LWDW 292: Blood for the blood god, AppMan for the AppImages

AppMan brings sanity to AppImages, GNOME 41 introduces Context Tiles, AJA support is coming to OBS, Argon introduces a triangle PiNAS, and shiny new things for Thunar.

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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
07:04 AppMan for AppImages
11:11 Gnome 41 Context Tiles
17:41 Shiny new things for XFCE Thunar
23:01 AJA Kona support for OBS
28:16 Streamdeck UI for Streamdeck
35:54 Pi TV Stick
39:54 Argon EON 4-bay PiNAS


Apt for appimages 

https://github.com/ivan-hc/AppMan

  • Awesome!  We have been needing a universal AppImage installer on Linux for a long time, and now we have one!
  • It’s called AppMan, and it works like Apt, Pacman or dnf and can be installed by downloading a small script.
  • With AppMan you can install AppImages from the terminal, like you do with Snaps and Flatpaks and software from your distros local repositories.
    • Appman install ** to install AppImages
    • Appman -q ** to search the list of available AppImages with keywords
  • I did a search for video editors with the -q option and a lot of AppImaged video editors were listed, including Kdenlive, avidemux, Openshot and Shotcut.
  • I then installed the Shotcut video editor via AppMan, and it worked beautifully!
  • From here on out AppMan will be in my default installed software list on every distro :-D
  • Now create a centralized repo for them, and then I will need someone to release Ubuntu AppImage Edition.
  • I need those to complete my XKCD 927 bingo card.

 

Gnome context 

https://blogs.gnome.org/tbernard/2021/09/09/software-41-context-tiles/

  • We have been waiting for the Software center refresh on Gnome for a long time.
  • And there were speed improvements with the Software installer in Gnome 40, so hopefully now it will be even more performant with its new layout.
  • Marking software which uses X as unsafe? Really?
  • I’m not sure that’s the best way to promote Wayland.
  • But it certainly is in keeping with how GNOME does things.
  • Couple of things are being worked on here. 
  • Communicating app download size in a more nuanced way, especially for Flatpak apps.
  • Incentivizing app developers to use portals rather than poking holes in the sandbox.
  • Warning people about potential security problems.
  • Exposing age ratings more prominently.
  • The solution? Context tiles! 
  • Bad sandboxing, legacy windowing and closed-source marks you as unsafe. 
  • I’ll be sticking with my vintage X11 for the foreseeable future… and I play a lot of games. 
  • The hardware support check is nice. 
  • And it’s sporting a new age rating. 

 

New things in Thunar 

https://alexxcons.github.io/2021/09/11/shiny-new-things-in-thunar.html

  • We got some awesome new features for the xfce Thunar file manager coming, thanks to the hard work of students in the Google Summer of Code 2021.
  • The Thunar 4.17.5 development release is out with these new updates.
  • The Bookmarks got moved into a separate ‘Bookmarks Menu’ and a ‘create bookmark’ option was added.
  • I am going to love the new bookmarks menu in Thunar!
  • I use bookmarks all the time in my file managers, and this will make them easier to manage in Thunar.
  • And more intuitive than just creating them in the sidebar.
  • Setting the default application is nice. 
  • XFCE uses the whatever you used last method by default. 
  • This can get annoying when you need to add ID3 tags to an MP3 on Wed and Sun but the other 5 days of the week not so much. 
  • Could come in handy for file types that you only open with one thing. 
  • Still no per folder sorting/view modes, which was supposed to be introduced with 4.16.
  • Still no option to change the icon of a specific folder.

 

AJA Kona in OBS

https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/pull/5271

  • That’s 432K lines of code but some of it is the SDK. 
  • Aww, the presidents of AJA liked mah tweet. 
  • Now send me some hardware for testing. 
  • If it gets merged it will put OBS over the 1mil mark. 
  • Compare this to Blackmagic who was not willing to help OBS at all. 
  • Kona and Corvid, both names contentious and for completely different reasons.

 

Streamdeck 

https://github.com/unix-streamdeck

  • This comes in two parts, Streamdeckd and StreamDeck UI. 
  • DBus for your Deck. 
  • People are going to get confused since the current working solution is called, ya guessed it, streamdeck-ui. 
  • The OG streamdeck-ui had some issues with Wayland due to pynput so I wonder if this sorts things. 
  • The UI looks roughly the same and hey, 100% GO. 
  • Unfortunately this still requires xdotool aka xdoot. 
  • This will cause you to lose focus on the active window. 
  • Moral of the story?
  • If you are using a Deck for OBS stick with Bitfocus Companion. 

Slice of Pi

Pi TV Stick

https://hackaday.io/project/180969-raspberry-pi-cm4-tv-stick

  • The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 is the perfect form factor to create a Raspberry Pi HDMI plug for your TV.
  • And reducing the external clutter created by using a classic full sized RasPi 4.
  • Also, you can use it to illuminate and produce rainbow vomit on your TV monitor by connecting an LED strip to the ambilight connector ;-)
  • This seems redundant.
  • If you’re going to end up something with about the same dimensions as the regular Pi board, why not use that?
  • I guess if you really must get away from the Micro HDMI connectors, this will do it.

 

Argon PiNAS (Rtheren) 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/argonforty/argon-eon-4-bay-network-storage-powered-by-raspberry-pi-4

  • From the creators of the Argon ONE comes, a triangle. 
  • A 4-bay NAS enclosure powered by Pi. 
  • OLED system display & RTC. 
  • Has Pedro’s favourite accessory. 
  • Requires a 12 volts 5 Amps Power Supply. 
  • It’s going to run you around $100 for the basic kit. 
  • In my experience Argon appears to be more focused on looks vs cooling so keep that in mind. 
  • That case has a restricted top intake and whar exhaust? 
  • You can bake a Pi and it will survive but drives, not so much. 
  • For only $180 you can pledge to receive the Argon EON with a Raspberry Pi 4 (4Gig).
  • And with 40 days to go they have already surpassed their original goal of $3,573 to $84,386!
  • They’re still using that USB bridge, I see.
  • Seems deliberate now.
  • For £130, Pi included, that’s not bad!
  • Heck, that would replace my MicroATX NAS immediately.
  • I’m glad I didn’t catch the early bird special in time.
  • I would have dropped the £70 immediately, if I had.
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