Mailserver
Bugs are loose in the archive, someone is actually using Open Office, distro hopping is good and lies damn lies in LXF!
Patently useless
I was wondering if the Microsoft patent release include patents on exfat, or are any of the patents that are actually useful to the people who can’t afford to pay? For example, people involved with the Samba project? pgmer, via email
Neil replies
It’s a good question and not one we’re qualified to answer. We do know there’s a sub-pixel rendering patent in there that the Fedora team is already using for improving text rendering, which is rubbish on Linux.
Still open
My understanding is that Libre Office was forked from Open Office. I still use Open Office 4.1.5 and I often want two documents side by side and it’s easy. Open the required documents. They will open in the same window on top of each other. Click and hold in the title window at the top. Move the mouse sideways and there I have two documents (or more if required) side by side (not tiled). Just so you know, I use an Xfce4 desktop on Slackware 14.2 64-bit OS.
Malcolm Lang, via email
Neil replies
Thanks for the tip! I’m not sure how many readers still use Open Office. It feels most of the world has moved on to Libre Office – including this part of the world.
Distro hopping
Some years ago I wrote to Linux Format, extolling the virtues of Fedora. In recent times I’ve become somewhat disillusioned with it mainly due to a Wi-fi
bug that started in Fedora 27 and has continued in 28, and no doubt will in the forthcoming 29 as well.
I once tried installing Arch and gave up halfway through the complicated installation process. This time I thought I’d have a go at Manjaro and, wow, what a revelation! I now run a dual-system with that and the other main Arch-based system, Antergos. These are both superb systems and I’ve been greatly impressed with both the speed and efficiency and the enormous number of programs on offer.
The AUR community repository that compiles and builds more unusual programs from source is a great learning-curve for Linux amateurs like myself.
That is the beauty of Linux – there’s so much choice. I go as far back as Lindows, then PCLINUXOS, followed by Ubuntu and Fedora, along with other lesser-known variants along the way. I think I’ve now found my Linux perfection… until, of course, I discover some other Linux perfection even more challenging yet impressively rock-solid and reliable! Gerry Robello, Wilmslow
Neil replies
I’m glad to hear you’re having so much fun hopping distros, rather than just getting hopping mad! As you say that’s the beauty of Linux, there’s so much choice.
Damn lies!
I’ve been a devoted reader of Linux Format for many years. However, your October issue appears to be one of the more confusing and mis-labelled issues I’ve seen yet. The front cover headlines: Hottest Distros; We crown the new king of Linux! Looking through the magazine, I found no reference to the new king until page 96, where another headline hailed Manjaro as the king. Yet I found no text anywhere that explained why this choice was made, or how Manjaro compares to any other distribution.
Further, another part of the issue lists the Top 20 Distros. I noted that this list didn’t include any version of Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Red Hat, Tails, Centos, Manjaro OPENSUSE – all of which I might have expected to see rated in the top 10 distros! Howard Camp, Rochester, NY
Neil replies
Linux Format is a commercial product and covers are always a three-way balancing acting of: pleasing the Management; myself with the editorial team; and you, the readers.
As a team we always try to think of topics that we find interesting and, by extension, our readership will find interesting. Sometimes we run with ideas we think will be of more interest to certain readers than ourselves and visa versa. I then have to try and frame these in a way I can sell them to the publishers, that they’ll accept is commercially the best option – in other words, ensuring it’ll sell copies in the shops. That last part forms a long process of designing and writing the words on the cover.
The Hottest Distros was a discovery feature and we’re genuinely trying to help readers discover new distros and to pick the best one for daily use. Hence crowing a “new king”, which is perhaps myself getting carried away a bit too much?
As for your last point and it was explained within the article under “Conspicuous omissions”. Trying to pick apart the nuances between desktop options would be a cover feature in itself. Would that be interesting or are we teaching people to suck eggs?