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I just got off the phone with a buddy who introduced me to something amazing, something I've read about but didn't think was a thing anymore, something wicked old-school and totally rad: MUDs.

Now being into creating text-based games as I am, I always loved the idea of MUDs; multi-player "on-line" text-based games sound absolutely awesome. But I thought, surely MUDs are a thing of the past - even "retro gamers" like me don't play them... or so I thought. Turns out, there are two MUDs (developed by the same guy) that are still around! One that my best bud says "has been around for like 30 years" and another that apparently just released recently! Check them out here:

# The original, a fantasy type game
telnet stellaraeon.com

# The new one, an outer space type game
telnet stellaraeon.com -r 4000

This is so cool! What was a fun bit of computer history is now running on my daily driver laptop! I'm creating an account on the fantasy one ("Alter Aeon" ) right now.

But of course, as both a writer and a coder, I just gotta ask... how exactly do they program a game like this? I've done enough research (and been to the Lunduke BBS enough times 😀) to get the general gist of what telnet is (a plain-text communication protocol for talking to another computer) but how does it work? I mean, are there telnet servers you have to install, or do you just open a port and somehow have your program be listening on that port? I expect that's how even modern web servers work at their lowest level (listening on i.e. port 80). But because telnet is ancient and not encrypted, I doubt there are any good tutorials on the subject (though of course I will ask the Duck shortly 😀).

But man, if I can figure it out..........

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GNOME 50 Alpha: "Entirely Removes X11"

The GNOME Foundation's war on X11 continues, with the Alpha release of GNOME 50. Announced by the same GNOME contributor who defaced XLibre project pages (calling them "Nazis" ).

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00:18:35
January 15, 2026
Is Germany Looking to Put a Backdoor into Arch Linux?

The German government paid $500,000+, to Arch Linux, to re-write Arch Package Management in Rust. Is Germany hoping to inject backdoors, or other spyware, into Arch using Rust?

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00:17:34
January 15, 2026
Python Receives $1.5 Million from Anthropic, Plans New AI Tools

Python turned down a grant from the US Government (which would require ending discriminatory policies), is now working with Anthropic (Claude Al) to make up their budget defect.

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00:15:43
November 22, 2023
The futility of Ad-Blockers

Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.

It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

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The futility of Ad-Blockers
November 21, 2023
openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

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openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"
September 13, 2023
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044
Lunduke Journal Week In Review - Jan 16th, 2025

Whew! It’s been another wild week for Tech News!

Here’s a crazy stat for ya:

We are currently 16 days into 2026, and The Lunduke Journal has already recorded 19 shows (17 of which have been published on every platform, and 2 others to be published this weekend everywhere… but are already available via the MP4 download page). And that’s with taking New Year’s Day off (and getting the flu this week).

It’s a heck of a lot of Tech News, to be sure.

Lunduke’s Top Stories for the Week

If you only have time to watch a few of shows, I recommend these 3 as being the most interesting (or important… or just… strange) from the last week:

In other words: A pretty gosh-darned crazy week for Linux.

(Those links are to Lunduke.Substack.com, but you can watch all of those shows on any other platform. As always.)

Other Tidbits of Awesomeness

A few other notes on this, most excellent, Friday!

And, with that, I leave you with a screenshot of the MP4 listing of the shows so far in 2026. Bonkers.

 

-Lunduke

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January 12, 2026
Lunduke Journal email hiccups, 2026 MP4's, & $89 Lifetime Subs

A few super-quick Lunduke Journal housekeeping updates:

  • The Lunduke Journal’s email server has had a few hiccups — if you had sent an email to “bryan at lunduke.com” in the last couple days, and have not received an expected response, send the email again.

  • The 2026 MP4 Downloads page is up and going! If you are a subscriber (of any kind) you can find details on how to gain access on the Subscriber Perks Page.

  • The popular $89 Lifetime Subscription deal is back through the end of January. Standard Monthly & Yearly subscriptions are also discounted (50% off). Grab ‘em while they’re hot!

That is all. Back to your regularly scheduled nerdiness.

-Lunduke

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January 14, 2026
Lunduke's Lifetime Subscriber Wall 3 is almost full!

Holy moly.

This afternoon I sat down to update the 3rd Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscriber wall — adding in all of you who sent in requests over the last week or so.

And, boy howdy, were there a lot of you! So many, in fact, that the 3rd Lifetime Wall only has room for around 6 or 7 more names (depending on the name lengths)! That’s crazy!

If you want to make it onto “The Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscriber” Wall number 3… send me an email (bryan at lunduke.com) with the way you would like your name to be displayed.

Or, if you’re not already a Lifetime Subscriber, remedy that for $89. (Which, you know, is a pretty gosh darned good value.) … Then send me that email requesting to be added to the wall.

Once Wall 3 is full, we’ll start in on Wall number 4 (that’s nuts). At the current rate, I expect Wall 4 to debut this week.

And, as always, thank you for your support. Whatever kind of subscription you have, it is deeply appreciated. Monthly, Yearly, or Lifetime. All are amazing. You make The Lunduke Journal possible.

You rule.

-Lunduke

 
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