Hosted by Bill, Leo, Majid, Eric

Linux OTC

Linux "Off The Cuff"

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Episodes

76 – Take A Picture, I Won’t Remember

We start this episode with some feedback from back in May. This gets us into a conversation about photo management. We get into music a bit, we lament about the state of the music industry. We talk a little about the evolution of the methods we consume the content, and[...]

75 – We are all Marjorie

Join hosts Majid, Charlie, and Eric in episode 75 of Linux OTC to explore the surprisingly rich connections between language, technology, AI, and digital privacy. The episode opens with a lively discussion about the quirks of English as a global language, code-switching, and regional dialects — with Charlie and Majid[...]

74 – Is the AUR Only For Muppets?

In this episode we deep dive, rather pretentiously into the world of the AUR, and get into the recent bulk discovery of malware in said repository. Some question whether the AUR should exist at all, others believe the AUR is and should be a “wild west” of opportunity, good and[...]

73 – Nerds²

Join hosts Bill, Charlie, Jim, and Majid in episode 73 of Linux OTC to explore open-source operating systems. The chat kicks off by comparing Debian’s origins with early Ubuntu. Jim shares his deep dive into the BSD ecosystem, detailing his switch to using GhostBSD. He highlights hardware compatibility on older[...]

72 – We Finally Got It Right!

Welcome to Episode 72 of the Linux OTC podcast, where hosts Bill, Charlie, Eric, and Majid dive straight into the technical hurdles of content creation, specifically critiquing Discord’s feature creep and reliability issues. The conversation quickly expands into a broader philosophical discussion on the societal impact of modern social media.[...]

71 – Compound Stupidity

We start off talking about the non standard experience you get from one Linux distro to another. Majid talks about his experience transferring files. Some Distros are a little closer to the upstream than others. This gets us into a discussion about Fedora, RHEL, and the like. All of this[...]

70 – Make Linux Great Again

After a poignant start, our new host Charlie joins us, as well as Dale from Distrohopper’s Digest for a conversation about all things spanning the range between celebrity, to classic pop culture, and on to to Debian and it’s constituents. Intellectual fundamentalism rears it’s head. Choice prevails! Oh and buckle[...]

69 – Welcome Back Charlie

This week we welcome a new voice to the fold. Charlie, AKA Immutable Charlie joins us to talk Linux

68 – Streaming Drivers

We’re all over the place on this episode. We start off with the abysmal state of media streaming. Majid and Eric get into a conversation about watches. We get into it about our experiences with Amazon as well as other online commerce offerings. Bill talks a bit about the sad[...]

67 – “Needs No Introduction”

Yes friends, that time is finally here; episode “67.” Much of the conversation is about the relevance of older technology in a time when up-to-date RAM and other parts are expensive, and scarce. We get into a conversation about compiling software that is not available in your repos verses using[...]

66 – The Mountain Of Source

Server rebuilds, Memory shortages, Energy prices, Compiling software, and the AUR. all that and way more!

65 – “Wine-ers Of The World Unite!”

Bill and Eric wax philosophical about technology and it’s users. They get into Ad blocking, anti-virus, and the like. The nature of “free” software comes up. Gaming on Linux, Wine, virtualization, etc. They get into the concept of a software repository, and the associated package manager. The layers of effort[...]

64 – The Eric Strikes Back

Eric makes his triumphant return where we start off talking about some recent pc builds Bill had been working on during his time off. We get into some of the vagaries of hardware issues and what we’ve done in the past to deal with them. Majid talks about recent laptop[...]

63 – Audio Antics and Arch Adventures: The 67 Chronicles

In this lively episode of Linux OTC, we kick off with some unexpected technical hiccups when Majid’s audio takes a turn for the bizarre, sparking a spirited debate about the causes. As we navigate through the audio chaos, the conversation shifts to the fascinating evolution of smartphones, exploring how they’ve[...]

62 – What Could Go Wrong?

One hardware failure after another for these guys. Bill’s video card woes, Majid’s server issues. We even had a complete SATA controller failure on one of the most important machines. We get through it. We get into distro hopping, as well as a little conversation about Cosmic, verses Gnome.

61 – Discord Woes

Bill’s video card problems, we get into the new Steam hardware a bit, a little bit on Docker. Way more!

60 – Corporate Shills Return

Just Bill and Majid for this one. We get into all kinds of stuff including the evolution of content creation, distro hopping, and the like. We get into Amazon’s shift to Linux on it’s Fire TV platform. All of this and way more.

59 – Sponsored By Cosmic OTC

We had a lot of fun making this one. After some off-topic discussion, we get into a recent purchase by Bill. We get into Pop!_OS in a big way! Somehow we segue into shaving products. All this and way more! This would be an excellent episode to watch on YouTube!

58 – Bill’s Klingon Nuts

It’s another AI episode folks. We had a good conversation about it though. It’s not all moaning, we promise. In the beginning, we’re talking about some of Bill’s hardware accelleration woes, and what he’s doing to remedy it. We went ahead and added it to the end after the outro[...]

57 – Irritable Bill Syndrome

A rather “in-depth” conversation about the nature of language, thought, and communication starts us off. We inevitably move on to AI. Those things and more!

56 – Red Rag To A Bull

ai, archlinux, Auto Industry, CHUWI, Data Privacy, linux, linuxotc, mp3, podcast, Windows License

55 – ChatGPT! Get Off My Lawn!

Why do we use Arch? Should we really be trying to get new people to use Linux? These are the questions that have occupied the minds of man since the beginning of time.

54 – Magic Tuxpad

No Bill this episode, but we have a great time none the less.

53 – Nonsense Nomenclature

Dev Opps, Majid’s Snapdragon, Keyboard wins over Mouse, Cybersecurity, Gnome, Stand-by Time On Linux. Start up time, and Way More!

52 – Inplexification

DNS, TikTok, Netflix, Plex and other drugs. We get into it in depth!

51 – And/or

As we state early on in the show – This is our official Windows 11 episode! Majid has some technical difficulties which brings up some interesting conversations about the evolution of a Linux user’s troubleshooting skills. We get our nerd on talking about Star Wars. All of this and way[...]

50 – Expressing The Glands

We’re all over the place on this one. VPN’s, ARM hardware and multimedia are the most noteworthy topics. Those and so much more!

49 – Security, Reliability, Usability; Choose One

We start off with Bill describing his experience at a recent trade show. Somehow this leads to a discussion on Arch and it’s place in the eco-system. We “flow” into a discussion about cloud providers and the state of their encryption. We get into the browser world briefly. All of[...]

48 – “Only One Neck To Choke”

We start by waxing philosophical, then we lead to a conversation about AI in the workplace. We get into Manifest V-3. We get into Mozilla, and their recent decisions. We get into browsers and we think the future may influence our decisions moving forward.

47 – Compartmentalizing Browsers

We start off talking about our beginnings in podcasting, this leads to the different ways people build and maintain websites. We then go hard on Mozilla. All of this and so much more

46 – Just Enough Access To F*** It Up

We start off talking about wearables, more specifically smart watches. We get into a discussion about a re-imagining of the infrastructure of Majid’s other show “Atypical Doctor Podcast.” All of this stuff and so much more!

44 – Drag It Back To Linux

This week we start off waxing philosophical, but eventually we get into a discussion about how long our servers would last should something happen to us nerds of the house. We get into Docker, Synology, HD Homerun, and Apple. All of this, and so much more!

43 – Theatrical Linux

Just Bill and Majid this week. It all starts a bit rough with a little back and forth between the blokes, but gets better with a conversation about Linux for “normal” people. Is there more than one kind of “normal” user? We get into a conversation about Apple, family movie[...]

42 – Dirty Old Linux Nerds

This week we point out the nature of kindness in the world. We get into a discussion about the challenges of religion and philosophy with regards to keeping up with technology. Perhaps we’ve given up too much to our devices. Majid works with Elementry OS 8 a little during the[...]

41 – Thanksgiving Rants

This week it all starts with a rather brooding little discussion about religion. We get into why we use Linux, and why many people may use Linux. This rolls into a discussion about smart phones, smart watches and the like. Eric talks about his new Pixel watch. Majid shares a[...]

40 – ASUS of Theseus

This week Majid and Bill talk about their PC builds – the good, bad and just plain wrong. Majid describes devolving from restoring old PC parts to literally building his “Ship of Theseus” from new parts. Installing Arch somehow becomes part of the conversation; everything from installing, to how packages[...]

39 – AI and Bad Influence

We start off Talking about Majid trying Fedora. We then get into Microsoft buying nuclear power facilities to provide for the monsterous energy needs of AI. Majid shares some interesting uses of AI in the healthcare industry. We get into the latest in the Internet Archive saga. All of this[...]

38 – Linux For Literally Everything Else

This is the first episode we live streamed. We started with the Internet Archive outage, this leads to a conversation about passwords and the philosophies around changing passwords. We move on to Thunderbird and the new Beta currently in testing for Android, and some of the pitfalls of email on[...]

37 – Cinnamon and Stealing Hardware

This week we start off talking about Leo’s latest episode of Linux User Space. In episode 5:02, Leo and Dan go over a history of the Cinnamon desktop, and how tightly it’s tied to Linux Mint it’s self. We then morphed into a conversation about Windows 8, Windows on the[...]

36 – Tenacious Turbans

Bill, Leo, Majid, and Joe get together this week to talk about Audacity, Tenacity, Git, Redbox, media servers, and Majid’s silly new phone. You’re not going to believe this, but AI does come up in the conversation. All of this and so, so much more. And by the way, Leo[...]

35 – Suffer Engineers

This week Eric, and Majid return, along with Leo and Joe to talk about Linux in schools, LLM’s AI, the new XPS, and so much more. It was a blast!

34 – The Audacity Of Reaper

This week Eric and Bill get into a conversation about proprietary alternatives to opensource software. It starts with us describing how we’ve both begun using Reaper instead of Audacity for editing the audio for our shows. Let us know what your think. What, if any proprietary software are you using[...]

32 – “I Remember Audio Editing.”

We’re joined by Joe from mintCast fame. The discussion starts off about audio editing and just spins out of control from there. Joe and Leo get into a few discussions about some games available on Steam. We talk a little about the Steam Deck. The Texas heat is a topic.[...]

31 – Linux Will Bend You To It’s Will!

Bill records the show using Arch, Leo advocates for the virtues of atomic distros, and Majid wants to build a NAS, or perhaps just buy one. All of this and so much more!

30 – The Rice Is Burning!

This week we’re joined by Alan Pope of “Linux Matters” fame, among others. The conversation starts off with Snaps, Flatpaks, and the like – leading us into atomic desktops, and some shows we’ve been watching lately. Oh, and of course AI. All of this and a whole lot more!

29 – Endeavour to Fail

This week we start out on Majid’s not so great experience with Endeavour OS. This spirals out of control into a back and forth with Bill dying on the Arch Linux hill. We have discussions about Snaps, Flatpaks, Atomic Desktops, and a whole lot more!

28 – Crypto Euphoria

Cryptocurrency, Block Chain, and the problems inherent to funding in Opensource. We solve the world’s problems in one hour or less!

Announcement 4/19/24

This is just an announcement about some changes to the way we deliver the episodes

27 – A Hot Mess

I ain’t gonna lie folks – this one’s a train wreck, and you’ll see for your self. We did get into a pretty cool conversation about game emulation. Bill ordered one of those little Linux based personal game pads which comes pre-installed with a staggering number of games. That erodes[...]

26 – Kool Runnings

Bill, Leo, and Majid get into first impressions of KDE Plasma 6. That conversation. We talk a little about the best (in our opinion) launchers for Linux desktops. We talk a little about our memories of Windows Vista, 7, and 8. Leo, and Majid hash it out over touchpad gestures.[...]

25 – Corporate Shills

Just Bill and Majid this go-around. This week we get into a little bit of what has inevitably brought us back to stable distros. What we make of things like Arch and Manjaro. This all leads to a hypothetical discussion about packaging formats and big business. These things, and a[...]

24 – Don’t Prune Your Docker!

Well gee wiz we start by talking about food, and Bill’s new medication. That morphs into a discussion about Docker, and Bill’s recent experience with the Collabora CODE server image. We end up getting into the up-comming Plasma 6 release and some of the things we expect from the KDE[...]

23 – Burn Your Keyboards!

This week we’re joined by a special guest. Dave Hart from 3 Fat Truckers joins us for a discussion about the future of technology in general, and how we interact with our devices.

22 – Truckloads of Linux

It’s just Eric and Bill for this one. From tech used in the trucking industry to a discussion about packaging formats and the culture around distributions like Arch Linux, this episode is all over the place. We had a good time though!

21 – Linux Is A Mind-Altering Drug

This week we get into the fun and frustrations of audio editing. We discuss some of the strategies and pitfalls specific to editing podcasts. That conversation somehow segways into mobile devices, AI, and other emerging technologies. All of that, and a whole lot more!

20 – Arcade Weirdos

VR, iphones, Retro games, and our decaying interest in Marvel movies. All of this and a whole lot more!

19 – Eric Has The Touch

This week we get into Majid’s Feren OS. We talk a little about Plasma on Wayland. We reminisce about Windows Phone, and Blackberry. We go off the rails about Fedora, Gnome and the like. All of this as well as the usual banter!

18 – Make it Snappy

It’s Bill, Eric, and Leo this week. We get into some ideas about how to improve our Linux podcasts. We get into a a discussion about Snaps, the AUR, Markdown editors, and so much more!

17 – “He’s a Majid man”

Ok — Let’s try this again; No Norbert again this episode, but we get into all kinds of stuff. We talk about streaming platforms, ads on podcasts. We talk about stuff like super hero shows, dissecting the concept of the multiverse. We go back and forth over the value of[...]

“I borked episode 17”

this is just a short clip to let everyone know I screwed up episode 17. I’m going to re-do it and re-release. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. Be expecting the new episode within the next 24 hours

17 – “He’s a Majid man”

No Norbert again this episode, but we get into all kinds of stuff. We talk about streaming platforms, ads on podcasts. We talk about stuff like super hero shows, dissecting the concept of the multiverse. We go back and forth over the value of using distros like Arch or Gentoo.[...]

16 – Bring Your Own Linux

This week Norbert couldn’t make the show but we were joined by Majid, and Eric from mintCast fame. We get into discussions about bloat, Linux on mobile, user interfaces, and a whole lot more!

15 – Bloat is Subjective

This week we get into some feedback as well as a discussion about system bloat, getting rid of it; and should we get rid of it. We get into Distrobox a little and discuss why it’s different from other containerized application solutions. All of that and a whole lot more!

14 – Stand and Be Counted!

This week we’re a man short, but we soldier on none the less. We continue our conversation about Red Hat’s decision to limit access to their source code, and the impact that will no doubt have on the enterprise space. We also get into Fedora’s recent “announcement” that they are[...]

13 – Red Hat’s On A Roll!

This week we get into Red Hat’s recent announcement that they’re no longer going to provide direct access to their source code, potentially creating a problem for clones of Red Had Enterprise Linux, such as Alma Linux, or Rocky Linux.

12 – “Reddit & Twitter deserve each other”

This week we’re completely “off the cuff.” We get into Lemmy, a federated alternative to Reddit – which leads to a discussion about the fedaverse in general. We talk a little about Docker. We do a call-out to the community for some feedback on possible methods to support the show.[...]

11 – Oh Snap!

“Off the rails” would be one way to describe this episode. We start off with a discussion about the progression of Wayland, which leads us into Hyprland, and Wlroots. We then evolve back into containerization and immutability – all of that and a whole lot more

10 – Immutable? Well… Sort Of

This week we get into “immutable:” Linux distributions a bit. We talk a little about Fedora’s Silverblue, and Kinoite projects, as well as a community spin that enables some additional functionality. A little feedback, and a whole lot more!

09 – “If Not For Nvidia”

This week we get into some of our Nvidia woes. Bill has to switch to Arch (at least temporarily) Leo and Norbert may build a Gentoo system in the near future. We also get into a short discussion about a recent article in Ars Technica describing Google’s desire to retire[...]

08 – The Immutable Leo

This week we talk a little about the new flathub.org as well as the winbtrfs project which brings the advantages of the Btrfs filesystem to the Windows world. We also get into the state of things with Wayland as well as Fedora, and so much more. Also, check out the[...]

07 – Quick! Emu!

To call this episode an exercise in derailment is an understatement, but there you go. We go off about Cryptocurrency, Antenna TV, and Quickemu. We had a lot of fun. Don’t forget to hit those “like” and “subscribe” buttons!

06 – TikTok Ya Don’t Stop

This week it’s all about TikTok… just kidding. We get into the emotional rollercoaster that is the decisions by Docker inc. We also go nuts about the new 16 inch Frameworks laptop that is in the works for the future. Oh and we talk a bit about TikTok.

05 – What Is Linux?

This week we go off the rails about Nextcloud again. Norbert installs and gets on with DAVx5. We talk about what we think “Linux is.” As well as a whole lot more!

04 – Self-Hosting

This week we start what we imagine will be a series on self-hosting. We go over some of the stuff we self-host and the methods we use. Norbert starts his journey in self-hosting where he describes the Nextcloud instance he recently built.

03 – Our Future, In A Container

This week we get into a bit of a discussion about where we are, and where we were – How much Linux has evolved and changed over the years, and perhaps how much it hasn’t. We get into packaging, and containerization and such. And a whole lot more!

02 – The Apt Contention

This week we get into a discussion about Canonical possibly adding messages to the terminal when running apt. Conversations evolve into stuff like ChatGPT and a lot more!

01 – The Maiden Voyage

Our first installment of the Linux “Off The Cuff” series. In this episode we go off the rails about the future of technology, some predictions for 2023, and a whole lot more!