Version 2024/VI: Record screenshots and create PDF files

Ctrl+PrintScreen: Screen shots are taken every 5 seconds. This data is processed in the background with tesseract to cerate searchable PDF files. To stop recording: Shift+Ctrl+PrntScreen. Capt2PDF works on the local desktop and the user retains control of all the data.

More information about it you can find here:

https://archivista.ch/cms/en/news/10401-2/

And the best is, this tool works under any linux desktop, just get it from here:

https://archivista.ch/cms/wp-content/up … pt2pdf.zip

Side note about 2024/VI: Firefox was updated to version 126. Enjoy!

As the maintainer of Devuan-based AV multimedia distribution, I would also like to add "my" two cents. The original idea was to use SystemD to replace the old init scripts during startup. At the beginning it was said that the other init systems would of course be supported alongside SystemD.

Well, what happened? SystemD established itself as the standard tool in almost all x86 distributions of Linux. SystemD offers many tools. Whether they are all useful and necessary is open to debate. However, many distributions are based on it. But I don't think anyone here will want to deny that Debian can no longer run without SystemD. Frankly spoken, this was not mentioned at the beginning and therefore there is probably Devuan.

The consequence, however, is that these tools are being used more and more in DEB packages. Mullvad should be mentioned here as an example. Due to the fact that systemctl is used for the installation, the installation fails:

systemctl enable "/usr/lib/systemd/system/mullvad-daemon.service"
systemctl start mullvad-daemon.service || echo "Failed to start mullvad-daemon.service"
systemctl enable "/usr/lib/systemd/system/mullvad-early-boot-blocking.service"

The question can now be raised as to why there is no systemctl tool under Devun (or is there)? Now the installation of Mullvad only fails at the very end, the software is installed. However, when I create a script for OpenRC or InitV, the service mullvad still refuses to work, because mullvad-daemon queries the "operating system" and finds that Devuan is not present:

[ERROR] Error: Failed to reset firewall policy
Caused by: Error while processing an incoming netlink message
Caused by: Operation not supported (os error 95)

Mullvad is just one example. Such cases have become more frequent in recent years, especially in recent months. Now, the source code of Mullvad is open source, but I would have to "fork" it to get it to work. In my case, I preferred to write a script directly that performs the wireguard setup. This script is system-independent and has approx. 80 lines and approx. 2.5 KB in size. In contrast, the Mullvad package requires approx. 144 MB on the hard disk (currently 485657 lines of code).

If I take the liberty of pointing out such "bloated" code monsters from time to time (e.g. at linuxnews.de), well, I don't really feel taken seriously. Ultimately, however, everyone has to know for themselves what suits them and what doesn't. Personally, I am very grateful to Devuan that there is an alternative. Perhaps there will come a time when Devuan becomes independent because the "role model" Debian contains so much SystemD that it can no longer serve as a template. I don't want that to happen, but I think it could be the case at some point (in a few years).

In my life, I have learned that if you don't "swim" with the mainstream, you shouldn't expect too much understanding. It is probably simply part of the "majority" that these alternatives are not really considered important. However, everyone benefits from diversity. This applies not only to the Devuan → Debian relationship, but also to those who use Windows or Mac. But when I think that Edge, for example, wants to prevent the creation of screen copies... Ok, then I'm happy to be in the minority...

On older computers/notebooks with Intel chips, there may be no drivers for SOF (Sounds Open Firmware). There are new menu items for this so that these devices can also play sound (noSOF option). Furthermore, the shutdown or the. Restart has been refined by delegating the restart to Job 1 (see /init2).

AVMultimedia is now supplied with all SANE drivers and Tesseract text recognition. Simple-Scan and the specially developed scantopdf tool are available on the AVMultimedia desktop for scanning work. More information can be found here:

https://archivista.ch/cms/en/news/scanning-and-more

Furthermore, Ungoogled Chromium has been updated (currently only included in AVMultimedia) and the rtl88 WLAN drivers from Realtek have been reactivated (as in previous versions).

It is with great gratitude that I can announce AVMultimedia 2024/III based on Devuan Daedalus. Frankly speaking, sometimes I didn't believe that I would ever finish this project. I only managed to do it within a reasonable time thanks to the great help in the Devuan IRC channel, thank you very much.

The new release doesn't offer a huge number of new features, but the software is simply up to date. I am also pleased that I will have SteamDeck on board for the next few years. More information about the new release can be found here:

https://archivista.ch/cms/en/news/avmul … -2024-iii/

The ISO files currently have the suffix 2024. The ISO files can be obtained directly from https://archivista.ch/cms/avmulti24.iso or https://archivista.ch/cms/avmini24.iso. Alternatively, https://sourceforge.net/project/archivista is too available.

Have fun!

This year, work on AVMultimedia could only be progressed to a limited extent due to a stay abroad. A new version is now available with the 2023/XI release.

The programs LosslessCut, JDownloader2 and MediathekView have been updated. FreeTube is a new addition. Enjoy!

Please note: Currently osdn.net is not available for download. The problems with the hoster seem to have existed for some time.

Time will tell whether osdn.net will continue to be available for download. AVMultimedia can therefore currently be obtained via sourceforge.net/archivista (then select avmultimedia.iso)

The smartctl and nvme tools for SSD hard disk diagnostics have been added. Suppressing an update information in Firefox.

What I forgot, of course, the keyring problem from 4.9.22 is fixed that affects all Devuan packages/distributions. That is, with the current release, of course, any packages can be installed later. Unfortunately, this is not the case with all previous versions, because the key expired as of September 2022. So, update is highly recommended.

Added updated versions of MediathekView and Shotcut. New kernel 5.4.182 and 5.10.103.

Support for Ryzen 5700G (probably all 5000s). Integration of the latest firmware for Linux from 2021-08-18).

The AVMultimedia version suitable for ArchivistaBox 2021/VII is released. The changes are clear. With 'wakeonlan' the tool is ready to wake up AVMultimedia from deep sleep over the network, more here (at the end of the blog):

https://archivista.ch/cms/en/news/2021- … timization

New are the application gThumb, GParted, Shotcut in version 21.02.27 and the latest version of MediathekView. Within Caja there is a new option 'Open as administrator'. In the English version the language guide of Firefox follows new in English.

For ArchivistaBox there are new manuals (a good part fits also for AVMultimedia).

English: https://archivista.ch/e2/help
German https://archivista.ch/d2/help

P.S: Currently at osdn.net no files over 2 GByte can be uploaded, avmultimedia.iso is not available there. At sourceforge.net this problem does not exist.