Ask The Hosts – Episode 41

Some of our hot Linux takes including software bloat, ChromeOS being the best set and forget system, touch screen Linux still not being quite there, and Xfce being (nearly) dead to us.               Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes         See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Supermarkets found out why their fridges shouldn’t be on the Internet and Samsung smart fridges broke after a firmware update, why we don’t recommend MoCA, some tips for running ethernet cables in your house, and why it’s fine to use a short TTL with your domains.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Biggest ZFS Misconfigurations and How to Fix Them: Part 2   News/discussion Hackers heat French supermarket fridges, sparking fires and spoiling food The username is admin and the password changes every day automatically to.. the current date Freeze the Controller, Defrost the Food: Uncovering Vulnerabilities in Danfoss Refrigeration Controllers Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges   Free consulting Example coax cable tester             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

A true legend of computer science leaves us, Fortnite is coming to Linux, Steam is finally moving away from 32-bit, Microsoft Defender comes to the Linux Desktop, Adobe’s flagship apps are cloned by AI as open source, and a quick KDE Korner.   News Margaret Hamilton, computing pioneer who led software development for the Apollo program, dies at 90 The new Epic Games Launcher is finally here in Preview (Fortnite is coming to Linux) Steam preemptively killed the only advantage Epic Games’ vibe-coded store would have had Today’s Steam Beta Makes The Linux Client A 64-bit App Secure Linux desktops with Microsoft Defender “Software is over”: Bold AI developer takes aim at Adobe with open source clones   KDE Korner KDE: The Documentary Plasma 6.8               Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes     See our contact page for ways to get in touch. RSS: Subscribe to the RSS feeds here

When is it time to look for a new software development job? How do you cut through all the other applicants and get your foot in the door? When you do move on, how much notice should you give?                   Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

Is the LTS model now fundamentally unsustainable? How do we encourage enterprises to decrease patch cycle times?                 Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes     Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Why batteries in homes could benefit everyone involved, why we didn’t bring up wake-on-LAN when someone asked about keeping a NAS powered on as little as possible, building a router vs buying one, and ways to manage ssh connections.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Biggest ZFS Misconfigurations and How to Fix Them: Part 1   News/discussion How I kept cool with NYC’s free battery program for window AC units               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Our favourite children’s books, what room we’d add to our homes, whether we’d go and live in the past, and early cinema visits. With Andy from Linux Dev Time, and special guest Danielle Foré who makes elementary OS. Patrons got this this in their feed two weeks ago.          

New Snapdragon SoCs will officially support Linux, Firefox’s redesign confuses us, the Dutch government is embracing NixOS, F-Droid has a new modern look, and Ubuntu starts shipping new kernels more regularly. Plus with the iPhone Duo about to come out, Graham is still enjoying his Pixel 9 Pro Fold but Joe’s 10 Pro Fold is in a drawer.   News Inside Snapdragon Summit 2026: Agentic AI PCs, Googlebooks and Linux The new Firefox design: More modern, more flexible, still Firefox Dutch government turns to NixOS for a sovereign desktop F-Droid 2.0: A New Chapter for Android Freedom Google’s assault on F-Droid has begun Ryanair Boarding Pass Liberation Getting Ryanair tickets Accelerating delivery of CVE fixes with a new Kernel release strategy Kernel Recipes 2026                 Tailscale Tailscale is a modern, secure, zero-trust connectivity platform. Tailscale’s personal plan will be free forever for up to 6 users and unlimited devices! No credit card required. Go to tailscale.com/lnl to get started. If you’d like to bring Tailscale to work, use code latenightlinux for three free months of any paid plan.             Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes     See our contact page for ways to get in touch. RSS: Subscribe to the RSS feeds here

How do we recapture the passion we once had for computers and technology?                 Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes         See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Google offers a few pennies to web publishers to make up for stealing their content and not sending them any traffic, the tech we’d try to use after the apocalypse, why Jim doesn’t virtualise his clients’ desktops, and setting up Volume Shadow Copy so your users can restore their own files.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes FreeBSD: The Hidden Cost of Upgrading in Production   News/discussion Google’s early attempt to pay websites for AI answers is struggling                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.