Full Circle Magazine #182

Thismagazinewascreatedusing:

WELCOMETOTHELATESTISSUEOFFULLCIRCLE

Anotherfullquotaofgoodnessforyouthismonthwith:Python,Micro,Latex,Inkscape,Blender, andlotsofothergoodness.

Withinthismonth'sInkscapearticleisaquicknotefromMarkaboutaparticularlynastybugthat wasinarecentrelease.Besuretocheckyourversionandupgradeifneedbe.

ForourreviewsthismonthwehaveKubuntuandFedora.Fedorais,ofcourse,thenonDebian distroofthemonth.Wealsohaveabitofanebookthemethismonthwithaquicklookatvarious ebooksoftware(eg:Calibre)andaMyStorylookingatCalibre.Incaseyoudon'tknowit:Calibreisa greatpieceofsoftwareforconvertingebookformats,viewingebooks,keepingatabonyour collection,andsomuchmore.

Last,butnotleast,ifyou'dliketoreadagamereviewforagamethatalmostcausedEriktohave anervousbreakdown...thisisyourchance.

Don'tforget:ifyou'relookingforsomehelp,advice,orjustachitchat:remember,wehavea Telegramgroup:https://t.me/joinchat/24ec1oMFO1ZjZDc0.Ihopetoseeyouthere.Comeandsay hello.

Anyway,allthebest,andstaysafe!

Ronnie ronnie@fullcirclemagazine.org

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SIMHSIMULATORLICENSE

DISPUTE: 05/21/2022

MarkPizzolato,principal developerofthe retrocomputersimulatorSIMH, addedarestrictiontothelicense textregardingtheabilitytouse futurechangesmadetothe sim disk.candscp.cfiles.Therest oftheprojectfiles,asbefore,are distributedundertheMITlicense.

Thelicensechangewasa responsetocriticismofthe AUTOSIZEfeatureaddedlastyear, whichresultedinmetadatabeing addedtodiskimagesofsystems runningintheemulator,which increasedtheimagesizeby512 bytes.Someusersexpressed dissatisfactionwiththisbehavior andrecommendedsavingmetadata notintheimageitself,which reflectsthecontentsofthedisk, butinaseparatefile.Sinceitwas notpossibletoconvincetheauthor tochangethedefaultbehavior, somederivativeprojectsbeganto changethespecifiedfunctionality

throughtheapplicationof additionalpatches.

MarkPizzolatosolvedtheissue radicallybyaddingaclausetothe projectlicensethatprohibitsthe useofallnewcodethathewilladd tothesim _disk.candscp.cfiles afterchangingthelicensetext,in caseofchangingthebehavioror defaultvaluesrelatedtothe AUTOSIZEfunctionality.The sim _disk.candscp.ccodeadded beforethelicensechangeisstill availableundertheMITlicenseas before.

Thisactionwascriticizedby otherprojectparticipants,asthe changewasmadewithouttaking intoaccounttheopinionsofother developersandnowSIMHasa wholecanbeperceivedasanonfreeproject,whichwillinterfere withitspromotionandintegration withotherprojects.MarkPizzolato pointedoutthatthechangestothe licenseonlyapplytothesim_disk.c andscp.cfilesdevelopedbyhim personally.Forthosewhoarenot happywithaddingdatatothe imagewhenitboots,he

recommendedmountingdisk imagesinread-onlymodeor turningofftheAUTOSIZEfeature byaddingthe"SETNOAUTOSIZE" parametertothe~/simh.ini configurationfile.

https://groups.io/g/simh/topic/ new license/91108560

formofapatchsofar.Thedanger ofthevulnerabilityismitigatedby thefactthatmostdistributions restrictaccesstoperfto unprivilegedusersbydefault.Asa securityworkaround,youcanset thekernel.perf_event_paranoid sysctlparameterto3. https://www.openwall.com/lists/ oss-security/2022/05/20/2

VULNERABILITYINTHE LINUXPERFKERNEL SUBSYSTEM: 21.05.2022

Avulnerability(CVE-2022-1729) hasbeenidentifiedintheLinux kernelthatcouldallowalocaluser togainrootaccesstothesystem. Thevulnerabilityiscausedbyarace conditionintheperfsubsystem, whichcanbeusedtoinitiateaccess toanalreadyfreedareaofthe kernelmemory(use-after-free).The problemhasbeenmanifesting sincethereleaseofthe4.0-rc1 kernel.Exploitabilityhasbeen confirmedforreleases5.4.193+.

Thefixisonlyavailableinthe

HPHASANNOUNCEDA

LAPTOPTHATCOMESWITH

POP!

_ OS: 21.05.2022

HPhasannouncedtheHPDev

Onelaptop,designedfor applicationdevelopersandshipped withtheLinuxdistributionPop! OS.Thelaptopisbasedonan8coreAMDRyzen7PROprocessor, equippedwitha14-inch(FHD)antiglarescreen,16GBofRAMand1TB NVMe.TheRRPis1099USdollars.

TheCOSMICdesktopsuppliedin thePop!_OSdistributionisbased onamodifiedGNOMEShelland

includesasetoforiginaladd-ons forGNOMEShell,itsowntheme,its ownsetoficons,otherfonts(Fira andRobotoSlab)andchanged settings.UnlikeGNOME,COSMIC continuestouseasplitviewfor navigatingopenwindowsand installedapplications.Forwindow manipulation,boththetraditional mousecontrolmode,familiarto beginners,andthetiledwindow layoutmode,whichallowsyouto controltheworkusingonlythe keyboard,areprovided.

https://hpdevone.com/ UBUNTU22.10WILLMOVE

TOAUDIOPROCESSINGWITH PIPEWIREINSTEADOF PULSEAUDIO:

21.05.2022

TheUbuntu22.10releasedevelopmentrepositoryhas movedtousethedefaultPipeWire mediaserverforaudioprocessing. PulseAudio-relatedpackageshave beenremovedfromthedesktop anddesktopminimalpackages,and forcompatibility,insteadof librariesforinteractingwith PulseAudio,apipewire-pulselayer

thatrunsontopofPipeWirehas beenadded,whichallowsyouto keepallexistingPulseAudioclients working.

HeatherEllsworthofCanonical hasconfirmedthedecisiontofully migratetoPipeWireinUbuntu 22.10.InUbuntu22.04bothservers wereusedinthedistributionPipeWirewasusedtoprocessvideo whenrecordingscreencastsand providingaccesstothescreen,but theaudiocontinuedtobe processedusingPulseAudio.In Ubuntu22.10,onlyPipeWirewill remain.Twoyearsago,asimilar changewasalreadyimplementedin theFedora34distribution,which madeitpossibletoprovide professionalaudioprocessing capabilities,getridof fragmentation,andunifytheaudio infrastructurefordifferent applications.

PipeWireoffersanadvanced securitymodelthatallowsyouto manageaccessona,per-deviceand per-streambasis,makingiteasyto streamaudioandvideofromandto isolatedcontainers.PipeWirecan processanymediastreamsandis abletomixandredirectnotonly audiostreams,butalsovideo streams,aswellasmanagevideo

sources(videocapturedevices,web cameras,orscreencontent displayedbyapplications).PipeWire canalsoactasalow-latencyaudio serverandprovidefunctionality thatcombinesthecapabilitiesof PulseAudioandJACK,includingthe needsofprofessionalaudio processingsystemsthatPulseAudio couldnotclaim. https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ pipewire-as-a-replacement-forpulseaudio/28489/3 LOTUS1-2-3PORTEDTO

LINUX: 22.05.2022

TavisOrmandy,asecurity

researcheratGoogle,porteda Lotus1-2-3spreadsheet,released in1988,threeyearsbeforeLinux itself,torunonLinux.Theportis basedontheprocessingof executablefilesforUNIX,foundin thearchivewithwarezononeof theBBS.Theworkisinterestingin thatportingisdoneatthelevelof machinecodesanddynamiclinking withouttheuseofemulatorsor virtualmachines.Theresultisan executablefilethatcanrunon Linuxwithoutanyextralayers.A

toolkitforadaptingpublicly availableLotus1-2-3binariestorun onLinuxisavailableonGitHub.

Duringporting,adaptationto theLinuxsystemcallinterfacewas made,callswereredirectedto glibc,incompatiblefunctionswere replaced,andanalternativedriver foroutputtotheterminalwas integrated.Thelicensecheck bypasshasalsobeenaddedtohis copy,butTavisownsaboxedcopy ofLotus1-2-3forMS-DOSandis legallyentitledtousetheproduct. TheportisnotTavis'firstattempt atrunningLotus1-2-3onLinux, havingpreviouslyprovideda dedicateddriverforDOSEMUto runaDOSversionofLotus1-2-3on modernterminals.Themain questioniswhy?XD https://lock.cmpxchg8b.com/ linux123.html

KDEPLASMA5.25

DESKTOPTESTING: 22.05.2022

fullcirclemagazine#182 5 contents^ NEWS ThebetaversionofthePlasma 5.25customshellisavailable fortesting.Youcantestthenew releasethroughalivebuildfrom

theopenSUSEprojectandabuild fromtheKDENeonTestingedition project.Packagesforvarious distributionscanbefoundonthe linkbelow.Thereleaseisexpected onJune14th. https://kde.org/announcements/ plasma/5/5.24.90/

communityrepresentatives.The projectisseenasaplatformfor researchandcollaborationonnew technologiesrelatedtothe simulationofrobotsandcomplex mechanisms.Thecodeispublished undertheApache2.0license.Only Linux,WindowsandmacOS platformsaresupported.

DEEPMINDOPENSCODE

FORMUJOCOPHYSICS

SIMULATOR: 23.05.2022

DeepMindhasopenedthesourcecodefortheMuJoCo (Multi-JointdynamicswithContact) engineforsimulatingphysical processesandswitchedtheproject toanopendevelopmentmodel, whichimpliesthepossibilityof participationinthedevelopmentof

MuJoCoisalibrarythat implementsanenginefor simulatingphysicalprocessesand modelingarticulatedstructures interactingwiththeenvironment, whichcanbeusedinthe developmentofrobots, biomechanicaldevicesandartificial intelligencesystems,aswellasin thecreationofgraphics,animation andcomputergames.Theengineis writteninC,doesnotusedynamic memoryallocation,andis optimizedformaximum performance.

MuJoCoallowsyouto manipulateobjectsatalowlevel, whileprovidinghighprecisionand extensivemodelingcapabilities. ModelsaredefinedusingtheMJCF scenedescriptionlanguage,which isbasedonXMLandcompiledusing aspecialoptimizingcompiler.In additiontoMJCF,theengine supportsloadingfilesinthe universalURDFformat(Unified RobotDescriptionFormat). MuJoCoalsoprovidesaGUIfor interactive3Dvisualizationofthe simulationprocessandrenderingof theresultsusingOpenGL. https://www.deepmind.com/blog/ open-sourcing-mujoco

ALPINELINUX3.16: 24.05.2022 ThereleaseofAlpineLinux3.16 isavailable,aminimalistic distributionbuiltontheMusl systemlibraryandtheBusyBox utilityset.Thedistributionis distinguishedbyincreasedsecurity requirementsandisbuiltwithSSP (StackSmashingProtection) protection.OpenRCisusedasthe initializationsystem,anditsown apkpackagemanagerisusedfor packagemanagement.Alpineis usedtobuildofficialDocker containerimages.Bootableiso images(x86_64,x86,armhf, aarch64,armv7,ppc64le,s390x)are preparedinfiveversions:standard (155MB),unpatchedkernel(168 MB),advanced(750MB)andfor virtualmachines(49MB). https://alpinelinux.org/posts/ Alpine-3.16.0-released.html

NGINX1.22.0RELEASED: 24.05.2022

After13monthsofdevelopment,anewstable branchofthehighperformance HTTPserverandmulti-protocol

proxyservernginx1.22.0was released,whichincorporatesthe changesaccumulatedinthe1.21.x mainbranch.Inthefuture,all changesinthe1.22stablebranch willberelatedtotheeliminationof seriousbugsandvulnerabilities. Themainbranchofnginx1.23will soonbecreated,wherethe developmentofnewfeatureswill continue.Forordinaryuserswhodo nothavethetaskofensuring compatibilitywiththird-party modules,itisrecommendedthey usethemainbranch,wherethe commercialNginxPlusproductare madeeverythreemonths.

AccordingtoNetcraft'sApril report,nginxisusedon20.08%of allactivesites(20.15%ayearago, 19.56%twoyearsago),which correspondstothesecondplacein popularityinthiscategory (Apache'ssharecorrespondsto 22.58%(25.38%ayearago), Cloudflare-10.42%(8.51%), Google-8.89%(10.09%)Atthe sametime,whenconsideringall sites,nginxretainsitsleadership andoccupies31.13%ofthemarket (35.34%ayearago,36.91%two yearsago),whiletheshareof Apachecorrespondsto23.08% (25.98%),OpenResty(aplatform basedonnginxandLuaJIT)-8.01%

(6.55%),Cloudflare 5.49%, MicrosoftIIS-4%(5.96%). http://nginx.org/#2022-05-24 CLONEZILLALIVE3.0.0

RELEASED: 24.05.2022

ThenewreleaseofClonezilla

Live3.0.0isout,designedfor fastdiskcloning(onlyusedblocks arecopied).Thetasksperformedby thedistributionaresimilartothe proprietaryNortonGhostproduct. Thedistributionisoimagesizeis 356MB(i686,amd64).

Thedistributionisbasedon DebianGNU/Linuxandusesthe codeofprojectssuchasDRBL, PartitionImage,ntfsclone, partclone,udpcast.BootfromCD/ DVD,USBFlashandnetwork(PXE) ispossible.LVM2andFSext2,ext3, ext4,reiserfs,reiser4,xfs,jfs,btrfs, f2fs,nilfs2,FAT12,FAT16,FAT32, NTFS,HFS+,UFS,minix,VMFS3and VMFS5(VMWareESX)are supported.Thereisamodefor masscloningoverthenetwork, includingwiththetransmissionof trafficinmulticastmode,which allowsyoutosimultaneouslyclone

thesourcedisktoalargenumber ofclientmachines.Itispossible bothtoclonefromonediskto another,andtocreatebackup copiesbysavingadiskimagetoa file.Cloningatthelevelofentire disksorindividualpartitionsisalso possible. https://sourceforge.net/p/ clonezilla/news/2022/05/stableclonezilla-live-300-26-released/ MIR2.8DISPLAYSERVER

RELEASED: 24.05.2022

TheMir2.8displayserverisout, thedevelopmentcontinuedby Canonical,despitetherefusalto developtheUnityshellandthe Ubuntueditionforsmartphones. MirremainsindemandinCanonical projectsandisnowpositionedasa solutionforembeddeddevicesand theInternetofThings(IoT).Mircan beusedasacompositeserverfor Wayland,whichallowsyoutorun anyapplicationsusingWayland(for example,builtwithGTK3/4,Qt5/6 orSDL2)inMir-based environments.Installationpackages arepreparedforUbuntu20.04, 21.10and22.04(PPA)andFedora

33,34,35and36.Theprojectcode isdistributedundertheGPLv2 license. https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ mir-release-2-8-0/28581

ROADMAPFORBUDGIE'S

JoshuaStrobl,whorecently retiredfromtheSolus distributionandfoundedthe independentorganizationBuddies OfBudgie,hasreleasedplansfor furtherdevelopmentoftheBudgie desktopenvironment.TheBudgie 10.xbranchwillcontinuetoevolve towardsprovidinggeneric,distro independentcomponents. PackageswithBudgieDesktop, BudgieControlCenter,Budgie DesktopViewandBudgie Screensaverareofferedfor inclusionintheFedoraLinux repositories.Inthefuture,they plantoprepareaseparateedition (spin)ofFedorawithaBudgie desktop,similartotheUbuntu Budgieedition.TheBudgie11 branchwillevolvetowards separatingthelayerwiththe implementationofthemain

fullcirclemagazine#182 7 contents^ NEWS USERENVIRONMENT: 05/26/2022

functionalityofthedesktopand thelayerthatprovidesvisualization andinformationoutput.Sucha separationwillallowabstracting thecodefromspecificgraphical toolkitsandlibraries,aswellas startingtoexperimentwithother modelsforpresentinginformation andconnectingotheroutput systems.Asanexample,itwillbe possibletostartexperimenting withthepreviouslyplanned transitiontothesetofEFL (EnlightenmentFoundationLibrary) librariesdevelopedbythe Enlightenmentproject. https://blog.buddiesofbudgie.org/ state-of-the-budgie-may-2022/

RELEASEOFTHE

ANONYMOUSNETWORKI2P

1.8.0ANDTHEC++CLIENT

I2PD2.42: 26.05.2022

AnonymousnetworkI2P1.8.0 andC++clienti2pd2.42.0have beenreleased.I2Pisamulti-layer anonymousdistributednetwork operatingontopoftheregular Internet,activelyusingend-to-end encryptiontoguaranteeanonymity

andisolation.Thenetworkisbuiltin P2Pmodeandiscreatedthanksto theresources(bandwidth)provided bynetworkusers,whichmakesit possibletodowithouttheuseof centrallycontrolledservers (communicationswithinthe networkarebasedontheuseof encryptedone-waytunnels betweentheparticipantandpeers). ThenewversionofI2Poffersan initialimplementationofthe "SSU2"UDPtransport,which significantlyimprovesperformance andsecurity.Theintroductionof SSU2willcompletelyupdatethe cryptographicstack,getridofthe veryslowElGamalalgorithm(ECIESX25519-AEAD-Ratchetwillbeused forend-to-endencryptioninstead ofElGamal/AES+SessionTag), reduceoverheadcomparedtoSSU andimprovetheperformanceof mobiledevices https://github.com/PurpleI2P/i2pd/ releases/tag/2.42.0

withtheRedHatEnterpriseLinux9 distributionandcontainingallthe changesproposedtothisbranch. TheAlmaLinuxprojectbecamethe firstpublicdistributionbasedon RHEL,releasingstablebuildsbased onRHEL9.Installationimagesare preparedforthex86 64,ARM64, ppc64leands390xarchitecturesin theformofboot(800MB), minimum(1.5GB)andfullimage(8 GB).LivebuildswithGNOME,KDE andXfcewillbecreatedlater,as wellasimagesforRaspberryPi boards,containersandcloud platforms.

Thedistributionisfullybinary compatiblewithRedHatEnterprise Linuxandcanbeusedasa replacementforRHEL9and CentOS9Stream.Changescome downtorebranding,removalof RHEL-specificpackagessuchas redhat-*,insights-clientand subscription-manager-migration*. https://almalinux.org/blog/ almalinux-9-now-available/

TOSOLVEPROBLEMSWITH

THESLOWFIREFOXSNAP: 27.05.2022

fullcirclemagazine#182 8 contents^ NEWS Canonicalhasbegunaddressing performanceissueswiththe Firefoxsnappackagethatwas offeredbydefaultinUbuntu22.04 insteadoftheregulardebpackage. Themainuserdissatisfactionisdue totheveryslowlaunchofFirefox. Forexample,onaDellXPS13 laptop,thefirstlaunchofFirefox afterinstallationtakes7.6seconds, onaThinkpadX240laptopittakes 15seconds,andonaRaspberryPi 400boardittakes38secondsand onmypotatolaptopittakesovera minute.Restartsarecompletedin 0.86,1.39and8.11seconds, respectively. https://ubuntu.com/blog/howare we-improving-firefox-snapperformance-part-1

AHARDWIREDPASSWORD

REVEALEDINLINUXFX: 27.05.2022

MembersoftheKernelcommunityhaveidentifiedan unusuallynonchalantattitude towardssecurityintheLinuxfx distribution,whichoffersabuildof UbuntuwithaWindows11-styled KDEuserenvironment.According totheproject'swebsite,the distributionhasmorethanamillion usersandabout15,000downloads thisweek.Thedistributionoffers activationofadditionalpaid features,whichisdonethroughthe introductionofalicensekeyina specialgraphicalapplication.

Astudyofthelicenseactivation application(/usr/bin/windowsfxregister)showedthatitincludesa hardwiredloginandpasswordfor accessinganexternalMySQL DBMS,towhichdataaboutanew userisadded.Thedetected credentialsallowyoutogetfull accesstothedatabase,including the"machines"table,which reflectsinformationaboutall installationsofthedistribution, includinguserIPaddresses. https://kernal.eu/posts/linuxfx/

RELEASEOFLXLEFOCAL: 05/28/2022

Aftermorethantwoyearssince thelastupdate,LXLEFocalis backonthemenu,developedfor useonlegacysystems.TheLXLE distributionbuildsonthelegacyof UbuntuMinimalCDandattemptsto providealightweightsolutionthat combinessupportforlegacy hardwarewithamodernuser environment.Theneedtocreatea separatebranch,wasduetothe desiretoincludeadditionaldrivers foroldersystemsandthe processingoftheuser environment.Thesizeofthe bootableimageis1.8GB.

Thecompositionofthenew releaseissynchronizedwithUbuntu 20.04.4LTSbranch(Ubuntu18.04 waspreviouslyused).Defaultapps replaced:Aristareplacedwith HandBrake,PintawithGIMP,Pluma withMousepad,Seamonkeywith LibreWolf,Abiword/Gnumericwith LibreOffice,MiragewithViewnior, Linphone/PidginwithuTox. Includes:AppGridInstallCenter, BlanketSoundSynthesizer, BluetoothConfigurator,ClawsMail

EmailClient,LifereaRSSReader, GAdmin-RsyncBackupUtility, GAdmin-SambaFileSharingSetup, OsmoScheduler,InterfaceforTLP GUIpoweroptimization.To compressinformationintheswap partition,Zswapisusedinsteadof Zram.Theyalsoaddedaninterface forcustomizingpop-up notifications. https://lxle.net/articles/?post=lxlefocal-released

buildinfrastructure,supplyingthe RPMv4packagemanagerandDNF packagemanagementtools (originallyusingRPMv5andurpmi), buildingpackagesandtheLinux kernelusingtheClangcompiler, usingtheCalamaresinstaller,and usingthePipeWiremediaserver.

OPENMANDRIVAROCKN

ROLL: 05/30/2022

Aseparatealternativebuildof

theOpenMandrivadistribution, suppliedwiththeLXQtdesktop environment,hasbegun(inthe mainbuild,KDEisofferedby default).Twooptionsareoffered fordownload:Rockbasedonthe stablereleaseofOpenMandrivaLx 4.3(1.6GB,x86 64)andRolling(1.7 GB,x86 64)basedonan experimentalcontinuouslyupdated repositorywithfreshversionsof programsusedinthepreparation ofthenextrelease.

OpenMandrivausesitsown

TheLXQt(QtLightweightDesktop Environment)environmentis positionedasalightweight, modular,fastandconvenient continuationofthedevelopmentof theRazor-qtandLXDEdesktops, incorporatingthebestfeaturesof bothshells.TheLXQtinterface continuestofollowtheclassic desktoporganizationwitha modernlookandfeelthat enhancestheuserexperience. https://forum.openmandriva.org/t/ new-lxqt-isos-for-rock-rolling/4476

POWERDNSRECURSOR

4.7.0CACHINGDNS

SERVERRELEASED: 05/30/2022

AreleaseofthePowerDNS Recursor4.7cachingDNS serverisavailable,whichis responsibleforrecursivename resolution.PowerDNSRecursoris

builtonthesamecodebaseas

PowerDNSAuthoritativeServer, butPowerDNSrecursiveand authoritativeDNSserversare developedthroughdifferent developmentcyclesandreleasedas separateproducts.Theproject codeisdistributedundertheGPLv2 license.

Theserverprovidestoolsfor remotestatisticscollection, supportsinstantrestart,hasabuiltinengineforconnectinghandlersin theLualanguage,fullysupports DNSSEC,DNS64,RPZ(Response PolicyZones),allowsyoutoconnect blacklists.Itispossibletowritethe resolvingresultsasBINDzonefiles. Toensurehighperformance, modernconnectionmultiplexing mechanismsinFreeBSD,Linuxand Solaris(kqueue,epoll,/dev/poll) areused,aswellasahighperformanceDNSpacketparser capableofprocessingtensof thousandsofparallelrequests.

RELEASEOFTHENIXOS

22.05DISTRIBUTIONUSING

THENIXPACKAGEMANAGER: 05/31/2022

UBUNTU22.10WILL

REPLACEGEDITWITHTHE NEWGNOMETEXTEDITOR: 05/31/2022

NixOS22.05isout,basedonthe

https://blog.powerdns.com/ 2022/05/30/powerdns-recursor-4-70-released/

Nixpackagemanagerand providinganumberofproprietary developmentsthatsimplifysystem configurationandmaintenance.For example,inNixOS,allsystem configurationoccursthrougha singlesystemconfigurationfile (configuration.nix),itprovidesthe abilitytoquicklyrollbackthe systemtothepreviousversionof theconfiguration,thereissupport forswitchingbetweendifferent systemstates,installationof individualpackagesbyindividual usersissupported,itispossibleto useseveralversionsatthesame timeoneprogram,reproducible buildsareprovided.Fullinstall imagesizewithKDE1.7GB,GNOME -2.2GB,reducedconsoleversion820MB. https://nixos.org/blog/ announcements.html#22.05

TheUbuntu22.10development repositoryhaschangedthe defaulttexteditor.Insteadof GEdit,usersareofferedanewtext editor"GNOMETextEditor", implementedusingGTK4andthe libadwaitalibrary,whichoffers ready-madewidgetsandobjectsfor buildingapplicationsthatcomply withthenewGNOMEHIG(Human InterfaceGuidelines)andare capableofadaptivelyadaptingto screensofanysize.Thepreviously offeredGEditeditorwillremain availableforinstallationfromthe universerepository(apackagein flatpakformatcanalsobeused).

GNOMETextEditorissimilarin functionalityandinterfacetoGEdit, theneweditoralsooffersasetof basictextfileeditingfeatures, syntaxhighlighting,adocument minimap,andatabbedinterface. Ofthefeatures,supportforadark themeandtheabilityto automaticallysavechangesto protectagainstlossofworkasa resultofacrashstandout.In Ubuntu22.04,theneweditorcan

betestedbyinstallingthegnometext-editorpackage.

Thereasonforthetransitionis: strictercompliancewithGNOME styleguidelines,transitiontothe newGNOMEtechnologystack (GTK4andlibadwaita),fullsupport forthedarktheme,integrationinto themaincompositionofmany popularfeaturesimplementedin GEditintheformofplugins(new editordoesnotsupportplugins).

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ proposal-gnome-text-editor-asdefault-text-editor/28286/2

NVIDIAPROPRIETARY

DRIVERRELEASE515.48.07: 05/31/2022

branchofproprietaryNVIDIA

driver515.48.07.Thedriveris availableforLinux(ARM64, x86 _64),FreeBSD(x86_64)and Solaris(x86_64).

The515.48.07releasewasthe firststablereleasesinceNVIDIA's disclosureofkernel-level components.Thesourcecodefor thenvidia.ko,nvidia-drm.ko(Direct

RenderingManager),nvidiamodeset.koandnvidia-uvm.ko (UnifiedVideoMemory)kernel modulesfromNVIDIA515.48.07,as wellasthecommoncomponents usedinthem,nottiedtothe operatingsystem,publishedon GitHub.Firmwareanduser-space librariessuchastheCUDA, OpenGL,andVulkanstacksremain proprietary.

https:// forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/ linux-solaris-and-freebsd-driver515-48-07-production-branchrelease/216112

packetfiltercomponentsthatrun inuserspace,whilethekernellevel isprovidedbythenf tables subsystem,whichhasbeenpartof theLinuxkernelsincerelease3.13. Atthekernellevel,onlyageneric protocol-independentinterfaceis providedthatprovidesbasic functionsforextractingdatafrom packets,performingoperationson data,andcontrollingflow.

RELEASEOF I2P1.8.0AND THEC++CLIENTI2PD2.42: 26.05.2022

FTABLESPACKETFILTER

1.0.3RELEASED:\ 06/01/2022

Thenftables1.0.3packetfilter, unifyingpacketfiltering interfacesforIPv4,IPv6,ARPand networkbridges(aimedat replacingiptables,ip6table, arptablesandebtables)isavailable fordownload.Changesrequiredfor thenftables1.0.3releasetowork areincludedintheLinux5.18 kernel.

Thenftablespackageincludes

Thefilteringrulesthemselves andprotocolspecifichandlersare compiledintouser-spacebytecode, afterwhichthisbytecodeisloaded intothekernelusingtheNetlink interfaceandexecutedinthe kernelinaspecialvirtualmachine resemblingBPF(BerkeleyPacket Filters).Thisapproachmakesit possibletosignificantlyreducethe sizeofthefilteringcoderunningat thekernellevelandmoveallthe functionsofparsingtherulesand thelogicofworkingwithprotocols intouserspace.

https://www.mailarchive.com/ netfilterannounce@lists.netfilter.org/ msg00242.html

AnonymousnetworkI2P1.8.0 andC++clienti2pd2.42.0have beenreleased.I2Pisamulti-layer anonymousdistributednetwork operatingontopoftheregular Internet,activelyusingend-to-end encryptiontoguaranteeanonymity andisolation.Thenetworkisbuilt inP2Pmodeandisformedthanks totheresources(bandwidth) providedbynetworkusers,which makesitpossibletodowithoutthe useofcentrallycontrolledservers (communicationswithinthe networkarebasedontheuseof encryptedone-waytunnels betweentheparticipantandpeers).

OntheI2Pnetwork,youcan anonymouslycreatewebsitesand blogs,sendinstantmessagesandemail,exchangefiles,andorganize P2Pnetworks.Tobuildanduse anonymousnetworksforclientserver(websites,chats)andP2P (fileexchange,cryptocurrencies) applications,I2Pclientsareused. ThebasicI2Pclientiswrittenin Javaandcanrunonawiderangeof platformssuchasWindows,Linux, macOS,Solaris,etc.I2pdisan

independentC++implementation oftheI2Pclientandisdistributed underamodifiedBSDlicense. https://github.com/PurpleI2P/i2pd/ releases/tag/2.42.0

PERL7WILLSMOOTHLY CONTINUETHE

DEVELOPMENTOFPERL5

WITHOUTBREAKING

BACKWARDSCOMPATIBILITY: 26.05.2022

ThePerlProjectGoverningBody summarizedtheplansforthe futuredevelopmentofthePerl5 branchandthecreationofthePerl 7branch.Duringthediscussions, theGoverningCouncilagreedthat itisunacceptabletobreak compatibilitywithcodealready writtenforPerl5,exceptwhen breakingcompatibilityisnecessary tofixvulnerabilities.TheCouncil alsoconcludedthatthelanguage shouldevolveandpromotenew featuresmoreintensively,while makingiteasiertoaccessemerging innovationsandencouragetheir adoption.

Contrarytotheoriginal

intentionofallowingbackwardcompatibility-breakingchangesto beincludedbydefaultinthePerl7 branch,thenewplanistogradually transitionthePerl5branchtoPerl 7withoutbreakingbackward compatibilitywithexistingcode. ThereleaseofPerl7.0willnotbe conceptuallydifferentfromthe nextbranchofPerl5.xx.

Whenenoughchanges

accumulate,thenextreleaseof Perl5.xwillbereplacedbyPerl7.0, whichwillbeakindofstate snapshot,butwillremainfully backwardcompatiblewithPerl5.In ordertoincludebreakingchanges andtweaks,youwillneedto explicitlyaddthe"usev7"pragma tothecode".Thatis,codewiththe "usev7"pragmacanbeinterpreted as"modernPerl"inwhich language-breakingchangesare available,andwithout"conservativePerl",whichwill remainfullybackwardscompatible withpastreleases. http://blogs.perl.org/users/psc/ 2022/05/what-happened-to-perl7.html

RELEASEOFSTEAMOS3.2:

05/27/2022

Valvehasintroducedanupdate totheSteamOS3.2operating systemthatcomeswiththeSteam Deckgameconsole.SteamOS3is basedonArchLinux,usesthe Gamescopecompositeserverbased ontheWaylandprotocoltospeed upthelaunchofgames,comeswith aread-onlyrootfilesystem,usesan atomicupdatemechanism, supportsFlatpakpackages,uses thePipeWiremediaserver,and providestwointerfacemodes (SteamshellandKDEPlasma desktop).Updatesareonly availableforSteamDeck,butan unofficialbuildofholoisoisbeing developedbyenthusiasts,adapted forinstallationonregular computers(Valvealsopromisesto preparebuildsforPCinthefuture). https://store.steampowered.com/ news/app/1675200/view/ 3297210455204145216

AHARDWIREDPASSWORD

FORACCESSINGTHEUSER

BASEHASBEENREVEALEDIN THELINUXFXDISTRIBUTION: 27.05.2022

MembersoftheKernalcommunityhaveidentifiedan unusuallynonchalantattitude towardssecurityintheLinuxfx distribution,whichoffersabuildof UbuntuwithaWindows11-styled KDEuserenvironment.According totheproject'swebsite,the distributionhasmorethanamillion usersandabout15,000downloads thisweek.Thedistributionoffers activationofadditionalpaid features,whichisdonethroughthe introductionofalicensekeyina specialgraphicalapplication.

Astudyofthelicenseactivation application(/usr/bin/windowsfxregister)showedthatitincludesa hardwiredloginandpasswordfor accessinganexternalMySQL DBMS,towhichdataaboutanew userisadded.Thedetected credentialsallowyoutogetfull accesstothedatabase,including the"machines"table,whichreflects informationaboutallinstallations ofthedistributionkit,including

userIPaddresses.

Alsoavailableisthecontentsof the"fxkeys"tablewiththelicense keysandemailaddressesofall registeredcommercialusers.Itis noteworthythat,incontrasttothe claimsofamillionusers,thereare only20,000recordsinthe database.Theapplicationiswritten inVisualBasicandrunsusingthe Gambasinterpreter.

fullcirclemagazine#182 12 contents^ NEWS Thereactionofthedistribution's developersdeservesspecial attention.Afterthepublicationof informationaboutsecurity problems,theyreleasedanupdate inwhichtheydidnotfixthe problemitself,butonlychanged thedatabasename,loginand password,andalsochangedthe logicforobtainingcredentialsand triedtodealwithprogramtracing. Insteadofcredentialssewnintothe applicationitself,theLinuxfx developersaddedtheloadingof databaseconnectionparameters fromanexternalserverusingthe curlutility.Forprotectionafter startup,asearchandremovalofall running"sudo","stapbp"and"*bpfcc"processesinthesystemis implemented,apparentlybelieving thatinthiswaytheycaninterfere withtracingprograms.

https://kernal.eu/posts/linuxfx/

RELEASEOFNITRUX2.2

DISTRIBUTIONWITHNX

RELEASEOFTHEDEEPIN

20.6: 06/01/2022

Deepin20.6waspublished, basedonDebian10,but developingitsownDeepinDesktop Environment(DDE)andabout40 userapplications,includingDMusic musicplayer,DMovievideoplayer, DTalkmessagingsystem,installer andDeepininstallationcenter softwarecenter.Theprojectwas foundedbyagroupofdevelopers fromChina,buthasbeen transformedintoaninternational project.Allcodeisdistributed undertheGPLv3license.Thesizeof thebootableisoimageis3GB (amd64). https://www.deepin.org/en/ 2022/05/31/deepin-20-6-release/

DESKTOP: 06/02/2022

Thereleaseofthedistributionkit Nitrux2.2.0hasbeen published,builtontheDebian packagebase,KDEtechnologies andtheOpenRCinitialization system.Thedistributiondevelops itsowndesktopNXDesktop,which isanaddonfortheKDEPlasma userenvironment,aswellasthe MauiKituserinterfaceframework, onthebasisofwhichasetoftypical userapplicationsisdevelopedthat canbeusedonbothdesktop systemsandmobiledevices.To installadditionalapplications,the AppImagesself-containedpackage systemisbeingpromoted.Fullboot imagesizeis2.5GB,and abbreviatedwiththeJWMwindow manageris1.4GB.The developmentsoftheprojectare distributedunderfreelicenses.

NXDesktopoffersadifferent styling,itsownimplementationof thesystemtray,notificationcenter andvariousplasmoids,suchasa networkconnectionconfigurator andamultimediaappletforvolume controlandmediaplaybackcontrol.

Amongtheapplicationscreated usingtheMauiKitframework,one cannotetheIndexfilemanager (Dolphincanalsobeused),the Notetexteditor,theStation terminalemulator,theClipmusic player,theVVavevideoplayer,the NXSoftwareCenterapplication controlcenterandthePiximage viewer. https://nxos.org/changelog/ release-announcement-nitrux-2-20/

restofthesystem.Tocreatean environmentwithadifferent distribution,itisenoughtoissuea singledistrobox-createcommand withoutthinkingaboutthe subtleties.Afterlaunch,Distrobox forwardstheuser'shomedirectory tothecontainer,configuresaccess totheX11andWaylandserverto runfromthecontainerofgraphical applications,allowsyoutoconnect externaldrives,addssoundoutput, implementsintegrationatthelevel ofSSHagent,D-Busandudev.

DISTROBOX1.3,ATOOLKIT

FORNESTEDDISTRIBUTIONS: 06/02/2022

Distrobox1.3toolkithasbeen released,allowingyouto quicklyinstallandrunanyLinux distributioninacontainerand ensureitsintegrationwiththemain system.Theprojectcodeiswritten inShellanddistributedunderthe GPLv3license.

Theprojectisimplementedas anadd-onovertheDockeror Podman,andisdistinguishedbythe maximumsimplificationofwork andsettinguptheintegrationof therunningenvironmentwiththe

Asaresult,theusercanwork completelyinanotherdistribution withoutleavingthemainsystem. Distroboxclaimstobeabletohost 16distributions,includingAlpine, Manjaro,Gentoo,EndlessOS, NixOS,Void,Arch,SUSE,Ubuntu, Debian,RHEL,andFedora.Any distributionkitforwhichthereare imagesintheOCIformatcanbe launchedinthecontainer.

Amongthemainareasof applicationareexperimentswith atomicallyupdateddistributions suchasEndlessOS,Fedora Silverblue,OpenSUSEMicroOSand SteamOS3,thecreationofseparate isolatedenvironments(for example,torunhome configurationonaworklaptop),

accesstomorerecentversionsof applicationsfromexperimental branchesofdistributions.

https://github.com/89luca89/ distrobox/releases/tag/1.3.0

ARMBIANDISTRIBUTION

RELEASE22.05: 06/03/2022

TheArmbian22.05Linuxdistributionhasbeenreleased, providingacompactsystem environmentforvariousARMbasedsingleboardcomputers, includingvariousmodelsof RaspberryPi,Odroid,OrangePi, BananaPi,Helios64,pine64,Nanopi andCubieboardbasedonAllwinner, Amlogic,Actionsemiprocessors, Freescale/NXP,MarvellArmada, Rockchip,RadxaandSamsung Exynos. TheDebianandUbuntupackage basesareusedtoformthebuilds, buttheenvironmentiscompletely rebuiltusingitsownbuildsystem withtheinclusionofoptimizations toreducethesize,increase performanceandapplyadditional protectionmechanisms.For example,the/var/logpartitionis

mountedusingzramandstoredin RAMincompressedform,flushed tothedriveonceadayorat shutdown.The/tmppartitionis mountedusingtmpfs.Theproject supportsmorethan30Linuxkernel buildsforvariousARMandARM64 platforms. https://www.armbian.com/ newsflash/armbian-22-05/ LINUXPORTEDFORAPPLE

IPADTABLETSONA7AND A8CHIPS: 06/03/2022

EnthusiastswereabletosuccessfullyboottheLinux5.18 kernelonAppleiPadtabletsbased onA7andA8ARMchips.Workis currentlylimitedtoadaptingLinux foriPadAir,iPadAir2andsome iPadminidevices,butthereareno fundamentalproblemsforapplying thecodetootherdevicesbasedon AppleA7andA8chips,suchas iPhone5SandHomePod,released in2013-2014.Fornewerdevices, buildsfromtheSandcastleproject canbeused. TheCheckm8vulnerabilityis usedtounlockthebootloaderand

bypassfirmwareverification (Jailbreak).Initscurrentform, developmentisstillatanearly stage,inwhichkernelloadingis supported,graphicsacceleration, networkfunctionsandsoundwork, butUSBandBluetoothdonotwork yet.Thenextgoaloftheprojectis toprovideabootableuser environmentbasedonthe postmarketOSdistributionbuilton AlpineLinux,theMuslstandardC libraryandtheBusyBoxutilityset. https://twitter.com/konradybcio/ status/1532106368936706051

Qt6wasnotoriginallyplanned forDebian11duetolackof resources,butQt6waseventually madeavailabletotheDebianstable branch.Itisnotedthatthe preparationofpackageswasa personalinitiativeofthe maintainer,butTheQtCompany alsoexpressedadesiretopromote theproject.

https://perezmeyer.com.ar/blog/ 2022/06/10/qt6-in-debian-bullseye/ RELEASEOFTHE

QT6PACKAGESPREPARED

FORDEBIAN11:

06/11/2022

Themaintainerofpackagesfor

theQtframeworkonDebian announcedpackagesoftheQt6 branchforDebian11.Theset included29packageswithvarious Qt6.2.4componentsandapackage withthelibassimplibrarywith supportfor3Dmodelformats.The packagesareavailablefor installationviathebackports system(thebullseyebackports repository).

MIDNIGHTBSD2.2: 06/11/2022

TheMidnightBSD2.2desktopoperatingsystemwasreleased, basedonFreeBSDwithelements portedfromDragonFlyBSD, OpenBSDandNetBSD.Thebase desktopenvironmentisbasedon GNUstep,butusershavetheoption toinstallWindowMaker,GNOME, Xfce,orLumina.A774MB installationimage(x86,amd64) hasbeenpreparedfordownload.

Unlikeotherdesktopbuildsof FreeBSD,MidnightBSDwas originallydevelopedasaforkof FreeBSD6.1-beta,whichwas

synchronizedwiththeFreeBSD7 codebasein2011andsubsequently incorporatedmanyfeaturesfrom theFreeBSD9-12branches.For packagemanagement, MidnightBSDusesthemport system,whichusesaSQLite databasetostoreindexesand metadata.Installing,removingand searchingforpackagesisdone usingasinglemportcommand

https://www.midnightbsd.org/ notes/

GNOME.Thenewreleaseof Cinnamonwillbeofferedinthe LinuxMint21distribution, scheduledforreleaseinJuly. https://github.com/linuxmint/ Cinnamon/releases/tag/5.4.0

RELEASEOFEASYOS4.0,A

CUSTOMDISTRIBUTIONFROM THECREATOROFPUPPY

LINUX: 11.06.2022

CINNAMON5.4DESKTOP

ENVIRONMENTRELEASED: 11.06.2022

After6monthsofdevelopment, Cinnamon5.4isout,within whichthecommunityofdevelopers oftheLinuxMintdistributionis developingaforkoftheGNOME Shell,theNautilusfilemanagerand theMutterwindowmanager,aimed atprovidinganenvironmentinthe classicGNOME2stylewithsupport forsuccessfulinteractionelements fromtheGNOMEShell.Cinnamon isbasedonGNOMEcomponents, butthesecomponentsareshipped asaperiodicallysynchronizedfork withnoexternaldependenciesto

BarryKauler,founderofthe PuppyLinuxproject,has publishedanexperimentalEasyOS 4.0distributionthatcombines PuppyLinuxtechnologieswith containerizedisolationtorun systemcomponents.The distributionismanagedthrougha setofgraphicalconfigurators developedbytheprojectitself.The sizeofthebootimageis773MB.

BOTTLEROCKET1.8IS

AVAILABLE: 12.06.2022

Bottlerocket1.8.0hasbeenpublished,developedwiththe participationofAmazonto effectivelyandsafelyrunisolated containers.Thetoolkitandcontrol componentsofthedistributionare writteninRustanddistributed undertheMITandApache2.0 licenses.Itsupportsrunning BottlerocketonAmazonECS, VMware,andAWSEKSKubernetes clusters,aswellascreatingcustom buildsandeditionsthatallowfor differentorchestrationandruntime toolsforcontainers.

FULLCIRCLEWEEKLY

NEWS

https://bkhome.org/news/202206/ easyos-dunfell-series-version-40released.html

Thedistributionprovidesan atomicallyandautomatically updatedindivisiblesystemimage thatincludestheLinuxkernelanda minimalsystemenvironmentthat includesonlythecomponents neededtoruncontainers.The environmentusesthesystemd systemmanager,theGlibclibrary, theBuildrootbuildtool,theGRUB bootloader,thewickednetwork configurator,thecontainerd isolatedcontainerruntime,the Kubernetescontainerorchestration platform,theawsiam

JoinourhostMossBlissas hepresentsyouwithashort podcast(<10min)withjust thenews.Nochitchat.No timewasting.Justthelatest FOSS/Linux/Ubuntunews.

RSS:http:// fullcirclemagazine. org/feed/podcast

authenticator,andtheAmazonECS agent. Thecontainerorchestration toolscomeinaseparate managementcontainerthatis enabledbydefaultandmanaged throughtheAPIandAWSSSM Agent.Thebaseimagelacksa commandshell,SSHserver,and interpretedlanguages(for example,noPythonorPerl)-admin anddebuggingtoolsaremovedto aseparateservicecontainer,which isdisabledbydefault. https://github.com/bottlerocket-os/ bottlerocket/releases/tag/v1.8.0

ALPHATESTINGOFPHP8.2

HASBEGUN: 06/12/2022

Thefirstalphareleaseofthe

newbranchofthePHP8.2 programminglanguageisavailable. Thefinalreleaseisscheduledfor November24th.Themain innovationsalreadyavailablefor testingorplannedfor implementationinPHP8.2,for instance: Separatetypes"false"and"null" havebeenadded,whichcantake

onlyonevalidvalueandareused, forexample,toreturnthefunction withanerrorterminationindicator oranemptyvalue.Previously, "false"and"null"couldonlybe usedinconjunctionwithother types(forexample,"string|false"), butnowtheycanbeused separately.Thereisalsotheability tosubstitutevariablevaluesinto stringsusingtheexpressions"$ {var}"and${(var)}hasbeen deprecated.Supportforthe commonlyused"{$var}"and"$var" substitutionshasbeenretained. Deprecated*-partiallysupported callablesthatcanbecalledvia "call user func($callable)",butdo notsupportcallingintheform "$callable()" https://stitcher.io/blog/new-in-php82

keepingalldocuments,install programs,configurethe environment,andconfigurethe localnetwork.Registrationisopen from13to22June2022inclusive.

Thecompetitionwillbeheld fromJune20toJuly4intwo stages:qualifying(testing)andfinal (practicaltask).Thereare2 nominations:"JustforFun"(in absentia)and"TeenHacker"(in absentia),and3agegroups:10-13 yearsold,1415yearsold,1617 yearsold.Workingdistributions: CalculateLinux,SimplyLinuxand OpenWRT. https://cactux.ru/ THEK-9MAILPROJECTWILL

consideredcreatingaversionfor mobiledevices,butduringthe discussionsitcametothe conclusionthatitmakesnosense tosplitforcesanddodoublework whenyoucanjoinforceswithan alreadyexistingcloseopensource project.FortheclunkyK-9Mail, joiningThunderbirdisbeneficialin termsofadditionalresources, expandingtheuserbase,and speedingupdevelopment.

Thedecisiontomergewas drivenbysimilargoalsandvisions frombothprojectsofwhata modernmobileemailapplication shouldbe.Bothprojectsarealso privacyconscious,adheretoopen standards,andaredevelopedusing anopendevelopmentprocess.

YOUTHCOMPETITIONSON

LINUXWILLBEHELD: 13.06.2022

OnJune20,the3rdannual children'sandyouth competitionsinLinux-"CacTUX 2022"willstart.Aspartofthe competition,participantswillhave tomovefromMSWindowstoLinux,

BECOMETHEBASISOF THUNDERBIRDFOR ANDROID: 13.06.2022

TheThunderbirdandK-9Mail developmentteamshave announcedaprojectmerger.TheK9Mailemailclientwillberenamed "ThunderbirdforAndroid"andwill beshippedunderanewbrand.The Thunderbirdprojecthaslong

fullcirclemagazine#182 16 contents^ NEWS Beforethefirstreleasewitha newname,K9Mailplanstobring thelookandfunctionalitycloserto thelookandfeelofthedesktop versionofThunderbird.Ofthe planstoexpandthefunctionalityof K9Mail,itisnotedthe implementationofanautoconfigurationsystemforaccounts likeinThunderbird,improved managementofmailfolders, integrationofsupportformessage filters,andtheimplementationof synchronizationbetweenthe

mobileanddesktopversionsof Thunderbird.

https://blog.thunderbird.net/ 2022/06/revealed-thunderbird-onandroid-plans-k9/

windowimplementedusingthe xterm.jslibrary.udhcpcisusedto configurenetworkcommunication. https://github.com/Darin755/ browser-linux

THEBROWSER-LINUX-LINUX

DISTRIBUTIONTORUNINA

WEBBROWSER:

14.06.2022

Browser-linuxisproposedfor

launchingaLinuxconsole environmentinawebbrowser.The projectcanbeusedtoquicklyget startedwithLinuxwithouthaving torunvirtualmachinesorboot fromexternalmedia.AstrippeddownLinuxenvironmentisbuilt usingtheBuildroottoolkit.

Toexecutetheresulting assemblyinthebrowser,thev86 emulatorisused,whichtranslates thenativecodeintothe WebAssembly.Forstorage,the localForagelibraryisused,which worksontopoftheIndexedDBAPI. Theuserisgiventheopportunityto savethestateoftheenvironment atanytimeandthenrestorethe workfromthesavedposition.The outputisgeneratedinaterminal

ORACLELINUX9PREVIEW:

14.06.2022

OraclehasintroducedapreliminaryreleaseofOracle Linux9,basedonRedHat EnterpriseLinux9andfullybinary compatiblewithit.For downloadingwithoutrestrictions, aninstallationisoimageisoffered, 8GBinsize,preparedforx86 64 andARM64architectures(aarch64). ForOracleLinux9,unlimitedand freeaccesstotheyumrepository withbinarypackageupdateswith bugfixes(errata)andsecurity issuesisopen.Separately maintainedrepositorieswithsets ofApplicationStreamand CodeReadyBuilderpackagesare alsopreparedfordownload.

InadditiontotheRHELkernel package(basedonthe5.14kernel), OracleLinuxoffersitsown UnbreakableEnterpriseKernel7, basedontheLinux5.15kerneland

optimizedforindustrialsoftware andOraclehardware.Thesource codeforthekernel,includinga breakdownintoindividualpatches, isavailableinthepublicOracleGit repository.TheUnbreakable EnterpriseKernelisinstalledby default,positionedasan alternativetotheregularRHEL kernelpackageandprovidesa numberofadvancedfeaturessuch asDTraceintegrationandimproved Btrfssupport.Apartfromthe additionalkernel,OracleLinux9 andRHEL9releasesareidenticalin functionality. https://blogs.oracle.com/linux/post/ oraclelinux9developerpreview now-available-for-download KDEPLASMA5.25USER

ENVIRONMENT: 14.06.2022

TheKDEPlasma5.25custom shellreleaseisavailable,built usingtheKDEFrameworks5and theQt5libraryusingOpenGL/ OpenGLESforfasterrendering. Youcanevaluatetheworkofthe newversionthroughaLivebuild fromtheopenSUSEprojectanda buildfromtheKDENeonUser

Editionproject.Packagesfor variousdistributionscanbefound onthispage;https:// community.kde.org/Plasma/ Packages https://kde.org/ru/announcements/ plasma/5/5.25.0/

FREECAD0.20: 14.06.2022

Aftermorethanayearofdevelopment,thereleaseof theopenparametric3Dmodeling systemFreeCAD0.20hasbeen published,whichisdistinguishedby flexiblecustomizationand functionalityenhancements throughtheconnectionofadd-ons. TheinterfaceisbuiltusingtheQt library.Add-onscanbecreatedin Python.Itsupportssavingand loadingmodelsinvariousformats, includingSTEP,IGESandSTL.The FreeCADcodeisdistributedunder theLGPLv2license,andOpen CASCADEisusedasthemodeling engine.Binarieswillsoonbe preparedforLinux(AppImage), macOSandWindows. https://github.com/FreeCAD/ FreeCAD/releases/tag/0.20

EUROLINUX9.0:

06/15/2022

EuroLinux9.0hasbeen published,preparedby rebuildingthesourceofRedHat EnterpriseLinux9.0packagesand fullybinarycompatiblewithit. Installationimageshavebeen preparedfordownload,6.5GB (appstream)and1.4GBinsize.The distributionissimilarin functionalityandaddedinnovations toRHEL9.0.

EuroLinuxbuildsaredistributed bothforapaidsubscriptionand free.Thepaidandfreesubscription buildsareidentical,buildatthe sametime,includethefullsetof systemfeatures,andallowyouto receiveupdates.Thedifference betweenapaidsubscriptioncomes downtotheprovisionoftechnical supportservices,accesstoerrata filesandtheabilitytouse additionalpackages,includingtools forloadbalancing,highavailability andcreatingreliablestorage.

https://en.euro-linux.com/blog/ eurolinux-9-0-released/

UBUNTUCORE22 MONOLITHICDISTRIBUTION

AVAILABLE: 15.06.2022

Canonicalhaspublishedthe releaseofUbuntuCore22,a compactversionoftheUbuntu distributionadaptedforusein InternetofThings(IoT)devices, containers,consumerandindustrial equipment.UbuntuCorecomesin theformofanindivisible, monolithicbasesystemimagethat doesnotusedebpackages.Ubuntu Core22images,whichareinsync withtheUbuntu22.04package base,arepreparedforx86_64, ARMv7,andARMv8systems.The releasefollow-uptimeis10years.

intoseparatepackages. https://ubuntu.com/blog/canonicalubuntu-core-22-is-now-availableoptimised-for-iot-and-embeddeddevices

UbuntuCoreservesasthebasis forrunningadditionalcomponents andapplications,whichare packagedasself-containedadd-ons inthesnapformat.UbuntuCore components,includingthebase system,Linuxkernel,andsystem add-ons,arealsoprovidedinsnap formatandmanagedbythesnapd toolkit.Snappytechnologymakesit possibletoformanimageofthe systemasawhole,withoutsplitting

GIMP2.10.32GRAPHICS

EDITORRELEASED: 06/15/2022

GIMP2.10.32releasehasbeen published.Flatpakpackages areavailableforinstallation(the snappackageisnotreadyyet).The releasemainlyincludesbugfixes. Allfeaturebuildingeffortsare focusedonpreparingtheGIMP3 branch,whichisinpre-release testing. https://www.gimp.org/news/ 2022/06/14/gimp-2-10-32-released/ CAMBALACHE0.10,ATOOL

FORDEVELOPINGGTK

INTERFACES: 16.06.2022

Cambalache0.10.0projectis available,whichdevelopsa rapidinterfacedevelopmenttool

forGTK3andGTK4usingtheMVC paradigmandthephilosophyof paramountimportanceofthedata model.UnlikeGlade,Cambalache providessupportformaintaining multipleuserinterfacesinone project.Thecodeiswrittenin Pythonandislicensedunderthe LGPLv2.1license.Aflatpakpackage isavailableforinstallation.

Cambalachedoesnotdependon GtkBuilderandGObject,but providesadatamodelthat conformstotheGObjecttype system.Thedatamodelcanimport andexportmultipleinterfacesat once,supportsGtkBuilderobjects, properties,andsignals,providesa rollbackstack(Undo/Redo)and theabilitytocompresscommand history.Thecambalachedbutilityis providedtogenerateadatamodel fromgirfiles,andthedb-codegen utilityisprovidedtogenerate

GObjectclassesfromdatamodel tables.

fullcirclemagazine#182 18 contents^ NEWS Theinterfacecanbegenerated basedonGTK3andGTK4, dependingontheversiondefined intheproject.Toprovidesupport fordifferentGTKbranches,the workspaceisformedusingthe Broadwaybackend,whichallows youtodrawtheoutputoftheGTK

libraryinawebbrowserwindow.

ThemainCambalacheprocess providesaWebKit-basedWebView wrapperthatusesBroadwayto broadcasttheoutputfromthe Merengueprocess,whichisdirectly responsibleforrenderingtheusercreatedinterface. https://blogs.gnome.org/xjuan/ 2022/06/15/cambalache-0-10-0-isout/

BrianDouglasshasupdatedhis FCMappforUbportsTouch devicesthatwillallowyoutoview currentissues,andbackissues,and todownloadandviewthemonyour UbuntuTouchphone/tablet.

INSTALL

Eithersearchfor'fullcircle'inthe OpenStoreandclickinstall,orview theURLbelowonyourdeviceand clickinstalltobetakentothestore page: https://uappexplorer.com/app/ fullcircle.bhdouglass

HUGEthankstoBrianforthis.

TheVirtualBoxNetworkingPrimer

ConnectingandConfiguringVirtualMachines

TheVirtualBoxNetworkingPrimerisano-nonsenseguideforthe VirtualBoxusertakingtheirnextstepsintovirtualnetworks.

WhileOracleVMVirtualBoxisagreatfreetool,therealpowerof virtualisationcomeswhenyoustartconnectingvirtualmachinesto eachotherandtothewiderworld.Softwaredevelopment,sales, educationandtrainingarejustsomeoftheareasinwhichnetwork accesstovirtualmachinesoffersendlessopportunities.Buttheworld ofcomputernetworksisfilledwithcomplextechnicaljargon.

Completewithprinciples,practice,examplesandglossary,The VirtualBoxNetworkingPrimertakesthefrustrationandconfusionout ofconnectingreal-worldprojects.

Author:RobinCatling

Publisher:ProactivityPress ISBN13:9781916119482

AmazonUSlink: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1916119484? ref =pe 3052080 397514860

AmazonUKlink:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/VirtualBox-Networking-PrimerConnecting-Configuring/dp/1916119484/ref=sr 1 1? dchild=1&keywords=virtualbox+networking+primer&qid=16002536 99&s=books&sr=1-1

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-virtualbox-networkingprimer

C COOMMMMAANNDD&&CCOONNQQUUEER R

So,workingonacrappyMac

laptopkeyboardhasmerelearningshortcutsIhavenotused indonkey’syears.Iamsurethere arenewbiesouttherewhodon’t usethemeither,asnicekeyboards havespoiledus.Ialsoprefer terminalemulatorswithmouse support.Forme,thesearejust qualityoflifeimprovementsto Linuxingeneral.It’sthelittlethings thathavemepiningforLinuxwhile workingonmyworkMaclaptop. Letmeexplainmyself.Iaminno waysayingthatmyMac’skeyboard isbadquality,infactitisahundred timesbetterthanthebrandnew LenovokeyboardIamtypingon now,whereIbasicallyhavetojump offthebackofthecouchtotypea letterandnotletitmiss,making touchtypingimpossible.Itisthe flowIamtalkingabout.IfIwantto makemybrowserfullscreen,Ihit F11andcontinue.Itisclearly markedandsituatedperfectly abovemyringfingeronmyleft hand.NotsowiththeMac,Ihaveto takemyhandoffthemouseasF11 nowrequires2handsaswellas squintingtoseewhereitwillbeon thetouchbar.Thesamegoesfor

theterminal.Itfeelslikesuchastep backwards.Iamallforonebutton presses.

Let’sdosomeexamplesofthe commonones,andwecantalk aboutextendingitlater.

Asyoucanseeintheimage (below),Imadeabooboo.Of courseIcanhitthehomekeyoruse thearrowkeystofixmymistake. MyMacworklaptopdoesnothave

a‘home’key.Thisisashort command,someofthepython scriptsthatwerunarelong,with lotsofparameterstoplugintoit, makingthearrowkeystediousto saytheleast.Hereyoucanusethe CTRL+aandCTRl+ekey combinationstosimulatehomeand endonyourkeyboard.Goahead, typesomethinglonginyour terminal,itdoesnothavetobe sensible,abunchofz’s(zzzzzzz)will dofinetoillustratetheexample.

Useyourarrowkeystomoveyour cursor.Itmaybeablock,oran underline,itdoesnotmatter.Now pressCTRL+e(end)thenpress CTRL+a(home)andobserveyour cursor.

ThenextoneIwillshowyou needsalittlebitmorefocusfrom yourside.CTRL+zinyourterminal mayendupthesameasCTRL+c andendyourtyping,so,to‘undo’ something,youneedtotype CTRL+ .Thisisanunderscore,asif youtypeaminus,yourtextinyour terminalemulatorwillshrink.(CTRL+ +andCTRL+-areusuallyzoom commands)addafewx’safteryour z’sthatyoutyped,bonuspointsif youusedCTRL+etogototheend totype.NowpressCTRL+ tosee thempopoutofexistence.NowI wantyoutogotothestartagain, withoutusingthemouse,thehome buttonorCTRL+a,andthentothe endagainwithoutusingthemouse, CTRL+eortheendbutton.Saywhat now?No,I’mnotmessingwithyou, unlessIam....Luckilyforyou,Iam not.Thisisafunctioncontrolledby CTRL+xx,sotryitnow.Youmay wonderwhyCTRL+fandCTRL+b

WrittenbyErik

COMMAND&CONQUER

arenotusedforforwardand backwardinstead,butitisbecause thosearetakentoo,theywilltake youaheadandbackwardsoneword atatime.Quicklytype:“Thequick brownfox”andnavigatewith CTRL+bandCTRL+f.Don’tjustread it,doitplease,weneedtogetthat “musclememory”thinggoing.This helpswhenyouneedtoplugin parametersintoacopiedscriptyou mayhavejustpastedthathas differentvalues.

Example: python3 steadyscript.py 753840 nathan california circus-charlie

Pleasetypethisfictionalscript andthenreplacetheidwith 544384,nathanwithmike,and circus-charliewithmad-bob.

Trydoingitwiththearrowkeys onlyatfirstandseehowlongit takesyou.Nowrepeatitusingwhat Ihavetaughtyousofar.

Nothingwehavedoneis ground-breaking,Iwillgiveyoua listofthekeybindingsyoucantry outonyourown.But,tryingitout isamust,oritwillbeforgotten whenyougotothenextpage.You

mayalsothinkthatyouwillnever useitinyourlifeagain,butitcan happen.Ifyouworkinaserver room,andtheyhaveoneofthose mini30oddkeykeyboardsthat remindyouofaZXSpectrum,that slidesintotherack,youwillthank me.

Youcanfindallofthemby

typing:

bind -p

However,theoutputlookslike garbagetoanewbieandmayput themoff,soI’dratherintroduce thesegently.

Asaquickbonus,ifyouhave nanoinstalled,likeeverynewbie should,youcandoaquicklaunchof youreditorbyholdingdownCTRL, thenpressingxandwhilststill holdingCTRL,presse.Thatis: CTRL+x,e(nocomma,itisjustto separatethelettersforreadability).

DidImakeamistake?Letme knowat misc@fullcirclemagazine.org

Hereisaquickcheatsheet:

Ctrl + _ (undo)

Ctrl + t (swap two characters)

ALT + t (swap two words)

ALT + . (prints last arg from the prev command)

Ctrl + arrow (move forward a word)

ALT + f (move forward a word)

ALT + b (move backward a word)

Ctrl + e (move cursor to end)

Ctrl + a (move cursor to start)

Ctrl + xx (flip to the opposite end)

Ctrl + u (cuts everything before the cursor)

Ctrl + k (cuts everything after the cursor)

Ctrl + y (pastes from the buffer)

ThisobviouslydoesnotincludethingslikeCRTL+rorCTRL+l,these shouldbesecondnaturetoyou,evenasanewbie.

ErikhasbeeninITfor30+years.He hasseentechnologycomeandgo. Fromrepairingwashingmachinesized harddriveswithmultimetersand oscilloscopes,layingcable,toscaling 3Gtowers,he'sdoneit.

WrittenbyGregWalters

BeingfromTexas,mostofus herehaveatendencyto “changehorsesinmidstream”as thesayinggoes,andthismonth,I’m afraidI’mgoingtohavetodojust that.Iwasplanningtocontinuemy articlefromlastmonth(FCM181) onunderstandingstylesand themesforttkandTkinter,andin factstarteddownthatpath. However,inworkingwithauserof PAGEforthelastfewdays,trying tosolveaproblem,Irealizedthat thereisanissueoutthere,lurking andwaitingtobiteevery programmerintheirproverbial backsideswhousesimagesand Tkinterintheirprogramcreation process.Thatissueisthatwe,as programmers,donotknowin advancewhereourenduserswill runourprogramsfrom.Willitbe fromtheDesktop,whichis becomingmoreandmorepopular? Willitbefromthefolderthat containsthesourcecode?Evenif westatehowtheprogramshould berun,thatdoesn’tmeanthatour ultimateenduserswillpay attentiontoourrequests/demands, andifthingsdon’tfittheir expectations,watchoutforthe

complaints.So,inordertotryto helpusallbemindfulofthis pendingissue,I’vedecidedtopress pauseforamonthandcontinueour discussiononStylesandThemes nextmonth.

Sowhatbroughtupthis“issue”? Well,theuserwastryingtousea demoprogramthatIwrotethat “showsoff”justafewofthe capabilitiesofthewidgetsthat PAGEsupports.Thesecanbe brokendowninto3groups.There arethe“standard”Tkwidgetslike standardbuttons,labelsandsoon. ThentherearethettkThemed widgets,liketheTButton,TLabel, Treeview,TCombobox,etc.Finally therearethe“enhanced”widgets thatusuallyhavescrollbarsbuiltin, liketheScrolledListboxorthe ScrolledTextwidgets.Moretimes thannot,these“enhanced”widgets arebasedonthe“standard”Tk widgets,butahandfularebasedon attkwidget.WidgetslikeTk RadiobuttonsandCheckbuttons haveawaytochangethelookof howthewidgetappearswhenthe programisrun,whichcaninvolve usingcustomgraphicimages,one

fortheOnstateandonefortheOff state,inadditiontoafewextra attributesettings.Thisallowsa “normallyuglyandlookslike Windows95”Tkinterprogramto lookcleanandfreshandreceivesa bunchof“Oohs”and“Ahhs”from theendusers(andother programmersaswell).Sowhenwe wanttousegraphicsinourTkinter programs,wehavetobemindfulof thelocationwheretheprogramwill “live”,andwheretheultimateend userwillattempttoexecuteour programfrom.

Ihadrunintothisalongtime agowhenIcreatedaprogramfor myownuse,neverreallyexpecting toshareitwithanyone.The programusesalargenumberof graphicfiles,all.pngfileswhichare locatedinasub-folderofthemain sourcecode.Whentheprogram wasexecuteddirectlyfromthe sourcecodefolder,everything workedjustfine.WhenItriedto createalinkfromtheDesktopthat wouldcallPythonwiththefullpath ofthesourcecode,itfailed.Ifinally trackeditdowntothepathtothe graphicfiles“couldn’tbefound”.I

triedanumberofsolutionswithout successuntilIstumbledupona somewhatmessyfix,whichwasto createacompleteandfully qualifiedpathwhichstartedwith“/ home/greg/…”.Ofcourse,I hardcodedthisinmyearly development,tosavetimeand energyandeventualhairlossfrom mypullingthemoutingreat handfuls.Iwentonwithmy development,notreallythinkingof thefactthatbydoingitthatway, notonlycouldInotsharethe programwithanyone,butIcouldn’t evenmovetheprogramfromits hardcodedlocation.Mymind,at thetime,wasfocusedongetting thethingtowork,notthesloppy programmingmethodsIwas employing.Otherthingscameup anddevelopmentofthisprogram, whichworkedforthelimitedthings Iwantedtoaccomplish,was shelvedandallofwhatIhad learnedwentonthatshelfaswell.

Jumpingbacktothecurrent issue,thiswasoneoftheproblems thatwasplaguingthisuserwhenhe triedtorunthedemoonhis RaspberryPifromhisdesktop.

HOWTO-PYTHON

Therewasonegraphicinthe program(whiletherewerea numberofothergraphicsthereas well),thatwascausingtheprogram tofailforhim.Actuallytherewere otherimagesthatwerealsoa problem,butthiswasthefirstone thattheprogramtriedtoload. Afteralongtroubleshooting session,Ifinallyrealizedwhatwas goingonandaskedtheusertotry toruntheprogramfromthesource codefolder.Hehadsomeother issuesthatpreventedit,butwhen pushcametoshove,itwouldrun correctly.

Tryingtorememberwhatthe ticklersinmyoldbrainweretrying totellmeaboutthepastlessons learned,Iattemptedtocomeup withaproperly“pythonic”method todynamicallysetapathstatement thatwouldkeepeverythinghappy, nomatterwheretheprogramwas startedfrom,andnomatterwhere itexisted.Diggingintothedusty resourcesthatIhadhereandout ontheInternetabouttheissue,I threwtogetheraveryquickand VERYdirtydemonstrationthatnot onlyshowedtheissuebut presentedsomehelpful information(albeitredundantin nature)tosomeonewondering aboutaquickbutcleanmethod

os.path.abspath(filename) returns the filename’s full path.

pathlib.Path().absolute() returns the full path.

pathlib.Path(__file__).parent.absolute() returns the directory from the path.

os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)) returns the file’s full path and dirname() returns the directory from the full path.

os.path.abspath(os.getcwd()) returns the current working directory.

os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)) removes any symbolic links (if present) then returns the path.

aroundtheproblem.

THETOOL

SinceIwastryingtocreateaGUI tooltoeasilypointouttheissue,of courseIcreatedaquickGUIin PAGE,notreallytryingtoadhereto goodGUIcreationconcepts.

successorfailureofloadingan imageintoaTkinterwidgetaswell asaquickindicationofwhateach ofthe6differentfunctioncalls returned,soI(oranyoneelse)could quicklydecideonasolution.

Idecidedon6different(but verysimilar)Pythonlibrarycallsto helpdeterminetheinformation thatwillneedtobepresentedin ordertorunaPythonscriptnot onlyfromthesourcecodefolder, butalsofrom/homeand/Desktop, andwhereverelseanyonecould possiblythinkoftoattempttorun theprogram.

Ofcourse,theGUIwouldneed toprovideaquickgraphic representationshowingeitherthe

Whenrundirectlyfromthe sourcecodefolder,youcanseethat nomatterwhichofthe6system callsImade,theyallreturnedthe

sameinformation,which,onmany levels,wasquiteacomfortforme. However,whentheprogramisrun from/homeor/Desktop,the differenceisshown.

Threeofthesystemcallsended upreturningthesameinformation, andtheotherthreereturneda differentresult,butallthreeof thosewereconsistentintheir

HOWTO-PYTHON

returneddata.

Here(previouspage,topright) isaquicklookanddescriptionof each.Honestlytherearedozens morewaysouttheretodothis,so ifyouwanttotryothers,feelfree. I’mjustheretogetthethought processesflowing.

Sothereare4functionsfrom theos.pathlibraryand2fromthe pathliblibrary.Whentheprogram isrunfromalocationotherthan thesourcefolder,thethreethat returnjustthelocationofwhere theprogramisrunfromare:

os.path.abspath(filename)

pathlib.Path().absolute()

os.path.abspath(os.getcwd())

Thismeansthatforthisspecific usecase,thesethreesystemcalls can’tbeusedforourpurposes.

Oftheremainingthreechoices, anyoneofthemreturnsthefull pathtooursourcefolder,whichis whatwereallywant.Wecanalways assignthistoavariableforthepath andappendthepathtoourlocal imagefolderandthefilename.

THECODE

SincethisisaPAGEprogramand averysimpleoneatthat,Idecided toputallofthecodeinafunction called“startup”whichwillgetrun justbeforetheGUIisactually showntotheuser.Thisincludes tryingtoloadbothoftheimagesas wellasobtainingthepathfromthe 6systemcallsandloadingaText widgetandthetwodynamictext labels.Thecalltothestartup functionisthenext-to-lastlinein themainfunctionthatPAGE provides.

Ofcourse,wehavetoimport theosandpathliblibrariesintoour program.

def startup():

import os, pathlib

Atthispoint,Iassignavariable name(somewhatexplicittowhatit is)fromeachofthe6systemcalls, andthenprintthevalueofeachof thevariablesusingaf-string formattedstring(topright).

Afterlookingattheresults whenIranitfrom/Desktop,I decidedonusingthesetwo variablestoprovidewhatthe programthinksistheproper

abspath1 = os.path.abspath('')

abspath2 = pathlib.Path().absolute()

abspath3 = pathlib.Path(__file__).parent.absolute()

localpath = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))

# 'cwd' stands for Current Working Directory

cwd = os.path.abspath(os.getcwd())

realpath = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))

print(f'Abspath1: {abspath1}')

print(f'Abspath2: {abspath2}')

print(f'Abspath3: {abspath3}')

print(f'LocalPath: {localpath}')

print(f'Current Working Directory: {cwd}')

print(f'Real Path: {realpath}')

information(localpathand abspath1).Thelocalpathvariable (localpath= os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(

_ file__)))istheinformationwewill eventuallyuse.ButI’mgetting aheadofmyselfandhavespoiled thesurprise.Anyway,Ithenuse the.set()methodofthetwotext labelsintheform.

# Load the two labels with the paths

_w1.LocalPath.set(localpath)

_w1.ProperPath.set(abspath1)

Atthispoint,Icandefinethe imagename,whichincludesthe path(locatedfromthesource directory)andfilename.

# define the image name imgname = '/images/icons/ document.png'

Now,wecantrytoloadthe imagesintothetwoLabelwidgets thatweusetoshowthegraphics.I say“try”sinceIknowthatifthe programisrunfrom/Desktop,it willfail.We’lltrapthatfailureand showamessageboxwithanerror, justtobekind(codeshownnext page,topright).

PleasenoticethatIdidn’tworry aboutanypossibleerrorswiththe “localpath”,sinceit’safully qualifiedpathandaslongas:

• Itypeinthecorrectgraphic filenameand

• Thegraphicexists,then therewon’tbeaproblemloading thatgraphic.IknowthatI’mbeing overlyoptimistic,butthat’sjustme. ThelastthingIdoisloadthe ScrolledTextwidgetwiththe

HOWTO-PYTHON

resultingoutputsofeachofthe variables.Wehavetouse the.insert()method,withthe positionthatwewanttoaddthe textandthenthedatawewantto insert.Sinceeachlineendswitha “\n”,andsincetheTextwidget remembersthelastplace somethingwasplaced,it’sjustan easyjobtousetheTk.END(PAGE nowimportstheTk.Constants module)todefinethe“where”,and thef-stringformatteddataasthe “what”,andletTkinterdealwith the“how”(shownbottomleft).

That’sit.Sothebottomlineis:if youaregoingtocombineTkinter andGraphicsandPython,you probablyshoulddefinethefully qualifiedpathastheoutputfroma callto os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(_ file )).

QUICKUPDATE

Ididaquickwriteuptoshowthe resultstotheuseraswellasDon

# create temporary variables for the graphics so that Python's

# garbage collection doesn't try to destroy them before they are seen.

global tmp, tmp2

# Try to set the first image try: tmp = tk.PhotoImage(file="." + imgname)

_w1.Label1.config(image=tmp)

except: print('Could not load image')

titl = 'ProperPath Demo'

msg = f'Could not load image from {abspath1}\n(variable abspath1)' messagebox.showerror(titl, msg, parent=root, icon=messagebox.ERROR)

tmp2 = tk.PhotoImage(file=str(localpath + imgname))

w1.Label6.config(image=tmp2)

(TheauthorofPAGE).Don respondedquicklywithafixinthe formofanewalphaversionof PAGEformetotest.Theresultof thisnewcutprovidesyetanother optionforPAGEusers(andcanbe usedbyotherPythonprogrammers aswell.InPAGE,anyembedded graphicsincludedatdesigntime arehandledintheGUIfile.Hisfix lookssomethinglikethis…

_script = sys.argv[0]

_ location = os.path.dirname(_script)

Sincethisisaglobalvariableby

_w1.Scrolledtext1.insert(END, f'abspath1: {abspath1}\n')

_w1.Scrolledtext1.insert(END, f'abspath2: {abspath2}\n')

_w1.Scrolledtext1.insert(END, f'abspath3: {abspath3}\n')

_w1.Scrolledtext1.insert(END, f'localpath: {localpath}\n')

default,the_locationvariableis availabletotherestoftheproject asprojectname. location.This makesitsimpletohandleimages withinthe _supportmodule.Ifyou wishtocreateasimpleglobalfor animagepathinyourproject,you candosomethinglikethis…

location = test1. _ location global ImageDir ImageDir = os.path.join(location, "images", "icons")

Thenwhenyouneedtoassign

animage,youcanuseasimple definitionanywherewithinthe project_supportfile.

my_file = os.path.join(ImageDir, "folder.png")

_w1.Scrolledtext1.insert(END, f'cwd (Current Working Directory): {cwd}\n')

_w1.Scrolledtext1.insert(END, f'realpath: {realpath}\n')

ThisisnotlimitedtoPAGEor images.Assumeyouwanttousea databaseinyourPythonscript.You mustpointtheprogramatthe databasefile.Byusingthismethod, itgivesyouaquickwaytosetthe pathtothedatabasewithout worryingaboutwheretheuseris runningyourprogramfrom(image isshownonthenextpage,top left). Ihaveaddedmyprojectand codetomygithubrepositoryat https://github.com/gregwa1953/ FCM-182-Python.

IpromiseIwillREALLYtryto continuetheTkinterStylesand Themesdiscussionnextmonth!

Untilnexttime,asalways;stay safe,healthy,positiveandcreative!

THEOFFICIALFULLCIRCLEAPPFORUBUNTUTOUCH

BrianDouglasshasupdatedhis FCMappforUbportsTouch devicesthatwillallowyoutoview currentissues,andbackissues,and todownloadandviewthemonyour UbuntuTouchphone/tablet.

INSTALL

Eithersearchfor'fullcircle'inthe OpenStoreandclickinstall,orview theURLbelowonyourdeviceand clickinstalltobetakentothestore page: https://uappexplorer.com/app/ fullcircle.bhdouglass

HUGEthankstoBrianforthis.

GregWaltersisaretired programmerlivinginCentralTexas, USA. Hehasbeenaprogrammer since1972andinhissparetime,heis anauthor,amateurphotographer, luthier,fairmusicianandapretty darngoodcook.Hestillistheowner ofRainyDaySolutionsaconsulting companyandhespendsmostofhis timewritingarticlesforFCMand tutorials.Hiswebsiteis www.thedesignatedgeek.xyz.

H HOOWW--TTO O

WrittenbyErik

FireupBlenderandlet’sstart!

Hopefullyyounowhave somethingthatisstartingto resembleTuxorthecartoon penguinofyourchoosing.Why don’twepulloutallthestopsand giveourpenguinsomewhiskers? (Thoseyellowtuftsonthehead).

theR-keytorotateit.Thecatchis thatifyouareanoob,youmaynot getthehangofrotatingonanaxis. Clickontherotationpointandyou shouldseethreerotationlines. Click,andhold,andthenmoveon anyofthose,willonlymoveonthat plane.

techniquefromthelastissueto maketwo.

B BlleennddeerrPPtt.

WithwhatIhavetaughtyouso far,addacubeandmoveittoan openspot,scaleitdown,useall3 axestoresizeittolooklikearuler (bottomleft).

Onceyourwhiskerlooksabit likemine,usetherotatebuttonor

Inthisimage(bottomright),you canclearlyseeredarcing,green vertical,andbluehorizontal.Just remember,yoursmaynotlooklike mineasyourpenguinmaybefacing theotherway.However,the principleisthesame.Moveitmore orlessinplace.Nowusethemirror

Takealookatthispenguin,the eyebrowsseemtogo45degrees upthen45degreesdown,sowe needtorotateourstartto45 degrees.Theydon’ttouch,butthey

aremirrored.Thatsaid,feelfreeto giveyourpenguinauni-brow,itisa cartoonofYOURchoice.Ijustwant toteachyouatoolwehavenot usedyet,thatisveryhandy.Again, becarefulnottomovethebrowin editmodeasopposedtoobject mode,whenyouwanttomirror somethingorthemirroringwillbe warped.

Tip:Youwillknowthiswhenthe orangedotinthecenterdoesnot movewiththeobject.

Rememberthisishowwe mirroredtheeyes.Moveitinto

HOWTO-BLENDER

position.Yourpenguinmaylook morelikeapokemon,butwewill getthere.

Wewillmaketheblendfile availableifyougetstuck.

Onceyouhavetheminplace (bottomleft),wecanstartthenext phase.Ifyouhavebeenfollowing alongsincethebeginning,youmay havenoticedthatthereisabend modifier.Thisisagreattool,but newbieshaveissuesgettingtheir headsaroundit.Youneedtorealize whereyourbeginningplaneisas wellaswhatblenderwillbeusing astheplanetobendthingsaround. AsmuchasIwouldliketogothat route,itwilltaketoolongto explain,soinsteadwewillusethe

loopcuttoolinthesidemenu.Itis thesecondlastblockbeforethe solidone,whichlookslikeablock cutinhalf,theshortcutkeyisctrl+r. Whenplacingacuttocreatenew planes,youcanuseyourmouse wheeltocreatemorecuts,ifyou will,butinourcaseweneedonly one.Selectthemassiveeyebrow andmakesureyouareinedit mode.Selectloopcutorpress ctrl+r.Nowmoveyourmouse aroundthemassiveeyebrowand seetheyellowcutmove, horizontallyorverticallyslicingthe mesh. Whenyouplaceyourloopcut, keepholdingdowntheleftmouse buttonandyoushouldseearrows thatallowyoutoslidethecutalong

theoppositeaxisthatyouare cutting.Slidethecutdownabitso thatitisstillwithinthe“face”area. PressGtomovetheeyebrowsto makea45degreebend.

Ijustmakesuremineis horizontalasinthepicturebottom right(itdoesnothavetobe precisely45degrees).Pressenter whendone.PressAtomakesure thewholeoneeyebrowgoes orangeandclickonrotate.You shouldseethis:

Asyoucansee(nextpage),Ican nowgrabitbytheredarchand twistthemdowntoformthe eyebrowasitshouldbe.Don’t worryiftheytouch,youcanjust movethemapartontheoneaxis(Y

forme).Movethemuntilyouare satisfied.

Don’tworryaboutthesize,we canaddressthatwhenwemake sometufts.YesIknowitlooks morelikeMrPotatohead,butbear withme(Ipromisewewillendup withapenguin…oranangrybird… justkidding).Likeeverythingelse, youstartwithabaselayerand buildup.Wewillworkourway downthebodywithwingsandfeet. Again,wecansimplymirrorthose.I willaddanotherscreenshotfroma differentangleforyoutosee whereweareat. Withlotsofimages,Ihavehit mylimitfortakingupspaceinthe magazine,hopetoseeyounext

HOWTO-BLENDER

issuereadyandeager.

Wasanythingunclear,doyou knowaneasierway?Letusknow: misc@fullcirclemagazine.org

ErikhasbeeninITfor30+years.He hasseentechnologycomeandgo. Fromrepairingwashingmachinesized harddriveswithmultimetersand oscilloscopes,layingcable,toscaling 3Gtowers,he'sdoneit.

H HOOWW--TTO O

WrittenbyRobertBoardman

TableswereintroducedinPart5. Toreview,here(topright)isa simplifiedversionofthecode neededtoproducethetableonp. 23ofFCM#171.

Thiswillproduceatablewithout thetitleandwithoutthecolumn forminimumtemperatures.There arealsonoFahrenheit temperaturesandnodegree symbols.Thereisonecolumnfor eachofthefourmonthsandone rowforeachmunicipality.Toget thefancierfeatureswehaveat leasttwochoices.Wecouldcode thefancyfeaturesinLatexorwe couldbuildthetableina spreadsheetandexportittoLatex. Sincethepointofthesearticlesis tohelpyoulearnLatexwewill choosethefirstalternative.

ConvertingtablestoLatex:

• Forthosewholikeusing spreadsheetsthereisanAddInfor Excelthatwillexportaselected blockofcellsintoaCSVfilethatis compatiblewithLatex.

• Thereisanextensionfor LibreOfficeCalccalledcalc2latex butithasnotbeenupdatedsince

\subsection{Tables}

\begin{table}

\begin{tabular}{||l|c|c|c|c||}

\hline\hline Municipality & Jan & Apr & July & Oct\\ \hline

Prince Rupert & 5.6C & 10.2C & 16.2C & 11.1C \\ \hline

Tofino & 8.3C & 11.9C & 18.9C & 13.6C\\ \hline

Nanaimo & 6.9C & 14.1C & 23.9C & 14.6C\\\hline

Victoria & 7.6C & 13.6C & 22.4C & 14.2C \\\hline \hline

\end{tabular}

\end{table}

2008.Apparentlyitworkedwith LibreOffice2.Itrieditin LibreOffice7.Firstitrefusedtorun becauseofacodingerrorandthen itcrashedCalc.

• YoucouldbuildthetableinCalc andthenSaveAsacsvfile.Then importthecsvfileintoLatex.

• YoucouldbuildthetableinCalc andexportintoagraphicfile format,jpeg/jpgorpdfare acceptableinLatex.Thenimport thegraphicintoyourLatex document.

• Youcanbuildthistablein LibreOfficeWritesinceitisjusttext andvalues.(Tablesthatrequire calculationscannotbebuiltin Write.)TheWritertoLatexextension workswellinWritealthoughitwill generateatexfilethatmaycontain morecomplexLatexinstructions thanrequired.

\subsection{Tables} %Optional for Latex \begin{table} %Required for Latex

\begin{tabular}{||l|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|} %Required by Latex \hline \hline %Optional for Latex

Municipality & January & & April & & July & & October & & Max & Min & Max & Min & Max & Min & Max & Min

Prince Rupert & 5.6 °C & -0.8 °C & 10.2 °C & 2.5 °C & 16.2 °C & 10.5 °C & 11.1 °C & 4.9 °C

Tofino & 8.3 °C & 2.3 °C & 11.9 °C & 4.0 °C & 18.9 °C & 10.5 °C & 13.6 °C & 6.3 °C

Nanaimo & 6.9 °C & 0.1 °C & 14.1 °C & 3.9 °C & 23.9 °C & 12.3 °C & 14.6 °C & 5.2 °C

Victoria & 7.6 °C & 1.5 °C & 13.6 °C & 4.3 °C & 22.4 °C & 11.3 °C & 14.2 °C & 5.7 °C \end{tabular}

\end{table}

Inthisexample(above)Ihave replacedthecodefromPart5with thesametablebuiltinCalcand savedasacsvfile.

Ireplacedthecommasinthe generatedCSVfilewith space&space.Dothatinatext editorintheCSVfilesoyoudonot replacecommasinotherpartsof

yourLatexdocument.Asnotedin earlierissues,Tex/Latexrequires eithertwobackslashesortwo pressesofthe<Enter>keyto generatealinebreak.Inatable,a linebreakmovesdowntothenext rowinthetable. Thisisanadequatetable, roughly50%ofthedesiredresult.

Thegoalisatablelikethis(above). (Ifwewantedtogetveryfancywe couldaddtheFahrenheit temperaturesasaseparatelinein eachcell.)

Twothingstodonext:

• Setthewidthsofallthecolumns.

• Mergethepairsofcolumnsfor eachmonth.

Tosetcolumnwidths,thiscode isaltered:\begin{tabular}{||l|c|c|c|c| c|c|c|c|}

Keepthealignmentinstructions, the“l”andthe“c”,andaddanew instruction“p”withasizeanda unit.IamgoingtosettheMaxand Mincolumnsto1.5cmandthe remainingwidthtothelefthand column.(Otherunitsareavailable, investigatethoseyourself.)

\begin{tabular}{|lp{2.4cm}| cp{1.5cm}|cp{1.5cm}|cp{1.5cm}| cp{1.5cm}|cp{1.5cm}|cp{1.5cm}| cp{1.5cm}|cp{1.5cm}|}

Ifyoudonotlikethevertical linesbetweencolumnsremovethe “|”inthe\begin{tabular}command.

Nowcomesthetrickypart: mergingthefourpairsofMax-Min columnsandkeepingtheeight columnsoftemperaturesinthe correctplaces.Hereisthestartof thenewlineofcodewith explanation.

Municipality& \multicolumn{2} {c}{January}&

Municipalityisthetextforthe currentRow1Column1cell. (R1C1).Theampersand“&” indicatesthestartofthenextcell inthisrow.

\multicolumnisfollowedby threearguments.

• Thefirstargument{2}indicates howmanycolumnsaretobe merged.

• Thesecondone{c}indicatesthe alignmentofthetext(l,c,rare

possible).

• Thethird{January}isthe contentsofthismulticolumncell.

Nowyoushouldunderstand everythinginthefollowinglineof code.Theotherthreecolumns, April,JulyandOctober,followthe samepatternasJanuary.

Municipality&\multicolumn{2} {c}{January}&\multicolumn{2} {c}{April}&\multicolumn{2}{c} {July}&\multicolumn{2}{c} {October}\\

(Rememberthedoubleback-slash indicatestheendoftherow.)

Makesurethetotalnumberof mergedandnot-mergedcolumnsin therowwiththemulticolumn commandmatchesthenumberof columnsinthe\begin{tabular} command.Inthisrowwehave 1+2+2+2+2=9andthe \begin{tabular}commandhas1–l and8–cwhichalsoequals9.

needTablenumbering.Itcanalso bedonebyaddingamulticolumn rowbeforethelinestarting “Municipality”

\multicolumn{9}{c}{Average TemperaturesinFourBCLocations} shouldwork.

Thetestisalways:willthecode compileandgeneratethedesired layoutinthePDFfile.

PLEASENOTE:

The\multicolumncommand appliesonlytotherowinwhichit appears.Thereisa\multirow commandwhichrequirestheuseof themultirowpackage.Youcan investigatethatifyouwish.

Thereareatleasttwoother waystomergecellsinaTextable.

Nextissue:packagesinLatex/ Tex

Weneedtoaddatitletoour tableandthenwewillbedone. Thatcanbedoneusingthe\caption command.Thatwillautomatically addtheword“Table”anda sequencenumber,somethinglike “Table1”. Sincethisisaonepage–onetabledocument,wedonot

fullcirclemagazine#182 32 contents^ HOWTO-LATEX Roberthasbeeninvolvedwith computerssincedBaseIVandNovell Netware2.Herecentlyretiredfrom overtwentyyearsteachingcomputer skillstocollegestudents.

H HOOWW--TTO O

WrittenbyMarkCrutch

Rightonschedule,Inkscape1.2 wasreleasedlastmonthwitha lotofnewfeatures,andupdatesto theexistingUI.Iwillbecovering everythingindetailinthiscolumn, butnotjustyet.Inthemeantime,if youwantagoodoverviewofthe headlinefeatures,Istrongly recommendtakingtwominutesout ofyourdaytowatchthevery professionallyproducedofficial releasevideo:https:// www.youtube.com/watch? v=1U4hVbvRr g

Fornow,thesearticlesarestill workingthroughthemanynewLive PathEffects(LPEs)thatwere addedwithInkscape1.0and1.1. Thetopicforthisinstalmentisa pairofnewLPEs–“PowerClip”and “PowerMask”–whichIfirst mentionedbackinpart101.That articledetailedtheuseofthenew “InverseClip”and“InverseMask” menuentries,withlittlemorethan ascantreferencetothefactthat they’reactuallyimplementedas LPEs.Nowit’stimetodigintothe effectsthatbackthesecapabilities inalittlemoredetail.

POWERCLIP

Iwon’tsugarcoatthis:Ithink thenameofthisLPEismakinga veryboldclaimthatisfarfrom matchedbyreality.AsfarasIcan tell,thiseffectusefullydoesone andonlyonething,anddoesn’t reallydeservethe“Power”prefixat all.Theonlypracticaluseforthis LPEistocreateinverseclipping paths.

Addingthiseffecttoapath worksalittledifferentlytoalmost everyotherLPE.Youcan’tsimply selectapathandaddthePower Clipeffectfromtheusualdialog.If youtry,you’lljustfindthatthe optionisdisabled(asisPower Mask,forsimilarreasons).

you’retryingtoclip.Thatsingle elementcould,ofcourse,bea groupconsistingofseveralother items,whichallowscomplex designstobeeasilyclipped.Butthe clippingpathitselfisappliedto onlyoneelementorgroup.

Withthisinmind,youmight thinkthatthisLPEwillbecome availableifyouhavetwoitems selected.Inpractice,however,the PathEffectsdialogitselfwill chastiseyouwithan“Onlyoneitem canbeselected”message,andthe “+”buttonwillbedisabledto preventyouevenopeningtheLive PathEffectsSelectordialog.How, then,doweapplythisLPEinthe firstplace?

Inverse(LPE)menuentrythatI discussedinpart101.

• Theotheristoapplyanormal clip,eitherviathecontextmenuor usingtheObject>Clip>Setmenu entry,thenusethePathEffects dialogtoaddtheLPEasusual.

Yes,ifyouhaveanalready clippedobjectselected,onlythen willyoubeabletoaddthisLPEin thenormalmanner.

Whicheverapproachyoutake, thisLPEreally,reallywantsto createaninvertedclip.Ifyouaddit directlyviathemenuentry,then that’swhatwillhappen,asyou wouldexpect.Addingitviathe dialogtoanalreadyclippedobject, however,willimmediatelyinvert theclipthatyou’vealreadyapplied whichmightbealittlemore surprisingifyou’renotexpectingit.

Aclippingpathrequiresone otherelementtoacton–thething

Thereareactuallytwomethods: • Thefirstistoapplyitdirectly usingtheObject>Clip>Set

Asareminder,anormalclip preserveseverythinginsidethe path,andhidesthecontent outside.Aninverseclip,therefore, hideseverythinginsidethepath butpreservesanythingoutside,per theimagebelow.

Ifyoureallywantanormalclip, thenyoucanuncheckthe“Inverse clip”optionintheLPE’sparameters –thoughdoingsoraisesthe obviousquestionofwhyyouwant tousetheLPEatallinthatcase.

anotherentryinmyboxofLPE mysteryparametersthatappearto dosomething,butit’snotentirely clearquitewhatthatsomethingis. Myownexperimentswithvarious combinationsofobjectsand groups,primitivesandpaths,have failedtopresentmewithany situationinwhichitdoes somethinguseful.Asusual,ifyou haveanyideaofhowit’smeantto beused,pleasedogetintouch.

LPE,butstillleaveyourobjectwith thenon-invertedclipapplied.Ifyou reallywanttoseetheobjectwith noclipatall,thenyou’rebackto usingthe“Hide”optionintheLPE’s parameters.Thisfeelsalittle awkwardtome,asitrequiresusers tounderstandtoomuchaboutthe implementationofclippingmasks inSVGtofullyappreciatewhythe normalvisibilitytoggledoesn’t workthewaytheymightexpect.

Perhapsthe“power”inthisLPE actuallycomesfromtheothertwo parameters?Well,the“Hideclip” optionsimplymodifiestheclipping pathtoremovethenodesthat actuallydotheclipping–again, raisingaquestionaboutwhyyou wouldn’tjustremovetheclip entirely.Asfor“Flattenclip”:thisis

Onefinalimportantnoteabout thisLPEishowtogoabout removingit.Ifyouonlywantto temporarilystopitbeingapplied, thentheusualapproachwithan LPEistotogglethevisibilityicon (the“eye”image)inthePath Effectsdialog.Thismaynot, however,workasyouexpect.Itwill removetheinvertingeffectofthe

Permanentlyremovingthis effectisevenworse.Shouldyoube foolishenoughtodeletetheeffect fromthePathEffectsdialog,asyou mightusuallydo,thenyou’relikely tofindthatyourclippedobjects disappearaswell–almostcertainly notwhatyouwanted!Insteadyou havetoreleasetheclipusingthe Object>Clip>Releasemenuentry, orthecontextmenualternative. Eventhatcomeswithastinginthe tail:youroriginalclippingpathwill alsobedeleted,soifyouwantedto retainboththatpathandthe objectbeingclipped,you’reoutof luck.

Withthatexhaustive examinationofthis“power”LPE, I’vecometotheconclusionthatit servesonlyoneusefulpurpose:to simplifythetaskofpunchingahole

inanotherobjectusingaclipping path.Tobefair,Ithinkthisisan exceptionallyusefulability.I’mjust notsureitwarrantsthe“power” prefix,ratherthansimplybeing called“Inverseclip”.Asusefulasit is,dobeawareoftheproblemsand limitationsthatcomewithit.If you’vegotenoughexperiencewith Inkscapetobeabletomakeyour owninverseclippingpaths,asI describedwaybackinpart13, perhapsstickingwiththeoldfashionedapproachisstillthesafer option.

POWERMASK

Masksareoftenthoughtofasa more “analogue”versionof clipping.Whereasclipsprovidehard edgesandabinaryvisible/hidden stateforeachpartoftheclipped object,masksallowforgradients andblurs,witheverypartofthe maskedobjecthavingitsopacity determinedoveracontinuum accordingtothecolorsusedinthe mask.Butwhenitcomestothe PowerMaskLPE,thebehaviourand usagecomparedwiththePower Clipeffectisquitedifferentin manyways.

fullcirclemagazine#182 34 contents^ HOWTO-INKSCAPE Iprefertokeepmymasksin

shadesofgraytoprovideclear controlovertheireffects.Atypical maskwouldusewhiteforthose areasthataretoremain100% opaque,blackforthosethatareto becomecompletelytransparent, andintermediateshadesforlevels ofopacityin-between.Any transparentareas,includingthose outsidethemaskshape,arealso renderedastransparentoncethe maskisapplied.Withthatrefresher done,here’stheshapeandmask we’llbeexperimentingwithtoday.

resultwewouldexpect(shown againstachequerboardbackground soyoucanseewhichpartsare translucent).

Let’stakeacloserlookatthe LPE’sparameterstoworkout exactlywhat’shappeninghere.

Withthatinmind,theendresult isalittlemoreunderstandable.But it’snotexactlywhatIwouldexpect fromamenuentrythatbillsitself asan“inversemask”.Perhapsifwe enablethe“Invertmask”option, we’llgetsomethingclosertoour expectations…

Whenappliedasanormalmask, thewhitecentertothedesign shouldensurethatthemiddleof thestarremainssolid,whilethe gradientouttotheblackedgewill fadeoutthepointsofthestarlong beforewereachtheirends. Selectingboththestarandthe mask,thenusingthe“SetMask” contextmenuentry(orObject> Mask>Set)does,indeed,givethe

Whatwouldyouexpectthe resulttobeif,instead,weuse Object>Mask>SetInverse(LPE)? Basedonthebehaviourofthe PowerClipeffect,youmight imaginethatthemiddlewillbe punchedoutofthestar,leavingthe pointsinplacebutfadingtowardsa largecentralhole.That’scertainly whatIexpectedthefirsttimeI usedthiseffect,buttheactual outcomeissomewhatdifferent.

Interestingly,despitehaving selected“SetInverse(LPE)”,the “Invertmask”optionisnotchecked. Insteadallthehardworkisbeing donebythe“Addbackgroundto mask”checkbox,andthecolor pickerbelowit.Thishastheeffect ofaddingaflatcoloredbackground toyourmask,whichcoversthe boundingboxoftheelementyou’re masking.Inthiscase,itaddsawhite backgroundwhichcombineswith ouroriginalmasktoproducean effectivemaskthatlookslikethis.

Hmm…notreally.Theproblem nowisthatwe’veinvertedevery partofourmask swappingblack forwhite,lightgrayfordarkgray, andsoon–butthatalsoincludes thecolorofthebackgroundwe’ve added.Now,therefore,themask lookslikethis:

HOWTO-INKSCAPE

Againthisexplainstheoutput we’reseeing,butit’sstillnotreally whatwehadexpectedfroman inversemask.Whatweneedisthe holeinthemiddlefromthis version,butwiththepointsofthe starsstillbeingvisible,aswehadin thepreviousone.Inotherwords, wewantablackcenterfadingtoa whiteshapethatcontinuestofill thewholeboundingbox.Theway toachievethatistochangethe backgroundcolortoblack,sothat the“Invertmask”checkboxhasthe effectofconvertingittowhite. Withthatchange,wefinallygetthe lookIwasexpectingfromthe outset.

Object>Mask>SetInverse(LPE)

• OpentheLivePathEffectsdialog toaccesstheparameters

• Setthe“Invertmask”option

• Ensurethe“Addbackground” optionischecked

• Setthebackgroundcolortoblack

Thatreallyisalotofwork,and it’sclearthatthe“SetInverse(LPE)”

optiondidn’treallydomuchtohelp usout.Myadvice,therefore,isto skipthisLPEentirely,andjust constructthemaskyouneedwith therightcolorsfromtheoutset. Here’swhatIwouldactuallydoto achievethesameresult:

• Drawawhiterectanglethat coversthestar

• Drawablackcircleinthemiddle

• Blurthecircle,orgiveitablacktowhitegradienttocreatethesoft edges

• Groupthecircleandrectangleto createthefinalmask

• Selectboththemaskandthestar, thenuseObject>Mask>Set

UPDATE:

via@inkscapeonTwitter: There'sabuginInkscape1.2thatcoulddestroygradients,clips& clonesinadrawing.You'llonlynoticeithappenedaftersavingfile& lateropeningitagain.ToworkaroundbugDONOTusecopy-paste whileExportdialogisopen!ThebugwillbefixedinInkscape1.2.1.

Formoredetailsonthebug,headhere: https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/issues/3600

Tosummarise,inordertocreate whatIwouldconsidertobethe inverseofmymask,Ihadtodothe following:

• Drawthemask

• Applyittotheobjectusing

Admittedlyit’sbarelyanyfewer steps,butI’llwagerthatthis approachisalotmoreintuitiveto anyonewithevenalittle experienceusingInkscape.

Andthereyouhavethesetwo new “power”LPEswhich,onthe surface,promisesomuch,yet deliversolittleinreality.ThePower Clipispotentiallyuseful,butmay createproblemswhenyouwantto releasethecliplater.ThePower Maskjustdoesn’tdoanythingthat youcan’tachievebyhandalmostas easily,ifnotmoreso.They’reboth usefultoolstoknowabout,though –ifonlysothatyouunderstand howtoachievethesameresults withouthavingtogettheLPEs involvedatall!

MarkusesInkscapetocreatecomics fortheweb(www.peppertop.com/) aswellasforprint.Youcanfollow himonTwitterformorecomicand Inkscapecontent: @PeppertopComics

E EVVEERRYYDDAAYYUUBBUUNNTTU U

WrittenbyRichardAdams

Irecentlywasabletopickup seven2009vintageAppleiBooks fromeBayforabout$75.Itlooks likefourofthemwillneedrepairs oratleastanOSinstall,one appearstohavethescreen backlightout,soitwillonlyprovide adull,barelyfunctionaldisplay,and twoofthemneedednothingbutan OSinstallation.Idecidedto dedicatethosetwoasLinux machines(thesearethefirstmodel ofMacnotebooksbuiltwithIntel processors),soI’llbetalkingmore, soon,aboutthe“UbuntuBook project”.Fornow,though,let’stake alookspecificallyattheUbuntu SoftwareCenter,asI’vebeenusing italottoinstallapplicationson thesetwomachinesrecently,and havesomeopinionsfreshinmind.

UBUNTUSOFTWARECENTER

TheideaoftheUbuntu SoftwareCenterisdefinitely consistentwithcurrenttrends towardshavingsoftwareinstalled froma‘softwarestore’.The applicationwillshowupbydefault ontheControlStrip(thelistof iconsontheleftsideofthescreen),

asthisicon: Clickit,and you’llseethe maininitial interfaceforthe UbuntuSoftware

Center: Atthetop,youseehighlighted applicationsthatchange periodically.Hereit’shighlighting ‘Slack’.Therearearrowsateither endofthatpanelthatwillletyou navigatebackandforthtoseea

U

buunnttuuSSooffttwwaarreeCCeennt

fewcurrentlyhighlightedprograms (or,ifyouwaitlongenough,they’ll changeontheirown).

Justbelowthat,you’llseethe currentEditor’sPicks.Thesewill alsochangeonoccasion,butdonot existona‘scrollingribbon’likethe highlightedappsatthetop.

categories.

THEGOOD

fullcirclemagazine#182 38 Ipersonallyfindtheoverall designoftheSoftwareCenterboth aestheticallypleasingand satisfactorilyutilitarian.Youcan usuallyprettyeasily‘shop’through applicationsofthegeneral categoryyou’reinterestedinata givenpoint.Onceyouclickthe desiredcategory,you’llfinda screenwithanumberof applicationsonit.Longtimereaders (bothofyou!)willhardlybe surprisedthatI’mgoingtopick Gamestoillustrate:

Belowthat,you’llsee standardizedcategoriesof differentapplications,including Games,ScienceApplications,Books andReference,andseveralother

EVERYDAYUBUNTU

Thegreencircleswithcheck marksdenoteprogramsthathave alreadybeeninstalled.Evenifyou installusingtheaptgetcommand line(moreonthatlater),the SoftwareCenterwillusuallypick thatupandshowitasbeing installed.

Onceyouclickonanapplication, you’llgetaveryinformativepage withinfoonthatapplication.Atthe top,you’llgetascreenshot.

Obviously,youhavethenameat theverytop,alongwithabrief description,anaverageuserrating outof5possiblestars,abuttonto installorremove,anotherbuttonto

reviewrequiredpermissionsonce theapplicationhasbeeninstalled, andadditionalscreenshots.Click themtoseemoreofwhatthe applicationlookslike.

Belowthescreenshotsisamore detaileddescriptionofthe application.Asyoucontinueto scrolldown,you’llseeinformation h l i b t f (althoughitfrequentlyDOESlock up,too).AsoftenasIcan,Iusethe SoftwareCenterinterfaceto‘shop’, thenuseapt-gettodoactual installations,asit’sMUCHfaster.

Forthosenewtotheconcept, oneofthethingsI’vedescribed ofteninthesecolumns(andwill continuetodoso,astheconcept definitelymeritsrepetition),isuse oftheCLI,orCommandLine Interface,whenit’saneasierwayto performanoperation.The

Command-Lineiswhereyouwould gototypeincommands,rather thanusingthedefaultGUI,or GraphicalUserInterface,whichis theinterfaceyouseewhenUbuntu startsup.

Somethingsareeasiertodoin one,otherthingsareeasiertodoin theother.Becauseof,Idon’tknow, reasons,thereisnofacilitybuilt intoUbuntubydefaulttoinvokea command-line.Togettoa commandlineforthefirsttime,try usingtheshortcutkeycombination: CTRL–ALT–T.Thismeanshold downthekeymarkedCTRL,then alsoholddownthekeymarkedALT, thenbrieflytapT.Thiswillopena terminalinterfacewhere commandscanbetyped.

Oneofthetasksthatistypically easiertoperforminthecommand lineissoftwareinstallation,IFyou knoworcanguessthenameofthe package.Thepackagenameis oftencompletelyobvious,the packagetoinstallthegameNJAM is‘njam’.ForCalligraOfficeSuite, it’s‘calligra’.Alittlecalculated guessworkwilloftengetyouwhere youneedtogointhisrespect.To installBibleTime,forexample,you wouldtypeinthefollowing command:

EVERYDAYUBUNTU

sudo apt get install bibletime

thenhittheEnterkey.The terminalwillaskyouforthe administratorpasswordyousetup wheninitiallyinstallingUbuntu,will usuallyadviseyouhowmuch informationitneedstodownload (youdo,ofcourse,needtobe onlinetodownloadandinstall software),andwillalsousually promptyoutoconfirmyouwantto commencethedownload.Afterit finishesthedownload,itwill automaticallybeginandcomplete theinstallation.

Note:The‘sudo’beforetheaptgetinstallcommandrepresents ‘superuserdo’,tellingUbuntuthat youwanttemporarysuperuser access,whichisrequiredtoinstall software.Beingfamiliarwiththe sudoconceptisVERYhelpfulin Linux.Therearemanyfunctions thatwillrequiresuperuseraccess toperform.

Asaquickaside,Irecommend thatsinceyou’llwindupusingthe command-lineprettyfrequently, puttingTerminal(whichisthe command-lineaccesstool)onyour ControlStripisagoodidea,solet’s

dothatnow.Gototheapplication drawer(the9smallwhitesquaresin yourbottomleftcorner),click,then lookatthebottomofthescreen thatopens.You’llsee‘Frequent’. Clickthat.Whenyouseethe Terminalicon,simplydragittothe leftontowhereveryouwantitto appearontheControlStrip,then dropit.Itwillthenbethereuntil,if andwhenyoudeliberatelyremove it.Otherapplicationscan,ofcourse, beaddedtotheControlStripthe sameway.

THE(B)UGLY

TheSoftwareCenterseemsto beEXTREMELYbuggyand unreliable.Ihavehaditlockup repeatedly,crashthesystem completelyonmultipleoccasions, andmaddeninglyrefusetoproperly loadmany,manytimes.Whenyou launchitandinvokeacategory, sometimesyou’llseethescreen showingthatit’spending.

ThesmallsquarebelowShow: AllandSort:RatingSHOULD eventuallybereplacedwithalistof softwareinthechosencategory. Sometimesyoucanwaitandwait, andonlygetthis:

m a r S e w s

p willshowupwithoutHighlighted apps.Theinitialscreenwill FREQUENTLYshowupwithnolist ofapplicationcategories,therefore leavingnowaytoproceedatall.

Absolutelymaddening.These thingsshouldabsolutelyhavebeen fixedbeforethisversionofUbuntu

computersupporttechnician,a businessanalyst,asoftware salesman,asalesanalyst,aQCteam lead,andisnowdisabled/retired.He enjoysreading,NFLfootball, computerandvideogames,cooking, andplayingwithBaby,hiscockatiel. Feedbackandsuggestionsare welcomeat acer11kubuntu@gmail.com.

M MIICCRRO

OTTHHIISSMMIICCRROOTTHHAAT T

WrittenbyGregW.Walters

InmyPythonarticleforthis

month,Isaid“BeingfromTexas, mostofusherehaveatendencyto “changehorsesinmidstream”as thesayinggoes,andthismonth,I’m afraidI’mgoingtohavetodojust that.”.Thatapplieseventothe ‘MicroThisMicroThat’articlefor thismonth.Itryveryhardtobe consistent,butwhenissuescome upwithreadersand/orusers,Itry toshareinformationthatmight helpotherreaders,especiallywhen thetopicisrelevanttothesubject ofthearticles.Lastmonth,Isaid thatIwouldexpandonthecompass project.MyfriendinNorway, Halvard,contactedmeyesterday withanissuethatdealtwithhis NeoPixelringthatItriedtohelp himwith,andIthoughtI’dshare thatwithyou.

Hehadfoundanewdriver libraryfortheRaspberryPiPico thatwassupposedtohandlethe NeoPixeldevicesabitbetterthan the“standard”statemachine versionthatwehaveusedinthe past.However,hewashavinga problemonhissystem,where, whenherantheexampleprogram,

hesetthenumberofLEDsto24, butonly18everlit.Thatseemed verystrangetome,soIstarted lookingintohisissue.

Hepointedmetotherepository forthedriverwhichishttps:// github.com/shreyask21/ neopixel rp2040.AsIusuallydo,I downloadedtherepositoryasazip fileratherthanclonethefolder. OnceIgotitdownloaded,I unpackeditandcopiedtherelevant filestoaworkingfolder.Ialready hadtheRPiPicosetupwiththe NeoPixelringandthebatterypack fromtryingtoworkonthenext installmentofthearticlefromlast month,soIthoughtIwasgood. UsingThonny,Icopiedthedriver libraryandtheexampletothePico andjumpedin.

ThefirstthingIdidwasto changetheDriver‘Inpin’inthe instantiationfunctioncall.

led = neopixel_rp2040.neopixel(LEDS =2, PIN=16)

Toremindyou,thePIN assignmentistheGP16pinwhichis

thephysicalpin21ofthePico.

Intheexamplefiletheauthor uses led = neopixel_rp2040.neopixel(LEDS =2, PIN=22)

Ipurposelykeptthenumberof LEDssetto2,justtoverifythatthe programworked.Halvard’sissue wasthatifhesetthenumberof LEDsto24,onlythefirst18worked. Togettheentire24tolight,hehad tosettheLEDsto32.

Anyway,backtomystory.When Itriedtoruntheexample,nothing happened.Iwasveryconfused.It turnedoutthatmybatterypack (whichusesrechargeablebatteries) hadrunlowonpower.Afterabrief 2hoursofreplacingelectronsinto thebatteries,Itriedagain.

WhenIsaythatthebrightness wasanissue,I’mjustsayingthat thedarnthingsareTOOBRIGHTfor myoldeyes.ItthoughtIwas lookingdirectlyintoabright halogenbulb!So,IletHalvardknow myprogressandsuggestedthathe checkhisbatterypack.

ItturnsoutthatHalvardhad purchasedanewerversionofthe PixelRingthatisRGBW,notjust RGB.Whileyouwouldthink(onone sideofyourbrain),thattheRGB driverswouldworkwithRGBW NeoPixelsets.Theydo,butnot quiteproperly.

Theexampleprogramworked withjustthetwoLEDswithoutan issue(exceptforthebrightness) andIthenmovedontoatestusing just12LEDs.Againitworked.Ithen tookadeepbreathandtriedall24. Again,itworked.

P Ptt..115 5 “TheRGBW‘Neopixels’area differentcontroller,SK6812,butit

fullcirclemagazine#182 41 contents^ Whentryingtofigureoutwhy thingswerenotquiteright,I stumbledacrossthiswebsite https://forums.electricimp.com/t/ neopixel-strips-rgb-vs-rgbw/4212/8. Itcontainsalongdiscussionthat eventuallyexplainseverything. Peter,oneoftheposters,explained itinaveryshortbutimportant comment.

MICROTHISMICROTHAT

looksliketheactualprotocolisvery similar(exceptforhaving32bits perLEDinsteadof24).Itsounds likeit’dbeworthstartingfromthe WS2812libraryandmakingsome modifications.”

Sothatexplainswhythings wentwonkywhenHalvardtriedto usethedriverforWS2812 NeoPixelswhenheactuallyhad SK6812NeoPixels.ThankyouPeter fortheexplanation.

SooffIwentagainonasearch

foradriverthatwould,atleast, supporttheSK6812andhopefully fortheWS2812aswell.Ifounditat https://github.com/blaz-r/ pi pico neopixel.

Onhisrepositoryhestates:

“Youcreateanobjectwiththe parametersnumberofLEDs,state machineID,GPIOnumberandmode (RGBorRGBW)inthatorder.So,to createastripof10ledsonstate machine0andGPIO0inRGBW modeyouuse: fromneopixelimportNeopixel pixels=Neopixel(10,0,0,"RGBW")

Mindthatyoucanusewhichever

orderofRGB/RGBWyouwant(GRB, WRGB,GRB,RGWB...).Thisonly representstheorderofdatasentto led-strip,allfunctionsstillworkwith RGBWorder.Exactorderofleds shouldbeonthepackageofyourledstrip.(MyBTF-lightssk6812has GRBW).”

SoifyouareusingaRGBWstrip orring,youcansimplyusethe initializationasshownaboveinthe quote.

pixels = Neopixel(10, 0, 0, "RGBW")

If,however,youareusingan olderRBGstriporring,youcan simplyreplacethemode designation“RGBW”with“RGB”.

pixels = Neopixel(10, 0, 0, "RGB")

Theparametersareeasy.

pixels = Neopixel(NumberOfPixels, StateMachine, Pin, Mode)

Asalways,PinreferstotheIO pin,notthephysicalpin.

toadmit,theyworkwell,bothfor meandforHalvard–whotested themaswellandtheyranfinefor himwhenhemodifiedthe initializationcall.

Myfavoriteexampleisthe fireflyexampleprogram.Itreminds meofsummereveningsbackwhen Iwasachild,chasingthefirefliesin thebackyardwithamasonjarmy motherletmeuse.Eventoday, whenIseefireflies(whichare actuallyinthebeetlefamilyandnot fliesatall),Iamthrownbackto thosememories.

So,withthepauseforthis month’supdate,we'llpressplayon thecompassprogramnextmonth usingthenewdriverforthe NeoPixeldisplay.

Thedistributioncomeswithfour exampleprogramsthatshowoff theabilitiesofthedriverandIhave

fullcirclemagazine#182 42 contents^ Untilnexttime,asalways;stay safe,healthy,positiveandcreative!

GregWaltersisaretired programmerlivinginCentralTexas, USA. Hehasbeenaprogrammer since1972andinhissparetime,heis anauthor,amateurphotographer, luthier,fairmusicianandapretty darngoodcook.Hestillistheowner ofRainyDaySolutionsaconsulting companyandhespendsmostofhis timewritingarticlesforFCMand tutorials.Hiswebsiteis www.thedesignatedgeek.xyz.

U

M MYYSSTTOORRY Y

WrittenbyHansrudolfBrunner

LookslikeCalibrewasnevermentionedinanyFCMbefore.

Iownquitealotofbooksand evenmoreeBooks.Tokeepsome overview,IuseCalibre.Iaddlotsof thingstomyCalibre-library:

• eBooks

• printedbooks(mylibrary:covers andcontents)

• manuals(installation,user, reference)

• patientinstructionleafletsfrom pillsandmedicine(scanned)

• journals(wholemagazinesor singlearticles,fromtheinternetor scanned)

• pictures(oldmaps,drawings)

• interviews

• tutorials(PC,Linux,guitar,

photography,...)

• recipes

• DVD(covers) …andthisinthreedifferent languages(German,Englishand Portuguese).

Sure,addingkeywordsor indexesisquitesomework.ButifI needthemanualofsome motherboard,orinformationon howtoreplacethepowersupplyof mymicroserver…everythingis literallyrightonmyfingertips.Or findingallFullCircleMagazines containingsomethingaboutGIMP …noproblem.

Calibreautomaticallyaddsa pictureofeachitem.Sometimes

thereisnopictureavailable,orthe picturesareofdifferentsizes.

ThereforeIreplacethepictures byastandard-sizedpicture,from thefileitselforbysearchingthe internet.Thatway,Igetanice overview,insteadofaquitechaotic one.

RecentlyIaddedthelocation/ shelfofmyrealbooks.NowIno longerspendtimesearchingfora bookonmybookshelf.

C Caalliibbrre e

Andsomethingimportant:I neverhadanysoftwareproblems withCalibre.

Onewarning:DRMisnot supported.FortheseeBooksIusea Windowslaptop.MaybeIwillcreate some«links»inCalibresometime.

2 HansrudolfstartedasaCOBOL Programmer,changedintosupport forIBMoperating-systemsandlater fornetworking.HehasusedLinux sinceearlySUSE.Mustbesome twentyyearsnow?Hechangedfrom SUSEtoUbuntu,Mint,andnowMX Linux(XFCE).

Ilikethesearch-facility:youmay searchforawordintitlesand index,orforspecifickeywords,by autor,publisher,language.

H

OWW--TTO O

WrittenbyRonnieTucker

GUIDELINES

Thesingleruleforanarticleis thatitmustsomehowbe linkedtoUbuntuoroneofthe manyderivativesofUbuntu (Kubuntu,Xubuntu,Lubuntu,etc).

RULES

•Thereisnowordlimitforarticles, butbeadvisedthatlongarticles maybesplitacrossseveralissues.

•Foradvice,pleaserefertothe OfficialFullCircleStyleGuide: http://bit.ly/fcmwriting

•Writeyourarticleinwhichever softwareyouchoose,Iwould recommendLibreOffice,butmost importantly-PLEASESPELLAND GRAMMARCHECKIT!

•Inyourarticle,pleaseindicate whereyouwouldlikeaparticular imagetobeplacedbyindicating theimagenameinanewparagraph orbyembeddingtheimageinthe ODT(OpenOffice)document.

•ImagesshouldbeJPG,nowider than800pixels,anduselow compression.

•Donotusetablesoranytypeof boldoritalicformatting.

REVIEWS GAMES/APPLICATIONS

Whenreviewinggames/applicationspleasestateclearly:

• titleofthegame

• whomakesthegame

Ifyouarewritingareview, pleasefollowtheseguidelines: Whenyouarereadytosubmit yourarticlepleaseemailitto: articles@fullcirclemagazine.org

TRANSLATIONS

IfyouwouldliketotranslateFull Circleintoyournativelanguage pleasesendanemailto ronnie@fullcirclemagazine.organd wewilleitherputyouintouchwith anexistingteam,orgiveyouaccess totherawtexttotranslatefrom. WithacompletedPDF,youwillbe abletouploadyourfiletothemain FullCirclesite.

• isitfree,orapaiddownload?

• wheretogetitfrom(givedownload/homepageURL)

• isitLinuxnative,ordidyouuseWine?

• yourmarksoutoffive

• asummarywithpositiveandnegativepoints

HARDWARE

Whenreviewinghardwarepleasestateclearly:

• makeandmodelofthehardware

• whatcategorywouldyouputthishardwareinto?

• anyglitchesthatyoumayhavehadwhileusingthehardware?

• easytogetthehardwareworkinginLinux?

• didyouhavetouseWindowsdrivers?

• marksoutoffive

• asummarywithpositiveandnegativepoints

Youdon'tneedtobeanexperttowritean article-writeaboutthegames,applications andhardwarethatyouuseeveryday.

R

WrittenbyAdamHunt

ThenewKubuntulongterm

supportrelease,22.04LTS, arrivedon21April,2022,and broughtalmostnosurprisesfor Kubuntufans.

Kubuntu22.04LTScompletes thisdevelopmentcycleofthree “standard”releaseswhichstarted withKubuntu21.04inApril,2021.

Thisreleaseisthe35thversion ofKubuntuandthe14thonewith thePlasma5desktop.ThisiswhatI wouldcallaverymatureproject, andhasattractedasolidbaseof dedicatedusers.

AsanLTS,Kubuntu22.04LTShas threeyearsofsupport,untilApril, 2025.

INSTALLATION

IdownloadedtheKubuntuISO fileandcarriedoutanSHA256sum checkonitfromthecommand-line toensurethatthefilewasgood.

Itisworthnotingthatthis releaseis3.4GB,whichis300MB biggerthanthelastrelease,

Kubuntu21.10,andmatches Ubuntu22.04LTSfordownload size. IusedaUSBstickequippedwith Ventoy1.0.73tobootupKubuntu 22.04LTSandtestit.Ventoymakes testingLinuxandBSDdistributions easyas–onceitisinstalledona

USBstick,youcanjustcutand pastetheISOfilesontothestick andVentoytakescareoftherestat boot-up.ItalsoallowsmultipleISO filesononestick,chosenatthe bootwindow,whichisgreatfor tryingoutabunchofdifferent distributionsinsequence.

SYSTEMREQUIREMENTS

Theminimumsystem requirementsforKubuntuarethe

sameasforUbuntuandare

currently: 2GHzdual-coreprocessor 4GBRAM 25GBofhard-drive,USBstick,

REVIEW

memorycardorexternaldrive space

Screencapableof1024x768pixel screenresolution

EitheraCD/DVDdriveoraUSBport fortheinstallationmedia Internetaccessisuseful,butnot essential

NEW

Thiswholereleasecyclefor Kubuntuhasintroducedonlyafew smallchanges,andtheLTSrelease hasalmostnothingnewoverthe laststandardrelease,whichisthe waythedevelopmentprocessis supposedtowork.Anychanges shouldhappenearlyinthecycle, withinthefirstreleaseortwo,and

thenthelaststandardrelease shouldfixanyoutstandingissuesso thattheLTSisrocksolid,with almostnothingnewincluded.

ThisreleaseusesQt5.15.3and theKDEPlasma5.24.4desktop whichintroducessomesmall refinements.ThestandardKDE menunowworksverysmoothlyand iseasytouse.

EventhoughUbuntuhasbeen usingtheWaylandprotocoldisplay serverbydefaultsinceUbuntu 21.04,Kubuntuiscontinuingwith theXserverforthisrelease.A Waylandsessionisavailableon bootupfortesting,butthe Kubuntudeveloperswarnthatitis officiallynotsupported,soyou

havebeenwarned!

Thelistofdefaultapplications remainsthesameasKubuntu 21.10,althoughmostversionshave beenupdatedtotheKDEGear 21.12.3releases.

SETTINGS

Asinthepast,Kubuntu22.04 LTShasamyriadofsettings allowinguserstomakeKubuntu lookandworkalmostanywaythey want.

eighticonsets,andeightcursor styles,andthatisjustthelistofthe installedoptions.Mostofthe settingspagesalsoofferonebuttondownloadandinstallationof many,manymoreoptions,right fromthesettingswindows.

Kubuntu22.04LTSoffersfour globalthemes,fourapplication styles,sixPlasmastyles,fivecolors, twowindowdecorationstyles,

Kubuntu22.04LTSalsooffers68 pre-installeddesktopwidgets,one morethanin21.10,astheseonly seemtoproliferateovertime. Widgetsaresmallapplicationsthat canbeaddedtothedesktopto improvefunctionalityandthese rangefromanalogclocksand weatherapplicationstoCPUand RAMloadmonitors.Hundredsmore widgetscanalsobedownloaded, butyouwillneedalargescreenfor themall.

REVIEW APPLICATIONS

Kubuntureleasescomewitha fairlycompletesuiteofuser applications.InKubuntu22.04LTS theseinclude:

Ark21.12.3archivemanager

Discover2.1.2softwarestore*

Dolphin21.12.3filemanager

Elisa21.12.3musicplayer

Firefox99.0.1webbrowser**

Gwenview21.12.3imageviewer

Kate21.12.3texteditor

Kcalc21.12.3calculator

KDEPartitionManager21.12.3 partitioneditor

Konsole21.12.3terminalemulator

Kmahjongg21.12.3game

Kmines21.12.3game

Konversation21.12.3IRCclient Kpatience21.12.3game Ksudoku21.12.3game

Ktorrent21.12.3BitTorrentclient LibreOffice7.3.1officesuite,less onlyLibreOfficeBasedatabase Muon5.8.0packagemanager* Okular21.12.3PDFviewer

PlasmaSystemMonitor5.24.4 systemmonitor

PulseAudio15.99.1audiocontroller

Skanlite21.12.3scanningutility

Spectacle21.12.3screenshottool StartupDiskCreator0.3.13(usbcreator-kde)USBISOwriter

Thunderbird91.8.0emailclient VLC3.0.16mediaplayer*

*indicatessameapplicationversion

asusedinKubuntu21.10

**suppliedasasnapsoversion

dependsontheupstreampackage manager

Ascanbeseenfromthelackof asterisks,mostoftheapplications includedareupdatedversionsfrom theKDEGear21.12.3collection.In general,theseupdatedapplications includesmalltweaksand improvements.

Theonlyobviousdesktop a c i r o C d n t

includedK3BCD/DVDburneris availabletoinstallthough,should youhaveanoldercomputerwithan opticaldrive.

KubuntuhastheLibreOffice officesuite,completeexceptfor theinfrequently-usedLibreOffice

Basedatabaseapplication.Again,it canbeinstalledifneeded.

Ofcourseoneofthekey

REVIEW

gonefromthe22.04LTS repositories,leavingonlythesnap version.TheKubuntudeveloper teamhadtheoptionofmovingto thesnap,switchingbrowsersor doingsomethingelse.Intheend theydecidedtogowiththesnap package.

SomeUbuntuflavorsthathave movedtothesnapversionof Firefoxprovideddetailedrationales forit,liketheXubuntudevelopers

didintheirreleasenotes,butthe Kubuntureleasenotessimplystate: “Firefox99isthedefaultbrowser, usingasnapfromtheUbuntu archive.”Nodebate.

Conclusions

Kubuntu22.04LTSisaprettyclose-to-flawlessrelease,with virtuallynochangesfromKubuntu 21.10.Thisisagoodthing,asit meansthattherearenolastminute

additionsorsurprises–everything iswell-testedandjustworks.

IthinkKubuntu’sdedicatedfans willenjoyusingthisreleaseforthe nextfewyears.

EXTERNALLINKS

Officialwebsite: https://kubuntu.org/

AdamHuntstartedusingUbuntuin 2007andhasusedLubuntusince 2010.HelivesinOttawa,Ontario, Canada,inahousewithnoWindows.

R

WrittenbyAdamHunt

Aspartofourongoinglookat

Linuxdistributionsthatcome fromoutsidetheUbuntuand Debianempire,wearegoingto headovertothe“othersideofthe tracks”sotospeak.

IntheLinuxworld,the genealogychartisdominatedby twomajordistributionfamilies.The DebianfamilyisfamiliartoUbuntu users,asUbuntuanditsderivatives arebasedonDebian.Theotherbig LinuxfamilyisRedHatandthese daysitallspawnsfromFedoraso wearegoingtotakethelatest version,Fedora35,foradrive.

BACKGROUND

Fedoraactuallyhasitsrootsin RedHatEnterpriseLinux(RHEL),as itstartedoutasthefreelydistributedversionofRHEL.RHEL isthewildlycommercially successfulLinuxdistributionthat powersorganizationsfromtheUS FederalAviationAdministration andtheUSArmytoCanada’sair trafficcontrolnon-profit,Nav Canada.Thesedaysthetableshave beenturnedandRHELisactually

basedonFedoraasthe“upstream” distribution.Fedoraisusedasa “leadingedge”distributiontotest outnewideasandtechnology beforeitgetsincorporatedinto laterRHELstablereleasesfor businessuse.

Fedoraisdevelopedbythe

FedoraProject,acollectionofpaid andvolunteerdevelopers,whichis sponsoredbyRedHat,Inc.,the companybehindRHEL.The companywasfoundedin1993and hasbeenownedbyIBMsince2019.

AnewversionofFedorais releasedeverysixmonths,justlike

Ubuntu.ThefirstreleaseofFedora wason6November,2003,so,19 yearslater,itisaverymatureand polisheddistribution.Thecurrent versionisFedora35,whichwas releasedon2November,2021.

SincethereleaseofFedora30 therehavebeenfivedifferent

REVIEW

Fedoraeditions:

• Workstationfordesktops

• Serverforservers

• CoreOSforcloudcomputing

• Silverblueforcontainer-based workflows

• IoTforInternetofThings devices

Fedorauserstendtobepretty dedicatedandtheirnumbers includeLinusTorvalds,thecreator

oftheLinuxkernel,whichisquite anendorsement.

Oneofthebiggestdifferences betweenthefamilyofRedHatbaseddistributionsandDebianbaseddistributionsisthepackage managementsystememployed. WhileDebianrelieson.debfiles andAPT,RedHatuses.rpmfiles withDNF.Fedoracanalsouse FlatpakandSnapapplications, makingthesepackagescompatible

acrosstheDebianandRedHat worldsandindeedmostofthe Linuxuniverse.

GETTINGFEDORA

Fedorahasanicewebsite, cleanlylaidoutandinviting.The first-offereddownloadisanhttp downloadoftheflagshipproduct, Fedora35Workstationwiththe Gnomedesktop.Itis1.9GBto downloadasanISOfile.The

websitedoesofferlinksformany morechoices,though,includingbit torrentsandversionswiththeKDE Plasma,Xfce,LXQt,LXDE,MATE, Cinnamonandi3desktops.Since thiswastobeageneralfirstlookat Fedora,Iwentwiththedefault Gnomedesktopwhichusesthe GnomeShell. SinceneithermyusualUSB writer,UNetbootin,northe command-lineprogram“dd”would successfullywriteFedora35toa USBdrivefortesting,IusedVentoy 1.0.71anditworkedflawlessly, allowingmetoquicklybootupthe Gnomedesktop.

versionsthesedays,32-bitsupport havingendedsometimeago.

REVIEW

Sothisisnotthedistributionto runonoldWindowsXPhardware withasingle-coreprocessorand 512MBofRAM trySliTazor PuppyLinuxinstead!

ItestedFedora35outonanine year-olddesktopcomputerwitha dualcore3.3GHzprocessorwith6 GBofRAM,andFedoraranvery smoothlyfromtheUSBdrive.

TRYINGOUTFEDORA

Onbootup,Fedora35presents averycleanandsimpleGnome desktop.Infact,itisacompletely “vanilla”versionofGnomewith virtuallynochanges Thisdiffers fromUbuntu,whic Gnome,buthasav interfacethatlook muchliketheoldU

Ifyoulikethec Gnomeexperience Fedoraand,ifnot, much. Thisimplement onFedorahassom certainlyisverysim Thedesktopshow

andaplaintoppanelwiththe Activitiesmenu,dateandtime, soundandnetworkicons,theon/ offbuttonandnothingelse.Itis verycleanandveryminimalist,with nodistractions.

TheActivitiesmenucanbe clickedtoopen,oritcanbeopened usingthe"superkey"(Windows key).Themainmenushowstwo selectabledesktopsandthe installedapplications,withthe mostusedonesonabottom launcherandtherestonagrid menu.Thereisalsoasearch functiontosavelookingthrough themenusforanapplication.

Thereisachoiceof19very tastefulwallpapers,but,otherwise,

customizationavailable,atleastin thedefaultinstallation.

Thatisthegoodpart.

Thebadpartisthat,inthe vanillaGnome3desktop, applicationshavenomaximizeor minimizebuttons,justaclose button.Thereisno"minimizeall windows"featureeither,sothings getclutteredfastwithafew applicationsopen.Youcan"hide" applicationsormaximizethemfrom theright-clickmenu,butthatis aboutit.Foranyonecomingfroma distributionthathasthisbasic desktopfunctionality,GnomeShell feelsquiteoversimplified.Iamsure youcangetusedtoitintime,or findadd-ontoolstoaddthese

feelsbasicallycrippled.

Ofcourse,ifyouwanta differentdesktopexperience,you caninstallanyoftheFedora versionswithalternativedesktops likeKDEPlasma,Xfce,orLXQt,for instance.

APPLICATIONS

Foralarge1.9GBdownload, Fedoraactuallycomeswitharather shortdefaultlistofapplications. Thatisnotnecessarilyabadthing, though,asitmakesiteasiertoadd anydesiredapplicationsratherthan havetoremoveonesthatarenot neededorthatareclutteringup themainmenu.

application impleScan) ince)41alpha

REVIEW

GnomeSoftware41.0software store

GnomeTerminal3.42.0terminal emulator

ImageViewer(EyeofGnome)41.0 LibreOffice7.2.1.2officesuite

Photos40.0imageorganizer Rhythmbox3.4.4musicplayer Videos(Totem)videoplayer

LibreOfficecomescomplete withallcomponentsexceptthe databaseapplication,LibreOffice

Base.Thisistheleastusedpartof LibreOfficeandcaneasilybeadded ifneeded.LibreOfficeDrawand Mathareincluded,butforsome reasondonotshowuponthe Gnomemainmenu.Theycanbe launchedfromwithinLibreOffice, though.

Thedefaultwebbrowseris Firefoxwhichreallyisanexcellent browserthesedaysandfarbetter thantheGnomebrowser,Web

(Epiphany).

Theprovidedfilemanager,Files (Nautilus),hasalotofdeficiencies stemmingfromasimplification driveafewyearsagothatwenttoo far.Thegoodnewsisthatthe softwarerepositorieshavesome goodalternativesliketheNautilus fork,Nemo,thatcanbeinstalled fromGnomeSoftwareorfromthe commandline.

CONCLUSIONS

Fedora35withtheGnome desktopisasimpleandelegant operatingsystem.Ifyoulikethe defaultGnomedesktop,thenyou willloveFedora35,asitispure Gnome.Aslongasyouhavesome reasonablymodernhardwaretorun iton,itprovidesaminimalist,but polishedexperience.IfGnomeis nottoyourlikingandyouwantan operatingsystemwith“maximize” and“minimize”windowcontrols andotherfunctionality,thenoneof theotherdesktopsFedoraoffers maybeabetterfitlikeKDEPlasma, Xfce,orLXQt.Eitherway,Fedora offersanoperatingsystemthatis hardnottolike.

EXTERNALLINKS

Fedoraofficialwebsite: https://getfedora.org/

AdamHuntstartedusingUbuntuin 2007andhasusedLubuntusince 2010.HelivesinOttawa,Ontario, Canada,inahousewithnoWindows.

R REEVVIIEEW W

Written by Siddharth Sundaresan

Ataroundthistime–itseems

likeagesago–thefirstofthe countrieshadissuedemergency lockdownorders,andourliveswere turnedaroundbeyondourwildest dreamsasweallcollectivelyfought tomakesenseoftheunseenhorror unfoldingbeforeus.What happenedwasbeyondimagination (andthisisaworldthathas survivedatsunami,waytoomany forestfirestocount,loadsof earthquakes,hurricanes,andso muchmore).

Themorepositiveofusspun thisexile,imposedfromsociety,as

ameansofenjoyingsomemuch neededR&Rfromthebusinessof corporatelife,andweall(re)investedinahobbyorthreewhile wedealtwithitall.

Sonow,almost2yearsafterthe fact-whenitseemstheworldis goingpearshapedagain I’dliketo tellyouallaboutmyhobby: reading,andmorespecificallythe many,manyappsthatallowmeto dothatonmyLinuxbox.

Now,IsayLinuxboxbecauseI remember,backduringmy Windowsdays,thatebookreaders

werelimitedtoopensourcecross platformapps-includingcalibre, FBReader,CoolReader3-the officialofferingsfromKindle,Kobo, andthelike-whichcamewiththe walledgardensofeachcompany (unlessyouknewhowtowork aroundthem-moredetailsanother time),andtheveryWindows8ey IceCreamReader.

OnLinuxhowever,muchlikethe distributionsandmaybeeventhe kernelitself,theuserispresented withanumberofhighquality,well maintained,optionsthatcanbe easilyobtainedwithasingle

E EbbooookkRReeaaddeerrs s

terminalcommandoraGUIsearch. Withoutanymorefaffle,let’slook atthefirstofthoseofferings:

CALIBRE

…isthegranddaddyofebook readers,butitdoesnotstopthere byanymeans.Itcanalsoorganize yourebookcollection,convertand shareitacrosse-readers,andfetch newsfrommajorsites.Thenew versionsalsocomewithanebook editor aboutasfeaturedasSigil, thebestoneoutthere.

REVIEW

Thelatestversionofthe softwarealsocomeswitha revampedebookreader,whichhas allthefeaturesfromearlier versions,butlacksalittleofthe polish.Iunderstandthiswas becauseofanissuewiththeQt5 backendthatcalibrewasusing, whichsubsequentlyforcedthe devstouseachromiuminstance. I’dnotworryaboutthepolish,as thedevsareremarkablyfriendly, andtheappisrigorouslybeing workedon.

Howcanyougetit?

Installation:calibreisavailable inthereposofmostLinuxdistros outthere,withtheexceptionof Ubuntu,andbyextension,Mintand

KDENeon.LMDE’sreposdon’thave it,whichisinexplicable,asDebian propersdo.Theaffecteduserscan stillgettheappfromtheirwebsite (thebinaryisrecommendedbythe authors,especiallyifthedistro reposhaveanoldversion),or FlatHub.Thesnapstore, snapcraft.io,doesnotlistcalibre.

5starsforfunctionality,and4of5 forpolishandUIdesign.

Butit’sunderstandablethata usermightnotneedallthetools thatcalibremightofferthem, whichleadsmedirectlyto:

quiteabitdone.

Shouldyougetit?

Yes,ifyouneedafeaturepackedvirtuallibraryofsorts,that canalsofacilitatereadingagood bookandsomenewsnowandthen. Anotherresoundingyesifyouhave eReaderhardwareandwouldliketo syncittoyourLinuxmachine.

Thisuserratesit5ofapossible

FOLIATE

…theepubreaderIwould suggestwithoutasecondthought tosomeonewhoneedsapretty, butfunctionalapplicationthat readsebooksbutcan’tdotoomuch else.Foliateisn’tas“old”ascalibre byanymeans,butintheshorttime thatthedevelopershavebeen active,they’vemanagedtoget

TheCSDbasedUXismodern, andintuitive,withalibraryview thatgreetstheuseroncetheappis started. Whentheuseropensabook, theUXgiveswaytoaminimalistic interfacethatletsthebooktake centrestage,asitshould.

Theappreaderhasabunchof usefulfeaturesthatshouldaidthe reader,includingadictionaryand translationtool,bookmark functionality,texttospeech(needs aT-2-Sengine),andreadingtime estimates.Italsohastheabilityto fetchbooksonlineviaOPDSfeeds, underthecatalogmenufeaturedin

REVIEW

thepreviousimage.

Howcanyougetit?

Installation:Foliateisavailable fromthereposofUbuntu,Fedora, Debian,Arch,openSUSE,Void,and allderivatives.TheFlathuband Snapcraftstoresalsohaveit.

Shouldyougetit?

Yes,ifyouneedaprettyebook reader,withaccesstoalibraryview andaprogressbar.

Rated4ofapossible5starsfor functionality,and5of5forpolish andUIdesign.

Fromtheworldofbookreaders withCSDbasedUX-esalsocomes…

BOOKWORM

marks.Unliketheothersthough, theincreasinglypopularazw3 formatisnotsupportedoutofthe box(many,manytoolsexist however,toconverttoamore universalformatlikeepubormobi, whichthisapphandleswith aplomb)

foralong-termbibliophile,was very,verydisconcerting.

Thisuserrecommendsthat powerusersusethecalibreebook organisertocataloguetheir collections,withFoliatesettoopen individualebooks.

Bookworm(nottobeconfused withthesimilarlynamedsoftware forWindows)isanotherno-frills, workout-of-the-boxepubreader, thatisaboutasfeature-fulland userfriendlyasFoliate.Ithasa libraryhomepage,supportforthe darktheme,andadictionarytool. Likemostoftheotherreaderson thislist,italsosupportsannotation

Itdidsufferfromaweird paginationissue,however,during mytesting,whentwo-pagereading isenabledinthesettings(not turnedonbydefault),thevisible partiscropped,andthereaderhas toscrolldown,inadditionto navigatinghorizontally,likeauser normallywould.Thedownbutton (liketherightbutton)movesthe pagehorizontally,soIhadtouse mytouchpadtoscrolldown,which,

Similarlyunpalatablewas anothersetting:thedarktheme, whichisalsonotenabledootb,with goodreason.Thestocktheme offeredbythedevelopersisfullof aweird,almostnavyblue,whichI cannotimaginewouldbeeasyon theeyesoverlongperiods.Itcanbe veryeasilymodifiedinthesettings, whichisoneofthefirstthingsIdid whenIusedtheapp.

Withsomesettingschanged, thisappbecamereally,really intuitivetoreadon,andIfound myselfreadingacoupleshort storiesfromthebookIhadopened tosnappicturesofxD.

REVIEW

Thepaginationhoweverwasa bitofadealbreaker,andIfound myselfoftenmissingpartsofthe storyandgoingbacktoscrolldown tocatchup.

Howcanyougetit?

Bookwormisavailablefromthe reposofmostofthemajor distributions,notableexclusions beingUbuntu(thereisaPPA),MX, antiXandopenMandriva,after Fedoraaddeditwithversion31.As usual,thisappislistedinthe Flathubrepoaswell.

Shouldyou?

Iwillbehonest,Iadmitalotof

hardworkhasgoneintodesigning theapp,andit’sacontemplative yesfromme,ifIhadtosuggestitto people.

Iwouldratetheapp4.5on5for theinterface-avisittotheirhome pagerevealsthattheappwas originallybuiltforelementaryOS, butlikealotofappsinthe appcentre,theverygenerousdevs havemadetheappworkon90%of themajordistrosouttherewithout hassle!-and3.5forfeaturesand usability. Andhowcouldwespeakabout theHIG(CSDUX)without mentioningtheebookreader offeringfromtheGNOMEdevs…

GNOMEBOOKS

Gnome-Books,oneofthelesser knownofferingsfromtheGNOME Foundation,isane-bookmanager whichalsopullsdouble-dutyasan e-readerparexcellence.Theapp automagicallyperusesthe“My Documents”folder(~/Documents) forsupportedfilesanddisplays themonfirst-run.

Theinterfaceisclean,simple andmodern,typicalofmost GNOMEsoftwareoutthere.And likesomeoftheirofferings,it's fairlylight.Easyontheeyestoo, duringthosemarathonreading sessions,withdarkmodeavailable asanoption.

Yes,ifyouwantalightebook managerandreaderinone,thatis wellconfiguredandgetsoutofthe way.Thisuserprefersitasasolid backupforcalibreandFoliate,and considersitamongthefirstappshe instalsonallhismachines.

Disclaimer:thisuserhadtogo huntingforrelevantepubsfromhis harddrives(heusesthesmallest possible‘root’and/homepartition setuphecangetawaywith;a holdoverfromhisdistro-hopping days),butoneCtrlC;CtrlVand rebootlater,theappwasstillnot pickinguphisebooks,sopleasedo contacthimifhe’smissingsth).

Theappalsosupportssorting booksintocustomizedcollections basedoninterestorgenre!

Howcanyougetit?

Mostmajordistroscarrythe gnomebookspackageintheir repos.Flathubalsohastheapp. Snapcraft,unfortunately,doesn't seemtocarrythispackage.

Thisuserratesgnome-booksa verysolid3.5/5simplybecausehe’s asuckerforthemodern,phone-ish GNOMEinterface;P(hehasgotit toworkinthepast).

Roundingoutthisreviewarethe oldstalwarts:includingFBReader, coolreader3,Lectorandthelike, whichhavebeenaroundforalmost forever,andarestableaf.They serveasexcellentoptionsforquick ebookperusal,butthisreader prefersothertoolsforlongterm marathonsessions.YMMV.

Shouldyougetit?

REVIEW

Thisreaderdidn’tinclude Okular,despiterudimentaryepub support,simplybecausehehasn’t useditoftenenoughtoreview it:shrug: RANDOMREADING RECOMMENDATIONS

Thisbibliophilerecommends usingthedarkmode(withabluelightfilter;hesuggestsGNOME’s built-intool),withwhitetextfor bestresults.Healsosuggestsusing thefontOpenDyslexic(afuntiphe pickedupthankstoLibby (Overdrive)-whichhislibraryuses withtheironlinecatalogue).The

fontisclear,boldandcrisp,and perfectlysuitedforthosemarathon readingsessions.

Thisreaderalsoprefersusinga biggerrealestateofalaptop screenoveraphone,despitethe portabilitydisadvantage,anda laptopoveratabletforthe keyboardshortcuts.

Anothersmallpersonalnote; whilethisreaderdidgettheLGG8X (withthedual-screen)primarilyfor reading,hehassinceregressedto readingonhisLinuxboxafterabout 6monthsorsowiththenew hardware.TheG8X’dual-screen accessoryisamazingtouseasan

impromptuwordprocessingengine however,andservedasthe formattingtoolforthemajorityof thisreview!(Thequiteexcellent CollaboraOfficeappforAndroid helpedagreatdealaswell).

P.S:Ifyouhavetrudgedthisfar, thanksforreading!Idohopethis helpsinsomeway.Happyreading!

P.P.S:Pleasedopingmeif there’ssomeotherthingsyou’dlike metoreview,re:Linuxdesktopsor reading!

Siddharthisadentistbyday,Linux explorerandbibliophilebynight.This ishisfirsttimeattemptinganarticle ofthiskind,sohehopesitcomesout well.Pleaseemailanyinputto djanakirame.stormbreaker@gmail.com.

L

Ifyouwouldliketosubmitaletterforpublication,compliment

NOTE:

Joinuson: facebook.com/ fullcirclemagazine twitter.com/#!/fullcirclemag linkedin.com/company/fullcircle-magazine ubuntuforums.org/ forumdisplay.php?f=270

Withoutreaderinput

FullCirclewouldbean emptyPDFfile(whichIdon't thinkmanypeoplewouldfind particularlyinteresting).Weare alwayslookingforarticles, reviews,anything!Evensmall thingslikelettersanddesktop screenshelpfillthemagazine.

SeethearticleWritingforFull Circleinthisissuetoreadour basicguidelines. Havealookatthelastpageof anyissuetogetthedetailsof wheretosendyour contributions.

Q Q&&A A

CompiledbyEriktheUnready

Welcomebacktoanother

editionofQuestionsand Answers!Inthissectionwewill endeavourtoansweryourUbuntu questions.Besuretoadddetailsof theversionofyouroperating systemandyourhardware.Iwilltry toremoveanypersonally identifiablestringsfromquestions, butitisbestnottoincludethings likeserialnumbers,UUIDs,orIP addresses.Ifyourquestiondoes notappearimmediately,itisjust becausethereissuchalot,andIdo them,first-come-first-served.

Haveyoueverjusthadoneof thosedays?Wesold(Isaywe, butitwasadepartmentstore sellingourbrand)thefirstbatchof plasmabigscreensanditwasn’t longbeforeatruckstoppedand offloadedfourfaultyonesthe storewantedreplaced.Wehad proceduresinplace,andeven thoughmybranchmanagerhad promisedthestoremanagerswapouts,wecheckedeachonebefore doingso.TheproblemwasthatI couldnotswapthemastheyallhad waterdamage.Turnedoutthey

werefromthesameclientandthe storeswappedthemontheirno quibblepolicy.We,however,did nothavethatpolicy,soeverything gotcheckedandrepaired.Sincewe wouldnothonourthewarranties onthefourpreviousscreens,they hadtorefusethefifthswap-out andalsodidnotrefundtheclient amidthreatstogethersolicitors involved.Turnsoutthather housekeeperhadbeenover wateringthepotplantsonthe shelfabovetheScreenandit starteddrippingwaterafterabout 2minutes.SoeveryMondaythe screengotdamagedandevery Tuesdayitwasbackatthestorefor aswap-out.Iwouldnotwanttobe thatstoremanager,havingto explaintotheclienttheyarenow liablefor5screens.Anyway,my takeawaytodayistocheck somethingbeforeraisingyourhand andsayingit’sfaulty.Youmaysee theissue,evenifyoudon’tknow howtofixit.Saying“maybeit’s this?”couldhelpmorethanyou think.Justdon’trepeatthingsyou havenotseenorknownothing about.(Suchasexplaininghowyou heardthemultiplexerhasbeen

IfyouhaveaLinuxquestion,emailitto: questions@fullcirclemagazine.org, andErikwillanswertheminafutureissue. Please include as much information as you can about your query.

affectingthepowersupplyinyour laptop.Causingthenetworkportto gofaulty.)

Q:Perocha,[2022/04/2016:33]I madetheswitchtoUbuntu 22.04anddecidedtouninstall Firefoxsnap.TheissueIraninto wasthattherearenoother browsersIcouldinstalltogetthe firefoxdeb.Whatisthewaysensei? Theanswerneedstoinvolvethe terminalplease,it’sjustsomuch faster.

A:Actuallytherearesome,but theyallblowforregularusers. Youcouldinstalldeb-getfromthe commandline,thenusedeb-getto installopera(opera-stable)or brave(bravebrowser)or vivaldi(vivialdi-stable).I’mnotsure ifFirefoxwasthere.

A:IknowXfburnworksonUbuntu22.04,butyouhave options,likeBrasero,K3b,etc.I repeatedyoursearchandsawthe issue,maybesearchforDVD burning,Synapticcanbepedantic sometimes.

Q:Hai,IinstalledUbuntu22.04 forthefirsttimeasmylaptopis 14yrsoldandneedsnewbling.My questionis,isCDwritingstilla thing?Iheardthatitisanissueon Linuxduetolicensing?AnywaysI

Q:Goodmorning/evening,Iwant toaskaquestionnotsomuch aboutUbuntu,butaboutsoftware FORUbuntu.Yousee,Ihavebeen usingWeKan,https:// wekan.github.io/butIwant somethingofflinethatIcankeep, notselfhost.Idon’twanttosetup myowncloud.(theadviceIhave beengetting)Itjustmakesmylife easierwhenIcanseewhatisnext withoutneedinganetworkor internet.Iworkfromhomeandmy officeisalittleWendy,withjust power.

fullcirclemagazine#182 62 contents^ openedSynapticandsearchedfor dvdwriterandcameupempty.I wouldliketomakeandrestore somesimplebackups.XPserved mewell,butgettingupdated/new softwareisoutofthequestion.

A:Yes,Iagree,Idon’twantmy dataheldhostageeither.You couldtryBrisqi,ithasaninstaller, seeaboveregardingdeb-getand youdonotneedtobeonlinetouse it,onlyifyouwouldliketoshare databetweendevices.Youcanskip theonlineloginandstartusingthe productlocally.

Q:MyMSIradeonisgivingme

griefallthetime.Igetrandom freezes,graphicscorruption,weird issuesIdidnothavein20.04.I’mat mywitsendwiththisthing.NowI don’tknowifitisanissuewithme takingitonatrain200kmorjust Ubuntubeingfunky.

A:Ihavethisissuealso,butmine isnothalfasfancyasyour Radeon.Isuspectitisabug.I addedtheoibafPPA-https:// launchpad.net/~oibaf/+archive/ ubuntu/graphics-driverstomine andithelpedalittle.Youcantryit andsee?(therearelike34reboots andupdatesneeded)Isuspectafix isincomingrealsoon.

pendingupdateof"firefox"snap closetheapptoavoiddisruptions“ Likeexcuseme?Themessage wouldmakesenseifIwereusingit duringanupdate,notonlaunch.

A:Theinternetisfulloftutorials onhowtoreplacethesnap witha.deb,however,ifyouwere finewiththewayitwas,simply closeitandrefreshthesnap.Or, youcouldsimplyreboot.

screenisnot“stretched”ifthat makessense.It’snotabugbuta feature.

Q:Igettoseenowwhatpeople areonaboutwithFirefoxsnap, Ihadnoissues,butwhenIlaunchit, mindyou,notalreadyopen,Iget:“

Q:Hi,lookingforasolution,Ifind onlymoreissueslikemine, withoutanswers.Ihavean LG34WN650monitorsetupthe wayIwantit.AssoonasIunplug mylaptopandplugitinagain,allof mywidgetshavemovedandneed tobemanuallymovedbackinto position.Itisgettingonmynerves. Whycan’tKubunturemembermy settings?

A:TheproblemisnotUbuntu, youwillgetthesameissuein anyOS.Theproblemisthatmonitor isWFHD(Ithinkistherightterm), soithasscreenrealestateoutside thatofyourlaptopscreen.This meansthattodisplayyourwidgets onthelaptopscreen,theyneedto bemoved.Whenyouswitch screens,theextrabitis“added”the

Q:Nowdon’tjumponme–I’m usingLinuxLiteona core2Quad,notUbuntudirectly, butI’msurethisappliestoUbuntu aswell.Catfishislikewindows search,slow.Isthereawayto speeditup?IhavelotsofPDF’sI needtosearchthrough,Igroup thembyArchitectorprojector addressandtherearehundredsof each.

A:JustlikeWindowshas

Voidtoolseverything,Linuxhas FsearchorAngrysearch.Usethose insteadforinstantresults.http:// cboxdoerfer.github.io/fsearch/or https://github.com/DoTheEvo/ ANGRYsearchorifyouwantto searchwithinfiles,tryrecoll: https://www.lesbonscomptes.com/ recoll/index.html

Q:IhadUbunturunningin

VirtualboxwhileIwastestingit, butithadtoomanyissues,soI deletedtheVM.Onesmall problem,allmydownloadswereon Ubuntu.HowcanIgetitback?

A:Youcantryrecoveringthe.VHDthenattachittoan UbuntuVMandseeifyou getyour databackthatway,butwith dynamicvirtualharddrivesthese days,I’dsayredownloadandsave yourselfthehassle,astheycanbe hyperfinnickycausingrecoveryto takealongtime.

Q:I’mnotsureifyoucanhelp, butitseemsAseba(1.6.1)can’t runonUbuntu22.04.Theerrorwe getis:error,dependencynot satisfiable:libqt4sqlsqlite. Withoutit,theThymioisbasicallya paperweight.Ihaveresearchedthe error,buthavebasicallycomeup withnothing.

A:Whatifyouruntheversionin therepo’s–1.6.99?Ifthatdoes notwork,I’mafraidyouwillhaveto askontheThymioforum.Other thanthatyoucantryinaVMwith olderUbuntuorevenpetitionthe snapmaintainerstomakeyoua snap.

fullcirclemagazine#182 63 contents^ Q&A Q:ItriedLocoMalito’sexcellent versionofEndlessFormsMost Beautiful,butIgetthiserror:“error whileloadingsharedlibraries:

Q&A

libssl.so.1.0.0:cannotopenshared objectfile:Nosuchfileor directory”FromUbuntuquestionsI reinstalledgir1.2etc,tonoavail,as therewasnothingwrongwithmine tobeginwith.Libsslis1.1on Ubuntu22.04andE:Package 'libssl1.0.0'hasnoinstallation candidate.Thisusedtoworkon Ubuntu14.04,so...Igotacopyof libssl1.0.0 _ 1.0.2n1ubuntu5.9 _amd64.deb,butitdid notwork,insteadbranchingintoa gtk3error.

A:Bewareofdodgysitesthat offer.deb-files.Gotohttp:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/ main/o/openssl1.0/andgrabthe 32-bitversionandtryagain.Ithink the64-bitversionmaybetheissue, uninstallthe64-bitversionfirst. Thewhole32-bitsubsystemisnot needed.Ifallelsefails,trythe Lutrisrecipeversion.(quickGoogle result)

minute.Whatdothesedoandwhy isittakingsolong.<removed>

A:Thewaitservicedoesjust that,itwaits.Itwaitsforthe internettobeavailable,soitis nothingessential.Thenmbdservice isalsonotcritical,youcanmask themtoseeifithelps.Onlyremove themafterrebootingafewtimes. Youcouldalsotrypreload,the effectsofpreloadarenot immediateandmayaddtotheboot time,butshouldbegoodafter about10reboots.Thesyntaxis: sudosystemctl<disable/mask> nmbd.service

Q:Miner69er,[2022/05/0101:14]

Ihaveaghostlinerunning acrossthebottom10%ofmy screenIcan’tseemtogetridof. Xubuntu22.04freshupgrade.Disk Usage:33/146GB(24%),Memory Usage:2702/3825MB(70.64%). Coulditbeasettinginconky?

Q:Ihavetried3timesnowto installUbuntuasmyboxcame withWindows,butitsaysI’moutof space?ItriedUbuntu20.04and 22.04andKubuntu22.04sofar.

A:Duringtheinstallthereisan optionforinstallingUbuntu usingtheentiredrive,ifyoujust next,next,next,itinstallsthem side-by-sideeverytime.Linuxdoes notassumeyouareanidiot,soyou willhavetoreadthemessages fromnowon.

Q:I’mrunningXubuntuand suddenlyitistakingtwiceas longtoboot.Systemd-analyze blameput’sitsquarelyatthedoor ofnmbd.service,thattakesalmost aminutetowakeup.Ontopofthat thereis NetworkManager-waitonline.servicethatpushitovera

A:9/10itisasetting Goto windowmanagertweaks-> Composterandturnoff“shadows underdockwindows”anditwillgo away.(IdidthisonManjaroandit shouldworkonUbuntu)Ifnot,let meknow.

Q:Guys,IhaveaMatroxc420 displayadapterinmylow profilebox,IruntheUbuntu drivers,butitdoesnotfindany Matroxdrivers.Thereareolder driversontheirwebsitehere, https://www.matrox.com/en/video/ apps/drivers/graphics/download? id=667,butIdon’tknowthein’sor out’s.

A:AsfarasIknow,thoseareactuallyATI/AMDRadeonchips, soyoushouldbegoodwithout installingtheproprietarydriver. Otherwiseseeaboveaboutadding theoibafrepository.

ErikhasbeeninITfor30+years.He hasseentechnologycomeandgo. Fromrepairingwashingmachinesized harddriveswithmultimetersand oscilloscopes,layingcable,toscaling 3Gtowers,he'sdoneit.

U UBBUUNNTTUUGGAAMMEES S

WrittenbyErik

Website:https:// catieinmeowmeowland.com/ Price:1015USD

Blurb:“CatieinMeowmeowLandisa classicalhumorouspoint-and-click adventuregame.HelplittleCatieget backhomefromthebizarrecat worldofMeowmeowLand!“

swallowed.Thensheemergesfrom thecat’sbutt-hole.Thereisacut sceneofthe“meow-meow”going left-to-right,andyouhaveto follow.Youhaveabirdwithascroll asyourhint.Thepuzzleis straightforward,youhavetowake ajelly,sohewillgoinaholeforyou tocross.Weird,butI’mstill

C CaattiieeIInnMMeeoowwmmeeoowwllaannd

invested. Oh,Ididnotmention this,youdon’tcontrolCatie,you interactwiththeworld,andonce done,clickCatietomove.

Secondscene.Yourpathis blockedbyacartoon-y0.16ton block.Afteryouhaveclickedon everything,youtakeahint.There

I

amallforIndiegames,butIdraw thelineatmoon-puzzleclickers. Especiallywhentheyareforced, andwithreallylowvaluetoilet humour.YouwillunderstandwhatI meansoon.

Thegamestartsyououtwithan AliceinWonderlandrip-off,wherea cat,wearingplayingcards,runs along,holdingapocketwatchand jumpingdownarabbithole.There isnovoiceacting,otherthanafew semi-words.Katie,ourprotagonist, runsafterthecattothehole, wheresheiskickeddown,alá MontyPython’sflyingcircus,bya footthatcomesoutofanother holeandgoesbackwhenceitcame. Hittingthebottomofthehole,she bouncesoffovergrowncatsandis

areanotherpairofspectaclesina 3D-glasseswearingcat’slair,that youneedtoputonsomekoala creatureonalamppostthat collapsesbehindthescenerywhen youtouchit,whichgivesthe creaturelazereyes,thatmeltan ice-creamconeapinkbugis holding,thatthecatwaslicking. (I willincludeapictureforyouto see).Thecatnowgoesandlicksa lever(why?).Thisleansthecat forward,foryoutogetakey,that opensakeyholeintheground,to getaballoon,toputonapipe,to fillwithsomething,butitisnot evenindicated.Youtakethe balloonandtieitto0.16tonblock anditfloatsaway.Younowlinksaid pipe(theoneyoufilledtheballoon with)withapieceofbrassthe0.16 tondropped,tomakeanotherbug move,torevealaspring-loaded platformtoshootyouintothe background.(Thisbugisonesixth yoursize,howisthespring platformhelddownbyit?).

Thereisnoway,otherthan clickingthehint,tosolvethisone.I don’tknowaboutyou,butthereis nosenseofaccomplishmentin

UBUNTUGAMES

that.IfIwantedparticipation prizes,I’dgotoamodernschool. Thesameholdstrueforthenext scene,whereyouneedtofinda bell,tieittothetopsnake’stail (youfindtwosnakesbyclicking

aroundinthetop-rightsideofthe screen)soitwillgoinaknot,soyou cangiveittothelargecatonthe sofa,sohecanbatitawaywithhis fan,sothefanwilldroptomakea smallercatenterthescene.Ifany

ofthismadeanysensetoyou, pleaseletmeknowat misc@fullcirclemagazine.org,and wewillmentionitassoonaswe can.

Themusic,thereisnotmuchto mentioneither.Itisthatold-timey boopboopboopwinduporgan fromacarnivalinthebackground, occasionallybrokenwithoohsand aahsfromCatieor“tick-tock,ticktock”fromthemeow-meow.

I’msorry,butgamesare supposedtobefun,thisisnot;not eventhekidslikedit. Don’twaste yourmoneyandIwon’twastemy timeanyfurtheronthis.

fullcirclemagazine#182 66 contents^ ErikhasbeeninITfor30+years.He hasseentechnologycomeandgo. Fromrepairingwashingmachinesized harddriveswithmultimetersand oscilloscopes,layingcable,toscaling 3Gtowers,he'sdoneit.

ATTRROONNS

MONTHLYPATRONS

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BobC BrianBogdan CBinMV Darren DennisMack DevinMcPherson DougBruce ElizabethK.Joseph EricMeddleton GaryCampbell GeorgeSmith HenryDMills HugoSutherland Jack JasonD.Moss

JoaoCantinhoLopes

JohnAndrews

JohnMalon JohnPrigge

JonathanPienaar

JosephGulizia

JT KevinO'Brien

LeeAllen LeoPaesen LindaP

MarkShuttleworth MossBliss NormanPhillips OscarRivera PaulAnderson PaulReadovin RinoRagucci RobFitzgerald RobinWoodburn RoyMilner ScottMack SonyVarghese TaylorConroy TomBell Tony VincentJobard VolkerBradley WilliamvonHagen

SINGLEDONATIONS

2021: FloydSmith DaleReisfield JanÅgren LindaPrinsen melvynsmith FritsvanLeeuwen RaymondMccarthy RobertKaspar FrankDinger KenMaunder

BrianKelly

JánosHorváth RonaldEike JohnPorubek HansvanEekelen KeesMoerman JonLoveless JimHibbard

2022: FritsvanLeeuwen MarcusCarlson LouisWAdamsJr LindaPrinsen JamesFlanagan PeterHorlings PatrickMartindale FrankDinger JánosHorváth DanPrizner

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FULLCIRCLENEEDSYOU!

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FCM#183

Deadline: Sunday10thJuly2022. Release: Friday29thJuly2022.

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