Articles about Linux

Back in June, System76 launched its first-ever laptop powered by AMD processors. Called "Serval WS," that computer was a beastly portable workstation with desktop-class CPUs -- not AMD's highly praised Ryzen 4000 mobile processors which offer performance and impressive battery life.

But now, System76 is teasing exactly that. Called "Pangolin," this upcoming laptop from the company will have two Ryzen 4000 mobile processor options -- the Ryzen 5 4500U and AMD Ryzen 7 4700U. In other words, this should be the Linux laptop for which AMD fans (that are also road warriors) have been clamoring.

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Manjaro is one of the most popular Linux-based operating systems these days, and it isn't hard to see why. It is based on the rock-solid Arch, but unlike that distro, Manjaro is very easy to install and use. In other words, it has all the benefits of Arch, but without the hassles and headaches. This makes it a great choice for both Linux experts and beginners.

Today, Manjaro 20.2 "Nibia," becomes available for download with a trio of desktop environment options -- Xfce (4.14), GNOME (3.38.2), and KDE Plasma (5.20.4). All three DEs are excellent, but Xfce is what the developers consider the "flagship." With that said, the official release announcement claims the GNOME variant has received a bulk of the changes in Nibia.

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The launch of Apple's new range of Macs with its own M1 chips was met with excitement -- and benchmarks showed great performance even from base models. There was just one problem for some people: an inability to run Windows.

For anyone used to running Windows alongside macOS -- and, for that matter, Linus Torvalds and his desire to run Linux on an M1 MacBook Air -- there's good news. A team of developers have been able to get both Windows 10 and Linux running on Apple silicon.

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From creating networks and servers to automating the entire working environment, Linux has been extremely popular with system administrators for the last couple of decades. However, security has always been a major concern.

With limited resources available in the Linux security domain, this book will be an invaluable guide in helping you get your Linux systems properly secured.

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Having already embraced Linux with WSL 2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux), Microsoft looks set to do the same with Android. The company is said to be working on a project which will make it possible to run Android apps in Windows 10.

The arrival of a new subsystem in Windows 10 is something that will be welcomed by Android fans looking to enjoy mobile apps on the desktop. While Microsoft is yet to confirm its plans, Project Latte could see the light of day as soon as late 2021.

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When Apple launched its new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac Mini systems, there was much excitement about the performance boost the M1 chips are bringing to the table.

People who have been running Windows and Windows apps on Macs, however, are less happy due to the lack of support for Boot Camp, and the lack of M1-ready virtualization software from the likes of Parallels. But what about the prospect of Linux on M1 Macs?

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A good deal of software development now relies on open source images, but it can be hard for businesses to know if they're introducing security flaws by using them.

Canonical -- the company behind Ubuntu Linux -- is addressing this by publishing the LTS (Long Term Support) Docker Image Portfolio, a curated set of secure container application images, on Docker Hub.

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I'm a big fan of Linux-based operating systems, and I try to convert people whenever I can. No, Linux isn't right for everyone, and Windows 10 isn't a bad operating system, but many computer users are better served by a Linux distro such as Ubuntu. After all, many people live in the web browser these days, so they don't need the bloat of Windows. Not to mention, Linux is arguably more secure.

Of course, there are always people that fight me on the benefits of Linux, and two pieces of software often enter the conversation -- Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop. Thankfully, I have some great ammunition in those arguments -- LibreOffice and GNU Image Manipulation Program (aka GIMP). True, both of those programs are also available on Windows and not Linux-only, but still, they make Linux a viable Windows alternative for many.

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All Linux users are the same, right? No way, José! Linux users are a diverse bunch, with differing opinions, tastes, and personalities. In fact, that is probably a contributing factor to the fragmentation of the Linux community. Linux users have lots of options between distributions, desktop environments, and more -- they are not stuck in a box like Windows 10 users.

To highlight how different Linux users can be, Canonical has released some data about the installation of Snaps, categorized by distro. It chose six of the most popular Linux-based operating systems for its analysis -- Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS, Arch Linux, and Manjaro. It then shared the top five most popular snaps for each distribution in 2020.

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There have been many great Linux distro updates lately, such as Ubuntu and Fedora. Today, yet another great operating system gets updated to a new version, this time it is MX Linux 19.3. The Debian-based distribution offers a choice between Xfce 4.14 and KDE Plasma 5.15 for the desktop environment and comes with MESA 18.3.6.

MX Linux 19.3 comes loaded with some great software, such as GIMP 2.10.12, Firefox 82, VLC 3.0.11, Clementine 1.3.1, and Thunderbird 68.12.0. The reliable LibreOffice 6.1.5 is installed by default, but you can easily update to version 7.x from a repository.

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The current trend for laptops is to have them be as thin as possible. I suppose we have Apple to thank for that -- its designers often focus on form over function. As a result, many computers are missing useful ports, such as Ethernet, HDMI, and USB-A. This causes consumers to spend extra money on USB-C docks, adapters, and dongles. Thin machines often have deficient cooling too, which can lead to throttling and an overall negative impact to performance.

And that's why I love the design of System76's newly refreshed Galago Pro -- one of the company's most popular Linux laptops. The affordable Galago Pro isn't thick by any means, but it's really no thicker than it needs to be. You see, the chassis can accommodate the ports that many depend on, such as the aforementioned Ethernet, HDMI, and USB-A.

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Many technology pundits have been theorizing and discussing the possibility of Windows eventually becoming a Linux-based operating system. They cite the fact that Microsoft has become less dependent on Windows for revenue, making it silly to dedicate so many resources to it. Not to mention, Microsoft has certainly cozied up to both the Linux and open source communities nowadays.

Do I think Microsoft will make this move one day? Who knows. Years ago I'd say it was crazy, but in 2020, the company's flagship mobile device -- the Surface Duo -- runs the Linux-based Android. For now, Linux-based Windows remains pure conjecture. With that said, I think we can all agree on one thing -- Linux is the future of desktop computing, with Chrome OS leading the sea change.

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Microsoft has been showing Linux a lot of love in recent years, and nowhere is this more visible than in Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows 10.

A new update to WSL makes it easier than ever to install Linux distros such as Ubuntu, Debian and Kali Linux. At the moment, automatic distro installation using the wsl --install command is only available to Windows Insiders, but it will make its way to everyone soon.

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It's only a week since we saw the release of Ubuntu 20.10 Groovy Gorilla, and now Linux-luvvie Canonical has shared details of the follow-up -- Ubuntu 21.04 Hirsute Hippo.

The newly published release schedule shows that work kicks off today with the toolchain upload. There are a number of key dates to look forward to, including a beta release on April 1, 2021 and the final release just three weeks later.

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A computer forensics investigator must possess a variety of skills, including the ability to answer legal questions, gather and document evidence, and prepare for an investigation. This book will help you get up and running with using digital forensic tools and techniques to investigate cybercrimes successfully.

Starting with an overview of forensics and all the open source and commercial tools needed to get the job done, you'll learn core forensic practices for searching databases and analyzing data over networks, personal devices, and web applications. You'll then learn how to acquire valuable information from different places, such as filesystems, emails, browser histories, and search queries, and capture data remotely.

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