We’re 0x100!

We’re officially too big for eight bits to contain: it’s the 0x100th issue of

Linux Format, or 256 to you decimal types. Management has given the LXF dungeon server a couple of minutes downtime to celebrate and a free round of tea for the suffering staff. Are we doing anything special to celebrate? Every issue is special, but we did send Jonni off for recalibration (which he’s calling a sabbatical) and to buy a boat to live on. No, it does not run Arch.

So we’ve been cast adrift on the high-sea of open source, Jonniless, like a rudderless boat, and as many other have been, we’re being pulled into the Google Chrome privacy-consuming eco-system whirlpool of despair. Thankfully Mayank Sharma has sailed to our rescue, throwing us a Nextcloud lifeline to help escape (at least partway) from the swirling maelstrom.

Being practical, most people are going to want to keep using Google services, but at least knowing what the issues are, how you can use privacy-enhanced versions or escape completely with your own services is good to know. Nextcloud is so slick these days, and with pre-packaged options it’s certainly fun just to try out, if not actually deployed as a full-time personal cloud solution.

But it’s not all worrying about invasion of the privacy-snatchers – we’ve plenty of down-to-earth tutorials and projects to keep you busy. We take another look at using Audacity to improve your video audio and create effects, we test out of a bunch of server distros to see which is best for you in Roundup, there’s some lovely retro-loving with a look at running Sinclair BASIC, and we look at building a wearable webcam from a Pi Zero. Enjoy!