[sf-lug] Precis of Linux Pro Magazine issue 248 July 2021

[Bobbie Sellers]

Hi LUGers,
     As promised.  Some articles I have given greater space to due
to my prejudices, not that there is anything wrong with the rest
of the articles.

Linux Pro Magazine issue 248 ISSUE 248 – JULY 2021

On the Cover
36    COVID Crunch Create custom scripts to access online pandemic data.

Brain Tools - Stay sharp with these free tools to study and play.

62 Lakka Torpedo the past with this retro gaming distro.

88 Zotero Use this personal research assistant to create better and
more thorough reports.

56  Z-Wave Build a smart home with a Rasp Pi brain.

74 Tox Peer-to-peer messaging with free tools.

Distributions of the Month Fedora 34 Workstation and Ubuntu 21.04 Desktop
We have these in the library.

Editorial: PROFITS AND VALUES - conflict with China for Microsoft and 
LinkedIn
over insufficient censorship.

08 News
• Armbian 21.05 Now Available

• StarLabs has Released Another Linux Laptop

• Ubuntu 21.04 Adds Support for Active Directory

• Gnome 40 Available on openSUSE

• Kernel 5.13 Merges Apple M1 Hardware Support

• KDE Launches the Qt 5 Patch Collection

11 Kernel News
•    Want vs. Need
•    Hiding System Resources ... from the System

32   REVIEW
32   Distro Walk – Zorin OS We interview one of the creators of Zorin 
OS, a
Debian derivative with a minimal yet friendly desktop.

COVER STORIES
14 Anki - Anki brings a virtual flash card box to the desktop. Thanks to a
useful collection of add-ons, you can adapt this helpful learning tool 
to suit
your needs.

20 Dia - If you need to make the occasional diagram, Dia gives you
professional results with a minimal learning curve.

24 gbrainy -Develop your logical thinking skills with this collection
of brain teasers.

28 Manim - Create video sequences to present mathematical problems in an
engaging way.

IN-DEPTH
36 Statistics with gawk With very little overhead, you can access 
statistics
on the spread of COVID-19 using gawk scripts and simple shell commands.

42 Command Line – Pandoc - Convert files from one markup format to 
another at
the command line.

46 Nix and NixOS - This package manager and native distro offer a promising
new approach to the challenge of managing packages.

52 Programming Snapshot – SymPy -Whether he’s filling the bathtub with 
water
or routing electricity through resistors, Mike Schilli juggles mathematical
formulas with Python.

55 Charly’s Column – User Groups - Charly investigates the three most
frequently asked questions about user groups.

67 Welcome  - This month in Linux Voice.

69 Doghouse – Distributions - Which distribution is the best choice for 
you?
maddog offers some suggestions.

70 Micro - Micro brings the ease and intuitiveness of a graphical 
editor to
the Linux terminal.

74 Tox - The Tox protocol uses file-sharing techniques for messaging and
audio-video chats.

82 FOSSPicks - This month Graham looks at Vital, Shortwave, doggo,
Bonzomatic, Ultimate Plumber, Open Brush, and more!

88 Tutorial – Zotero - Use this reference management tool to organize
citations and create bibliographies.

MakerSpace
56 Z-Wave - Use your Rasp Pi as a powerful smart home control center.

62  Lakka - This Pi-based distro comes with everything you need to play 
retro
games. Just bring your Raspberry Pi and, ideally, a simple gamepad.

08 Armbian 21.05 Now Available - For anyone that makes use of ARM-based
architecture, you have a friend in Armbian, a Debian-based Linux 
distribution,
purpose-built for ARM and embedded devices (including development boards 
and
Linux phones). Armbian is a simple-to-use, lightweight, secure Linux
distribution, optimized for ARM-based hardware...

 Apple M1 Hardware Support to be Merged into Linux Kernel 5.13
Hector Martin has merged the initial support for Apple M1 hardware into the
Linux system on a chip (SoC) tree. Martin is the founder of Asahi Linux
(https://asahilinux.org/about/), a project to port Linux to Apple 
Silicon Macs.
The project was started in 2020, using the M1 Mac Mini, MacBook Air, and 
MacBook
Pro hardware. The Asahi goal is “not just to make Linux run on these 
machines
but to polish it to the point where it can
be used as a daily OS.”...

55  The sys admin’s daily grind: Users and groups
Who, and with Whom?
This time Charly investigates the three most frequently asked questions 
about
user groups. By Charly Kühnast

68  FOSSPicks -  Sparkling Gems and New releases from the world of Free 
and
from Open Source Software.

69 Vital by Matt  Tytel. He’s the developer behind Helm, the former 
best open
source synthesizer you could run on Linux, and Vital improves on Helm in 
every
single way.


88 Literature management with Zotero - Perfect References
Reference management software like Zotero helps you record and
organize citations and create bibliographies. by ANNA SIMON

  Programs for managing technical Literature often are important tools
for students and scientist.

Launched back in 2006, Zotero [1] is a powerful open source literature
management program that harmonizes perfectly with LibreOffice and
Microsoft Word. It is especially suitable for fields that do not usually 
use
LaTeX for writing (i.e., the humanities, economics, health, and
some natural sciences). A special version of Zotero, called Jurism [2], is
adapted specifically for the field of law.
Zotero not only runs on Linux but also on macOS and Windows. It also 
supports
mobile operating systems. Several (unofficial) apps for Android and iOS 
let you
import and edit title data, including scanning ISBNs.

97  FEATURED EVENTS
Users, developers, and vendors meet at Linux events around the world.
We at Linux Magazine are proud to sponsor the Featured Events shown here.
For other events near you, check our extensive events calendar online at
https://www.linux-magazine.com/events.
If you know of another Linux event you would like us to add to our calendar,
please send a message with all the details to events at linux-magazine.com.

NOTICE Be sure to check the event website before booking any
travel, as many events are being canceled or converted
to virtual events due to the effects of COVID-19.

USENIX ATC '21 Date: June 18-20, 2021 Location: Virtual  Event
Website: <https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc21>

USENIX ATC brings together leading systems researchers for the presentation
of cutting-edge systems research and the opportunity to gain insight into a
wealth of must-know topics, including virtualization, system and network
management, troubleshooting, cloud and edge computing, security, privacy 
and
trust, mobile and wireless, and much more.

GUADEC 2021 Date: July 21-25, 2021 Location: Virtual Event
Website: <https://events.gnome.org/event/9/>

GUADEC is the GNOME community’s largest conference, bringing together
hundreds of users, contributors, community members, and enthusiastic
supporters for a week of talks and workshops. View the GUADEC schedule 
and start
planning your GUADEC experience.

FOR OTHER EVENTS NEAR YOU, CHECK OUR EXTENSIVE EVENTS CALENDAR ONLINE AT
https://www.linux-magazine.com/events.


W W W. L I N U X P R O M A G A Z I N E . C O M

that's all folks...

Bobbie Sellers