MEET THE TEAM

This issue we’re compiling the Linux kernel from source. We wondered if our experts compile anything from source, or does even the thought of this cause them to run screaming into the night?

Kernel of truth

Compiling the kernel from source was always a

Linux malware grows by 35%

Malware aimed directly at Linux systems increased drastically last year

Major Linux exploit found

Almost every distro is affected by a major vulnerability – make sure that your systems are patched

US government wants your messages

And the UK government wants to confirm IDs online

IT’S COOL

Michael Meeks is general manager at Collabora Productivity

OLD AND UNTRUSTED

Keith Edmunds is MD of Tiger Computing Ltd,

Framework open sources its firmware

Users can change how the modular laptop manages its hardware

FreeCAD Project Association formed

New legal non-profit association set up in Belgium

LibreOffice 7.3 Community now out

New features in the latest version of the office suite

Distro watch

What’s down the side of the free software sofa?

TRUST ME?

Matt Yonkovit Head of open source strategy and

MEASURE THE PULSE

Jon Masters has been involved with Linux for

Answers

Got a burning question about open source or the kernel? Whatever your level, email it to lxf.answers@futurenet.com

Mailserver

WRITE TO US Do you have a burning

Hot Picks

THE BEST NEW OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE ON THE PLANET

Intel Core i5 12400

It’s the new Q6600, Dave James’ greatest compliment ever!

ArchLabs 2022.02.12

Mayank Sharma has a soft spot for new Arch-based distros, and this time around he’s found one that tickles his fancy

UBOS Linux

Mechanisms for simplifying the installation of popular web tools are like snake oil. Or so thought Mayank Sharma, until he came across UBOS…

Slackware 15.0

He’s no masochist… until there’s a new Slackware release, when Mayank Sharma puts himself through all kinds of pains to relive the good ol’ days

Valve Steam Deck

Our PCGamer friends got a hands-on preview hardware of the Steam Deck before the big launch at the end of February. Here’s what they learnt…

Ubuntu alternatives

WE COMPARE TONS OF STUFF SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO!

The Verdict

Ubuntu alternatives

BUILD THE KERNEL

The kernel is what makes Linux tick. Jonni Bidwell is happy to get his hands dirty and help you tune up those ticks…

Grasp the kernel basics

Just what is a kernel and why is it telling my computer what to do?

Compiling a kernel

Get straight to business and build your own Ubuntu-esque kernel

Kernel minification

Perfection is reached not when there’s nothing left to add, but rather when there’s nothing left to take away…

Popular patches

Forget trawling through configs – use a pre-rolled patchset to set the rules

The maker’s Coolest Projects goes Global!

The once US-centric event is opening its doors to makers from around the world. Yes, that means you!

FLIRC Pi Zero Case

Les Pounder keeps his cool with a case for his beloved Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. Will it beat the heat of a benchmark?

Assemble a Micro Dot pHAT news ticker

Les Pounder builds his own homage to the famous Times Square news ticker, this time scaled for ants!

Create your own Chromecast device

Mats Tage Axelsson takes you on a tour of the Linux tools that will enable you to stream media between your laptop and other devices

LINUX FROM SCRATCH

Like to get your hands dirty? Aaron Peters is your man, as we get deep into building Linux

Rapid fuzzy finder

Shashank Sharma isn’t one for magic, but he’s not averse to using the Accio spell or its computing incarnation, fuzzy finder, to find things quickly

Store and search your research notes

Always on the look-out for organisational tools, Nick Peers reveals how to bring all your research materials and notes into a single convenient space

May the forth be with the Jupiter Ace

Les Pounder nips back to the early 80s and pays homage to a home computer that sold less than 6,000 units, despite its go-faster stripes!

Make your home as smart as possible

Matt Holder, who’s a bit of a clever-clogs himself, investigates the usage of Home Assistant to make your home as smart as it can be

Publishing your own slick ebooks

Seeking to chalk up a best seller, Michael Reed goes further into the intricacies of publishing a book from his Ubuntu desktop

Create your own virtual classroom

David Rutland moodles along with classroom management software on the LXF virtual private server and starts his own online course

CHARITABLE CHARACTERS

The Emmabuntüs collective enlightens Jonni Bidwell as to its kind and open source efforts

Working with binary tree data structures

Mihalis Tsoukalos explains how to construct and use binary trees for faster searches and easier relationships (of the data sort, mind)

How to use Mojolicious for web scraping

Mark Gardner reveals how you can retrieve and parse HTML and XML from websites with a few lines of Perl and the Mojolicious framework

Interact with your 3D game environment

Enhance your gaming world by adding collision detection and custom objects, as Andrew Smith throws barrels at you