Full Circle

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE FOR THE UBUNTU LINUX COMMUNITY

ISSUE #205 - May 2024

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#205 contents ^
neither affi
 Full Circle
HowTo

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE FOR THE UBUNTU LINUX COMMUNITY

Python p.29 Linux News p.04

Stable Diffusion p.33 Command & Conquer p.27 ... p.XX ... p.XX

Latex p.36 Ubuntu Devices p.48 The Daily Waddle p.43 Review p.61

... p.XX My Opinion p.52 Letters p.XX Review p.56

Inkscape p.39 Q&A p.66 Micro This Micro That p.44 Ubuntu Games p.70

Graphics
The articles contained in this magazine are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. This means you can
adapt, copy, distribute and transmit the articles but only under the following conditions: you must attribute the work to the original author in some
way (at least a name, email or URL) and to this magazine by name ('Full Circle Magazine') and the URL www.fullcirclemagazine.org (but not attribute
the article(s) in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you must distribute the resulting
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Full Circle magazine is entirely independent of Canonical, the sponsor of the Ubuntu projects, and the views and opinions in the magazine should in no way be
assumed to have Canonical endorsement. full circle magazine #205 2 contents ^
 EDITORIAL
This magazine was created using :

WELCOME TO THE LATEST ISSUE OF FULL CIRCLE

A nother full house this month with Python, Micro This Micro That, Latex, Stable Diffusion, and
Inkscape.

We're bulging with reviews this month. We start, of course, with Ubuntu 24.04, move on to DSL
2024 (that's 'Damn Small Linux' for you youngsters out there) then Ubuntu Mate and Ubuntu
Cinnamon 23.10. As you can see, Adam has been a busy boy! Interesting to see DSL making a
reappearance in 2024. Back in the day, DSL took up a whopping 50MB and would boot on pretty
much anything. Is it still relevant these days? I think so. There are still a lot of PC's out there that are
32-bit, have small hard drives, and not so much memory.
Find Full Circle on:
Elsewhere, I've written up a piece about my latest toy: Meshtastic. It's a free, open source, facebook.com/
project that you install on a cheap device and it lets you send text messages by radio. No internet or fullcirclemagazine
phone signal required. I've managed to send text messages over a mile and a half with it in a city
environment. Of course, any nearby devices can be used to relay messages in a mesh. twitter.com/#!/fullcirclemag

Don't forget: we have a Table of Contents which lists every article from every issue of FCM. https://mastodon.social/
Huge thanks to Paul Romano for maintaining: https://goo.gl/tpOKqm and, if you're looking for @fullcirclemagazine
some help, advice, or just a chinwag: remember that we have a Telegram group:
https://t.me/joinchat/24ec1oMFO1ZjZDc0. I hope to see you there. Come and say
hello.
Weekly News:
All the best!
https://fullcirclemagazine.org/
Ronnie
podcasts/index.xml
[email protected]
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fid=85347&refid=stpr
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FCM PATREON : https://www.patreon.com/fullcirclemagazine Circle-Weekly-News-p855064/

full circle magazine #205 3 contents ^

 NEWS
Submitted by ErikTheUnready

LUNATIK: RELEASE OF AUDACITY 3.5: maintenance update and primarily

22/04/2024 22/04/2024 includes fixes for issues and
vulnerabilities identified since
RELEASE OF EDGEDB 5.0:
T A
he Lunatik project is developing new release of the free sound NetBSD 9.3 was published in
22/04/2024
tools that allow you to use the editor Audacity 3.5, has been August 2022. For those who value
new functionality, a major release
A
Lua language to extend the release of the EdgeDB 5.0, published, providing tools for
functionality of the Linux kernel editing sound files (Ogg Vorbis, was recently released, NetBSD
DBMS is available, which
and quickly write handler scripts FLAC, MP3 and WAV), recording and 10.0. Installation images of 507 MB
implements the relational graph
that run at kernel level. A Lua digitizing sound, changing sound in size have been prepared for
data model and the EdgeQL query
interpreter is used, to execute the file parameters, overlaying tracks download, available in builds for 57
language, optimized for complex
code, modified to work at the and applying effects (for example, system architectures and 16
hierarchical data. The project is
kernel level. The project code is noise reduction, changing tempo different CPU families.
developed in the form of an add-on
written in C and is distributed for PostgreSQL, it is written in and tone ). Audacity 3.5 was the
under the MIT license. fifth major release since the project In addition to bug fixes in
Python and Rust (parser and
was taken over by Muse Group. The NetBSD 9.4, some new features,
performance-critical parts), and is
Among the capabilities of the Audacity code is licensed under usually related to hardware
distributed under the Apache 2.0
command line utility are commands GPLv3, with binary builds available support, have been moved from the
license. Client libraries are prepared
for loading, unloading and for Linux, Windows and macOS. NetBSD 10 branch. For example,
for Python, Go, Rust, .NET, Elixir and
reloading Lunatik modules in the support has been added for new
TypeScript/Javascript. It also
kernel, displaying the status of https://www.audacityteam.org/ MegaRAID controllers, Ethernet
provides command line tools for
loaded modules, viewing a list of blog/audacity-3-5/ cards on the RTL8168GU chip and
DBMS management and interactive
scripts running in the kernel, 3G modems ZTE MF112 and D-Link
query execution (REPL).
running scripts, creating and DWM222. Support for new AMD
stopping Lua runtime environments (zen3, zen4) and Intel CPUs (Comet
https://github.com/edgedb/edgedb/ NETBSD 9.4 RELEASED: Lake, Skylake-X, Cascade Lake) has
in the kernel, using the interactive releases/tag/v5.0 23/04/2024
shell REPL (Read –Eval–Print Loop). been expanded. Added support for
The project also provides a set of RAM disks in ZFS and CGD.
examples to evaluate the
capabilities of Lunatik.
T he NetBSD 9.4 operating
system has been published,
which completed the maintenance
Improved compatibility with QEMU
assemblies for aarch64.
cycle of the previous major branch
https://github.com/luainkernel/ https://www.netbsd.org/releases/
9.x. NetBSD 9.4 is categorized as a
lunatik formal-9/NetBSD-9.4.html

full circle magazine #205 4 contents ^

NEWS
https://nmap.org/download incorporates the changes TrueNAS SCALE is free to download
accumulated in the main branch and use. The iso image size is 1.5
RELEASE OF NMAP 7.95: 1.25.x. In the future, all changes in GB. The source code of TrueNAS
23/04/2024
RELEASE OF THE FEDORA the stable branch 1.26 will be SCALE-specific build scripts, web
related to the elimination of serious interface and layers are published
T he network security scanner
Nmap 7.95 has been released. It
is designed to conduct a network
LINUX 40:
23/04/2024
errors and vulnerabilities. Soon the
main branch of nginx 1.27 will be
on GitHub.

formed, where the development of The Linux-based TrueNAS SCALE

F
audit and identify active network edora 40 Workstation , Fedora new features will continue. For edition is now the main edition, and
services. The project code is Server , Fedora CoreOS , Fedora ordinary users who do not have the the FreeBSD-based TrueNAS CORE
supplied under the NPSL (Nmap Cloud Base, Fedora IoT Edition and task of ensuring compatibility with branch has been placed in
Public Source License), based on Live builds are available for third-party modules, they maintenance mode, where they
the GPLv2 license, which is download, delivered as spins with recommend you use the main plan to fix bugs and security issues
supplemented with desktop environments, like KDE branch, where releases of the for many years to come. New
recommendations (not Plasma, Xfce, MATE, Cinnamon, commercial product Nginx Plus are features and new versions of
requirements) for using the OEM LXDE, Phosh, LXQt, Budgie and formed every three months. components will be developed only
licensing program and purchasing a Sway. Builds are generated for in the TrueNAS SCALE branch.
commercial license if the x86_64, Power64 and ARM64 https://mailman.nginx.org/ TrueNAS SCALE is not the only
manufacturer does not want to (AArch64) architectures. The pipermail/nginx-announce/2024/ Linux-based FreeNAS option - in
open the code of his product in publication of Fedora Silverblue EJFW6YFMCUODWQN7DZKIEKUTH 2009, the OpenMediaVault
accordance with the requirements build is delayed. KYXVZT2.html distribution separated from
of the copyleft license or intends to
FreeNAS, which was transferred to
integrate Nmap into products that https://fedoramagazine.org/ the Linux kernel and Debian.
are not GPL compliant. announcing-fedora-linux-40/
RELEASE OF TRUENAS
https://www.truenas.com/blog/
The terms of the NPSL license SCALE 24.04: truenas-scale-dragonfish-release/
apply only to parties who accept 24/04/2024
the license in exchange for NGINX 1.26.0 RELEASED
WITH HTTP/3 SUPPORT:
i
receiving special rights, such as the Xsystems has published the
right to redistribute Nmap. In this 23/04/2024 TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 RELEASE OF QEMU 9.0.0:
case, the participating party can do distribution, which uses the Linux 24/04/2024
whatever it wants under copyright
provisions such as fair use, and the
Nmap developers will not try to
A fter a year of development, a
new stable branch of the high-
performance HTTP server and
kernel and Debian (the company's
previous products, including
A s an emulator, QEMU allows
you to run a program compiled
TrueOS, PC-BSD, TrueNAS and
control their work. multi-protocol proxy server nginx FreeNAS, were based on FreeBSD). for one hardware platform on a
1.26.0 has been published, which Like TrueNAS CORE (FreeNAS), system with a completely different

full circle magazine #205 5 contents ^

NEWS
architecture, for example, run an
ARM application on an x86-
compatible PC. In virtualization
https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/
Photon interfaces integrated into
Firefox 29 and 57, and with
extensive customization options.
P roxmox Virtual Environment 8.2
has been published, a
specialized Linux distribution based
html/qemu-devel/2024-04/
mode in QEMU, the performance of msg03263.html The removed components include on Debian GNU/Linux, aimed at
code execution in an isolated DRM, Social API, WebRTC, PDF deploying and maintaining virtual
environment is close to the viewer, Crash Reporter, code for servers using LXC and KVM, and
hardware system due to the direct collecting statistics, tools for capable of acting as a replacement
execution of instructions on the
PALE MOON BROWSER parental controls and people with for products such as VMware
CPU and the use of the Xen 33.1.0: disabilities. Compared to Firefox, vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V and
hypervisor or the KVM module in 24/04/2024 support for extensions using XUL Citrix Hypervisor. The size of the
Linux, or the NVMM module in has been returned to the browser, installation iso image is 1.3 GB.
NetBSD.
P ale Moon 33.1.0, branching
from the Firefox code base to
provide higher performance,
and the ability to use both full-
fledged and lightweight themes Proxmox VE provides the means
The project was originally has been retained. to deploy a turnkey, web-based,
created by Fabrice Bellard to preserve the classic interface, industrial-grade virtual server
provide the ability to run Linux minimize memory consumption and https://forum.palemoon.org/ system designed to manage
executables compiled for the x86 provide additional customization viewtopic.php? hundreds or even thousands of
platform on non-x86 architectures. options, is out. Pale Moon builds t%3D31085%26p%3D251221%23p virtual machines. The distribution
Over the years of development, are created for Windows and Linux 251221 has built-in tools for organizing
support for full emulation was (x86_64). The project code is backups of virtual environments
added for 14 hardware distributed under the MPLv2 and clustering support available out
architectures, the number of (Mozilla Public License). of the box, including the ability to
RELEASE OF PROXMOX VE
emulated hardware devices migrate virtual environments from
exceeded 400. In preparing version The project adheres to the 8.2: one node to another without
9.0, more than 2,700 changes were classic interface layout, without 24/04/2024 stopping work. Features of the web
made from 220 developers. switching to the Australis and interface include: support for a
secure VNC console; control access
to all available objects (VM,
storage, nodes, etc.) based on roles;
support for various authentication
mechanisms (MS ADS, LDAP, Linux
PAM, Proxmox VE authentication).

https://forum.proxmox.com/
threads/proxmox-ve-8-2-
released.145722/
full circle magazine #205 6 contents ^
NEWS
NEXTCLOUD HUB 8 open add-on applications on the Pi-based media center is proposed
Nextcloud cloud platform into a to be connected to the TV via the
INTRODUCED:
single environment, allowing you to
RELEASE OF OSMC HDMI port and powered via the
25/04/2024
collaborate with office documents, 2024.04-1: USB port, which is available on
files and information to plan tasks 27/04/2024 some TVs. Video playback uses
N extcloud Hub 8, providing a
and events. The platform also hardware video decoding provided

O
self-sufficient solution for SMC 2024.04-1, designed for
includes add-ons for accessing by the Broadcom VideoCore
collaboration between enterprise creating a media center based
email, messaging, video graphics accelerator.
employees and teams developing on Raspberry Pi single-board
conferencing and chats.
various projects, is available for computers or Vero set-top boxes https://osmc.tv/2024/04/osmcs-
download. At the same time, developed by the distribution's
https://nextcloud.com/blog/ april-update-is-here-with-kodi-v20-
Nextcloud 29, which underlies developers, is out. The distribution
nextcloud-hub8/ 5/
Nextcloud Hub, was published, is equipped with the Kodi media
allowing the deployment of cloud center and offers out of the box a
storage with support for complete set of tools for creating a
synchronization and data exchange, RELEASE OF UBUNTU 24.04 home theater that supports video
THE GENODE PROJECT HAS
providing the ability to view and LTS: display in 4K, 2K and HD (1080p) PUBLISHED SCULPT 24.04:
edit data from any device anywhere 25/04/2024 quality. Two images are available 27/04/2024
on the network (using a web for download; for direct recording

U T
interface or WebDAV). The buntu 24.04 "Noble Numbat" is to a USB drive or SD card, as well as he release of the Sculpt 24.04
Nextcloud server can be deployed out, which is classified as a specialized installers for Windows, project was announced, that is
on any hosting that supports the long-term support (LTS) release, macOS and Linux, allowing a novice developing an operating system
execution of PHP scripts and updates will be generated for 12 user to install the distribution. based on Genode OS Framework
provides access to SQLite, MariaDB/ years (5 years - publicly available, Ready-made builds are created for technologies, which can be used by
MySQL or PostgreSQL. Nextcloud plus another 7 years for users of Raspberry Pi 2, 3, 3+, Zero W 2, 4 ordinary users to perform everyday
source code is distributed under the Ubuntu Pro service). Installation and 400 boards, as well as for Vero tasks. The source code of the
the AGPL license. images are created for Ubuntu 4K, 4K+ and V set-top boxes. project is distributed under the
Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Lubuntu, AGPLv3 license. A LiveUSB image of
In terms of the tasks it solves, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Mate, Ubuntu The distribution is based on 30 MB in size is offered for
Nextcloud Hub resembles Google Budgie, Ubuntu Studio, Xubuntu, Debian and supports installing download . It supports operation on
Docs and Microsoft 365, but allows UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu Unity, packages from standard systems with Intel processors and
you to deploy a fully controlled Edubuntu and Ubuntu Cinnamon . repositories. When working with graphics with VT-d and VT-x
collaboration infrastructure that the distribution, no knowledge of extensions enabled, as well as on
operates on your own servers and is https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ Linux is required; all configuration ARM systems with VMM
not tied to external cloud services. ubuntu-announce/2024-April/ operations are performed through extensions.
Nextcloud Hub combines several 000301.html a graphical interface. The Raspberry
full circle magazine #205 7 contents ^
NEWS
https://genode.org/news/sculpt-os- DuckDuckGo search engine. Each https://www.mail-archive.com/info- Deepin desktops. One of the
release-24.04 page opened in the browser is [email protected]/msg03279.html project developers is developing its
indexed and becomes available for own window manager named
subsequent search in the address Worm.
WEB BROWSER MIN 1.32: bar. In the address bar you can also RELEASE OF ENDEAVOUROS
27/04/2024 enter commands to quickly perform https://endeavouros.com/news/
operations (for example, "!settings" 24.04: plasma-6-with-wayland-or-x11-
- go to settings, "!screenshot" - 28/04/2024 option-and-qt-6-ported-calamares-
A new version of the browser,
Min 1.32 , has been published. create a screenshot, "!clearhistory" meet-gemini/%0D%0A
It offers a minimalistic interface
built around manipulation of the
- clear your browsing history, etc.).
T he EndeavorOS 24.04 project is
presented, which replaced the
Antergos distribution, which was
address bar. The browser is created https://github.com/minbrowser/ RELEASE OF AMAROK 3.0.0:
min/releases/tag/v1.32.0 stopped in May 2019 due to the
using the Electron platform, which lack of free time among the 29/04/2024
allows you to create stand-alone remaining maintainers to maintain
applications based on the
Chromium engine and the Node.js
platform. The Min interface is
RELEASE OF NCURSES 6.5:
28/04/2024
the project at the proper level. The
installation image size is 2.7 GB S ix years after the last release,
the Amarok 3.0.0 music player,
which was very popular during the
(x86_64).
written in JavaScript, CSS and KDE 3 and KDE 4, was announced.
HTML. The code is distributed
under the Apache 2.0 license.
Builds are created for Linux, macOS
A fter a year and a half of
development, the ncurses 6.5
library has been released. It is
Endeavor OS allows the user to
easily install Arch Linux with the
The release is only available as
source code. Amarok 3.0.0 was the
first to be ported to the Qt5 and
required desktop, as intended by
and Windows. designed for creating multi- the desktop's original developers, the KDE Frameworks 5 library. The
platform interactive console user without additional pre-installed project code is written in C++ and
The central control in Min is the interfaces and supporting programs. The distribution offers a distributed under the GPLv2
address bar, through which you can emulation of the curses simple installer for installing a basic license.
send queries to a search engine programming interface from Arch Linux environment with the
(DuckDuckGo by default) and System V Release 4.0 (SVr4). The default KDE desktop and the ability Amarok provides a three-panel
search the current page. As you ncurses 6.5 release is source to install from the repository one of mode of displaying information
type in the address bar, a summary compatible with the ncurses 5.x and the standard desktops based on (collection, current composition
of relevant information for the 6.0 branches, but extends the ABI. Mate, LXQt, Cinnamon, Xfce, and playlist), it allows you to
current request is generated, such Popular applications built using GNOME, Budgie, as well as i3, navigate through the music
as a link to a Wikipedia article, a ncurses include aptitude, lynx, BSPWM and Sway mosaic window collection, tags and individual
selection from bookmarks and mutt, ncftp, vim, vifm, minicom, managers. Work is underway to add catalogs, it supports dynamic
browsing history, as well as mosh, screen, tmux, emacs, less. support for Qtile and Openbox playlists and quickly create your
recommendations from the window managers, UKUI , LXDE and own playlists, it can automatically

full circle magazine #205 8 contents ^

NEWS
generate recommendations, for creating screencasts, processing the identifier using the SUID flag in the flow of the $TERM environment
statistics and rating of popular images from a web camera and sudo involves additional risks variable.
compositions, supports receiving streaming video. Qt is associated with the fact that the
downloading lyrics, covers and used to build the interface. The SUID-process inherits the context Polkit is used to authorize and
information about compositions code is written in C++ and of execution, including many determine the user's capabilities in
from various services, allows you to distributed under the GPLv3 properties controlled by an run0. The classical rule description
automatically generate license. Ready-made builds are unprivileged user, environment language (/etc/sudoers) used in
recommendations, scripts and available for Linux (AppImage, variables, file descriptors, planner sudo is not supported. The
information messages about the flatpak and snap), macOS and parameters and cgroup binding. functionality for running programs
script. Windows. Part of these properties are with other privileges is built into
automatically cleaned for SUID the systemd-run, and the run0
https://invent.kde.org/multimedia/ https://shotcut.org/blog/new- processes by the core, and part by command is created as a symbolic
amarok release-240428/ the application itself. However, in link to the systemd-run, when using
complex SUID programs such as which a command line interface is
sudo, people continue to regularly provided.
RELEASE OF SHOTCUT LENNART POTTERING find vulnerabilities caused by
inaccurate handling of external Additional features of run0
24.04: INTRODUCES RUN0: data that an unprivileged user can include, an indication of increased
29/04/2024 29/04/2024 influence. privileges through the installation
of a reddish background in the

A new release of Shotcut 24.04

video editor, which is being
developed by the author of the MLT
L ennart Pottering introduced the
run0 utility, which allows you to
perform actions/processes under
In run0, instead of using SUID,
you are contacting a system
terminal and the addition of a red
point to the window header. After
manager requesting a command cessation of execution with other
project and uses this framework to the identifiers of other users. The shell or process with the specified privileges, the point disappears,
organize video editing, is available. new utility is positioned as a safer user ID, creating a new pseudo- and the background changes to
Support for video and sound replacement of the sudo program, terminal (PTY) and sending data normal. In addition, run0 supports
formats are implemented via implemented in the form of a between it and the current terminal all "systemd-run" options, for
FFmpeg. It is possible to use plugins superstructure over the systemd- (TTY). This behavior is more like a example, the parameter "--
with video and audio effects, run command and allows you to get launch using ssh than performing property," through which you can
compatible with Frei0r and rid of the use of the executable file using the classic sudo. The set arbitrary settings of the
LADSPA. Features of Shotcut with the SUID flag. The run0 utility privileged process is triggered in an systemd services (for example,
include, multi-track editing with the is included in the release systemd isolated context, which is "CPUWeight-200 MemoryMax-2G
layout of video from fragments in 256, which is currently at the stage generated by the PID 1 process IPAccounting-yes").
various source formats, without the of release candidate. rather than the user's process, i.e.
need for them to be imported or does not inherit the properties of https://mastodon.social/@pid_eins/
recoding. There are built-in tools It is noted that the change of the user's environment, except for 112353324518585654
full circle magazine #205 9 contents ^
NEWS
architectures retain the ability to license, which restricts the use of actually applied to the
boot into environments with 512 code in cloud systems that compete infrastructure. Complex changes to
RELEASE OF META- MB of RAM. with HashiCorp products and the infrastructure can be made
DISTRIBUTION T2 SDE 24.5: services. The change in license is automatically, with minimal
30/04/2024 https://www.mail-archive.com/ explained by the desire to maintain administrator involvement, which
[email protected]/msg04077.html funding for their developments in avoids many errors caused by

T he T2 SDE 24.5 meta-

distribution has been released,
providing an environment for
the face of the inability of classical
licensing models to resist the
humans. At the same time, the
administrator can fully monitor
RELEASE OF OPENTOFU 1.7: parasitism of companies using what exactly will be changed and in
creating your own distributions, ready-made open source codes of what order, using the provided
01/05/2024
cross-compiling and keeping HashiCorp developments to create execution plan and resource graph.
package versions up to date. their own commercial cloud
Distributions can be created based
on Linux, Minix, MinGW, macOS,
A new release of the OpenTofu
1.7 project has been presented,
which continues the development
products without participating in
joint development.
https://opentofu.org/blog/
opentofu-1-7-0/
Haiku and BSD systems. Popular
of the open code base of the
distributions built on the T2 system The platform can be used to
configuration management
include Puppy Linux. The project build, modify and version
provides basic bootable iso images
platform and automation of, RELEASE OF LIBREELEC
maintaining the Terraform infrastructure in accordance with
with a minimal graphical the concept of infrastructure as 12.0:
infrastructure . The development of 02/05/2024
environment in versions with the code, in which the configuration of
OpenTofu is carried out under the
Musl, uClibc and Glibc libraries. systems is described in a high-level
auspices of the Linux Foundation
More than 5,000 packages are
available for assembly.
using an open management model
with the participation of a
domain-specific language and
processed in a similar way to code. L ibreELEC 12.0, that develops a
fork of OpenELEC, is out. The
user interface is based on the Kodi
community formed from companies OpenTofu supports the
The release provides support for construction of a resource graph media center. Images have been
and enthusiasts interested in the prepared for loading from a USB
25 hardware architectures: Alpha, that defines all connections
project ( 161 companies and 792 drive or SD card (32- and 64-bit x86,
Arc, ARM(64), Avr32, HPPA(64), between resources to effectively
individual developers have Raspberry Pi 2/3/4/5, various
IA64, Loongarch64, M68k, parallelize operations on resources
announced support for the project). devices on Rockchip, Allwinner, NXP
Microblaze, MIPS(64), Nios2, and make changes based on
The project code is written in Go and Amlogic chips). Build size for
OpenRISC, PowerPC(64), dependencies.
and distributed under the MPL 2.0 x86_64 architecture is 247 MB.
RISCV(64) , s390x, SPARC(64),
license.
SuperH, i486, i686, x86-64 and x32, OpenTofu also allows you to
for which 36 ISO images are generate an Execution Plan based With LibreELEC you can turn any
The fork was created in computer into a media center. The
generated (for some architectures, on a given configuration, which
response to HashiCorp moving its basic principle of the distribution is
several build options are supported allows one to evaluate actions with
products to a proprietary BSL 1.1 “everything just works”; to get a
using Glibc, Musl or uClibc). Most the infrastructure before they are
full circle magazine #205 10 contents ^
NEWS
completely ready-to-use KDE HAS REMOVED THE
environment, you just need to load https://libreelec.tv/2024/05/01/ The source code of RHEL 9.4
ABILITY TO INSTALL GNOME
LibreELEC from a Flash drive. The libreelec-nexus-12-0-0/ rpm packages are not posted in the
user does not need to worry about public repository git.centos.org and ICON THEMES:
keeping the system up to date - the are provided to the company's 04/05/2024
distribution uses a system for clients only through a closed
RELEASE OF RED HAT
automatically downloading and
installing updates, activated when
connected to the internet. It is
ENTERPRISE LINUX 9.4:
02/05/2024
section of the site, which has a user
agreement (EULA) prohibiting the N ate Graham, QA developer for
the KDE project, has published
a report on preparations for the
redistribution of data, which does
possible to expand the not allow the use of these packages KDE Plasma 6.1 release scheduled
functionality of the distribution
through a system of add-ons that R eady-made installation images
are available for registered
users of the Red Hat Customer
to create derivative distributions.
The sources remain available in the
for June 18th, as well as the
maintenance release 6.0.5
scheduled for May 21st. "This week
are installed from a separate CentOS Stream repository, but it is
repository developed by the Portal (you can also use CentOS not completely synchronized with we put some of the final Plasma 6.0
project developers. Stream 9 iso images and free RHEL RHEL and the latest versions of bugs to rest, and continued working
builds for developers to evaluate packages do not always match the towards Plasma 6.1 with a variety
In addition to the standard Kodi functionality ). The release is packages from RHEL. Rocky Linux, of UI improvements. Nothing
capabilities, the distribution designed for x86_64, s390x (IBM Oracle and SUSE reproduce the ground-breaking this week, just a
provides a number of additional System z), ppc64le and Aarch64 source rpm packages of RHEL slow grind of useful work towards a
functions aimed at maximizing (ARM64) architectures. releases as part of the OpenELA solid release!"
simplification of operation. For project
example, a special configuration The RHEL 9 branch is being https://pointieststick.com/
add-on is being developed that developed with a more open https://www.redhat.com/en/about/ 2024/05/03/this-week-in-kde-
allows you to configure network development process and uses the press-releases/red-hat-simplifies- looking-towards-plasma-6-1/
connection parameters, manage CentOS Stream 9 package base as standard-operating-environments-
LCD screen settings, and allow or its base. CentOS Stream is across-hybrid-cloud-latest-version-
positioned as an upstream project
disable automatic installation of red-hat-enterprise-linux THE TSAC AUDIO CODEC:
updates. Also provided are for RHEL, giving third-party
04/05/2024
features, such as using a remote participants the opportunity to
control the preparation of packages
F
control (control is possible both via abrice Bellard, who founded the
infrared and via Bluetooth), file for RHEL, propose their changes
QEMU, FFmpeg, BPG, QuickJS,
sharing (Samba server is built-in), and influence decisions made. In
TinyGL and TinyCC projects,
built-in BitTorrent client accordance with the 10-year
published the TSAC audio encoding
Transmission, automatic search and support cycle for the distribution,
format and associated tools for
connection of local and external RHEL 9 will be supported until
compressing and decompressing
drives. 2032.
full circle magazine #205 11 contents ^
NEWS
audio files. The format is focused regardless of the CPU/GPU used of the project died, then in 2017 is frozen before release and at the
on transmitting data at very low and the number of threads involved the development of Dillo final stage of preparing a release
bitrates, for example, 5.5 kb/s for in the calculations completely stopped, and in 2022 candidate. It is likely that GIMP
mono and 7.5 kb/s for stereo, while the payment period for the project 2.10.38 will be the last release in
maintaining acceptable quality of https://bellard.org/tsac/readme.txt domain expired and the site the 2.10 branch, but it is possible
music and speech. Using TSAC dillo.org ceased to exist. In January that after the release of GIMP 3.0.0
allows you to pack a musical 2024, an attempt was made to another release of GIMP 2.10.40
composition with a duration of 3.5 DILLO 3.1 HAS BEEN revive the project, the results of will see the light of day, containing
minutes and a sampling frequency which are presented as part of Dillo only bug fixes.
of 44.1 kHz (stereo) into a 192 KB PUBLISHED: 3.1. A fork of Dillo+ (Dillo-Plus) was
file, which will be almost 05/05/2024 also created in 2023 , which https://www.gimp.org/news/
indistinguishable from the original included the backlog of fixes (the 2024/05/05/gimp-2-10-38-released/
to the ear of an inexperienced
layman. It is stated that the T he release of the minimalistic
web browser Dillo 3.1 , written
in C/C++ using the FLTK library, has
last change to Dillo-Plus was added
two months ago).
project's code is distributed under RELEASE OF PEERTUBE 6.1:
the MIT license, but the source been published. The browser is https://dillo-browser.github.io/
characterized by its small size (the 06/05/2024
code is not currently offered for latest.html
download. executable file is about a megabyte

The basis for the creation of

when assembled statically) and
minimal memory consumption, with
RELEASE OF GIMP 2.10.38:
A new release of a decentralized
platform for video hosting and
video broadcasting PeerTube 6.1 is
TSAC was the Descript audio codec, a graphical interface with support
for tabs and bookmarks, support 06/05/2024 out. PeerTube offers a vendor-
which was expanded to support neutral alternative to YouTube,
stereo sound and transferred to for HTTPS and a basic set of web
the use of another machine
learning model based on a neural
standards (there is support for
HTML 4.01 and CSS, but no T he graphics editor GIMP
2.10.38, has a new version.
Packages for installation have been
Dailymotion and Vimeo, using a
content distribution network based
on P2P communications and linking
network with a “ transformer ” JavaScript). Dillo's functionality can
be extended through plugins, for published in flatpak format (a visitors' browsers together. The
architecture, which made it package in snap format will also be project's code is distributed under
possible to increase the example there are plugins for the
IPFS and Gemini protocols. The prepared in the near future). The the AGPLv3 license.
compression ratio by release includes bug fixes and
reconstructing lost details taking project code is distributed under
the GPLv3 license. minor improvements. It is noted https://joinpeertube.org/news/
into account the model of human that the transfer of new features to release-6.1
auditory perception. The model the 2.10 branch has been stopped,
occupies about 200 MB in The last major release of Dillo
3.0.0 was published in 2011, and the and all efforts to increase
compressed form and is formatted functionality are focused on
in a deterministic representation, last corrective update 3.0.5 in 2015.
In 2016, one of the key developers preparing the GIMP 3 branch, which
which guarantees the same result
full circle magazine #205 12 contents ^
NEWS
THE GNOME PROJECT HAS (balance $136 thousand), in 2019 analogue of the AUR concept for virtual environments from different
the project received $915 thousand Ubuntu Linux and its own cloud providers. The code is written
PUBLISHED ITS FINANCIAL
and spent $608 thousand (balance repository, which contains 518 in Go and distributed under the MIT
REPORT FOR 2023: $307 thousand), in 2018 the project packages that allow you to install license. The project was founded by
08/05/2024 received $1.073 million and spent the latest versions of programs of Slack, which develops a corporate
$365 thousand (balance $708 interest in the current Ubuntu messenger of the same name.

T he GNOME Foundation has

published its financial report
for fiscal year, 2023. It covers
thousand). In November 2023, the
project also received a million euros
from a Sovereign fund.
environment, in parallel with the
programs available in the system.
Packages are in pacscript format,
Supports Linux, FreeBSD, macOS,
Windows, iOS and Android.

figures from October 2022 to similar to PKGBUILD in the AUR and Nodes in the Nebula network
September 2023. The report also As for the sources of funds in also include download, communicate directly with each
mentions the main events of this 2023, of the $556 thousand dependency, build, and installation other in P2P mode - direct VPN
period (releases GNOME 44 and 45 , received, $422 thousand are related information. The utility code is connections are dynamically
the appointment of a new director) to donations and sponsorships, $47 written in the Shell and distributed created as data needs to be
and developer conferences held thousand are earned through under the GPLv3 license. transferred between nodes. The
(GUADEC 2023 in Riga, GNOME Asia conferences, $80 thousand are identity of each host on the
2022 in Kuala Lumpur, Linux App related to the GIMP project. https://github.com/pacstall/ network is confirmed by a digital
Summit in Brno). Expenditures include $283,000 for pacstall/releases certificate, and connecting to the
conferences, $105,000 for support network requires authentication -
As for financial indicators, and infrastructure, $96,000 for each user receives a certificate
expenses for the reporting period Outreach, $30,000 for GIMP, confirming the IP address in the
significantly exceeded the receipt
RELEASE OF NEBULA 1.9:
$121,000 for administrative 09/05/2024 Nebula network, name and
of funds - $556 thousand were expenses, and $39,000 for other membership in host groups.
received, $676 thousand were projects. Certificates are signed by an
spent ($120 thousand from
previous savings). It is worth noting https://foundation.gnome.org/
A new release of the Nebula
project has been published,
offering tools for building secure
internal certification center,
deployed by the creator of each
that overspending was also 2024/05/07/2023-annual-report/ individual network at its own
overlay networks that allow you to
observed in previous periods: in facilities and used to certify the
combine geographically separated
2022, the project received $363 authority of hosts that have the
hosts into a separate isolated
thousand and spent $649 thousand right to connect to a specific
(overspend of $286 thousand), in
RELEASE OF PACSTALL 5.0: network on the internet. The
08/05/2024 project is designed to create your overlay network tied to that
2021 the project received $287 certification center.
own overlay networks for any need,
thousand and spent $927 thousand
(overspend of $640 thousand), in In
2020, the project received $925
A new release of the package
manager pacstall 5.0 is
available, that develops an
for example, to combine corporate
computers in different offices,
servers in different data centers or
https://github.com/slackhq/nebula/
releases/tag/v1.9.0
thousand and spent $789 thousand
full circle magazine #205 13 contents ^
NEWS
RELEASE OF XPRA 6.0: windows, Xpra supports many The project code is written in Go
related desktop features, such as and distributed under the Apache
DAPHILE 24.05: 10/05/2024
broadcasting sound to a remote 2.0 license. The project is at the
09/05/2024

A new release of the Xpra system, forwarding printers and stage of active development and
web cameras , access to the has an alpha release quality,
T he Daphile 24.05 distribution project has been published. it is
developing a similar app to screen clipboard, supporting suitable for experimentation, but
was released, It based on
and tmux utilities for working with synchronization of the system tray not yet ready for production
Gentoo Linux and designed to
graphical applications. Xpra allows state and notifications . There are implementation.
create a system for storing and
you to run X11 applications on a built-in functions for transferring
playing a music collection that can
local or remote system, disconnect and synchronizing files between The gittuf verification model is
be replaced on a computer without
a session without terminating systems. based on a hierarchical trust
a screen. (headless) Playback and
programs, and return to working propagation system. The root of
collection management is done
with applications after some time https://github.com/Xpra-org/xpra/ trust belongs to the owner of the
through a specially created web
or continue working from another releases/tag/v6.0 repository, who can generate keys
interface. A build with a regular
host (you can start working with a for development participants and
Linux kernel ( 329 MB ) and a build
program on one machine and define the rules to govern the
with real-time components ( 319
continue on another). For example, THE GITTUF PROJECT IS AT generated keys. Gittuf allows you
MB ) are available for download.
Xpra allows you to run a graphical to create flexible granular rules
application on an external Linux
0.4: that define the permissions of each
The distribution can operate as a 10/05/2024
server and display the content on developer and the area of the
sound server, network storage
the screen of the current repository in which they can make

A
(NAS, Network-Attached Storage) new release of the gittuf 0.4
workstation running Linux, changes. For example, a developer
and wireless access point. Playback project is available, that
Windows or macOS. The project may be authorized to create tags,
from internal drives, network develops a hierarchical system for
code is written in Python and is make changes to specific branches,
streaming services and external verifying the contents of Git
distributed under the GPLv2+ or change only individual files in the
USB drives is supported. To ensure repositories, allowing to minimize
license. repository.
maximum sound quality and create the risks in a situation of
multi-zone audio systems, you can compromise of individual
You can both connect to existing https://github.com/gittuf/gittuf/
connect your Daphile computer to developers with access to the
desktop sessions and create new releases/tag/v0.4.0
analog amplifiers via digital-to- repository. Gittuf provides an
analog converters with a USB sessions with graphical Linux
additional layer of security to Git
interface. programs in Windows and macOS
and a set of utilities for managing
environments. Moreover, Xpra has a
the keys of all developers who have
https://www.daphile.com/ built-in HTML5 client that allows
access to the repository, and
you to connect to sessions through
setting rules for accessing
a browser. In addition to access to
branches, tags and individual files.

full circle magazine #205 14 contents ^

NEWS
RELEASE OF EUROLINUX files, and the ability to use controllers. The ability to customize changes: the dm-vdo module for
additional packages that include keyboard shortcuts is also provided. deduplication and compression of
9.4: tools for load balancing, high block devices, direct file access
11/05/2024
availability, and reliable storage. https://vcmi.eu/blog/2024/05/10/ mode in FUSE, support for creating
vcmi-150-released/ pidfds for individual threads, a BPF
A new release of EuroLinux took
place, prepared by rebuilding
the source code of the packages of
https://docs.euro-linux.com/
release-notes/9.4/
token mechanism, support for Rust
on ARM64 systems, deprecation of
RELEASE OF PINGORA 0.2: the Ext2 FS driver, removal of the
the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4,
12/05/2024 old NTFS driver, support for the
completely binary compatible with
RELEASE OF VCMI 1.5.0: Intel FRED mechanism.
it. The changes boil down to
rebranding and removal of RHEL-
specific packages; otherwise, the
12/05/2024
C loudflare has published the
second release of the Pingora The new version includes 15,680
fixes from 2,106 developers, the
distribution is completely similar to
RHEL 9.4. The EuroLinux 9 branch T he VCMI 1.5 project is now
available , developing an open
game engine compatible with the
framework, designed for
developing secure, high-
performance network services in
patch size is 54 MB (the changes
affected 11,825 files, 687,954 lines
will be supported until June 30,
data format used in the Heroes of Rust. A proxy, built using Pingora, of code were added, 225,344 lines
2032. Installation images of 10 GB
Might and Magic III games. An has been used in the Cloudflare were deleted). The last release had
(appstream) and 2 GB in size have
important goal of the project is also content delivery network instead of 15641 fixes from 2018 developers,
been prepared for download. The
to support mods, to add new cities, nginx for about a year and the patch size was 44 MB. About
project provides scripts for
heroes, monsters, artifacts and processes more than 40 million 42% of all changes introduced in
migrating existing installations
spells to the game. The source code requests per second. The code is 6.9 are related to device drivers,
based on RHEL 7/8/9, AlmaLinux
is distributed under the GPLv2 written in Rust and published under approximately 17% of changes are
8/9, CentOS 7/8, Oracle Linux 7/8/9,
license. It supports Linux, Windows, the Apache 2.0 license. related to updating code specific to
Rocky Linux 8/9 and CentOS 9
macOS and Android. hardware architectures, 13% are
Stream to EuroLinux 9.4.
https://github.com/cloudflare/ related to the network stack, 7%
The new version is notable for pingora/releases are related to file systems, and 4%
EuroLinux builds are distributed
the significant improvement in are related to internal kernel
either through a paid subscription
online multiplayer support and the subsystems.
or free of charge. Both options are
identical, are built simultaneously, addition of a new interface for LINUX KERNEL 6.9 RELEASE:
setting up multiplayer gaming https://lkml.org/lkml/
they include a full set of system 13/05/2024
sessions. Add to that, the 2024/5/12/224
capabilities and allow you to
generation of more realistic-looking
A
receive updates. The differences fter two months of
between a free and paid random maps, improved development, Linus Torvalds
subscription include technical performance of the AI engine. They presents the release of the Linux
support services, access to errata added initial support for game kernel 6.9. Among the most notable

full circle magazine #205 15 contents ^

NEWS
VIOLA WORKSTATION K DEBIAN SWITCHES TO A RESCUEZILLA 2.5:
13/05/2024 https://github.com/rescuezilla/
10.3: STRIPPED-DOWN VERSION OF
rescuezilla/releases/tag/2.5
13/05/2024 THE KEEPASSXC:
13/05/2024 A
new release of the Rescuezilla
2.5 distribution is available,
A n update is available for the
Linux distribution "Viola designed for backup, system AN NVIDIA
Workstation K 10.3", which offers a
KDE desktop environment and is
T he maintainer who builds
KeePassXC password manager
packages for Debian has switched
recovery after failures and
diagnosis of various hardware REPRESENTATIVE ANSWERED
designed for a wide range of users problems. The distribution is built QUESTIONS RELATED TO THE
to delivering the most stripped- on Ubuntu and continues the
in the office and at home. The down version of the program, which TRANSFER OF DRIVERS TO
distribution can also be part of the development of the "Redo Backup
retains only the basic functionality & Rescue" project, where OPEN KERNEL MODULES:
Active Directory infrastructure necessary for securely storing 14/05/2024
(domain authentication, access to development was discontinued in
passwords on the local system. 2012. Live builds for 64-bit x86
file resources and print resources
are available). The build is prepared
for x86_64 architecture and built on
Advanced features, including
networking capability, IPC
management code, web browser
systems (1.2 GB) and a deb package
for installation on Ubuntu are A ndy Ritger, who leads NVIDIA's
Unix-like operating system
driver development, answered
the ALT 10 platform. There is a live offered for download .
integration components, auto- questions raised regarding the
image available. password functionality, and code to transition of NVIDIA's proprietary
Rescuezilla supports backup and
support Yubikey keys, have been recovery of accidentally deleted drivers to use open Linux kernel
Only individuals, including removed from the standard modules by default on systems with
individual entrepreneurs, can freely files on Linux, macOS and Windows
keepassxc package to eliminate partitions. Automatically searches GPU-based microarchitectures
use the downloaded version. unnecessary functionality that starting with Turing.
Commercial and government for and connects network partitions
increases attack surface and has the that can be used to host backups.
organizations can download and potential to negatively impact When asked about achieving
test the distribution, but for work The graphical interface is based on
security and privacy. the LXDE shell. The format of the parity in the functionality of open
in the corporate infrastructure, and proprietary drivers, an NVIDIA
legal entities must purchase created backups is fully compatible
https://fosstodon.org/@keepassxc/ with the Clonezilla distribution. representative replied that in driver
licenses or enter into written 112417353193348720 release 560, open source kernel
licensing agreements. Recovery is supported with
Clonezilla, Redo Rescue, Foxclone modules will roughly match the
and FSArchiver images, as well as functionality of proprietary
https://lists.altlinux.org/pipermail/ modules. Among the limitations,
altlinux-announce-ru/ virtual machine images in
VirtualBox VDI, VMWare VMDK, one can use the RTD3 dynamic
2024/000045.html power management mechanism
QEMU QCOW2, Hyper-V VHDx
and .dd/.img formats. (Run Time D3) with open kernel
modules on older generations of
full circle magazine #205 16 contents ^
NEWS
GPUs preceding Ampere Nouveau driver for proprietary components of the driver stack for graphical environments built for
(proprietary modules additionally NVIDIA components running in user GPUs running in user space, an the x86_64 architecture and various
support GPUs on the Turing space, such as CUDA, AI, RT/PT, NVIDIA employee who answered boards based on ARM processors.
microarchitecture). DLSS and Optix, it was indicated the question said he had not heard With the participation of the
The capabilities of open and that this is not yet possible and of such plans. community, builds with Budgie,
proprietary modules related to GPU these components cannot work The decision to use public Cinnamon, Deepin, LXQt and i3 are
initialization and power when using the nouveau kernel modules by default is driven by the further developed .
management will be quite similar in module. Whether this will be desire to simplify testing and
the NVIDIA 560 drivers, and over possible in the future is not yet reduce the overhead of having to To manage repositories, Manjaro
time, work will continue to achieve clear. retest public and private modules. uses its own BoxIt toolkit, designed
full parity in this direction. Release It is noted that with nouveau it is similar to Git. The repository is
560 will also address some long- also not yet possible to use https:// maintained on a rolling basis, but
standing issues in open modules, features related to configuration forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/ new versions undergo an additional
such as those related to the use of and monitoring (nvapi/nvidia-smi). clarifying-560-series-drivers-open- stage of stabilization. In addition to
VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) on At the same time, a previous license sourcedness-vs-kernel-module- its own repository, there is support
laptops. change for nvapi API definitions type-proprietary- for using the AUR (Arch User
NVIDIA has no plans to push for allowed the wine and proton CFD0C5CECEC5D4/292698/2 Repository) repository. The
open modules to be included in the projects to prepare their own distribution kit is equipped with a
main Linux kernel. implementations of some nvapi graphical installer and a graphical
When asked about support for elements used in games. RELEASE OF MANJARO interface for configuring the
open Nouveau and NVK drivers , an When asked about the system.
NVIDIA representative replied that participation of NVIDIA employees LINUX 24.0:
for production applications the in the development of nouveau, it is 14/05/2024 https://forum.manjaro.org/t/
company recommends using indicated that such participation is manjaro-24-0-wynsdey-released/
proprietary drivers and separately
supplied open kernel modules. The
still insignificant, but some
employees are already contributing A new release of the Manjaro
Linux 24.0 distribution, built on
Arch Linux and aimed at novice
161527

company has previously made to the development of Nouveau

attempts to provide nouveau and and participating in discussions. users, is out. The distribution is
notable for its simplified and user- ALDOS A VARIANT OF
nvk developers with NVIDIA is not going to provide
documentation for NVIDIA chips open kernel modules for older friendly installation process, FEDORA WITHOUT SYSTEMD:
and hardware interfaces and GPUs before the Turing generation. support for automatic hardware 15/05/2024
provided individual patches, but the Users of Volta and older GPUs detection and installation of the
assistance provided is modest
enough to be called support.
should continue to use the
proprietary modules.
drivers necessary for its operation.
Manjaro comes in the form of live
builds with the KDE (3.7 GB),
A LDOS 1.4.18 is presented,
offering a classic layout user
environment, designed for minimal
When asked about the When asked about the
possibility of support in the open company's plans to open up GNOME (3.5 GB) and Xfce (3.5 GB) resource consumption and capable

full circle magazine #205 17 contents ^

NEWS
of running on low-power systems. https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/ by the GNOME OS project . 900 MB in size, prepared for x86_64
The distribution is based on Fedora comments/1cs8xr7/ and ARM64 (aarch64) architectures,
Linux technologies, but comes aldos_fedora_without_systemd/ Endless OS is one of the are offered for download. Oracle
without the systemd system distributions that promotes Linux 9 has unlimited and free
manager, instead they use Upstart innovation among user Linux access to the yum repository with
to initialize and start services, RELEASE OF ENDLESS OS systems. The desktop environment binary package updates that fix
Eudev is used for devices, and in Endless OS is based on a errors (errata) and security issues.
elogind is used to manage sessions. 6.0: significantly redesigned fork of Separately supported repositories
The installation image size is 1.9 15/05/2024 GNOME. At the same time, Endless with sets of Application Stream and
GB. The current branch of the developers actively participate in CodeReady Builder packages have
ALDOS 1.4 distribution will be
supported until the end of A new release of Endless OS 6.0
is out, aimed at creating an
easy-to-use system in which you can
the development of upstream
projects. For example, in the GTK+
also been prepared for download.

September 2029. 3.22 release, about 9.8% of all In addition to the kernel
quickly select applications to suit changes were prepared by Endless package from RHEL (based on
Features of ALDOS include: the your taste. Applications are developers, and the company kernel 5.14), Oracle Linux offers its
use of the oldest supported branch distributed as self-contained overseeing the project, Endless own kernel, Unbreakable Enterprise
of the Linux kernel - 4.19, which is packages in Flatpak format. Mobile, is on the oversight board of Kernel 7 Update 2, based on the
chosen as the least bloated and Suggested boot images range in the GNOME Foundation, along with Linux kernel 5.15 and optimized for
undemanding of resources, also size from 1.2 to 23 GB!! FSF, Debian, Google, Linux working with industrial software
stands out. Linux kernel 5.4 is Foundation, Red Hat and SUSE. and Oracle hardware. The kernel
available for installation on newer The distribution does not use sources, including the breakdown
hardware. SELinux is disabled by traditional package managers, https://www.endlessos.org/post/ into individual patches, are
default. The graphical environment instead offering a minimal, getting-started-with-endless-os-6 available in the public Oracle Git
is based on Xfce 4.18, but if desired, atomically updated read-only base repository . The Unbreakable
you can install MATE, KDE Plasma, system built using the OSTree Enterprise Kernel is installed by
LXQt and Lumina Desktop from the toolkit (the system image is default, positioned as an
atomically updated from a Git-like RELEASE OF ORACLE LINUX
repositories. A full set of alternative to the standard RHEL
multimedia codecs is available out repository). Fedora developers are 9.4: kernel package and provides a
of the box, and the repository trying to repeat ideas identical to 15/05/2024 number of advanced features such
contains more than 35 thousand Endless OS as part of the Silverblue as DTrace integration and improved
packages. By default, localizations
are offered for Spanish, Catalan
project to create an atomically
updated version of Fedora
Workstation, as well as the creators
O racle has published the release
of the Oracle Linux 9.4
distribution, created based on the
Btrfs support. Apart from the
additional kernel, the releases of
and English (support for other Oracle Linux 9.4 and RHEL 9.4 are
languages can be installed from the of Vanilla OS , CarbonOS , tau-OS Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 and completely identical in functionality
repository). and Pop!_OS . The Endless OS fully binary compatible with it. (the list of changes can be found in
installer and update system is used Installation iso images of 10 GB and the announcement of RHEL 9.4).
full circle magazine #205 18 contents ^
NEWS
the bootloader to the system interest given that Ebury was Shoutcast project and fire the core
https://blogs.oracle.com/linux/post/ components of the distribution. In involved in the attack on kernel.org, team of developers who
oracle-linux-9-update-4-is- addition, using systemd-sysupdate which reveals some new details maintained the classic Windows
generally-available will allow for more complete about the compromise of the Linux application Winamp, in favor of
integration with systemd and kernel development infrastructure developing the streaming web
enable an architecture that identified in 2011. Ebury was also service of the same name and
manipulates pre-built system detected on domain registrar mobile applications.
GNOME OS SWITCHES TO images as indivisible components. servers, crypto exchanges, Tor exit
ATOMIC UPDATES USING nodes, and several unnamed The Winamp project was created
SYSTEMD-SYSUPDATE: https://www.codethink.co.uk/ hosting providers. by Justin Frankel and Dmitry
15/05/2024 articles/2024/GNOME-OS-systemd- Boldyrev in 1997 and is one of the
sysupdate/ https://www.welivesecurity.com/en/ longest-living multimedia players

T he developers of GNOME OS, eset-research/ebury-alive-unseen- that continues to actively develop.

an experimental distribution for 400k-linux-servers-compromised- Winamp is initially designed for use
GNOME developers and testers to AN SSH BACKDOOR cryptotheft-financial-gain/ on the Windows platform and has
evaluate the state of development about 83 million users. In April,
INSTALLED DURING THE mobile versions of Winamp were
of the desktop environment, (to
get acquainted with emerging new KERNEL .ORG HACK REMAINED OPENING OF WINAMP CODE introduced for Android and iOS
features and test the performance platforms. Due to its originality and
UNDETECTED FOR TWO ANNOUNCED:
of their applications in GNOME flexibility in the field of changing
branches in development),
YEARS: 17/05/2024 the interface design through skins,
16/05/2024 several open clones for Linux were
announced the transition to the use
of the systemd-sysupdate
component for organizing atomic
R esearchers from ESET have
published a 43-page report
L lama Group has announced its
decision to open source the
created under the influence of
Winamp, such as XMMS , XMMS2 ,
Winamp media player and move the Beep Media Player, Audacious and
updates systems. The purpose of
analyzing the Ebury rootkit and project to a collaborative Qmmp .
the change is the desire to adapt
related activity. It is claimed that development model in which
the nightly builds of GNOME OS to
Ebury has been in use since 2009 anyone can take part in https://about.winamp.com/press/
conduct daily quality control of
and has since been installed on development. Publication of the article/winamp-open-source-code
GNOME development.
more than 400 thousand servers code is scheduled for September
running Linux and several hundred 24, 2024. According to unofficial
One of the advantages of
systems based on FreeBSD, information, the transition to an
switching GNOME OS from OSTree
OpenBSD and Solaris. Around 110 open development model was
to systemd-sysupdate is the ability
thousand servers remained caused by a reorganization due to
to use a verified boot process, in
affected by Ebury at the end of financial problems, last year the
which a chain of trust extends from
2023. The study is of particular company was forced to sell the

full circle magazine #205 19 contents ^

NEWS
RELEASE OF NEOVIM 0.10: the editor. Instead of the code built CHANGES TO IMPROVE THE Breeze reference style and icons,
17/05/2024 into the Vim core to support the which will be enabled by default,
DISPLAY OF KDE
GUI, Neovim proposes using a but can be overridden by the
APPLICATIONS IN GNOME
N eovim 0.10 has been released, universal layer that allows you to system or user. Projects like Kate,
a fork of the Vim editor create interfaces using various AND XFCE: Konsole and Dolphin are already
focused on increasing extensibility toolkits. 18/05/2024 planning to use this new feature. It
and flexibility. The project has been is noteworthy that the discussion of

N
overhauling the Vim code base for https://gpanders.com/blog/whats- ate Graham, QA developer for a symmetric solution to problems
over 10 years, resulting in changes new-in-neovim-0.10/ the KDE project, has published encountered when running GNOME
that make code easier to maintain, another report on KDE applications in KDE is being carried
provide a means of dividing labor development. The most notable out by the GNOME developers.
between multiple maintainers, RELEASE 7-ZIP 24.05: change is an initiative to address
separate the interface from the 18/05/2024 icon issues when running KDE Gear- https://pointieststick.com/
core (the interface can be changed included applications in non-KDE 2024/05/17/this-week-in-kde-all-
about-those-apps
I
without touching the internals), and gor Pavlov announced a major environments such as GNOME and
implement a new extensible version of the 7-Zip archiver Xfce. The problem is that when
architecture based on plugins. The 24.05. The project code is written in creating the interface of KDE
original code of the project is C++ and is distributed under the applications, icons from the general THE OPENSUSE PROJECT
distributed under the Apache 2.0 LGPL license. Ready-made builds for Breeze theme are used. When
HAS PUBLISHED THE AGAMA
license, and the basic part is Windows and Linux are available for running in KDE, the state of the
distributed under the Vim license. download for i686, x86-64 and ARM icon theme and applications are 8 INSTALLER, FREED FROM
Ready-made builds are prepared 32/64 architectures. Unfortunately, synchronized, but in third-party BINDING TO COCKPIT:
for Linux (appimage), Windows and most distributions still ship with environments the Breeze theme 18/05/2024
macOS. outdated p7zip, which is more than may be missing or diverge from the

T
7 years old. Probably because the reference version, resulting in he developers of the openSUSE
One of the problems with Vim 7z code depends on the ASMC dialogs and widgets showing empty project have published the
that prompted the creation of project, which is not used anywhere spaces, placeholders, or icons that release of the Agama 8 installer
Neovim was its bloated, monolithic else. are not what the application (formerly D-Installer), which is
code base, consisting of more than authors intended. being developed to replace the
300 thousand lines of C (C89) code. https://sourceforge.net/p/sevenzip/ classic SUSE and openSUSE
Only a few people understand all discussion/45797/thread/ As a solution to this problem, for installation interface, and is notable
the nuances of the Vim codebase, b92679e642/ KDE applications intended for use for separating the user interface
and all changes are controlled by outside the KDE Plasma from the YaST internals. Agama
one maintainer, which makes it environment, functionality has provides the ability to use various
difficult to maintain and improve been prepared for embedding the frontends, for example, a frontend

full circle magazine #205 20 contents ^

NEWS
for managing the installation via a RELEASE OF MX LINUX on Nintendo Switch game consoles sleep mode. NFC and infrared (IR)
web interface. To test the new based on the Tegra X1 SoC (Switch are not supported.
installer, live builds have been
23.3: 2017, Switch 2019, Switch Lite and
20/05/2024
created for the x86_64, ppc64le, Switch OLED). In addition to https://twitter.com/switchroot_org/
s390x and ARM64 architectures, Ubuntu, the Switchroot project also status/1785702619509346306
supporting the installation of
openSUSE Leap, the continuously
A new release of the lightweight
distribution MX Linux 23.3 has
been published, created by the joint
provides builds of Fedora 39, Lakka
5.0 and LineageOS 18.1 for
updated openSUSE Tumbleweed download on the Nintendo Switch. ICEWM 3.5.0 RELEASED:
communities formed around the
build, as well as several editions of Booting is done from an SD card 20/05/2024
antiX and MEPIS projects. The
SUSE ALP based on isolated using the hekate bootloader ( RCM
release is based on Debian with
containers. is used to bypass the blocking ).

The new installer provides the

improvements from the antiX
project and packages from its own
Additional components developed
by the project are distributed under
T he lightweight window
manager IceWM 3.5.0 is out.
IceWM provides full control
repository. The distribution uses
capabilities necessary to solve the Apache 2.0 license. through keyboard shortcuts, the
the sysVinit initialization system
tasks, such as choosing an initial set ability to use virtual desktops, the
and its own tools for configuring
of applications, setting up a Currently only KDE Plasma and taskbar and application menus and
and deploying the system. There
network connection, language, Unity are supported (builds with you can use tabs to group windows.
are 32- and 64-bit builds ( x86_64 ,
keyboard, time zone and GNOME are delayed due to The window manager is configured
i386 ) with the Xfce desktop (2.1
localization settings, preparing a problems with touch screens and through a fairly simple
GB), as well as 64-bit builds with the
storage device and partitioning, full-screen output performance configuration file and themes can
KDE desktop (2.6 GB) and builds
and adding users to the system. The when using X11 on ARM64 systems. be used. One can combine windows
(1.7 GB) with the Fluxbox window
main goals of Agama's in the form of tabs. Built-in applets
manager available for download.
development include; eliminating Supported features include are available for monitoring CPU,
existing limitations of the graphical pairing with Nintendo Switch Pro, memory, and traffic. The code is
https://mxlinux.org/blog/mx-23-3-
interface, expanding the ability to GameCube, Dualshock 4, X-Box One written in C++ and distributed
libretto-released/
use YaST functionality in other and Joy-Con controllers, under the GPLv2 license.
applications, moving away from overclocking the CPU, GPU and
being tied to a single programming memory, support for USB-C, Wi-Fi, https://github.com/ice-wm/icewm/
language, and encouraging the UBUNTU 24.04 BUILDS FOR Bluetooth, DisplayPort/HDMI, light releases/tag/3.5.0
creation of alternative settings by THE NINTENDO SWITCH: sensor , sound, Touchscreen, eMMC/
members of the community. 20/05/2024 SD, drivers for Tegra GPU with
support for Vulkan, OpenGL,

T
https://yast.opensuse.org/blog/ he Switchroot project has OpenGLES, EGL and CUDA,
2024-05-17/agama-8 announced that a build of hardware acceleration of video
Ubuntu 24.04 is ready for download decoding (in SMPV Player, ffmpeg,
mpv and chromium-browser), deep
full circle magazine #205 21 contents ^
NEWS
RELEASE OF FREE 2D CAD environment (Lua IDE) can be used, message database, and a full-text supported (using its own ginstall
to develop extensions. index is created to search the installer, written in Python). Boot
SOFTWARE C ADZINHO 0.6:
message database. To work with images are created for x86_64
21/05/2024
https://github.com/zecruel/ IMAP, a GObject-based library is architecture (2.6 GB).
CadZinho/releases/tag/0.6.0 used that works in asynchronous
T he minimalistic CAD program,
CadZinho 0.6.0 has been
released, providing tools for
mode. https://www.ghostbsd.org/news/
GhostBSD_24.04.1_Is_Now_Availabl
RELEASE OF GEARY 46.0: The new version simplifies e
creating simple 2D technical
21/05/2024 notification messages, solves
drawings. The new version
problems with navigation, ensures
implements a new rendering
that messages continue to be
architecture, which makes it
possible to get rid of interface T he Geary 46.0 email client,
slated for use in GNOME, has
been published. The project was
delivered after errors during data
transfer, adjusts the correct
RELEASE OF ALPINE LINUX
3.20:
freezes during operation. The code 22/05/2024
originally founded by the Yorba counting of unread messages,
is written in C with additions in Lua
Foundation, which created the updates translations, and makes

T
and is distributed under the MIT he release of Alpine Linux 3.20
popular photo manager Shotwell, minor improvements to the
license. The output is generated is available, a minimalistic
but later development was taken interface.
using the SDL 2.0 library and the distribution built on the Musl
OpenGL 3.2 API. Builds are over by the GNOME community. system library and a set of BusyBox
The code is written in Vala and is https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/
prepared for Linux, Windows and utilities. The distribution has
licensed under the LGPL. Builds will geary/-/tags/46.0
macOS. increased security requirements
soon be prepared in the form of a and is built with SSP (Stack
The program supports drawing flatpak package. Smashing Protection). OpenRC is
primitives such as lines, polygonal GHOSTBSD 24.04.1: used as the initialization system,
meshes, circles, arcs, ellipses, text, The goal of the project 21/05/2024 and its own apk package manager is
hatching, splines, images, points, development is to create a product used to manage packages. Alpine is
labels, attributes and polylines.
Layers and blocks are supported, as
rich in capabilities, but at the same
time extremely easy to use and
consuming a minimum of resources.
A new release of the desktop-
oriented distribution GhostBSD
24.04.1, built on FreeBSD 14-
used to build official Docker
container images and is used in the
well as working with files in DXF PostmarketOS project. Bootable iso
and SVG formats. The result can be The email client is designed both STABLE and offering the MATE user images (x86_64, x86, armhf,
exported to G-code, HPGL, PDF, for stand-alone use and to work in environment, has been published. aarch64, armv7, ppc64le, s390x) are
SVG, PS or image formats. A conjunction with web-based email The community creates unofficial prepared in six versions: standard
scripting language is provided for services such as Gmail and Yahoo! builds with Xfce. By default, (209 MB), network bootable (229
developing macros, extensions and Mail. The interface is implemented GhostBSD uses the ZFS file system. MB), extended (975 MB), for virtual
customizing the interface. The using the GTK3+ library. An SQLite Both work in Live mode and machines (61 MB ) and for the Xen
ZeroBrane Studio development database is used to store the installation on a hard drive are hypervisor (956 MB).

full circle magazine #205 22 contents ^

NEWS
for UEFI firmware based on the package provides 190 mini-lessons
https://alpinelinux.org/posts/ TianoCore EDK2 open platform, a and modules, offering from a
Alpine-3.20.0-released.html Grub-based bootloader and scripts simple graphics editor, puzzles and
for creating your own Debian builds
RELEASE OF KDE GEAR keyboard simulator to lessons in
for some devices based on the 24.05: mathematics, geography and
Snapdragon X Elite SoC, as well as 23/05/2024 reading training. GCompris uses the
QUALCOMM WILL PROVIDE already produced SoCs. Among the Qt library and is developed by the
SUPPORT FOR SNAPDRAGON
X ELITE CHIPS IN THE LINUX
already released laptops that
support Linux booting are the T he May rollout update for KDE
Gear 24.05 applications
developed by the KDE project has
KDE community. Ready-made builds
are created for Linux , macOS ,
Lenovo Yoga C630 (Snapdragon Windows , Raspberry Pi and
KERNEL: been announced. This is the second
850), Lenovo Flex 5G (Snapdragon Android. In the new version, work
23/05/2024 major update to the suite of
8cx Gen 1) and Lenovo ThinkPad has been done to improve the
X13s (Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3). The applications published as part of graphics in various lessons.
Q ualcomm has announced that it
is working to bring changes to
bootloader supports dual booting
of Windows and Linux.
the KDE 6 branch and after the
transition to using the Qt 6 library. https://gcompris.net/news/2024-
the main Linux kernel to support The suite contains releases of 250 05-23-en.html
the ARM SoC Snapdragon X Elite, programs, libraries and plugins.
Plans for the next six months
which uses its own 12-core Information about the availability
include adding support for
Qualcomm Oryon CPU and of Live builds with new application
hardware acceleration of video SANE 1.3 PUBLISHED WITH
Qualcomm Adreno GPU. The chip is releases can be found on the page
decoding to Firefox and Chrome,
aimed at use in laptops and PCs, linked below. New versions of SUPPORT FOR NEW SCANNER
implementing camera support
and is ahead of the Apple M3 and
based on the libcamera-SoftISP individual applications can be MODELS:
Intel Core Ultra 155H chips in many downloaded from the Flathub and
stack, optimizing GPU and CPU 24/05/2024
performance tests. The first SnapCraft directories .
performance, and optimizing tools
devices based on Snapdragon X
Elite are expected in the middle of
the year and will come with
for managing energy consumption.
Also mentioned is the inclusion of
firmware for the new SoC in the
https://kde.org/announcements/
gear/24.05.0/
A new release of the sane-
backends 1.3.1 package has
been published, which includes a
Windows, bleh. The changes
Linux firmware set and support for set of drivers, the scanimage
published by Qualcomm provide
the use of Ubuntu and Debian command line utility, the saned
the ability to use Linux on these
devices.
installers on devices with GCOMPRIS 4.1 UPDATE: background process for organizing
Snapdragon X Elite. 24/05/2024 network scanning, and libraries
with the SANE-API implementation.
In addition to patches for the

G
https://www.qualcomm.com/ Compris 4.1, a free learning The project code is distributed
Linux kernel, together with Lenovo,
developer/blog/2024/05/ center for preschool and under the GPLv2 license. The 1.3.0
Arm and Linaro, they are
upstreaming-linux-kernel-support- primary school children, is out. The release was missed due to
developing the DtbLoader driver
for-the-snapdragon-x-elite problems in the build
full circle magazine #205 23 contents ^
NEWS
infrastructure. designers of the GNOME project. At and will be supported at least until THE RAVYNOS PROJECT IS
the current stage of development, 2029. Installation builds are
DEVELOPING AN EDITION OF
The package supports 1804 (in the main focus is still on the general prepared for x86_64, s390x (IBM
the previous version 1747) scanner architecture and determining the System z), ppc64le and Aarch64 FREEBSD AIMED AT
models, of which 825 (815) have full internal logic, for example, architectures, but are available for COMPATIBILITY WITH MACOS:
support for all functions, for 825 organizing navigation and setting download only to registered Red 27/05/2024
(780) the level of support is rated the order of page display in Hat Customer Portal users ( CentOS

A
as good, for 130 (129) - acceptable, preparation for installation. The Stream 9 iso images and free RHEL fter two years of development,
and for 24 (23) - minimal. installer code is developed in Rust builds for developers can also be the ravynOS 0.5 project has
Additionally, for 499 (464) devices and distributed under the GPLv3 used). been released, developing a
there is an incompletely tested license. FreeBSD-based operating system
driver implementation. Support for RHEL 8.10 was the last release in aimed at achieving compatibility
478 (470) scanners remains GNOME OS is an experimental the 8.x branch, formed at the full with macOS applications and
unrealized. distribution for GNOME developers support stage, implying the providing a macOS-style user shell.
and testers to evaluate the state of inclusion of functional The project's code is distributed
https://alioth-lists.debian.net/ desktop environment development, improvements. On May 31, 2024, under the BSD license. The size of
pipermail/sane-announce/ explore new features as they the 8.x branch will be moved to the the boot iso image is 869 MB
2024/000047.html emerge, and test their applications maintenance stage, where (x86_64).
running on development branches priorities will shift towards bug
of GNOME. fixes and security, with minor The stated goals of the project
INITIAL PROTOTYPE OF THE improvements related to support are to achieve compatibility with
https://thisweek.gnome.org/posts/ for critical hardware systems. macOS applications at the level of
NEW INSTALLER FOR 2024/05/twig-149/ source code and executable files. In
GNOME OS: https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/ the first case, it is possible to
25/05/2024 optimize-application-life-cycles-red- recompile the code of macOS
RELEASE OF RED HAT hat-enterprise-linux-810 applications for execution in

W ith the transition of the

GNOME OS distribution to
use the systemd-sysupdate
ENTERPRISE LINUX 8.10:
25/05/2024
ravynOS, in the second - embedding
changes into the kernel and toolkit
to run Mach-O executable files
component to organize atomic compiled for x86-64 and arm64
system updates, the development
of a new installer for GNOME OS F ollowing the release of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 9.4, an update
to the previous branch of Red Hat
architectures. Each home directory
has a ~/Library subdirectory for
began. The development is still at applications that use Apple's Cocoa
the initial prototype stage, which is Enterprise Linux 8.10 was
programming interface.
based on the interface layouts published, which is supported in
published in April, prepared by the parallel with the RHEL 9.x branch

full circle magazine #205 24 contents ^

NEWS
For compatibility with macOS, a
partial implementation of the
Cocoa and Objective-C runtime
programming interface is provided
(located in the /System/Library/
Frameworks directory), as well as
compilers and linkers modified to
support them. In addition to the
macOS compatibility layer, ravynOS
also offers the ability to run Linux
applications, based on FreeBSD's
Linux emulation infrastructure
(Linuxulator).

The graphical environment is

built on its own window server,
using a stripped-down composite
labwc server (support for server-
side window decoration and
themes has been removed), wlroots
and the Wayland protocol.
Graphical applications can use the
Qt and Cocoa frameworks. The
interface uses typical macOS
concepts, such as a top bar with a
global menu, an identical menu
structure, keyboard shortcuts, a
similar-style Filer file manager, and
support for commands such as
launchctl and open.

https://github.com/ravynsoft/
ravynos/releases/tag/v0.5.0

full circle magazine #205 25 contents ^

full circle magazine #205 26 contents ^
 COMMAND & CONQUER
Written by Erik
Password Hashing
I recently enrolled in a short
course on technical writing, and it
got me thinking. Although our
Srace: How can I delete my old
passwords file so it can't be
you can type: man shred

As it says, “overwrite a file to

lets you specify the amount of
times to overwrite.

magazine is aimed at Ubuntu recovered? hide its contents, and optionally Now let's see it in action. Copy a
newbies, we have an established delete it”, do not assume anything. FCM pdf file to a folder. Righ- click
reader base that is not. So I am I’d like to start by addressing the If we look at the arguments, a few inside said folder and click on “open
going to put it out there, would you second question first. Firstly, if you stand out. The TL;DR version is that terminal here”. Now type: shred -u
guys prefer a more clinical do keep bitcoin wallets and bank I remember it as USN, like the gym -z -n 6 issue201_en.pdf (replace
approach to command & conquer, passwords on your computer, it supplements, but the S is a Z. that file name with your file) and hit
or should we continue with our should be in an encrypted folder, as enter. Poof* it’s gone. The default
casual conversation-like tone? Is it when it comes to your finances, you Let’s dissect that. The -u amount of times a file is hammered
about the meat and potatoes – to want to be doubly sure. removes everything at the end, is three times. I doubled it up by
get the job done, or do you prefer think of it as clean up. The -z writes specifying six. If you followed
the scenic route. Would you like to Linux has a utility called “shred”, a file with all zeroes over your file, along, congratulations, you securely
know the why or just the how? Or as in file shredder. To find out more like there was nothing there. The -n deleted a file.
would you prefer learning without
knowing that you are? Would you Now let’s explain hashing as this
prefer gamification? confuses people. Hashing is a one-
way function. Say it out loud. It is
Do let us know, so we can meant to be one way only. This is
become more of what you want. very simplistic AND wrong, but it
Send us an e-mail on: helps to paint a picture. One plus
[email protected] two hashes to three, if plus was the
hash. You can immediately see the
Now on to this month’s problem, two plus one is also three.
command and conquer. I am again This *can happen in a hash, but it is
writing this in response to unlikely. My message was one plus
questions in some of our telegram two, not two plus one. This is very
channels. important in password hashing, as
you can imagine! While we will not
Btanon: What's the best way to hash discuss hashing algorithms, as it
passwords? would take up the whole year, we

full circle magazine #205 27 contents ^

COMMAND & CONQUER

can show you how to use them. We repeat the command above, we will
often see SHA256 sums in the same get something completely
folder that you download a distro different, due to a single space.
from. Think of this as a unique Shown right.
fingerprint; it is not, but think of it
that way, as the chances of getting And that is the short version.
the same hash by changing Both files contained only If anything was unclear,
something is like winning every “1234567890” and you could not Homework: repeat the above [email protected]
lottery at once. tell by typing the file out that exercise with md5sum
anything had changed, but the hash
Let’s see that in action. I suggest does not lie. I dare you to keep We used a text file in this issue,
using a text file as we can change adding spaces in different places, as it is easy to change something,
the contents easily. Please follow without changing the file size and but you can use this with other files
along if you are a newbie. Create a see if you can get a hash, even too, like pictures, for instance.
folder and an empty file inside it: resembling the first one.
When it comes to passwords,
touch fcm.txt You can do this with md5sum you’d need to hash them and salt
also: md5sum fcm.txt them and probably hash the result
echo 1234567890 >> fcm.txt
as well. Just remember to keep the
This creates a shorter salt nowhere near the place you
We now have a file with 11 bytes
fingerprint, if you need it for a file. keep your hashes. The same goes
of data (shown top left).
Just please don’t use it for for the passwords, it is best to
passwords! To understand why, discard them once you have the
Now type:
read up on rainbow tables: https:// hash.
sha256sum fcm.txt en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Rainbow_table
OK, the file is fingerprinted!
Shown top right.
Erik has been in IT for 30+ years. He
has seen technology come and go.
Now open the file in your text From repairing washing machine sized
editor, and add a space after the hard drives with multimeters and
zero and save it. Our file is still only oscilloscopes, laying cable, to scaling
3G towers, he's done it.
11 bytes in size. However, if we

full circle magazine #205 28 contents ^

 HOW-TO
Written by Greg Walters
Python In The Real World - Pt.151
MORE MYSTERIES OF THE write about how to make this but you need to remember to use
happen. the docstrings in every function, no One other thing to note, I’m
SPHINX matter how simple. If you don’t, using the bizstyle theme for Sphinx.
I created a dummy program that you’ll probably have to go back and If you decide to use a different
G reetings fellow Sentient
Lifeforms. Beaming yet again
from somewhere in time and space,
really does nothing much but has
functions that have Python
update the source file. Sphinx theme, your document
won’t match the images that I’ve
Docstrings that can be used by So, it all starts with your source included here.
I come again to, hopefully, provide
Sphinx to “automatically document” code. If you use PAGE to create your
more well needed information. (If
the functions in the generated GUI program, you don’t need to do
you are not a Sentient Lifeform, I
HTML or EPUB files. anything to the PAGE .tcl file or the
THE DOCSTRING
do not intend to withhold this from
Python GUI.py file. The only file you
you, so feel free to attempt to read The docstring is simply a section
Creating the docstrings that are need to concern yourself with is the
this.) of your source code that starts and
needed to do this is very simple, support.py file.
ends with three double quotes and
This month's article was inspired in between is pretty much free-
by one of the PAGE users on the form information. However, for
PAGE Discord forum and someone Sphinx to grab the information,
whom I consider a good friend, there needs to be a few special
Professor Roberto Machorro Mejía, lines. Here (next page, top right) is
who started using PAGE last school a snippet of what you can expect to
year. He teaches at UNAM, a public provide…
university, the largest in Mexico. He
was using PAGE to create a GUI for Of course the first line is the
a project he and his students were function definition. Then we start
working on. Long story short, he the docstring with the three double
has been reading Full Circle quotes.
Magazine for a while now and he
sent me a note that he really The next line is a description of
enjoyed my article on Sphinx in last what the function is for, which must
month's issue. He was wondering, be a single line. Then any
however, if Sphinx worked directly parameters need to be
on a source file. So, I decided to documented using the format:

full circle magazine #205 29 contents ^

HOWTO - PYTHON
:param {parameter name}: def load_tcl_themes(folder, silent):
description of parameter """

:type {parameter name}: This function will load all tcl theme files located in <folder>.
parameter type
:param folder: string containing the location of the theme folder.
… :type folder: String
:param silent: True/False - False will print the names of the theme being worked on.
True will suppress the print.
Then what the function returns: :type silent: Boolean
:return: none
"""
:return: description of the
return value
themes at any time to any
If there is more than one theme in the theme folder. Of .. py:function:: sphinxDemo1_support.on_ComboSelect(e)
parameter, simply repeat the course, these are all .tcl
themes. Use the :param e: The virtual event ("<<ComboboxSelected>>")
param and type keys. load_tcl_themes function to :type e: event
generate a list of all of the :return: None
themes, then load this into a
For more information on TCombobox values property.
Docstrings, you can follow this link Then bind the virtual Now we can include more descriptive text and/or a snippet of the
https://peps.python.org/pep-0257/ **<<ComboboxSelected>>** function.
event to the TCombobox
#abstract providing a callback function
whenever the user selects Here is the code that will actually switch the theme to the user selection...
something from the TCombobox
DOING IT MANUALLY list. Here is the .. code:: python
``sphinxDemo1_support.on_Comb
oSelect()`` function
Of course you can do the def on_ComboSelect(e):
documentation of your functions print(e)
Now we describe the function sty = ttk.Style()
and methods manually. I'll create a
using the .. py:function:: directive. selected = _w49.comboThemes.get()
"dummy" entry for a fictitious print(f"Combobox Select: {selected}")
**Sphinx** document. sty.theme_use(selected)
You can see that this is very
similar to the docstring information
This is just the description that I
that I suggested you place into the
would put into the fictitious That’s a lot of work to do, DOING IT AUTOMATICALLY
source code, but manually entered especially if the code has already
index.rst file…
into the index.rst Sphinx file (right). been documented using docstrings. In order to take advantage of
One of the best things about the automatic documentation
the program is for the user Here (next page, top right) is
to have the ability to change abilities of Sphinx, you will need to
how it will look in your HTML file.
full circle magazine #205 30 contents ^
HOWTO - PYTHON
do a little bit of preparation. You
will need to modify the conf.py file Of course, you can add text
and add at least one extra .rst file before or after this line, but here is
to the /sphinx/docs/source folder. what the output will look like. (I
included the first line, just to make
The changes need to go into the it flow better). See image bottom
# If extensions (or modules to document with autodoc) are in
conf.py file. These lines (right) need left. another directory,
to go somewhere around line 16. # add these directories to sys.path here.
Adding an Autosummary import pathlib
The most important line is the You need to create an extra .rst import sys
one that starts with file named something like “api.rst”.
sys.path.append('/home/greg/Desktop/pagetests/Page8.1f/
In it you place just a few lines… SphinxDemo1')
sys.path.append()
# print(f"{sys.path=}")
API
This is the fully qualified path to ====== extensions = [
your source code. You don’t need to 'sphinx.ext.duration',
.. autosummary:: 'sphinx.ext.doctest',
enter the filename(s) at this point, 'sphinx.ext.autodoc',
just the path. :toctree: generated 'sphinx.ext.autosummary']
sphinxDemo1_support
The other important part is the
:maxdepth: 2
extensions section. You will need to The final addition to your
have all four lines in the list. index.rst file needs to tell Sphinx to :caption: Contents:
include the api.rst file. This is api
Now you just need to add one actually just a single line in the
line to your index.rst file for each TableOfContentsTree section Notice that the only line in bold
function you want Sphinx to (which is near the end, just before is the one that adds the api.rst file,
document. the Indices and tables section). and this is the one you need to add.
.. autofunction:: You don’t have to include the .rst
.. toctree::
sphinxDemo1_support.load_tcl_ extension.
themes
When you run your next build,
you will see the addition to the
bottom of the main page…

full circle magazine #205 31 contents ^

HOWTO - PYTHON
HTML file in the code/docs/html
file as well as enabled the help
CONCLUSION button in the sample program to
display the HTML on demand.
If you are getting a number of
errors when you do your build, the
Until next time, as always; stay
first thing that you should look at is
safe, healthy, positive and creative!
the directive formatting and the
line(s) following the directive.
place the extra .rst file in the same Sphinx is VERY picky about
And when you click on the section before your api.rst inclusion formatting and white space. It’s
hyperlink in red, you will be in the toctree section. usually something very simple.
directed to the api listing.
One word of warning here. If I’ve created a repository as I
You can see that the two you are using Formiko as your .rst often do. I included the Sphinx
functions that I included with the .. editor, you will end up with a index.rst and conf.py file to make it
py:function:: directive, are number of warnings in the preview easy for you to have a reference to
hyperlinked to the section that I window. These are usually a this month’s information.
added in the main document. “System Message: Error/3” warning.
You can usually ignore these The repository is located at
You can create a special .rst file messages, since they refer to https://github.com/gregwa1953/
that holds all the ..py:function:: unknown directives. I’m fairly FCM-205. This repository is a little
directives to make it easier to add certain that the folks at Formiko different from my normal ones.
more information about each of will get these added or addressed There are two folders that hold the
those functions if you wish. Simply in the near future. demo files. The first is the code
folder which holds all of the files
Greg Walters is a retired
for the demo program, including programmer living in Central Texas,
the PAGE .tcl file and the docs USA. He has been a programmer
folder that has the Sphinx since 1972 and in his spare time, he is
documentation HTML file. The an author, amateur photographer,
luthier, fair musician and a pretty
other folder is the SphinxSource darn good cook. He still is the owner
folder which holds the images of RainyDaySolutions a consulting
folder, api.rst, index.rst and the company and he spends most of his
conf.py files. time writing articles for FCM and
tutorials. His website is
www.thedesignatedgeek.xyz .
I also included the generated

full circle magazine #205 32 contents ^

 HOW-TO
Written by Jon Hoskin
Stable Diffusion 14
T his time we continue with
ComfyUI. We will start off with
a useful feature and then create
KSampler node shown, and
selecting Bypass, which will turn
the node purple indicating it’s no
version to try something new
without worrying about losing the
current version. (This is helpful but
selecting Set Group Nodes to Never
will un-bypass the group.

both a parallel and series workflow. longer viable if you run the Prompt. don’t forget to save any needed Why is this very useful? – You
The useful tip is bypassing Selecting Bypass again reverses the new workspace for future use.) can copy the entire workflow and
individual nodes which you can do selection. This allows you to add Likewise, you can do the same thing paste it on the same page allowing
by right-clicking on one, such as the nodes and retain the old workspace with the entire workflow by right- you to make changes without
clicking and selecting Add Group, starting on a new workflow. You
then stretching the blue rectangle don’t lose anything in the original
to cover all nodes. Then right- version, and can switch back and
clicking again gives you the option forth as needed to run only the
of Bypassing Group Nodes, turning active one.
all nodes to purple. Repeating and

full circle magazine #205 33 contents ^

HOWTO - STABLE DIFFUSION
Next we will create parallel
processes in a workspace. Consider
that you may want to create an
image with each of the four
seasons. Essentially you need to
make four identical workflows all
starting from the same beginning.
Start with the original image
workflow, copy the Ksampler and
paste it with Ctrl-Shift and V three
times, each with the same starting
connections. All that’s needed then
is to add a CLIP Text Encode
(Prompt) for each season with the
prompt word summer, fall, winter
or spring. Combining each season
with the original positive prompt
via a new Conditioning (Combine)
Node and using that as the positive
Prompt to the KSampler allows you
to get the desired output images.

While the workflow looks

confusing, it’s four copies of the
same thing except for the added
Prompt via the Combining Node.
We can do something similar but as
a series. We previously up-scaled an
output, only to find it made the
image bigger but with no higher
resolution.

To solve that issue, we will chain

three KSampler nodes with an
Upscale Latent Node taking the
output Latent from the first
full circle magazine #205 34 contents ^
HOWTO - STABLE DIFFUSION
Fooocus. It doesn’t have the
flexibility of ComfyUI to control
each step but for simplicity it’s hard
to beat.

KSampler node to the second

KSampler node via a Latent Upscale The result shows the workflow
By node; we will repeat the same with apparently three exact
steps from the second KSampler images. However, I cropped heads
node to the third KSampler node. I from the three outputs and you see
used a scale_by 2.0 for both Latent a noticeable difference. The images
Scale By settings. In each of the are not only larger but have higher
above examples, if the first image resolution because more
doesn’t look good you can simply information has been used to
stop the workflow via the Queue create the images.
Prompt manager before it finishes
to save time which is particularly Next time, we will look at yet
important if it’s a slow process. another interface UI version named

full circle magazine #205 35 contents ^

 HOW-TO
Written by Robert Boardman
Latex - Even More Tables
L ast time the column was about
tabs and tables. One of the big
drawbacks with default tables is
corresponding table width) can vary
from page to page. Because
supertabular uses an estimate of
\begin{document}
\begin{center}
\tablehead{\\English & Pinyin & Unicode \\\hline}
they cannot extend over the end of the content-free space available on \tabletail{\hline}
\tablelasttail{\hline}
a page. An author is limited to a page, this estimate can \bottomcaption{This table uses supertabular}
tables that are one page or less in sometimes be wrong. There are \section*{Word List: English-Pinyin-Character Unicode}
size. If a tabular environment ways to control both row-height \begin{supertabular*}{14cm}{lll}
A little &yi dian er &[4E00][70B9][513F]\\\hline
extends beyond the limits of one and column-width to prevent A long time & Changjiu & [957F][4E45]\\\hline
page the extra content overwrites situations in which the table width All, both&Dou & [90FD]\\\hline
the page’s bottom margin and gives varies from page to page, or to Also & Ye & [4E5F]\\\hline
an Overfull \vbox message when prevent the last row of a table from
compiled. Two packages have been being placed on a page by itself. \begin{supertabular*}{width} minipage environment. This allows
{colspec}
built to overcome this difficulty: the footnote command to be used
supertabular and longtable. They Note: Because page breaks occur \begin{mpsupertabular} inside the table and the footnote is
{colspec} printed at the end of the relevant
have different features and have only after a \\ command, page
their own strengths and breaks in a table must occur \begin{mpsupertabular*}{width} page.
weaknesses (as is true of all between rows and cannot occur {colspec}
packages). inside a row. The command
colspec is set up the same way shrinkheight{height} may be used
Supertabular evaluates the Supertabular is an environment as the tabular environment. It to shrink (or increase if a negative
amount of used space every time it that first requires the package to indicates how many columns, what length is used) the height of a row.
encounters a \\ command be loaded, and then requires the the alignment of the contents will This is useful in situations when the
(remember \\ tells Latex – Tex to environment to be started. It also be, and often the character used to last row of a table appears at the
insert a line break and carriage requires the environment to be separate columns from each other. top of a page. It is put at the start
return). When the amount of used closed. There are four somewhat of the affected row. For example, in
space equals the allowed text different commands which can be Width is a required attribute. As the sample table, it is possible to
height, then supertabular closes used to begin the environment you would expect it sets a fixed shrink the row originally at the
the tabular environment, starts a depending on the needs of the width for the table. bottom of the first page so the row
new page with the appropriate author. at the top of the second page
header and then re-opens the The mpsupertabular moves up.
tabular environment. This method \begin{supertabular} environments wrap each
{colspec} supertabular environment into a For more options read the
implies that column widths (and the

full circle magazine #205 36 contents ^

HOWTO - LATEX
documentation for supertabular. outside the environment. There are
\documentclass[letterpaper]{article}
Although it is 24 pages long, most a few parameters set in the sample \usepackage{longtable}
of the content is an explanation of code shown right. \begin{document}
the inner workings of the \section*{Word List: English-Pinyin-Character Unicode}
\begin{longtable}[c]{lll}
supertabular macro. There are also Notice the [c] instruction in the \caption{This table uses longtable}\\
a few example long tables which begin command. With longtable, A little &yidianer&[4E00][70B9][513F]\\ \hline
A long time & Changjiu & [957F][4E45]\\\hline
reward the reader who invests a the position of the table can be set All, both&Dou & [90FD]\\\hline
little time to understand them. either l(eft), c(enter) or r(ight) in Also & Ye & [4E5F]\\\hline
the begin command. With
Longtable: Like supertabular, supertabular the table position is
this is also an environment which set outside the supertabular you have a situation like this, read Erik and I have presented coding
aids the writer to use tables that environment. (See the over the guidance on pp. 464-466 in about tables three times now, so
require more than one page. Like begin{center} command in the volume 1 of The Latex Companion enough about tables. Next time
supertabular, the 27-page supertabular code fragment. (3rd edition). another adventure with Latex.
documentation is mostly details of
the macro coding. Like There is a third environment
supertabular, the documentation which can be used for multi-page
has some valuable examples. tables called xltabular. I leave it to
you to investigate if this is of
The longtable environment interest.
saves information about the width
of each table in an aux file. It then As noted above, page breaks in
uses this information in a second multi-page tables occur only at
compile to calculate and set the breaks between rows ( or at hline
width of each column to the widest commands). Usually this default
required by the contents. This behaviour is preferable. This can
implies any file that uses longtable cause design problems in some
should be compiled several times instances. Occasionally it is
before accepting the final pdf necessary to break the contents of
output. one row over two pages. There is a
The major difference between manual “fix” for this situation which
supertabular and longtable is most involves adding some line breaks
parameters in longtable are set and empty cells to force the cell
inside the code for the longtable contents to arrange in a particular
environment, most for way along with the parfillskip
supertabular are set before or command so text aligns properly. If
full circle magazine #205 37 contents ^
full circle magazine #205 38 contents ^
 HOW-TO
Written by Mark Crutch
Inkscape - Part 145
A nyone who has used Inkscape’s
text tool extensively is sure to
have come across the issue of too
here’s a fragment of the font list
that Inkscape displays on my British
English Ubuntu box, on which I’ve
to create collections of fonts which
can be enabled or disabled on the
fly. This might allow you to create a
Clicking the leftmost button will
many fonts being listed, making it never knowingly installed non-Latin base collection of general
open a pop-up which lists your
hard to find the one you’re looking fonts. workaday fonts as a single group.
current font collections, plus a
for. This may be because you’re an You could then have another
button for opening the collections
ardent collector of all manner of See all those ‘Kacst’ prefixed collection with some customer-
editor. At the top of this list will
weird and wonderful typefaces, or entries? A bit of online searching specific fonts in it, and enable both
always be a pair of pseudo-
it might just be because operating reveals that KACST stands for “King the base and the customer-specific
collections that contain only those
systems tend to ship with quite a Abdulaziz City for Science and one at the same time. This makes it
fonts currently being used in the
range by default. This is definitely Technology”, and this is a family of more convenient to work on a
document (‘Document Fonts’), or
the case with some Linux Arabic typefaces – something that specific customer’s projects, as
those that you’ve recently used
distributions, which may come with the font preview in Inkscape you’re presented with only the
across any documents (‘Recently
a variety of fonts to cater for users doesn’t indicate. Given that my relevant fonts within your design
Used Fonts’). For a lot of casual
who need something beyond ability to write Arabic is totally non- software. It also makes it much
users, these alone might be
simple Latin text. For example, existent, I don’t really have any easier to deal with commercial
sufficient to make font selection a
need for these fonts, but they’re fonts that might be licensed to one
more sane operation.
also not intrusive enough to my single customer and which
day-to-day work that I’ve ever put shouldn’t be used on other
any effort in to remove them. And projects.
so they just sit there, never used,
yet taking up space in the font Inkscape 1.3 adds a similar
drop-down, forcing me to scroll capability built directly into the
further to get to all the later fonts application, rather than operating
in the list. at the OS level. By default, you’ll
still be presented with the
Professionals in the design complete list of all fonts on your
industry may be familiar with font machine, but the tool control bar
organisers that work at the OS for the Font tool now features a
level, either included as a native couple of new buttons at the far
part of the operating system or via left which help you to work with
a third-party tool. These allow you font collections.

full circle magazine #205 39 contents ^

HOWTO - INKSCAPE
combination of the fonts across all concerns become a lot simpler. mentioned above, as well as a
For those who want to go a bit the selected collections, though ‘Collections’ button which opens
further in their font management, duplicates are removed so that Returning to the longer list that the same pop-up for enabling and
clicking the button to open the each font will appear in the final list shows the complete list of fonts disabling collections. There’s even a
collections editor is your route to only once. can be achieved in one of three count of how many fonts are being
creating as many different ways: displayed compared with the total
collections of fonts as you wish, as Looking at this in practice, you have available. I’m not sure how
we’ll see shortly. While we’re you’ve already seen how my • Open the pop-up again, and un- useful that statistic is in practice,
looking at this pop-up, however, it’s unfiltered list of fonts contains check all the collections but at least it acts as an indicator
worth noting two key things about many that I’ll never use. If I’m that you have one or more
font collections: working on one of my ‘Elvie’ comics • Click on the second button on the collections enabled, rather than
(which appear in Linux Pro toolbar, which does the same thing leaving you thinking you’ve lost
• A single font may appear in as Magazine), then I want to limit the with a single click some fonts.
many (or as few) collections as you fonts to those that are used for the
wish. It’s fine to have your favourite strip. This is especially important to • Click the similarly styled ‘Reset
handwriting font in both your get right, because Elvie is released filters’ button in the ‘Text and Font’
‘Cursive’ and ‘Favourites’ entirely under a CC-BY-SA licence – dialog
collections, while leaving never- including the source files – so I use
used fonts out of all your custom only freely licensed fonts that I can Rather than returning to the
collections entirely. also distribute alongside the complete list, you’re also free to
artwork itself. In the pop-up, open the pop-up and toggle any of
• You may select more than one therefore, I can select just that one the collections on or off at any
collection at a time in this pop-up. collection and my list of fonts time. It’s important to note that
The list of available fonts will then becomes a whole lot more turning collections off here affects
contain an alphabetically sorted manageable, and my licensing only the visibility of the fonts in the
font selection drop-down and in the
‘Text and Font’ dialog. It doesn’t
alter your drawing in any way, so
don’t worry that de-selecting a
collection will disable or hide any
existing text in your document.

The ‘Text and Font’ dialog That’s enough about turning

(under the ‘Text’ menu, or press collections on and off: the question
Ctrl-Shift-T by default) has also now is how you go about creating
gained a reset button, as them in the first place? The pop-up
full circle magazine #205 40 contents ^
HOWTO - INKSCAPE
it. Let’s add some fonts to it, by first
selecting the collection and… then You can improve your odds once
what? My immediate assumption the first font has been added by
was that I would be able to click on opening the collection using the
fonts in the list at the left to toggle newly-appeared disclosure triangle
them on and off: selected fonts on the left. Now the drop target is
would be in the collection, while double the size, and grows larger
unselected fonts wouldn’t. But it still as more fonts are added. As
doesn’t work like that. My next you drag fonts over the collection,
attempt was to click on each of the rows and the spaces between them
fonts I wanted in the collection in get highlighted as a drop target
turn – but that just selects them indicator. But ignore the fact that
features a button at the bottom dialog that it becomes especially one at a time, and doesn’t add them this indicator changes in a way that
labelled ‘Open Collections Editor’, clunky. Initially the Font Collections to the collection at all. Perhaps suggests you can order the entries
which does indeed open a dialog to list will just show the pseudo- double clicking on a font name in the collection, because you can’t.
manage the collections. collections for recently-used and would work? Nope. Select and press It doesn’t matter where in the list
Unfortunately this is where the document fonts. Clicking the ‘+’ Enter? Also nope. you drop a font, they will appear in
feature begins to lose its polish button at the bottom lets you alphabetical order.
somewhat. create your own custom collection. Instead you have to drag-and-
You’ll be presented with a blank drop the fonts from the left-hand This alphabetical ordering
This dialog definitely does its row in the list, with an input field to list into the collection using the extends to the font selection drop-
job, but it feels like it escaped the give it a name. You can actually just mouse. One-by-one. There’s no down in the tool control bar, and to
attention of the UX team who have press Enter and you’ll be left with a multi-selection allowed in the list, the list in the ‘Text and Font’ dialog.
been doing such great work with confusing entry that has no name, even if you want to drag a whole This means that, although font
recent Inkscape releases. Even the and to which you can’t add any block of fonts, such as those from collections allow you to work with
search box and reset button feel a fonts. If you change your mind and the same family. Drag-and-drop is shorter, curated lists of fonts, you
bit cramped up in the corner. press the Esc key to cancel the an awful approach for something still have no way to ensure that
They’re pretty tight to the edge in operation, you similarly end up with like this: it’s too easy to slip with your preferred fonts always appear
the ‘Text and Font’ dialog, but this a blank entry. So don’t do that: the mouse and drop your font into at the top of the list, especially
part of the application reduces make sure to give your collection a the wrong collection. By all means once you begin to enable multiple
some already tight spacing even name as you create it, to avoid allow it as an option, but it’s not a collections. To be fair, such a
further. confusion later. great design for a dialog in which feature would raise other UX
you might be dragging dozens – questions which don’t have clear-
It’s easy enough to get past Your newly created collection maybe even hundreds – of items, cut answers. But if the developers
minor layout issues like that, but it’s will appear in the list, but without one-by-one, to a relatively small aren’t prepared to tackle those
when you start to interact with this the small disclosure triangle next to target. questions, the editor shouldn’t
full circle magazine #205 41 contents ^
HOWTO - INKSCAPE
work in a way that suggests the from the collection immediately,
ability to order the items, even with no confirmation. While that
though it doesn’t actually allow it. makes it more immediate when
initially setting up your collections,
My next complaint with this it also opens up the possibility of a
dialog is that the fonts that have mis-click removing the wrong font.
been added to a collection appear Perhaps an option to ‘lock’ a
in a greyed-out color, as though collection against edits might be a
they’ve been disabled in some way. useful addition for a future release.
I understand that this is probably to
distinguish them from the Deleting an entire collection is a
with a ‘Z’, for example, to push UI for managing them is a little
collection title, but the indentation little more sensible: the button is
them to the bottom of the list. Or clunky and too easy to make
level is largely sufficient for that the same, but this time the deletion
perhaps you could use this to mistakes with. Hopefully this is
without giving the impression that occurs immediately if the collection
promote more important something that will improve in
the fonts are somehow not is empty, but with a prompt if it’s
collections to the top (prefixed with time. Even just being able to
available or not working. Once not. At least that prevents a simple
an ‘A’ or a punctuation character). double-click fonts rather than drag-
added to a collection, the entry in mis-click when removing a font
This possibility relies on the fact and-drop them would be a huge
the list also lacks any preview of from deleting an entire collection.
that collections are also displayed usability improvement, though I’ll
the font (like the one that’s present
in alphabetical order – but, unlike also hold out hope for being able to
in the left-hand panel). This makes Finally, you’re free to edit the
fonts, you have control over the disable and lock collections. Who
it harder to review collections when collection name whenever you wish,
names you use. Just be aware that knows, perhaps we will be able to
you return to them some time later even after it’s been created and
this sorting is based on alphabetical sort fonts one day – or at least flag
– especially if you have a lot of populated. There’s a dedicated
order and doesn’t really have a some of them as favourites to have
similarly named fonts, as can easily ‘pencil’ button at the bottom of the
concept of number systems: in this them consistently appear at the top
happen with some families of list for this, but just clicking twice
case ‘20’ comes between ‘1’ and ‘2’, of the list.
related designs (such as those on a collection name in the list does
so if you want to use numbered
‘Kacst’ fonts from earlier). the same job. As does pressing
prefixes to sort your collections
Enter when the collection is
into order, make sure to add a zero
Removing a font from a selected.
to the start of the single digit
collection is as simple as clicking
entries (if you expect to go beyond Mark uses Inkscape to create comics
the button at the right of the row, The fact that they’re so easily
ten). for the web (www.peppertop.com/)
or the delete button at the bottom editable means that you can use
as well as for print. You can follow
when a row is selected – but not by this as a way to ‘archive’ collections him on Twitter for more comic and
In general I really like the
pressing the Delete button on the that you’re not using at the Inkscape content:
addition of font collections to @PeppertopComics
keyboard, that would make far too moment, given that there’s no way
Inkscape. It’s just a shame that the
much sense. The font is removed to disable a collection. Prefix them
full circle magazine #205 42 contents ^
full circle magazine #205 43 contents ^
 MICRO THIS MICRO THAT
Written by Greg Walters
Part 29
THE 2038 PROBLEM WHAT WAS Y2K US $100. Think of how much Ram before it becomes a problem.”
and Hard drive space you have on

G reetings fellow Sentient Back in the 20th century, when your home or office computer and When December 1999 came
Lifeforms. Beaming yet again one wanted to write the date, in then multiply that by 100! When around, most companies had taken
from somewhere in time and space, the US they would write it like “mm/ storing date information, those two care of it, but there was the lurking
I come again to either inspire or dd/yy” or in the ‘civilized’ world, bytes of memory that hold the ‘19’ concern that while your company
bore you. Hopefully it is the former they would write it “dd/mm/yy” would add up and quickly become a had taken care of the issue, how
and not the latter. where ‘yy’ was the last two digits of stumbling block. It was easy, when many others out there had not?
the year . So if they wanted to write needing to print the date on paper How many of your vendors or
At the end of last month’s a date on a cheque, they would use or CRT (screen), to just print “19” customers had never gotten around
article I said… ‘05/11/64’ or, in the uncivilized US, and then append the two digit year to fixing the issue.
we would write it ‘11/05/64’. This to the end.
“If you are old enough to was something that went back to Luckily, there were only a
remember ‘Y2K’, you’ll be either before the 20th century started. Somewhere around the early handful of situations that showed
happy, or scared, to know that in (According to one of my special 1980s, it dawned on someone just up. However, I remember sitting in
2038, there will be another one. secret sources, back in the early how big a problem this could be. Central Texas on December 31,
Hopefully, we will be more ready for 1960’s, some people (and software Storing someone’s date-of-birth 1999, on emergency call with the
that issue than we were back in writers) used only one digit for the could show up as 53, but would that company I work for, in Colorado,
1999. We’ll talk about that next year!) It wasn’t because people be 1853, 1953 or 2653? No way to waiting for the phone to ring with
month.” were lazy, it was just that everyone know. And that was the problem. my boss saying that there was a
KNEW the century and there was Anything that stored a date on any problem with our software because
Well, now it is next month, and no reason to state the obvious. kind of computer or computer we missed something somewhere
that’s what we’ll talk about. The media, could be a very big problem. that caused our software package
2038 problem. But you might not Once computers started to So not just date-of-birth but loan to show the date as January 1,
remember Y2K and what it meant become popular and part of payments, school records, driver 1900.
to people and the computer everyday life, this habit continued. permits and so on were
industry, so we’ll hop into the In databases and applications immediately suspect and the WHAT IS THE 2038
Tardis and zip back to 1999 for around the world, the habit was subject of potential problems.
However, most of those people in PROBLEM?
some perspective first. maintained. Part of the reason for
this was that the cost of memory charge of things said “What’s the
rush? It’s a long time until the year To quote from Wikipedia, “The
per kilobyte on disk, ram, and tape
2000! We’ll take care of it long problem exists in systems which
(yes, tape) at one point, was over

full circle magazine #205 44 contents ^

MICRO THIS MICRO THAT
measure Unix time – the number of
seconds elapsed since the Unix import machine
import utime
epoch (00:00:00 UTC on 1 January import time
1970) – and store it in a signed 32- from time import sleep, localtime, gmtime
bit integer. The data type is only import sys
import gc
capable of representing integers
between −(231) and 231 − 1, from datetime import MAXYEAR, MINYEAR, datetime, date, timedelta, timezone, tzinfo
meaning the latest time that can be
# Simulate datetime to be January 19, 2038 03:14:00 UTC
properly encoded is 231 − 1 def settime2038():
seconds after epoch (03:14:07 UTC tm=utime.gmtime(timelong)
on 19 January 2038). Attempting to machine.RTC().datetime((tm[0], tm[1], tm[2], tm[6] + 1, tm[3], tm[4], tm[5], 0))
increment to the following second # Return a local time based using datetime module datetime.datetime.now(timezone)
(03:14:08) will cause the integer to def showMyTime():
import datetime
overflow, setting its value to −(231) my_timezone=timezone(timedelta(hours=-5))
which systems will interpret as 231 current_time = datetime.datetime.now(my_timezone)
seconds before epoch (20:45:52 return current_time
UTC on 13 December 1901).” timelong=2147483639 # January 19, 2038 03:14:00 UTC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Year_2038_problem # Do a garbage collect
gc.collect()
# Set the machine.RTC to Jan 19, 2038 03:14:00 UTC
With 14 years before this could settime2038()
be a problem, many of the systems print(f"{gmtime()=} - {showMyTime()=}")
#print(showMyTime())
that would possibly be affected
have already been fixed. The simple while True:
fix is not to use a signed integer to print(f"{gmtime()=} - {showMyTime()=}")
hold the number of seconds, but to #print(showMyTime())
use a long integer. Operating time.sleep(1)
systems, mainframes, even home
computers, are already fixed to assume Mac and Windows) have all The impact is that when the word”.
avoid this issue. prepared for the 2038 issue, time and date on the
MicroPython (at least up to version microcontroller reaches 03:14:08 THE CODE
MICROPYTHON AND THE RPI_PICO_W-20240509-v1.23.0- January 19, 2038 UTC, the system
2038 PROBLEM preview.360.gc3301da17.uf2) has will crash with an error Shown above.
not. “OverflowError: overflow
While Python and Linux (and I converting long int to machine

full circle magazine #205 45 contents ^

MICRO THIS MICRO THAT
THE OUTPUT
MPY: soft reboot
gmtime()=(2038, 1, 19, 3, 14, 0, 1, 19) - showMyTime()=2038-01-18 22:14:00-05:00
The output in the REPL is shown gmtime()=(2038, 1, 19, 3, 14, 0, 1, 19) - showMyTime()=2038-01-18 22:14:00-05:00
on the right. gmtime()=(2038, 1, 19, 3, 14, 1, 1, 19) - showMyTime()=2038-01-18 22:14:01-05:00
gmtime()=(2038, 1, 19, 3, 14, 2, 1, 19) - showMyTime()=2038-01-18 22:14:02-05:00
gmtime()=(2038, 1, 19, 3, 14, 3, 1, 19) - showMyTime()=2038-01-18 22:14:03-05:00
I even put in an issue report on gmtime()=(2038, 1, 19, 3, 14, 4, 1, 19) - showMyTime()=2038-01-18 22:14:04-05:00
https://github.com/micropython/ gmtime()=(2038, 1, 19, 3, 14, 5, 1, 19) - showMyTime()=2038-01-18 22:14:05-05:00
gmtime()=(2038, 1, 19, 3, 14, 6, 1, 19) - showMyTime()=2038-01-18 22:14:06-05:00
micropython-lib/issues/842, which gmtime()=(2038, 1, 19, 3, 14, 7, 1, 19) - showMyTime()=2038-01-18 22:14:07-05:00
(to date, 10 May, 2024) no one has Traceback (most recent call last):
commented on, or as far as I can File "", line 39, in
File "", line 25, in showMyTime
tell, even looked at it. File "datetime.py", line 644, in now
File "datetime.py", line 638, in fromtimestamp
OverflowError: overflow converting long int to machine word
WRAP UP
While a large part of me thinks
that none of the microcontrollers
that we are using today will make it
until 2038, I’m pretty sure that a
few will, just because they will keep
working without problems until
then. Hopefully, there is nothing
critical running with current code
until then.

Until next time, as always; stay

Greg Walters is a retired
safe, healthy, positive and creative! programmer living in Central Texas,
USA. He has been a programmer
since 1972 and in his spare time, he is
an author, amateur photographer,
luthier, fair musician and a pretty
darn good cook. He still is the owner
of RainyDaySolutions a consulting
company and he spends most of his
time writing articles for FCM and
tutorials. His website is
www.thedesignatedgeek.xyz .

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full circle magazine #205 47 contents ^
 UBPORTS DEVICES
Written by UBports Team

C ongratulations to Canonical on
the release of Ubuntu 24.04,
Noble Numbat, earlier this week.
on X (Xwayland in this case), and so
would act only as a stop-gap.
Getting around this would mean an
thank Aaron Rainbolt and Simon
Quigley for integrating Calamares
with our existing Ubuntu Unity live
UBports team (special shout-out, in
alphabetical order, to Alfred
Neumayer, Marius Gripsgard, and
On the back of that there is also a entire rewrite, and so, while Unity7 session. Mike Gabriel!) have been hard at
new Ubuntu Unity 24.04. All the isn't going away anytime soon, work, improving desktop
details are covered in the following Lomiri would act as a suitable Now speaking of Lomiri, we're compatibility and getting every
short blog by Rudra Saraswat replacement if a need ever arose. aware that for the past few years, a single one of the Lomiri packages
lot of you have been eagerly into the Debian repositories, and
Ubuntu Unity 24.04 "Noble We've moved over to Calamares awaiting Lomiri desktop images. subsequently, they made their way
Numbat" has now been released! as the installer included in the ISO And well, for those of you, we have into the Ubuntu repositories too.
You can download it from https:// (similar to the Lubuntu and Ubuntu some thrilling news: the first 24.04 Following which, we decided it
ubuntuunity.org. Studio installers on previous Lomiri testing ISO is now publicly would be a good idea to build an
releases – if you've ever tried them available! installable, daily-driveable ISO, for
Ubuntu Unity 24.04 continues to – which for that matter, you your viewing and testing pleasure.
use Unity 7.7, which has undergone definitely should!). We would like to Over the past few years, the
maintenance. Our primary focus for The Ubuntu Lomiri ISO I have
this release has been to have a built can be found here: https://
working Lomiri variant in ruds.io/cloud/s/eNiJxnc7qk2tpKN
collaboration with the UBports
Foundation, to serve as an Unlike the half-broken testing
alternative to Unity7 since we're Lomiri ISOs I have built in the past,
stuck with X11 for the time-being. this one's quite stable and can be
This requirement arises from installed on real hardware, while
certain dependencies, including also including the Ubuntu Touch
Nux – the UI toolkit used for LightDM greeter and for that
rendering Unity7's user interfaces. matter, several apps you'd only
UnityX, too, uses Nux unfortunately expect to find on Ubuntu Touch. Do
(since it's a fork of the Unity7 bear in mind, however, that you
codebase), and so, while it can be may encounter occasional crashes
made to run under stacking here and there.
Wayland compositors like Wayfire
and labwc, it would continue to rely

full circle magazine #205 48 contents ^

UBPORTS DEVICES
VOLLA TABLET Ubuntu Touch is sure to get a work on devicees with Android 9
showing along with a couple of and above. Both of the videos show Work is ongoing on a new
The new Volla tablet launched other items we may be involved in. these running on qualcomm but, contact backend to bring contact
the other week on kickstarter More details as we get closer to the thanks to Nikita, they are also on sync to UT. The Forum thread is
https://www.kickstarter.com/ event. meditek. available at https://ubports.com/r/
projects/volla/volla-tablet-simplify- IaC/m/190932. Thanks to ldboeuf
your-digital-life VOLTE AND 5G This has been a long journey for continuing with this.
with many false paths but things
The tablet will be available with Marius showed videos of both are really close now. In other news, as of the 19th
both Volla and Ubuntu Touch OS, voLTE and 5G running on UT devices April, our updated devices webpage
and with 21 days to go, has nearly during Q&A 138. A big step forward We will obviously keep you all is up and running at https://
doubled the original pledge target. but not fully resolved yet. We are updated on progress and testing ubports.com/r/rE9/m/190932.
This could be a very popular device, now using the proprietary Sailfish opportunities as they arise.and Capsia will also shortly be opening
so if you want to get involved take ofono binder plugin for voLTE, and become available. Marius should be a forum thread with images of the
a look at the kickstarter page. more work and testing is needed. putting instructions on how to proposed new website for you to
Of the two, by way of a sort of install the 5G ppa on the forum look at and discuss.
before everything is merged
VOLLA COMMUNITY DAYS happy accident, 5G should be
upstream for those who wish to
available first, and has been tested
on FP5 and 4, but should, in theory, give it a try.
UBports have been invited to
attend the next Volla Community
Days event in Remschied on the 15-
16th of June. The event will be
broadcast live via the Volla
YouTube channel on both days with
a recording available after the
event.

Planned events include

presentations, demonstrations,
interviews,and discussions, and a
hackathon running alongside the
main event, with a prize being
awarded on Sunday afternoon.

The new Volla Tablet running

full circle magazine #205 49 contents ^

full circle magazine #205 50 contents ^
full circle magazine #205 51 contents ^
 MY OPINION
Written by Ronnie Tucker
Meshtastic
I came across Meshtastic purely
through a suggestion from
YouTube’s algorithms since I’d
Meshtastic is, of course, free and
open source: https://
meshtastic.org/
there for free. Just bear in mind
that you need to supply power
either through the USB-C socket on
FLASHING
In the case of the Heltec, it
previously looked up radio stuff in the device, or plug in a suitable comes with some basic software
the past. The idea behind DEVICES battery. installed, but this needs to be
Meshstastic is to send text replaced by Meshtastic. This is
messages from device to device There are many devices that can NOTE: these devices come in pretty simple since the Meshtastic
through radio waves, but rather run Meshtastic. The most well 433 and 868 flavors. Most users in site does most of the hard work for
than just going point-to-point, you known is the Heltec V3. This can be Europe and the UK are using 868, you. Using a modern browser you
can route through other nodes bought pretty cheaply (~£20, and the 433 is for the US. But, in go to https://
(aka: devices) to reach your sometimes £30 for two) from many theory, you can use anyone flasher.meshtastic.org/ and go
destination. This means you can Chinese suppliers with some anywhere, but a 433 can’t connect through the three steps. Make sure
reach devices much further away supplying a small primitive antenna to a 868. Just be wary of which you’re using a good quality, data
than your device's antenna is and case, but you could 3D print version you’re buying. compatible, USB cable. Not all USB
capable of. You can go from point A your own case. The files are out cables can do data. Some are just
to point B via F and Q, if need be. for charging. Now you need to
install the app on your phone.
Most of the devices require a
mobile phone with the Meshtastic With the app running, you link it
app, but you need only Bluetooth to the device using Bluetooth.
enabled to send the message from Hopefully, you’ll now see other
the phone to the device. The people nearby. Now, this is the
message is then sent from the potential downside of Meshtastic:
device. You can have no SIM card you might have no one else in your
and wifi off on the phone, and it’ll area who uses it.
still work. Remember: the message
is going via radio. The phone is not There are a couple of online
sending the message. There is at maps where people display their
least one device (the T-deck) that approximate location to allow
has a built-in keyboard and is others to see if there’s anyone
completely standalone. around (https://meshmap.net/).
You don’t have to appear on the

full circle magazine #205 52 contents ^

MY OPINION
maps. bought a case that came with a To my amazement I could easily So what’s the point of this? Well,
battery pack and antenna from message my home device from imagine if you’re in a city where you
I bought two devices and would eBay. about a mile and a half away! And experience power outages or
leave one running at home while this is in the middle of the city. Only natural disasters? Your power is
taking one with me to work and on one road which was heavily lined out, maybe the cell towers are
keep messaging my home unit to
TESTING
with trees did I get any issues in down (or overloaded), and you’ve
see what kind of distance I could sending a message. no internet. How do you message
With the new external antenna
get. Initially I was getting, at most, people? Meshtastic. Gift some to
in place I started testing. I mounted
about 1km. Which is actually pretty your friends or relatives. As long as
good considering the placement of
the Heltec in its new case to the CONCLUSION
handlebars of my bike and peddled your area has enough people
my home unit and the area I was running a device(s), then, if nothing
around sending messages to I’m still testing my devices. I’m
testing in. else, you might be able to even
myself. hoping to go further afield during
the nice weather and test the range message a stranger to ask for
It’s definitely better to get your assistance.
to find my absolute limit. But even
device as high as you can get it, and
that changes as more and more
leave it running 24/7 as it’ll discover Of course, I’m not saying you
nodes appear to extend the range.
more devices in the area. My first should rely on these things. As if it
Remember, the more nodes online,
setup was a tupperware container all goes south the people running
the bigger the mesh gets and the
with the Heltec hooked to a USB some devices might be a bit too
more range everyone in that area
battery pack. And it worked very busy to help route your messages
gets.
well all things considered. or reply, but they’re definitely
better than relying on the cell
ANTENNAS towers and internet if it all went
pear-shaped.
If you want to reach further
afield then you’ll need to use a
good external antenna. I bought an
868 compatible yagi from Amazon
and mounted it on my roof with V2
of my tupperware box now
containing the connection to an
external antenna and a larger USB
battery pack that lasts for a good 5
or 6 days. For my other Heltec (that
I take with me) and my T-deck, I

full circle magazine #205 53 contents ^

full circle magazine #205 54 contents ^
 HOW-TO
Written by Ronnie Tucker
Write For Full Circle Magazine
GUIDELINES • Images should be JPG, no wider REVIEWS
than 800 pixels, and use low

T he single rule for an article is compression.

that it must somehow be GAMES/APPLICATIONS
linked to Ubuntu or one of the • Do not use tables or any type of When reviewing games/applications please state clearly:
many derivatives of Ubuntu bold or italic formatting.
(Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc). • title of the game
• who makes the game
If you are writing a review, • is it free, or a paid download?
RULES please follow these guidelines : • where to get it from (give download/homepage URL)
• is it Linux native, or did you use Wine?
• There is no word limit for articles,
• your marks out of five
but be advised that long articles
When you are ready to submit • a summary with positive and negative points
may be split across several issues.
your article please email it to:
[email protected] HARDWARE
• For advice, please refer to the
Official Full Circle Style Guide: When reviewing hardware please state clearly:
http://bit.ly/fcmwriting TRANSLATIONS
• make and model of the hardware
• Write your article in whichever If you would like to translate Full • what category would you put this hardware into?
software you choose, I would Circle into your native language • any glitches that you may have had while using the hardware?
recommend LibreOffice, but most please send an email to • easy to get the hardware working in Linux?
importantly - PLEASE SPELL AND [email protected] and • did you have to use Windows drivers?
GRAMMAR CHECK IT! we will either put you in touch with • marks out of five
an existing team, or give you access • a summary with positive and negative points
• In your article, please indicate to the raw text to translate from.
where you would like a particular With a completed PDF, you will be
image to be placed by indicating able to upload your file to the main
Full Circle site.
You don't need to be an expert to write an
the image name in a new paragraph
or by embedding the image in the article - write about the games, applications
ODT (Open Office) document. and hardware that you use every day.

full circle magazine #205 55 contents ^

 REVIEW
Written by Adam Hunt
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
E very two years, there’s a day
that is something like Christmas
for Ubuntu users, and 25 April,
are mostly behind-the-scenes,
hidden from the average user.
second Ubuntu release to carry a
codename beginning with “N”, the
earlier one being Ubuntu 11.04,
SHA256 sum check on it to make
sure the download was good.

2024 was that day. That was the Because Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is Natty Narwhal, from April 2011. The official release notes claim
release date for the new Ubuntu codenamed Noble Numbat, the Because there are 26 letters in the that there has been "a 200MB
long term support (LTS) version, obvious question is “what on earth English alphabet and there are two reduction in image size", but that
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. This is a big deal is a numbat?” It turns out that it is a Ubuntu releases per calendar year, does not fit the facts. In this case,
because most Ubuntu users don’t bug-eating Australian marsupial. the letters naturally recur every 13 the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ISO file I got
use the three interim releases in And, no, it does not have wings; it is years. was 6.1 GB, making it 17% bigger
between LTS versions, opting for not that sort of bat. Numbats show than the Ubuntu 23.10 ISO file,
the more polished LTS with its up on the official release wallpaper, INSTALLATION which was 5.2 GB. Ubuntu has now
longer support period. as a decorative element on a noble more than doubled its ISO file size
crown and are also featured on two I got my copy of the Ubuntu in the two and a half years since
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is the 40th more of the 13 provided 24.04 LTS ISO file from the official Ubuntu 21.10 came out. That
release of Ubuntu and the 14th wallpapers. source via BitTorrent, using release was 2.9 GB. It is not really
with its modified GNOME 3 Transmission to download it. Once clear where all this extra bloat has
desktop. While the interim releases Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is actually the the file had arrived, I carried out an come from.
of Ubuntu are supported for only
nine months, this LTS comes with I tested this release using
five years of support. In addition, Ventoy 1.0.97. Ubuntu is officially
there are five additional years of listed as being supported by Ventoy
support available through Ubuntu and it booted up nicely.
Pro, and enterprise users can also
buy two further years of support, Anyone running Ubuntu 23.10
meaning you could still be running should have received a notice for an
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS in 2036! upgrade via the Software Updater
shortly after the release date.
While the first two releases in Users with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS will
this development cycle brought get an upgrade notice only after
only a few small changes, the last the 24.04.1 point release is out,
interim release, 23.10, and this LTS, currently expected on 15 August,
introduced a lot more. The changes 2024. Those users can force an

full circle magazine #205 56 contents ^

REVIEW
upgrade from the command line Screen capable of 1024 × 768 pixel Noticeable will be the capabilities, fprintd has been
sooner, but just know that that screen resolution introduction of the GNOME 46.0 updated and libfprint supports
method will not be fully tested Either a CD/DVD drive or a USB port desktop which includes updated many new fingerprint drivers and
before 24.04.1 is out, so there are for the installation media application versions, many of which devices. There is also a new version
risks involved. Of course, you can Internet access useful but not now use libadwaita and GTK4. Not of the Flutter-based Ubuntu App
always just do a fresh installation of essential all the included GNOME Center introduced in Ubuntu 23.10
24.04 LTS at any time. applications are from version 46, and which replaced the old Snap
This means that Ubuntu 24.04 though. Store.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS LTS should run fine on hardware
designed for Windows 7 or later, For fresh installations, the Also, for a webcam application,
The recommended minimum although I would suggest at least 8 Ubuntu installer has been improved GNOME Snapshot replaces Cheese
system requirements for Ubuntu GB of RAM as a working minimum. including reintroducing the option which had been included in Ubuntu
24.04 LTS have not changed in the of using a ZFS file system, as well as for many years.
last four years since 20.04 LTS came NEW TPM full-disk encryption. The
out and remain: Power Profiles Manager has been The Ubuntu family of fonts,
2 GHz dual core processor As I noted, there are a few new improved to better support newer which are used by default across
4 GB RAM things that desktop users will hardware and is now "battery- Ubuntu as its system fonts, have
25 GB of hard-drive, USB stick, notice and many more hidden aware", automatically increasing been updated and are now slimmer
memory card or external drive updates behind-the-scenes. the optimization levels when and sharper. If you don’t like them,
space running on battery power. For there is a procedure to revert to
devices with fingerprint the old versions outlined in the

full circle magazine #205 57 contents ^

REVIEW
24.04 release notes. updates: binutils 2.42, BlueZ 5.72, This time around, the Linux considered obsolete and have been
Cairo 1.18, GCC 14, glibc 2.39, kernel is version 6.8 which includes disabled. There is more consistent
Ubuntu now supports the HEIF Golang 1.22, LLVM 18, .NET 8, better support for Intel Meteor application of openssl and gnutls
and HEIC photo formats commonly Netplan v1.0, NetworkManager Lake CPUs, support for Nintendo system configurations and pptpd
used on cell phones, plus games 1.46, and OpenJDK 21 is the now Switch Online controllers, fixes the has been removed. Openssh in
will run better due to an increase in the default while support includes wifi issues seen on some AMD Ubuntu no longer uses libsystemd,
the virtual memory mapping limit. versions 17, 11 and 8. Also updated laptops, and improves the behavior due to the infamous XZ-utils
Ironically, to save space, Ubuntu are Poppler 24.02, Python 3.12, xdg- of zswap. It also has improved backdoor.
now no longer comes with any desktop-portal 1.18, and Rust 1.75. syscall performance, nested KVM
games so you will have to install Audio is now provided by Pipewire support on ppc64el, and access to GCC compiler 20 and dpkg now
your own from the repositories. 1.0.4. the new bcachefs filesystem. default to -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3
instead of -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2
There are also many behind-the- The initialization system is Apport now has integration with to increase buffer overflow
scenes changes that most desktop updated to systemd v255.4. systemd-coredump to handle detection and mitigation. Dpkg now
users will probably not notice, Systemd is also now enabled by crashes. defaults to -mbranch-
including the resolution of the default for all uses, even when an protection=standard – which should
famous Y2K Mark II bug, the “year instance is launched directly from a For security, in combination with mitigate code-reuse attacks on the
2038 problem”. When nothing terminal window with the wsl.exe the apparmor package, the Ubuntu arm64 architecture.
happens in 2038, that will be it! command or from an imported root kernel now restricts the use of
files system. unprivileged user namespaces. TLS The tzdata (time zone data)
There are many toolchain 1.0, 1.1 and DTLS 1.0 are now package was split into tzdata,

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REVIEW
tzdata-icu, and tzdata-legacy. to a dark version. Overall, that last time, this means you still get a GNOME Document Scanner
makes the display so dark it is hard huge ISO file download for a (simple-scan) 46.0 optical scanner
Many more similar sorts of small to discern the edges of the minimal installation, which seems GNOME Document Viewer (evince)
changes are also incorporated. windows in use. It is like your like a bad compromise. Some other 46.0 PDF viewer
Ubuntu desktop fell into a black Ubuntu flavors, like Xubuntu, have GNOME Files (nautilus) 46.0 file
For the average desktop user, hole. A lighter-colored wallpaper separate ISO downloads for its manager
most of these changes are positive actually works better with the dark regular and minimal installations, GNOME Image Viewer (Eye of
updates, if largely invisible, with window theme. which seems like a more sensible Gnome) 45.3 image viewer
one possible exception. Due to a solution. GNOME Snapshot 46.2 webcam
bug, the Ubuntu app-center will not APPLICATIONS application
install randomly downloaded .deb Some of the applications GNOME Terminal 3.52.0 terminal
files, and this has generated loud As with Ubuntu 23.10, the 24.04 included with 24.04 LTS extended emulator
complaints from some people in LTS ISO file boots up to a live selection installation are: GNOME Text Editor 46.1 text editor
the tech media. These files can still session using the extended Archive Manager (file-roller) 44.1 GNOME Videos (totem) 43.0 movie
be installed using gdebi graphically, selection installation and not the file archiver player*
or from the command line, as long minimal default installation. This, Deja Dup 45.2 file back-ups Gparted 1.5.0 partition editor***
as they comply with the changes once again, means that the full Firefox 125.0.2 web browser** LibreOffice 24.2.2 office suite, less
incorporated in the unprivileged suite of applications is present in GNOME Calendar 46.0 desktop LibreOffice Base
user namespaces security upgrade. the ISO but does not install under calendar PipeWire 1.0.4 audio controller
Many of these sorts of download the default installation. As I noted GNOME Clocks 46.0 clocks Remmina 1.4.35 remote desktop
applications, like the proprietary GNOME Disks 46.0 disk manager client
Zoom video conferencing client for Rhythmbox 3.4.7 music player*
Linux for instance, are already Shotwell 0.32.6 photo manager
available as snap packages so do Startup Disk Creator 0.3.17 (usb-
check there first before creator-gtk) USB ISO writer*
complaining. Systemd 255.4 init system
Thunderbird 115.10.1 email client**
SETTINGS Transmission 4.0.5 bittorrent client
Ubuntu App Center 1.0.0 package
As in recent releases, Ubuntu management system**
24.04 LTS has only two window Wget 1.21.4 command line
themes: standard (light) and dark. webpage downloader
With the default wallpaper in use,
switching to the dark window * indicates same application version
theme also switches the wallpaper used in Ubuntu 23.10
** supplied as a snap so version
full circle magazine #205 59 contents ^
REVIEW
depends on the upstream package digging to figure out how it was display file and folder timestamps. 24.10, codenamed Oracular Oriole,
manager installed. It turns out that it is a expected in October, 2024. This will
*** indicates included on the ISO snap package but, even though it is CONCLUSIONS be the first interim release in the
for boot-up but not included in a developed with the package name new development cycle that will
full installation of app-center, it is installed as snap- Overall, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS seems lead to the next LTS, which will be
store, the same name used by the like a good, solid release. These Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, due out in April,
If you install the new default old package. While it is a bit days the emphasis at Canonical is 2026.
minimal installation, you will get confusing, at least the mystery has on enterprise or business use, so
Firefox, Nautilus, GNOME Text been solved. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS looks like a It is interesting to note that
Editor, and not much more, polished and professional when Ubuntu 24.10 comes out that
although any desired applications The GNOME Files 46.0 (Nautilus) operating system that would be at it will mark 20 years of Ubuntu. The
can easily be added from the file manager has some fixes. The home in a corporate HQ or a very first release was Ubuntu 4.10,
repositories using the Ubuntu App file transfer dialogues are moved to doctor’s office. I am sure that its Warty Warthog, on 20 October,
Center or the command line. the bottom left of the window and clean and serious look adds to its 2004. Ubuntu has shown some
no longer obscure the tabs, a user appeal these days. If you want serious staying power over the past
This time, the application definite improvement. It also has an operating system that barks two decades!
collection is a mix of GNOME new file search capabilities, the when you boot it up then try Puppy
versions, mostly from GNOME 46, path box can now be edited, custom Linux instead. EXTERNAL LINKS
but with a few GNOME 43 and 44 folders can be more easily reset
holdovers. As mentioned above, and there is a new option to both The next release will be Ubuntu Official website:
the swapping of Gnome Snapshot https://ubuntu.com/
for the old Cheese webcam
application is the only change to
the suite of default applications.

As in the past, the default email

client remains Mozilla Thunderbird,
but it is now included as a snap
package instead of a .deb, making
support easier for Mozilla and
providing more timely updates. I
am sure there will be complaints.
Adam Hunt started using Ubuntu in
2007 and has used Lubuntu since
While the App Center replaced 2010. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario,
the old Snap Store starting with Canada, in a house with no Windows.
Ubuntu 23.10, it took me some
full circle magazine #205 60 contents ^
 REVIEW
Written by Adam Hunt Damn Small Linux 2024 alpha
I n the Linux world, you might be
forgiven for being convinced that
the dead can rise and walk again. In
was in turn based on Debian.

The DSL project gained a

have a lot in common with the
original beyond its name.
note that it is less than 1/7 the size
of Ubuntu 23.10, which weighed in
at a hefty 5.2 GB at release time.
early 2024, an old Linux following and continued until its Recognizing that it is pretty
distribution, thought to have been last stable release in 2008, when it much impossible to create a useful This new DSL version is no
dead and buried for 16 years, was disappeared into the annals of distribution under 50 MB today, at longer Knoppix-based but, instead,
resurrected! Linux history, or so we all thought. least with any sort of graphical is now a derivative of antiX, which is
interface, the new size limit is 700 a lightweight Debian-based Linux
With its last stable release in And then, on 1 February, 2024, MB, which is 14 times bigger than distribution.
2008, Damn Small Linux (DSL) is Andrews released a new DSL the last version of DSL. This new
back, but with much that is new. version called DSL 2024 alpha with 700 MB limit is intended to allow it DSL has also only been released
the intention of creating a new to fit on a standard compact disc in a 32-bit build, although it is
BACKGROUND stable version this year. (CD). Remember those? worth noting that 32-bit software
can be run on 64-bit hardware (but
DSL was started by American This DSL 2024 is not your Is 700 MB a “Damn Small Linux”? not the other way around).
developer, John Andrews, and had grandfather’s DSL, however. Much Perhaps it is more like a “Somewhat
its first stable release in 2005. His has changed, in fact, and it may not Small Linux”. Well, at least we can The other thing that has
initial aim was experimental in changed is the aim, as DSL is now
nature: to see if he could create a intended to be a distribution run on
distribution that would fit on a hardware as old as that built for
bootable business card, a once Windows XP, from about 2001-
popular cut-down CD, the size of an 2008. Those boxes often came with
actual business card and which held 256 or 512 MB of RAM, which
50 MB of data. Yes, that resulted in seems a bit quaint today when 8 GB
a Linux distribution with a is a normal bare minimum. Many of
maximum size of 50 MB, and that these computers also came with
was actually possible twenty years CD-only drives, but not DVD drives
ago. DSL was designed to be or the capability to boot from a
booted up and run from a variety of USB stick (well, without using Plop
small media and was based on that is), hence the 700 MB CD
Knoppix, another distribution maximum size. But, do people still
designed for “live CD” use. Knoppix have blank CDs lying around? I

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REVIEW
know that I don’t. from the official website via HTTPS, be a lot broken, and that is indeed
since there is no BitTorrent DSL 2024 does not list any the case with this first alpha of DSL
To get this new DSL down below available. As advertised, the file is specific minimum system 2024. I made an exception for DSL
700 MB, Andrews limited the under 700 MB, but not by much, as requirements, but I found it idled at 2024 alpha, just because this
installed default languages to a few the version I got was 698.1 MB. 182 MB of RAM and with some project to create a new version
varieties of English, stripped out applications open, including the file after so many years was intriguing
user manual pages, source code, An MD5 sum is provided. While manager, text editor, word and I thought it deserved a review.
and used lightweight applications not as secure as an SHA256 sum, it processor, spreadsheet, and
that have a minimum of did indicate that the download was terminal window, it never got above Normally in a development
dependencies. DSL 2024 employs good. 325 MB so it should do fine with process you can expect a couple of
Debian’s Advanced Package Tool 512 MB of RAM, unless you are alpha releases, then a beta, and
(APT) to manage packages from the INSTALLING doing multiple-tab web browsing. finally the stable version, and, over
command line and that means that Modern web pages tend to be big, that time, problems get identified
it is easy to run updates, install I ran DSL from a USB stick so the sky's the limit there. and fixed, ideally resulting in a
additional languages and equipped with Ventoy 1.0.97. It is flawless stable version.
applications as needed. not officially listed as being TRYING OUT DSL So with those low expectations,
supported, but antiX is supported
GETTING DSL and DSL 2024 booted up just fine. I had a look at DSL 2024 alpha. It
I generally avoid reviewing Linux
boots up with the Fluxbox window
distributions that are not out as
I downloaded DSL 2024 alpha manager, which forms the
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS stable releases, as there tends to
underlying basis for the desktop.

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REVIEW
The first impression DSL 2024 gives In my initial checks, I found a garish. Some toned-down themes Some of the applications
is that it is quite functional and number of elements that were and bigger font sizes are available. included are:
comes with a collection of broken, which is not surprising in a Abiword 3.0.5 word processor
applications that will fit most basic first alpha release. On that list was The desktop wallpaper could not AlsaMixer 1.2.8 sound controller
desktop users’ needs. Everything my WiFi card, which was not found, be changed, which is too bad, as it Archive Manager (File Roller) 43.0
supplied is lightweight, which necessitating the use of an needs changing. The default file archiver
generally means minimally Ethernet connection instead. Also, wallpaper is a picture of two mice Badwolf 1.0.3 web browser
featured, though. many menu items did not work, or working on the inside of a clock. It is Dillo 3.0.5 web browser
at least would not launch. cute and whimsical, but also busy Feh 3.10 image viewer
The quite-conventional menu and cluttered. Personally, I like gFTP 2.9.1b FTP client
system can be accessed via the SETTINGS cleaner wallpapers for my desktop. Gnumeric 1.12.55 spreadsheet
taskbar button or by right clicking There is no settings box to change Leafpad 0.8.18.1 text editor
anywhere on the desktop, a nice DSL 2024 uses Fluxbox as its the wallpaper. The zzzFM file MPV 0.35.1 video player
feature that saves time. default window manager, although manager has a right-click option to mtPaint 3.50.09 image editor
JWM is also installed. Fluxbox set any image as the wallpaper, but scrot 1.8.1 command line
Systemd haters will be pleased actually does provide a nice it was broken. The alternate Ranger screenshot tool
to know that DSL uses runit as its selection of 22 different window file manager would not launch. Sylpheed 3.8.0 beta 1 email client
initialization system. and menu color themes and font XMMS 1.2.11 audio player
sizes. That is a good thing, as the APPLICATIONS Zathura 0.5.2 PDF reader
Once booted up, I used APT default Radiant-small theme is a bit zzzFM 1.0.7 file manager
from the command line to update
DSL 2024 and had a look at the As noted, this mix of
repositories, which are from antiX. applications consists of lightweight
If doing command line package applications. More capable
management is not your thing, then applications can be easily installed
it is easy to install Synaptic or using APT from the repositories,
another graphical package although more RAM will be
manager, although you will have to required to run them.
use the command line to install it!
The lack of a graphical package As a reviewer, one of the first
manager does mean that this is not things I looked for was to see if DSL
really a distribution for Linux had a screenshot tool installed. I
beginners, as at least some didn’t see one in the menus, but a
command line APT skills are check of APT showed that the
required. command line scrot tool was
installed. Scrot works well but it
full circle magazine #205 63 contents ^
REVIEW
would have been nice if it had been that at least shows development is user base.
provided with a key binding to the If you have more capable moving along quickly. We can
“PrtScr” key, as is normal. I was able hardware you could still install DSL expect perhaps another alpha or It is probably worth noting that
to run it from the command line and then “fatten” it up with more two and then a beta before the one of the strengths of the Linux
with a delay command to complete fully-featured applications like final stable release comes out later world is that definitions of
the screenshots for this review. Firefox and LibreOffice, but this year. (Editor's note: it’s now up “success” encompass a wide range
wouldn’t you just install a more to rc3 as of April 2024). of outcomes. If someone is building
For a distribution that is trying complete distribution instead? a distribution as a hobby, and not as
to stay small, DSL has a curious One question remains: Is there a for-profit venture, then success
number of duplicate default enough pent-up demand by owners might just mean having a
applications, including file
CONCLUSIONS of old hardware that this will take distribution to tinker with and a few
managers, window managers and off? While Damn Small Linux has dedicated fans finding it useful
DSL 2024 alpha is truly an alpha
web browsers. That said, the some “brand recognition” at least enough to use.
release, as it has a number of things
BadWolf browser is slow to load among older Linux users, today the
that don’t work, at least so far,
pages and frequently crashes , lightweight end of the Linux market If you have an old computer in
although it does show good
while the Dillo web browser won’t already has a lot of players the basement that isn’t getting any
potential.
display many web pages, probably including Puppy Linux, SliTaz, Tiny use, then when DSL 2024 comes
due to the lack of JavaScript Core Linux, and, of course, antiX. out in stable, it may just be the
While I was working on this
support. Just a few more things This newly reinvented DSL will have ticket to getting it working again.
review, a second alpha version
that will need addressing before to offer something those others
came out on 20 February, 2024, so
the stable release. don’t to scratch out a dedicated EXTERNAL LINKS
USER BASE Official website:
https://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
One question that always comes
up with niche distributions like this
one is “who is this for?” The official
website states that it is for “low-
spec x86 computers … to run on
computers old enough to not have
a DVD and cannot boot off of a USB
drive.” So this is really aimed at Adam Hunt started using Ubuntu in
people with old XP computers that 2007 and has used Lubuntu since
2010. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario,
they want to use as a main or
Canada, in a house with no Windows.
secondary computer.

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 REVIEW
Written by Adam Hunt Ubuntu Cinnamon 23.10
T he last Full Circle review of
Ubuntu Cinnamon was written
about version 22.04 LTS by Erik and
driven desktop, GNOME 2 was an
easy transition for defecting
Windows users and made them feel
it, including many developers. Linus
Torvalds, creator of the Linux
kernel, publicly called GNOME 3 a
officially released, based on seeing
early beta builds, the Ubuntu
developers created a new interface
appeared in Full Circle issue 188. at home fast. “total user experience design called Unity which was first out on
Since then, three more releases failure” and added, “I want my sane 9 June, 2010, ten months ahead of
have come out, and I thought this GNOME 2 was so popular that interfaces back. I have yet to meet GNOME 3’s final official release.
would be a good time to have its developers decided to do away anybody who likes the unholy mess Unity is still around today and used
another look at this distribution, with it and create GNOME 3, as a that is gnome-3.” He personally as the default desktop on Ubuntu
especially since it was just given replacement, with the first official stopped using GNOME and Unity. The mainstream Ubuntu
official Ubuntu flavor status in early stable release in April, 2011. switched to Xfce. distribution actually moved away
2023. GNOME 3 was a totally different from Unity to a modified version of
concept including a Mac-like The developer response to GNOME 3 on 19 October, 2017 with
BACKGROUND launcher and no “maximize” GNOME 3 was swift – they got to the release of Ubuntu 17.10. This
buttons on application windows. work across the Linux ecosystem modified GNOME 3 was again an
Ubuntu Cinnamon has an Early versions of GNOME 3 were with some better ideas. attempt to address its
interesting history. Like quite a not great to use and, while a few shortcomings without the costs of
number of Linux desktops, the users actually liked it, many hated Even before GNOME 3 was developing Unity.
Cinnamon desktop traces its origins
back to the GNOME 2 desktop and In another parallel project, on 19
the initial wide dissatisfaction with August, 2011, only four months
its replacement, GNOME 3. after GNOME 3 came out, a fork of
GNOME 2 became the MATE
GNOME 2 first came out on 16 desktop, to be used in Ubuntu
June, 2002 and quickly proved very MATE starting in October, 2014.
popular among Linux users. It was a
simple, three-menu desktop Over at Linux Mint, where they
(Applications, Places and System) had also been using GNOME 2 as
and was widely used across many their desktop, the developers tried
distributions. It was the first a series of patches and extensions
Ubuntu desktop when Ubuntu first to tame GNOME 3, called the Mint
appeared in the fall of 2004, as GNOME Shell Extensions. These
Ubuntu 4.10. As a simple, menu- were not a great solution, though,

full circle magazine #205 65 contents ^

REVIEW
and in January, 2012, Mint it to build a dedicated Ubuntu with the first release 19.10, out on INSTALLATION
developer Gwendal Lebihan started variant. In 2012, Eric Kranich did just 4 December, 2019. The name was
Project Cinnamon to produce, not a that and called this Ubuntu with soon simplified to just Ubuntu I downloaded the 4.1 GB ISO file
GNOME 2 fork, but a new Cinnamon “Cubuntu” with the first Cinnamon. After seven releases had for Ubuntu Cinnamon 23.10 from
replacement menu-driven desktop release 12.04. Cubuntu was demonstrated that it had staying the official source by HTTP. I had
for GNOME applications. Mint did controversial because it featured power, a team behind it and a solid tried to get it using BitTorrent but,
fork GNOME’s window manager, proprietary software including user base, it became an official almost four weeks after the official
Mutter, to become Muffin, and the Google Chrome and Skype and also Ubuntu flavor on 28 March, 2023. release date, there was no one left
GNOME file manager, Nautilus, to because, on initial installation, it seeding the torrents. I did a
become Nemo, which brought back was in French only, although that In this review we are looking at command line SHA256 sum check
many deleted features from could be changed after installation. Ubuntu Cinnamon 23.10, which on the file to confirm a good
Nautilus. The Cinnamon desktop It also included a number of other came out on 12 October, 2023. This download.
became fully independent from desktops in the download file, is the ninth overall release and its
GNOME with version 2.0 in October, selectable at boot-up. The last second as an official flavor. As an I ran Ubuntu Cinnamon 23.10
2013 and it remains Mint’s main version was Cubuntu 16.04.3, out interim release, 23.10 is supported from a USB stick equipped with
desktop today, offered alongside on 7 August, 2017, after which the for nine months, until July, 2024. Ventoy 1.0.96. Ubuntu Cinnamon is
MATE and Xfce. project ended. The next release will be a long term not specifically listed as having
support version, Ubuntu Cinnamon been tested on Ventoy, but it
Not long after the Mint Joshua Peisach started a new 24.04 LTS, due on 25 April, 2024. worked fine.
developers created the Cinnamon Cinnamon effort in 2019, initially
desktop, there was interest in using calling it Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix,

full circle magazine #205 66 contents ^

REVIEW
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS applications, accessories, games, is an interesting idea. It does make too. Fixed at the bottom of the
graphics, internet, office, sound and it pretty easy for users to find screen, it is otherwise quite
Ubuntu Cinnamon does not list video, administration, preferences, things, plus it makes the settings customizable including a wide
any minimum system requirements places, and recent files. You can modular for the developers, which range of height and icon sizes, plus
that I could locate but it is probably also search for applications by should be easier to maintain and to it can be set to display all the time,
safe to assume that it is similar to name or function. As is the case add new boxes. hide unless the mouse pointer
mainstream Ubuntu which requires with Xubuntu, the menu can be touches the bottom of the screen,
at least a 64-bit, 2 GHz dual-core resized by drawing it out with the While very much a menu-driven or “smart hide” when a window
processor and 4 GB of RAM. A mouse pointer, which is a very desktop, Cinnamon is nothing like touches it. Simple and effective.
faster processor and 8 GB of RAM useful feature. GNOME 2’s old three-menu
would be better. solution. In fact, in many ways All windows come with three
The section of the menu marked Cinnamon is better, very simple, control buttons, fixing another
“preferences” gives access to the easy to use, and will present no GNOME 3 issue.
TRYING OUT UBUNTU individual simple settings boxes learning curve at all for
CINNAMON that are also unique to Ubuntu transitioning Windows users. Plus it NEW
Cinnamon. These can be accessed actually does make up for GNOME
On boot-up, Ubuntu Cinnamon from the main menu individually or 3’s deficiencies, even in Ubuntu’s As a singular release, Ubuntu
23.10 presents a very clean and the System Settings box, which current, modified GNOME 3 Cinnamon 23.10 does not bring a
simple desktop with a cinnamon- gathers them all together as a desktop. lot that is new over the last version,
colored wallpaper, naturally. Being collection of tiles. Having each 23.04; just a few tweaks.
a mostly GNOME application- short list of settings as a single box The panel is a Cinnamon feature,
equipped desktop, the key to what
New in this release is Cinnamon
makes Ubuntu Cinnamon unique is
5.8.4 replacing version 5.6.7 used in
its menu and settings.
the last release. This new version of
the desktop supports mouse
The Cinnamon menu is activated
gestures using KDE's touchegg
from a button on the bottom-left
package, and also has some
of the panel or with the
changes to the themes module
“super” (Windows) key. The menu
allowing the creation of simplified
has a row of quick links down its
themes.
left side, with icons for such things
as Firefox, System Settings, Pidgin,
One other small change is to the
GNOME Terminal, GNOME Files,
Plymouth Theme splash screen
screen locking, and shutdown. The
displayed text which now says
main part of the menu on the right
“Ubuntu Cinnamon” instead of
gives access by category: all
full circle magazine #205 67 contents ^
REVIEW
“ubuntucinnamon” plus the bottom from a number of sources, including Cinnamon 5.8.4 desktop emulator
of the text is not truncated. photo wallpapers from Ubuntu and environment GNOME Videos 43.0 (totem) video
even some from Debian with the CUPS 2.4.6 printing system player*
Like the other Ubuntu 23.10 Debian curl logo on them. The claim Document Scanner (Simple Scan) GNote 44.1 note taking application
flavors, Ubuntu Cinnamon has Linux to Debian heritage is not totally out 44.0 optical scanner* Gparted 1.5.0 partition editor
kernel version 6.5 with its new of line since Ubuntu Cinnamon Document Viewer 45.0 (Evince) PDF gThumb 3.12.2 image viewer*
hardware support plus the usual derives from Ubuntu, which is itself viewer Hexchat 2.16.1 IRC client*
collection of updated applications a Debian derivative, so it is Debian’s Firefox 118.0.1 web browser** Image Magick 6.9.11.60 command
from the Ubuntu repositories. grandchild. Celluloid 0.25 video player line image editor*
GDebi 44.2 package installer Image Viewer 45.0 (Eye of Gnome)
SETTINGS APPLICATIONS GIMP 2.10.34 image editor* image viewer
GNOME Calendar 45.0 desktop LibreOffice 7.6.2 office suite
One way that Ubuntu Cinnamon Some of the applications calendar Muffin 5.8.1 window manager
differentiates itself from included with Ubuntu Cinnamon GNOME Disks 45.0 disk manager Nemo 5.8.4 file manager
mainstream Ubuntu 23.10 is that it 23.10 are: GNOME Photos 44.0 photo Pidgin 2.14.12 IRC client*
has a lot of user customization Alacritty 0.12.2 terminal emulator manager* Pipewire 0.3.79 audio controller
options. The range runs to three Archive Manager (File Roller) 43.0 GNOME Software 45.0 package Remmina 1.4.31 remote desktop
different mouse pointer themes, 35 archiver* management system client
window color themes, 32 icon Brasero 3.12.3 CD/DVD burner* GNOME System Monitor 45.0.2 Rhythmbox 3.4.7 music player
themes, 29 desktop themes (which Cheese 44.1 webcam system resource monitor Sound Juicer 3.40.0 CD ripper
set the panel colors), and 37 GNOME Terminal 3.49.92 terminal Synaptic 0.91.3 package manager
wallpapers, which are organized Text Editor (gedit) 44.2 text editor*
into 22 categories! That wide range Thunderbird 115.3.1 email client
of choices puts it in the same class Transmission 4.0.2 bittorrent client
as Kubuntu and Ubuntu Unity. Lots
of user choices usually translate to * indicates same application version
increased user dedication to a as used in Ubuntu Cinnamon 23.04
distribution. ** supplied as a snap, so version
depends on the upstream package
The 23.10 default wallpaper manager
includes the Ubuntu Minotaur and
labyrinth motif rendered in the That list of default applications
trademark dark brown cinnamon is quite long and includes just about
color. The rest of the wallpapers anything a desktop user could want,
provided form an eclectic collection except perhaps a video editor.
There are some oddities on the list,
full circle magazine #205 68 contents ^
REVIEW
though, like the Sound Juicer CD Nautilus with some of Nautilus' perhaps, its very long list of default
ripper and Brasero CD/DVD burner, deleted features reinstated like the applications with many functional
which seem a bit archaic. There are "up one level" button. It does not, duplications which may require
also a lot of applications that however, have bulk file-renaming some user paring down after
duplicate other applications, like yet, so most users will need to add installation, to reduce menu clutter.
two terminal emulators, two image a bulk file-renamer, such as
viewers, two image editors, two GPRename. The next release will be Ubuntu
software package managers, and Cinnamon 24.04 LTS, a long term
two video players. There are also 19 CONCLUSIONS support version with three years of
games included. If I was installing updates, out on 25 April, 2024.
Ubuntu Cinnamon for daily use, I From my first time using it, I am
would probably have a long list of pleased to report that Ubuntu EXTERNAL LINKS
things to remove to make it lighter Cinnamon is surprisingly good. It
and its menus shorter. A good provides a very simple and elegant Official website:
concept might be the creation of an desktop that will be an easy https://ubuntucinnamon.org/
Ubuntu Cinnamon "minimal transition for almost any user new
installation" version with just the to it, regardless of your last
base desktop, like Ubuntu and operating system.
Xubuntu offer, to save ISO file
download size and user time in I saw almost no drawbacks to
cleaning up after installation. Ubuntu Cinnamon 23.10 except,

Most of the default applications

included are from the GNOME
desktop or at least are common
applications often found alongside
GNOME, such as the Firefox web
browser, Thunderbird email, and
the Remmina remote desktop
client.

Ubuntu Cinnamon uses the

Adam Hunt started using Ubuntu in
Cinnamon desktop's own Nemo file 2007 and has used Lubuntu since
manager in place of the standard 2010. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario,
Gnome file manager, Nautilus. Canada, in a house with no Windows.
Nemo is actually an earlier fork of
full circle magazine #205 69 contents ^
 REVIEW
Written by Adam Hunt Ubuntu MATE 23.10
I t has been quite a while since Full
Circle carried a review of Ubuntu
MATE. In fact, the last review was
highly successful and popular
GNOME 2 desktop that had been
introduced in 2002, and replace it
Cinnamon. That was a good move
as LinuxQuestions surveys done
before and after GNOME 3 came
Perberos, decided to do just that.
He took the GNOME 2 code and
forked it, naming his project MATE.
of the very first release, Ubuntu with something completely new: out showed how much its His first release was on 19 August,
MATE 14.10, written by Michael GNOME 3. At its public release in popularity slipped once people 2011, only four months after
Davies and published way back in April, 2011, it would be fair to say tried it out. In the earlier survey, GNOME 3 came out. By 8
Full Circle issue 93 in January 2015. that GNOME 3 was not well GNOME 2 had been the number November, 2013, MATE was
Since Ubuntu MATE is now on its received. A few people actually did one Linux desktop with 45% use. available as a Debian desktop and
20th release, I thought it was time like it but a lot didn’t, including not Post release, GNOME 3 was at 19% by January, 2014, it was on Arch
to see how things are progressing just users, but developers too. and was number two, behind KDE. Linux as well.
for this Linux distribution. Linux kernel founder, Linus
Torvalds, personally switched from While Unity and later Cinnamon All the main GNOME 2
The current version is Ubuntu GNOME to Xfce at the time, calling became great alternatives, what components were forked and
MATE 23.10, which was released on GNOME 3 an “unholy mess”. about the idea of just resurrecting renamed, with most given Spanish
12 October, 2023. As an interim the abandoned GNOME 2, since it names. The Nautilus file manager
release, it is supported for just nine Developers quickly started work had been so popular? One became Caja (Spanish for “box”),
months, but the next version, on replacements like Unity and developer from Argentina, the Evince PDF reader became Atril
24.04, will be a long term support (“lectern”) and the File Roller file
release, with three years of archiver became Engrampa
updates. It is expected out on 25 (“staple”). The Metacity window
April, 2024 and supported until manager became Marco (“frame”),
April, 2027. the gedit text editor became Pluma
(“pen”) and so on.
BACKGROUND
The desktop itself was named
The MATE desktop got its start for a South American caffeine-
for the same reason that the Unity laden herbal tea called mate. The
interface was created for Ubuntu tea is made from the yurbe mate
and the Cinnamon desktop for plant (Ilex paraguariensis). It is
Linux Mint. That story goes back to properly pronounced “mah-tay” and
2011 and the GNOME desktop not like the English word “mate”, a
project’s decision to ditch the term that can mean “friend”,

full circle magazine #205 70 contents ^

REVIEW
although that actually is a good fit simple single menu that is very attracted a whole community of on Ubuntu lasted six years, until
for this user-friendly desktop! intuitive and easy to use and, unlike developers to spread the workload Ubuntu 17.04, when it was dropped
the old GNOME 2 menus, includes around. Wimpress is also involved in in favor of the modified GNOME 3
The project writes MATE with all an application search box. an effort to develop an improved desktop which it continues with
capital letters, even though it is not MATE experience, one that is closer today. In fairness, GNOME 3 has
an acronym, just to make it fit in With MATE out in August, 2011, to Ubuntu MATE for Debian. improved over time and Unity lives
with some of the other desktop two developers, Martin Wimpress on as the interface for Ubuntu
names, like GNOME, KDE and LXDE and Alan Pope, decided to put the With 20 releases over the last Unity.
(but not LXQt, Xfce, Unity or new desktop on the Ubuntu ten years under its belt, Ubuntu
Cinnamon). They later devised an backend and the first release of MATE is a pretty mature INSTALLATION
English recursive “backronym” to Ubuntu MATE was made on 23 distribution with a dedicated base
retroactively explain the use of the October, 2014, using Ubuntu 14.10 of users. It has a rather paradoxical It was more than a month after
capital letters: "MATE Advanced as a base. 19 days later, on 11 motto, “for a retrospective future”. the official release date of 12
Traditional Environment". November, 2014, they put out a October, 2023, that I downloaded
version based on the earlier Ubuntu It is worth recalling that for its the 3.6 GB Ubuntu MATE 23.10 ISO
The MATE desktop started out 14.04 LTS to provide long term first six years of existence, file from the official website via
as a direct clone of GNOME 2, support. The very next release, mainstream Ubuntu used the HTTP, as the BitTorrents had been
including using its three menu Ubuntu MATE 15.04, came out with GNOME 2 desktop, from Ubuntu shut down. Once I had the file
system (Applications, Places and official Ubuntu flavor status. Today 4.10 to 10.10. Starting with Ubuntu downloaded, I carried out an
System), but it has developed the distribution is still led by 11.04, it moved to the Unity SHA256 sum check from the
carefully over time. Today, it has a Wimpress and Pope and it has interface to avoid GNOME 3. Unity

full circle magazine #205 71 contents ^

REVIEW
command line to confirm that it tools, universal access, and a quick
was an uncorrupted download. link to the control center, which is MATE will feel very familiar to
TRYING OUT UBUNTU MATE where all the settings are found. people who have used GNOME 2.
I dropped the Ubuntu MATE The menu cannot be resized. For new users, its inherent
On boot up Ubuntu MATE 23.10
23.10 ISO file onto a USB stick, Overall this menu system is very simplicity and high discoverability
presents a simple desktop with two
equipped with Ventoy 1.0.96, and intuitive and will make MATE an makes it a quick study with a low
panels, one at the screen top and
booted it up. Ubuntu MATE is listed easy transition for Windows users. learning curve. Almost anyone
the other at the bottom, just like
as officially supported by Ventoy would feel at home here in a few
GNOME 2. The wallpaper and
and, as expected, it worked fine. MATE is a rarity in having two minutes.
theme are green. It all looks very
panels, in an age where most
much like GNOME 2 with the
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS desktops only have one. The
exception of the menu.
bottom one can be right-clicked and
NEW
The Ubuntu MATE website lists deleted, but then you will have to
The new menu is the key MATE As a single release, Ubuntu
the minimum hardware as: rely on alt-tab to find minimized
feature, since this is where you MATE 23.10 does not bring a lot of
Dual core processor applications, plus lose your
launch applications and find the new features, mostly just a few
64-bit workspace switcher and “show
settings. The menu has categories fixes. This is as expected, since the
1 GB of RAM desktop” button. Once closed, it
for favorites, all applications, project was started as a reaction to
8 GB of disk space can be reopened by right-clicking
accessories, administration, too much radical change in the first
Display 1024 X 768 px on the top panel and selecting
graphics, internet, office, place. When you reach perfection,
“reset all panels”. Probably better
preferences, sound & video, system any changes will make it worse.
The recommended hardware is: to keep it.
Core i3 processor In this release, the desktop is
64-bit now at version 1.26.2, which
4 GB of RAM includes some bug fixes and minor
16 GB of disk space improvements. The rest of the
Display 1440 X 900 px, with listed changes are all small and
graphics card mostly “behind-the-scenes” items,
which users are unlikely to notice.
Raspberry Pi B models are also
supported including the Raspberry This release continues the
Pi 2, 3, 3+ and 4 (all memory sizes). recent trend of including at least
one artificial intelligence-generated
Ubuntu MATE is actually fairly wallpaper. For this release,
lightweight compared to most codenamed “Mantic Minotaur”, the
other Ubuntu derivatives. wallpaper was generated using

full circle magazine #205 72 contents ^

REVIEW
Stable Diffusion XL by Simon lots of choices. Furthermore, 23 included with Ubuntu MATE 23.10 MATE System Monitor 1.26.0
Butcher – a friend of Wimpress who window color themes are included. are: system resource monitor
is the Head of Research Platforms The MATE Control Center gathers Atril 1.26.0 PDF viewer* MATE Terminal 1.26.1 terminal
at Queen Mary University in all of the settings into one Caja 1.26.1 file manager emulator
London. It is a rather striking image convenient place and makes finding Celluloid 0.25 video player LibreOffice 7.6.2 office suite
of a Minotaur in graphic novel style. your own look an easy and CUPS 2.4.6 printing system Pipewire 0.3.79 audio controller
It won’t be everyone’s preference enjoyable task. Document Scanner (Simple Scan) Plank 0.11.89 desktop dock*
for daily use, but it is an attention- 44.0 optical scanner* Pluma 1.26.0 text editor*
getter. For users who like a dock on Engrampa 1.26.0 file archiver* Redshift 1.12 screen color
their desktop, MATE has the Plank Evolution 3.50.0 email client temperature adjuster*
SETTINGS desktop dock installed by default Eye of MATE 1.26.0 image viewer* Rhythmbox 3.4.7 music player
but not turned on. It can easily be Firefox 118.0.1 web browser** Shotwell 0.32.2 photo manager
Ubuntu MATE features a default activated by opening the Plank GDebi 44.2 package installer Software Boutique 0+git.0fdcecc
green theme and that includes the preferences dialogue box which GNOME Disks 45.0 disk manager software store**
default wallpaper for 23.10, which also includes a plethora of settings. Gparted 1.5.0 partition editor Transmission 4.0.2 bittorrent client
is a simple geometric design with Plank is easy to turn off, too. GUFW 22.04.0 firewall controller Webcamoid 9.1.1 webcam
the MATE logo. In total, 28 MATE Calculator 1.26.0 calculator*
wallpaper designs are provided, APPLICATIONS MATE Control Center 1.26.1 * indicates same application version
including the aforementioned settings manager as used in Ubuntu MATE 23.04
Minotaur wallpaper, so there are Some of the applications MATE Disk Usage Analyzer 1.26.1 ** supplied as a snap, so version
(baobab) disk display depends on the upstream package

full circle magazine #205 73 contents ^

REVIEW
manager CONCLUSIONS This is a minimalist distribution that
stays out of your way and lets you
Many of the default applications If you liked the early GNOME 2 get work done. It is not fancy.
included are MATE forks, originally versions of Ubuntu, you will
from the GNOME desktop. probably love Ubuntu MATE, as it is The next Ubuntu MATE release
a worthy successor and overall very will be a long term support version,
MATE has its own Caja file similar. 24.04 LTS, with three years of
manager in place of the standard support, due out on 25 April, 2024.
Gnome file manager, Nautilus. Caja If you are new to Linux,
is a fork of Nautilus with some of
Nautilus' deleted features
particularly coming from Windows, EXTERNAL LINKS
and looking for a very simple,
reinstated like the "up one level" menu-driven desktop that you can Official website:
button, plus it has bulk file- master in a few minutes, then https://ubuntu-mate.org/
renaming which is a useful feature. Ubuntu MATE may be your ticket to
a fast home in the Linux world.
The Software Boutique store is
unique to the Ubuntu MATE If you are the sort of user who is
project. It was written as an looking for fancy effects, bling and
improvement on GNOME Software gimmicks, then I would suggest you
and Ubuntu Software. It is included walk right past Ubuntu MATE,
as a Snap package but originates because you will be quickly bored.
from project github sources, not
from the usual Ubuntu Snap Store,
snapcraft.io.

The list of default applications

provided is fairly complete, but not
excessive, and, unlike Ubuntu
Cinnamon, no functional duplicates
are included. For most desktop
users, there will not be many
applications to add from the
Adam Hunt started using Ubuntu in
repositories, perhaps just a video 2007 and has used Lubuntu since
editor. 2010. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada, in a house with no Windows.

full circle magazine #205 74 contents ^

 Join us on:
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We are always looking for
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full circle magazine #205 75 contents ^

 Q&A
Compiled by EriktheUnready
If you have a Linux question, email it to: [email protected],
and Erik will answer them in a future issue. Please include as much
information as you can about your query.

W elcome back to another

edition of Questions and
Answers! In this section we will
around the world, you muck about
in your garden, and you generally
do all the fun stuff you never had
Ubuntu Budgie has a simple layout
that he added a dock for her with
her favourite apps and she has not Q :magnets,
Ubuntu 22.04, in qbittorrent,
some of them are
endeavour to answer your Ubuntu time for during your slave years. wanted it updated from 18.04 in giving me problems; qbitorrent
questions. Be sure to add details of The thing most retired people do fear of drastic changes – like you stays looking for metadata,
the version of your operating *not do, is keep up with technology. get with Windows. We will now although they have seeders.
system and your hardware. I will try It has been ‘challenging’ preventing load Ubuntu Budgie 24.04 in a Sometimes new magnets stays @
to remove any personally him from burning the building virtual machine (in a month or two), thinking, and I’m not sure what is
identifiable strings from questions, down. He will plug power into itself and see if it is the same as 18.04, wrong. I did not have issues with
but it is best not to include things or plug multiple chargers into his and make it look the same. Tell me older versions of qbittorrent that I
like serial numbers, UUIDs, or IP notebook and so forth. I looked in again how Windows is “winning”. can remember. Can it be Ubuntu?
addresses. If your question does the mirror and found 100 new grey

A
not appear immediately, it is just hairs after his first two days! I am : OK, this is not an Ubuntu
because there is such a lot, and I do
them, first-come-first-served.
truly thankful for transient voltage
suppressors in modern notebooks Q : I have a HP M479 on my
network. I used to be able to
problem, but an understanding
problem. Magnets are not torrents,
and peripherals. Flinching at every print, but not any more. If I print, no open a torrent file in your text
noise, expecting the fire alarm is activity on the printer. There is a editor, then open the magnet file in

O ne of our ‘new’ employees at

the company I work at, is 74
years old. Now, before anyone gets
definitely not a good feeling. With
that in mind, I refer to my friend’s
mom, who is now 78, who keeps up
duplicate printer though? If I
remove it a few seconds later it just
comes back. I haven’t needed to
your text editor. They are not the
same. Torrent files already contain
metadata information that magnet
any ideas, he does something few with her kids in Australia via Ubuntu download drivers on Ubuntu 20.04 files need to download first. See:
people do. In other words, his skills Budgie. She had no clue when it before. Do I need a different https://www.youtube.com/watch?
are in demand, so he is able to work came to windows 11, that came kernel, or just look for drivers? v=d7IX_yy15wI
long after retirement age. (It also with her laptop that her son bought
says a lot about age discrimination.)
The only problem is that he is
technologically challenged. Twenty
her, but with Ubuntu Budgie and a
few apps... sorted. She has her cozy
mysteries playing in Musique, while
A : It happens sometimes, click
the network icon, turn off
networking and delete all the Q :have
New install, Ununtu 23,10. I
this issue while installing
four years ago, when he retired, she is crocheting, Thunderbird for printers and reboot. Once in again, flathub. I used this command line.
computers were these big beige email, and Skype and Jami for turn networking back on and search sudo apt install flathub Reading
boxes that almost took up your instant communication, so she does for the printer. Let it install fresh. package lists... Done Building
whole desk. Obviously during one’s not really need a cellphone, and Your issue should be solved. dependency tree... Done Reading
retirement, you take cruise ships LibreOffice, not costing her a cent. state information... Done E: Unable

full circle magazine #205 76 contents ^

Q&A
to locate package flathub config)” and “completely remove” default route 192.168.1.1, and

A
the lot. primary DNS 127.0.0.1, and nothing : Wow, you are going to have to

A : Have you considered Linux

Assistant (https://www.linux-
in IPv6. Can you help me? give me more to go on!! I
looked at the Debian CVE’s and
assistant.org/)? It will do just that
for you. It was designed to help
people get these things done
Q :with
Can I install Ubuntu on my Dell
a touch screen??? A : I see two issues, one the IP
address is missing a “1” in front
of the “68” (as your gateway says
bugs for xrdp and there are a lot. It
seems there is “unexpected
behaviour” in four of them. It needs
quickly.
A : Yes, and I can confirm it works,
because I had to turn it off in
the BIOS as it is annoying as hell.
“168”), and your DNS is the local
machine, which is fine if you use
another DNS, but try 1.1.1.1 or
to update to 0.10 by the looks of
things. Maybe look at something
more stable?
Q :installation
I tend to keep my Ubuntu
quite clean and I
8.8.8.8 to test. I bet it is one of
those two things.
clean up after each update.
Sometimes I will find modules Q :years
My laptop is getting on in
and I have decided to Q :VMI’monrunning the Ubuntu in a
my Mac. When I change
relating to Nvidia or the kernel.
What would you suggest as a good
abandon Gnome for XFCE. When I
click on a panel and I go to Q :theOnfans
my Ubuntu 20,04 laptop,
go crazy until I open up
my resolution to 3840x2160,
everything starts freezing but it
cleaner? Beachbit has ruined a properties, it shows transparent, the system monitoring centre and works fine at 1280x800? I think I
system for me before, so I am a bit but the panel is solid. I want to get go to processes, which seems to need a driver, but I’m not sure what
wary. some transparency in there, so it calm it right down again, but it is or how?
looks like my icons are floating. driving me crazy, I just can’t seem to

A : I can relate, I use Stacer, but,

like anything, if you want
A : Erm, I think you should look at
nail it down.
A : Two things to check, by
default, the Mac only allocates
something done right, you need to
do it yourself. Because Ubuntu is
based on Debian, it also keeps the
what the header says, I have a
feeling it says "separator". You
need to go to “panel” and its sub-
A : Honestly, I have no idea, too
little info, but I suggest getting
an antivirus and intrusion detection
16MB memory to VGA, make it
128MB (lots of pixels require lots of
memory), and check if your guest
config files, in case you want to menu to set the entire panel. Yes, I system and see if anything is amiss. additions CD is installed.
install a deb-file again. As Nvidia know, bad design, one of my peeves It sounds like something detecting
drivers will update constantly, you with XFCE. that you are looking and scaling
may see a lot of files. Run: down. You could also always
reinstall? Q :asked
My Ubuntu 22.04 has not
me to upgrade yet. When
Q :wifi.
grep-status -n -sPackage I can’t connect Ubuntu to the
-FStatus config-files – will that be? It has been out for
I have disabled IP v6 as almost 3 weeks already. I don’t
to see all the leftover configs. You
can try Synaptic and look on the
suggested. My Ubuntu is still 20.04
and my connection information Q :VPS
Suddenly I can’t xrdp on to my
any more. I did not make
want to reinstall again.

A
says; IP Address: 192.68.1.2, then any changes. What could be the : The upgrade prompts happen
right for “Not installed(residential
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0, then issue? Ubuntu 18.04. only when the distribution hits
full circle magazine #205 77 contents ^
Q&A
the next milestone, 24.04.1, and to do with Ubuntu and everything
not sooner. to do with a failing battery (IIRC).
Batteries have a short warranty for
a reason.

Q :20.04,
Here’s the rub, on my Ubuntu
I have no issues running
the game freecol. Now that I have
22.04, the game won’t run. The
twist is that I tested it on the pre-
release and I had no issues. I have a
Nvidia A2000 display, that is not
gaming, but it used to work. What
would have changed between
November & May?

A : It seems it is a bug, related to

Java: https://sourceforge.net/p/
freecol/bugs/3357/

Q :Macbook
I am running Ubuntu on a 2019
pro and I am really
confused by my error. You see,
when I remove my charger, the
battery still shows charging. If I
leave it on charge, it charges so
slowly, I have to leave it overnight if
I want a full charge in the morning.
The laptop is not even overheating
or anything. Ubuntu clearly does
not know how to charge a Mac, or Erik has been in IT for 30+ years. He
am I missing something? has seen technology come and go.
From repairing washing machine sized

A
hard drives with multimeters and
: I recently sent a Macbook Pro oscilloscopes, laying cable, to scaling
with MacOS in for repair for 3G towers, he's done it.
basically 100% this. It has nothing
full circle magazine #205 78 contents ^
 UBUNTU GAMES
Written by Erik
Barony
is Windows-only, and the new Unity tag. It seems the developers keep can see each the others’ point of
Website: www.baronygame.com version (1 January 2024) is finicky working on it, and if it is a passion view. If ever you were nostalgic for
as all hell. I recall playing Daggerfall project, I should take more notice, Mario Kart…
Price: $19 USD at the time of on my 486 PC and not really being and so should you. I looked into the
writing. impressed with it for the same updates and it is more active than a So in Barony, you are an
reason. lot of games, see for yourself: adventurer who is going down into
Blurb: “Barony is the premier first- https://store.steampowered.com/ the catacombs below a Baron’s
person roguelike with cooperative Since we both had Barony, we news/app/371970?updates=true. castle. The heinous Baron Herx
play! Adventure alone, or gather a decided to play it one Saturday enslaved Hamlet's people and now
party with iconic and unusual RPG evening. I expected it to be a Barony is a real-time rogue-like he's an awful undead lich. The
classes to face off against the brutal snooze-fest, but since we caught up rather than being turn-based, like a whole town's been trapped in his
dungeons. Test your resourcefulness, on life, the universe, and classic rogue-like should be, but if massive dungeon for decades and
wits, and friendships, on your quest everything, during our gaming you’ll be playing with friends, it has now it's up to a single hero, or a
to lift the evil lich's curse!“ sessions, I did not mind (we live too to be. You can play with up to four group of adventurers, to confront
far apart to go grab a drink). So, friends at once. You can even play him in his hellish lair and destroy

B arony is a game that has been into the dungeon we ventured. The split-screen, where the display is him forever. Or that is what they
in development for a long time first thing I noticed was the version divided up into quarters and you claim. Only thing I know is, once in,
(from around 2015). The Kickstarter you cannot just leave, sort of like
campaign ended at the end of the hotel California.
2020. If you managed to pick it up
in the humble bundle like me, you In the beginning of the game,
would have got it on the cheap. you have to pick a race and a class.
Honestly, I never gave this the time Standard fare, but in this game it
of day, due to the ugly low-quality very much matters what you decide
graphics. However, I was talking to on. Each race and class will play
a friend, who jumped through differently, and you need to devise
hoops to play Daggerfall Unity with a strategy and play accordingly. If
all the new mods, going on about you play a human, you need to eat
how much fun it is. For those of you and drink, for instance, so finding
who don’t know, Daggerfall (Elder food will be a big part of your
scrolls II) is free to play on Steam gameplay. However, if you play as a
(the original). The problem is that it skeleton, you do not need to worry

full circle magazine #205 79 contents ^

UBUNTU GAMES
about food or drink. If you play as never fun for me. This explains and probably in a 320x200 hear, it is not a bad thing!
an automaton, you need to find another thing I like about the game, resolution, scaled up, it is as
magic scrolls and gems to fuel your you level up a skill by doing. The smooth as butter, at the cost of Issues & tissues with Ubuntu
reactor, so you never get to use any more you cast your fireball, the visual fidelity. Since the higher than 18.04: When starting
magic. Now, to make matters better you get at casting fireballs. requirements are so low, playing the game, it displays a critical error
worse, or better, depending on multi-player games on even a message and does not start; the
your point of view, each of these The main game loop per level is moderate to low-spec machine is console complains “Failed loading
races has a ton of classes. This simply to find the hatch going not a strain on the computer or libpng12.so.0”.
means that the game has a lot of down, and then going down said network. I feel that if the elements
replayability on top of the already hatch. Sounds simple? The level is within the game were not made of Solution:
mentioned rogue-like. actually a maze, filled with voxels, you would have Minecraft.
monsters and occasional events. I sudo add-apt-repository
ppa:linuxuprising/libpng12
Because the game is rogue-like, say occasional, as it is RNG-based. The music in the game is by Chris
each run can be very long or very These events can have quite an Kukla, (https://www.youtube.com/ sudo apt update
short, depending on the roll of the influence on how you play that watch?v=lymDwAP44g4), and if you sudo apt install libpng12-0
dice. The game has an even longer level. Unlike some other 3D listen to his Bandcamp album, you
list of items than there are races dungeon crawlers, you do have a will know why he was chosen. Comments or questions:
and classes, making the game quite mini-map that fills out as you (https://chriskukla.bandcamp.com/ [email protected]
interesting. Leaning back into what traverse the level. album/dungeon-jams). The game
I said earlier about choosing your just uses this Dungeon jams album
class carefully, if you choose a Because the game is voxel-based as the soundtrack, but as you can
dumb brute, they will not be able to
identify items you find. You will
literally need to start at the
bottom, by identifying a rock first,
to start levelling up your appraising
skills, working up to apples,
etcetera, before you even have a
chance of identifying any weapons
or armour. It sounds simple, but it
can take you several dungeon levels Erik has been in IT for 30+ years. He
to even find those items, so be has seen technology come and go.
careful what you pick. This auto- From repairing washing machine sized
hard drives with multimeters and
identify mechanic is something I
oscilloscopes, laying cable, to scaling
really like about this rogue-like. 3G towers, he's done it.
Hunting for scrolls of identity was
full circle magazine #205 80 contents ^
 PATRONS
MONTHLY PATRONS Lee Allen Ennio Quattrini
Lee Layland Kimberly James Kulak
The current site was created thanks to
Alex Crabtree Leo Paesen Arun (from our Telegram channel) who
Alex Popescu Linda P took on the task of completely
Mark Shuttleworth rebuilding the site, from scratch, in his
Andy Garay own time.
Bill Berninghausen Moss Bliss
Bob C Norman Phillips The Patreon page is to help pay the
Brian Bogdan Oscar Rivera domain and hosting fees. The money
Paul Anderson also helps with the new mailing list.
Carl Andersen
CBinMV Paul Readovin
Darren Rino Ragucci
Dennis Mack Rob Fitzgerald Several people have asked for a PayPal
Robin Woodburn (single donation) option, so I’ve added a
Devin McPherson button below.
Doug Bruce Roy Milner
Elizabeth K. Joseph Scott Mack A big thank you to all those who’ve
Eric Meddleton Sony Varghese used Patreon and the PayPal button.
Taylor Conroy It’s a HUGE help.
Gary Campbell
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full circle magazine #205 81 contents ^
 Full Circle Team

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE Editor - Ronnie Tucker

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FCM#206 Webmaster -
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full circle magazine #205 82 contents ^