Brent Gervais
Co-Host of LINUX Unplugged
Commercial, Editorial & Documentary Photography -- local food, sustainability, technology, photography on Linux + more!
Brent Gervais has hosted 168 Episodes.
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554: SCaLEing Nix
March 17th, 2024 | 1 hr 29 mins
ai, alaska, california, castamatic, community, daphne muller, dconf, determinate systems, docker, eelco dolstra, flox, fossnorth, fountain, germany, gnome, gsettings, hydra, jim klark, jos poortvliet, lanzaboote, martin wimpress, ml, nextcloud, nix, nix-starter-configs, nixcon, nixcon na, nixos, nixos desktop, nixpkgs, nostr, podcast addict, podcast guru, podverse, ross turk, ryan lahfa, scale, scale 21x, secure boot, self-hosted ai, southern california linux expo, tom bereknyei, ubucon, wimpy, yuba city, zach mitchell
We're on the ground live at NixCon and SCaLE. We catch up with old friends, and discover how Nix is devouring the Linux world one function at a time.
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553: Portably Predictable Productivity
March 10th, 2024 | 1 hr 21 mins
android auto, anytype, arkos, audio infrastructure, borg backups, document scanner apps, fountain.fm, game emulator, genius scan, glove80 ergonomic keyboard, grapheneos, helipad, jupiter broadcasting, linux podcast, linux unplugged, local ai models, local-first note app, nix package manager nvidia shield portable, nix-bitcoin, nixbsd, nixcon, owntracks, paperless-ngx, podcasting 2.0, retro handheld game console, super-productivity, todo app, upscayl image upscaler
We each bring surprise topics, a mix of hardware and software, as we prepare to hit the road for NixCon and SCaLE.
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552: Plasma's Perfect Play
March 3rd, 2024 | 1 hr 18 mins
amd open-source drivers, antennapod, backups, bitcoin podcast, breeze theme, cissp certification, cpu controller, cpu-controller app, fingerprint unlock, floating panel, fountain, fountain radio, fuse passthrough, hdmi 2.1, hdr support, jupiter broadcasting, kde, keyboard ergonomics, kinesis freestyle pro keyboard, linux 6.9, linux podcast, linux unplugged, localgpt, lutris display configuration, nixcon, nixos unstable, nvk, overview effect, plasma 6, plasma search, qt 6, rsnapshot, ryzenadj, scale, single-click file open, sirius 16, split keyboard, starcoder2 local ai, touchpad gestures, trayscale, tuxedo computers, vertical mouse, vulkan 1.3, wayland
Plasma 6 is out, and we've been giving it a go. What's new, our thoughts, and the lessons other desktops should learn.
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551: AI Under Your Control
February 25th, 2024 | 1 hr 4 mins
ai & tools, ai doomsayers, ai safety and regulation, ai stacks, deploying ai tools, effective altruism, flakehub, gemma, google pauses gemini image generation, invokeai, jupiter broadcasting, lfnw2024, linux podcast, linux unplugged, linuxfest norhtwest, lunch at scale, nix flakes, nixcon north america, nixified ai, ollama, open source ai tools, open-source ai tools, scale, stable diffusion 3, texas linuxfest
Corporate AI is a hot mess, but open-source alternatives can be open-ended chaos. We’ll test some of the best ways to get local AI tools under your control.
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550: Ready Player Linux
February 18th, 2024 | 1 hr 14 mins
ansible, ansiview, arion, boosts, compose2nix, desktop, docker compose, emby, fountain, immersed, ipfs, jellyfin, jupiter broadcasting, linux, linux podcast, linux unplugged, monado, mutter, nextcloud, nix, nixcloud, nixos, nixpkgs-xr, oci-containers, open-source, opencomposite, openxr, owntracks, pcvr, pebkac, podcasting, productivity, quest 3, scale, screens, simulavr, steamvr, systemd, tailscale, triangle vr headset, vr
Chris spends the week in a VR desktop, revealing the glitches, gains, and VR's open-source future.
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549: Will it Nixcloud?
February 11th, 2024 | 1 hr 34 mins
all-in-one, ansible, app store, arion, autotier, backups, bcachefs, btrfs, carplay, collabora, configuration management, container management, containers, cow, cs go, declarative configuration, docker, docker compose, gaming on linux, gigabyte, grafana, haskell, hercules ci, jupiter broadcasting, linux podcast, linux truths, linux unplugged, lxc, lxd, mac trashcan, minecraft, monitoring, nagios, netdata, nextcloud, nextcloud apps, nextcloudpi, nginx, nixos, nvme, php, podman, podverse, postgresql, ram-only distro challenge, redis, reproducibility, s3, self-hosting, snap, snap package, snowflake os, systemd, the nix way, tiered storage, traefik, trunas scale, unraid, vr on linux, will it nix?, windows, yaml, zfs
Deploying Nextcloud the Nix way promises a paradise of reproducibility and simplicity. But is it just a painful trek through configuration hell? We built the dream Nextcloud using Nix and faced reality.
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548: Uncomfortable Linux Truths
February 4th, 2024 | 1 hr 22 mins
anti-cheat, apple ecosystem, apple podcasts, apple vision pro, audio workflows, balancing priorities, burnout, csgo, developer sustainability, fomo, hardware compatibility, industry developments, jupiter broadcasting, limited resources, linux gaming, linux podcast, linux unplugged, missing out, mitch downey, nextcloud, open-source maintainers, open-source podcasting app, pdf tasks, podcasting 2.0, podverse, proton, running linux, self-hosting, transcription, transcripts, uncomfortable linux truths, vendor lock-in, video drivers, wayland, will it nix?, x11
Some uncomfortable truths about using Linux, and then we introduce a new segment: Will it Nix?
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547: Behind the Shelves
January 28th, 2024 | 53 mins 26 secs
arch, audible, audio books, audiobookshelf, customization, debian, distributions, encrypted messaging, ingenutiy mars helicopter, jupiter broadcasting, linux, linux podcast, linux unplugged, markdown, nixcon, nixos, opensuse, opensuse leap, privacy tools, readarr, scale 2024, self-hosted, travel, virtual machine, zellij libation
Data-hoard with purpose and manage your audiobooks and podcasts with one application, plus the lone Linux box that remains on Mars.
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546: What You’re Missing about NixOS
January 21st, 2024 | 1 hr 11 mins
common questions, flakes, fosdem, getting started resources, gnome, gui config editor, icicle installer, jupiter broadcasting, linux podcast, linux unplugged, nix, nixcon north america, nixos escape hatch, nixos foundation, nixos quest, scale, snowfall ecosystem, snowfallorg, snowflake os, software repo
Trying NixOS can be fraught with complexity, half-completed guides, and boring videos. Even if you never plan to switch to NixOS, we invite you to come along for a hype-free ride that digs into one of the most rapidly developing areas of Linux.
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545: 3,062 Days Later
January 14th, 2024 | 57 mins 15 secs
32-bit challenge, bbs, bcache, bcachefs, boosts, btrfs, caching, car camping, checksumming, ci, community, compression, copy on write, cow, database, encryption, erasure coding, filesystems, jupiter broadcasting, kent overstreet, linus, linux, linux podcast, linux unplugged, low latency, modern filesystem, nixos, performance, raid, raspberry pi, reliability, replication, rust, scalability, scale, snapshots, tail latency, technology, upstreaming, write hole, xfs, zfs
Kent Overstreet, the creator of bcachefs, helps us understand where his new filesystem fits, what it's like to upstream a new filesystem, and how they've solved the RAID write hole.
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544: Half the Bits, Double the Pain
January 7th, 2024 | 1 hr 27 mins
#!++, 32-bit, 32-bit challenge, antennapod, atom n2600, bbs, castamatic, chromium, crunchbang, crunchbangplusplus, debian, debian 12, dell, desktop, distro, electron, fountain, freebsd, gentoo, ghostbsd, hp mini 110, inspiron 6400, intel t2300, jupiter broadcasting, kolide, lfnw, linux, linux podcast, linux unplugged, linuxfest northwest, lmde, mageia, mageia 9, midnightbsd, mumble, nix, nixcon, nixcon na, nixos, nohang, peppermint, podcast index, podverse, psi, scale, texas linux festival, xfce, zram, zswap
This challenge gets ugly as we slowly realize we've just become zombie slayers.
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543: Profoundly Prophetic Prognostications
December 31st, 2023 | 47 mins 12 secs
2024 predictions, 32bit x86 support, ai distro, bcachefs, cosmic desktop, data corruption bug, debian, endeavoros, fedora, ingenuity, jpl, jupiter broadcasting, kernel mailing list, linux podcast, linux unplugged, linuxcopter, makululinux, manjaro, nixos based distro, nvk, open-source nvidia driver replacement, opensuse, red hat, redhat, rocky linux, ubuntu, ubuntu core desktop
We make our big Linux predictions for 2024, but first, we score how we did for 2023.
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542: 2023 Tuxies
December 24th, 2023 | 47 mins 19 secs
2023 boosties, asahi linux, best desktop de, best desktop distro, best desktop environment, best linux server distro, best newcomer project, best self-hosted app, best server distro, best text editor, boost experiment, community, community chat platform, devices, home assistant, hyprland, immich, jellyfin, jupiter broadcasting, linux hardware, linux podcast, linux unplugged, networking software, nextcloud, open source project, private, radical transparency, remote access, results, secure, self-hosted app, services, stabledif, tuxies, umbrel, votes
It’s the fourth annual Unplugged Tuxies; our community votes on the best projects, distros, and desktops of 2023.
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541: Out with a Bang
December 17th, 2023 | 1 hr 16 mins
agpl, almalinux, amazon, apple m2, apple silicon, azure linux, bcachefs, btrfs, canonical, cdn, centos stream, codeweavers, cve, debian 12, docker, element, fedora, fedora asahi remix, fedora linux 39, fedora program manager, fedora38, ffmpeg, flathub, flathub website, gnome, gnome 45, hdr, hdr ackfest, intel nuc, ipfs, jupiter broadcasting, kde plasma, kernel update, libre office, linux 6.6, linux gaming, linux kernel, linux mint, linux podcast, linux unplugged, linux-based os, lxd, m1 gpu driver, nextcloud hub 6, nixcon north america, opensuse leap, own tracks, pipewire 1.0, plasma 6, plasma 6 wayland, podman desktop, raspberry pi 5, red hat layoffs, rocky linux, rust, stadia shutdown, synapse, traceroute, trippy, ubuntu, ubuntu 23.10, ubuntu 2304, ubuntu 24.04 lts, ubuntu cinnamon, ubuntu desktop, ubuntu real time kernel, ubuntucore, varnish, vulnerability, wayland, wine, xfce, xfs, xfs metadata corruption, xorg deprecation
The stories that kept us talking all year, and are only getting hotter! Plus the big flops we're still sore about.
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540: Uncensored AI on Linux
December 10th, 2023 | 1 hr 20 mins
32-bit challenge, ai executable code, bail out punishment, call for sessions, chat ui, chatgpt, command line, continue.dev, contribution, dedicated box, discord bots, discounts, docker image, egpu passthrough, freebsd desktop vm, gentoo, high accuracy, horror story, hyprland, it mixup, jupiter broadcasting, large language models, linux, linux podcast, linux unplugged, linuxfest 2024, linuxfest northwest, llamagpt, locally hosted language model chat web app, logseq, marker, nixified ai, obsidian, offline, ollama, ollama cli, ollama library, ollama manual install, ollama modelfiles, ollama webui, ollamahub, pdf to markdown, phoronix, power management, razer core x, refact.ai, rss feed parsing, scale trip, self-hosted, session buddy, spaceballs, speech note, state of large language models, tech horror story, telegram bots, texas linux fest 2024, thunderbolt 3, vscode ai plugin
We test two popular methods to run local language models on your Linux box. Then, we push the limits to see which language models will toe the line and which won't.
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539: Rollback Required
December 3rd, 2023 | 1 hr 12 mins
32-bit challenge, ansible, chris lewicki, cookie autodelete, disk age, disk health, duplicati, embarrassing situations, faster whisper, hard drive monitoring, lfnw 2024, linux desktop translator, linuxfest northwest 2024, machine translation, mars rover mistake, nixos configbuilder tool, s.m.a.r.t, scale, scrutiny, speech note, speech to text, steamos 3.5, text to speech, vosk, war stories, whisper.cpp, worst mistakes
This week, our embarrassment is your entertainment. Then, we check the age and health of all our disks with one app.