Blender 2.81 is now available and these are its most outstanding news

The new version of the open source 3D modeling software “Blender 2.81” has already been published. This new version includes a series of changes that many consider as good for the software. Since the developers have been working for more than four months on the features and improvements implemented in Blender.

This new version incorporates more than one hundred improvements, among which are the addition of new tools, brushes, engine improvements, some interface changes, among other things.

Main news of Blender 2.81

Among the most prominent changes, we can find that a new interface is proposed to navigate the file system, implemented in the form of a pop-up window with a typical fill for file managers. Various display modes are supported (list, thumbnails), filters, dynamically displayed panel with options, place deleted files in the trash, store modified settings.

Another of the changes that stand out is in a redesign of the sculpture tools, the cursor aligns with the normal geometry. The software shows the edges impacted by the brush. New brushes have been added: the “Pose” brush allows creating a deformation of the model according to its reinforcement. The “Elastic Deform” brush allows distorting the model while maintaining the volume.

In addition, the function of renaming groups of elements in batch mode is implemented in Blender 2.81. If it was previously possible to rename only the active element (F2), now this operation can also be performed for all the selected elements (Ctrl F2).

When changing the name, it supports features such as the replacement of regular expressions, the specification of prefix and suffix masks, the removal of characters and the change of upper and lower case letters.

Eevee now supports shadow wheels and instantiated lights. The final distance of the sun's rays is now calculated automatically. Volumes are faster to calculate in modern GPUs. Relief mapping provides a more accurate result, thus approaching the results that can be obtained in Cycles

Of the other changes that stand out:

1. Improvements in the Poly Build design tool that greatly facilitates deformation and the creation of polygons.
2. Lightning path support based on NVIDIA RTX technology in Cycles
3. It is possible to preview the different rendering passes of Cycles
4. The shaders used by Eevee and Cycles have been greatly improved
5. Noise suppression using Intel's open image
6. A better highlighter: you can now select several items in the hierarchy window and use the Shift or Ctrl keys to modify your selection
7. A new file browser with several types of views: a list view and a thumbnail view and a side toolbar for options. In addition, the dialog box is now independent and closer to the classic file selection windows
8. New brushes have been added to the “Grease Pencil” tool. Performance and rendering quality has been improved.

If you want to know more about the details of this release, you can check them in the following link.

How to install Blender 2.81 on Linux?

Finally, for those who are interested in being able to install this new version of the software, they should know that the developers provide a simple installation method, which is through the Snap packages. So in order to install it on your system you simply have to have the added support.

The installation will be done by opening a terminal and typing in it the following command:

sudo snap install blender --classic

And ready. If you have already installed an earlier version by this means, it will be updated to the new version.

Now for those who are users of Arch Linux, Manjaro, Arco Linux or any other Arch-based distribution. You can install this new version directly from the Arch repositories.

Simply in a terminal they have to type the following command:

sudo pacman -S blender 

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Best Free Software programs for GNU/Linux of 2020

In the wave of the most used or "best programs" during the year 2019, today we will offer a small, but useful compilation of the "best programs" of "Free Software" for our "GNU / Linux Distros" of the "year 2020". In order to centralize a little, the articles scattered over time on this subject, that is, the "best programs" by areas or categories.

Compilation that we hope will become a fair and balanced list, well classified and described of "best programs", which allows to cover from those traditional, essential and basic, which are usually simple and general use for all, especially "inexperienced users , newbies and beginners », even some of those who are very modern, important and of very special use in their areas of application, for a public constituted by« more advanced, specific or technical users ».

Best Free Software programs for GNU/Linux Distros of 2020

In this compilation we will surely find many programs that personally, some of us now consider the "best programs" of "Free Software" and "Open Source", both in "GNU / Linux Distros" and in other "Operating Systems", such as " Windows »and in« MacOS », for being multiplatforms. And perhaps, others who do not consider them as such or worthy of being on that list.

However, the idea is that at the end of reading the compilation or list, this can be done through everyone's comments and suggestions, updated to generate a more universal and current list of the "best programs" for our future "GNU Distros / Linux »next year.

It does not matter, if you are an "inexperienced, novice and beginner user" or if you are an "advanced user, specific to an area or technician", all the suggested proposals are and will be important to evaluate to be inserted into the collection during the time that be necessary. Of course, without it degenerating into an infinite accumulation of applications that do the same. Therefore, the idea is that there are no more than 3 similar applications in each category.

Important statistical data

Before presenting the list we want to highlight before the connoisseurs or not, about the «Free Software» and «GNU / Linux», as they go until 2019. Below are the following important data to consider, highlight and disseminate, compiled by the site called Court Hosting:

1. 100% of the world's super-computers work with Linux.
2. Of the 25 most important websites in the world, only two do not use Linux.
3. 96.3% of the first 1 million most important servers in the world work with Linux.
4. 90% of the entire cloud infrastructure operates on Linux and virtually all the best cloud hosts use it.
5. 54.1% of professional developers used Linux as a work platform.
6. 83.1% of professional developers prefer to work in Linux as a work platform.

Best Free Software programs for GNU/Linux Distros of 2020

Best Free and Open Source Software programs 

Top Ten of best free and open programs

1. Evince
2. Firefox
3. Gimp
4. Kodi
5. LibreOffice
6. Qbittorrent
7. Thunderbird
8. Shutter
9. Stacer
10. Vlc

Other top important free and open programs 

Web browsers

1. Brave 
2. Chromium 
3. Tor Browser 
4. Waterfox

Communication and Messaging Utilities

1. Jami
2. Pidgin
3. Signal
4. Telegram

Educational utilities

1. Celestia
2. GCompris
3. Kalzium
4. Klettres
5. Marble Virtual Globe

General utilities 

1. Alacarte
2. Conky Manager
3. Plymouth

Office utilities

1. Calibre
2. Dia
3. Evolution
4. Gedit
5. Mousepad
6. OpenProj
7. Typora
8. Scribus

Multimedia utilities

1. Audacity
2. Blender
3. Cheese
4. Clementine
5. Converseen
6. DarkTable
7. HandBrake
8. Inkscape
9. Kdenlive
10. Krita
11. MuseScore
12. Pencil2D
13. Pinta
14. OBS Studio
15. OpenShot
16. OpenVPN
17. Simple Screen Recorder
18. Vokoscreen

Technical utilities

1. Baobab
2. BleachBit
3. ClamAV/ClamTk
4. Docker
5. Filezilla
6. FSlint
7. Git
8. GParted
9. Grub Customizer
10. GuFW
11. HWInfo
12. KeePassXC
13. Menu Libre
14. Ntopng
15. Phoronix Test Suite
16. RootKit Hunter
17. Systemback
18. TestDisk & PhotoRec
19. Vim

Web Services Utilities 

1. Franz
2. Rambox
3. Station

Game, Leisure and Entertainment Services Utilities

1. Lutris
2. Playonlinux
3. RetroArch
4. Steam
5. Wine

Other best free programs, not free and not open important

1. AnyDesk
2. DaVinci Resolve
3. FreeOffice
4. JDownloader
5. Lightworks
6. NoMachine
7. Opera
8. Plex
9. Universal Password Manager
10. WPS
11. VirtualBox

Best free and open websites 

Social networks 

1. Disroot ( https://disroot.org/ )
2. Mastodon ( https://mastodon.social/ )
3. Open Tube ( https://open.tube/ )

Organizations

1. Kernel Organization ( https://www.kernel.org/ )
2. Linux Foundation ( https://www.linuxfoundation.org/ )
3. Linux Organization ( https://www.linux.org/ )
4. Open Source ( https://opensource.com/ )

Best Free Software programs

Conclusion

We hope that it is small, for now, compilation will grow with the contribution of all the readers of the Blog so that it becomes an ideal reference for the entire «Free Software and Open Source Community» that reads us. So, remember through your comments to make your suggestions, to evaluate them and include them if necessary, to generate a more universal and current list of the "best programs" for our future "GNU / Linux Distros" next year, 2020.

If, on the other hand, you only want to know more about the applications recommended here you can search the Linux-Apps website, more details of each one of them. And if you liked the article, do not forget to share it with others in your favorite channels, groups or communities of social networks, preferably free and open as Mastodon or secure and private as Telegram.

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The armies of China and Russia did not trust Windows and prepare the replacement

The US trade policies with Donald Trump at the front do not cease to open conflicts where changes are propped up and, as it could not be otherwise, the consequences do not wait. The latter, although it has much more long-term strategy than determined retaliation, is the adverse movement for the interests of one of the most important US companies in the world by two of the most important armies in the world, the Russian and the Chinese.

It was revealed last week that in China, at least as far as its armed forces are concerned - the government is also moving in the same direction - Windows is numbered. The reason is no longer economic, but of confidence and technological independence and goes so far as not to consider anything that smells like Unix, Linux included. On the contrary, it is said that they are developing an operating system from scratch only for the Army.

It should be recalled that the same week the media leaped the concern of the Chinese authorities that, following the case of Huawei, the United States imposed some kind of blockage for the open source software that is generated on platforms such as GitHub, on which many depend. of business and public projects of virtually any organization across the globe. The summary was that China fears that Trump will take control of Open Source and although it seems an inconsistency, it is not so much a matter of preventing access to it, as of making it difficult: any developer working with GitHub or similar platforms operating in the United States - it is not even necessary that they be based in the country or that their servers be - it is subject to the laws and, as is being proven, to the arbitrariness of the Trump Administration.

On the other hand, distrust of Unix or, more specifically, Linux, is strange, according to the purpose of the Chinese Administration was to take it as an alternative, that its main supercomputers use Linux and, more importantly, that maintain a Linux fork with all the pressures you can imagine is more feasible for a powerhouse like the Asian giant to develop something from scratch. We will have to see what everything is.

Without leaving Asia in part, Russia is another power that does not trust the US computer solutions for its army and are already in the process of implementing an alternative, this one, based on Linux. This is Astra Linux, a distribution based on Debian in development since 2008 by a Russian company whose journey began focusing on the private sector, to later address public administrations. Astra Linux, which is already in the hands of the Russian armed forces, is the country's determined commitment to recover its technological independence.

Although the truth is that, just as in China, in Russia they have had time with the same ideas in mind. More than a decade ago, the intention is clear and in recent years it has gone further, with threats to ban Windows, reports with which endorse solutions such as Linux or RectOS and even SailfishOS in the mobile field. However, we speak of powers with gigantic structures in which each change is planned and implemented very slowly. What seems likely is that in a decade, Windows has ceased to be the system that supports public institutions in many places.

All in all, not only China and Russia are in what they are. also allies of the United States want more technological independence. The last one that has been known intentions has been South Korea, which will replace Windows with Linux to save costs and control the software used by its Government.

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