Linux Format September 2021
Linux Format is your complete guide to the world of Linux. Whether you've just discovered Linux, or you're a full-time guru, Linux Format has everything you need to make the most of your OS. The editorial formula is a mix of features, reviews and practical tutorials that tackle topics as far ranging as installing software to socket programming and network management. Thought-provoking features and interviews also provide a focus on key technologies, trends and issues in the fast-paced world of Free and Open Source software.
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meet the team
Jonni Bidwell Adobe Flash was born kicking and screaming (and otherwise animating colourful objects) into this world in 1996. This makes it just a little younger than Linux, and definitely not a thing the past three decades should be proud of. Nonetheless, we should all rejoice in its overdue demise. Les Pounder My highlight of the past 30 years is somewhat recent. Oggcamp is a FOSS event that I’ve been a part of since 2009. In that time Oggcamp has generated new communities and ideas. More importantly, friendships have been made, and that’s the true measure of Oggcamp’s success. Mayank Sharma Three decades is a long time, and though you weren’t specific I’m gonna skip getting married, and the birth of our mini human overlord from the highlights, and instead doff my hat to virtualisation,…
tux turns 30
In the sage words of Kool & The Gang, “Celebrate good times, come on.” We are, of course, talking about me having edited over 100 issues of Linux Format <whispers from Jonni> but also that 30 years ago almost to the day a young Linus Torvalds announced on comp.os. minix that he’d started work writing a kernel (nothing big or professional like GNU) running on his i386 PC. The rest, as they say, is history. For this special occasion we’re taking time out to look back over those 30 years of Linux development (for which LXF itself has been around for 21 years) and ask how did that happen? We follow kernel growth over the years, reveal how distros expanded out of those early days to foster an open source…
valve announces the linux-powered steam deck
VALVE’S DOMINO EFFECT IN ACTIONIf the Steam Deck becomes a success, then it could also encourage games developers to port their games to Linux. Valve has revealed its new handheld gaming device, the Steam Deck (https://bit.ly/lxf280steamdeck). While its specs means it should comfortably outperform Nintendo’s Switch, the key takeaway is that the Steam Deck runs on SteamOS 3.0, which is now based on Arch with the KDE desktop environment. Since the announcement of the Steam Deck, there’s been much talk on the openness of the hardware and what it could mean for Linux gaming. When we say ‘openness’ we should be careful. Steam, after all, is a proprietary store that uses DRM. It’s also yet to be seen if SteamOS 3.0 on the Steam Deck will allow other games launchers and stores…
audacity drama continues
Back in LXF278 we reported on how Audacity, the open-source audio editor, was acquired by the Muse Group. Although promising to keep Audacity free and open, the company added optional telemetry to the application which would upload certain data (which is detailed in the Audacity sub-Reddit at https://bit.ly/lxf280audacityreddit) to third-parties, including Google and Yandex. This prompted a fierce backlash, and while the company swiftly backtracked and apologised (https://bit.ly/lxf280audacityapol), the damage was done. It didn’t help that there was also a (now dropped) change to the privacy policy to prevent people under 13 from using the software, which many felt breached the GNU General Public Licence 2, which Audacity is published under. Fifty-plus forks of Audacity were then created, with one of the most popular being Tenacity (https://bit.ly/lxf280tenacity). When the fork was created…
linux foundation in game engine push
Alongside the announcement of the Linux-powered Steam Deck (see opposite page), gaming on Linux is taking another exciting step forward with the Linux Foundation joining with other institutions, such as Adobe, Intel, Huawei and Red Hat to create the Open 3D Foundation (https://bit.ly/lxf280open3d), which will support open source projects that focus on 3D graphics, rendering and development. The first such project is the Open 3D Engine (O3DE), which is based on the Amazon Lumberyard engine, and will be made available under the Apache 2.0 licence. This will hopefully make developing games now more accessible and affordable, as devs won’t need to pay to licence it. Devs using the engine will be supported via “an open source community through forums, code repositories, and developer events.” Features included in O3DE will be “a…
upstream first
“It’s thrilling to see Linux reach its 30th anniversary. From the famous “just a hobby, won’t be big and professional” Linus’ email to today, a lot has happened. Linux is everywhere… and on Mars! I believe that Linux will continue to evolve, adding countless new deployments for the next 30 years. Machines running Linux are expected to be functional for years, even decades, which means we need to provide kernel updates with new features and security fixes for a long time. To make this future possible, companies have to engage more with the community, submitting their code to the mainline kernel as fast as possible, in an upstream-first approach. The Linux testing and Continuous Integration(CI) capabilities also need to keep growing. The KernelCI project, which is bringing key industry players together to…
