in-depth: how to escape the Linux gui Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Phone In-depth review Ubuntu Touch Octa-core CPU An iPhone killer? Plus! Build your own awesome Steam Box
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This issue we asked our experts: We’re covering SteamOS this issue. Linux has over 1,000 games now, but how do you like to have fun? Jonni Bidwell Being possessed of some quite advanced masochistic tendencies, I often like to randomly change the USE flags and package masks on my Gentoo box and then emerge -Duv --newuse @world and watch the fireworks. I should get out more [Ed – and eat less donuts. Eating 12 in one day is probably not a good idea!].
Matthew Hanson I can’t think of anything more fun than playing around with a Linux distro, breaking something or other (probably the graphics), and then spending the rest of the weekend trying to find out what went wrong and rectifying it. Well, that and being killed repeatedly by attack dogs in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.
Chris Thornett Shockingly enough, my idea of fun is actually fun and involves playing loads of Steam on Linux games. I like to fire up my Mint-powered gaming beast and count the insane frames per second I can get with my Nvidia GTX Titan and use VokoScreen to capture their beauty, stamping a big ol’ ‘powered by Linux’ watermark in the corner.
Les Pounder I enjoy playing Global Thermonuclear War and Falken’s Maze with my friend Joshua who lives in California. Each time we play he proves to be an interesting and challenging opponent, almost coldly logical with his analysis. Despite this he has a strange desire for burgers, and constantly refers to WOPR’s…
Mayank Sharma I’m just glad that Steam on Linux has finally managed to work up a good head of steam, so much so that Linux the operating system that steams up just about everyone, is all set to become the goto destination for letting off some steam… I probably need to stop the awful steam word play now before someone hurts me.
Pi Format Welcome to Raspberry Pi Format, or at least that’s what it might feel like to some regular readers. The truth is, considering just how popular the Raspberry Pi has become – it’s easily the fastest-selling UK home computer and will likely even surpass the 12 million Amstrads managed during the entire ‘80s and ‘90s – we barely give it coverage. So with five million original Pi users and thousands of new Pi 2 owners gnashing at the bit for exciting projects to try and coding knowledge to learn, it’s about time for another Pi issue. So with the Raspberry Pi Foundation celebrating three years of the Raspberry Pi and an entirely new model, we thought it’d be a fine time to cover the Pi Party (see p42) and dive into our best-new Raspberry Pi projects with Pi-expert and general Linux-socialite Les Pounder (starting on p32). Even so, those 15 packed pages are just 15% of the total magazine which we’re devoting to the Pi, which does run GNU/ Linux at its heart, so it’s still Linux. The rest of Linux Format retains its usual focus on hard-core desktop and server Linux. Just take a look at the Virtual Machine Roundup (see p24), it shows how things are always evolving and we think VirtualBox has finally lost its virtual crown. Talking of change you’ve more than likely heard that Ubuntu Phone is here, and we’ve reviewed the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition. This is THE Ubuntu Phone to have, challenging the best of the mobile world with its octa-core processor and low cost. Mr Brown explains the challenges a sysadmin has fending off exploits (see p56), Doc Brown continues his programming master-class for sysadmins (on p84) and if you’re up for a challenge why not tackle functional programming with Haskell (on p88). If all that’s a bit too much, you can grab our cover disc this month and install SteamOS for some gaming fun by following the in-depth guide (see p48). There’s never been a better time to have fun with Linux!
Neil Mohr Editor neil.mohr@futurenet.com
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May 2015 LXF197 3
Contents
“Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?” Terry Pratchett
Reviews MIPS Creator CI20............. 17 Can the new MIPS-based mini PC creator board take on the might on the latest Raspberry Pi 2? We find out.
Raspberry Pi The best new projects Amazing projects to build, make, tinker with and enjoy p32
Them kids love these make boards but we’re not sure the CI20 is enough.
Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition Phone.....................18 After waiting and waiting, then waiting some more two Ubuntu phones come along, we test the latest and greatest from Meizu.
Roundup: Virtual machines p24
One thing you can say and that’s this phone looks mighty fine.
Bodhi Linux 3.0................. 20 Back from the dead, we’re reviewing the lightweight distro everyone loves to love.
KaOS 2015.02.....................21 A crazy combo of Pacman, KDE desktop and rolling release has to be a winning thing.
Cities: Skyline................... 22 Another AAA gaming title hits Linux, this time a city simulator, thankfully not from EA.
A city, not built on rock and roll.
Interview I would love to have the desktop for Linux. I want the Raspberry Pi to grab it. Liz & Eben Upton on the future of the Pi p42
4 LXF197 May 2015
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On your FREE DVD SteamOS, Bohdi 3.0, Netrunner 15.0, Zentyal and more!
The best distros money can buy! PLUS: 148p Chromebook eBook
p96
Subscribe & save! Turn now to p30
Don’t miss...
Build a Steam Box................ 48 Enjoy explosive AAA gaming easily and on Linux with our guide to SteamOS.
Escape the GUI. ........................ 52 Dump the GUI for a total terminal experience, we look at advanced CLI tools that do it all.
Coding Academy
Tutorials Networking NIC bonding...................... 68
Kernel hacking....................... 84 In Dr Chris Brown’s guide to systems programming we discover how to access files randomly, examine inodes, make sense of links, and read directories. Super!
Sean Conway explains the murky world of NIC bonding for reliability and redundancy. We’re not sure about speed, though.
Webservers Apache primer....................74
Haskell.................................... 88 Jonni Bidwell hates functional programming which is why Mihalis Tsoukalos is explaining how you can get started exploring this subject with his guide to Haskell.
Jonni Bidwell knows things and he’s going to jolly well tell you about them. This issue it’s all about Apache, the webserver.
Regulars at a glance News.............................. 6 Subscriptions............30 Back issues................66 The BBC Micro is back! Sort of. Linux
My God, it’s full of bargains! Digital
Like puppies at the pound, if
gaming is actually a thing and Dell is
bargains, subscribe today.
someone doesn’t take these back
pushing Linux PCs once more.
Mailserver.................... 11
Sysadmin....................56 Mr Brown is back again, despite
issue home, they’re getting pulped.
Next month................98.
Find out who we’ve been annoying
constantly fixing the digital pipes that We’re diving towards another, very
this month in the letters page.
keep on breaking. This issue: OMD,
important, Ubuntu release 15.04 with
Thankfully it’s mostly helpful article
The Open Monitoring Distribution.
Systemd and so much more. Eek!.
suggestions. Phew!
User groups.................15
HotPicks.....................60
Les Pounder is a sad man... because
dipped in asbestos, so he can handle the sheer heat from the latest
Roundup.....................24 We’re all shadows on cave walls, but
Inkscape, PhotoQT, TextaAdept, Terminology, Audacious, Pulseaudio,
at least Jonni Bidwell becomes the
Pinta, Kigo, iQPuzzle, Colorgrab, SystemClean.
Mayank Sharma explains how you can run this enterprise-level gateway server.
Dracut Build an initramfs............. 78 HTTrack Website cloning............... 80
releases! White-hot tools include:
puppet master of this virtual realm.
Zentyal server Gateway power................. 71
Neil Bothwick explains how you can create your own RAM drive for speed and profit.
Alexander Tolstoy has just been
the Blackpool LUG is moving :o(
Get a secure Apache web server.
Our subscriptions team is waiting for your call.
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Dive in to web development with Kent Elchuk the easy way, by cloning sites and examining code for fun and more profit.
May 2015 LXF197 5
This ISSUE: Ubuntu PCs
OpenSSL
Kernel 4.0
LibreOffice Online
education
Thirty years of software freedom
In the same year that Stallman’s GNU manifesto celebrates 30 years, the BBC gives away one million micro computers to kids.
T
his March 2015 marks 30 years since a young software developer named Richard Stallman published his GNU Manifesto in Dr Dobb’s Journal of Software Tools, spurred on by his distrust of the increasing influence of proprietary software, especially when Unix begun to get sold without including the source code, and other proprietary software prevented developers from accessing certain parts of the operating system. Stallman was concerned that if profit-driven companies owned both the methods, know-how and technology that computers relied on, then those of us who use them would be beholden to those companies. Unfortunately many of his fears have come to pass, with companies, such as Apple, Microsoft and Google owning proprietary code that we must accept (along with terms and conditions that we might not be aware of), in order to use our devices.
The BBC Micro Bit continues the legacy of the BBC Micro to inspire British school children to learn coding.
6 LXF197 May 2015
Stallman proposed another way: “[A] user who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them himself, or hire any available programmer or company to make them for him. Users will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company which owns the sources and is in [the] sole position to make changes.” Stallman envisioned GNU as software that people control, not software that controls people, and though he claimed that he created the
Even after 30 years, GNU is still Not Unix.
“Software that people control, not software that controls people.” manifesto “so that I can continue to use computers without dishonour… I have decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I will be able to get along without any software that is not free.” Since the creation of the GNU Manifesto, Stallman has achieved that goal; not just for himself, but for people around the world who are able to run computers using entirely free (in the philosophical sense) software. It’s quite fitting, then, that during the 30th anniversary year of the manifesto the BBC has announced that it will be handing out a million free computers to secondary school students. With the creation of the UK-wide Make it Digital initiative, a Micro Bit PC, similar to the Raspberry Pi, will be given to every
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12-year-old at school in the British Isles by autumn 2015, along with a collection of BBC programming tools. The idea behind this initiative is to fill the skills shortage and encourage children in the UK to learn how to code. The tiny device has an LED display and can be plugged into any PC for kids to begin coding, allowing students to develop an understanding of the physical concepts in technology and computing. One of the neatest features of the Micro Bit is that once the students get to grips with the basics of coding with the device, they can then plug it in to other devices such as the Raspberry Pi, Kano, Galileo or Arduino to create more complex projects. The BBC will also be running a season of programmes and online activities, including a drama on the creation of Grand Theft Auto. The BBC has also teamed up with various organisations, and although some are there to promote proprietary software, such as Microsoft with elements of its QuickStart Computing resources, there are plenty of free and open source initiatives, such as Code Club, involved to encourage British children to take up coding, too. You can find out more at www.bbc.co.uk/makeitdigital.
Newsdesk hardware
Ubuntu PCs hit Latin America More Debian-based retail machines are now available to buy.
C
ustomers in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru will now be able to walk into a store and buy a laptop or desktop machine that comes with a Linux distribution preinstalled, as Dell has launching its Ubuntu-flavoured machines across 500 stores in Latin America. Not only will the stores carry a range of Ubuntu machines, but staff in each of the stores have been trained to provide expert advice and supplied with marketing materials to help their customers make an informed decision about Ubuntu. Staff will also be running in-store demos to show off the range running the Linux distro. This promising development follows the success of similar sales initiatives that Dell has launched in China, India and Southeast Asia. A number of different products will go on sale, including the Dell M3800 Mobile Workstation that comes with some impressive specifications, such as a quad-core Intel Core i7 2.3ghz CPU, 15.6 Ultra HD (otherwise known as 4K) touchscreen display, 16GB of RAM and 256GB SSD. Other models include the Inspiron 14 3000, which comes with a slightly more down-to-
earth spec with 4GB of system memory and 14-inch 1080p display. It’s great to see more ways to help people get into Linux, and the ability to stroll into a PC shop and buy a machine with Ubuntu preloaded could be a great way to get more people thinking about making the switch to Linux. Sure, it would be nice to be offered a range of distributions and not just Ubuntu, but the partnership between Dell and Canonical at least means there’s an easy and visible alternative to Windows or Mac OS X.
Kernel 3.19.3 is dead! Long live Kernel 4.0! After an (admittedly flawed) online poll, Linus Torvalds has announced that the next Linux kernel update will be numbered 4.0, after 56% of respondents chose it over 3.20. Linux 4.0-rc1 will be coming soon, with the codename ‘Hurr durr ima sheep’, which was chosen in another poll over ‘I like online polls’. So what changes can we expect from Linux 4.0? We can expect improvements to the AMD Radeon driver to support DisplayPort audio, Intel Skylake support, new DRM drivers, fixes to the F2FS file-system,
The public has spoken! Linux “Hurr durr ima sheep” 4.0 it is…
OpenSSL audit
NCC Group to check library for any more security holes.
O
The good news about gaming on Linux keeps rolling in; a cursory glance at the games on offer via Steam shows the 1,000 games for Linux benchmark has been passed, and there are now more AAA big budget games available to play. One of the latest big name games to appear is Bioshock Infinite, a critically acclaimed first person shooter. You can check out the latest games and money saving deals at: http://store.steampowered.com/ sale/steamos_sale
The Dell M3800 Mobile Workstation will come preloaded with Ubuntu in Latin American stores.
security
penSSL is arguably the most important web security library in the world, but its reputation has been knocked recently by a range of high profile security flaws, including HeartBleed and FREAK. To help restore trust in OpenSSL, as well as to ensure that no further security threats make it out into the wild, the NCC Group (https://us.nccgroup. trust), has been brought in to audit OpenSSL code with funding from the Linux Foundation’s Core Infrastructure Initiative (CII). The NCC Group will be focusing on the TLS stack, as well as cryptographic algorithms and other essential parts of OpenSSL’s code, and for many the auditing of OpenSSL’s code couldn’t come soon enough.
Newsbytes
FREAK (Factoring attack on RSA-EXPORT Keys) attacks have been targeting high-profile websites, such as American Express, whitehouse.gov and fbi.gov, forcing browsers that visit the websites to use old export-grade encryption, which would then be easily cracked, allowing hackers to steal personal information. Thomas Ritter, a principal security engineer at NCC, told ZDNet) that: "We're excited to announce that as part of the Linux Foundation's Core Infrastructure Initiative … will be conducting an audit of OpenSSL. This is an amazing opportunity to dive deeply into one of the pieces of software that so much of the world relies on, and we're honoured to have been chosen to conduct it." Let’s hope that this move helps stem the flow of damaging security lapses.
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RAID 5/6 improvements and much more. Better support for the Intel Quark SoC x86 platform is also in there, along with a number of new ARM platforms. Google has announced the end of Google Code, its project hosting service that was set up in 2006. Since then GitHub has become far more established, and Google itself has moved its open source projects to GitHub. You can no longer create new projects on the service, and by January 25, 2016, the service will be closed for good, though you’ll be able to download project tarballs for the rest of the year. Learn how to migrate your projects to GitHub on Google’s blog http://bit.ly/ByeByeGoogleCode. LXF196 correction In the interview with Peter Coates on page 47 of LXF196 we incorrectly refered to IMS MAXIMS, a UK healthcare company, as IMS Health. We apologies for this mistake and any confusion it may have caused.
May 2015 LXF197 7
Newsdesk Comment
LibreOffice Online Michael Meeks On Document Freedom Day (25 March), we announced a collaboration between IceWarp and Collabora to create LibreOffice Online: a scalable, cloudhostable, full-featured version of LibreOffice. It’s great to be able to marry IceWarp’s vision and funding with Collabora’s expertise to deliver something truly ground-breaking. Having a full-fidelity Linux Cloud-based document renderer and editor component that can easily be re-used is an attractive proposition, not least for individuals wanting features, such as collaborative editing, but also for those not wanting to sacrifice their privacy.
I’m free, free documentin’ As we implement this over what remains of the year, one of the largest existing competitive gaps after mobile editing will be closed (more on that next time). On Document Freedom Day, it’s great to remind people that cloud services ultimately need document formats to let you rescue and migrate your data. Having a really good ODF editor in the cloud is ideal. One of the big design improvements here vs. my initial prototype (using gtk-broadway) is the ability to cache big chunks of the document in the browser. That lets us quickly tear down the LibreOfficeKit renderer-editor on the server – making the app far more scalable. In a world packed with lingering, under-curated browser tabs, that’s particularly useful, and helps with off-line reading. LibreOffice Online is just the beginning. There’s a lot that remains to be done as we work on it in up-stream over the next year. Having spent a lot of time pitching this work over many years, it’s wonderful to partner with a company with the resource and vision to do more than talk, and actually change the future. Go IceWarp! Michael is a pseudo-engineer, semi-colon lover, SUSE LibreOffice hacker and amateur pundit.
8 LXF197 May 2015
Hitting the mirrors What’s behind the free software sofa? Oracle Linux 7.1 This distribution is built from the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1, but features its own custom kernel and various enhancements, including container support for Docker and LXC, dynamic tracing support with Dtrace and support for Btrfs. The new update brings Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) Release 3 (kernel 3.8.13) and Red Hat Compatible Kernel (kernel 3.10.0) for x86-64 kernel packages as well. http://bit.ly/OracleLinuxDL.
Tux gets a suit of armour thanks to the 'unbreakable' Oracle Linux 7.1.
Neptune 4.3 Built on Debian 7.8 ‘Wheezy’, Neptune 4.3 brings a number of bug fixes and an update to kernel 3.16.3. Core software component updates also include Chromium v41, VLC v2.2, LibreOffice v4.3.3 as well as Icedove v31.5. http://neptuneos.com.
Neptune 4.3 brings software updates and bug fixes.
Ubuntu 15.04 A few days after this issue goes to press Ubuntu 15.04 will be available to download. This release, codenamed Vivid Vervet, brings a newer version of the Linux kernel, and includes performance improvements for people using integrated graphics with the Intel Broadwell chip A new Unity desktop with an improved end user experience will be included, along with the controversial switch from Upstart to Systemd. www.ubuntu.com.
Black Lab Linux 7.0 By the time you read this Black Lab Linux 7.0 will have been released. The distro formerly known as OS4 OpenLinux is based on Ubuntu and has a focus on being as user friendly as possible, with a handy desktop layout based on Gnome Shell. You can download the latest version, or buy a pre-built system with Black Lab Linux installed from www.blacklablinux.org.
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Like a Labrador, Black Lab Linux is friendly, house trained and loyal.
Learn how to build your next PC!
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Suggestions You regularly publish articles which require a publicly accessible server. A description or tutorial on setting this up and looking at the various options available would be very helpful. 2 I have a home network of laptops all running Xubuntu 14 LTS for my children to use for homework. Downloading updates for each laptop separately seems a waste of bandwidth. I know there’s a program, apt-cache, which allows you to download the updates to a cache so that the clients can get their updates from the cache instead of from the repositories. There are instructions for this online but they tend not to explain what the various commands do. 3 I have an ancient laptop running Windows XP that I keep around for one specific program. The Windows installation disk was lost during a house move and I’m reluctant to buy a Windows machine just to run one program. Is it possible to clone the hard drive and run it as a virtual machine under Virtualbox on Linux? It would be great to read someone like Dr. Chris Brown or Neil Bothwick give their usual clear and authoritative explanations on the subjects. Roderick Mackenzie, via email.
Letter of the month
1
Learning with Kano
I
want to thank you for a wonderful publication but specifically for the introduction to the Kano Computer Kit [Reviews, LXF192]. This culminated in my visiting my grandson, Eliot, yesterday and he showed me his new computer. He has had it for four days. It’s teaching him to write code as part of the games that he likes to play. His favourite is Minecraft. He explained about things like Bluetooth and HDMI. He has connected to the internet and knows about all the other kids around the world who are part of KanoWorld. My daughter says that the Kano is providing a huge incentive for my grandson to learn to read. He’s only five and in kindergarten. Eliot immediately recognised that the circuit board was a Raspberry Pi because his dad, Jorge, uses the same board to build clever little devices around the house. I could go on and on as grandfathers tend to do but I will spare you. Jason Henderson, Quebec
Neil says: We’re always open to suggestions, as it saves us time thinking them up for ourselves and allows us more time for drinking pots of tea. But to take your first suggestion, we’ve covered creating a Virtual Private Server before [see Set up a Secure VPS, p48 LXF187]. It’s also available in the just-on-sale
Missed Jonni’s feature on setting up a VPS? it was p48 in LXF187.
Children doing amazing things, because they want to explore and experiment!
Neil says: Yeah! This shows not just the educational benefit of the Pi, but the inspirational spirit and enthusiasm it instils in children around the globe. That’s not because it’s a slickly designed, packaged and marketed product but the very opposite. It’s the bare-bones, get on and experiment nature, which truly inspires children to play with things. It’s worth reading the interview with Pete Lomas [p42, LXF181] who designed the original Raspberry Pi board on that topic.
The Hacker’s Manual 2015, which is edited by yours truly. The apt-cache idea is an excellent one, we’re always after time savers, so we’ll add that to the list. But we’d suggest you look into using apt-cacher, which is pretty straightforward to install: sudo apt-get install apt-cacher apache2 Once you've installed the required packages you'll need to activate the service. This is done by editing the /etc/default/aptcacher file and making sure that autostart is set to 1 ("AUTOSTART=1"), restart the apache2 server and start the cacher service: sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart sudo /etc/init.d/apt-cacher restart With the service running on the cache PC, you need to get your hosts set by opening and tweaking each of their repository proxy lists:
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sudo nano /etc/apt/apt. conf.d/01proxy Add a line that says Acquire::http::Proxy "http://<IP address>:3142" and include the IP address of the cache PC. This isn’t the tutorial section so you can find more details here http://bit.ly/ LXFcacher. Finally, as for your VirtualBox question this is possible, though not straightforward. The Windows kernel and drivers are wired to the specific hardware, so you’ll need to jump through hoops to get it to work on a virtual box, but these hoops are explained over at: www.virtualbox.org/wiki/ Migrate_Windows.
Old hardware As a long-term subscriber to LXF I can honestly say that I enjoy Linux Format. I still read it
May 2015 LXF197 11
Mailserver
there’s no technical reason a motherboard shouldn’t be Linux compatible. We’ll put our neck on the line and suggest the Asus H81M-C, it may only have two DIMM slots and four SATA ports, but it should be rock solid and is a bargain at around £40.
Fiddly Fifth Your review of Fifth [Hotpicks, LXF194] interested me so I downloaded its source files (and others). I can compile "Hello, World" etc, and 25 years ago I wrote programs for the Mac in C++, but I couldn’t figure out how to compile and install Fifth. Maybe you could have a short tutorial on how to install files, such as Fifth, from source? Articles in LFX111 and LXF177 didn’t help either! Colin Graham, Yukon, Location Neil says: I’m forever saying to Jonni we should run a ‘How to compile’ article but he’s all ‘configure: error: not enough interest’, which is jolly annoying. He has half a point as there’s not much beyond ./configure && make && sudo make install. But as you found when you do run into issues with more obscure programs that’s when some help is… quite helpful. [see also Answers, page 93] Part of the problem is if you’re into regular development or installing obscure
programs you’ll never notice many of these errors as you’ll already have installed most of the dependencies required. But to a newbie it’s like running into a wall or endless errors. Certainly with Fifth you’ll need to install GCC through your software centre before you can even run the ./configure with any success. Jonni says: It's a web browser done right, but not one that most people can use… Unfortunately, Fifth requires a number of newer libraries than are not currently available in many distro's
Fifth: Will you just compile!
shane_collinge@yahoo.com
from cover to cover and look forward to the next issue. My reason for writing is largely selfish, although I'm sure others will also benefit, I was wondering if there’s room in your magazine for a single page with tables of GNU/Linux-compatible hardware for system builds? I ask this as after reading the article on building a Linux PC [p32, LXF185] I decided it was time to update my six-year-old machine. However, I’ve only just got around to looking to build it and when I started looking at components I found that several of them are no longer available. I know much information on hardware compatibility is available online on this subject, but it can be mind-boggling to wade through so a brief and regularly updated overview based on high, middle and low priced system components would be helpful. Graham Andrews, Bognor Regis Neil says: There is, of course, www.linux-drivers.org that links through to a number of useful resources detailing the kernel support for various bits of hardware. The key when building a new PC is mostly down to motherboard support and (here comes a general statement) any motherboard using an established Intel chipset will be compatible. As long as the manufacturer hasn’t added any esoteric audio, networking or storage controllers everything should work out of the box. You then just need to add suitable processor, memory, hard drives and you’re golden. As long as you don’t choose a cuttingedge chipset or one with a weird UEFI BIOS (anything that’s Windows 7 compatible will do)
12 LXF197 May 2015
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The Asus H81M-C is a bargain Intel mobo that offers everything you’d need.
repositories. The most problematic of these will likely be the lightweight FLTK toolkit, which requires at least v1.3.3 in order to work with Webkit, but there may also be problems with Cairo, depending on your distro. In general it's not a good idea to start replacing libraries on your system with newer ones that you compiled yourself, as you break everything that depended on the old version. One way around this is to
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