The New H2+

The Sabrent 512 GB M.2 SSD makes this little computer stoopid fast. CrystalDiskMark says 1750 MB/sec read and 1500 MB/sec write.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fh6VSFSSXHkzM1RS7

My Odroid H2+

I liked the first one so much I just ordered a second Odroid H2+. Here are a few YouBoob videos I made in various states of consciousness. I like to call it Insomniac Theater:

ZFS in Ubuntu 20.10

Changes coming to ZFS in Ubuntu 20.10 include enabling autotrim by default and the ability to encrypt root during install. Of course, those of you who read my blog already know how to do both those things, so no need to wait. ;)

FYI though, I found that autotrim hadn't actually done a trim on my SSD yet by running:
 zpool status -t
So I started it manually with:
 sudo zpool trim rpool
 It took about 2 minutes to complete.

ZFS Encrypted Root

ZFS in Ubuntu 20.04 is stable and enterprise ready. It's really Canonical's customizations for the desktop that are experimental. The installer in particular is, at the moment, fairly limited in how you can setup your system. Despair not though, there's always a l33t h@X0r on the case:

Encrypting ZFS on Ubuntu 20.04 by Linsomniac

The Z File System in Ubuntu 20.04

ZFS has actually been around for quite some time. It was originally invented by Sun for use in Solaris. It has many advanced features like an improved RAID5 called RAIDZ. And though there's a bit of a learning curve it eliminates some complexity, like the need for a separate logical volume manager.

With the release of Ubuntu 20.04 it'll be possible to use it for your entire desktop system. But why would you want to use a "server" filesystem on your desktop PC? Well, in short, it makes upgrading your system bulletproof. Now every time you upgrade packages with apt it'll create a snapshot automagically. If something goes wrong there'll be a boot menu option that'll let you rollback your entire system to before the upgrade. It's fast, easy and you won't even know it happened, until you need it.

While technically it's still an experimental feature, I expect it'll become the default install option at some point in the future. If you haven't familiarized yourself with ZFS yet, now would be a good time to do so.

Firejail

One of the programs I tried really hard to get working in the beta versions of PELinux64 was Firejail. Unfortunately I didn't have much luck:

I'd rather not be forced into a sandbox with snaps and flatpacks. If the apps are trusted (by me not Microsoft) I'd rather have the freedom to use many of them together in new and unique ways (the original/real definition of hacking) that the author probably didn't predict and may not even like.

BleachBit

Another program included in every version of PELinux and PELinux64 is BleachBit. I use it after every web surfing session. It even deletes annoying registry keys under Windoze.

Collabora Office

The first three versions of PELinux (32-bit R1, Murdock Edition and R2) used kernel 3.18 from Collabora. And all versions of PELinux and PELinux64 come with LibreOffice pre-installed, including all database drivers.

Well now there's a free version of the LibreOffice-based Collabora Office for Android. It's fully compatible with all Open Document Format files. You can get it on your phone from Google's Play Store, so you know it's safe.

I think there's an IOS version too but since I no longer own any Apple devices can't say for sure.

Happy 20th Birthday Padman

If the Green Sun sample album included with all version of Privacy Enhanced Linux sounds vaguely familiar, it's probably because you've played World of Padman sometime this last decade. I miss the good old days when it was a little less politically correct, but it's still a blast from the past to play even today. Cheers blue noses!

Pine64 PinePhone

It's a little behind the times hardware-spec-wise but I personally feel this is the most promising Linux phone project currently going: Pine64 PinePhone

Sailfish and UBPorts suck quite frankly. Try and write an app for either and you'll quickly see why. I'll likely install KDE's Plasma Mobile on mine.

Was looking forward to buying Pine64's ARM64 tablet too. Sadly, seems like that one is on the back burner for now. 😞