It’s back-to-school season on Linux Out Loud! Wendy gives Ultramarine Linux high marks after moving camp laptops over from Zorin and getting DaVinci Resolve working with Nvidia, while Nate explains his hybrid-atomic openSUSE Tumbleweed update workflow and continues his one-sided feud with Microsoft Edge. Bill returns from the Pacific Northwest, starts a new professional chapter, and explores FleetDM as an open-source way to manage a growing herd of devices.

Show Links:

Wendy

• Ultramarine Linux https://ultramarine-linux.org/
• DaVinciBox — run DaVinci Resolve in a container https://github.com/zelikos/davincibox
• Helium Browser https://helium.computer/
• Apache Guacamole https://guacamole.apache.org/
• RustDesk https://rustdesk.com/

Nate

• Hybrid Atomic Updates with openSUSE Tumbleweed https://cubiclenate.com/2026/07/24/hybrid-atomic-updates-with-opensuse-tumbleweed/
• Simplifying Admin Tasks in openSUSE with the Wheel Group https://cubiclenate.com/2025/02/04/simplifying-admin-tasks-in-opensuse-with-the-wheel-group/

Bill

• FleetDM — open-source device management https://fleetdm.com/

Chapters:

00:00 Back to School, Back to Linux
00:43 Ultramarine Makes the Grade
01:51 DaVinci Resolve Needs a Permission Slip
06:39 The Camp Laptop Distro Swap
07:03 Nate vs. Edge: The Browser Grudge Match
16:24 Tumbleweed Updates Without the Homework
24:19 Bill’s New Chapter and Northwest Escape
28:17 FleetDM: Open-Source Device Wrangling
33:27 Remote Desktop Without the Desk
38:22 Apple Tablets: Colorful Language Required
39:32 Don’t Turn Your Hobby Into Homework
50:51 Recess Is Over: The Outro

Connect with the Hosts on Discord:

• Matt – @Dark1ltg
• Wendy – @Wendy.sh
• Nate – CubicleNate.com @CubicleNate
• Bill – @ctlinux on Mastodon
• Neal - @[email protected] on Mastodon

Special Guest: Bill.

Welcome back to another episode of Linux Out Loud! In this episode, Wendy, Nate, Matt, and Bill dive into the wild world of Linux with tales of netbook resurrection, ESP32 adventures, and AUR nightmares. Nate brings his trusty netbook back from the dead, proving that even the most stubborn hardware can have a second life. Bill takes us on a journey into the ESP32 world, sharing his latest projects and the unexpected challenges that come with tinkering at the hardware level. Wendy shares her harrowing experience with the Arch User Repository, where one wrong move can turn a simple package install into a full-blown disaster. Along the way, the crew discusses Bluetooth relays saving the day, Wazuh tinkering for better security, keyboard battles, 3D printer adventures, finding browser zen, and the surprising benefits of UPS battery backups. Whether you're a seasoned Linux veteran or just starting your open-source journey, there's something here for everyone. Don't forget to subscribe for more Linux fun!

Show Links:

• Veronica Explains Video: https://youtu.be/E7vFdy4BEAY

• Trinity Desktop: https://www.trinitydesktop.org

• Marklite.app: https://marklite.app

• SSHFS: https://github.com/libfuse/sshfs

• Wazuh (SIEM/XDR): https://wazuh.com

• MeshCentral: https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral

• ESP32 Documentation: https://www.espressif.com/en/products/socs/esp32/overview

• X104 Full-Size Keyboard: https://rkgamingstore.com/products/x104-full-size-keyboard

• APC UPS 1500VA/900W (BR1500MS2): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TBXFHTH

• Vivaldi Browser: https://vivaldi.com

• Zen Browser: https://zen-browser.app

• Linux Out Loud 122: https://youtu.be/wMJsrC122ww

Connect with the Hosts on Discord:

• Matt – @Dark1ltg

• Wendy – @Wendy.sh

• Nate – CubicleNate.com @CubicleNate

• Bill – @ctlinux on Mastodon

Special Guest: Bill.

Description:

Nate hosts a hardware‑heavy patch day as Wendy upgrades her main workstation from a Ryzen 9 3900X to a 5950X, experiments with 3D‑printed retro ITX cases, and shares updates on her MOVA V50 robot vacuum and UniFi travel router. Matt tunes an HP Omen Transcend 14 with OmenCTL and gives an MSI Trident 3 a GPU transplant, while Nate resurrects a retired Dell R740 into a TrueNAS‑powered “Franken‑NAS” built from leftover 16 TB drives and budget SFP+.

Show Links:

Wendy
Ryzen 9 5950X vs Ryzen 9 3900X
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Ryzen-9-5950X-vs-AMD-Ryzen-9-3900X/4086vs4044
3D artist profile (retro ITX cases)
https://www.cgtrader.com/designers/sgw32
Retro-style mini ITX PC case
https://www.printables.com/model/1225304-retro-style-mini-itx-pc-case
ITX llama retro mini ITX case
https://www.printables.com/model/1165579-itx-llama-retro-mini-itx-case
Amiga-style mini ITX case
https://www.printables.com/model/1351873-amiga-style-mini-itx-case
MOVA V50 Ultra Complete Robot Vacuum
https://us.mova.tech/products/mova-v50-ultra-complete-robot-vacuum
UniFi Travel Router
https://store.ui.com/us/en/products/utr
Matt
OmenCTL (HP Omen control utility)
https://github.com/yunusemreyl/OmenCtl
Sky Break (delisted game archive)
https://archive.org/details/sky-break_delisted
Nate
TrueNAS
https://www.truenas.com/
Rockstor
https://rockstor.com/

Wendy is back from hauling robots to Texas and getting ready to drive another one to California, so the crew leans hard into life on the road with Linux. Bill talks about moving his systems over to Bazzite, tells the story of an overworked NVIDIA 1080 that literally ate into another GPU, and explains how HomeBridge 2.0 keeps his smart‑home world humming. Nate shares his first impressions of Tux Manager, a Linux clone of the classic Windows Task Manager, and walks through the Framework‑plus‑Flip‑Go combo that makes his roaming setup feel like CubicleLabs away from home.

From Steam Decks and One X Players to UniFi travel routers and noise‑canceling headphones, everyone opens their travel bags and talks about the gear they actually trust when Wi‑Fi is sketchy and power outlets are rare. Wendy also geeks out over her new MOVA V50 robot vacuum, complete with a dedicated “Sentinels” Wi‑Fi SSID, and how little self‑hosted comforts make a hotel room feel just a bit more like a homelab. Along the way, there are jokes about Ethernet‑cable hair, data having weight, and why the best layover is the one where your SSH tunnel actually connects.

If you’re curious about the recent Linux vulnerabilities and the ABCs of CVEs, don’t miss SUDO Show 76, where they break it all down in a fun and informative way.

Connect with the Hosts on Discord:

• Matt – @Dark1ltg
• Wendy – @Wendy.sh
• Nate – CubicleNate.com @CubicleNate
• Bill – @ctlinux on Mastodon

Special Guest: Bill.

Matt is back in the driver’s seat, and it feels like coming home to a homelab with a few extra blinking lights. In this episode of Linux Out Loud, he, Wendy, and Nate catch up on VDO.Ninja recording experiments, robotics‑world travel plans, and why old Surface hardware is happier running openSUSE than “almost‑retired” Windows. Nate walks through upgrading Home Assistant from an overworked Raspberry Pi 3 to a Lenovo ThinkCentre with over 115 devices, plus his plans for fully local smart‑home control and a Star Trek‑style “red alert” scene. Matt dives into CasaOS for easy containerized media hosting, GameVault as a self‑hosted Steam‑like library for GOG and DRM‑free games, and Pegasus Frontend for building your own living‑room console UI—then talks about reviving Game Sphere with a focus on digital ownership and realistic budget gaming.

Show Links:
VDO.Ninja – browser‑based P2P video rooms – https://vdo.ninja/
FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship venue – George R. Brown Convention Center – https://www.grbhouston.com/
openSUSE Tumbleweed – rolling release Linux – https://get.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/
Home Assistant – open‑source home automation – https://www.home-assistant.io/
HACS – Home Assistant Community Store – https://hacs.xyz/
Tasmota – open‑source firmware for smart devices – https://tasmota.github.io/docs/
Framework founder Nirav Patel compares Apple “Neo” vs Framework Laptop 12 – https://youtu.be/uvYt1GgcsUI
Framework Laptop 12 – modular, repairable laptop – https://frame.work/laptop12
iFixit Surface Pro 7 battery replacement guide (right‑to‑repair context) – https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+7+Battery+Replacement/144417
CasaOS – simple home cloud / container UI – https://www.casaos.io/
GameVault – self‑hosted game library / launcher – https://github.com/Phalcode/gamevault
Pegasus Frontend – cross‑platform game frontend – https://pegasus-frontend.org/
GOG.com – DRM‑free games (source for Matt’s library) – https://www.gog.com/
Steam – PC game platform (and the piracy vs preservation discussion) – https://store.steampowered.com/

Connect with the Hosts on Discord:
Matt – @Dark1ltg
Wendy – @Wendy.sh
Nate – CubicleNate.com @CubicleNate

In this spring‑cleaned episode of Linux Out Loud, Wendy, Bill, and Nate dust off their homelabs and see just how far Linux can push “retired” hardware. Bill talks about guiding a Linux‑first startup, Fyra Stack, as they build a colo and VPS business in downtown Chicago, wiring it all together with Proxmox, PostgreSQL, Snipe‑IT, and osTicket—plus a few cursed Zigbee light bulbs along the way. Nate dives into one of his favorite pastimes: installing openSUSE Tumbleweed on everything from a 2007 white MacBook to a 2015 MacBook Air and a pair of well‑worn Surface Pros, comparing battery life, sleep quirks, and how “modern” Plasma feels on ancient gear. Wendy rounds things out with creative test‑taking workarounds using ChromeOS Flex and a quick look at VDO.Ninja for remote recording, before the trio wraps up the cleaning spree.

Show Links:
Fyra Stack – Linux‑focused startup (colo and VPS) – https://fyrastack.com/
Proxmox VE – virtual environment and homelab hypervisor – https://www.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-ve
PostgreSQL – open‑source relational database – https://www.postgresql.org/
Snipe‑IT – open‑source IT asset management – https://snipeitapp.com/
osTicket – open‑source support ticket system – https://osticket.com/
openSUSE Tumbleweed – rolling release Linux – https://get.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/
MX Linux – lightweight Linux for older hardware – https://mxlinux.org/
Arch Linux – general‑purpose rolling Linux distribution – https://archlinux.org/
ChromeOS Flex – ChromeOS for older PCs and Macs – https://chromeenterprise.google/os/chromeos-flex/
iFixit – repair guides (example: Surface Pro 7 battery replacement) – https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+7+Battery+Replacement/144417
Framework Laptop 12 – modular, repairable laptop – https://frame.work/laptop12
StarLabs Starlite – Linux laptop – https://us.starlabs.systems/products/starlite
VDO.Ninja – peer‑to‑peer live video – https://vdo.ninja/

Special Guest: Bill.

In this episode of Linux Out Loud, Wendy, Nate, and Bill start in the server room and end up staring down new “for the children” age‑verification laws aimed squarely at your operating system. They talk through wrangling tablets and printers with CUPS, why Framework laptops keep surviving industrial abuse, and how Deskflow brings Synergy/Barrier‑style magic to Wayland setups. From there, they dig into the new FIRST LEGO League robotics kits and what might be lost when classroom‑friendly AI kits replace hands‑on engineering. Finally, they unpack California and Colorado’s OS‑level age‑verification bills, what “OS providers” really means, and why small Linux and BSD projects are already threatening to block entire states rather than bolt surveillance rails onto their distros.

Show Links:
CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) – https://www.cups.org/
LibreNMS – network and printer monitoring – https://www.librenms.org/
Framework Laptop – https://frame.work/
Deskflow – seamless multi‑computer control – https://cubiclenate.com/2026/02/13/deskflow-seamless-multi-computer-control/
Third Reality Zigbee devices – https://3reality.com/
LEGO Education Computer Science & AI kit (new FLL robots) – https://education.lego.com/en-us/products/lego-education-computer-science-and-ai-45522
LEGO Education SPIKE Prime set – https://education.lego.com/en-us/products/lego-education-spike-prime-set-45678
California AB 1043 – Digital Age Assurance Act overview – https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca/2025-2026/ab1043
Nate – Data has weight (but only on SSDs) – https://cubiclenate.com/2026/03/04/data-has-weight-but-only-on-ssds-blathering/

Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:52 Bill is a pro, trust me bro!
00:02:19 Printer monitoring, SNMP & copier contracts
00:07:01 Framework laptops in industrial environments
00:09:24 Framework durability, cases & drop protection
00:14:14 Deskflow – Wayland-friendly Synergy/Barrier
00:19:59 New FLL robots – kits, AI & concerns
00:33:10 Age verification laws hit Linux & BSD
00:38:58 Fines, liability & open-source maintainers
00:40:02 What counts as an “OS provider”?
00:44:43 Surveillance, mission creep & “for the children”
00:46:22 Future of OS compliance & responses
00:50:54 Guard rails
00:55:16 Wrap-up, jokes & closing banter
00:57:30 Data has weight
01:00:27 Outro

Connect with the Hosts on Discord:
Matt – @Dark1ltg
Wendy – @Wendy.sh
Nate – CubicleNate.com @CubicleNate
Bill – @ctlinux on Mastodon

Special Guest: Bill.

In this level of Linux Out Loud, Nate takes player‑one controls with Wendy and Matt as co‑op buddies for a run‑and‑gun through data disasters, platform drama, and hopeful Linux gaming news. Matt kicks things off with a catastrophic cold‑storage failure that turns into a hard‑earned reminder about backups and the limits of data‑recovery tools on both Windows and Linux. Wendy then opens a side‑quest about Discord’s upcoming age‑verification changes, why that’s a problem for community privacy and moderation, and what it might mean for the future home of the Lobby of Loudness. Nate rounds out the host updates with Linux Saloon going fully independent, moving show notes and polls onto CubicleNate.com so he controls the platform and the ad dollars. For the main mission, the crew dives into GOG calling Linux its “next major frontier” for GOG GALAXY and hiring a senior C++ engineer to help make Linux a first‑class gaming citizen instead of an afterthought. Along the way they talk heroic launchers, Proton and Wine, and what a “good citizen” GOG client on Linux should actually look like for home‑labbed and multi‑PC setups.

Show Links:

• GOG job posting – “Senior Software Engineer (C++ GOG GALAXY)”:
  • https://www.gog.com/en/work/senior-software-engineer-c-gog-galaxy
• Linux Saloon show notes and polls:
  • https://CubicleNate.com/LinuxSaloon
  • https://CubicleNate.com/polls

In this episode of Linux Out Loud, Matt takes squad leader role while Wendy and Nate rejoin the party for a high‑FPS catch‑up on life, Linux, and loud gaming sessions. They swap updates on Wendy’s robotics teams heading deeper into competition season, Nate’s battle with basement water and building a proper home lab spawn point, and Matt’s quest to keep a local‑only media server running on modest hardware. From organizing racks and labeling gear to wrestling with Starlink latency and debating cloud gaming versus real ownership, the crew dives into how their real‑world chaos shapes the way they run Linux, host services, and play games. If you like robots, home labs, and arguing about whether you really own your digital library, this one’s for you.

Show Links:
Discord Invite: https://discord.gg/73bDDATDAK
Bookbinder JS (booklet maker): https://momijizukamori.github.io/bookbinder-js/
Bookbinder JS on GitHub: https://github.com/momijizukamori/bookbinder-js
PS4 controller USB‑C upgrade guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGKyBJVDXDQ
BattleTech on GOG: https://www.gog.com/en/game/battletech_game​

Cloud RTX on Tux | Linux Out Loud 119 digs into NVIDIA’s new native GeForce NOW client for Linux and Fire TV, and what cloud gaming means for folks with aging GPUs, handhelds, and serious subscription fatigue. ​ Bill and Wendy also chat staycation gaming, NAS and home-lab cleanup, Ubiquiti and travel routers, the DaVinci Speed Editor, and the tragic tale of tea spilled directly onto a Steam Deck.

Show Links:
Main topic – GeForce NOW on Linux and Fire TV:

• NVIDIA GeForce NOW CES 2026 announcement (Linux + Fire TV): https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-ces-2026/ Gaming & distros mentioned:
• Bazzite (Fedora-based gaming OS): https://bazzite.gg Home lab / networking / travel:
• Synology DiskStation DS1825+ (Bill’s NAS): https://nascompares.com/2025/05/07/synology-ds1825-nas-released-in-the-east/
• UniFi Travel Router (UTR): https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/wifi-special-devices/products/utr

Special Guest: Bill.

In this cozy holiday episode of Linux Out Loud, Wendy, Nate, and Bill juggle Christmas chaos, retro joy, and serious tech lessons. Nate shares the excitement of finally getting his Commodore 64 Ultimate under the tree and rebuilding vintage Christmas trains, while Bill tells a powerful story about stepping into a network left behind after a colleague’s passing—and why planning password and account access for loved ones matters more than any gadget.

From Synology NAS upgrades and “you can never have too much storage” energy, to Fedora gaming projects, Bazite and Nobara, and the realities of traveling as a digital nomad, the crew covers a lot of nerd ground. They also dig into Home Assistant dashboards, smart bulbs and Christmas displays, securing IoT networks, and why Linux printing is still a little spicy even as it improves. Whether you’re here for legacy planning, blinking LEDs, or just some winter-flavored banter, this episode wraps it all up with community love and future-topic teases.

Find the rest of the show notes at: https://tuxdigital.com/podcasts/linux-out-loud/lol-118/

Visit the Tux Digital Merch Store: https://store.tuxdigital.com/

Connect with the Hosts:
Contact Form: https://tuxdigital.com/contact
Matt – @MattTDN on Twitter
Wendy – @WendyDLN on Mastodon
Nate – CubicleNate.com
Bill – @ctlinux

Special Guest: Bill.