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View Issues
Linux Format
December 2021
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Other Articles in this Issue


WELCOME
MEET THE TEAM
This issue we’re comparing Fedora and Ubuntu, but
REGULARS AT A GLANCE
Google to streamline its approach to the kernel
THIS ISSUE: Google’s Project Icebreaker Vizio sued over GPL wrongdoing Linux on the PinePhone Pro Fedora upgrade
Software Freedom Conservancy launches lawsuit against Vizio
TV manufacturer accused of GPL infringement
PinePhone Pro announced
New details on the premium Linux-based smartphone
TRAINED TO HIRE
Matt Yonkovit is Percona’s Head of Open Source
MANAGED CONTENT
Keith Edmunds is MD of Tiger Computing Ltd,
Is Fedora Silverblue the future?
Fedora Silverblue is envisioned as an image-based desktop OS alternative to standard Fedora
Linux gets Anti-Cheat support
Epic is bringing its Easy Anti- Cheat software to Linux
Mozilla messes up new Firefox
Firefox 93’s launch blighted by an avoidable PR blooper
Distro watch
What’s down the side of the free software sofa?
PANFROST LEVELS UP
Alyssa Rosenzweig is a software engineer at Collabora,
HITTING THE M1
Jon Masters has been involved with Linux for
KERNEL WATCH
Jon Masters summarises the latest happenings in the Linux kernel, because someone has to
Answers
Got a burning question about open source or the kernel? Whatever your level, email it to lxf.answers@futurenet.com
Mailserver
MAILSERVER WRITE TO US Do you have a
Glyphtracer
Alexander Tolstoy has some crazy video conferencing ideas
OnlyOffice Desktop
Version: 6.4.1 Web: https://github.com/ onlyoffice/DesktopEditors
Open Video Downloader
Version: 2.3.1 Web: https://github.com/ jely2002/youtube-dl-gui
gThumb
Version: 3.12 Web: https://github.com/ GNOME/gthumb
JPEG XL
Version : 0.5 Web: https://github.com/libjxl/libjxl B ack
Annotator
Version: 1.0 Web: https://github.com/ phase1geo/Annotator
Monitor
Version: 0.10 Web: https://github.com/stsdc/monitor
A/B Street
Version: 0.2.61 Web: https://github.com/a-b-street/abstreet F or as
SpaceCadetPinball
Version : 1.1.1 Web : https://github.com/k4zmu2a/SpaceCadetPinball W e’ve
Metadata Cleaner
Version: 2.0.1 Web: https://gitlab.com/ rmnvgr/metadata-cleaner
Linux Fake Background Webcam
Version: GIT Web: https://github.com/fangfufu/Linux-Fake - Background-Webcam
On the disc
Discover the highlights from this month’s packed DVD!
Devuan 4.0 “Chimaera”
MIN SPECS: 1GB RAM, 10GB DISK, LESS WITHOUT A GUI
RASPBERRY Pi MEDIA CENTRE
Combine the mighty Pi, LibreElec 10 and loads of cables to build an awesome streaming centre!
REVIEWS
InMotion Hosting
Feature-packed web hosting from a professional provider
Atari VCS
Monetising nostalgia should be an easy win for Atari so Matt Safford can‘t believe it’s created another E.T
Whonix 16
Mayank Sharma is a busy man, but when it comes to privacy and security then, like Louis Armstrong, he has all the time in the world
Devuan GNU+Linux
The backlash against Systemd resulted in this sysvinit-friendly distro, now on version 4. Mayank Sharma assesses its progress
Zephix 3.0
A fan of portable, modular distros, Mayank Sharma runs across a relatively new one and wonders how it stacks up against his all-time favourite: Slax
Ubuntu 2 1.10 vs Fedora 35
Mayank Sharma wonders if there’s more that separates the two leading Gnome-based distros than their different packaging formats
ROUNDUP
Filesystems
It’s time for Alexander Tolstoy to put the major Linux filesystems to the test and figure out which is best in terms of speed, reliability and extra features
USB flash drive performance
What if your USB thumb drive could perform faster?
Solid-state drive performance
It’s the most widespread drive type in modern personal computers
Extra features
Weigh up a range of other capabilities
NVMe drive performance
Expecting the same results as for SSD? Then you’re mistaken…
Spinning rust drive performance
They need extra time to spin up and are noisy, but they are still in charge
Power loss tolerance
We cruelly unplugged our external SSD while writing data to it
Ease of use
What does it take to set up a filesystem and use all its features?
The Verdict
Filesystems
UBUNTU VS FEDORA
Jonni Bidwell wants to know everything – and he means everything – about the two most popular Gnome-based distros…
What makes them great, again?
Here at Linux Format Towers we’re always recommending both Ubuntu and Fedora, but sometimes we forget why…
What’s in a top-tier distro?
Learn how Fedora and Ubuntu are engineered, governed and supported
Harness your hardware for smoother streaming
Use your fancy graphics card to decode videos and free up your CPU for your other calculations and compositions
Flavours, spins, upgrades
Fedora and Ubuntu have all kinds of alternate editions, and both can easily be customised beyond recognition
IN-DEPTH
AUTOMOTIVE GRADE LINUX
Mats Tage Axelsson shows how open source frameworks and Linux can help navigate you safely to your coding destination
LICENCE TO BILL
Jonni Bidwell has been reading licence minutiae and fears big business threatens the future of copyleft and software freedom
Pi USER
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
Michael Horne is the co-organiser of Pi Wars
Raspberry Pi suffers supply chain issues
The first-ever price increase and the reintroduction of smaller memory models helps fill the gaps
Vulkan on Pi
Fancy Pi graphics drivers
Pi extreme!
Running at 3GHz
Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
Meet Les Pounder’s all-new pocket rocket, complete with updated CPU
Sensor and motor control with the GPIO
Les Pounder shows how we can take Scratch further with a community-developed tool that builds on our Scratch knowledge
Interfacing to single board computers
Mike Bedford shows you how to get more from your Raspberry Pi, Arduino or other SBC by getting to grips with interfacing circuitry
Driving SPI displays
Let’s go on an adventure into the SPI protocol, LCD displays and model trains with Sean Conway toot-tooting away!
TUTORIALS
TUI podcast player
Listening to podcasts is as natural to Shashank Sharma as making tall claims. He’s tried all podcast clients and has finally found one of the best
The complete guide to editing PDF files
Nick Peers reveals all the free tools you need to view, annotate, edit and create PDFs on your Linux-running PC
Babbage and running his many engines
Mike Bedford shows you how to program the mechanical computing devices that pre-dated modern electronic computers by over a century
Install Chrome OS on any PC hardware
Enjoy a simple-looking operating system with a lot of power, which can be added using a Linux container. Matt Holder is your guide
Run a Ghost blog on your server
David Rutland would like to apologise in advance for the supernatural puns contained herein – but it was written in the run-up to Halloween
CODING ACADEMY
Using Python sockets for multiplayer gaming
Discover how to implement multi-player gaming in a Galaxian-style shooter with Andrew Smith, in the second part of coding Star-Fighter!
How to develop a RESTful client in Go
Learn how to develop a command-line client to access a RESTful server in Go with Mihalis Tsoukalos and the Cobra library