@impermanen_ I think, this is not a revolution, but an absolute normal behaviour for every human being not strangled by regulations and other government-related stuff. Plus, I suppose, there are not so wide solar power usage in Pakistan before, so there are no "legacy".

I saw something like that in Russia, but about #Internet. There were no such thing in USSR (maybe 1 or 2 institutes had access to the global network). After the USSR fallen the Internet came into the country, but it was something only for rich people, because of mass poverty.

Usual people with tech background and some free money to buy a computer and a modem — used Fidonet these days — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet

But near the start of XXI century ecomonic growth and non-existent of regulations allowed to happen the "Internet-revolution" — people bought a bay of coaxial cable / twisted pair, other necessary equipment, and started to build amateur local networks between living buildings, with FTP/ DC++/game servers, shared Internet connection (some ISPs allowed to connect to the Internet for free during the night, you was limited only by network speed), etc.

All these activity led a lot of people to became a system administrators or even start a their own ISP. Sadly, all that fun were ended when the big ISP come to buy small ISPs and "homegrown" local networks. And on top of that, the government regulations came in — for now each ISP should buy a hardware, which is operated not by ISP sysadmins but by government agency to maintain censorship. And also should pay a fines, if this government agency found that ISP somehow tried to evade censorship blocks.

Those, who didn't comply, couldn't operate as ISP no more, because of revoked license (back in the days, we didn't need a license to unite some buildings in the network but now this is an "important business" ).

For now, I see the same pattern for #Meshtastic network, but there are some limitations — it could be used only for messaging, as I know

(Linux news in original post)

FOSS NEWS

Firefox 142 released with support for a flexible exception list in the Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) Strict mode split into baseline (core functionality) and convenience (extra features), support for removing extensions from the sidebar via the right-click menu, various fixes:
https://9to5linux.com/firefox-142-web-browser-is-now-available-for-download-heres-whats-new

Floorp 12.0 released with floating Panel Sidebar, expanded add-on compatibility, native mouse gestures, cross-window synchronization for workspaces, new Floorp Hub for all browser-specific settings, etc.:
https://alternativeto.net/news/2025/8/floorp-browser-12-0-adds-floating-panel-sidebar-and-native-mouse-gestures/

Servo monthly report: APNG and animated WebP support, support for width and height attributes of source tag, Vello backends for faster 2D graphics, etc.:
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Servo-July-2025-Highlights

Thunderbird 142 released with support for adding visual signatures to PDF attachments, support for resetting custom folder sorting in the folder pane, folder copy support within mail server accounts and local folders, ‘Copy Message Link’ and ‘Copy News Link’ options added to the header pane’s ‘More actions’, ‘Copy Message Location’ option removed from the mail context menu, etc.:
https://9to5linux.com/thunderbird-142-brings-support-for-adding-visual-signatures-to-pdf-attachments

More details about Thunderbird Pro: 500GB storage, Thundermail will have IMAP, SMTP and JMAP support, option to choose from @thundermail.com, @tb.pro or custom domains, Appointment will be integrated into Thunderbird, will feature multiple meeting types, Send will be built on the existing Filelink feature, will offer end-to-end encrypted file sharing:
https://betanews.com/2025/08/20/thunderbird-pro-is-moving-closer-to-launch-with-new-productivity-tools-thundermail-appointment-and-send/

Betterbird 140 released with multi-line view, enhanced search, improved system tray integration:
https://alternativeto.net/news/2025/8/betterbird-140-multi-line-view-enhanced-search-and-improved-system-tray-integration/

(more FOSS news in comments)