om d
fr loa
D wn
DV o
e /d
!
th m
of .co
EE 3.1 ore
O at
IS
e rm
FR E 1 + m
th xfo
et nu
S
*G w.li
URnSU .8.8
w
w
YO e 0
Op aro
j
an
M
N
O
D
DV
Expand the
Raspberry Pi
Extra strong
Mint 16
All hail the freshest release of
the most popular Linux distro
The must-have Cinnamon 2 desktop
From zero to hero, the community wins
Mint 17: what to expect next
8 pages of getting started guides
IS YOUR
FREE DVD
MISSING?
Speak to your
newsagent
now!
Equality
Also inside
OwnCloud 6
OpenStreetMaps
Apache
Networking
Raspberry Pi
Wordpress
Nmap probing
PiFace
TuxRadar.com
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net
Welcome
What we do
We support the open source community
by providing a resource of information, and
a forum for debate.
We help all readers get more from Linux with our
tutorials section weve something for everyone!
We license all the source code we print in our
tutorials section under the GNU GPLv3.
We give you the most accurate, unbiased and
up-to-date information on all things Linux.
Who we are
In this issue we look at open source mapping
project OpenStreetMap. We asked our contributors
what kind of map they would like to make.
Chris Thornett
Id add a GPS
device to my
special mug, then
plot its movements
across the office.
Matt Hanson
Last year I mapped
the cycle route
from Bath to
Glastonbury
festival with pubs
highlighted.
Efrain HernandezMendoza
Maps are for wimps.
Real men navigate
by the stars and
their sense of
smell alone.
Les Pounder
Id create a map
that traces all the
wires between my
Raspberry Pi and
all my various
expansion boards.
Mayank Sharma
Id create a map of
all the various
Debian forks that
have emerged over
the years.
Neil Bothwick
The only map I
need is one that
shows me the
secret entrance to
the mountain lair
of my ancestors.
Joe Jordan
Ive just bought a
load of cheap black
ink, so Id like to
map some
unexplored corner
of space.
Juliet Kemp
Id like a map that
showed the way for
more women to
develop for Linux.
Theres not enough!
Shashank Sharma
Id like a map to
the Fedora
Projects head
quarters so I could
see whats causing
all their delays.
Marco Fioretti
Coming from a
country with a fine
tradition of
cartography, Id
map the hidden
depths of Hull.
Subscribe today
See p32 for awesome deals
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
WorldMags.net
Contents
Lets not ascribe to malice what could just be incompetence
Reviews
OpenSUSE 13.1 ..................18
Weve got a bit of a mag crush on the latest
release. Find out the new features and
innovations that have got us excited.
Linux
Mint 16
Is the latest release of the
popular distro enough to
make you switch? p34
Roundup:
Hosted
storage p26
OpenMandriva ................. 20
It seems to be open season with
these distros, but is this distro better
than that joke?
Books ................................. 23
A Female Genius: How Ada Lovelace, Lord
Byrons Daughter, Started the Computer
Age and Designing the Internet of Things.
Ada Lovelace:
we review a
biography of a
beautiful mind.
Talking heads
Should you give your data
to a company that you
have no real contractual
relationship with?
Matthew Garrett Cloud storage, UEFI and fruit flies p42
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Clonezilla 2.2.0-31
Disk cloning can be a life saver
PLUS: HotPicks and tutorial code
p96
Treat yourself or a
loved one to an LXF
subscription! p32
Dont miss...
OpenStreetMap....................54
Not all those who wander are lost.
Coding Academy
Tutorials
Online collaboration
OwnCloud 6 ...................... 68
Scratch .................................. 84
Les Pounder shows off an easy to use visual
language thats great for beginners. Its also
been helping kids as young as six learn the
basics of programming.
Squeak ................................... 88
Juliet Kemp introduces the object orientated
language that has some fantastic educational
properties. Its easy to get started with, but offers
plenty of depth once you become more familiar.
Regulars at a glance
subscription to LXF.
Sysadmin...................56
User groups................ 11
Websites
Host your own ...................72
Mayank Sharma shows us what can be
achieved with a Raspberry Pi, an Apache
server and your fingers.
OpenStreetMap
Map the world....................76
Raspberry Pi
PiFace ................................. 70
happen again.
Static websites
How to set one up............80
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
WorldMags.net
Grey coders
Soundwave malware
Ubuntu TV
SECURITY
Is Linux safe?
A new worm targeting PCs running Linux is in the wild. Matthew Hanson pointlessly
dons a type-one hazmat suit as he looks into just how safe we are...
This is exactly
what the worm
will look like
inside your
poorly computer.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Newsdesk
WorldMags.net
WEBSITE
Ubuntu Resources
website launches
Theres a new website from the folks at Canonical, good
news for Ubuntu Touch owners...
Newsbytes
The Linux Foundation has
announced three new members,
Cloudius Systems, the HAS
(Heterogeneous System Architecture)
Foundation, and Valve. Weve been
mentioning Valve a lot recently, as the
games dev has been a big force in
getting more games onto Linux. Mike
Sartain from Valve said: Joining the
Linux Foundation is one of many ways
Valve is investing in the advancement
of Linux gaming... we hope to
contribute tools for developers
building new experiences on Linux,
compel hardware manufacturers to
prioritise support for Linux, and
ultimately deliver an elegant and open
platform for Linux users.
Has Google been beaten to the
punch when it comes to
wearable computer eyewear? It looks
that way as the Vuzix M100, an
Android device that comes with a dual
core 1GHz processor, WiFi, Bluetooth,
GPS, sensors, five megapixel camera
and voice and gesture recognition has
been released just before Google
Glass. It connects to an Android
smartphone via Bluetooth, and the
monocular display has WQVGA
resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio. To
add further insult to injury, it is also
being sold for $1000, $500 less than
the developer version of Google Glass.
It appears that the project to get
TVs powered by Ubuntu is still
on-going, its just taken a backseat as
Canonical turns its focus towards
STORY
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Newsdesk
WorldMags.net
SCIENCE
Scientists create
soundwave malware
It can cover a distance of 65 feet using mics and speakers.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net
Newsdesk
WorldMags.net
Comment
Testing
appreciated
Michael Meeks
During the
festive season
LibreOffice is
approaching
its next release: 4.2 with an intense round of QA
and bug fixing. Our release schedule this year
lines up with FOSDEM the premier Free
Software conference in Brussels in early
February one well worth attending.
LibreOffice 4.2 brings a whole host of new
features to try out. CloudOn a startup doing
interesting things with LibreOffice has heavily
invested in improving round-trip interoperability
with newer Microsoft Office XML formats. They
are adding new core features and also
preserving features that we cant currently
render so they are not lost when you re-save.
That, along with much improved encrypytion
support, gives some great interoperability wins.
This release we also debut an Apple Keynote
import filter from RedHat, along with built-in
Google Drive support.
Weve also done a number of UI
improvements: with a re-written Start Center
and graduating the new sidebar out of
experimental mode. Our new default document
template is crisper, and complements a new
low-colour icon theme, Sifr. We now expose all
of our config options in an expert about:config
style view so that we can start streamlining our
options dialogs. Progress on re-working every
dialog to layout beautifully has reached 60% of
dialogs. Weve added a GNOME 3 application
menu to improved Xfce and Mate desktop
integration. In this release Impress gets new
iOS and Android remote controls for your
phone or tablet, which significantly improves
the presentation experience, as well as an
improved custom animation user interface.
A whole host of work has been done to
improve Calc, weve a completely new database
backend, and a slew of other useful new
features. Id love to tell you more, but its more
fun for you to investigate...
Michael is a pseudo-engineer, semi-colon lover,
SUSE LibreOffice hacker and amateur pundit.
LINUX DISTRIBUTION
While many distros are becoming
bigger and flashier, with opulent
user interfaces and loads of extra
features, Nanolinux has taken the
opposite approach, being a tiny
distro that takes up less than a
nicely diminutive 14MB when
installed. Its not lacking features
either, as it comes with a file
manager, web browser, text editor ,
spreadsheet tool and a lot more
even a fair few interesting games
are included in the package.
LINUX DISTRIBUTION
It should go without saying that were
always pleased to see public services
move over to free and open source
software, so weve been watching
Canaima GNU/Linux with interest.
Its a distro sponsored by the
Venezuelan government, based on
Debian, and is primarily used for the
computer of Venezuelan Nation
Public Administration. Version 4.0
(code named Kerepakupai) has just
been released, with updates to
GNOME, Linux kernel 3.2, Cunaguaro
WEB BROWSER
Ozone, a Wayland-based Chromium
web browser, may be relatively new,
but it has had a recent string of
updates that have boosted its feature
set, as well as its compatibility with
Wayland. Its well worth checking out.
Created by Intels Open-Source
LINUX DISTRIBUTION
OS4 OpenLinux 14.3 has just been
released, and OS/4 PowerLinux
Final should be hitting the mirrors
in the next few days. With the 14.3
version of OS4 OpenLinux more
improvements have been made to
create an Ubuntu-based distro with
a focus on user friendliness. Find
out more and download the
distro with a swift journey to
www.os4online.com.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
WorldMags.net
United Linux!
The intrepid Les Pounder brings you the latest community and LUG news.
Community 180
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Mailserver
WorldMags.net
Write to us at Linux Format, Future Publishing, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW or lxf.letters@futurenet.co.uk
Pinguy OS
I was happy to see Pinguy OS
included in your review, as its
been my primary OS since
shortly after its inception. I had
tried many distros, but this was
the first one where I simply felt
at home, a distro that, to borrow
a phrase, just works And, while
.
I understand it may bear some
resemblance to the Mac,
I had come from a strictly
Windows world, yet for me it
always felt very intuitive.
Now, some years on, every so
often your magazine inspires me
to dig deeper into Linux itself.
Any distro, including Pinguy,
allows this. But when I want to
step back, let the OS do the
work, and use applications to get
stuff done, Pinguy does the job.
And while its good to see it
came out on top in this
competition for an OS for Linux
beginners, I know that isnt the
point. The point is choice. I
believe a single person puts this
together, and while every
decision isnt perfect, for me
they hit the mark far more often
than most.
Although I dont distro-hop
much anymore (except for a
little fun in Virtualbox), each of
your issues, besides highlighting
distros, features articles over my
head, too simple, and spot on.
Theres my LXF!
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Mailserver
WorldMags.net
Sound as a pound
Hello! I decided to make my Dell
Optiplex GX520 into a dedicated
audio studio system, based
around Mint 15, with codecs and
many of the features of Ubuntu
Studio. All went well until it came
to the sound card... The internal
card worked well, albeit in a
basic way, but I wanted better
quality. I switched out the
internal card in the bios, and
tried fitting various old audio
cards I had gathered together in
the past... None of them worked!
I tried tweaking settings in
Alsamixer from the command
line, adding Pulseaudio, etc., but
could get nothing to work for
both record and playback, apart
from the internal card!
I emailed Creative, who
informed me that none of their
cards are supported in Linux,
which strikes me as somewhat
shortsighted as they have the
monopoly on sound cards and
are therefore turning their backs
on about 20 million Linux users.
Can you run an article on
creating a Linux Studio System,
and give advice on the choice of
sound card to buy, whether new
or legacy. It would also be a good
feature to have a page or two
dedicated to hardware found to
work, in the same way that Wine
lists Windows software... Gold,
Silver, or Dead in the Water!
Nick Ford
Praise!
Hey LXF, just a quick email to
say: love the magazine! I really
cant wait to see what the new
Project Sputnik
Many thanks for the article on
Project Sputnik in LXF 177. As a
result of this I took the plunge
and bought one as my travel PC.
The machine is superb but the
wifi issue noted in your article
had not been solved. Within a
few days of receiving it I was
travelling and had great difficulty
using wifi in a hotel. I wandered
around like a lost soul looking
for a wifi hotspot that was
strong enough to give me a
stable connection.
The problem was clearly the
driver which I solved by installing
the latest kernal using: sudo aptget install linux-generic-ltsquantal obtained from the
forums. Now the wifi is working
fine. Why couldnt Dell get this
right? I have noticed that battery
power consumption is heavy.
Perhaps you should run an
article on tuning power
consumption, maybe using
somethiing like PowerTOP.
Many thanks for running a
superb magazine.
Mike
Matt says: Dells Project Sputnik,
an Ultrabook running Ubuntu, is a
great machine, and were glad
youre enjoying yours Mike. Being
as robust and powerful as it is slim
and light makes for an excellent
portable PC, and Project Sputnik,
along with other Ultrabooks, are
proving that you dont have to turn
to Apple to get a beautifully
crafted laptop packed with some
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Mailserver
WorldMags.net
Nostalgia, for
Fortran?
Fortran, named for FORmula
TRANslation, which didnt come
up in the article in LXF 178
(Christmas edition), was my first
programming language, learned
at Purdue University in 1976 on
the Minnesota Fortran compiler
(MNF) on a CDC 6600 mainframe, using (yes, you guessed
it) Hollerith cards from various
rooms around campus where
you could punch the cards, sort
them in order in your card deck,
try to remember to punch the
cards properly in columns 73-84
for sorting (important when you
might have several hundred line
programs), then take them to
the card reader in the computing
centre to submit your job for
later output on 132 column lightgreen & white alternating bar
computer paper, roughly 17
wide by 11 long per sheet on
tractor-fed paper of which the
punched round holes on the
(wide) ends did not come off.
otherwise unemployed to
translate from a time-shared
computer Fortran program to a
program which would run on
IBM-compatible computers. I
ended taking the Fortran source
code, compiling and running it
under Nevada Fortran on my
Zorba CP/M transportable
computer to have a basis for
comparison, then translating
from Fortran, and documenting
properly the code to Microsofts
QuickBASIC compiler, with code
available for IBMs included
BASIC interpreter (with IBM
DOS for BASIC in ROM). For
those who dont know BASIC
stood for Beginners All-purpose
Symbolic Instruction Code.
See? Nostagia, for Fortran
yet! I must be losing it. Next, I
might send in an article
suggestion about COBOL or
even dBase programming! These
would probably be of only
historic interest, although I have
programmed in ALGOL, Forth,
and dBase, as well as PAL
(Paradox Application Language).
See, languages which are only of
interest if you have some 20th
century code which you are
maintaining. Have a nice day!
Carl Snyder
Matt says: Thanks for sharing
that Carl, it just goes to show no
matter what the language, therell
be people out there who think
fondly of their first forays into
coding using methods and syntax
which have faded into partial
obscurity. The Hollerith punch
card method of coding seems a
world away from what were able
to do sat at our desks now, but
whilst it might seem inconvenient,
you could argue that it instilled a
more stringent approach to errors.
When a mistake could mean
shane_collinge@yahoo.com
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Mailserver
WorldMags.net
Writers reply
Got something to say about one of our articles? Write in and well pass your queries on to the writers.
Neil Bothwicks
BitTorrent Article
Regarding Neil Bothwicks BitTorrent
Article in LXF 176, trackerless torrents
using magnet links seem to work quite
well with Transmission via the Distributed
Hash Table (DHT) and Peer EXchange
(PEX), without the need to do any more
than the following...
First, place the file or directory in the
Transmission download area. Next load it
into the client, then wait for Transmission
to start seeding the data. Once the data is
available under the seed tab, right click on
the data and select Copy Magnet Link to
Clipboard then paste the contents of the
,
clipboard into an email then send it to the
person with whom you want to share the
data. The person receiving the magnet link
can then open it with their BitTorrent
client and start downloading the data.
The above assumes that a static LAN
address is set in the router for the IP
address associated with the box running
Transmission with port 51413 forwarded to
that address, and the same port is open on
the software firewall for TCP/UDP on the
box running Transmission.
Andrew Shead
Leslie Turriff
Juliet Kemp says: Thanks for the correction
youre right, F77 (and earlier) did have
DO-loops, it was only other types of loop that
had to be constructed with IF and GOTO. My
apologies for the mistake, and Im glad you
enjoyed the tutorial otherwise.
Write to us
Do you have a burning Linuxrelated issue you want to discuss?
Do you simply want to hail our
awesomeness or bemoan the
distinct lack of PulseAudio
criticism in the magazine these
days? Write to us at Linux Format,
Future Publishing, 30 Monmouth
Street, Bath BA1 2BW, or
lxf.letters@futurenet.co.uk.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net
All the latest software and hardware reviewed and rated by our experts
MATT HANSON
has been comparing
distro release dates
with this issues
deadline and weeping.
Delays
OpenMandriva ....... 20
Like a slightly disappointing
phoenix, OpenMandriva rises from
the ashes of a once beloved distro
Netgear ReadyNAS
316 ......................... 21
Ready to add network attached
storage to your ever growing home
network? The Netgear ReadyNAS
316 is worth consideration, then,
with some top features that are
easy to use.
OpenSUSE 13.1
OpenMandriva
OwnCloud
Seafile
SparkleShare
Tonido
If youre not comfortable with
third-party online storage such
as Dropbox, then why not make
your own? Youll protect both
your cash and your privacy, and
its easy with these tools.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
WorldMags.net
OpenSUSE 13.1
The release of the latest version of this popular distro puts Mayank Sharma
in an awkward position, struggling to find any flaws.
In brief...
A major multidesktop Linux
distribution.
Alternative RPMbased distros are
Fedora and
Mageia.
Constant evolution
Once known as the premier KDE
release, OpenSUSE nowadays looks
good across all the major desktops.
Besides KDE 4.11 and Gnome 3.10, the
latest release features Mate 1.6, Xfce,
Enlightenment and LXDE desktops.
Under the hood, this release is
powered by Linux kernel 3.11. A major
highlight of this release is its support for
ARM devices. In fact, the distro has
ports for ARMv6, ARMv7 and the 64-bit
Features at a glance
Evergreen release
Technology previews
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Verdict
OpenSUSE 13.1
Developer: OpenSUSE Project
Web: www.opensuse.org
Licence: GPL
Features
Performance
Ease of use
Documentation
9/10
8/10
9/10
8/10
Rating 8/10
WorldMags.net
Fedora 20 beta
While Shashank Sharma had hoped for more to celebrate 10 years of Fedora,
the latest release should not be dismissed as irrelevant.
In brief...
The RedHat
sponsored distro
that ships only
free software.
Alternative RPMbased distros are
OpenSUSE and
Mageia.
Features at a glance
CLI goodness
Package manager
Not a DOA Fedora release for a change. Lets hope they build on it.
Added package
While the app is the default on Fedora
20, it only provides limited functionality.
It shows a brief description and an icon
for apps, and you can use it to install,
remove and update apps. Screenshots
for each app, along with interactive
features, such as ratings and reviews
will not be available until the next
release of Fedora.
With a view to unclutter the windows
and free-up more screen space,
titlebars and toolbars have now been
merged into a single element called
Header Bar. The System Status area
has also been redesigned. You now get
a single menu in the top-right corner of
the screen which provides battery and
network status, along with a button to
access the system configuration tool.
As with past releases, there are
other desktop spins, such as KDE,
LXDE and Mate. The repos also feature
the latest Enlightenment 0.18 release.
Unlike various other distros that
target either newbies or advanced
users, Fedora aims to please everyone.
Advanced users favouring the
command line will appreciate the
changes to the nmcli tool. You can now
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Verdict
Fedora 20
Developer: Fedora Project
Web: www.fedoraproject.org
Licence: Various
Features
Performance
Ease of use
Documentation
7/10
7/10
7/10
7/10
Rating 7/10
February 2014 LXF180 19
WorldMags.net
OpenMandriva Lx
Another KDE distribution that can can trace its lineage to Mandriva. But is
there more to OpenMandriva? Shashank Sharma investigates.
In brief...
A wonderful
KDE distro that
builds on the last
Mandriva release.
Sentimentality
aside, the distro
offers nothing of
original value with
this release. See
also: Mageia,
ROSA Linux,
PCLinuxOS.
Please-all distro
The latest release features KDE 4.11.2
and KDE apps such as Kmail, which is
the default email client on the distro; as
well as Amarok music player, Krita,
Dolphin file manager, and more.
Keeping them company is Firefox 25.0.1
and LibreOffice 4.1.3, and all the apps
youd expect in a complete desktop
distro. It also offers a couple of robust
Features at a glance
SimpleWelcome
Launcher
Mandriva Control
Center
Renamed OpenMandriva
Lx Control Center, a nod to
the distros parentage.
Despite a two-year hiatus, the developers still know how to build a distro.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Verdict
OpenMandriva Lx 2013.0
Developer: OpenMandriva Association
Web: www.openmandriva.org
Licence: Various
Features
Performance
Ease of use
Documentation
8/10
8/10
9/10
4/10
Rating 7/10
WorldMags.net
ReadyNAS 316
A Netgear NAS drive thats as powerful as they come, Neil Mohr fires up its
humming drives and stands well back.
In brief...
The new range
of ReadyNAS
drives from
Netgear may have
dumb down the
interfaces, but the
features, build
quality and
performance are
top class.
Specs
Intel dual-core
Atom 2.1GHz,
2GB memory
6 bays, 2.5/3.5inch SATA, hot
swappable
2x Gigabit LAN
2x eSATA
1x USB 2.0,
2x USB 3.0.
Size:
29x19x26cm
Software services
Running the latest ReadyOS 6 software
as all marketeers want, ReadyNAS
drives support cloud access. This
means any registered users are able to
access files across the internet and it
offers easy drag and drop access via
the sites web interface. This is
alongside the standard user shares,
setting up RAID, DLNA, iTunes sharing
and other standard NAS services.
Netgear doesnt use ext4 but opts
for the BTRFS B-Tree File System, yet
another open source file system,
developed by Oracle, Red Hat, Intel and
others. The main reason for this is that
it enables far easier unlimited blocklevel snapshots. What does that mean?
It offers entirely flexible per user, per
folder or per share snapshot protection.
This can be set on an hourly, daily or
weekly level and enables you to roll
back individual files or entire shares via
the dashboards handy timeline graph.
On a performance level the
ReadyNAS 316 performs strongly with
random reads averaging 102MB/s and
random writes at 77.8MB/s. The same
speeds with sequential files were
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
108MB/s and
92MB/s. This makes it
amongst the best
performances weve seen,
speed wise.
A key area for ReadyOS 6 is the new
Windows 8-style minimalist interface,
which frankly we didnt get on with at
all. For us its a key weakness and had
us wishing for a standard FreeNAS
interface, while it looks far less able
than offerings from QNAP and
Synology. It at least does offer
additional apps which you might like to
,
call extra services via the Genie
Marketplace that are added with a
single click. This makes it possible to
add support for services like DropBox,
ownCloud, shared printers and a limited
number of other services. LXF
Verdict
Netgear ReadyNAS 316
Developer: Netgear
Web: www.netgear.com
Price: 601 (diskless)
Features
Performance
Ease of use
Value for money
9/10
10/10
8/10
7/10
Rating 9/10
February 2014 LXF180 21
Reviews Router
WorldMags.net
Specs
Simultaneous
Dual Band Wi-F
2.4 & 5GHz
Dual-core 800
MHz processor
128 MB flash
memory
256MB RAM
IPv6 support
USB 3.0 port
The Netgear
uses a web
interface, so it
doesnt matter
what flavour
of Linux youre
running.
Feature packed
Installation through the web
interface was quick and easy, and
rather than having to type in an IP
address to access the settings, you can
just type in www://routerlogin.net. Its
in the web interface where Netgears
aim of creating a product thats easy to
use for beginners, yet still offers more
advanced tools for experts, is evident.
The wireless antennas (three 5GHz
for 1300Mbps and two 2.4 GHz for
300Mbps) are built into the body, so
unlike routers with external antennas,
you can not position them to broadcast
in certain directions. While this might
not be too much of a problem, if youre
got a bit of a blackspot in a certain part
of the house, directing an antenna
towards it can help improve wireless
coverage. This seems to be a case here
where the routers aesthetics have been
chosen over functional.
Once set up we were able to look
closely at the features included, and
theres a lot of them: DHCP, Static,
PPPoE, PPTP and L2TP support, builtin dynamic DNS client for dyndns.com,
WAN port scan and DoS protection,
IPv6 WAN connection support (autodetect, 6to4 tunnel, Pass through, fixed
[static], DHCP, PPPoE, Auto config),
partental controls via OpenDNS, UpnP
and DLNA media support, and SMB,
HTTP, HTTPs, FTP storage sharing. For
most home users this should be
absolutely fine, but for more advanced
tools like IPv6 port forwarding and
firewall support, youre going to want to
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
The design of
the Netgear R6250
is slim enough to hide away if
youre not keen on its looks.
Verdict
Netgear R6250
Developer: Netgear
Web: www.netgear.co.uk
Price: 129.99
Features
Performance
Ease of use
Value for money
8/10
9/10
9/10
8/10
Rating 8/10
Books Reviews
WorldMags.net
We would
love to say
that Lovelaces
struggles
because of
her gender are
a shameful
problem thats
been consigned
to history; but
we cant.
Verdict
A Female Genius
Author: James Essinger
Publisher: Gibson Square
ISBN: 978-1-90809-666-1
Price: 14.99
Pages: 256
Rating 9/10
After reading
this book, Matts
going to invent
a smart scarf
that tightens
itself around the
neck, the colder
the weather is.
Completely safe.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Verdict
Designing the IoT
Author: A McEwen & H Cassimally
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN: 978-1118430620
Price: 19.99
Pages: 336
Rating 8/10
February 2014 LXF180 23
31
WorldMags.net
st Sa UR
Ja le R
nu en Y
ar ds !
y
20
14
AS
G
S LLING!
A
M
iTunes Radio
is coming
Share stuff
with AirDrop
Easily share photos,
videos and more!
KIT RATED
Full new iMac range
BUILD A
BF4 RIG
Fund your
dreams
SimCity
is back!
SAVE UP TO 40%
FROM 23.49
SAVE UP TO 50%
FROM 13.99
Renaissance man
Speak to your
newsagent
now!
Also inside
PyCON UK 2013
Parselmouths dwell in the New
Model stronghold of Coventry p50
Qt 5
What next for Nokias lost orphan child? p54
Websites
Customise a GUI
Drupal
HAProxy
Build a bespoke
desktop environment
Unleash world-beating
Web 3.0 sites the easy way
Load balancing
TuxRadar.com
SAVE UP TO 40%
FROM 25.49
SAVE UP TO 35%
FROM 22.99
10GREAT WAYS
TO SHARE
worrying about annoying limits
HUGE EXPERT
GUIDE SECTION!
Ubuntu 13.10
Has Ubuntu lost it/still got it/got
it back/always been ace? p18
Desktops
FROM 26.99
FROM 12.99
IS YOUR
FREE DVD
MISSING?
SAVE UP TO 30%
SAVE UP TO 50%
Inside Qt
PLUS
Take control of your
photos with Gimp
Update your
programs
automatically
Get your head
round qCraft
How to mine
Litecoins
How crowdfunding
is transforming
the economy of
free software
MUSIC TUNEUP
REINSTALL
YOUR PC
GTX 780 Ti
OCZ VECTOR
150
BITFENIX PRODI SSD
GY M
AMD R9 270
CREATE A PRO-LOOKING
WEBSITE IN MINUTES
NO.1 FOR
REVIEWS
NVIDIA
SPEED UP
YOUR PC
HOW TO
Master iWork
in iCloud
@ MAKE A SITE
iPad Air
Ele ingu
P
ARS
D ks !
DVtpic ore
EE , Ho + m
FRuna -bit
L 4
UROS 4 6
YO ry 3.0
N ta 1
O men y OS
YE
UK E
E TS
TH ES PLE
B P
A
SI
STEP UP
FROM iMOVIE
SAVE UP TO 45%
FROM 19.49
FREE DISC!
PACKED WITH
40 ESSENTIAL APPS
DO ALL THIS AND MORE
Organise your desktop
Virus-guard your PC
Save broken CDs!
Turn to p98 now!
Windows tutorials
New things to do
Buying advice
SAVE UP TO 35%
FROM 23.49
SAVE UP TO 45%
FROM 19.49
SAVE UP TO 50%
FROM 12.99
SAVE UP TO 47%
FROM 18.49
SAVE UP TO 46%
FROM 20.99
SAVE
UP TO
50%!
2 easy ways to order
/Z406
Savings compared to buying 2 years worth of full priced issues from UK newsstand. This offer is for new print subscribers only. You will receive 13 issues in a year except Computer Music Specials
in any way you can write to us or call us to cancel your subscription at any time and we will refund you for all unmailed issues. Prices correct at point of print and subject to change. For full terms and
conditions please visit: www.myfavm.ag/magterms Offer ends: 31st January 2014
WorldMags.net
N AT URE + TWorldMags.net
ECHNOL OGY + SPACE + HUM A NS + ENGINEERING
WHICH
ORGANS COULD
COULD WE
ARE ANY
YOU LIVE
ASTEROIDS GOING WITHOUT?
HARNESS
LIGHTNING FOR
TO COLLIDE
ENERGY?
WITH EARTH?
ASK US YOUR
SCIENCE QUESTIONS
ON TWITTER!
@SciUncovered
GET 3 ISSUES
FOR JUST 3!
www.science-uncovered.com
WorldMags.net
Roundup
WorldMags.net
Hosted storage
Not willing to trust a third-party with his data, Mayank Sharma evaluates
five tools to create a personal Dropbox-like service.
How we tested...
Some services in this Roundup are
easier to set up than others. Most
need to be set up on top of a server.
Such services have been installed on
top of an Ubuntu Server 13.10
installation running on a 2.1GHz Intel
Core 2 Duo machine, with 4GB RAM
and a 1TB disk.
Weve used the latest stable
versions of all the services from their
respective websites, while the
dependencies were installed from
the distros repositories. Besides
comparing their setup and
configuration mechanisms, weve
also appraised them based on the
intuitiveness of their user interface.
Weve also rated the usability of
their Linux and Android sync clients.
Some tools are more than file silos
and offer other features. Some, such
as encryption and version control,
were weighted higher than others,
such as add-on apps.
Our
selection
BitTorrent Sync
OwnCloud
SparkleShare
Seafile
Tonido
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
WorldMags.net
Installation
What does it take to get up and running?
Verdict
BitTorrent Sync
OwnCloud
SparkleShare
Seale
Tonido
OwnClouds
installation and
upgrade
procedure is
straightforward.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Verdict
BitTorrent Sync
OwnCloud
SparkleShare
Seale
Tonido
OwnCloud
has by far the
most diverse
collection of
apps.
WorldMags.net
Usability
Do you need a PhD to use these services?
OwnCloud
The minimal installation procedure works as advertised. The service has
an impressive file manager and can handle files in most popular formats.
The service ships with a useful set of apps and you can flesh it out with
others. In terms of security, were pleased with its basic encryption and
file versioning. Unlike encryption, versioning is enabled by default. The
versioning app ensures you never run out of space, by automatically
deleting old versions. OwnCloud lets you mount external cloud storage
drives, such as Google Drive, Amazon S3, Dropbox, and OpenStack Swift,
and can seamlessly manage data on these along with that in your
private cloud. The service supports CalDAV and CardDAV to sync your
calendars and address books. OwnClouds impressive desktop client
displays notifications and shows you a summary of sync activity.
SparkleShare
Installing this service isnt much hassle either. All you need is to
download and run a script. The service transfers data over SSH channels
and you can optionally create encrypted shares as well.
But, unlike other services, you dont get a web-based user interface
for administering the service its all done from the command line. Also,
connecting the clients to the server is a more involved process and youll
have to find a way to securely transfer the public SSH keys from the
client to the host.
The service has a desktop client with limited features and no mobile
client. Once set up, surprisingly even relatively small files, such as 25MB,
take some time to sync. Additionally, the developers themselves admit
that SparkleShare isnt great for storing photo or music collections and
large binary files that change often, such as video editing projects.
Desktop integration
Verdict
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
BitTorrent Sync
OwnCloud
SparkleShare
Seale
Tonido
The Seafile
tool has a very
impressive
desktop client.
WorldMags.net
Seafile
Although Seafile has a straightforward script-based install, it employs
components that run on different ports, which makes it difficult to
identify a problem when something goes wrong. The web UI is verbose.
You begin by creating a library, which can be encrypted, and then add
files to it. The service offers flexible options to share libraries or
individual files with users or groups of users. You can also transfer
ownership to another registered user. The impressive desktop client sits
in the system tray and displays notifications for sync operations. Other
users can download and create libraries. Once a library has been
downloaded, the latest version will be uploaded to the server and then
synced with all computers. The service also includes a fsck tool.
BitTorrent Sync
BitTorrent Syncs USP is it employs no server. It transfers files securely
between users via P2P connections. During installation, it creates a
default config file, though advanced users would want to create one
manually since it offers more options. The tools web-based interface is
the default way of accessing BitTorrent Sync on Linux. You can manage
general and shared folder preferences here. When you add a folder, you
get two keys read-only and full-access. Pass on the secret key to other
BitTorrent Sync users to start syncing the folder. The service encrypts all
traffic using a private key derived from the shared secret key. If you want
to sync to a mobile phone, you can download the mobile app and scan
the QR code generated by the web-based client.
Tonido
The app is designed for the average desktop user, so it doesnt bother
you with details about your network. You install it on the computer you
wish to share files from and register the computer with its relay server.
Your computers disk is now accessible from any computer on the web.
You can access the files from any web browser. To be able to sync files
and folders, youll need to install its sync client. The app is designed
primarily for an individual user who wants universal access to their files.
However, you can add guest users and share files with other users
not using Tonido via simple web links. The service lets you create and
share these links via email or you can post them to Facebook or Twitter.
Tonido also has an app store with lots of freely available apps.
Mobile clients
Verdict
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
BitTorrent Sync
OwnCloud
SparkleShare
Seale
Tonido
The Tonido
and BitTorrent
Sync mobile
apps are simple
to use.
WorldMags.net
Safety features
Can you trust them with your data?
Verdict
BitTorrent Sync
OwnCloud
SparkleShare
Seale
Tonido
Seafile and
OwnCloud both
ensure that you
are in control of
your data.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Verdict
BitTorrent Sync
OwnCloud
SparkleShare
Seale
Tonido
Except for
SparkleShare,
all tools allow
guest access to
shared content.
WorldMags.net
Hosted storage services
The verdict
S
1st OwnCloud
2nd Seafile
5th Tonido
The perfect solution for users who dont want OwnClouds add-on apps.
Ideal for desktop users who wish to access their files from the internet.
Over to you...
Do you agree with our choice? Maybe youd have picked completely
differently? Email your opinions to lxf.letters@futurenet.co.uk
Also consider...
If you arent averse to getting your hands dirty,
you can roll your own syncing and backup
service with some open source software.
Heres a tutorial for building a private
Dropbox-like service using GlusterFS on
CloudFS.org (http://bit.ly/1ifDT4h) thatll
create a mountable filesystem from a remote
server on your local machine. Theres another
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
WorldMags.net
Subscriptions
Subscribe today
Subscribe today and get Linux Format
for just 3.85 an issue
W
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
a
the di nt
gi
editiontal
Turn t ?
page 6 o
6!
Sa
v u
WorldMags.net 40%e ep to
Fig. 1 The benefits of subscribing
p
Get th r year
ou
of DRM sands
-fre
tutoria
ls, feat e
ur
and re
views es
Is this the
rst time
youve read
LXF?
YES
NO
Do you buy
LXF more than
a couple of
times a
year?
Are you a
subscriber?
YES
NO
YES
NO
Are nancial
incentives
important
to you?
Do you
live in Foreign
and visit the UK
more often than
once a
month?
YES
NO
NO
Do you own
a TARDIS?
Buy it on the
newsstand in
the UK and
save our costly
export fees.
NO
YES
NO
YES
YES
Visit www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/LINP2B
(Please use the full web address to take advantage of this special offer)
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Linux Mint
WorldMags.net
Linux Mint 16
Time to savour Mint this year?
Linux Mint goes from strength to
strength, says David Hayward and
why not? It does after all have the
community behind it.
he old adage of if a thing is
worth doing, its worth doing
well can certainly be applied to
many different distributions of
Linux, but theres one distro that time
and time again comes out shining above
the others: Linux Mint.
The reasons behind the popularity of this
particular flavour of Linux are many, and
weve covered most of them thoroughly in
the past (LXF167); however, there is one
major factor contributing to this excellent
example of an operating system thats
worth going over again, and thats its
commitment to providing us, the users, with
a well tested and well thought out system.
How often do we, as dedicated Linux
users, casual Linux testers, distro junkies
and enthusiasts fully appreciate the amount
of work and effort thats involved in taking
what has worked in the past and improving
on it? How much work does it actually take
to listen to all the hands-on desktop
experiences the community has with the
system, learn from their voiced concerns or
congratulations and apply those ideas and
concepts to the finished product? The
chances are most of us never fully
comprehend the dedication of the people
behind the scenes.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Linux Mint
WorldMags.net
Mint Condition
Has the battle of the charts been won?
heres a kind of unwritten rule throughout internet
land, where charts, top lists and other popularity
identifiers such as these are taken greatly into
account. Some of these lists are compiled thoroughly
using the most up to date data available, some arent.
Distrowatch is one of the more popular and accurate of
these lists (Although Chris Brown may not agree, see p58),
and although their rankings are based on page hits from
their own links, they have nevertheless established
themselves as the go-to view in which to see the top ten,
top twenty or top one hundred distros available to users.
Linux Mint has been top of the Distrowatch charts for
quite some time now. The battle between Mint and Ubuntu
for first place has raged for a couple of years and has
culminated in an all-out win for Mint if you see Distrowatch
as important, certainly.
As you can see from the chart weve included below of the
top distros from Distrowatch, Mint is leading the way with
3,424 page hits based on a six-month period.
So what does all this mean? Well, in truth we do realise
that theres only so much faith you can put into the
DistroWatch charts, they just represent a small section of the
community by all accounts, but it makes for interesting
chewing-over and although theres not much chance of Mint
being knocked off the podium for the foreseeable future, its
also nice to view the rankings of the other distros as they
climb the ladder of popularity.
Really though, its down to the team of developers and
testers who work diligently to bring us a stable operating
system, and their faith in what theyre doing. In the end, thats
The man
behind the
OS, Clement
Lefebvre.
The charts
Re-re-wind
Its actually quite interesting if you take
the time to look back in time to 2007,
when Mint first started to appear on the
Distrowatch page hit charts. Then it
was ranked sixth, with 991 hits, with
Ubuntu on top at 2,519.
With a Bullet
Slowly it managed to creep up in
popularity, little by little, rising to a very
respectable third place in 2008 with a
total of 1,458 hits and with Ubuntu still
assumed to be the unconquerable King of
this particular hill.
Toppermost
However, it wasnt until 2011 that Mint
reached the number one spot, with a
total of 2,618, and finally managed to
knock Ubuntu off its lofty perch after a
very impressive six years as the
DistroWatch number one.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Linux Mint
WorldMags.net
Technologies galore!
Whats your flavour? Try a blast of freshness...
inux Mint 16 is certainly no backward operating
system, as youll soon come to appreciate when you
read on or indeed, just use it. The technologies,
tweaks and enhancements it offers far outweigh the more
common operating systems that grace the screens of a
modern PC. Mint, however, doesnt always run with the
latest innovations.
As well see later on, there are more recent updates for
many of the features that appear in Linux Mint 16, but the
team decided to make the overall experience of using Linux
Mint a stable one, so where the latest version may have been
forsaken for an earlier one, the stability of it means youre
ultimately getting a better operating system.
Saying that though, theres still plenty of up to date
technology in Mint 16. As Clem mentions, This new release
comes with updated software and brings refinements and
new features to make your desktop even more comfortable
to use. Linux Mint 16 focuses on the task at hand, it does less
and does it better than before.
Cinnamon 2.0
One of the biggest features showcased prior to the Mint 16
launch was, of course, the release of Cinnamon 2.0.
After spending five months in development, along with
856 commits from 28 developers, Cinnamon 2.0 was
unleashed with a plethora of bug fixes, brand new features
and many, many improvements.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Linux Mint
WorldMags.net
Display zone where theyll tile to but you can then resize the
edge tiled window to better suit your needs.
In addition to the four edges of the desktop (left, right, top
and bottom, duh!), you can include the four corners in the
edge tiling zones, too. That way, you can effectively and easily
create four distinct windowed programs, occupying the
corners of the visible desktop. The end result is very effective
and again makes for a more productive desktop layout.
Like its edge tiling companion, edge snapping is a modern
UI-inspired snap to edges or corners function that allows the
user to snap an active window to the surrounds of their
desktop, then open a full screen program without it covering
the snapped window.
Shepherding accounts
One bugbear of former Gnome versions was a decent
application for managing and administering user accounts. In
Cinnamon 2.0s case, the Users and Groups function were
written from scratch and now feature a more fluid, and
intuitive control method.
Mint system administrators have control over the groups
particular users are a part of, and users themselves can
Edge Snapping also has a fair array of benefits. Watch your edges, basically.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Linux Mint
WorldMags.net
Desktop glam
As weve come to expect from every new
release of Mint, the artwork involved goes
up a notch and offers us some stunning
eye-strokingly impressive aspects to
positively wallow in while we look at the
desktop. Granted, for many the
appearance of the desktop is of little
consequence, after all youll be doing
your work, viewing photos, videos or
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Linux Mint
WorldMags.net
The Community
We know it is what we make it... what do we want to make it?
he main driving force behind many Linux distros: what
they look like and what they eventually contain comes
directly from the vast community of users and testers
that have spent their time and efforts providing positive and
critical feedback to the developers and distro teams.
Linux Mint is certainly no exception. In fact, Mint is one of
the most active communities in the Linux world, and virtually
every comment, item of feedback and constructive criticism
is taken seriously by both Lefebvre and other members of the
development team.
As our man Clement recently mentioned in a reply post on
the Linux Mint pages: Im happy to confirm I personally read
every single comment during an RC phase and consider
every bit of feedback to improve the release as much as
possible. The big problem we have is to communicate back
and to follow up, i.e. to acknowledge, respond and get back to
people who help us test the RC. Its also true that we do not
have eyes on Launchpad, Github or even the forums during
that phase. He then goes on to add, Im very grateful for the
feedback we get during the whole cycle, but particularly
during the RC. Its thanks to you we can fix things prior to
releasing as stable.
Lack of communication and understanding between the
developers and the community as a whole is one of the major
problems that face some of the other bigger distro names.
Canonical in particular, the company behind Ubuntu, has
been criticised in the past for ignoring the wider community,
as have several other distros. But, theres now a real shift
from the bigger distro players in the community. They are
now starting to take notice of what the user have to say.
This, we believe is thanks, in part, to the efforts made by
the developers of Linux Mint and its community of valued
users. Obviously, we cant be certain of this, but consider how
popular Mint is now, and how the former distro favourites
have dropped significantly in the last year or so. Now take into
If you need more info, then engage in a spot of one-onone chat with other Mint users.
The Mint
motto
has never
been more
appropriate.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Linux Mint
WorldMags.net
Clem on community
Clement Lefebvre quite rightly attributes
much of Linux Mints success to its
thriving community: The community is
the most important asset of a
distribution, he admitted in an interview
in 2013. It provides feedback, ideas,
promotion, support, bug reports,
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Linux Mint
WorldMags.net
Mint 17, a bold new era?
Since Cinnamon is now free from the restrictions
and past history of Gnome, Mint 17 promises a
more open outcome. With the new OS being built
on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, the boundaries for the
technologies developed through Cinnamon 2.0
have been removed so when 17 comes along
theres going to be an air of freedom in what
Anatomy of feedback
The concept of providing feedback via community pages is
nothing new, but Linux Mint and its followers have made
something of an art form of it.
Lets take, for example, the Release Canditate (RC) of
Linux Mint 16. Here, Lefebvre and the team uploaded the RC
after previous testing and listed the new features on a page
within the Linux Mint blog (http://bit.ly/1eVhaFL). Along
with the many features theres a section that details Bug
Reporting, of which any comments can be added to the
section following the blog posting.
1 As an example then, heres a posting from Mint user
RavetcoFX listing the bugs he or she have so far discovered:
Nvidia drivers dont automatically install nvidia-settings
(Tested with nvidia-319 and nvidi-319-updates).
cinnamon-desktop-editor Choose an icon dialog does not
have image previews.
Git is not installed by default (Unknown if intentional).
Magnet links for torrents are not working in Firefox.
In some random cases, an application will freeze Xorg
(Needs more testing).
Banshee will segfault after playing ~30 mp3 songs.
On/Off switch for networking applet is visually glitchy
Having links of files/folders on desktop from another hard
drive at startup, then mounting the drive will usually crash
then restart Cinnamon.
Cinnamon Settings is advanced mode by default always.
2 The discovered bugs are logged in GitHub (http://bit.
ly/1k9U5Qb) and added to as necessary, and any significant
updates are logged in the Testing ISO File section on the
community pages of Linux Mint (http://bit.ly/1gDRtKA).
Some feature
stunning
animated
effects too.
Final thoughts
Although a Debian, or an Ubuntu based system may not be
for everyone, Linux Mint may have hit the proverbial nail on
the head with the release of Petra. Forking so many projects
cant be easy on the team, and theres a lot riding on the
implementation of newer technologies, so when it works it
works extremely well likewise, if things go wrong then the
project as a whole can easily become one giant mess.
The Mint team are pretty battle-hardened by now, and
theres not much that slips by them in terms of problems. In
fact, you could go so far as to say that Mint 16 is the most
stable and useable Linux distro so far; weve certainly found it
to be so, to say the least.
Theres no doubt there will be some who have a bad
experience in the past with Mint, but Petra is a singularly
excellent and well-conceived distro that deserves to, at least,
be tested. So why not give it a go for the New Year, join the
community in 2014, and get involved. LXF
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Matthew Garrett
WorldMags.net
Cloudy with
a chance
of hacking
Andrew Gregory
speaks to Matthew
Garrett about cloud
security, fruit flies and
Microsofts not-so-evil
Secure Boot.
42 LXF180 February 2014
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Matthew Garrett
WorldMags.net
We spoke to former
Linux kernel developer
and biologist Matthew
Garrett about cloud
security and his senior
security developer
role at Nebula, a cloud
computing service
provider. We even mention fruit flies, but
we certainly cant blame Microsoft for that.
We can, however, discuss how evil its UEFI
Secure Boot is, which we do, though that
could just be incompetence
Interview
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Matthew Garrett
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Matthew Garrett
WorldMags.net
and was given money for it. I love that working
in the Linux community has given me the
opportunity to travel and to meet an incredible
range of inspiring people. Its kind of nice,
always knowing for sure theres no risk Im
never going to be the smartest person in the
room, there are so many incredible gifted,
skilled people doing this stuff.
LXF: Have you seen Fastboot?
MG: The idea there is when you turn on a
computer, the firmware has to do USB
initialisation, if the firmware wants to use USB.
Then you start the operating system, then the
operating system has to do USB initialisation,
so you have to do USB initialisation twice.
There are bits of the USB specification where
you have to do something and then wait, a
small amount of time before doing anything
else to let stuff settle. So theres a genuine
technical argument there, only doing USB
initialisation once improves boot performance
and most of the time you have no need to do
anything that involves USB in the boot process.
The problem then is, how do you get into
the system firmware? Microsoft solves that by
adding something to the UEFI boot spec, thats
now part of the UEFI spec, where the operating
system sets a flag and on the next reboot the
firmware does a full initialisation and lets you
get into the firmware. How do users discover
this? You have to hold down shift and press the
power icon and click on Restart in Windows 8, a
menu appears and you click on Advanced Boot
Options then either boot to firmware or other
operating system, which is a little convoluted.
ON HIS COMPUTING
We got a Commodore 64
when I was three; that was
some time ago now...
The other problem is Windows 8, if you buy a
new machine and turn it on and the first thing
you get is the end user licence and theres no
way to get to the Advanced Boot Options, in
order to get to the option you have to agree to
the Windows 8 licence.
I think thats objectionable; I dont think it
was malicious. Its very easy to say Microsoft is
doing something because they want to make
life difficult for Linux, most of the time people
at Microsoft dont care about Linux. So its not
that they did this to force users to adopt a
licence agreement before they could boot
Linux. They did it because they just didnt think
about the case of someone wanting to install
Linux without agreeing to the licence. On the
other hand maybe it was a case of them trying
to screw everyone over, but lets not ascribe to
malice what could just be incompetence.
LXF: Through
incompetence,
not malice...
MG: Of course. That
pretty much vanished once people stopped
booting off floppy disks. The question is, why
would you attack the boot process, when you
can do that at runtime? But in recent years
Windows security has been getting much
better, its far harder to attack the kernel from
runtime, so boot sector viruses have been
coming back. Theres over 40 in the wild, none
of them are particularly common.
Theres one called Meron, on some systems
with a specific manufacturers firmware, itll
flash itself into your firmware and then it will
infect any hard drives that are attached. You
can remove the hard drive, put it into another
system, rewrite the boot sector, put it back in
the original system and the BIOS will reinfect
the hard drive. Thats mostly impossible now
with Secure Boot, as firmware updates have to
be signed. So its not easy to just insert stuff
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
WorldMags.net
Going beyond
the Raspberry Pi
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Raspberry Pi
WorldMags.net
Adafruit Pi T-Cobbler
Breakout your Raspberry Pi GPIO pins and build
some mind-expanding projects.
ave you ever wanted to dabble with
electronics? Well, the GPIO pins on the
Pi provide the perfect way for you to
learn the pitfalls and beauties of getting stuck
in, but they are frankly just a little too fragile for
day to day use, unless youre preternaturally
careful which youre not. But what if there
was a way to have those pins on a breadboard?
The T-Cobbler, by Pimoroni, is an excellent way
to do just that and take the 26 GPIO pins to the
breadboard for safe hacking and learning. The
T-Cobbler is exceptionally handy for creating
circuits on any size of breadboard and provides
helpful references, based on the Broadcom pinmapping specification. If you are used to the
standard pin mapping, 3v3 is pin 1.
The kit requires a certain measure of
assembly, which means a small amount of
soldering but it is by no means a difficult job
and should only take around 30 minutes for a
moderately skilled tinkerer to build.
Thankfully, the T-Cobbler requires
absolutely no special drivers or configuration
Verdict
Adafruit Pi T-Cobbler
Developer: Adafruit
Web: http://shop.pimoroni.com (UK reseller)
Price: 7.50
MotorPitX
Build your own robot to do your bidding.
obots are invading the planet! Even
Google are investing in them Well,
perhaps Skynet is some way off but
robots are now very common in the home
Roomba, for instance, is a great robot
appliance. The Raspberry Pi has quickly been
assimilated into many robotics projects, and
the MotorPitx is here to make your own robot
project that little bit easier to build.
Created by Jason Barnett, the MotorPitx
add-on board provides you with controls for
two motors or servos and provides two
external power inputs: one using micro USB
and the other being a barrel jack. Both inputs
reduce the burden on your Pi, which can
become erratic. Jason has also provided an
essential feature missing from the Raspberry
Pi a power switch, closely modelled on the
ATX power system. This enables you to
perform a hard shutdown without removing
the micro USB lead as well as a soft shutdown
and power up from a simple press of a button.
Building a robot or a pan and tilt camera
mount is now as simple as connecting your
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Verdict
MotorPitX
Developer: Jason Barnett
Web: http://www.boeeerb.co.uk/motorpitx
Price: 25 (assembled) Xxxxxx 2013 LXF16x 47
Raspberry Pi
WorldMags.net
PiFace
Build a tweeting chicken naturally and
control higher voltage equipment.
he GPIO can do more than just flash an
LED or sound a buzzer, but not many
people do anything more than this.
What if you could connect Nerf guns and
motors to your Pi?
Well, with PiFace the world is your oyster. It
provides eight digital inputs, four switches and
eight outputs that give you immense flexibility
in your projects, such as controlling higher
voltage components using two 12V changeover
relays. It was created by a team at Manchester
University as a ready-built alternative to the
expansive Gertboard and it has quickly found
favour with makers.
Piface also brings two important software
solutions to the maker table: a GUI simulator
that enables you to control and tinker with
Piface without touching any components, and
most importantly, PiFace is fully compatible
with Scratch, which means children can build
their own circuits and code in a familiar
environment. This functionality is a unique
selling point for PiFace and places the board in
the hands of young coders and makers.
Verdict
PiFace
Developer: Element 14
Web: http://cpc.farnell.com
Price: 24
XLoBorg
Resistance is futile, you will become one with the PiBorg!
akers love new boards to tinker with,
and PiBorg are producing lots of
great boards with an interesting twist.
The PicoBorg board, for instance, enables you
to control small motors and LEDBorg provides
feedback via super bright LED. From the vast
selection available we chose the XLoBorg for
our review as it was something unique, a board
with motion and direction sensors that can be
easily used via Python.
XLoBorg comes with a three axis
accelerometer and a magnetometer and can
detect from a large spectrum of movement
from small knocks to large sweeping arcs. The
magnetometer can also sense temperature,
making this board an extremely versatile piece
of kit. XLoBorg board is an attractive option for
robotics and even advanced UAV (Unmanned
Aerial Vehicle) Raspberry Pi-based projects.
Robotics projects have gained significant
ground over the last 18 months due to the
introduction of the Pi and a plethora of
components and kit being released for it.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Verdict
XLoBorg
Developer: PiBorg
Web: http://www.piborg.com/xloborg
Price: 8.76
Xxxxxx 2013 LXF16x 48
Raspberry Pi
WorldMags.net
PiFace Control
Control your Raspberry Pi without a
monitor, keyboard or mouse.
he Raspberry Pi has become the go-to
board for projects that involve the
internet of things, but a problem that
faces every project is devising an easy method
of input and output, which is traditionally
where keyboards, mice and monitors are used.
But what if you want to build an internet radio
for the kitchen or a simple video player for the
kids? Well, this is where PiFace Control and
Display comes in to its own.
PiFace Control and Display is an add-on
board that provides physical inputs via a series
of microswitches and a jog wheel, while output
is handled via the LCD screen. Another
interesting feature is the built-in infrared
receiver, which can be programmed to work
with many remote controls.
PiFace Control and Display fits neatly over
all of the GPIO pins and its form factor is very
close to that of the Raspberry Pi. Software
installation is straightforward, requiring only a
quick update of the repositories and the
installation of python3-pifacecad (you can
replace python3 with python).
Verdict
PiFace Control and Display
Developer: Element 14
Web: http://cpc.farnell.com
Price: 25.20
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
WorldMags.net
, but
qualore
re e
All a e are mothers
somal than
equ
We happy 1.5%
By far the most common concern has been
about gender discrimination. While the
roots of the online battle of the
sexes stretch back many years, a
key study called the FLOSSpols
report articulated the issues, in
relation to open source groups.
In 2005 a group of
researchers performed an EC
study that revealed a significant
discrepancy in the proportion of men to
women in open source. It showed that just
1.5% of open source community members
were female at that time, compared with
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
WorldMags.net
Equality
Elizabeth Krumbach is
active in the Ubuntu and
Partimus communities.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Equality
WorldMags.net
Jane Silber, a
force to be reckoned
with in open source.
Getting better
Fortunately it does seem like some things
are getting better, which Krumbach feels
could be for a whole host of reasons. Firstly,
discussion about sexism in technology and
free culture is happening more openly
nowadays: We are working through
problems and have more allies, support
groups and conferences targeted at
addressing the issues. Allies have been a
huge help, women cant do this alone,
if nothing else we get burnt out, always
standing up to sexist behaviour and
become unable to focus on our actual
technical work
.
One of these support groups is Ubuntu
Women, with which Krumbach has been
heavily involved for many years. The
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
WorldMags.net
benefits are clear for having the group.
Many women learning about our project
know they arent alone. Its still common to
go to conferences and meetups where you
might be one of the few women there and it
can be very isolating. Having a group like
Ubuntu Women that exists to engage you
and put you in touch with other women in
the community is a huge help, we often
have Ubuntu Women meetups at
conferences A support network is not the
.
only benefit though; Ubuntu Women is very
active in getting women involved into the
wider project: We seek to get women
working directly on Ubuntu (and upstream)
projects and celebrate the work that is
already being done by women in our
community, Krumbach continues. For
whatever reason, women are often less
likely to be profiled and approached for
interviews in a lot of open source
communities so we do seek out women
specifically to make sure our strong female
leaders and mentors are represented
.
To counter some of the problems
outlined here, various projects have sought
to bring clarity to levels of expected
behaviour in their respective communities.
As an example, many projects have
developed Code Of Conduct documents.
The Ubuntu Code Of Conduct has acted as
a foundation for many of these and the key
themes are simple:
Be considerate
Be respectful
Take responsibility for our
words and our actions
Be collaborative
Value decisiveness, clarity and
consensus
Ask for help when unsure
Step down considerately
While the full Ubuntu Code Of Conduct
provides more content to flesh out these
points, you should get an idea of the gist of
the document, which, to steal a phrase from
Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure, is be
excellent to each other
.
Other groups, particularly those who
organise events, have also created antiharassment policies to make levels of
expected behaviour clear. Here is an
example of a common anti-harassment
policy that can be used on some events:
Equality
Karen Sandler, the
executive director of
the GNOME project.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
WorldMags.net
What on Earth is
OpenStreetMap
Matt Hanson sharpens up his cartography skills with the
open source collaborative map service.
of ways
A There are a numberwork withyou can get Q This all sounds a bit too good to be true.
OpenStreetMap to
GPS devices
and use them to find directions when driving,
The maps cant be that detailed, can
good. So can
Q Soundsinto a Satnav? I use it to turn my
phone
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
WorldMags.net
using OpenStreetMap data, and
OpenCycleMap (www.opencyclemap.org)
provides an international map which highlights
cycle routes and places of interest.
OpenPisteMap (http://openpistemap.org)
highlights the best downhill ski slopes and
resorts, while OpenSeaMap (http://
openseamap.org) offers nautical charts.
Theres even a few more esoteric choices, such
as a 3D mapping project of the Czech Republic
(http://osm.kyblsoft.cz/3dmapa).
So its easy to
my very
Q Nice.Csar-Franois becomede Thury?
own
Cassini
Im not really sure
to
A Um,he have anything tohowwithanswer that.
Did
do
maps?
was a French
Q Yeah, he Century. Waitcartographer in I
the 18th
a minute, arent
supposed to be the one that asks questions?
Oh yeah, good point. Well, its easy to get
involved with OpenStreetMap and
contribute to creating and updating maps. Sign
up for a free account at www.openstreetmap
.org/user/new. Youll need to agree to share
your contributions. Once done, you can gather
data via GPS devices, local knowledge, or by
tracing aerial imagery. OpenStreetMap users
have been given permission by a number of
sources to do the latter. Funnily enough, the
most popular source is Bing.
areas do these
Q What kinds oflook after?
communities
AThey look at features such as accessibility; Q This all sounds really great. Whos
making OpenStreetMap accessible for
groups with disabilities such as the blind, or
behind OpenStreetMap?
route planning for people in wheelchairs. There
OpenStreetMap
founded
A TheSteve Coast as anproject wasmapping
are nature, conservation and environmental
by
alternative
communities, and others which focus on
certain types of infrastructure, such as road
networks or shipping the OpenSeaMap
project, for example, adds information for
navigating at sea. Locations of lighthouses and
harbours, as well as weather charts and other
essential data, is all provided by the community
to make OpenStreetMap a reliable resource for
sailors. The WikiProject Latter-day Saints,
maps places of worship, while groups such as
the WikiProject Whitewater Maps community
focus on outdoor activities.
Wow, thats quite a list. So do the
communities focus mainly on making
the maps better for users like you and me?
While a lot of communities focus on the
user experience, there are also groups
doing some amazing humanitarian work.
Thanks to contributors, OpenStreetMap has
the worlds largest catalogue of drinking water
sources. Meanwhile, the Humanitarian
OpenStreetMap Team works with relief efforts
around the world, supplying maps and other
resources after catastrophes.
People in areas that are vulnerable
to natural disasters are helped to
prepare and recover by projects
such as WikiProject Haiti, 2011
Sendai earthquake and tsunami,
and on-the-ground initiatives.
Their amazing work has helped
save countless lives.
Founded in 2004, by
2008 we had over 50,000
contributors. We now
have over 1,400,000.
Q Well, thats probably the first time Ivethe
seen the words Bing and popular in
same sentence. So OpenStreetMap is pretty
popular then?
You could say that. It thrives on user
contributions of local knowledge from all
over the world. Steve Coast founded it in 2004,
and the first State of the Map conference was
held in Manchester in 2007. By 2008 there
were over 50,000 contributors, and double
that by early 2009. We hit 600,000
contributors in April 2012, and have now
reached over 1,400,000 registered users.
thats a lot
Q Wow,get crowdedof people. Wont the
map
with updates?
with a
A Asminoritylot of open collaborative projects
a
contributes the majority of
content. While quantity is essential to keep a
map from looking empty, quality is essential for
people to rely safely on the maps. Its believed
around 30% of users have contributed at least
once to the database. Also, a number of
communities have been created which focus
on specific areas and features.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Dr Browns Administeria
WorldMags.net
Dr Browns
Dr Chris Brown
Administeria
Netcraft
Netcraft (www.netcraft.com) has a long
history of exploring the internet and reporting a
variety of statistics and trends covering
measures such as hosting providers and web
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Dr Browns Administeria
WorldMags.net
there. You can choose to skip or install each package, and you
can choose to install the binary and/or the source code of the
package. It takes a while to look though these, but at least you
get a feel for whats available. Theres also a search box, if
youre looking for a specific package.
Youll run this installer for your initial installation, and you
can run it again later to install (or uninstall) other
components. You also need to re-run it to install updates.
Theres no mechanism to automatically check for updates.
The number of tools included in Cygwin is impressive to
provide just a small sampling: the base category of packages
includes bash, all the core GNU utilities, file, gawk, Grep, gzip,
man, sed, tar, and quite a few others. The Editors category
includes Emacs, Gvim, Joe, Nano, ted, and vi. The interpreters
category includes Emacs, Gawk, python, Ruby, Perl, Tcl.
The Net category includes bind, curl, OpenSSH (including the
all-important SSH client); the Net category includes the
Apache and Lighttpd web servers and squid. The list goes on
and on, but I hope you get the message: theres a lot of good
stuff here. There are man pages, too!
It would be pushing the truth to say that the Cygwin
environment is indistinguishable from Linux. Youre not
running a POSIX-compatible file system, you dont really have
a Linux kernel underneath, and these differences do show
through in the Cygwin command-line experience. For
example, file permissions probably wont work how you
expect them to. If you do an ls l, the permissions you see
are Cygwins attempt to interpret the underlying Windows
ACL in a familiar linuxy rw-r--r-- style. And if you look carefully
at the screenshot and youll see that the executable is named
hello.exe a dead giveaway that weve built it on a Windows
machine. But overall the illusion of sitting at a Linux
command prompt is strong.
A Linux experience in Windows. Bash, cat, GCC, ls what more do you want?
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Dr Browns Administeria
WorldMags.net
Netcraft.
org use a
combination
of passive DNS
lookups and
active probing
to present a
comprehensive
picture of what a
sites running.
Getting aggressive
To return to our astronomy comparison, looking things up in
DNS is a bit like an astronomer just consulting a star
catalogue. To make new discoveries, he needs to get out and
actually point his telescope at something. One of the best
telescopes for the internet is a network reconnaissance tool
called Nmap, which I discussed in detail back in LXF173.
A basic Nmap scan shows the open ports on the target:
$ nmap linuxformat.co.uk
Starting Nmap 6.00 ( http://nmap.org )
Nmap scan report for linuxformat.co.uk (80.244.178.150)
Host is up (0.034s latency).
rDNS record for 80.244.178.150: www.tuxradar.com
Not shown: 987 closed ports
PORT STATE SERVICE
21/tcp open ftp
23/tcp filtered telnet
80/tcp open http
139/tcp filtered netbios-ssn
445/tcp filtered microsoft-ds
1433/tcp filtered ms-sql-s
2020/tcp open xinupageserver
2967/tcp filtered symantec-av
2968/tcp filtered enpp
4899/tcp filtered radmin
5900/tcp filtered vnc
6667/tcp filtered irc
6668/tcp filtered irc
Here, we see that the machine is running externally
accessible ftp and http servers, and something-or-other on
port 2020 (though probably not xinupageserver thats just
the service name Nmap thinks is associated with the port).
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Dr Browns Administeria
WorldMags.net
Tracing the route
One-stop shopping
Much of the information weve seen so far is also provided as
a one-stop-shopping experience by Netcraft. From its home
page (www.netcraft.com) find the Whats that site running
box and enter a URL. The report shows all the DNS
information weve discussed, as well as fingerprinting of the
OS and web browser. Since Netcraft sends out these probes
on a regular basis the results screen also provides a hosting
history which can be quite interesting. For example, www.
royal.gov.uk (the official website of the British Monarchy)
apparently switched from running Microsofts IIS web server
to Nginx in 2011. Poking around among Netcrafts results
threw up a few mysteries; for example, the site download.
http://microsoft.com is shown as running Linux as the OS
and Microsoft IIS 8 as the web server, which pushes credulity
a little too far. (In truth, the machine were probing is probably
part of Akamais content delivery network rather than one in a
Microsoft data centre.)
So, how exactly do you go about fingerprinting a machine?
Well, the basic idea is that all OSes exhibit slightly different
behaviours in their TCP stack, particularly if confronted by
malformed packets or unusual packet sequences. As a simple
example, the initial TCP window size sent by a machine
provides an easy clue, as different OSes tend to use different
values. As another example, the order in which TCP options
appear in a header can be a useful indicator. The TCP
standard doesnt specify a specific order, and different OSes
choose differently. When fingerprinting, no single probe
provides a unique identification, but by examining the
systems response to a variety of carefully crafted probes, its
possible to build up a signature that can be matched against
a database of known signatures, giving a result with
(hopefully) higher certainty. The database contains over
3,500 entries, somewhat cryptically encoded.
Im IP geolocating you...
Another way of being nosey is to use IP geolocation, which is
the process of translating an IP address to a physical location.
Usually, you can get the country right, just by consulting the
Whois service to discover the address of the registrant. Even
this can go wrong. I had someone on a training course
recently who worked (in the UK) for a German company. He
complained that every website he visited thought he was in
Dusseldorf. There are many commercial databases that
attempt to resolve your IP address to the city level and there
are a few free ones, too (see http://freegeoip.net for
example). In my experience these are a bit hit-and-miss. For
example, freegeoip thinks Im in Newark-on-Trent and www.
ip2location.com thinks Im in Leeds. Both are wrong, if your
intent is to drop a nuclear bomb on me its true that targeting
either of those locations would cause me some
inconvenience. But if youre trying to deliver geo-targeted
advertising, Im unlikely to be interested in a fishmongers
shop thats a 90-minute drive away.
Why might you want to do these things? Well, apart from
simply satisfying your curiosity, there are a few more specific
reasons for this sort of probe. First, scanning your own
network can help determine if theres anything connected to
it that you dont know about. Unauthorised devices can
introduce viruses and security holes. Second, large-scale
scans can provide interesting statistical usage figures
(Netcraft do a lot of this!). Third, and more sinister, knowing
what OS a machine is running is often helpful to would-be
intruders wishing to tailor an exploit for a specific target.
Of course, youre not one of those people, are you? LXF
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Joe Jordon
PyCharm CE
Version: 3.0.1 Web: www.jetbrains.com/pycharm
Symbol Outline
You can expand out a file to
see what classes and
functions are inside, and jump
straight there.
Version Control
Autocomplete
Scrollbar
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
LXFHotPicks
WorldMags.net
CLI document conversion
Pandoc
Version: 1.12.1 Web: http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc
Parses markup
languages, and outputs
them in many formats
Nightingale
Version: 1.12 Web: http://getnightingale.com
It can synchronise a
specified chunk of your
library to your phone.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
LXFHotPicks
WorldMags.net
Truecrypt
Version: 7.1a Web: www.truecrypt.org
Digital shredder
Bleachbit
Version: 1.0 Web: http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net
LXFHotPicks
WorldMags.net
Sheet music editor
MuseScore
Version: 1.3 Web: http://musescore.org
FreeMind
Version: 1.0 Web: http://freemind.sourceforge.net
A mind map of
a small part of
the Linux Family
Tree. Apologies
if I left out your
favourite distro!
LXFHotPicks
WorldMags.net
FlightGear
Version: 2.12 Web: www.flightgear.org
A flight sim
program, where
the payoff is
satisfaction that
a light hearted
shooter cant
even approach.
Alien Arena
Version: 7.66 Web: http://red.planetarena.org
LXFHotPicks
WorldMags.net
2D vector animation studio
Also released
Tupi
Clonezilla 2.2.0-16
Disk imaging software for system
backup and restore. Grab it from the
LXFDVD this month.
http://clonezilla.org
GIMP 2.8.10
Open sources answer to Photoshop
gets an update.
www.gimp.org
Lives 2.2.0
A powerful video effects, editing,
conversion and playback system.
http://bit.ly/1gVrG0n
My rather
poor attempt
to animate a
stick figure and
a TARDIS. Dont
judge me.
RTextDoc 1.7
A text editor with proofreading,
designed for typesetting research
papers and using the likes of LaTeX.
http://jwork.org/rtextdoc
NixNote
Version: 1.5 Web: http://nevernote.sourceforge.net
Sage v5.12
Mathematics software solve
equations and do calculus.
www.sagemath.org
Vdrift
Unleash the drift racer in you with
this racing simulation.
http://vdrift.net
XRoar 0.31.1
The Dragon emulator adds support
for Dragon 200-E.
www.6809.org.uk/xroar
NixNote brings
offline Evernote
support to the
Linux desktop.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
WorldMags.net
Back issues Missed one?
Issue 179
January 2014
Issue 178
Christmas 2013
Issue 177
December 2013
Product code:
LXFDB0179
Product code:
LXFDB0178
Product code:
LXFDB0177
In the magazine
In the magazine
In the magazine
LXFDVD highlights
Ubuntu 13.10, OpenBSD 5.4,
HotPicks, code books and more.
LXFDVD highlights
Pinguy, Elementary OS Luna,
tutorials and HotPicks.
Issue 176
November 2013
Issue 175
October 2013
Product code:
LXFDB0175
Product code:
LXFDB0174
In the magazine
In the magazine
In the magazine
Issue 174
September 2013
Product code:
LXFDB0176
LXFDVD highlights
LXFDVD highlights
Rosa Desktop Fresh R1 64-bit,
Sonar Linux and 4MLinux 7.
LXFDVD highlights
Fedora 19, Arch Linux, Knoppix,
Tails Linux and Overclockix.
LXFDVD highlights
Gnome Tweak Tool for Gnome 3,
Mint 15, Linux Bodhi, Siduction.
WorldMags.net
Reviews
Turn on, log in and let our experts help make you a smarter Linux user
CHRIS THORNETT
has got stuck in with
some compiling this
month and is in awe
of checkinstall.
Let it Snowden
f you needed a reason to
distrust big government then
NSA contractor, Edward
Snowden supplied it with the
58,000 files he handed over to
the press. It started with PRISMs
wholesale collection of peoples
data from service providers, and
rather than diminishing, its
become almost absurd:
encryption backdoors, elected
presidents emails compromised
and even elite hacker teams
working for the NSA and GCHQ.
Yes, were not in Kansas
anymore but your data is
probably in Utah or will be soon
and for decades to come, when
the NSAs huge new data centre
comes online.
Code in tutorials
Source code is presented in beige
boxes. When lines of code are too long
for our columns, the remaining text
appears on the next line in a solid box:
procedure TfrmTextEditor.
mniWordWrapClick
I toxing you
Since Skype was on the list of
PRISMed service providers,
I decided to go in search of a
secure IM/VoIP alternative and
came across the open source
Tox project (www.tox.im). This is
aiming not only to be secure
it uses a BitTorrent-like
decentralised DHT system to
hide Toxers but its also plans
to be even more user-friendly
than Skype. The trouble is that
Tox is in pre-alpha and the
Ncurses-based client is the only
one that works reliably.
By the time you read this,
however,Tox is likely to have a
working GTK-based client. The
project lead also seemed
confident that the DHT would be
untrackable by the New Year.
chris.thornett@futurenet.com
begin
mniWordWrap.Checked := false
In this issue...
Scratch
Squeak
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Cloud sharing
WorldMags.net
OwnCloud: Work
Neil Bothwick takes a look at OwnCloud 6 and shows you how to work
collaboratively in the cloud with OwnCloudDocuments.
Our
expert
Neil Bothwick
has a computer in
every room, but
wont disclose the
location of his
central server for
security reasons.
Updating
Because it is still in beta, there is no ultra-simple web installer,
nor are you likely to find OwnCloud 6 in your distros
repositories, so we will have to install it from a tarball. If you
already have version 5 installed, you can install the two
versions side by side. To have both at once, rename your
existing OwnCloud directory to OwnCloud5 you will find this
in your web servers DocumentRoot, usually somewhere such
as /var/www.
Now cd to the document root and unpack the OwnCloud
6 tarball, which will create its own directory. You then need to
give the user running your web server (usually either apache
or www-data) full access to this directory; so the full
sequence is:
cd /var/www
mv OwnCloud OwnCloud5
If you use the default data directory location, you will need
to move or copy the data directory from OwnCloud5 to
OwnCloud. If you follow the advice given of keeping your data
in a directory not accessible by the web server, say /var/
OwnCloud, this step is not needed (this is another reason
why it is preferable to keep your data outside the web servers
document root, it keeps it out of the way when upgrading).
In that case, you should back up; the OwnCloud database is
using sqlite. This is in a file called OwnCloud.db in the data
directory, for example:
cp /var/OwnCloud/OwnCloud.db /var/OwnCloud.OwnCloud.
db.oc5
Point your browser at your OwnCloud server, say http://
localhost/OwnCloud, and you will get the Set up an admin
account page, because you moved the old install out of the
way and are starting again. If you have a separate data
directory, dont forget to tell the new OwnCloud where it is on
this page the setting appears when you click Advanced.
You could try unpacking the OwnCloud 6 tarball on top of
your existing OwnCloud 5 files, but this can cause problems
(it is still a beta after all) so the backup and install afresh
approach is recommended. Expect this to change when
version 6 becomes production-ready. If you havent tried
OwnCloud, the procedure is much the same as above, just
skip the parts that involve backing up or renaming OwnCloud
5 paths. Unpack the tarball, set the ownership and log in.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
OwnCloud Tutorial
WorldMags.net
together online
However, you probably have plenty of storage space available,
with services such as Dropbox and Google Drive. You may be
using OwnCloud for privacy and control, but you may also
have plenty of non-critical data that you are happy to store
with those services. Now you can do that and still have it
available through OwnCloud, as it can use external storage
services. This was a feature of OwnCloud 5, but it has been
rewritten for 6 and now works much better.
First, you have to enable external storage by clicking the
+Apps button at the bottom of the left-hand menu bar and
enabling external storage support. Now you have an External
Storage option in both the personal and admin settings
pages, you can set this up globally or per user, but the global
options page has a setting to prevent users doing this if you
wish. Give a folder name, the mount point for the external site,
and select the type of site. For most sites, you will need some
sort of authentication, such as a username and password.
Others use OAuth, so you need to get a key from their site.
For example, to mount a Dropbox folder, go to https://www.
dropbox.com/developers and, in the API console, create a
new API app. Answer the question and press Create app. This
will give you an App Key and App Secret paste these into
the OwnCloud settings, use the Applicable box to set who can
use this (only for global settings) and press Grant Access,
which takes you to a Dropbox page, where you log in and
authorise this OwnCloud instance to access your Dropbox.
The procedure is similar, although sometimes less
complicated, for other storage services. You can even link two
OwnCloud servers in this way. This really is a good time to
start hosting your own cloud files. LXF
Set permissions
Recreate settings
External storage 1
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Share a document
External storage 2
PiFace: Play
Les Pounder explores building bigger Raspberry Pi projects using PiFace.
First of all we need to connect PiFace to our Raspberry Pi.
PiFace has the same form factor as the Raspberry Pi and will
fit neatly over the top, just be careful to align the pins
correctly before applying force. Once the board is fitted well
need to ensure that Raspbian has been updated, to do this
we need to open LXTerminal. Theres an icon on the desktop
for this. Double-click on the icon and a terminal window will
open. In that window type in the following lines:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python{,3}-pifacedigitalio
You will have noticed python{,3}-pifacedigitalio in the
code. This will install the libraries for Python 2.x and 3 all at
once. PiFace can be easily used with both versions of Python,
but for our tutorial we shall stick with Python 2.7.
Our
expert
Les Pounder
enjoys tinkering
with lots of new
languages and
gadgets and finds
jQuery great fun.
Testing PiFace
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Raspberry Pi Tutorial
WorldMags.net
with relays
Hack safely volt you need to know
The Raspberry Pi can safely work with voltages of around 3.3V
to a maximum of 5V and around 0.5 amps of current. Using any
voltages higher than 5V directly with the Pi can result in damage
and in a worst-case scenario the death of your Pi.
PiFace provides a buffered interface to the GPIO, but you
should still exercise the same caution when not using your
PiFace. The only exception to this is when using the relays as
they can safely handle 12V and, in theory, they can also handle
240V but we advise that you dont use voltages greater than 12V
as they can cause serious harm to you.
Programming relays
Our code is simple and shows how we can control any 12V
device thanks to the fantastic libraries that PiFace supplies:
import pifacedigitalio
pfd = pifacedigitalio.PiFaceDigital()
pifacedigitalio.init()
while True:
if pfd.switches[0].value == 1:
pfd.relays[1].value = 1
elif pfd.switches[1].value == 1:
pfd.relays[1].value = 0
Lets look at the code in more detail. First, we import the
module pifacedigitalio this is the library of code that enables
you to work with PiFace. Next, we shorten pifacedigitalio.
PiFaceDigital() using the variable pfd this makes it easier to
work with the function. Before we can use PiFace we have to
initialise using the function pifacedigital.io.init() this tells the
program that we would like to use the PiFace code in our
If you missed last issue Call 0844 848 2852 or +44 1604 251045
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Apache: Host
Mayank Sharma helps you fire up your own Wordpress-hosted website on
the back of Apache, itll even work on the Raspberry Pi.
Our
expert
Mayank Sharma
loves a bit or
Raspberry Pi and
was a contributing
editor at Linux.
com and has
written for
LinuxToday and
Digg, (back when
it was popular).
computer in your local network and you will get the default
Apache It works! index page. But since we plan to host
heavy-duty dynamic websites, well need additional
components like a database and a scripting language.
PHP is still the most popular scripting language of choice
for this task. It fetches data from a database and renders it on
a web page. Some of the most popular content management
systems such as Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, MediaWiki, and
more are written in PHP.
To install PHP5, enter the following terminal command:
sudo apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5
which will also hook up the module with the web server.
You should next install the Alternative PHP Cache (APC)
package. APC is a PHP extension thats designed to improve
the performance of applications written in PHP. In a terminal
type sudo apt-get install php-apc, which will install and
setup the extension.
Youll now have to restart your web server with sudo
service apache2 restart. To check the PHP cache, first copy
the apc.php file into your web root with:
sudo cp /usr/share/doc/php-apc/apc.php /var/www
and then view it from a web browser by going to http://
localhost/apc.php. This will show you information about
what is being cached, and give you stats on the memory
usage and more. Now lets plug in a database for our web
server. The MySQL database is the most popular open source
Do this on a Raspberry Pi
If you have a Raspberry Pi you can follow the
instructions in this tutorial and set your Pi up as
your own web server.
Before setting out make sure you have burned
the Raspbian distro onto an SD card. Raspbian is
the customised Debian for the Raspberry Pi.
The first thing you should do after you boot the
image is to run its configuration script with sudo
raspi-config and change its memory allocation.
By default, the Raspberry Pi divides its 512MB
memory between the ARM CPU and the
VideoCore GPU. Since youll be primarily using the
Pi as a web server make sure that you allocate
only the bare minimum memory to the GPU,
which is just 16MB.
Next, you should also enable the SSH server to
securely access the Pi from a remote computer
on the network. After rebooting the Pi, update
Raspbian with the commands sudo apt-get
update followed by sudo apt-get upgrade.
Dont forget to change the default password
of the pi admin user.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Apache Tutorial
WorldMags.net
your website
database that will work with almost every content
management system out there. Fire up a terminal and enter:
sudo apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client php5-mysql
While the MySQL packages are being installed, youll be
prompted for a password for the MySQL admin user, root.
To test the MySQL installation, you can log into it by
entering mysql -u root -p in a terminal. Youll be prompted
for the password for the MySQL root user and then be logged
into the database monitor which has the mysql> prompt.
Type quit to exit MySQL return to the terminal.
When youve installed all the components, restart the
Apache web server with sudo service apache2 restart.
Of late the MariaDB database has been gaining popularity
as a drop-in replacement for MySQL. Its got the same tools
as MySQL so most popular apps that are designed to work
with MySQL will work flawlessly with MariaDB. But MariaDB
isnt available in the official repositories of popular Linux
distributions. Follow the instruction on this page
(https://downloads.mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories/)
to install MariaDB in your distro.
ProFTPD
Webmin
Webalizer
If you missed last issue Call 0844 848 2852 or +44 1604 251045
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Tutorial Apache
WorldMags.net
Download Wordpress
The first step is to get the Wordpress files on to your web server.
Log into the server and change to the web servers root directory (cd
/var/www). Here download the latest Wordpress release with wget
http://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz and unzip it with sudo tar zxvf
latest.tar.gz, which will extract all the files under a folder called
wordpress. Rename the folder if you wish.
Setup Wordpress
Manual setup
Installing Wordpress
With the file in place, simply navigate to the Wordpress installer under
the wordpress installation directory, for example, http://localhost/
wp-admin/install.php. Youll be prompted for details of your
Wordpress website such as its name and the credentials of the site
admin, as well as your email address. Click the Install WordPress
button when youre done.
Create a database
Now login to phpMyAdmin and switch to the Users tab. Click on the
Add user option to add a new user. Enter the username and password
for the new user in the text boxes. Also select the option to create a
database with the same name as the username, for example
Wordpress or Blog. Finally, select the Check All option under Global
privileges and click the Go button.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Apache Tutorial
WorldMags.net
The 50p tour of Apache
A web server is a complex piece of software.
Dont underestimate it just because you can
install Apache with a single command.
In Ubuntu, Apache is installed under /etc/
apache2 directory. It houses the apache2.conf
file which is its main configuration file. On start
up the server reads the instructions in this
particular file. It also reads the ports.conf file
which points it to ports it should keep an eye on
for incoming connections.
There are also directories such as confenabled, mods-enabled and sites-enabled
that house different configurations to manage
modules and other snippets of configuration
usually added by additional components, such
as phpMyAdmin. If you need to configure the
web server its best to add an entry in a file
Register
Open ports
Next you need to forward ports to allow the router to allow incoming
web traffic from its firewall. Again the exact steps for this step
depend on the router. Try the guides at http://portforward.com for
exact steps for your router. Basically you need to enter the port
number you wish to allow traffic from (80) and the local IP address of
the web server this traffic should be directed to.
Setup router
After youve confirmed the account, log in to your router and head to
its Dynamic DNS section. The exact location of this section varies
from router to router. In this section, select the DDNS provider and
enter the login credentials with the service along with the registered
domain name. Save the configuration after you router successfully
connects with the DDNS service.
Setup Apache
The final step is to edit your Apaches configuration file under the
sites-enabled directory and go on to create a ServerAlias entry in the
default <VirtualHost *:80> configuration, such as ServerAlias
l33tbodhi.no-ip.biz. Now youll need to restart the Apache web
server and your local website should now be accessible to you from
anywhere you are via the Internet.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
OpenStreetMap:
Marco Fioretti explains how to work on the biggest open map in the world
and use it as the basis for your own cartography.
All digital maps such as OSM are made of separate layers.
In general, there is one layer for every type of data. A layer
could consist of the shapes and positions of all and only the
houses built in your city between the years 1990 and 2000;
another may contain the paths of all the rivers of Great
Britain. Map editors can modify layers one at a time, while
map-rendering software can combine them in many ways.
What makes OSM special is that you can, both technically
and legally, not only edit its raw database (called OSM Data
Layer) but also reuse it and combine it with any other layer, in
ways that are much easier than you may think.
To help you do all this, well explain the main functions of
some popular OSM editors, then how to collect field data in
easy but effective ways. Finally, we show you how to create,
starting from OSM, custom maps that you can even embed in
your website.
Our
expert
Marco Fioretti
likes free software.
He studies and
teaches on the
impact on society
of open digital
technology.
Y
Fig 1. You can
start improving
OSM as soon
as you get an
OSM account,
with the iD webbased editor.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
OpenStreetMap Tutorial
WorldMags.net
OSM elements
Both the whole OSM data layer and the
sections corresponding to single cities or
countries are available in several open
formats. The basic one, with the OSM
extension, is a dialect of XML. There are
also hybrid formats (PBF, O5M, etc)
optimised for streaming applications or
incremental database upgrades.
load all the tags of that object in the Properties panel. You
may add, edit and delete tags either there or from the Presets
menu of JOSM. Before changing anything, though, control
what you have selected. A common error for JOSM beginners
is to apply certain actions to a whole street instead of just one
of its points, or vice-versa, because they believed they had
selected the first instead of the latter.
Fig 2. JOSM is richer than iD, but you can do lots using only a few buttons.
If you missed last issue Call 0844 848 2852 or +44 1604 251045
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Tutorial OpenStreetMap
WorldMags.net
Fig 3. The right side of JOSM holds a set of panels that displays all the data
about the currently selected objects.
No GPS? No problem!
In general, nothing prevents people from printing a part of
OSM, visiting the corresponding area and drawing, directly on
paper, all the differences or missing parts. The obvious
drawback is that, unlike the GPS tracks, this wouldnt be
digital data that an OSM editor can load and place with
enough precision
Unless you did the drawing on a printout from
http://fieldpapers.org! This web service produces PDF
versions of OSM areas, with a QR code included, that are
made-to-order for manual map drawing.
Thanks to that code, if you draw by hand on a piece of field
paper, you can scan and upload the whole thing to
fieldpapers.org. The service will be able to do two things:
recognise exactly what part of OSM that is, and convert it to a
format usable as a background layer, just like satellite pictures
or GPS tracks.
The procedure to generate a field paper is very simple,
and similar to that for slippy maps inside JOSM: zoom and
pan inside the map until you find the area you need, then
select its borders with the mouse. In addition, you can decide
the style of the background, caption, and whether to add
grids or not.
The only part of the process that requires some practice is
figuring out the exact extension and scale of the OSM area to
print. A map too big will just waste paper, but one at too large
Never miss another issue Subscribe to the #1 source for Linux on page 32.
78 LXF180 February 2014
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
OpenStreetMap Tutorial
WorldMags.net
a scale wont let you draw on it with enough precision. A field
paper with predefined borders and all the other options we
mentioned is called an atlas and, besides PDF, may be
downloaded in several raw formats. Once you have a printed
Atlas, take a walk in the corresponding area and draw directly
on it, as accurately as possible, what is on the ground. Then,
when you are back home, youll need to scan the paper with a
resolution of at least 200dpi; save it in JPG, PNG, TIF or GIF
format (not PDF!); youll have a snapshot ready for
fieldpapers.org, so upload it and take note of the URL and ID
number that the server associates with it.
You can keep your work private, declare it as public or
share it with specific people, by sending them the unique
URLs that fieldpapers.org creates for each snapshot. Once
ready, Field Paper snapshots can be loaded directly in OSM
online editors, such as iD, by clicking on the corresponding
links right above them. To load them in JOSM, instead, you will
need a plug-in. In JOSM, click on Edit > Preferences, open the
Plugins tab and select Field Papers (not Walking Papers,
which was a similar service now apparently closed).
Next, click OK and restart the program, which will now
have a new Field Papers entry in the top menu. To use a
snapshot, click there and enter its complete URL, as found on
fieldpapers.org, in the pop-up box. Next, of course, you will
have to load the corresponding part of the OSM data layer. No
problem: click again on File > Download from OSM > Slippy
Map and you will find the OSM section that exactly matches
that snapshot already selected. Thats great, isnt it?
Fig 5. Discover on page 80, how you can embed OSM, using the Umap service,
directly into your own static websites.
the source code of your web page. Note, however, that CMS
systems such as Drupal or WordPress will strip raw HTML
such as that out, by default, for security reasons. You will have
to install plugins that support iframes to make the embedding
work as intended.
Quick
tip
More than hacking
skills, what you
really need to
be a good OSM
contributor is
patience and selfdiscipline.
understand the rich OSM tagging system, are the Map Features
and TagInfo pages at, respectively,
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Map_Features and
http://taginfo.openstreetmap.org.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Our
expert
Marco Fioretti
likes free software.
He studies and
teaches on the
impact of open
digital technology
on society.
Fig 1. When you visit a dynamic site a lot of things happen in the background.
step how to build such a website with one of the many free
software tools developed just for this kind of job. Finally,
well briefly mention some other free software packages that
will do a similar job.
As shown in Fig 1, our web browser shows us HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) pages that they request on
our behalf from a website, using the HyperText Transfer
Protocol (HTTP). When you visit a dynamic website, such as
www.linuxformat.co.uk, its HTTP server gets the pages from
a Content Management System (CMS). This CMS builds at
least part of each document on the fly each time. This is how
each user gets up to date menus, or content customised
according to their access privileges or other real-time input.
Static websites, instead, replace the upper half of Fig 1
with pre-built files that the HTTP server picks from standard
folders and sends as they are, every time, to whoever
requests them.
Let me repeat this very important thing: what is dynamic
or static here is only the HTML files as seen and transmitted
by the HTTP server. Static web pages need not to be ugly,
completely fixed and passive. They can certainly use
beautiful, modern CSS style sheets. They can also embed
Slideshare presentations, YouTube videos, drop-down menus,
dynamic tables and everything else a modern browser may
process and run locally by itself.
Reasons to be cheerful
For a webmaster, the first advantage of a static website is the
peace of mind that comes from far fewer administration
chores and much more security. A CMS must be constantly
updated, since malicious user input can exploit bugs to make
it crash or expose private data. Static pages, instead, are
created by software unreachable by crackers and have
nothing that may break inside. The only moving part of a
static website is the HTTP server, which is much more stable
software than most CMSes, and is usually managed by
somebody else.
Other advantages are greater speed and reduced costs.
Making pages more or less from scratch for every single
request takes much more time and processing power than
sending static files. Besides which, plain folders on internet
servers are much cheaper, when they arent given away for
free, than real hosting accounts with dynamic features.
As good as they are, static websites are not for everyone.
To begin with, you have to write content as plain text (more
on this below), then upload it manually, or set up a script that
does it for you. Many people find that way of working much
better than using a GUI, because it lets you script many more
operations and write without distractions in your preferred
editor. On the other hand, such a workflow is feasible only if all
the authors of a website can accept it and are skilled enough
to handle the process.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
WorldMags.net
a static website
Other static generators
Mynt is perfect for a tutorial, but isnt the only
one around or has the most features. If you dont
like Mynt, try the following: Bashblog, Blogofile,
Jekyll, Nikola and Pelican. According to
http://staticsitegenerators.net there are more
than 200 applications of this type In practice,
and ignoring obvious issues such as software
Quick
tip
Static websites
need not to be ugly
and passive. They
can use state of
the art style sheets
and everything
modern browsers
can handle by
themselves.
Fig 2. Yes, we
know: the default
look of a Mynt
website is pretty
dull, but its
fast and it takes
little time to
customise it as
you wish.
If you missed last issue Call 0844 848 2852 or +44 1604 251045
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
WorldMags.net
Fig 5 This is what Mynt generates when you feed it with simple Markdown
input as explained in these pages: clean, standard HTML pages.
Quick
tip
Another reason to
use static websites
is that the only
user interface that
you need to learn
how to use is your
text editor.
Lets write
After configuration and templates, we can think about
content. All your texts should go into the _posts directory,
one source file per article. Mynt sources are plain text files,
with names that, by default, start with the publication date, as
in 2010-11-14-Conference-Report.md.
You can use any text editor to prepare posts for Mynt, as
long as you give them the following two-part structure. The
first part, which starts and ends with three dashes, is called
frontmatter. It contains all the metadata of an article,
formatted as YAML (Yet Another Markup Language,
http://yaml.org). A frontmatter for Mynt may look like this:
--layout: post.html
title: Report from the FOSSa 2010 Conference
tags: [Free Software, Open Source, France]
---
Never miss another issue Subscribe to the #1 source for Linux on page 32.
82 LXF180 February 2014
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
WorldMags.net
The first line tells Mynt to insert this specific article into
the template file _templates/post.html. The title and tags
labels should be self-explicative. Just remember that tags are
case sensitive and must go inside square brackets exactly as
shown above, otherwise Mynt will abort with very cryptic
error messages!
The actual text of a post, which goes right below the
frontmatter, must follow the Markdown formatting syntax.
Like YAML, this is much easier to learn than it may seem from
its name. As a practical example, here is the Markdown
formatted source of the part of HTML page generated by
Mynt and shown in Fig 5:
The [fOSSa 2010](http://fossa2010.inrialpes.fr) conference in
Grenoble did a good job to prove (since its still sorely
needed, see conclusions below) that Free/Open Source
Software (FOSS) isnt some unreliable toy for amateurs.
# FOSS for the Software and Web Industry #
I have already described in other articles the [lessons that
ALL managers could have learned at fOSSa](http://stop.
zona-m.net/2010/11/what-can-all-managers)
See what I meant? The tags defined in the frontmatter
show up right after the post date, while the strings inside the
paired square and round parentheses become hyperlinks.
Headers are enclosed by pound signs and so on. To learn
Markdown syntax, read the easy official guide at
http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/basics.
[marco@polaris]$ ls mysite
2010
2011
2012
2013
archives
assets
feed.xml
index.html
At this point, all thats left to make the whole static website
available to the internet is to upload of all the content of
mysite to the right folder on your HTTP server. In practice,
this step is usually handled with rsync or similar automatic
synchronisation utilities.
Mynt extras
What you have read so far is enough to let you put a site
online that will be good looking, very fast and much safer
from crackers than anything running off any CMS software.
However, we want to cover a few more things that will make
your Mynt based web publishing more productive.
Besides init and gen, the Mynt executable has two other
modes of operation, called Serve and Watch. The former
starts a local HTTP server that lets you test the HTML pages
before uploading them, by pointing your browser at
http://localhost:8080. In the latter watch mode, Mynt will
run in the background and update the content of mysite
whenever you change something inside mynt_demo.
Another thing to know is that you can put as many drafts
as you want in the Mynt folders; as long as their names begin
with underscores or periods, Mynt will ignore them.
Last but not least, internal links. If you put a string like this
in your posts:
{{ get_asset(my_portrait.png) }}
it will insert the correct, absolute URL of your portrait, which
you put in the _assets directory, in the HTML version of that
post. get_url() does the same job for URLs of other posts.
As you have seen, using Mynt or any other static site
generator means working with plain text files. There are no
obscure settings, database optimisation issues and similar
annoyances here. Therefore, dont be afraid to play with
templates and configuration! Back up all your files before any
important changes, and it will be very easy to repair any
mistake or unwanted change you may have made! LXF
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Fig 4. Replace
the default CSS
stylesheet with
one of the many
freely available
online, or make
your own: thats
all it takes to
change the look
of your site!
Quick
tip
Start Mynt in Serve
mode to have a
complete copy
of your website
available for testing
in your computer.
Scratch
WorldMags.net
Scratch: and go
Les Pounder runs through the basics of Scratch for those itching
to code or looking for ways to teach others to code.
Our
expert
Les Pounder
enjoys tinkering
with lots of new
languages and
gadgets and finds
jQuery great fun.
Scratch uses a
three-cloumn UI
from left to right:
Block Palette,
Script Area and
The Stage
Scratch online
Scratch is available across many platforms. It
comes pre-loaded on every Raspberry Pi
running Raspbian and is available for download
from http://scratch.mit.edu. But did you know
that there is an online version that provides all of
the functionality present in the desktop version,
but requires no installation or download? Head
over to the MIT website (above) and youll be
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Scratch
WorldMags.net
need. Children typically work
via the colour coding system at
first and then through the
natural process of playing they
understand the link between
each of the blocks and how
they work together.
The environment
Scratch uses a clear and
structured layout, which is
divided into three columns.
The first column is:
Block Palette
This is where our blocks of
code are stored and sorted by
their function.
Fig 1.1 The code used
Script Area In the second
for Matt to receive
broadcasts.
column is an area, where you
can drag our blocks of code
from the Block Palette to add code to our program.
The Stage The third and final column shows the results of
your programming and can be used to interact with the game
world. At the bottom of this column you will also find the very
handy Sprites Pane. This shows the sprites and assets that
belong to your particular program. Clicking on a sprite will
change the focus to that sprite, enabling you to write code for
that sprite only.
Quick
tip
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Scratch
WorldMags.net
Quick
tip
Blocks that can be
linked together will
have a white halo
indicating they can
be connected.
correct, Neil will say that the answer is correct, play a sound
to reward the player then alter the variable score by 1 point
and, finally, broadcast support to Matt who will say something
nice. If the player provides an incorrect answer then Neil will
say Incorrect play a gong sound effect and then increment
the guesses variable by 1 and then send a broadcast to Matt
who will taunt the player.
Part two of the code is exactly the same as the main loop
of part one and the reason why is because we duplicated the
code and changed the question and expected answer.
To duplicate code in Scratch you can simply right click on the
blocks of code and select duplicate, hey presto you have
doubled your code in just one click.
The first section of the third part is exactly the same as
the main loop from the previous two parts. So lets move
down to the last four blocks of code (see Fig 1.6, below).
Our first block is a broadcast score to Matt, this will trigger
Matt to tell us the score, we then pause for three seconds to
allow Matt to finish speaking. Then we send another
broadcast to Matt who will then run thorough the end of
game code associated with that broadcast. Lastly, we use
stop all to stop any scripts in the game.
The Green Flag event is the code that controls the number
of guesses that the player has. We use conditional logic to say
that when the number of guesses is equal to 3 then we
Fig 1.7 The Stage contains the sprites but can also have
its own scripts.
The Stage
As well as being the home of our sprites, The Stage can also
contain its own scripts (see Fig 1.7, above). For our game we
have two sections of code on The Stage. Both sections of
code are triggered by the click on Green Flag event. The first
part resets two variables called guesses and score. We then
ask the player to provide their name, which is then broadcast
to Matt and Neil and starts the main code loop assigned
to Neil. The second section of code is an infinite loop that
will play the loop DrumMachine continuously and set its
volume to 50%.
As I mentioned earlier on, variables are a great way to
store data. But before we can use one we need to create it.
To create a variable we need to use the Variables button from
the Block Palette. In there you will find the make a variable
button, click on it and you will see Fig 1.9 (see right, p87).
In our game we used two variables, score and guesses
and we want them both to be available for all sprites, so that
Matt and Neil can use them both. Once created, we can easily
Programming concepts
Using Scratch is great fun but did you realise
that you are also learning to code? No matter
what language you use, the underlying concepts
of coding provide a firm foundation. And once
learnt they can be applied to any coding project.
The main concepts are:
Sequences: A series of tasks required to be
completed in a certain order. For example the
steps needed to solve a maze.
Loops: A way to repeat a sequence. They can
be run forever (while true) or controlled using a
for statement (for x in range(0,3)). We have
used many loops to control the players progress
in our game.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Scratch
WorldMags.net
drop these variables into our code enabling us to reuse their
value many times in the game, see Fig 1.8 below for the
example that we made for our game.
Pseudo code
When trying to understand the logic of my game we like to
write pseudo code. Pseudo what? we hear you say. This is
when you write down the logic of how your program will work.
Lets look at a simple example:
a has the value of 0
while a is less than 10:
print on the screen the value of a
increment a by 1
So we have our psuedo code, but how do I express this in
a programming language? First, lets do this with Scratch
followed by Python. In Scratch our code will look like this.
[When Green Flag is clicked]
Set variable a to 0
forever if a < 10
say a for 2 secs
change a by 1
This will give the variable a the value of 0. We then create a
conditional loop that will only loop while a is less than 10.
Inside the loop we ask Scratch to print the value of a for 2
seconds, then increment the value of a by 1. This loop will
continue until we reach a = 9 and then it will stop as the next
value, 10 is not less than 10.
Fig 1.8 As you can see, there are two variables in our
game: guesses and score.
Weve done it! Weve made a game. So now lets play our
game. The flow of the game should be as follows:
Click on green flag.
You will be asked for your name.
Matt says hello and Neil says hello and your name.
They both welcome you to the quiz.
Matt prompts Neil to ask the first question.
Neil asks a question.
A box will appear for you to type your answer.
If answer correct, then Neil will say so, Matt will also say
something nice.
Your score will increase by one.
Else if your answer is wrong, you will be taunted by Matt
and the number of guesses will increase by 1, leaving you
with only 2 guesses left. You will then have another chance
to answer the question.
If you guess correctly, you will move on to the next question,
and this will happen twice as there are 3 questions.
If you answer all the questions correctly, Matt will tell you
your final score and then say Game Over.
The Game Over sprite will appear on screen and all of the
scripts in the game will be turned off.
If the number of guesses made reaches 3 at any point in the
game, then the game will automatically skip to the Game
Over screen.
But this is just the start of our adventures with what you
can do with Scratch. In our next issue we will be using Scratch
to control electronics via everyones favourite hackable
computer the Raspberry Pi. We hope youve enjoyed learning
Scratch; its a great tool to understand coding but its also
great fun to learn. LXF
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Quick
tip
You can share your
projects online
across many
platforms via
http://scratch.
mit.edu.
Squeak
WorldMags.net
Squeak: An intro
Squeak, a free version of Smalltalk with its own VM, is highly
portable, very object-oriented and provides an interestingly
different coding environment for Juliet Kemp this month.
Our
expert
Juliet Kemp
was thrown by all
the graphics at
first, but was won
over by the ease
of producing
working code.
Getting started
Workspace
and Transcript
windows
with that allimportant
first program.
Squeak grammar
Being able to evaluate little snippets of code can be handy,
but the Transcript show line demonstrates Squeak grammar
a bit better. Squeak is an entirely object-oriented language;
everything in Squeak is an object. So the basic Squeak code
sentence is: object message.. Here, Transcript is the object
(the Transcript window), and show: Hello World is the
message. Specifically, the message in this case consists of a
method (show) and an argument, but the details will vary
depending on what youre doing.
Since Squeak is so good at graphics, we can also easily
create a Hello World button:
button := SimpleButtonMorph new.
button color: Color green.
button label: Say hello.
button addMouseUpActionWith: Transcript show: Hello
World ..
button openInWorld.
This creates a new SimpleButtonMorph object, button,
colours it green, and assigns it a label. The button called
addMouseUpActionWith does roughly what it says: adds an
action to perform when a MouseUp is detected (ie after a
user has finished clicking on the button, which is the norm for
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Squeak
WorldMags.net
Adding the
first class. Note
the red warning
message at
the bottom
I havent added
a comment yet.
(Bad coder, no
biscuit.)
Writing a program
Lets head on to something a bit more substantial. Were
going to write a little program to play Tic-Tac-Toe (aka
noughts and crosses). Well create a 3x3 game board, which
will add a 0 or an X when you click on it. There will be a class
for the board, and a class for the cells, so well find out how
Squeak uses classes.
First, create a new Squeak project so you have a clean
area to work with. Now, were going to add a class category,
to store our classes in. Go to Tools > System Browser, and
youll see a browser which shows you all the Squeak classes.
Right-click on the left-hand pane, which shows all the
categories, and choose Add item. Give it the name Tic-TacToe, and hit Accept. Youll see the new category appear in the
list, though it doesnt have any members yet.
What it does have is a template in the bottom pane, which
is the class editing pane. This template is for a method which
sends a subclass message to the Object class, with the
parameter #NameOfSubclass so the Object class will
create a new subclass of itself, with the specified name. (You
could also describe this as calling the subclass method of the
Object class; but in Smalltalk we talk about objects and
messages, not methods.)
Well edit this to create our game cell class. Edit it to look
like this:
SimpleButtonMorph subclass: #TTTCell
instanceVariableNames: mouseAction
classVariableNames:
poolDictionaries:
category: Tic-Tac-Toe
So now instead of creating a subclass of Object, were
creating a subclass of SimpleButtonMorph (a basic clickable
button) called TTTCell. Were also adding a mouseAction
instance variable (a variable which exists in each instance of
the class) to the class, so we can act on the cell depending on
what the mouse does.
To save these changes, right-click and click Accept. Youll
Quick
tip
Squeak is the
implementation
and the
environment,
and Smalltalk
is the language,
although theres
some overlap in
customary usage,
which youll notice
is reflected in the
rest of the tutorial.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Squeak
WorldMags.net
Game board
Quick
tip
You can use the
System Browser
to examine any of
the Squeak classes.
Right-click and
choose find on
the top left window
to search for a
class, and use the
? button to see its
documentation.
The TTTCell
is up in the top
left corner. You
can also see its
inspector further
down, and the
System Browser
behind that.
Our cell doesnt do anything yet, but well leave it for now and
move onto the game board. To create our game board class,
click on the Tic-Tac-Toe class category again, and youll get
another of those subclass templates. This time, edit it to look
like this:
BorderedMorph subclass: #TTTBoard
instanceVariableNames:
classVariableNames:
poolDictionaries:
category: Tic-Tac-Toe
A BorderedMorph is just that, a morph (graphics object)
which has a border. Accept this method, then create an
initialise method:
initialize
| singleCell width height n |
super initialize.
n := self cellsPerSide.
singleCell := TTTCell new.
width := singleCell width.
height := singleCell height.
self bounds: (10@10 extent: ((width*n) @(height*n)) + (2 *
self borderWidth)).
cellGrid := Matrix new: n tabulate: [ :i :j | self newCellAt: i at:
j ].
This time, when you choose accept, Squeak will complain.
The first thing it complains about is cellsPerSide; confirm
that and we will write it in a moment. The second thing is
cellGrid; choose Declare Instance for this, as it will be an
instance variable. Finally, newCellAt again, confirm this and
well write it shortly.
The first line of this method declares four temporary
variables. Its good practice to declare variables that only exist
within a method as temporary, to avoid cluttering up the
Squeak project with unnecessary global variables, and reduce
the likelihood of accidentally overwriting variables.
More methods
All of that means that we need some more methods. Click the
class name and youll get another method template. We have
two methods to write:
cellsPerSide
Number of cells on each side of the board
^3
newCellAt: i at: j
Create a cell at position i,j and add it to the screen
| cell origin |
cell := TTTCell new.
origin := self innerBounds origin.
self addMorph: cell.
cell position: i - 1 * cell width @ (j - 1 * cell height) + origin.
cell
mouseAction: [self playMove: i at: j].
^cell
cellsPerSide just returns 3 (the ^ operator means return
this value). newCellAt does what it says in the comment.
It creates a new TTTCell, and defines origin, which is the
origin of the TTTBoards inside boundary. (If you think of the
board as a grid, this is the top left inner corner. This method is
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Squeak
WorldMags.net
inherited from the superclass BoundedMorph. We then
calculate and set the cells position by working out how far
across the board it is and adding that to the origin to place it
on the Squeak window.
The important part is the next-to-last line. This sets what
the cell should do in response to a mouse action; apply the
TTTBoard>>playMove:at: method. This is the basic game
logic, and well write it in a moment. Finally, we return the
newly created cell.
We now have even more methods to write to make all of
this work. TTTBoard>>playMove:at: is the next one:
playMove: i at: j
(cellGrid at: i at: j)
move: player.
self switchPlayer.
If you accept that, though, Squeak will complain that it
doesnt know about player. Add it as an instance, and well
handle it in a moment; switchPlayer just confirm, and well
write that method shortly too. cellGrid is a matrix, so inherits
matrix methods; specifically the at:at: method to identify a
particular cell in the matrix. Having got that cell, we apply the
move method, with the player argument; then switch player.
Next we need player to hold a value showing which player
is currently having their turn, X or O. X always starts, so we
just add a line to initialize:
initialize
super initialize.
player := x.
rest as before
We also need switchPlayer:
switchPlayer
player = x
ifTrue: [player := o]
ifFalse: [player := x]
The first line is evaluated to either true or false (Boolean
value). If it is true, the ifTrue line is executed, and player is set
to O (it is Os turn now). If false, it is set to X. Note that this
doesnt do any error checking for you, which means you
might want to add something to check that it hasnt been set
to anything strange.
Thats all for the TTTBoard class. However, we still have a
couple of TTTCell methods to write and to handle the mouse
click events.
Mouse actions
Back to TTTCell, to handle mouse actions and that move
method.
mouseAction: aBlock
^ mouseAction := aBlock.
mouseUp: anEvent
mouseAction value.
The mouseAction: method is what is called on the cell
when it is clicked, from the TTTBoard>>newCellAt:at:
method. Its also an instance variable, if you look back at the
code used to set up the TTTCell class. The mouseAction:
method, then, is just a setter method: and it sets the instance
variable mouseAction to the argument passed in. It then
returns it. So a Smalltalk setter method is variable:, and the
getter method is variable (note: it doesnt have a colon),
rather than setVariable and getVariable as in other
languages. These methods are called accessor methods and
should be placed in the accessing protocol when you are
categorising your methods.
mouseUp: defines what happens when a mouseUp event
is detected by the user interface. Here, we send the message
The game in
action! You can
select it and get
the halo around
it to move/
inspect/etc. You
can also see the
System Browser
with some code
underneath.
Quick
tip
To arrange your
method neatly, you
can right-click, click
more, then click
prettyprint. You can
also shift-right-click
to get straight to
the more menu.
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
WorldMags.net
Got a question about open source? Whatever your level, email it to lxf.answers@futurenet.co.uk for a solution.
This month we
answer questions on:
1 Ubuntu One
annoyance
2 Removing
duplicate files
3 Canon printer
problems
4 PinguyOS
problems
5 MEI module
errors
Seeking a
recovery ISO
Ubuntu 1, User 0
Every time I boot up, I get the popup trying to entice me to sign up
for Ubuntu One. I have ignored it for
a while but I am becoming annoyed by it.
Can you please tell me how to eradicate it?
catgate
From the forums
If you want to completely remove it
from your system, use the following
terminal commands:
killall ubuntuone-login ubuntuone-preferences
ubuntuone-syncdaemon
Ubuntu really want you to sign up for Ubuntu One, but it is possible to stop them asking you.
Win!
if ($letter == winner)
get $books
Get your questions answered and exploit our generosity.
Linux Format is the
biggest and best
magazine about Linux
1 for Free Software
and free software.
We did a rough word count of LXF173 and it
contained 67,659 words. About as much as
Heart of Darkness and Animal Farm
combined, but with considerably more
Linux, coding and free software!
Thats many more than our competitors,
and thats how we know that were the biggest.
As for the best, well thats a subjective claim,
but its one were happy to stand by.
#
rm -rf ~/.config/ubuntuone
mv ~/Ubuntu\ One/ ~/UbuntuOne_old/
The last line moves your Ubuntu One folder,
but if you have no content in it you could just as
easily delete it. Finally, you uninstall all Ubuntu
One packages and their configuration files with
sudo apt-get remove --purge ubuntuone-*
You may need to escape the wildcard in that
command, depending on your shell and its
configuration. It should be fine with a stock
Bash setup, but if you get an error along the
lines of could not find ubuntuone-* in your
terminal, precede the wildcard with a
backslash to stop the shell trying to interpret it.
sudo apt-get remove --purge ubuntuone-\*
Q
A
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
Finding duplicates
WorldMags.net
Terminals and
superusers
We often give a solution as commands to type in
a terminal. While it is usually possible to do the same
with a distros graphical tools, the differences between
these mean that such solutions are very specific.
The terminal commands are more flexible and, most
importantly, can be used with all distributions.
System configuration commands often have to
be run as the superuser, often called root. There are
two main ways of doing this, depending on your distro.
Many, especially Ubuntu and its derivatives, prefix the
command with sudo, which asks for the user password
and sets up root privileges for the duration of the
command only. Other distros use su, which requires the
root password and gives full root access until you type
logout. If your distro uses su, run this once and then run
any given commands without the preceding sudo.
A-verse to printing
Q
A
Answers
Silent failure
sudo
art of Linuxs safety comes from
running as a user without
administrative privileges. However,
there are times when you need those
privileges, usually for administrative
purposes, so you need to switch to the
superuser (or root). This is traditionally
done with the su (switch user) command,
but that gives full root access, allowing the
user to do anything that root could for as
long as they are logged in. It also requires
them to have the root password. Wouldnt
it be safer if users were allowed to run as
root only for the commands they need?
This is what sudo does. The configuration
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Answers
WorldMags.net
Star
Question
Winner!
Kernel spam
This months winner is Stuart. Get in touch with us to claim your glittering prize!
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
WorldMags.net
may mean you need to do it on each update, at
least until the default kernel configuration is
switched back to building this as a module. It
may be fixed by the next kernel update, either
in the module setting or even the fault causing
the error messages themselves.
There are a couple of other options on
some systems you can disable the
Management Engine Interface in your BIOS.
This could be well hidden, you may need to
turn on Management Extensions first. Some
systems let you go straight to the Management
Extension BIOS by pressing Ctrl+P at boot,
skipping the standard BIOS screens.
You can also execute the command you
gave at each boot, but cron is not the correct
tool for this. Cron executes tasks at set times,
whereas you want it run once, when you boot,
which is a job for the init system. Sabayon uses
OpenRC for its init system, and this executes
any scripts in /etc/local.d that end with .start
when it boots (and .stop scripts when it shuts
down). Put that one line in a file in that
directory, say /etc/local.d/mei.start, and
make it executable to run it each time you
boot. There is a README file in /etc/local.d
that explains the process.
Reluctant printer
Answers
uname -a >system.txt
lspci >>system.txt
lspci -vv >>system.txt
Compiling a kernel
I have a kernel, why would
I want to compile a new one?
Kernels supplied with distros
contain support for a wide range of
hardware, but not everything. You
may need to add support for
something you own. Or you may
want to remove support for all the
hardware you do not have. Building
your kernel from the kernel.org
sources will usually give you a later
version, which may be important.
Where do I get kernel sources?
You can download the standard
kernel sources from www.kernel.
org, or find them on each months
coverdisc. Most distros use
patched sources, and some of
their tools can rely on these
patches. You can install a source
package to match your current
kernel using your distros usual
package management tools. Look
for a package named something
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
make install
or combine the three steps as
make modules_install install
The first step compiles the kernel
and modules, the second installs
the modules, the third installs the
kernel to /boot. The kernel is also
symlinked to /boot/vmlinuz and
your previous kernel is symlinked
to /boot/vmlinuz.old. If you have
options for these two kernels in
your bootloader menu, you will
always be able to choose between
your new kernel and the previous
one, which is essential if your new
kernel fails to boot. The install
command also backs up your
kernel configuration to /boot.
Is that all there is to it?
If you use the Grub bootloader,
yes. If you use LILO, you need to
run /sbin/lilo, even though you
havent changed the name of the
kernel, because LILO uses the
position of the file on the disk, not
its name, so it would still boot the
previous kernel otherwise.
On the disc
WorldMags.net
The best of the internet, crammed into a massive 4GB of quality DVD.
Enhance
o we
have too
many
distros? Are all the respins of
Ubuntu really necessary? Taking a
distro, changing the desktop and
repackaging the ISO doesnt really
count as a distro. Whats wrong
with releasing a theme or metapackage that can be installed on
the base distro to give the new
appearance? A new distro should
bring something new, whether its a
package manager, set of
configuration tools or a different
philosophy to the distro from which
its derived.
Not that deriving from another
distro is inherently bad, Ubuntu has
come a long way since first starting
out as repackaged Debian Testing.
SUSE has come even further since
its original Slackware derivation.
New is good when it offers a real
choice or opportunity for
development, not so good when its
just a paint job.
Would you be more likely to try
an enhancement of whatever distro
you like, if it was supplied as a
package to be installed rather than
having to be reinstalled? Of course,
such an enhancement may not
make it onto Distrowatch or other
news pages, do we need a way for
these to be shown off
distro-look.org
anyone? Or
are you happy
with the way
things are?
Important
NOTICE!
Defective discs
Linux distribution
OpenSUSE 13.1
Linux distribution
Manjaro 0.8.8
For a while, its seemed that every new distro has
been derived from Ubuntu or Debian, but thats
beginning to change. There are an increasing
number of distros that are based on Arch Linux,
one of which is Manjaro. This new distro is available
with various desktops, but we have
included the OpenBox version (KDE
and GNOME desktop fans are
already catered for with OpenSUSE
this month).
OpenBox is a much overlooked
alternative, a window manager that
supplies a desktop even faster and
lighter than Xfce. Combined with the
fast Systemd boot provided by Arch
and this distro will be up and running
in seconds, and just as fast in
general use.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
New to Linux?
WorldMags.net
Start here
Tutorial code
Squeak and Scratch code and software.
And more!
Roundup
We assess them, now setup your hosted sharing service.
System tools
Essentials
Checkinstall Install tarballs with your
package manager.
GNU Core Utils The basic utilities that
should exist on every operating system.
Hardinfo A system benchmarking tool.
Kernel The source code to the latest
kernel release.
FlightGear
MuseScore
TrueCrypt
AlienArena
Nightingale
Tupi
BleachBit
Pandoc
NixNote
FreeMind
PyCharm
Reading matter
Bookshelf
The Cathedral and the Bazaar Eric S
Raymonds classic text explaining the
advantages of open development.
Intro to Linux A beginners guide.
Linux Kernel in a Nutshell An
introduction to the kernel written by
master-hacker Greg Kroah-Hartman.
Podcasts
TuxRadar
WorldMags.net
www.tuxradar.com
Advance Bash
Scripting Guide With
more for power users.
System Administrators
Guide The basics of
running your system.
WorldMags.net
#
EDITORIAL
Editor Neil Mohr
neil.mohr@futurenet.com
Deputy editor Matthew Hanson
matthew.hanson@futurenet.com
Operations editor Chris Thornett
chris.thornett@futurenet.com
Art editor Efrain Hernandez-Mendoza
efrain.hernandez-mendoza@futurenet.com
Editorial contributors Jono Bacon, Neil Bothwick,
Chris Brown, Marco Fioretti, Andrew Gregory,
David Hayward, Joe Jordan, Juliet Kemp, Les Pounder,
Jem Roberts, Mayank Sharma, Shashank Sharma
Art assistance Nick Aspell
Illustrations Shane Collinge, Simon Middleweek
ADVERTISING SALES
Advertising sales director Nick Weatherall
020 7042 4155 nick.weatherall@futurenet.com
Account sales manager Ricardo Sidoli
020 7042 4124 ricardo.sidoli@futurenet.co.uk
LXF 18
1
wi
ll be on
s
Tuesday ale
4
Next month
Mastering
Raspberry Pi
Februar
y
2014
LICENSING
Licensing & syndication manager Regina Erak
regina.erak@futurenet.co.uk Tel +44 (0)1225 732359
CIRCULATION
International account manager Rebecca Hill
rebecca.hill@futurenet.com
ADDITIONAL MANAGEMENT
Editorial director Jim Douglas
Creative director Bob Abbott
Group art editor Steve Gotobed
LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds, GNU/Linux is abbreviated to Linux
throughout for brevity. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners. All the code printed in this magazine is licensed under the GNU GPL v3 or
later. See www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html.
Copyright No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission
from our publisher. We assume all letters sent by email, fax or post are for
publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit contributions. All
contributions to Linux Format are submitted and accepted on the basis of nonexclusive worldwide licence to publish or license others to do so unless otherwise
agreed in advance in writing. Linux Format recognises all copyrights in this issue.
Where possible, we have acknowledged the copyright holder. Contact us if we
havent credited your copyright and we will always correct any oversight. We cannot
be held responsible for mistakes or misprints.
All DVD demos and reader submissions are supplied to us on the assumption they
can be incorporated into a future covermounted DVD, unless stated to the contrary.
Disclaimer All tips in this magazine are used at your own risk. We accept no liability
for any loss of data or damage to your computer, peripherals or software through
the use of any tips or advice.
Printed in the UK by William Gibbons.
Future Publishing Ltd 2014
Exploring GCC
The legacy and future of GCC: What can we
expect from the GNU Compiler Collection?
Contents of future issues subject to change we might be creating Raspberry Pi-controlled turret guns.
WorldMags.net
www.linuxformat.com
www.futureplc.com
We are committed to only using magazine paper which is
derived from well-managed, certified forestry and chlorine-free
manufacture. Future Publishing and its paper suppliers have
been independently certified in accordance with the rules of the
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net
9000
9001
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net