Índex per July 2022 a Linux Magazine

Long-time Linux users may remember a time when Debian was viewed as a collection of anarchists, with radical ideas about voting and decision-making. At times, Debian was even the lone dissenter among distributions about decisions made by the Free Software Foundation. However, over the years, Debian has developed its own hierarchy along the way to becoming the source for some two-thirds of active distributions. Today, the Debian derivative most reminiscent of early Debian is Devuan [1], which forked from Debian in 2014 over how decisions were made and the technical connotations of using systemd. Recently, two Devuan developers – fsmithred, who builds the live images and helps with support, and golinux, the community manager – took the time to recall Devuan’s past and why their issues are still relevant today.…

Almost everyone downloads data from the Internet. In most cases, you use the the web browser as the interface. Usually, websites offer files for download that you can click on individually in the browser. By default, the files usually end up in your Downloads/folder. If you need to download a large number of files, manually selecting the storage location can quickly test your patience. Wouldn’t it be easier if you had a tool to handle this job? In this article, I will show you how to program a convenient download manager using Bash and a scripting language like Gawk. As an added benefit, you can add features that aren’t available in similar programs, such as the ability to monitor the disk capacity or download files to the right folders based…

If you’ve been thinking about switching from another operating system to Linux, you initially will be confronted with a large choice of distributions, desktop environments, and package managers. More than half a dozen popular desktops and several hundred distributions compete for your favor. Until now it has been difficult, especially for newcomers, to find the Linux derivative best suited to their needs, due to all these choices. That dilemma is now done and dusted. The DistroTest. net website [1] lets you to try out more than 370 Linux distributions online, without having to install them or launch a live system from a removable disc. Concept DistroTest.net currently offers some 790 versions of nearly 370 distributions for testing. It provides the Linux derivatives as virtual machines (VMs), which can be used…

It’s often difficult to predict what will fail and what will generate massive hype, but no one would have expected the Scrabble-style Wordle [1] game to become an Internet hit in 2022. Entire magazine articles deal with the phenomenon [2], people at work show off their results every day, and the New York Times acquired the game from the developer for millions of dollars [3]. The game involves guessing a five-letter word. If the player enters the word correctly, they win the game. If the player’s guess doesn’t quite get the word, the game marks letters that are in the word and in the right place in green and letters that are in the word but in the wrong place in yellow. Wordle marks guessed letters that do not appear…

Search tools have been around since the beginning of computers. In fact, the power to search for stuff is one of the reasons computers were developed in the first place. But despite this venerable connection between computers and search, search methods remained the same for decades – at least, until the arrival of fuzzy search techniques. In the old days, you had to type a term exactly right to search on it – mispellings and typos turned up nothing at all. If you guessed the title of a movie or book and were off by one character, you were nowhere. Modern fuzzy search tools offer a way to the answer even if you didn’t get the question right. This month we look at the search tools Fzf and Fzy. Elsewhere…

Many media players, also known as home theater software suites or media managers, are available for Linux. Of particular interest are the candidates that rely on the client-server principle, which users can host themselves and which also support secure access from the outside. The better-known representatives of this genre include the open source projects Kodi, Emby, LibreELEC, and Jellyfin, and the primarily proprietary Plex [1], which originated as a fork of the Xbox Media Center’s (XBMC) Frodo version. Although not open source, Plex is very popular on Linux because of its extensive functionality, good user interface, and suitability as a streaming media server. However, it has shifted too heavily in the direction of Netflix and Amazon Prime for many users, while basic features have been missing for years, such as…

Why is it that while we have more choice than ever before, it’s sometimes harder to access exactly what we need in the ways we want to access it? Movie- and music-streaming services are the best examples of this problem, because, while there’s never been more choice, if you happen to want to watch or listen to something specific, you’re limited to whatever movies or music those services provide and the formats they provide them in. Which is why it’s beginning to make sense, again, to start buying your own media and hosting your own collections. Again. There’s always been software for doing this, from the venerable Logitech Media Server (still being developed by the open source community), to the Plex-like multimedia server Jellyfin. But it was difficult to find…

There have been command-line tools for comparing files ever since there was a command line. The most famous is of course the venerable diff. This will, by default, compare two files and print output with annotated < and > symbols to show which lines have been removed and added. Other modes, such as the context format, can make this easier to understand and parse by other tools, including patch, but it always rigidly counts differences without any background context on what might cause those differences outside of an intentional edit. This is where Difftastic can help. It’s a modern version of the same diff command that understands the context of the files it’s looking at, hopefully reducing errors and making it easier to use. Difftastic is run from the command…

The original version of Elite for home computers in the 1980s spawned several inferior clones. This was because no one had considered creating a game within a sandbox before, where you could choose whether to fight or trade, or simply lose yourself in the infinity of space. And it’s been a similar story over the past 10 years, where Elite’s modern sequel, Elite Dangerous, has dominated over the clones in the same way. But Elite Dangerous never officially ran on Linux, and recent updates have been disappointing. Leaving the community again looking for clones that could this time perhaps eclipse their inspiration. Vega Strike isn’t quite that, but it’s open source, runs on Linux, and gets close. The gameplay is similar to Elite where you fly your ship either into…

Ubuntu 22.04 64-bit Codenamed Jammy Jellyfish, Ubuntu 22.04 is the latest long-term support (LTS) release, receiving security and maintenance updates until April 2027. In the usual tradition of LTS releases, Jammy Jellyfish is full of new features and modifications. Many of the modifications are cosmetic, such as an option for a shorter dock, a change in icon sizes in various dialogs, and more animations for those who choose them. Some seem arbitrary, such as placing icons in the desktop’s lower right, while others are more versatile, such as the addition of hot corners for single-click actions or the option for a minimal installation, which is a security feature long overdue. Unusual for an LTS release, Jammy Jellyfish is shipping with some important limitations: • The new screenshot tool performs poorly…

Intensified data grabbing is making life difficult for users on the Internet. It’s not just the usual suspects like Google or Facebook who are collecting user data. Even conventional software packages have increasingly started phoning home and sending “telemetry data” to their vendors or third parties. Users typically don’t notice this data transfer and cannot track what data is being sent to whom. To stop this bad habit, a startup by the name of Safing, which has already twice received funding from the Austrian innovation incubator Netidee, has developed an application firewall called Portmaster that lets everyday users track and control the flow of data to hidden recipients [1]. Idea Portmaster combines several privacy-related services in a single package. Included within the Portmaster application is a firewall, a system of…

AlekSIS, a free school information system, aims to drag schools into the digital age. Currently in a functional state and ready for production use, AlekSIS [1] is a direct competitor of other tools with similar school-management features. However, because it is free software, AlekSIS helps you steer clear of the dreaded vendor lock-in. AlekSIS’s creators have a declared goal of blowing the commercial solutions out of the water. Designed by teachers in Germany, AlekSIS was originally developed for German high school settings, but the basic features, such as schedules, student and staff profiles, class rosters, and attendance tracking, are universal features of classrooms everywhere. AlekSIS offers a user interface in English and complete English versions of the AlekSIS Handbook and website. Most large school districts in the English-speaking world are…

There is a point in the life of a compulsive data hoarder when a regular computer is not enough to contain a burgeoning file collection. Upon the relentless expansion of a massive data compilation, the first step a home user takes to extend the storage capacity is to purchase an external USB hard drive. The hard drive will buy the user some time, but eventually this solution will fall short. A data hoarder who is dedicated enough will eventually have to invest in a Network Attached Storage (NAS) server. A NAS is a dedicated server optimized to store large amounts of information. NAS servers are commonly available as commercial appliances, but many power users prefer to build their own from spare parts. Serious NAS servers are scalable and allowed to…

MediaWiki [1] is the open source, highly collaborative knowledge management tool that runs the world’s sixth largest website: Wikipedia. Wiki solutions such as MediaWiki make it easy for large communities to collaborate, offering common access to an information store with built-in editing tools and version control. MediaWiki is designed to serve a vast community on a global scale, but what if you need to serve a less diverse audience of users in a local or organizational setting? Wikis are excellent tools for business because they support central storage of shared information and eliminate the knowledge bottlenecks that occur when knowledge is shared haphazardly through email and personal connections. Several open source projects support wiki tools for business environments, including XWiki, DokuWiki, and BlueSpice (for a comparison of these projects, see…

It’s amazing that the same companies responsible for incredible display hardware engineering, weaving organic light-emitting diodes together at the sub-millimeter level, can’t create a decent on-screen navigation menu system. Perhaps it’s a case of hardware engineers versus software engineers, but for whatever reason, many otherwise wonderful screens are crippled by a single button and a menu system designed to test the patience of a saint. Fortunately, the hardware engineers have a trick themselves in the form of the Display Data Channel (DDC), a two-way communications protocol that can transfer messages between your computer and the majority of modern screens. This means we’re free to reinvent those menus ourselves. The extent of what can be controlled over DDC is entirely dependent on the monitor, but it usually includes the elements you…

Not so long ago, we looked at a keyboard firmware editor called Chrysalis. It was designed to work only with a few specific open source keyboards using the Kaleidoscope firmware, usually based on an Arduino, but these keyboards were definitely something to wish for. Thanks to Chrysalis and the open firmware, you could easily modify the firmware to suit your own needs, including adding a variety of plugins contributed by other users. These plugins could do things such as run macros from shortcuts, create one-shot special keys without pressing shift, or turn the spectrum of LEDs beneath the keys into a rainbow. One plugin, however, could imitate mouse control, not only letting you move the mouse cursor with whatever shortcuts you configured, complete with acceleration and start/end thresholds, but also…

Heroes of Might and Magic was a brilliant series of games that were developed from the mid-1990s into the modern era. They were turn-based-strategy games with mission-based objectives. Depending on the character you started as, you’d get an assortment of artifacts, spells, and capabilities that shaped your approach to the game as you fought, developed resources, and adventured across the landscape in the hope of fulfilling your prophecy. The early games in particular are steeped in the pixelated minimalism and uncompromising gameplay that has become popular recently, especially when the teenagers who grew up playing the originals are now fully fledged software developers. Which of course makes them perfect targets for open source reinvention. Open source reinvention has happened twice with Heroes of Might and Magic, and there was even…

A bootable CD won’t take you far in world where most new computers don’t even have a CD drive. Live boot now means booting from a USB stick, and while users have gotten more mobile, the tools have gotten more sophisticated. Carry your OS with you and plug it in – you can even put multiple ISOs on a single stick. Next month we explore a new generation of utilities for USB boot. Preview Newsletter The Linux Magazine Preview is a monthly email newsletter that gives you a sneak peek at the next issue, including links to articles posted online. Sign up at: https://bit.ly/Linux-Update Approximate UK / Europe Jul 02 USA / Canada Jul 29 Australia Aug29 On Sale Date Please note: On sale dates are approximate and may be…

System76 has officially released the latest iteration of Pop!_OS. This time around, the operating system is based on Ubuntu 22.04 and includes plenty of improvements. Although the changes found in 22.04 aren’t nearly as dramatic as those in past releases, this new version still offers plenty to get excited about. The Pop!_OS COSMIC desktop is based on GNOME 42 but has been stripped down to align with the vision System76 has with its desktop. This means the look and feel of the desktop will remain fairly consistent with what you have experienced since COSMIC was first introduced. In fact, although GNOME 42 migrated away from Gedit and GNOME Terminal, Pop!_OS is sticking with those two apps for the time being. Two of the biggest additions to Pop!_OS 22.04 come in…

Computer users leave broad trails across the Internet. The websites you visit, your interactions, your purchases, your common passwords if you are careless – everything you do online – can be noted and used against you for purposes that range from the annoying to the dangerous, depending on your circumstances. Fortunately, a growing number of applications exist to restore your privacy and security, and the most mature of these is the Tor Browser [1] (Figure 1). Tor (short for The Onion Router) is a modified version of Firefox designed to hide your trails on the Internet. Tor obscures your electronic trail by routing your interactions through several servers and encrypting your actions each step of the way. Tor’s network of servers is decentralized, making your communications even harder to track…

The Thunderbolt interface is an interface used for connecting peripheral devices to many modern computers. Thunderbolt connections (with the familiar lightning arrow symbol – see Figure 1) support fast transfer of audio, video, and other data over a single cable and can also charge devices connected through the same interface. The Thunderbolt specification was developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple. Many users might think of Thunderbolt in the context of Apple hardware. Apple actually started shipping MacBook Pro models with the interface back in 2011 (see the box entitled “Thunderbolt Through the Years”). Thunderbolt has become a common feature on MacBook computers, as well as many other Intel-based systems. Through the years, however, the power and speed of Thunderbolt has led to some security issues. Like other technologies that…

Kovid Goyal is best known as the creator of Calibre, an ebook management application so far reaching that, despite a poor interface, it has become the definitive tool in its class. However, for the past five years, Goyal has also been developing kitty [1], a terminal emulator for the modern age, with features that range from text formatting and tiling to graphical acceleration. While kitty’s list of features is intriguing, whether kitty can repeat the success of Calibre remains to be seen (Figure 1). Versions of kitty are available in many Linux distributions, as well as for macOS and some BSDs. Installing from your distribution’s package has the advantage of automatically integrating kitty with your environment. However, as with Calibre, new versions are released every three to six weeks, so…

Few of us have time to read longform web articles during the day, which is why services that let you save interesting reads for later can come in handy. Popular services such as Pocket and Instapaper even offer apps you can use to read the saved content offline on your preferred device. Better still, the saved articles are reformatted for better readability and scrubbed of all ads, scripts, trackers, and other junk. Hosted services are like restaurants, though. No matter how great the food and the service, you eventually start longing for home-cooked meals, not only because cooking at home is cheaper and more convenient, but because you can make any dish you wish just the way you like it and have fun in the process. In a similar vein,…

A museum exhibit called Buzz-wire looks like outlines of two oversized hands giving you a high five (Figure 1). Each hand has a metal handle with a loop, and your goal is to move the loops up and down the hand without touching it. For an even bigger challenge, you can try to do both hands at once in the same or opposite directions. If either loop touches the hands, a buzzer and light come on and the handle vibrates. The original circuitry for the hands comprised interconnecting timer relays to switch the assorted components. The design had no microcontrollers or anything smarter than a switch, which had several drawbacks – but the main one was that if the puzzle was abandoned mid-run, the light, buzzer, and vibration motor would…

Today, fuzzy searches are an integral part of everyday IT life. They correct typos, detect similarities, and offer a way to find what you need with reasonable overhead, even in unstructured data. The basic principle is based on the Levenshtein distance [1], word distances defined in the 1960s (see the “Levenshtein” box). Developers have extended and optimized this algorithm more or less from the start. Having said this, many standard tools ignore fuzzy searches or limit themselves to highly simplified variants up to this day. For example, the grep tool from the coreutils package processes arbitrarily complex regular expressions (patterns), but it does not support fuzzy searching. Fuzzy searching is supported by agrep [2] and ugrep [3] at the command line, and there are several other, less well-known tools. Agrep…

The Matrix messaging protocol has been around for almost 10 years, and over that time, many of us have experimented with the network for personal and group chats at some point, usually before moving back to our regular sources of messaging distraction. In theory, Matrix is both an excellent successor to IRC and a solution to the problem of secure trusted messaging because it’s a) simple, b) secure, and c) potentially self-hosted. In its early years, Matrix was lacking a diverse community of participants and clients, but its popularity has been increasing in waves, reaching a critical mass of acceptance. This acceptance has been helped by the development of some excellent clients, including the open source Element app on Android and a desktop application called nheko that’s been specifically designed…

If you’ve read the above description of the wonderful ddcutil, used to control various aspects of your display, you’ll see that ddcutil is not a simple tool to use. To get the most out of it, you need to introspect your hardware and understand the values it accepts and returns. It’s powerful but complicated, especially if all you need to do is change which input to display. Many of us will have more than one computer connected to a single screen, which will often have more than one HDMI or Display-Port input. But if all you want to do is change the input, then qddcswitch is a much better option. This is a small graphical application that does away with needing to understand anything about your hardware or the ddcutil…

Qt Creator is an integrated development environment for building Qt-based applications that also happens to be great at building all kinds of other applications and projects too. It started life in 2007 as a side project called Greenhouse and was worked on by a few developers at Trolltech just before it was acquired by Nokia. Back then, there were few open source IDEs that could compete with Microsoft’s Visual Studio, especially for C++-based languages or for projects using CMake to maintain the build environment. KDevelop had come close but was on hiatus while the project reinvented itself. This made QT Creator genuinely revolutionary when it did arrive because it was one of the first open source IDEs to include code completion, object abstraction, and an open back end for other…