LINUX FORMAT

The #1 open source mag Future Publishing Limited,

MEET THE TEAM

We’re pondering whether new users are coming to Linux with the Steam Deck and using the Pi. What got you hooked using Linux in the first place?

Easy as 1, 2, 3.14!

There’s been a bit of chatter recently about

Mozilla Foundation cuts staff as Firefox turns 20

As Firefox celebrates its 20th anniversary, Mozilla follows the tech industry’s current downsizing trend by laying off 30% of its employees.

Huge boost for RADV driver

A Valve engineer’s fix for AMD FSR2 in the Mesa RADV driver has significantly improved performance.

Intel patch for outdated microcode?

Outdated CPU microcode would be classed as a security vulnerability.

VIDEO STARS

Italo Vignoli is one of the founders of LibreOffice and the Document Foundation.

THE RIGHT TRACK?

Dave Stokes is a technology evangelist at Percona.

RISC-V coming to Framework laptops

RISC-V mainboard brings open-source architecture to laptops and desktops.

Apple Maps works in Linux

The beta web version will run – but only in Firefox.

LXQt 2.1.0 released

The latest version improves both system performance and Wayland support.

Distro watch

What’s behind the free software sofa?

FREE DESKTOPS!

Mark Filion is a senior marketing manager at Collabora.

THE RUST SETTLES

Jon Masters is a kernel hacker who’s been involved with Linux for over 22 years, and works on energy-efficient Arm servers.

Kernel Watch

Jon Masters summarises the latest happenings in the Linux kernel, so that 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

WRITE TO US Do you have a burning

HotPicks

THE BEST NEW OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE ON THE PLANET

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K

Paul Alcorn sees what Intel has built with its new chiplet architecture.

Ubuntu Studio 24.10

Nate Drake tentatively turns the knobs and dials of Ubuntu Studio. Is this the definitive Linux distro for media moguls?

FunOS 24.04.1

Nate Drake shares the delights of this Ubuntu-based distro, using the lightweight JWM. Does anyone else think it should be called Funbuntu?

Ubuntu Unity 24.10

Nate Drake invites you to explore a distro that relives the glory days of Ubuntu by deploying the Unity interface.

LastOSLinux 2024.10

Nate Drake delves into LastOS. Is this the last word in Windows-friendly distros or the last thing you’d want to install?

Shogun Showdown

It seems The Management has barricaded itself into its gold-plated top-floor office now Robin Valentine is a fully qualified shogun.

Roundup

IntelliJ IDEA KDevelop Geany Apache NetBeans Visual Studio Code

Essential Raspberry Pi makes

Grab your Pi, grab your soldering iron and get making with our quick-start guide to Pi fun with Les Pounder and Nate Drake as your little helpers.

First public view of Pi Compute Module 5

German electronics fair gets a first glimpse of the fruity new single-board computer.

Ubuntu 24.10

Les Pounder has been using Ubuntu for nearly 20 years, but could this anniversary edition change his mind about running it on the Pi?

AI Camera

On his quest to bring AI to the masses, Les Pounder manages to put them all out of work.

Bringing Arduino IDE coding to the Pi Pico

Les Pounder loves a blinking LED – it probably take him back to the flashing clock on his old VCR he could never reset… ARDUINO Credit: www.arduino.cc

Saving private files

Credit: https://github.com/MilesCranmer/rip2

Collect, organise and archive web pages

Credit: https://linkwarden.app

OpenStreetMap: map or be mapped

Credit: www.openstreetmap.org

Experience the EDSAC

Credit: www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~edsac

Using your Steam Deck as a full desktop PC

Always game for anything, Christian Cawley shows you that while the Steam Deck is great for gaming, it can do so much more.

Start photo editing with the new GIMP 3.0

After two decades of waiting, GIMP has finally been updated to version 3.0. Neil Mohr is on hand to get you up to speed.

Stay alert with system email warnings!

Never one to like unexpected surprises – or missing his wife’s birthday – Stuart Burns ensures his servers are bristling with email alerts.

ACT LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW

Stuart Burns is a sysadmin for a

Duda

Built with agencies in mind, Ruby P Jane tests this comprehensive web builder to determine whether it’s a dud or a dude.

Fyne times ahead

So, you want a cross-platform app that can be deployed on mobile, desktop and the web, do you? Andrew Williams might have a toolkit that can make your life a little easier…

Snaky shell: adding fun Easter eggs

Tired and relieved, Ferenc Deák breaks open a few delicious Easter eggs to celebrate the end of a shell coding era!

Discover and extend the Pragtical editor

Ever-practical David Bolton demonstrates how to write a plugin for the open source editor Pragtical in the Lua language.