If you have prior experience of programming and you are just getting started with bash, there's one thing that you may find a little odd. Unlike other programming languages, functions in bash do not return any value. Instead, it returns exit status or a numeric value indicating the success or failure of execution. But the question here is how you make the function return value in bash. Sure, if I'm writing this tutorial, I must have a solution (read workaround) to tackle this issue but before that, let's understand the problem first. The problem we're dealing with First, let me share a simple ..read more

VLC is an awesome video player for Linux. However, there is a problem with it if you are a fan of dark mode. I have noticed that when I am using Ubuntu in dark mode, VLC doesn't adhere to the dark theme. It keeps a white menu bar and control bar at the bottom. VLC default mode does not fully support dark mode automatically I can guess that it probably will be the case in other distributions as well. Allow me to share a few methods to achieve dark mode with VLC on Ubuntu. ? You may try the same methods in other distributions but the package management commands may differ. Also, some methods a ..read more

Do you like short videos and reels? Lately, we have been posting some real cool ones on our Instagram account. There are lit video memes and interesting bytes of old interviews of computing legends like Torvalds, Stallman, Ritchie, Thompson etc. Take this video of Ken Thompson discussing how grep was built "overnight" for example. These videos are being loved by the IG public. We got over 13,000 new followers in the last 30 days itself. If you use Instagram, do join us for the extra infotainment ? It's FOSS on Instagram ? Let's see what else you get in this edition: Standard Notes being acqu ..read more

There are tons of ways to put your Raspberry Pi to some good use. Turning it into a robo-dog is just one of them. This was made possible with the Pi Dog Robot Dog Kit from SunFounder. In this article, I'll share my experience and view on using this kit to build a robotic dog based on Raspberry Pi. I'll be honest. I tried something like this after more than a decade. Although I am not totally new to this territory as I did some basic robotics as an undergraduate, playing with microcontrollers and sensors but that was a long time ago. But 2024 is the year I get out of my comfort zone, get rid ..read more

Have you ever watched a video and wished you could slow it down or speed it up? Maybe the speaker is too fast, or you just want to skip through some parts. You can do that with VLC media player! In this article, we’ll explore how to control video playback speed using VLC. Increase or decrease speed with keyboard Not a fan of mouse clicks? VLC provides some simple keyboard shortcuts to control the speed of the playback. When you are playing a video, use the following keys, for the mentioned purposes. Function Key Increase playback speed + Increase playback speed fine co ..read more

Here's positive news that should delight most Linux and open-source supporters. German state Schleswig-Holstein has decided to replace Microsoft Office with LibreOffice on over 30,000 employees' PCs. Wow! German State Ditches Microsoft for Open-Source Software The end of dominance for Microsoft in this German state, replacing Windows with Linux, and Office with Libreoffice. It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra Good news indeed, right? By the way, it appears that some of you did not receive the previous newsletter due to some technical difficulties. No worries. You can still read the Homelab special ..read more

If you are using any popular Linux distribution including Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE, or Fedora, your system uses systemd as its init system. Sure, there are controversies surrounding systemd. But, it is the most used init system. In a systemd-equipped distro, there is a command that could make your life easy. It is the systemctl command, used to interact with the systemd init service. System administrators always use this command, but it is also useful for end-users wishing to take control via the terminal. For instance, you can use the systemctl command to list services in Linux. So in ..read more

If you are a developer and want to install apps directly to Android for testing purposes, then using adb (Android Debug Bridge) and fastboot will get things done in the most efficient manner possible. Sure, it can also be useful when you want to access the device shell to execute commands directly which is quite helpful for unlocking the bootloader and installing custom ROMs. So in this tutorial, I will walk you through how you can install adb and fastboot on various Linux distributions. How to install ADB and Fastboot on Linux You get adb and fastboot available in the default repository of a ..read more

Recently, I set up Jellyfin media server on my Raspberry Pi. My Pi is wirelessly connected to the router and one problem I faced with this setup is accessing the media server on the TV or other devices. Why? Because the Pi got assigned a random IP address at times between reboots. And since I was trying to access the media server running on Raspberry Pi though the IP address, it became an issue. I had to manually enter the IP address on the TV every time the IP address changed. Finding the IP address of the Raspberry Pi was another challenge. This is where static IP comes into play. If you Pi ..read more

This is a special FOSS Weekly edition as it focuses on Homelab. Wondering what is a homelab? Basically, it's a dedicated computer(s) set up which resides in your home and serves various open source software on your local network. So, you run your own cloud storage, media server and a lot more. What is a Homelab and Why Should You Have One? Having a homelab setup has multiple advantages. Learn what it is and why you should consider a homelab for yourself. Linux HandbookHelder That's the simplest of the homelab. There is no limit to what you can do with a homelab. Just browse through the r ..read more