Innehållsförteckning för December 2024 från Linux Magazine

Dear Reader, “We should try to work with these guys. They are just getting started, but I think they might be going places, and it will be good to make the connection.” These were the words of Brian, my publisher, 20 years ago, when talking about an upstart new Linux that had recently appeared on the scene. This group had a way of looking like a community, but they were strangely more organized and directed than the lovable but too-often chaotic community distros of the era. And the name of this newcomer? It was so unlikely, and yet so memorable – once you heard it, you couldn’t forget it: Ubuntu. When you asked them what the name meant, they would say, “It sort of means togetherness, or ‘I can be…

A strain of malware has been exploiting misconfigurations on Linux servers since 2021 and has been found to be quite challenging to remove. The malware has been dubbed perfctl and, as you might expect, mines cryptocurrency. The developers of this malware are as of yet unknown. They have created a malicious piece of software that uses processes and file names that are either identical or very similar to those already found in Linux environments. To keep itself hidden, perfctl uses several tricks, one of which is to install many of its components as rootkits, which by nature are harder to detect. Perfctrl also stops all easily detected activities when a user logs in, uses a Unix socket over Tor for communication, deletes the installation binary after the service is up…

Linux Magazine www.linux-magazine.com ADMIN HPC http://www.admin-magazine.com/HPC/ TUI Tools for Containers • Jeff Layton Text-based user interface tools for a development container. ADMIN Online http://www.admin-magazine.com/ A Feature-Rich Drop-In Replacement for Microsoft Exchange • Markus Feilner Grommunio is a completely open source and fully compatible drop-in replacement for Microsoft Exchange that uncouples your company from Microsoft’s cloud strategy and its severe security and data protection issues. Manage Software Apps Publicly and Privately • Kevin Wittmer The WinGet client for the Windows Package Manager improves the software installation experience for administrators, developers, and users and provides a way to create and share software in the WinGet package format for publishing to public and private repos. RFID Technologies and Risks • Tam Hanna We look at various approaches to RFID asset tracking, provide an…

By delivering expert commercial support for the Debian-based open source eLxr project (https://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Debian-Based-eLxr-Distribution-Announced-for-Edge-Deployments/(language)/eng-US), Wind River helps organizations manage critical workloads across distributed environments with new levels of efficiency and scalability. This platform “empowers enterprises to adopt scalable, secure, and reliable Linux solutions for cloud-to-edge deployments” with features such as: • upstream-first approach: fully aligns with Debian’s open governance, ensuring a free operating system that preserves software freedom• cloud-native-ready: optimized for containerized workloads and supported across a range of modern runtimes• security-first: continuous security monitoring throughout package lifecycle The open source eLxr project provides a secure and stable Linux distribution for near-edge networks and workloads. And, as a founding member and leading contributor to the eLxr project (https://www.windriver.com/blog/Enriching-the-Edge-Cloud-Continuum-with-eLxr), Wind River provides customers with comprehensive lifecycle support to ensure your “Linux platform…

I am lucky enough to have access to my extended family’s remote cabin. It’s beautiful and remote (Figure 1), but there is no grid – no electricity or Internet, not even by cell service. I set up a solar-powered WiFi access point that hosts exactly one website: a place to share files. This lets the different people who visit the cabin exchange info with the next group who is staying. It’s kind of fun, too: The shared data includes practical things like the new phone number of the fellow who delivers propane and playful things like photos of people swimming. Getting Started It might sound easy, but it took me about two weeks to figure this all out. I started with the goal of running Nextcloud on a device that…

Anki is a multiplatform, open source digital version of paper flashcards that “makes remembering things easy” [1] and “makes memory a choice” [2]. You can run Anki on Linux, macOS, and Windows systems, as well as on mobile devices [3]. Flashcards are a quick and easy way to memorize facts for academic tests and other training scenarios. The two main reasons to try Anki are the sheer number of cards it can handle (more than 100,000, according to its developers), and how easy it is to embed all kinds of content in each card, from audio and video to scientific formulas and musical scores. Anki also has many add-ons and a web interface [4] that you can use to study your cards online or keep them synchronized across multiple devices.…

Linux Magazine is your guide to the world of Linux. Monthly issues are packed with advanced technical articles and tutorials you won't find anywhere else. Explore our full catalog of back issues for specific topics or to complete your collection. #288/November 2024 Smart Home If you listen to megavendors like Google and Amazon, the only path to a smart home is through the cloud, but the Linux community has a better way. We'll show you some open source smart home tools with no cost and no spying. On the DVD: Rocky Linux 9.4 and MX Linux MX-23.3 #287/October 2024 Ollama Many Linux users are intrigued by Large Language Model (LLM) tools like ChatGPT, but if you really want to be methodical about testing and experimenting, why get tangled in the…

Halcyon’s goal is to defeat ransomware, and on October 1, the company announced the general availability of Halcyon Linux. This new product offers protection against ransomware attacks targeting Linux systems. According to Cynet, Linux ransomware attacks increased by 75 percent in 2023 and are expected to continue to climb as more bad actors target Linux deployments (https://www.cynet.com/ransomware/linux-ransomware-attack-anatomy-examples-and-protection/). The Cynet report states, “While Linux ransomware only represents a small share of cyberattacks, there are several reasons to be concerned. As a Linux user, you must not overlook ransomware even if it is not yet common on Linux-based systems. While Windows is the favorite for desktops, Linux dominates the market for supercomputers and servers. The Linux computing market is projected to grow to $22 billion by 2029.” To combat that, Halcyon Linux…

During the OSPOs for Good event at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, the Open Source Initiative (OSI, https://members.opensource.org/join/) and the Linux Professional Institute (LPI, https://www.lpi.org/) confirmed a new alliance to address the growing demand for employability from public and private organizations worldwide. This will bring the two groups together to collaborate on technical education projects aimed at increasing professional growth for both Linux and open source technologies. The agreement bolsters LPI’s professional certification by ensuring that open source licenses meet open source software requirements, and encouraging members of the public to participate in the development and maintenance of open source projects and achieve certifications. This coming together will also help both LPI and OSI financially, because it means they will be eligible to receive certain discounts and…

With a price of $699, the Tab 3 might be more expensive than the average Android tablet, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option if you want a full-blown Linux experience in tablet form. The Juno Tab 3 is available with either the Debian-based Mobian Linux, Ubuntu 24.04, or Kubuntu 24.04. The specs include an Intel Alder Lake-N Celeron N100 CPU with 4 cores, 4 threads, and a 1.10GHz clock speed (or 3.40GHz with Turbo); an Intel UHD GPU; a 12.1" anti-glare IPS capacitive touch display at 2K 2160×1440, 60Hz refresh rate, and 270min/330typ cd/㎡; 16GB of RAM, WiFi 6; Bluetooth 5.0; a 2MP front cam and 3.7MP rear cam; a 512GB SSD; and a 5000 mAh 38Wh 7.6V battery with a 36W charger. As far as ports…

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Vacation time is travel time! I like to take my laptop with me on long-haul flights. After all, the best ideas for new articles always come to me at the worst possible times. But, without an Internet connection, neither Google nor ChatGPT work, and GitHub is also out of reach for code ideas. Even the stuff I wrote previously is stashed away in Git repositories, and – worse still – the copies on my laptop are not always up to date. That’s really annoying, because it means duplicating the work, which I want to avoid, or at least pesky integration and potential conflict-resolution tasks later, when I look to reconcile the texts I checked in while I was up in the air with an out of sync repository. Wouldn’t it…

So many geeks are gamers. Many Linux users say their first experience with computers was playing those classic old computer games of the 1990s. And of course, many who were born much later still relish the raw simplicity of those old-school games from the DOS space. If retro-gaming is your thing, or if you are curious about what to do with those old gaming CDs and backup files that are taking up space in your attic, you’ll enjoy this month’s tutorial on legacy video game preservation. Also in this month’s Linux Voice, scale up your memorization skills with the Anki flashcard system.…

Desktop environment Gnome 47 On September 18, the Gnome Community released the latest version of the desktop, codenamed “Denver.” The top-billed new “Accent Colors” feature is underwhelming to Ubuntu users, given the OS has supported this since 2022. Still, it’s easy to access via Gnome settings and was the first change I made when testing Gnome 47 in a daily build of Ubuntu 24.10. The Nautilus file manager has also been overhauled. Traditionally, bookmarks to Home folder locations such as Documents and Pictures couldn’t be removed. This is now supported and I put it to good effect to remove the redundant Videos folder. I also noted that the Other Locations bookmark is no longer there. All internal drives are listed in the sidebar instead. The release notes also state that…

Users, developers, and vendors meet at Linux events around the world. We at Linux Magazine are proud to sponsor the Featured Events shown here. For other events near you, check our extensive events calendar online at https://www.linux-magazine.com/events. If you know of another Linux event you would like us to add to our calendar, please send a message with all the details to info@linux-magazine.com. FOSDEM 2025 Date: February1-2,2025 Location: Brussels, Belgium Website: https://fosdem.org/2024/ FOSDEM is a free event for software developers to meet, share ideas, and collaborate. Every year, thousands of developers of free and open source software from all over the world gather at the event in Brussels. You don't need to register. Just turn up and join in! State of Open Con 2025 Date: February 4-5, 2025 Location: Brussels, Belgium…

The Gnome Foundation has announced changes are underway due to some serious financial issues (https://foundation.gnome.org/2024/10/07/update-from-the-board-2024-10/). Their current budget was approved on October 1, and they have been forced to make some very tough decisions to ensure long-term sustainability. Those decisions include layoffs, most notably Caroline Henrikson, Creative Director, and, Melissa Wu, Director of Community Development. The foundation also indicated that, unless more funds are secured, they will have to make serious changes in how they market, fundraise, and even attend events. One area that did not see cuts is Gnome’s two major conferences, Gnome Asia and GUADEC. Fortunately, these events are backed by corporate sponsorship, so they have been spared (for the time being). The Gnome Foundation internship programs and the group’s participation in Google Summer of Code are also…

Arch Linux recently announced that it would be part of a collaboration with Steam for two major projects. The projects in question are a build service infrastructure and a secure signing enclave. According to the Arch news release, “This opportunity allows us to address some of the biggest outstanding challenges we have been facing for a while. The collaboration will speed up the progress that would otherwise take much longer for us to achieve and will ultimately unblock us from finally pursuing some of our planned endeavors. We are incredibly grateful for Valve (https://www.valvesoftware.com/en/) to make this possible and for their explicit commitment to help and support Arch Linux.” The secure signing enclave is intended for the Arch team to use to sign packages with a single signing key, instead…

If you’re looking for a new enterprise-grade server operating system and are concerned about hardware compatibility, AlmaLinux offers a new certification process. This new program will verify and certify hardware for the AlmaLinux OS. The certification process is broken down into four steps: • Submission of hardware for testing• Rigorous testing by AlmaLinux or an authorized partner• Issuance of certification upon successful completion of tests• Listing of certified hardware in AlmaLinux’s official catalog There are also two certification levels: • AlmaLinux Compatible: This is the basic level and confirms that the hardware functions correctly with AlmaLinux OS. • AlmaLinux Certified: This is a more rigorous certification process that guarantees the hardware works and meets performance and reliability standards. According to benny Vasquez, chair of the AlmaLinux OS foundation, “The creation…

When the Process Is the Feature The Linux kernel development process has undergone many changes through the years. Linus Torvalds was the first to understand how to run an open source project. The GNU General Public License (GPL) had existed for years, but the GNU projects that used it were isolated, and potential contributors were largely turned away. Linus’s great innovation was to encourage people of all skill levels to chip in, resulting in such an increase of development speed that pretty soon the entire open source world burst into existence. The Linux kernel was really where all of that started. Since then, the kernel development process has followed its own evolutionary processes, with subsystem maintainers feeding patches for inclusion in the source tree up through highly trusted “lieutenants” to…

FOSS and economic models In 1999, I was honored to work with several groups of people who were interested in helping make GNU/Linux a commercial success. One group was the Linux Professional Institute (LPI, www.lpi.org), who decided to implement a nonprofit certification group headquartered in Canada. The people instigating LPI came from a wide variety of backgrounds, but had significant experience in free and open source software (FOSS) and various business backgrounds. Some were more oriented toward commercial companies, and some were more oriented toward community groups, but we all wanted the same thing: quality, respected, high-value certifications which offered a large number of options for learning the materials. One aspect of LPI stood out. Because LPI was not a shareholder-based organization, an organization where people profited from owning part…

Available Starting December 6 Most Linux distributions come bundled with the LibreOffice suite, but Linux is all about choice, and a number of other options exist in the wild. If you’re getting restless and want to explore the contenders for word processing, accounting, and presentations, look for next month’s issue, where we study some of the leading office alternatives. Also inside: • Weather Cam• Metadata in Digikam• Bash Tricks for Web Maintenance• Manage Your VPNs with WireGuard Easy• And much more! Please note: Articles could change before the next issue. BE THE FIRST TO SEE WHAT’S NEXT The Linux Magazine Preview is a monthly email newsletter that gives you a sneak peek at the next issue, including links to articles posted online. Sign up at: https://bit.ly/Linux-Update…