In this issue

OPNSense 23.
Nate Drake has the good sense to try out OPNSense, a top-notch firewall distro based on FreeBSD.

Personal cloud servers
Michael Reed compares five open source cloud servers to find out whether they’re really free, what it takes to install them and if you should store your data on them!

Debian GNU/Linux 2.1

It may be a bit behind the times, but Debian is one of the best distributions on the market.

2 mins

Ubuntu 5.04

Andy Hudson hopes this is one hedgehog that won’t get squashed.

3 mins

Master RPI.GPIO

Les Pounder goes back to the early days of the Raspberry Pi - and his career with this classic library! -

5 mins

Fantastic Mr Firefox

Nick Peers takes a trip down memory lane to reveal the story behind the rise - and slight fall - of Mozilla's popular web browser.

9 mins

Universal layer text effects with GIMP

Posters use them, films and presentations are hard to imagine without them: text effects. Attract attention with Karsten Günther and GIMP.

8 mins

Create your first WebSocket service

Mihalis Tsoukalos explains how to use the Go programming language to work with the WebSocket protocol.

9 mins

Linux-Mandrake 7

Simplicity and a wide range of applications make this a great distribution for all Linux users.

2 mins

Free our SOFTWARE!

Taking anything for granted is dangerous, so Jonni Bidwell and Mike Saunders revisit how the free software movement got started to help free us from proprietary tyranny!

4 mins

The Best OPEN SOURCE Software Ever!

In an attempt to trigger controversy, Michael Reed and Neil Mohr unequivocally state these are the greatest free software apps ever. Probably. We’re just trying to be helpful.

10+ mins

Corel Linux 1.0

Corel’s entry into the Linux market has potential, but there are issues.

2 mins

Waveshare Zero to Pi3

Transform your Pi Zero into a Pi 3, they promised Les Pounder, but it's more like adding on go-faster stripes.

2 mins

Mailserver

Linux is the way forward, is it? The future of alternative computing and all that? My experience of Unix machines only covers the terminals at uni and I wasn’t impressed, although I think they probably had outdated kernels and were badly configured – I never even got around to installing LinuxAPUS on my trusty PPC-powered Amiga (you shouldn’t laugh).

4 mins

Set up your terminal and email like it's 1983

Jump in the hot terminal time machine with Mats Tage Axelsson who emails from the command line using the latest technology.

8 mins

Jump to a federated social network

Nick Peers reveals how you can get up and running with this free, decentralised and non-profit alternative to Twitter.

9 mins

SUSE Linux 6.3

We test this long-established German company’s latest distribution effort. Can it hold off the competition?

2 mins

Rocky 9.1

Nate Drake goes head-to-head with Red Hat-based distros this month, so is glad to have the heavyweight Rocky in his corner.

2 mins

Making Git so easy, we say it's Magit!

Aaron Peters uses the Emacs Git client Magit to perform a long overdue update of his LXF repository.

10+ mins

Using enhanced layer features with G'MIC

Karsten Günther takes a look beyond GIMP's standard layer functions. Besides special GIMP operations, tasks provided by G'MIC loom into view.

10+ mins

FREE YOUR PHONE!

Lesser-spotted Jonni Bidwell climbs to the top of a 5G mast to extol the benefits of running Linux on your phone.

10+ mins

Deck the hardware

We revisit and trick out the Valve Steam Deck a year on from release.

10 mins

Kingston NV2

Cheap but not cheerful, bemoans Shane Downing.

2 mins

Packaging formats

There's a number of ways of getting software on to your Linux-powered computer, and Michael Reed is comparing them to find out which is best.

10+ mins

No changes allowed!

Matt Holder explores immutable operating systems, containerised apps and containers to see if they describe the future of the Linux distro.

9 mins

Pico GPIO control with JavaScript

Les Pounder strays from Python to show us that JavaScript, the language of the web, is a viable Pico alternative.

5 mins

Arduino 2.0.3

Les Pounder loves tinkering with hardware, so when Arduino revealed its latest IDE, he had an excuse to tinker some more.

2 mins

Recreating the classic Bomberman

When we said \"go out with a bang\", Andrew Smith took it to heart and decided to blow more than just the blinking doors off!

10 mins

How to trace code directly with eBPF

Mihalis Tsoukalos explains how to take advantage of eBFP with a range of different programming languages.

10+ mins

Giving praise to the TempleOS

Michael Reed delves into one of the most unusual operating systems he's ever seen and explores the story behind its creation.

10 mins

Getting creative with algorithmic art

Mike Bedford demonstrates how you can exercise your left and right brain simultaneously by generating algorithmic art.

10+ mins

Pi USER

Millions and millions of RP2040s! | More Pis in store

2 mins

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Linux Format is a monthly magazine that covers all aspects of Linux, from beginner-friendly tutorials to in-depth articles for experienced users. It also features reviews of the latest Linux distributions, software, and hardware.

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