Linux

SVT-AV1 2.3 was released yesterday and while it's already the fastest AV1 encoder around, the new version brings yet more improvements for squeezing out additional performance for CPU-based AV1 coding.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21951809

Fedora Linux provides a wide variety of users with leading edge open source technology in a community developed and maintained operating system. The Fedora KDE Spin combines the reliable and trusted Fedora Linux base with the KDE Plasma desktop environment and a selection of KDE applications – simple by default, yet powerful when needed.

Back in April 2024, Fedora Linux 40 included the KDE “MegaRelease 6” – the Plasma desktop environment, Frameworks application libraries (with the underlying Qt platform), and Gear application suite were all upgraded to new versions in one fell swoop to deliver improved performance and reliability. Since then, continuous upstream updates by the KDE teams to fix bugs and deploy new features were quickly deployed to Fedora 40 users, including breakthroughs such as Explicit Sync in Wayland (which addressed the most prevalent graphical glitches on Nvidia devices)!

Now, as part of the Fedora Linux 41 release, the KDE Spin again includes the very latest with the recently released KDE Plasma 6.2, up-to-date KDE applications and core system packages, and new ways of using Plasma on different devices.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21948355

KDE are kicking off their 2024 end-of-year fundraiser just in time for Halloween!

Even if the spine-tingling horrors of the long dark night of Walpurgis are mostly imaginary, the sinister threats of predatory proprietary software providers remain all too real.

Fear not! We, the KDE community, will help you, your friends, family, company, and community banish all the creepy and insidious proprietary software that haunts your computers, phones, and household appliances.

But we can't do it alone! We need you to help us fight the good fight against the tech-ghouls from beyond. Use the form to donate any amount to our fundraiser (or become a regular donor to our community) and help us keep the dark forces of proprietary software at bay.

I'm looking to create a unified view of data across multiple Debian-based devices without fully replicating the data. My current setup includes:

• Main computer with one HDD
• Server with four drives
• A couple of Raspberry Pis

I want a folder on each device that provides access to the contents from all drives, but without actually copying or syncing the data to each device. I'm aiming for a solution that allows browsing and accessing all files from any device while keeping the actual data in its original location.

I've been looking into using a combination of MergerFS and SSHFS. The idea is to use SSHFS to mount remote directories and then use MergerFS to combine these mounts with local directories into a single view. However, I'm not sure if I should merge the drives in the server and share the merged folder with all other systems or I should share each drive with each system and merge them in there. Is this the best approach or are there better alternatives?

I want to avoid solutions like Syncthing, Dropbox, or Google Drive that would clone the entire data set to each device. I'm trying to avoid data duplication and save storage space on devices with smaller capacities.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the MergerFS + SSHFS approach, or if you have any other suggestions that might better fit my needs. Any insights, recommendations, or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Guest OS is Debian 12.7, no desktop environment. VM was created with Powershell so that I could specify the Configuration Version (9.0). This VM is intended to be migrated to a Server 2019 host.

I have a series of checkpoints so I can observe the behavior at each. After installing (rootfull) docker, VM memory demand idles around 526 MB. Starting a session and running top doesn't change the memory demand at all.

When I start with the checkpoint where I've made docker rootless, memory demand idles slightly higher before login, maybe 870 MB. When I start a session and run top, though, memory demand skyrockets and assigned memory quickly reaches max dynamic memory, 4096 MB. The output in top barely changes. For giggles I bumped the max to 6 GB and demand still continued to rise.

There are no containers defined in either case. Any ideas about what I'm seeing?

edit: solved lol

When I run Cheese, the inbuilt webcam light flashes for an instant then stops. Assuming Cheese opens correctly, it never successfully shows the webcam feed. Cheese worked prior to update. ( Zoom webcam fails too D: )

setup

Arch Linux, kernel 6.11.5-arch-11, Hyprland v0.44.1 (pipewire 1.2.6) on a hybrid Nvidia+Intel Lenovo laptop.

$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 25a7:fa23 Areson Technology Corp 2.4G Receiver
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp. Bluetooth wireless interface
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 138a:0094 Validity Sensors, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 033: ID 13d3:5673 IMC Networks EasyCamera
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

$ v4l2-ctl --list-devices                                         
EasyCamera: EasyCamera (usb-0000:00:14.0-5):
	/dev/video0
	/dev/video1
	/dev/media0

packages

I'm up-to-date.

$ yay -Q |egrep -i 'gstreamer|video|cam|media|mtp'
fswebcam 20200725-1
gnome-video-effects 1:0.6.0-2
gst-plugin-libcamera 0.3.2-1
gstreamer 1.24.8-1
gstreamer-vaapi 1.24.8-1
guvcview 2.1.0-4
guvcview-common 2.1.0-4
gvfs-mtp 1.56.1-1
haskell-http-media 0.8.1.1-18
intel-media-driver 24.3.3-1
libcamera 0.3.2-1
libcamera-ipa 0.3.2-1
libmtp 1.1.21-2
media-player-info 26-1
perl-lwp-mediatypes 6.04-6
pipewire-libcamera 1:1.2.6-1
# qt omitted
xf86-video-intel 1:2.99.917+923+gb74b67f0-2

tried apps

Tried cheese and fswebcam, among a few others (logs are too long to fit)

$ cheese
cheese

(cheese:53011): Gdk-WARNING **: 11:41:45.977: Native Windows taller than 65535 pixels are not supported
[0:56:26.030577084] [53011] ERROR IPAModule ipa_module.cpp:171 Symbol ipaModuleInfo not found
[0:56:26.030591748] [53011] ERROR IPAModule ipa_module.cpp:291 v4l2-compat.so: IPA module has no valid info
[0:56:26.030607425] [53011]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:325 libcamera v0.3.2

(cheese:53011): GStreamer-CRITICAL **: 11:41:46.096: gst_structure_get_value: assertion 'structure != NULL' failed
[0:57:26.270746293] [53011] ERROR IPAModule ipa_module.cpp:171 Symbol ipaModuleInfo not found
[0:57:26.270790988] [53011] ERROR IPAModule ipa_module.cpp:291 v4l2-compat.so: IPA module has no valid info
[0:57:26.270850259] [53011]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:325 libcamera v0.3.2
[0:57:26.432615229] [53061]  INFO Camera camera.cpp:1197 configuring streams: (0) 640x480-MJPEG
[0:57:26.449271361] [53574] ERROR V4L2 v4l2_videodevice.cpp:1931 /dev/video0[450:cap]: Failed to start streaming: Protocol error
[0:57:26.449379043] [53574] ERROR V4L2 v4l2_videodevice.cpp:1266 /dev/video0[450:cap]: Unable to request 0 buffers: No such device

(cheese:53011): cheese-WARNING **: 11:42:46.537: Failed to start the camera: Protocol error: ../libcamera/src/gstreamer/gstlibcamerasrc.cpp(680): gst_libcamera_src_task_enter (): /GstCameraBin:camerabin/GstWrapperCameraBinSrc:camera_source/GstBin:bin37/GstLibcameraSrc:libcamerasrc0:
Camera.start() failed with error code -71

(cheese:53011): Clutter-CRITICAL **: 11:42:48.119: Unable to create dummy onscreen: No foreign surface, and wl_shell unsupported by the compositor

$ fswebcam -v
***
Opening /dev/video0...
Trying source module v4l2...
/dev/video0 opened.
src_v4l2_get_capability,91: /dev/video0 information:
src_v4l2_get_capability,92: cap.driver: "uvcvideo"
src_v4l2_get_capability,93: cap.card: "EasyCamera: EasyCamera"
src_v4l2_get_capability,94: cap.bus_info: "usb-0000:00:14.0-5"
src_v4l2_get_capability,95: cap.capabilities=0x84A00001
src_v4l2_get_capability,96: - VIDEO_CAPTURE
src_v4l2_get_capability,107: - STREAMING
No input was specified, using the first.
src_v4l2_set_input,185: /dev/video0: Input 0 information:
src_v4l2_set_input,186: name = "Camera 1"
src_v4l2_set_input,187: type = 00000002
src_v4l2_set_input,189: - CAMERA
src_v4l2_set_input,190: audioset = 00000000
src_v4l2_set_input,191: tuner = 00000000
src_v4l2_set_input,192: status = 00000000
src_v4l2_set_pix_format,523: Device offers the following V4L2 pixel formats:
src_v4l2_set_pix_format,532: 0: [0x47504A4D] 'MJPG' (Motion-JPEG)
src_v4l2_set_pix_format,532: 1: [0x56595559] 'YUYV' (YUYV 4:2:2)
Using palette MJPEG
Adjusting resolution from 384x288 to 424x240.
src_v4l2_set_mmap,675: mmap information:
src_v4l2_set_mmap,676: frames=4
src_v4l2_set_mmap,725: 0 length=203520
src_v4l2_set_mmap,725: 1 length=203520
src_v4l2_set_mmap,725: 2 length=203520
src_v4l2_set_mmap,725: 3 length=203520
Error starting stream.
VIDIOC_STREAMON: Protocol error
Unable to use mmap. Using read instead.
Unable to use read.

logs

$ journalctl -b-0
# some stuff removed for post character limit
pipewire[1028]: spa.v4l2: '/dev/video0' VIDIOC_STREAMON: Protocol error
pipewire[1028]: pw.node: (v4l2_input.pci-0000_00_14.0-usb-0_5_1.0-78) suspended -> error (Start error: Protocol error)
kernel: usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 50
pipewire[1028]: spa.v4l2: VIDIOC_REQBUFS: No such device
kernel: usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 51 using xhci_hcd
kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=13d3, idProduct=5673, bcdDevice=16.04
kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=1, SerialNumber=2
kernel: usb 1-5: Product: EasyCamera
kernel: usb 1-5: Manufacturer: AzureWave
kernel: usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 0001
kernel: usb 1-5: Found UVC 1.00 device EasyCamera (13d3:5673)
mtp-probe[66565]: checking bus 1, device 51: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-5"
mtp-probe[66565]: bus: 1, device: 51 was not an MTP device
mtp-probe[66599]: checking bus 1, device 51: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-5"
mtp-probe[66599]: bus: 1, device: 51 was not an MTP device
kernel: usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 51
kernel: usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 52 using xhci_hcd
kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=13d3, idProduct=5673, bcdDevice=16.04
kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=1, SerialNumber=2
kernel: usb 1-5: Product: EasyCamera
kernel: usb 1-5: Manufacturer: AzureWave
kernel: usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 0001
kernel: usb 1-5: Found UVC 1.00 device EasyCamera (13d3:5673)

$ sudo dmesg
[ 5248.449913] usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 50
[ 5248.842621] usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 51 using xhci_hcd
[ 5249.025592] usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=13d3, idProduct=5673, bcdDevice=16.04
[ 5249.025612] usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=1, SerialNumber=2
[ 5249.025620] usb 1-5: Product: EasyCamera
[ 5249.025626] usb 1-5: Manufacturer: AzureWave
[ 5249.025632] usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 0001
[ 5249.030816] usb 1-5: Found UVC 1.00 device EasyCamera (13d3:5673)
[ 5259.873533] usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 51
[ 5260.268988] usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 52 using xhci_hcd
[ 5260.454354] usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=13d3, idProduct=5673, bcdDevice=16.04
[ 5260.454371] usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=1, SerialNumber=2
[ 5260.454378] usb 1-5: Product: EasyCamera
[ 5260.454384] usb 1-5: Manufacturer: AzureWave
[ 5260.454389] usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 0001
[ 5260.460370] usb 1-5: Found UVC 1.00 device EasyCamera (13d3:5673)

Any help appreciated! ^_^

Solution: It fixed itself after like 15 power cycles. Easy peasy

Just made a dedicated repo about a bunch of tricks I regularly use.

A KDE Plasmoid is definetly missing on that list. Having it work without garbage Electron, at least most of the time, is crucial.

I love those guys, their way too long podcast-type videos are always fun to watch

Hi all! Either my Google fu is failing me, or such a cursor software might not have been done yet.

Is there a cursor-customizing software in which I can change the cursor image based on a .png/.gif file (or set of png files), and the image flips depending on movement direction in the X-axis? I kinda want to make a huge cursor, but don't want the image to get in the way of the direction the cursor is traveling.

And um, mint cinnamon btw?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20962151

Hello Linux folks, i would like to share one little hack which i have found.

On fedora, zram-generator comes installed and configured by default with lz4 algorithm i believe, and no disk swap, if you have 8gb of ram or more, that is fine, but if you have 4gb or less, systemd-oomd either kills you games when they use too much memory, or you face an OOMD and get your system frozen.

When configuring fedora, normally i would create an in-disk swap, so that my computer wouldn't freeze but face a MASSIVE slowdown when on way too high memory usage, i also set zram-generator to use the zstd algorithm so that zram compression rate is higher but slightly slower, like that i can use my low memory more efficiently with a lower risk of OOMD.

I was watching a bringus studios video once, where he tried to run counter-strike 2 on a ps4 using linux and proton; the game would always use too much memory and that would freeze the system before it got a change to actually launch, the strange ps4 linux was using in-disk swap, and so, increasing swapiness to 100 bringus tried to leverage that to make the game run. He was sucessful. In disk swap is very slow, so the performance was crap, but that does not matter...

So i saw that, and had the idea to combine it with zram-swap to avoid the in-disk swap penalty, also using zstd as the algorithm to make the most out of the memory, and it was a massive sucess! Some games which would make my system very unstable or straight up freeze on certain launch attempts started launching and working just fine! and without dumb in-disk swap slowdowns!

While running modded Victoria 2 i have noticed my system is using about 3.3 to 3.4GB of swap, and about 3.5 gb of ram, so about 100 to 200MB of real uncompressed memory usage, assuming zstd is running at level 1 of compression, and achieving at least 3.0 as compression rate, in thesis, my system has now the equivalent to 10GB of ram, well about it's weight! even more impressing considering how low are the numbers we are working here!

tldr: setting your swapiness=100 while using zstd as your zram-generator compression algorithm, and no in-disk swap will help your system use the most out of your ram with negligible performance penalty