Who are we?
Dr. Chris Zimmermann is a FOSS fanatic, communist (sometimes) and expert on esoteric software aspects how to configure Mail Transfer Agents while not carving in to insanity, troubleshoot computer networks without the use of recreational drugs and the advanced enjoyment of craft beverages. He mostly lives in Frankfurt, Germany. In contrast to Mr. Visser the size of his brain has a reverse correlation to the size of his head.
Martin Visser is a slightly less egocentric (actually far from egocentric) computer scientist and engineer, non-communist from Birmingham, UK. In contrast to Dr. Zimmermann, he has human interaction and social protocols down to a fine art.
Why another FOSS podcast?
For those who use any means of transport on a regular basis it is a great way to stimulate the brain.
Others have come before us, tried and failed to achieve this level.
What's in it for me?
Great entertainment
Invaluable tech tips helping with aspects of everday life including the proper recital of Vogon poetry in that worst-case scenario that Brexit finally shadows the Vogons’ landing and how to take care of the proper biological foundation for recreational drugs
A chance to feedback your comments. Glowing ones will be published, others ignored.
The opportunity to request expert knowledge and discussion on a topic of your choice!
What's in it for the Inlaws?
The impending fame and successful broadcasting careers (Martin’s vision) play a small part in this decision.
Which is of course totally overshadowed by the reason of world domination. Donations are encouraged. Ideally in liquid wheat brew format (of course rye, barley, spelt and other assorted grains go as well).
How to get up and running?
(this is how we do it, your mileage may vary)
- Pick an open source operating system of choice that features a decent package management system (unless you’re really technical and know what you’re doing) and is Posix-compliant. In this instance Ubuntu 19.10 was the preferred candidate
- Don't worry about Mumble. Many have tried, most have failed to use this piece of
software for synchronous podcast recording
- Get some really cool music licensed under CC-BY(-SA) from places like Jamendo
- Install a Synapse server on a publicly accessible server and use Riot-Web as a front-end for this instance
- Get Audacity and tty-clock (if you really want to accurate synchronise your system clock with an NTP server)
- Using Audacity and tty-clock, record your friendly podcast locally using Riot-Web's audio call feature to synchronise the hosts and guests
- For the post-production, simply mix the individual streams together and edit to your
heart's content.
- Stick to mono when producing the final ogg or mp3 file, adding music and other content as appropriate
- Upload the audio file to HPR
- Create associated website using some cool HTML/CSS framework
- Watch it go viral (the important bit!)
The kit?
- One home server running Ubuntu 19.10 with mumble-server and Synapse (a reference implementation) of the federated protocol known as Matrix for comms
- One cheap bit of kit running somewhere in Germany at a snails pace (Martin’s opinion before the D-Wave upgrade - little did he know :-)) => much patience is required attempting to use this
- Two laptops for remote access, running a Murmur client (typically Mumble itself), Audacity and various text editors in addition to riot-web or another Matrix / Synapse client
- One MPow USB headset and one interim Logitech 2 Pro (thank you MPow for the countless hours of debugging x-talk issues - we learned a lot! :-)
The Episodes
All episodes are hosted
on Hacker Public Radio
for now.
The following only represents the last ten episodes, you find the
full backcatalog of all episodes released so far here.
- S01E76: FLOSS in Healthcare
In this episode, Martin and Chris host an industry veteran to get the user's side perspective on FLOSS usage especially from a health provider perspective. As FLOSS components are a vital part of any of today's enterprise IT systems, medical providers and health care in general are no exception apart from the much higher regulatory and compliance requirements this industry postulates. The discussion centers around these requirements and how to fulfil them in addition to a more security-focussed conversation as these medical IT systems present a prime target for attackers not only due to the sensitive personal information many of these systems process and store.
Links:
- S01E75: The Onion Router Network
As privacy is becoming more and more of a concern even outside of the shady regions of international arms trading, contraband smuggling and selling relatives on the Internet, even your ordinary man/woman/diverse is turning to virtual private networks and other means for obfuscating personal communications. The Onion Router Project (or Tor for short) plays a central role in this context. Essentially implementing an overlay network on top of the Internet, it not only allows journalists working under less-than comforting regimes (for wont of a better expression) and political oppositions in similar contexts to but rather anybody who uses it communicate freely and without any censorship. As there are quite a few myths and misconceptions surrounding this project, this episode will dispel them all :-) apart from giving an overview of the technical and non-technical side of the implementation. If you're concerned with the your privacy and happen to use the Internet (and who isn't these days), then this definitely an episode you shouldn't miss.
Links:
- S01E74: GIMP - From a Users Perspective
In this episode our two hosts discuss on one of the most popular image manipulation called GIMP. Almost a quarter of a century since its inception, it has been the foundation for much more than than image processing; gtk is probably the most widely-known example for the surrounding technology stack beyond GIMP itself. Martin and Chris host Kevin O'Brien, a long-time user of the project over the years and authority on the software and its technology (he runs a regular show on GIMP on Hacker Public Radio among other things). So if you ever wanted to know more about GIMP's rise to fame, its current state and where this may be headed, this is an episode not to be missed.
Links:
- S01E73: The Xmas and New Year Special 2022
In this Year-End episode, our two heroes take a look back at 2022 not just from a FLOSS perspective and hazard guesses about next year's shenanigans (listeners only interested in these predictions: please fast-forward to the four hour forty-five minutes and twenty seconds mark in your podcast player). Anybody else please keep listening... :-) Plus: The truth about Truth Social, Twitter and Elon Musk.
Links:
- S01E72: Of streams rivers maelstroms and tsunamis And messages
In this episode, Martin's utmost phantasy has become reality. He finally managed to talk Chris into discussing the wonderful and weird kingdom of streaming and messaging technology. So if you ever wondered how global portals like LinkedIn, Netflix and other new-fangled shenanigans work, you may find this episode vaguely interesting and remotely funny. A word of caution though: please do not listen to this episode if operating heavy machinery or while driving as the Inlaws cannot be held responsible for any resulting damages caused by instantly falling asleep... You have been warned. Plus: a discussion of the Russian annexation of certain Ukrainian territories from a yesteryear's perspective in addition to royal developments in the kingdom after Lizzy's untimely demise (for all you history buffs out there).
Shownotes:
- S01E71: An interview with Ran Levi from Malicious Life
In this episode our two heroes host Ran Levi, a black magician in the area of IT security and himself host of the famous Malicious Life podcast. So for some fresh perspective on cybersecurity not just from FLOSS perspective, don't miss this episode.
Shownotes:
- S01E70: Yer good ole compyler episodium
In this episode, our two heroes dive into the dark and mysterious world of compilers and other shenanigans that take care of translating plain English text readable and understandable by world and dog into something that a computer can execute (a CPU most of the times, to be more precise). If you ever wondered what abstract syntax trees are, how parsers work and what can be done to make your programs run faster or cannot get to sleep in general, this episode is for you!
Shownotes:
- S01E69: The legacy of CentOS
In this episode, Martin and Chris lament the demise of CentOS, the community enterprise
operating system, the free (as in: beer) alternative of Redhat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). But in the true spirit of FLOSS, two successors already are filling in this void: Rocky Linux and Alma Linux. The two initiators / main maintainers are part of this podcast: Gregory Kurtzer explains the ins and outs of Rocky Linux and Igor Seletskiy talks about Alma Linux. Also a bonus for our train, um, weather-spotting friends: Chris explains why Germany can be hotter than Nevada in the summer time. :-) And of course our first competition: please send in your bid (see details at the end of the show) by the end of 2022 to enter the draw in 2032 for some awesome Linux Inlaws swag! The email address is as usual feedback (at) LinuxInlaws dot e u.
Shownotes:
- S01E68: How to get rich quick - how we do podcasts
In this episode, Martin and Chris discuss yet another get-rich-quick scheme, as in: How do to podcasts. Or not. More specifically: How we do our podcast. Stay with us while we are still working on the monetary aspect of these shenanigans, getting rich that is :-). Plus: details about Martin's abode.
Shownotes:
- S01E67: Cryptocurrencies and how to sell relatives on the Darknet
In this episode, the Inlaws take a closer look at crypto currencies, how they work and why they may be important on a grander scale. So if you have ever wondered how to get rich quick, this is an episode not to be missed. Or not. All will be revealed, including how to sell your granny (or any other relatives on the Darknet or other places), how to launder money properly (hint: a decent washing machine and some premium detergent may come in handy) never mind how to go about the business of trading contraband the right way.
Shownotes:
All content licensed under
The DarkSide Tech Support (DSTS)
The DSTS is loosely inspired by the Bastard Operator From Hell,
where a somewhat misguided support specialist tends to break all hell loose on innocent callers who expect help
and guidance on various computer problems. In contrast to this purely fictional prototype, the DSTS deals with
real-world problems such as rewriting history aided by computers, how American presidents tackle virus issues and
how an ancient Egyptian pharaoh tries to remedy the seven plagues inflicted on his empire by talking to God herself.
More episodes in the making - stay tuned!
Similar to other parts of the show, DSTS welcomes listeners' suggestion about topics they would like
to see covered. So if you have a plague you cannot get rid of or need divine intervention otherwise, don't
hesitate to send us a mail.
Contact
Joking aside, we do appreciate feedback. So please email us at feedback@linuxinlaws.eu
Or talk to us at various open source events!