & Ruby. Does ScraperAPI provide support? Yes, they provide 24/7 email support along with documentation. The high tier plans also get priority support for their queries. The post ScraperAPI Review 2025 – Scrape Data at Scale Easily appeared first on The Crazy Programmer.