Issue #260 / Jul 2022

Highlights:

If you are really serious about privacy, you’ll need to lean on more than your browser’s no tracking button. Those who need anonymity the most depend on the Tor network – a global project offering safe surfing even in surveillance states. We also look at Portmaster, an application firewall with some useful privacy features.

SERVICE: Welcome

The New Boss

As this magazine goes to press, Elon Musk, who is attempting to buy Twitter, has announced that, once he ascends to the helm of the micro-blogging colossus, a certain politician who was previously banned from the platform will be let back in. I'll pop in with my usual disclaimer: We talk about tech here, not politics.

SERVICE: This Month's DVD

Ubuntu 22.04 “Jammy Jellyfish” LTS Desktop Edition and Fedora 36 Workstation

NEWS: News

In the news: Danielle Foré Has an Update for elementary OS 7; Linux New Media Launches Open Source JobHub; Ubuntu Cinnamon 22.04 Now Available; Pop!_OS 22.04 Has Officially Been Released; Star Labs Unveils a New Small Format Linux PC; and MX Linux v21.1 "Wildflower" Now Available.

NEWS: Kernel News

Zack Brown reports on taking a header and the next Spectre vulnerability.

: Portmaster

Manage Internet uploads with Portmaster

Security and anonymization play an increasingly important role on the Internet due to the endless appetite of Internet companies for personal data. Portmaster and the Safing Privacy Network will help you protect your privacy – even if you're not a security expert.

: Anonymity on the Tor Network

The Tor Network: Tools for private and secure browsing

The Tor project supports a formidable collection of tools for protecting your privacy on the Internet. We'll give you some background on Tor and help you get started with the Tor Browser.

NEWS: Devuan

The fight for Init Freedom

Devuan, with its promise of Init Freedom, provides users an alternative to systemd as an init process.

IN-DEPTH: AlekSIS

Tracking school information with AlekSIS

In many classroom settings, paper grade lists and the good old class register are still the rule. The AlekSIS project offers a 21st century solution for small schools that want to go digital.

IN-DEPTH: Securing Thunderbolt

Locking down the Thunderbolt interface

The Thunderbolt interface supports extremely fast data transfer rates, but be careful about what you plug into your port, because Thunderbolt devices access memory directly. We'll show you some Linux tools for locking down your Thunderbolt interface.

IN-DEPTH: Shell Download Manager

A download manager for the shell

A few lines of shell code and the Gawk scripting language make downloading files off the web a breeze.

IN-DEPTH: High Availability vs. Backup

Your NAS isn't enough – you still need to back up your data!

Some users trust their data to powerful file servers that advertise enterprise data protection, but your Network Attached Storage system might not be as safe as you think it is.

IN-DEPTH: Here, Kitty, Kitty

A modern terminal emulator

Kitty, a terminal emulator by the creator of Calibre, promises customization and graphical acceleration at the command line.

IN-DEPTH: DistroTest.net

Launching distributions from a browser

With so many Linux distros to choose from, you can spend a lot of time downloading and installing before you find the right one for your needs. DistroTest.net lets you test a variety of Linux distributions from the browser without the up-front installation work.

IN-DEPTH: BlueSpice 4.1

Exploring the BlueSpice wiki tool

Keep your team collaborating with BlueSpice, a wiki tool focused on professional customers.

IN-DEPTH: DIY Read-It-Later Tool

Transform web pages into EPUB files

Instead of relying on a third-party read-it-later service, you can use this DIY tool to save articles from the Internet in a format that meets your specific needs.

IN-DEPTH: Wordle Booster

Boost your Wordle streak with Go

Wordle, a simple online word game, took the world by storm in February. Mike Schilli has developed a command-line tool to boost his Wordle streak using some unapproved tactics.

NEWS: Digital Spirit Level

Create a digital spirit level with the ESP32

The small MPU6050 sensor contains a gyroscope and an accelerometer, which means that you can build a digital spirit level with it.

NEWS: New Tech Retrofit

Change internal logic from relays to an Arduino

An electronic project at a local science center was showing its age, calling for a refresh: in this case, rebuilding it almost from scratch with an Arduino instead of relays.

LINUX VOICE: Introduction

This month in Linux Voice.

LINUX VOICE: maddog's Doghouse

Local tools for better service

Tools such as community servers and local web traffic caches can help improve community Internet service.

LINUX VOICE: Fzf/Fzy

Use fzf and fzy to add fuzzy search tools to the shell

Fuzzy finders retrieve useful results from data streams even if there are no exact matches.

LINUX VOICE: Dim Media Manager

A Plex alternative

Dim, a relatively new open source media manager, looks to implement the appearance and feature set of the commercial Plex media center.

LINUX VOICE: FOSSPicks

Sparkling gems and new releases from the world of Free and Open Source Software

Graham looks at TerraForge3D, nheko, Navidrome, ddcutil, and much more!

LINUX VOICE: Tutorial – LibreOffice Charts

Creating charts with LibreOffice Calc

Everybody needs charts sooner or later, and LibreOffice Calc is the easiest way to create them with free and open source software.