Linux Magazine Special Editions 101 Cool Linux Hacks

This Linux Magazine special edition promises you “101 Linux hacks,” and we’ll certainly deliver – check the table of contents on the following page for a list of all the gems we present inside. But what exactly is a “hack”? In today’s world where Windows is the dominant desktop operating system, the decision to use Linux is the first and most important hack. In addition to that: ■ If I can use it to solve a problem or get some work done faster than before, then it’s a hack. ■ If the way it works is unexpected, it’s very certainly a hack. ■ If it teaches me a new and interesting way to use my Linux machine, it’s a hack. ■ When it makes me grin, because it’s so obvious…

Are you old enough to say “the problems with keyboards started when IBM moved the function keys from the left (Figure 1) to the top”? That happened in 1986 when the IBM PC AT replaced the PC XT and the then-leading personal computer manufacturer introduced the new keyboard layout, which has remained the standard ever since. New functions in Microsoft Windows 95 made keyboard producers add three new keys, and some modern keyboards have a Fn key inspired by such keys on restricted notebook keyboards. But what’s the worst problem with keyboards both old and new? In my view, it is certainly the Caps Lock key. Its purpose is to mess up text you enter in an Office document or on the command line when you type without looking at…

One of the best things about KDE – and there are many – is the functionality contained within the panel. It works well horizontally stretched across the entire display or as a small panel across half. It works well vertically, as well as floating in the middle. You can have more than one, and each one can be configured to do as much or as little as you want. But the default KDE panel can still feel a little utilitarian, partly because it’s nothing like the panel in macOS. This is why there are perhaps so many panel replacements that look more like Apple’s similar dock. Latte Dock is the best alternative I’ve seen for KDE (Figure 3). Unlike most panel replacements, it has got a comprehensive set of configuration…

KDE’s window manager lets you do lots of crazy things to windows. Some of them are pretty useful. Right-click on any window’s titlebar, and a menu will pop up. Apart from the options to minimize, maximize, and close the windows, you’ll notice the More Actions option. The Keep Above Others and Keep Below Others options are self-explanatory, but you can also make a window Fullscreen, and it will be maximized; the application’s titlebar and any other desktop elements (like panels) will disappear, giving you maximum workspace. If the application doesn’t offer you a way to exit full screen mode, press Alt+F3 and use the menu to deactivate it. You can also “shade” the window, which means it will roll up like a blind, leaving only the titlebar visible. Another alternative…

A default KDE Plasma desktop has a panel at the bottom of the screen, a start button holding menus at the bottom left, and a tray on the right – all quite conventional, boring, and even Windows-y (see Figure 4). But Plasma can be configured to look like anything, even like Ubuntu’s defunct Unity, Gnome, macOS, or whatever else rocks your boat. Both Unity and macOS use a global menu: It is the menu that appears in a bar at the top of the screen and shows a selected application’s options, instead of having them in a bar along the top of the application. To create global menus in Plasma, first right-click in any free space on the Plasma desktop and select + Add Panel | Empty Panel from the…

There are dozens of graphic file formats, but in real life most photos are stored in JPEG, whereas screenshots and web graphics look best in Portable Network Graphics (PNG). Let’s skip other specialized file formats such as TIFF or numerous RAW flavors from different camera vendors for the sake of brevity. Historically JPEG compression was developed as an optimal trade-off between higher quality and smaller file size, which used to be a headache in the days of dial-up Internet and small hard drives. JPEG is lossy, but it delivers very natural-looking images even with aggressive compression ratios. On the other hand, PNGs have gracefully solved the problem of transferring lossless bitmap graphics across networks thanks to its built-in compression. In modern times, the technology has advanced even further, and now…