MEET THE TEAM

This issue we’re seeing how many operating systems

Flexible friend

Things used to be simple: you’d have a

Debian embraces DuckDuckGo

The distro’s switch from Google as its default search engine causes controversy over privacy concerns.

Hacked tractor plays Doom…

…but also runs outdated and unpatched hardware.

PINE64 drama as moderator quits

Publicly calls out PinePhone manufacturer’s failings.

STOP THE SPRAWL

Donnie Berkholz is senior vice-president, product at Percona

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

Keith Edmunds is MD of Tiger Computing Ltd,

Canonical embraces RISC-V

Ubuntu now supported on StarFive’s VisionFive RISC-V boards.

Flathub undergoes key changes

The project will make donating to teams easier.

LibreOffice 7.4 released

Now with greater file support and documentation for scripts.

Distro watch

What’s behind the free software sofa?

AI GETS IN YOUR FACE

Marcus Edel is a senior software engineer at

MY SPACE

Jon Masters is a kernel hacker who’s been

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 lxf.answers@futurenet.com

Mailserver

WRITE TO US Do you have a burning

HotPicks

THE BEST NEW OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE ON THE PLANET

Syncthing

Syncthing has one of the best application dashboards

Imagine

Imagine is a handy tool for someone who

HomeBank

HomeBank has an intimidating interface that’ll only start

Jitsi

Since anybody with the meeting room can join

Beets

Beets supports the use of query strings with

Vifm

Vifm would be intuitive to operate for someone

Rclone

New users can experience the dexterity of rclone

Unvanquished

Based on the daemon gaming engine, Unvanquished is

Bitfighter

Frenetic gameplay coupled with 80s-arcade graphics and a

AES Crypt

AES Crypt also has a CLI version that

SMPlayer

SMPlayer also includes several backends that you can

GOING FULL RETRO!

NEXT MONTH

REVIEWS AMD Ryzen 5500

Too little, too late is what Alan Dexter hears a lot...

DragonflyBSD 6.2.2

David Rutland takes a long and confusing journey to the land before time, where things look familiar... but aren’t.

KDE Neon 2022.08

David Rutland finds that KDE is a delight to behold and regardless of whether it’s a ‘real’ distro, it’s a charming and relaxing place to be.

NuTyX 22.07

David Rutland finds this distro with its unique package management system a little less nutty than he had expected. It’s certainly a bit crunchy.

Emmabuntüs 4-1

David Rutland finds that the latest stable distro release is a little lacking in the “zig-a-zig-ah” department. Maybe it was lost in translation…

Psychonauts 2

When Management said they’re implementing a mindfulness policy, Matthew Castle didn’t realise it meant entering his very psyche!

Creative-writing tools

Struggling to compose a story? Nick Peers reviews five tools that all provide more than a simple writing environment to help bring your novels to life.

Installation, upgrades

How easy is it to install and get up and running with each tool?

User interface and navigation

Are these tools easy to use and how accessible are their features?

Standout features

Find out what sets each program apart.

Planning your novel’s structure

How do our tools fare with helping you to organise and plot your story?

Keep your stories organised

How does each tool organise your story and let you alter its running order?

Helper and search tools

All writers need a helping hand – what tools do our programs offer?

Write and export your story

How good are these tools for getting your text ready for publication?

The Verdict

Creative-writing tools

MULTI-BOOT MINT 21!

Got a new PC with Windows on it? Jonni Bidwell shows how you can get Linux Mint too, without breaking a thing.

Taking precautions

You might need Windows later so let’s make sure it’s not going to get upset.

Installing stereo operating systems

A few more cross-checks and detours, then we can get the freshest edition of Mint installed on your machine…

Tweaking the Mint

Finish the Mint installation, enjoy a fresh view of your Windows files and learn more about UEFI.

Logical Volume Manager

Multiboot many distros with aplomb through the magick of LVM.

RS Group loses its 10-year Pi licence

RS Components had been a manufacturer and distributor of Raspberry Pi since its launch in 2012.

Low-Profile ICE Tower

Les Pounder’s Raspberry Pi runs cool. In contrast, Les always feels the heat. Could this new cooler make even our expert chill out this summer?

Pimoroni Trilobot

Les Pounder (quite literally) makes a new friend with a powerful and affordable Pi-powered robot.

Stream live data to custom web pages

Les Pounder takes the latest and smallest Raspberry Pi with Wi-Fi and turns it into a £6 web server with live sensor data.

Create a Pi-based media centre with Kodi

Kodi is an open source media centre. Michael Reed installs it on his trusty Raspberry Pi for some couch-based entertainment.

SAVING THE SMART HOME

The smart home is dying but Matt Holder is here to save the day by showing us how open source can keep the smart-lights on…

Manage kernel modules

There’s a lot to be said about finding inner peace through meditation. Yet Shashank Sharma is confident he’ll find nirvana with classy CLI tools.

Set up your smart phone as a webcam

Nick Peers reveals how to convert your mobile devices into cameras you can use while chatting in Linux.

Get to grips with Solaris

Linux veteran Michael Reed wonders if he can pass for a native in the weird and wonderful land of Solaris-derived OpenIndiana.

Getting started with Cura and 3D printing

Not getting the quality of prints you expected from your 3D printer? Ali Jennings shows you the essential steps the manuals often miss.

How to make better cut-outs in GIMP

We often have photos where certain elements have to be “isolated” from the background. Use GIMP and Karsten Günther for this task!

The art of hiding messages in plain sight

Steganography might not be as well-known as cryptography but, as Mike Bedford reveals, it’s a powerful tool in preserving your security.

NOURISHMENT FOR THE SOUL

Andrew Lukoshko, benny Vasquez and Jack Aboutboul update Jonni Bidwell on the latest AlmaLinux developments.

Recreate the classic Pac-Man in Python

Being chased down endless corridors by spectral apparitions is all in a day’s work for Andrew Smith and his Python skills…

Add useful dialogs to terminal scripts

Quickly create dialogs for your shell scripts and even add notifications or menus with the help of Karsten Günther.

Getting started with the powerful eBPF

Extending things is what Mihalis Tsoukalos loves to do, so his heart leapt at the chance to explain the Extended Berkeley Packet Filter.