MEET THE TE AM

We’re all about taking back control this issue, implementing Pi-hole protection. What open source tools do you use to help bring control back to your life?

Corporate takeover

Who said history repeats itself? First there was

Google steps up arms race against ad blockers

EXTENSIONS

X.Org being phased out

For four decades, the X Window System has endured despite competition, but major OSes are bowing out.

Road map to GIMP 3

Latest version of GIMP finally has a release schedule.

ALL AI HYPE

My crystal ball is only slightly better than

ALL IN THE PIPE!

PipeWire 1.0 was released late November (see right),

PipeWire turns 1.0

The audio/video bus designed to replace PulseAudio, JACK and other systems has now reached version 1.0.

More Linux-first laptops

Linux come preinstalled on more and more machines.

Open firmware doing very well

100 million firmware updates supplied by the LVFS.

Distro watch

What’s behind the free software sofa?

NEW YEAR! NEW LIBRE!

Like every year, there will be two new

UPSTREAM FUNK

A recent data corrupting bug in the ext4

Kernel Watch

Jon Masters keeps up with all 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 answers@linuxformat.com

Mailserver

I think we’ve misplaced the PDP-1 in the

HotPicks

Recoll »Polybar »Curtail »Betterbird »Bleach» Bit FileZilla» JDownloader

LINUX FORMAT

The #1 open source mag Future Publishing Limited,

Intel Core i5 14600K

No one calls Jacob Ridley mid-range!

SysLinuxOS 12.2

Nate Drake dives into SysLinuxOS to find whether its reputation as the dream OS for system administrators is well deserved.

OpenMandriva Lx 5.0

Nate Drake relives Mandriva Linux’s heyday with its programmer and community-developed successor. Plasma has never looked so good.

Ultramarine Linux 39

Nate Drake decides to take this Thai Fedora-based distro for a spin and finds it fast, simple and surprisingly customisable.

Steam Deck OLED

Management is overjoyed: “Take an old product and slap a new badge on for more money?” Tyler Colp likes his job too much to correct them.

File managers

Dolphin Krusader Midnight Commander Nemo Thunar

STAY SAFE ONLINE!

Eat unwanted online nasties by sending packets to the Pi-hole. David Rutland helps you protect your browsing data with the ultimate in a paranoid’s delight!

Coolest Projects 2024 remote and in person

Start your Raspberry Pis! The coolest digital creators competition is ready to open in 2024.

Ubuntu 23.10 for Pi

The ever dapper Les Pounder has been using Ubuntu since Dapper Drake and has been looking forward to sampling this Pi-based iteration.

Bambu Lab A1 Mini

Good things come in small packages is something Denise Bertacchi never says – now she’s eating her delicious words.

Build a Pi Pico electronic piano

Les Pounder is trying his best to make his mum proud by not taking apart an electronic piano!

Torrent your slice of Pi

Torrenting isn’t all about taking – Christian Cawley helps you use a Raspberry Pi to serve open source ISOs on the BitTorrent P2P network.

The rise and fall (and rise again) of Basic

We plot the symbolic milestones of the most basic of allpurpose code with the instruction of Mike Bedford.

Roll out the Rhino!

In an increasingly crowded marketplace, Nick Peers discovers why this new Ubuntu derivative might be a barrel of fun!

Total shell recall

Too busy running around shouting, “Get your ass to Mars,” Shashank Sharma thinks a strong shell history can be a real life saver.

Build your own home CCTV system

Nick Peers reveals how to bypass expensive (and insecure) cloud security systems to create your own using a variety of cameras.

Emulate an analogue computer digitally

Today, computers are nearly always digital, but analogue computers also had their place, as Mike Bedford discovers through emulation.

Create and use inventory objects

Nate Drake invites you to relive the glory days of point-and-click adventure games by creating your very own.

Manage network downloads locally

Find out how to apply some admin knowledge to network downloads.

Farewell, Docker; hello, Rancher Desktop

Introducing yet another – better – way to manage your containers.

LINUX L APTOPS

Stuart Burns is a Linux administrator for a

HDDs up, this is a RAID!

Handy admin tips for locating those many drives in your redundant arrays.

AccuWeb Hosting

Power-packed web hosting for all levels of user, including the ever-so-picky Mike Williams.

Smartproxy

Sead Fadilpašić tests a versatile and fairly affordable proxy service.

Green PC Machines

The world’s biggest PC maker says it can achieve net zero by 2050. Barry Collins visits its US headquarters to get his hands on plant-based PCs, bamboo packaging and vegan leatherstyle covers.

Write your own Android application

Matt Holder investigates how to create cross-platform applications using a combination of Python and the Kivy framework.

It’s all redirection!

LXF SHELL