The Nobara Project, to put it simply, is a modified version of Fedora Linux with user-friendly fixes added to it.

This project aims to fix most of those issues and offer a better gaming, streaming, and content creation experience out of the box. More importantly, they want to be more point and click friendly, and avoid the basic user from having to open the terminal. It’s not that the terminal and/or terminal usage are a bad thing by any means, power users are more than welcome to continue with using the terminal, but for new users, point and click ease of use is usually expected.

Yes, anyone can do most tweaks on top of any Linux distro, but what sets this one apart is its built-in use of the Glorious Eggroll Proton DB fixes, along with kernel level fixes and tweaks. Most newer Linux users struggle to assemble all the tweaks to work on their existing Distros (I certainly had some issues with newer version of GE ProtonDB and am stuck on an older version myself).

Note that many of these optimisations are specific to making advanced Windows-only games run well on Linux.

The project page does provide some ISO files which are ready to be flashed to a USB stick and create the distro. But yes, that either means a clean start, or putting it on a dedicated Linux gaming machine. Chris Titus did a good recommendation about it at https://youtu.be/v3APRsnX8FA.

See https://nobaraproject.org/

#technology #Linux #gaming #nobaraproject

Epic Games Store is gaining more attention than ever, with some exclusive releases, and attractive discounts for PC gamers.

While I still prefer Steam to Epic Games Store (or EGS) because the client is superior, and it officially works on Linux without any workarounds.

Unfortunately, games like Kena: Bridge of Spirits and Immortals Fenyx Rising cannot be found on Steam. Sure, some are timed exclusives like Hitman 3, nevertheless, Epic Games Store has a good collection of games to play.

See https://itsfoss.com/epic-games-linux/

#technology #gaming #epicgames #Linux

More than 10 million people rely on Ring video doorbells to monitor what's happening directly outside the front doors of their homes. The popularity of the technology has raised a question that concerns privacy advocates: Should police have access to Ring video doorbell recordings without first gaining user consent? Ring recently revealed how often the answer to that question has been yes.

Critics say it shouldn't be left up to Ring and the police to decide when data can be accessed, or how long that data can be stored, or what constitutes "cases involving imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to any person".

By definition, this violation seems to negate those very reasons, as the time taken to submit the form, track the device, and deliver footage, means the "immanency" must have long passed.

It is a problem for most consumers where their data sits in someone else's cloud. You pay for a service to store your data, yet they hand it over without even informing you first. It is one reason why I wipe my Sonoff smart devices and reflash them Tasmota firmware so that I can manage the devices from inside my own home (and of course if the Internet is not accessible, my devices all still operate).

It's these type of occurrences though that are driving more and more users to decentralised networks and smart home solutions...

See https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/07/amazon-finally-admits-giving-cops-ring-doorbell-data-without-user-consent/

#technology #cloud #privacy #ringdoorbell

It's packed full of useful features, to help you build your perfect dashboard. Including status checks, keyboard shortcuts, dynamic widgets, auto-fetched favicon icons and font-awesome support, built-in authentication, tons of themes, an interactive config editor, many display layouts plus loads more.

All the code is free and open source, and everything is thoroughly documented, you can get support with any questions on GitHub.

I explain in this video how and why I use a dashboard, and contrast some differences between Heimdall and Dashy. I'll also highlight some features, such status indicators and widgets that display data from the Glances monitoring tool.

See https://youtu.be/JW2YJp34SQw

#technology #dashy #dashboard #opensource

As spotted by PCGamesN, a new add-on for Red Dead Redemption 2 called "Vestigia" overhauls a lot of visual and environmental aspects of this enormous game. As described on the Nexus Mod page, users no12, DayL, WhyEm, and Majestic253 have essentially created four mods all rolled into one. Some of the features that the whole download comes with include a more "connected" weather system, in which transitions are more natural rather than jarring. It also implements better world flora, as well as changes in the AI of animals and humans. This also includes adding additional pedestrians to cities, with them being more likely to talk to one another.

I bought this game about two years back on a Steam Sale, and have still not got around to actually installing and playing it. It was on my bucket list, so made sense to buy, but I've still been totally absorbed with SnowRunner. It may have been worthwhile holding off, I think, if I can also get these mods to work (on Linux that is). As it was, the game was already sensational in its detail - so much so, I used to just watch the YouTube play throughs.

See https://gamerant.com/red-dead-redemption-2-mod-look-feel-more-realistic

#technology #gaming #realism #modding

In their monthly announcement, among all the cool things Pine64, they talked about the open firmware for PinePhone’s LTE modem. The firmware isn’t fully open – a few parts remain closed. And Pine emphasizes that they neither pre-install nor officially endorse this firmware, and PinePhones will keep shipping with the vendor-supplied modem firmware image instead.

That said, the new firmware way more featureful – it has fewer bugs, more features, decreased power consumption, and its proprietary parts are few and far between. I’d like to note that, with a special build of this firmware, the PinePhone’s modem can run Doom – because, well, of course.

See https://hackaday.com/2022/07/12/open-firmware-for-pinephone-lte-modem-whats-up-with-that/

#technology #pinephone #opensource

The Mini EV has been consistently selling over 30,000 units per month (in China). The success of the Hongguang Mini EV is a great example of market-creating innovation, and several firms are also ramping up production of vehicles in this segment while other firms are now introducing new vehicles into this market, launching similarly priced small EVs.

It is intended to be a city car with between 120 km to 170 km range and top speed of 100 km/h. It can seat up to 4 people, or with rear seats folded down, it has luggage space of 741 litres.

The Unbelievable Company is the holding company that will spearhead the electric vehicle sales and will also offer Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) consulting services to blue chip companies starting with Zimbabwe. They are ready to take orders for the Wuling Mini EV in Zimbabwe and are finalizing plans to open their flagship showroom in Harare.

See https://cleantechnica.com/2022/07/13/what-a-lovely-surprise-the-wuling-hongguang-mini-ev-in-zimbabwe/

#technology #environment #EV #zimbabwe #Hongguang

The market for screen readers is hardly niche. In 2020, the estimated number of blind people worldwide was 49.1 million — comparable to the population of Spain or South Korea. An additional 255 million people have moderate to severe visual impairment. These millions of people may use magnification tools, Braille support, or screen readers.

That said, the price of JAWS is no small barrier. One home license currently costs $1,000 ($1,285 for a professional license), and future updates cost extra. Annual licenses that cost $95 ($90 for students) are available only in the U.S. 89% of people with vision loss come from low-income and middle-income countries.

It is sad that a proprietary screen reader like JAWS costs so much, as this is just unaffordable in poorer countries. But thank goodness for an open-source alternative — NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) that arrived in 2019.

Ojala’s pet peeve is people thinking that accessibility is a feature, a nice-to-have addition to your product. When they tack on accessibility later, without thinking about it from the very beginning, Ojala can tell — it feels haphazard. (Imagine first creating a product with a colorless UI, then to add colours later as an afterthought, only to use the wrong colour combination.)

Any of us can go blind at any time, but it is sad actually that sighted developers don't consider enough around making design and coding simpler to use with screen readers.

See https://www.theverge.com/23203911/screen-readers-history-blind-henter-curran-teh-nvda

#technology #blind #screenreader #opensource #accessibility

Valvular heart disease arises when the heart's valves don't function correctly, impacting the pumping of blood to the body and the intake within the heart's chambers, as the valves do not open or close properly.

Detecting valvular heart disease can be tricky. It requires doctors listening to a patient's heartbeat and being able to recognize an unusual sound or pattern, and figure out which valve is impaired and what issue it's causing. Recognizing whether the sound and pattern of a heartbeat is irregular can be subjective, and that means the condition is frequently misdiagnosed or missed entirely.

See https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/14/us_fda_approves_first_ai/

#technology #health #AI #heartdisease