WHO WE ARE

This issue Jonni’s getting paranoid with securing and monitoring his Mint install, so we asked our writers what’s their favourite security or monitoring tool?

Puny humans!

I’d always say the biggest security threat to

LibreOffice Community Edition and NG project

OFFICE SOFTWARE

NEW WAYS OF MEETING

OPINION

Kernel Watch

Jon Masters summarises the latest happenings in the Linux kernel, so you don’t have to

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 at Linux Format, Future Publishing, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA or lxf.letters@futurenet.com.

CudaText

CODE EDITOR

Pdfarranger

PDF TOOL

Visum

OFFICE APPLICATION

Mint 20.1 “Ulyssa”

FRESH AND FLAVOURSOME  MIN SPECS: 64-BIT CPU, 1GB RAM, 15GB DISK SPACE, SVGA DISPLAY

SparkyLinux 5.14

LIGHTWEIGHT LINUX  MIN SPECS: i686 CPU, 256MB MEMORY, 10GB DISK SPACE

CentOS fallout continues

SERVER DISTROS

Rocky Linux gets a surprise backer

SERVER DISTROS

FUNCTION OVER FORM

OPINION

What’s coming to Ubuntu 21.04

DISTROS

24-year-old kernel bug found

LINUX KERNEL

Android ported to RISC-V

ANDROID

Distro watch

What’s behind the free software sofa?

LICENCE TO CHANGE

OPINION

Cosmo Communicator

Is the Linux-compatible Cosmo Communicator PDA out of this world? Christian Cawley boldly launches a five-day mission to find out

Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus

A superfast, 2TB second-generation PCIe 4.0 drive that comes in at a decent price? Sign me up, says Alan Dexter

KDE neon 5.21.0

Jonni Bidwell has had it with Gnome, at least for this page, where he dabbles with KDE’s latest desktop delights

Siduction 2021.1.0

Jonni Bidwell is once again seduced by the dark side of the Linux Distribution community, or at least the Debian Sid side

Vivaldi 3.6

Will someone please stop Jonni Bidwell incessantly whistling the first movement of Four Seasons as he reviews this browser

Cyber Shadow

Management loves saving money, so when Stacey Henley says she’s using fewer pixels and reusing old ideas they were all aboard

Window Managers

Shashank Sharma shines a spotlight on a collection of window managers that can help you broaden your Linux desktop experience

The types of window manager

Does it really make a difference?

Installation

Are they available for your distribution?

User experience

Are they drastically different or disastrously so?

Documentation and support

When you can’t tell if you’re coming or going

Configurability

Are these windows managers easy to customise?

Standout features

What makes them special?

Appearance

Don’t like it? Then change it!

Windows managers The Verdict

T he fvwm3 window manager recently published 1.0.2

FORTRESS LINUX!

Linux is pretty secure, but the ever-vigilant Jonni Bidwell has studied the threatscape and recommends applying reinforcements…

Viruses, villains and infection vectors

Linux does a lot to protect you, but should you do more to protect it?

Build that firewall

Protect your ports, lock down your sockets – there’s a packet storm ahead

Keys and signatures

Trust no one, unless their SSH key is signed by Linux Format’s public key

Web browsing and email

Our two favourite network applications are attractive targets for hackers and zombie scripts. Don’t let them in!

HOW THE PI OPENED DOORS

Caroline Keep is an awardwinning teacher at Spark

Controversy over Pi OS Microsoft repro

The community pushes back over official support for Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code repro in the Pi OS

Make your own silicon!

How the Raspberry Pi Pico was designed, a love story…

Thonny 3.3.0

Les Pounder has been tinkering with Python for many years. A recent change of editor revealed a fresh new way to write code

FydeOS

The ever-curious Les Pounder wonders if his trusty Raspberry Pi 4 can be used as another Chrome device?

Install a new OS to SD and USB media

Les Pounder is always flashing a new OS to his Raspberry Pi and these are the tools of his trade

Build a Raspberry Pi Pico voltmeter

Tam Hanna uses the Raspberry Pi Pico’s analog-to-digital converter and an OLED display to create a small, but decently useful voltmeter

SENSORS AND SENSIBILIT Y

Recalling a past life where he gazed on dials and Galilean thermometers, Jonni Bidwell assesses Linux’s system monitoring offerings

Reduce spam emails

Shashank Sharma keeps the menace of spam at bay by using temporary email addresses from the comfort of the terminal

Back up and sync files quickly and easily

Nick Peers reveals how to back up and synchronise files over your local network and even further afield, enabling you to stay on top of your data

Master black and white photography

Mike Bedford reveals the secrets of good black and white photography, an art form that stands alongside its more colourful counterpart

Virtualising Arch the easy way

Want to test software without crashing your computer? Neil Bothwick creates a disposable system that you can crash without consequence

Control real-world hardware on your PC

Mike Bedford shows PC users how to add GPIO interfaces to their computers, just like those Raspberry Pi and Arduino users are familiar with

How to easily emulate 486 PCs and run DOS

Relive the halcyon 32-bit years of PC computing, play your favourite games and look back at OSes of yore with the ever-dependable Les Pounder!

Reco

Version: 2.4.2 Web: https://github. com/ryonakano/reco

Pingnoo

Version: 2021.01.10-develop Web: https://github.com/fizzyade/pingnoo

Farge

Version: 1.0.5 Web: https://github. com/sdushantha/farge

Tty-share

Version: 2.0 Web: https://github.com/ elisescu/tty-share

Png2svg

Version: 1.3.2 Web: https://github. com/xyproto/png2svg

Deskreen

Version: 1.0.2 Web: https://github. com/pavlobu/deskreen

Super Bombinhas

Version: 1.0.0 Web: https://github. com/victords/super-bombinhas

Pomodoro

Version: GIT Web: https://github.com/ nardinan/pomodoro

Coding the arcade classic Space Invaders

Calvin Robinson will always extend the hand of friendship – unless menacing aliens are descending from the skies, in which case… blast ‘em!

How to code diagrams, graphs and pie charts

Mihalis Tsoukalos explains how to use Mermaid to create beautiful technical graphs and diagrams you can reuse and update anywhere