I'm no longer looking for a new browser.

After my previous post, a chap from my local Linux Users Group tipped me off to uBlock Origin (Legacy), which is an alternative script blocker. I've been using it for the last three weeks on PaleMoon 29.2.0, and it works well, though not as easy to configure as NoScript.

And today I learned from reader "twp" that NoScript is still available for PaleMoon. Though not from the PaleMoon add-ons catalog; you have to go directly to the NoScript web page. NoScript "Classic" (5.1.9) is what you need for PaleMoon. I have now installed it and it seems to be working just fine.

Meanwhile, I have installed Opera, though not yet Vivaldi or Brave. It's been a busy month.

Well, it finally happened. After months of warning messages, the latest update to Pale Moon browser is incompatible with NoScript. So I think I need to switch browsers.

NoScript is (was) a very powerful browser extension that blocks Javascript by default, advises what sites (including third-party sites) are attempting to run Javascript on your computer, and lets you selectively permit them. All with an easy user interface. I default to blocking Javascript, and permitting it only for sites that I trust (a whitelist). This is, first, a privacy and security measure. Second, there are many websites that have toxic or incompetent Javascript, which may not be hostile but can paralyze my computer. And third, this lets me bypass some access restrictions.

So, I'm in the market for a fast, efficent, and privacy-supportive browser. I've identified three candidates:

Opera. Long-time readers of this site will recall that Opera was my favorite browser, until they stopped supporting 32-bit Linux. Well, I've now upgraded to 64-bit Linux, so Opera is again a contender. I've always liked the speed and ease of use of Opera, and in the past they were always a leader in privacy features.

Vivaldi. Though it's been around for years, I just learned about Vivaldi a week ago. This review describes it as "Opera meets Chrome," coming "from the same team that developed Opera back in the day." I like the sound of that.

Brave. I've been hearing about Brave for a long time, ever since it was just aspirational. It's now a real product, and many people recommend it.

Heck, I may have to try all three.

After reading of my adventures re-installing DOSEMU, Chuck G. shared this bit of useful news:


Since I have the original DOSEMU working, I'm not going to attempt to install DOSEMU2 at this time. (Especially as I'd have to build from source; precompiled packages for Debian are not provided.) But I'm glad to hear that someone has "forked" the DOSEMU project and is continuing maintenance and development, since the original DOSEMU seems to have been frozen in mid-2013.

This is a serious vulnerability, if you're using KDE4 or KDE5:

Zero-Day Bug in KDE 4/5 Executes Commands by Opening a Folder



Read the whole thing. No fix is yet available, so be careful with your downloads. Or switch to a different desktop manager.

My wife needs to spend several days working from a different room in the house. My first thought was to move her desktop computer there, but that's a lot of work, and then she would be unable to use her usual workroom. My second thought was to set up a laptop, but she wouldn't have access to her files and the applications installed on her desktop, unless I went to a lot of effort duplicating her desktop environment and copying files back and forth.*

Then it hit me: what she really needs is a Remote Graphical Terminal so that she can use the laptop to directly access her desktop. Basically the laptop functions as the keyboard, screen, and mouse for her desktop. The desktop holds all the files, and runs all the applications. We had this ability back in the days we ran Xandros Linux, but I so rarely used it that I never got around to installing it on our current distro (Debian).

The magic phrase is Virtual Network Computing, VNC for short. I need to install a VNC server on her desktop, and a VNC client on the remote terminal (the laptop).

Alas, if you web-search for "Debian VNC server", you'll find a lot of information, but very little advice, and no tutorials. So here's what I was able to piece together from a few web pages, and some trial and error.

VNC Server, on Debian 9 "Stretch" 64-bit

Of the VNC servers listed on this Ubuntu help page, the one that worked for me was x11vnc. This is easy to install from the Debian repository.

That Ubuntu page describes a rather long command-line incantation to start the server:


...substituting, of course, her Linux user name. This will keep running until she shuts down the computer.

One feature of x11vnc that I strongly desired is that it duplicates her desktop screen on the laptop. If you move the mouse on one computer, you see the motion on both screens; whatever windows are open on one are visible on both. I find this useful. Some VNC servers, instead, give the laptop computer its own, independent, graphical display -- allowing two users to do different things at the same time. It's all a matter of what you need.

VNC Client, on Linux Mint 18 "Sylvia" 32-bit

Searching for VNC clients is equally frustrating -- like automobile brands, everyone has a favorite. I settled on xvnc4viewer, which can be installed from the Mint repository. Once it's installed, I can open a terminal window and type a much simpler incantation:


Where HERDESKTOP is the IP address, on our local network, of the desktop computer.

F8 brings up a popup menu, where you can click "Exit Viewer" when done.


* Yes, I know how to use rsync.

When I last visited the question of to-do lists, I settled on a command-line utility, todo.txt. It's reasonably versatile...but I've found that I don't use it.

The first reason is that I'd really prefer a graphical user interface, not a flat text display. But also, I've found that I want a hierarchical organizer. I tend to group tasks into categories, and I plan by dividing major tasks into subtasks.

So I was intrigued when I noticed, quite by chance, that my time-tracker software (Hamster) will integrate with two task managers: Evolution and Getting Things GNOME! (GTG). I've always thought of Evolution as massive overkill, but I'd never heard of GTG, so I thought I'd give that a try.

At first glance, it looks clean and simple. I use top-level tasks as categories, and then the first level of subtasks as projects (or actual tasks). Those projects that need to be divided into subprojects use the second level of subtasks. Subtasks can have sub-subtasks, and so on.

My main grumble at the moment is that there's not a built-in function to export the to-do list. It's stored in a tree of XML files, not a simple text file. There is a plugin to export to PDF and other formats, but I need to install a lot of dependencies first. Also, tasks can be sorted alphabetically or by start date or due date, but they can't be manually re-ordered. Well, I can use a prefix letter on each category to force the alphabetic sort to my desired order.

AlternativeTo.net lists several alternatives to GTG, including todo.txt. Calcurse is a command line application, Tasque has been discontinued, and ReminderFox is both browser-based and discontinued, so if I don't like GTG, it looks like plan C -- plan A was todo.txt -- is Gnome To Do.

My wife called this to my attention; a web site called "smartwebuser.org" (I refuse to post a link) that warned "If you live in Canada and have a Linux computer which is over 6 months old, then we advise you to keep reading." What followed was a puff piece for something called ScanGuard. It sounded suspiciously to me like all those "cleanup" apps that are advertised in email and occasionally on TV, that promise to protect your PC from viruses and malware, and make it run a zillion times faster. It sounded like a scam to me.

A quick Google search for "ScanGuard scam" confirmed this. First I found this Yahoo Answers discussion, where it was reported that the program will advise you that there's a problem and you need to spend $49 to fix it.

Then I found this in-depth review from Bob Rankin:


As Rankin says, "the company is sketchy." I have not yet seen any reports of the program installing malware, but it's still early days, and most people seem to have had the good sense not to try this.

My guess is that they've milked the Windows market for all they could, and are now hoping to turn up a few suckers in the Linux marketplace. Do NOT install this program on your computer -- it's like handing them the keys to your house.

I interrupt my long hiatus to wish "Happy Birthday" to Linux, now 25 years old!





I don't know; the GPL hasn't prevented a dozen different desktop environments from proliferating under Linux. (And that's not a bad thing.) I suspect what crippled Unix, and left an opportunity for Linux, was the litigation involving BSD Unix 24 years ago. That case was settled, and BSD Unix is free and clear, but the cloud hung over "free" Unix for several years and doubtless hampered adoption.

The happy result is that we have both Linux and BSD Unix for our free (libre) software needs.

(Thanks to our friends the Millers for the reminder.)

In lieu of original content, I'll post this link my wife sent me. It's a few months old but still timely: "I Moved to Linux and It’s Even Better Than I Expected".

My local Linux Users Group has just informed me of the existence of Ubuntu-Mate.

I liked the early Ubuntus, and then became disillusioned when later releases became fat and slow. That was mostly the fault of the desktop environments that were included with each version. Lubuntu, which used the LXDE desktop, was a tremendous improvement, but I found the shortcomings of LXDE too much to bear. When I discovered the MATE desktop, I was happy again. (I currently use Debian with MATE; my wife uses Linux Mint with MATE.)

Ubuntu-Mate is definitely going to be worth a look.