Linux OTC

We start this episode with some feedback from back in May. This gets us into a conversation about photo management. We get into music a bit, we lament about the state of the music industry. We talk a little about the evolution of the methods we consume the content, and how we used to archive the media. We talk about the questionable expertise of many mainstream commercial hardware support businesses. All this and so much more! 

Join hosts Majid, Charlie, and Eric in episode 75 of Linux OTC to explore the surprisingly rich connections between language, technology, AI, and digital privacy. The episode opens with a lively discussion about the quirks of English as a global language, code-switching, and regional dialects — with Charlie and Majid sharing personal anecdotes about communicating across cultures. The conversation naturally pivots to AI and vibe coding, with Charlie praising Claude for helping him troubleshoot Docker Compose files on ZimaOS by parsing error logs, Eric reflecting on using AI to generate bash scripts, and Majid noting mixed results with Gemini for self-hosting tasks like setting up Jellyfin and Audiobookshelf. The second half tackles AI’s broader implications: medical transcription tools, data privacy concerns around Google, Apple, Copilot, and ambient surveillance, and the sustainability of AI consuming creator content without attribution — using the now-legendary “Marjorie from Tuscany” as a case study. The trio rounds out the episode debating GNOME’s governance, the AUR’s recent turbulence, and the tension between project vision and community input, with Charlie teasing that the FOSS and open-source philosophy discussion will continue on the FossNerds podcast soon.

In this episode we deep dive, rather pretentiously into the world of the AUR, and get into the recent bulk discovery of malware in said repository. Some question whether the AUR should exist at all, others believe the AUR is and should be a “wild west” of opportunity, good and bad. The debate gets a bit heated at times. We also get into AI – of course we do. All this, and way more!

Join hosts Bill, Charlie, Jim, and Majid in episode 73 of Linux OTC to explore open-source operating systems. The chat kicks off by comparing Debian’s origins with early Ubuntu. Jim shares his deep dive into the BSD ecosystem, detailing his switch to using GhostBSD. He highlights hardware compatibility on older machines, but opens up about a major storage dilemma caused by a ZFS snapshot filling his 60GB SSD during an update. The crew also explores philosophical divides between Linux and BSD. They discuss the implications of permissive BSD licensing versus the GPL, debating how corporate influence impacts the Linux desktop. The discussion flows into file systems, weighing ZFS against UFS for users with limited storage. Finally, they swap stories about upgrading old hardware and announce the community’s migration to a Matrix room.

Welcome to Episode 72 of the Linux OTC podcast, where hosts Bill, Charlie, Eric, and Majid dive straight into the technical hurdles of content creation, specifically critiquing Discord’s feature creep and reliability issues. The conversation quickly expands into a broader philosophical discussion on the societal impact of modern social media. The hosts express deep concerns about how algorithms heavily reinforce confirmation bias, debate the effectiveness of age restrictions like COPPA, and emphasize the critical role of parental responsibility in navigating digital spaces for younger users. In the second half, the crew shifts focus to the Linux ecosystem and the ongoing challenge of “de-Googling” their lives. They explore the merits and difficulties of self-hosting, highlighting tools like Nextcloud and praising Immich as a powerful, self-hosted alternative to Google Photos. The episode wraps up with a relatable deep dive into the frustrations of “distro hopping,” discussing Eric’s transition from Pop!_OS to PikaOS, the benefits of Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE), and the current landscape of desktop environments like Gnome, KDE Plasma, and Budgie. Finally, the team announces that the podcast is officially joining the Linux Syndicate network.

We start off talking about the non standard experience you get from one Linux distro to another. Majid talks about his experience transferring files. Some Distros are a little closer to the upstream than others. This gets us into a discussion about Fedora, RHEL, and the like. All of this and way more!

After a poignant start, our new host Charlie joins us, as well as Dale from Distrohopper’s Digest for a conversation about all things spanning the range between celebrity, to classic pop culture, and on to to Debian and it’s constituents. Intellectual fundamentalism rears it’s head. Choice prevails! Oh and buckle up kids – we talk about Systemd.

This week we welcome a new voice to the fold. Charlie, AKA Immutable Charlie joins us to talk Linux

We’re all over the place on this episode. We start off with the abysmal state of media streaming. Majid and Eric get into a conversation about watches. We get into it about our experiences with Amazon as well as other online commerce offerings. Bill talks a bit about the sad state of affairs within his industry. Eric talks about a recent challenge trying to find a tech solution to a friend’s photography storage problem. All this, and way more!

Yes friends, that time is finally here; episode “67.” Much of the conversation is about the relevance of older technology in a time when up-to-date RAM and other parts are expensive, and scarce. We get into a conversation about compiling software that is not available in your repos verses using a containerized solution like Distrobox. We get into encryption and how to get the benefits of encryption on any cloud storage solution. Quantum computing is also covered a bit. All this and way more!

Server rebuilds, Memory shortages, Energy prices, Compiling software, and the AUR. all that and way more!

Bill and Eric wax philosophical about technology and it’s users. They get into Ad blocking, anti-virus, and the like. The nature of “free” software comes up. Gaming on Linux, Wine, virtualization, etc. They get into the concept of a software repository, and the associated package manager. The layers of effort that goes into every distribution. All of this and more!

Eric makes his triumphant return where we start off talking about some recent pc builds Bill had been working on during his time off. We get into some of the vagaries of hardware issues and what we’ve done in the past to deal with them. Majid talks about recent laptop purchases. Eric gets into some issues he experienced while using multiple versions of Handbrake. These topics and more!

In this lively episode of Linux OTC, we kick off with some unexpected technical hiccups when Majid’s audio takes a turn for the bizarre, sparking a spirited debate about the causes. As we navigate through the audio chaos, the conversation shifts to the fascinating evolution of smartphones, exploring how they’ve transformed our daily lives. Later, we dive into the intricacies of Arch Linux and debate the merits and pitfalls of using the AUR (Arch User Repository). Battery life also makes a brief appearance as we share tips and experiences to help listeners maximize their device’s endurance. Amidst the tech talk, one amusing cultural meme—“67”—keeps making its way back into the conversation, adding a humorous twist to our discussions. Join us for a blend of tech insights, friendly banter, and plenty of laughs!

One hardware failure after another for these guys. Bill’s video card woes, Majid’s server issues. We even had a complete SATA controller failure on one of the most important machines. We get through it. We get into distro hopping, as well as a little conversation about Cosmic, verses Gnome.

Bill’s video card problems, we get into the new Steam hardware a bit, a little bit on Docker. Way more!

Just Bill and Majid for this one. We get into all kinds of stuff including the evolution of content creation, distro hopping, and the like. We get into Amazon’s shift to Linux on it’s Fire TV platform. All of this and way more.

We had a lot of fun making this one. After some off-topic discussion, we get into a recent purchase by Bill. We get into Pop!_OS in a big way! Somehow we segue into shaving products. All this and way more! This would be an excellent episode to watch on YouTube!

It’s another AI episode folks. We had a good conversation about it though. It’s not all moaning, we promise. In the beginning, we’re talking about some of Bill’s hardware accelleration woes, and what he’s doing to remedy it. We went ahead and added it to the end after the outro as a bit of “Bonus” content. All this and way more!

A rather “in-depth” conversation about the nature of language, thought, and communication starts us off. We inevitably move on to AI. Those things and more!

ai, archlinux, Auto Industry, CHUWI, Data Privacy, linux, linuxotc, mp3, podcast, Windows License

Why do we use Arch? Should we really be trying to get new people to use Linux? These are the questions that have occupied the minds of man since the beginning of time.

No Bill this episode, but we have a great time none the less.

Dev Opps, Majid’s Snapdragon, Keyboard wins over Mouse, Cybersecurity, Gnome, Stand-by Time On Linux. Start up time, and Way More!

DNS, TikTok, Netflix, Plex and other drugs. We get into it in depth!

As we state early on in the show – This is our official Windows 11 episode! Majid has some technical difficulties which brings up some interesting conversations about the evolution of a Linux user’s troubleshooting skills. We get our nerd on talking about Star Wars. All of this and way more!

We’re all over the place on this one. VPN’s, ARM hardware and multimedia are the most noteworthy topics. Those and so much more!

We start off with Bill describing his experience at a recent trade show. Somehow this leads to a discussion on Arch and it’s place in the eco-system. We “flow” into a discussion about cloud providers and the state of their encryption. We get into the browser world briefly. All of this and way more!

We start by waxing philosophical, then we lead to a conversation about AI in the workplace. We get into Manifest V-3. We get into Mozilla, and their recent decisions. We get into browsers and we think the future may influence our decisions moving forward.

We start off talking about our beginnings in podcasting, this leads to the different ways people build and maintain websites. We then go hard on Mozilla. All of this and so much more

We start off talking about wearables, more specifically smart watches. We get into a discussion about a re-imagining of the infrastructure of Majid’s other show “Atypical Doctor Podcast.” All of this stuff and so much more!

On this episode – Tik Tok, Plex, Coffee, and ear hair. We’re all over the place!

This week we start off waxing philosophical, but eventually we get into a discussion about how long our servers would last should something happen to us nerds of the house. We get into Docker, Synology, HD Homerun, and Apple. All of this, and so much more!

Just Bill and Majid this week. It all starts a bit rough with a little back and forth between the blokes, but gets better with a conversation about Linux for “normal” people. Is there more than one kind of “normal” user? We get into a conversation about Apple, family movie night, and “planned obsolescence.” All of this and way more!

This week we point out the nature of kindness in the world. We get into a discussion about the challenges of religion and philosophy with regards to keeping up with technology. Perhaps we’ve given up too much to our devices. Majid works with Elementry OS 8 a little during the recording. Dual-booting becomes the “meat and potatoes” of this episode, where Eric describes the novel idea of creating multiple EFI system partitions. All of this and so much more!

This week it all starts with a rather brooding little discussion about religion. We get into why we use Linux, and why many people may use Linux. This rolls into a discussion about smart phones, smart watches and the like. Eric talks about his new Pixel watch. Majid shares a story about playing Badminton. We round it off with a discussion about earbuds, and the price points of many prolific devices.

This week Majid and Bill talk about their PC builds – the good, bad and just plain wrong. Majid describes devolving from restoring old PC parts to literally building his “Ship of Theseus” from new parts. Installing Arch somehow becomes part of the conversation; everything from installing, to how packages are handled on the distro. We then talk about video editing. Evolution of the spoken language, and learning foreign languages sort of round out the show. All of this and so much more!

We start off Talking about Majid trying Fedora. We then get into Microsoft buying nuclear power facilities to provide for the monsterous energy needs of AI. Majid shares some interesting uses of AI in the healthcare industry. We get into the latest in the Internet Archive saga. All of this and way more!

This is the first episode we live streamed. We started with the Internet Archive outage, this leads to a conversation about passwords and the philosophies around changing passwords. We move on to Thunderbird and the new Beta currently in testing for Android, and some of the pitfalls of email on the various email apps. Linux on tablets – Majid planning to purchase one of those new Snapdragon devices – and compelling reasons to use Mac are also in this episode. We’ve got all of this and so much more on this episode!

This week we start off talking about Leo’s latest episode of Linux User Space. In episode 5:02, Leo and Dan go over a history of the Cinnamon desktop, and how tightly it’s tied to Linux Mint it’s self. We then morphed into a conversation about Windows 8, Windows on the command line, and how Gnome 3 seemed to come along about the same time. Desktop design was the hot topic. We then moved on to the APT package manager, and the differences between it on Mint, and the rest of the Debian world. I could write more, but you’d spend more time reading this than you would listening to the show. We get into a lot of stuff. Link to Linux User Space

Bill, Leo, Majid, and Joe get together this week to talk about Audacity, Tenacity, Git, Redbox, media servers, and Majid’s silly new phone. You’re not going to believe this, but AI does come up in the conversation. All of this and so, so much more. And by the way, Leo was kidding – Tenacity definitely does not suck.

This week Eric, and Majid return, along with Leo and Joe to talk about Linux in schools, LLM’s AI, the new XPS, and so much more. It was a blast!

This week Eric and Bill get into a conversation about proprietary alternatives to opensource software. It starts with us describing how we’ve both begun using Reaper instead of Audacity for editing the audio for our shows. Let us know what your think. What, if any proprietary software are you using on Linux. Is it just enough that the developers make their software available on Linux? We’d love to know what you think. [email protected] There’s a little bonus content after the ending jingle.

Eric Leo and Majid talk Discord, Bots, UI and even a little bit of Linux!

We’re joined by Joe from mintCast fame. The discussion starts off about audio editing and just spins out of control from there. Joe and Leo get into a few discussions about some games available on Steam. We talk a little about the Steam Deck. The Texas heat is a topic. That leads to ideas about how to mitigate the heat in the home. AI in the home, ownership of software (or the lack thereof) and so much more!

Bill records the show using Arch, Leo advocates for the virtues of atomic distros, and Majid wants to build a NAS, or perhaps just buy one. All of this and so much more!

This week we’re joined by Alan Pope of “Linux Matters” fame, among others. The conversation starts off with Snaps, Flatpaks, and the like – leading us into atomic desktops, and some shows we’ve been watching lately. Oh, and of course AI. All of this and a whole lot more!

This week we start out on Majid’s not so great experience with Endeavour OS. This spirals out of control into a back and forth with Bill dying on the Arch Linux hill. We have discussions about Snaps, Flatpaks, Atomic Desktops, and a whole lot more!

Cryptocurrency, Block Chain, and the problems inherent to funding in Opensource. We solve the world’s problems in one hour or less!

This is just an announcement about some changes to the way we deliver the episodes