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Crazyflie: Open source quadcopter Speed up Python Use Cython to optimise your codede Get into Linux today! BUILD A LINUX MEDIA SERVER Turn your PC into a hub – stream films and music to every device in your home PLUS 39 pages of projects Erase drives securely, optimise a firewall & much more! Kernels Filesystems Also inside Explore Minix 3 Master ZFS & btrfs Mod Minetest Try out the kernel Set up a cutting-edge file Customise the Minecraft that inspired Linux system in your RAID array killer with your own content uxRadar.com T Welcome #1 for Free Software What we do We support the open source community by providing a resource of information, and a forum for debate. We help all readers get more from Linux with our tutorials section – we’ve something for everyone! We license all the source code we print in our tutorials section under the GNU GPLv3. We give you the most accurate, unbiased and up-to-date information on all things Linux. Who we are A world without Linux If Steve Ballmer got his wish and open source Let’s play a game: imagine a world with no open source was wiped from the face of the planet, what software. Imagine Steve Ballmer invented a time would be the hideous consequences? machine, went back to 1953 and prevented the birth of Richard Stallman, the father of the Free Software Foundation. Overnight, everything open source vanishes from the face of Jonni Bidwell the planet – but what changes? Well, we’d all be out of a job. But I don’t Of course, GNU/Linux disappears. Something like 75% of know if open source would really stay dead for very long. Sooner or later someone the world’s web servers grind to a halt or have to switch to would feel like sharing – whether or not Windows. You can kiss goodbye to every Android phone and there would be an internet to share on is another question. Like shipping containers, tablet too. You’re OK as you’re an Apple owner? Nope, the network protocols work best when there Darwin kernel is based in part on the open source BSD kernel, are open standards. while Safari uses the open source WebKit, to take just two examples of the open source elements that power both its mobile iOS and desktop OS X operating systems. Neil Bothwick It wouldn’t be a problem. Just pull the We’d be left in a world of Windows, but without iOS and previous version of Planet Earth from Android to compete against, Microsoft would have been happy GitHub and fork it. to continue flogging us all its Windows Mobile OS and Windows XP on the desktop. And with so many web technologies based on open source and open platforms, the internet as we know it That’s it. would cease to exist: we’ve already kissed goodbye to Safari, Nothing to see here. Move along now. but bang goes Chrome, Firefox, WordPress, Docker, OpenStack and OpenSSL – the list goes on and on. Sean Conway This was just a silly academic exercise, but the point is to If open source software was wiped from show how widely open source is used. It increases choice: the face of the planet, I would have to find Android can be adopted and adapted by any company. something else to play with sitting in my basement. Like a well in the desert to a It speeds adoption of technologies: source code has to be thirsty wanderer, open source is a selection made publicly available, so everyone can use it and contribute of cool drinks for the pilgrim. Without open to it. It reduces costs: there’s no need to develop technologies source, your beverage of choice is lost and you have to settle for what is on tap. from scratch or buy them in at great cost, and tried and tested code can be reused. It fuels standards: Docker is a cloud phenomena that even Microsoft has to embrace. Andrew Mallett So as you read this issue, taking in open source media Quite simply, the world as we now it would centres, streaming standards, open server systems, Minecraft end without open source. The City of London, the financial centre of the world, alternatives, filesystems, drawing packages, OpenLDAP, runs on it. And even taking the world’s alternative kernels, programming and so much more, just thank finances out of the equation, how do we Stallman* open source exists at all. learn? How do we evolve? OSS is about sharing and evolution rather than only ever doing what you have always done. Neil Mohr Editor [email protected] Mayank Sharma *We realise someone else would have championed the I can think of many implications philosophy, but as well as katana-wielding Stallman? (no Raspberry Pi, no Linux, no Apache, Never! http://bit.ly/StallmanKatana. no world wide web) but the worst consequence for me personally (yes, I’m being selfish) would surely be that this fine publication wouldn’t exist and I’d probably end up as visiting faculty at the Silsbury Subscribe today Institute of Typewriter Maintenance. See p32 for awesome deals www.linuxformat.com January 2015 LXF193 3 Contents “Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.” Reviews Google Nexus 6 ................. 17 The first phone with Android 5.0 Lollipop is a Build a Linux thing of beauty and a joy forever. Google Nexus 9 .................18 media server In contrast, Google’s first tablet with Lollipop is a solid, if unspectacular, performer. Turn your PC into a hub to stream films and music to every device in your home p34 The Nexus 6 and 9: the Heaven and Hull of Android 5.0 Lollipop devices? Samsung Chromebook 2 19 Roundup: A Chromebook that is thin and attractive as Vector graphics editors p26 well as affordable? What magick is this? Puppy Linux 6.0 ............... 20 A fast, lightweight distro that will delight newcomers and users of older machines. Paws for applause: Puppy Linux is a fast, cute, beginner-friendly distro. Cinnamon 2.4 ....................21 The new version of this desktop rewards existing users, but holds few surprises. Vaultier 0.7 CE ................. 22 Password managers are back in vogue, but is this a safe place to stuff all your secrets? Interview Hover ................................. 24 Add a touch of Minority Report to your PC with this inexpensive gesture-control board. The original version actually Games and books ............ 25 had the motors glued We check out Football Manager 2015 (meh) and Adventures in Minecraft (meh-ritorious). onto the circuit board itself! The Crazyflie team discuss open source nanocopters p42 4 LXF193 January 2015 www.linuxformat.com On your free DVD Ubuntu 14.10 XBMCbuntu 13.2 OpenSUSE 13.2 Killer distros for our cover feature. Treat yourself or a loved one to an LXF PLUS: HotPicks and tutorial code p96 subscription! p32 Don’t miss... Master ZFS and btrfs ......... 48 Pick from two of the most talked-up next-gen filesystems for your RAID array. Mod Minetest ......................... 52 Fun with the open source Minecraft-inspired sandbox game using its API and many mods. Coding Academy Tutorials Cython ................................... 84 HDDs Jonni Bidwell explains how to speed up your Erase drives securely ...... 68 Python code, using an image-compression We test seven different methods for wiping algorithm as a worked example (or an excuse confidential data from old drives: from DBAN to look at photos of the Rosetta mission). and Secure Erase to a Lee-Enfield rifle! R .............................................. 88 Mihalis Tsoukalos provides an introduction to the statistical programming language in order to analyse system data. The things he can do with a box plot would make your eyes pop. Regulars at a glance We don’t know quite what made Darik so destructive but DBAN works. News ............................. 6 Subscriptions ...........32 Back issues ...............66 ipset Debian decides to keep Systemd, Our digital editions and print/digital Buy now to assuage your guilt at Simplify your firewalls .... 71 and the Raspberry Pi Model A+ ships. deals are now available on Android! missing them in stores. No collection Take the pain out of maintaining a firewall by using the ipset Netfilter extension to make Plus: good news for Linux gamers. would be complete without LXF191. configurations easier to read and modify. Sysadmin ...................56 User groups ............... 10 Dr Chris reveals the supercomputing Next month ...............98 Minix 3 Les Pounder samples the sweet secrets of the Met Office, and Explore bleeding-edge graphics and Test a microkernel OS .... 74 treats of the Jam Packed roadshow. explains how to set up an OpenLDAP filesystems with our guide to setting Try out the kernel that inspired Linux as we server to store user acount details. up a next-generation Linux system. explain how to get it running in VirtualBox. Mailserver ...................12 Problems are solved, software HotPicks ....................60 Grub praised and a few typos busted as Alexander Tolstoy breaks out his Custom boot menus ........ 78 Bend your boot menu to your will by the LXF team answers your emails. asbestos gloves to bring you the customising its entries and appearance. hottest new open source software. Roundup ....................26 Included this month: Lunar Linux, Awk, sed We challenge five top open source CherryTree, OpenSSH, Snapper, Better text processing .... 80 vector graphics packages to perform Remmina, Wal Commander GitHub Pull critical data from log files with our collection of power tips for text processing. our devious series of tests without Edition, rTorrent, Neverball, 0 A.D., Our subscriptions team hesitation, repetition or pixelation. Konversation and Tomahawk.