Linux User & Developer 179 - Total Distro Toolkit

98 Pages·2017·7.509 MB·English

by  Chris Thornett

11 pages of the best live distros
www.linuxuser.co.uk
The essenTial magazine
for the GNU GeNeratioN
12 for the toolkit
• diagnostics • Maintenance
• Privacy • repair • security
BlockchaiN iot exPloits
iNvasioN The White hat’s guide
to the internet of Things
how the tech behind Bitcoin
is taking over fintech twitter killer
set up a server for the social
Qt5 & QMl platform shaking the web
Create great-looking
cross-platform gUis
iNterview
the rise of
Mastodon
Pi aUtoPilot
eugen Rochko on
the future of social Write and deploy Python
programs to your drone
Projects to try Maui linux also iNsIssiude 1e77 PRINTeD IN THe uK £6.49
» Program in Erlang
» Plotly: stop making boring graphs The KDE-based distro » Linksys Velop
» Set up a digital display system focused on simplicity » Top audio players

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The GNU GeNerATiON
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Editorial
Editor Chris Thornett This issue
c%hr 0is1.t2h0o2r [email protected]
Senior Art Editor Jo Gulliver
Designer Rosie Webber » The best live booters for your toolkit, p18
Production Editor Phil King
Editor in Chief Paul Newman
» The White Hat’s guide to IoT exploits, p50
Contributors
Dan Aldred, Joey Bernard, Jonni Bidwell, Christian Cawley,
Toni Castillo Girona, Tam Hanna, Oliver Hill, Paul O’Brien, Jon » Blockchain takes on banking, p60
Masters, Calvin Robinson, Mayank Sharma, Richard Smedley
and Mihalis Tsoukalos
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Contents
ToTal
DISTRO
ToolkiT Reviews
81 Audio players
Which one is music to the ears?
18 Total distro toolkit
The joy of live Linux distros and their many uses
Audacious Quod Libet
OpenSource Tutorials
08 News 32 Concerto
T he biggest stories from the Set up a digital display server to stream Amarok Banshee
open source world custom messages across multiple screens
12 Interview 34 Shell scripting 86 Linksys Velop
Eugen Rochko chats about Spruce up your shell scripts with loops, A mesh networking kit with a simple
his Mastodon social network positional variables and user input setup but is it worth the money?

16 Kernel column 36 Mastodon 88 Maui Linux 17.3
T he latest on the Linux Create a decentralised, Twitter-like social We find out if simplicity and
kernel with Jon Masters network on your own server functionality a winning combination
Features 40 Qt5 development 90 Free software
We test Bokeh 0.12.5, adx 1.13,
Use the QML runtime environment to create
Neoleo 5.0.0 and Xonsh 0.5.9
18 Total distro toolkit cool-looking cross-platform user interfaces
Try out the best
live-booting Linux distros 44 Program in Erlang:
Erlang and OTP
50 Internet of Things Develop Erlang applications that implement
I dentify IoT security flaws the functionality of finite-state machines
and protect your devices
60 Fintech
H ow blockchain is
conquering banking
Subscribe 06 Free downloads 65 Practical Raspberry Pi
We’ve uploaded a host of new FOSS this month. Learn how to control a drone from your Pi,
& save! Try out six live distros, including antiX and draw 3D text in Minecraft, boot from USB
30 Check out our Porteus. Plus grab all the tutorial project files – and monitor collected data with Plotly.
great new offer! all hosted on our secure repo. Plus the incredibly robust Tough Pi-ano.
US customers
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08News & Opinion | 12Interview | 96 FileSilo

Hardware
Google and Huawei launch potential
Raspberry Pi killer
The HiKey 960 is a high-end rival to the Pi
Thanks to continuous updates from factor is the same as what the Raspberry Pi
the raspberry Pi Foundation, emerging offers, there are upgrades throughout and
competitors have often fallen by the there’s enough power here to compare it to a
wayside, unable to compete with both the high-end smartphone.”
feature set and price point of what each Pi Digging deeper into the HiKey 960, there’s
model can offer. However, a new board from plenty of room here for integrating the
two of the world’s biggest tech giants might board into any number of projects. With
turn that on its head. both 40-pin and 60-pin connectors, there’s
Google and Huawei have teamed up to space for various customisations, while
produce the HiKey 960, with further input an additional on-board PCIe M.2 slot gives above The HiKey 960 includes the same
coming from seasoned Linux developer scope for upgrading to 32GB of on-board processor as Huawei’s MATE smartphones
Linaro (http://bit.ly/HiKey960). While support storage. It doesn’t stop there either: there are
for Linux comes as standard, the HiKey also built-in wireless and Bluetooth options and it the open source industry, with their recent
offers a high-end feature set for developing includes both fastboot and recovery modes – DIY AI assistant kits being just one of their
on the Android platform. a first for a single-board computer of its kind. ambitious projects,” says Liam Trigg. “What
Huawei has developed many of the board’s There’s a lot to love about what the HiKey is important to remember, however, is that
core components, with its own octa-core brings to the table, especially when it comes the Raspberry Pi has been the long-term king
Kirin 960 chip powering each unit. Alongside to possible development opportunities, of single-board computers, and it’s a near
this, there’s a powerful 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM, but it’s the fact that Google is directly impossible task for anything to overtake it.
tailored for use on ARM technology. involved with the project that’s arguably But if anyone can do it, Google (with Huawei’s
“If you’re simply looking at the the most exciting element. “Whatever your help), must be a favourite.”
specification sheet, Google’s HiKey certainly personal opinion on Google may be, they’ve The HiKey 960 is available online in the
is an appealing piece of kit,” says freelance done wonders for the tech industry as a US, Europe and Japan for $239. Stock will be
tech analyst Liam Triggs. “While the form whole. They’re also making big strides in limited, so you’ll need to get in there early.
8
ToP FIvE
Open source
backup clients
1 Bacula
When it comes to an all-in-one package for
backing up your computer data, Bacula is hard
to match. It’s perfectly tailored to use on low-
resource machines due to its minimal build, but is
powerful enough to automate the entire backup
Hardware process for you, saving you time and effort.
2 Areca
Intel patches seven-year
Areca is without doubt a little complicated to
set up, but remains the perfect choice for users
remote hijacking bug wanting to back up multiple files simultaneously.
It’s also remarkably versatile, enabling you to
tailor it to the requirements of your system.
Serious security flaw is patched
Intel has long been considered one of the Due to the flaw going unnoticed for several
premier chip manufacturers on the market, years, it’s unknown just how many machines
with security playing a vital part in the have been affected. However, the ease
firm’s overall success. However, it seems of access an attacker would have to the
that one element had slipped through the network is alarming.
net. Recently conducted research found Due to the research, Intel delivered a
that Intel processors shipped since 2010 patch in record-quick time. The patch,
contained remote management features. which resides in Intel’s Active Management 3 UrBackup
While from the outset this may not seem Technology, is automatically downloaded
Automation plays a big role in UrBackup, and it’s
like a really big deal, the issue was found to onto affected machines, but will be
ideal for business users. Timed backups are easy
give attackers full control over any computer unnoticeable to many users. It’s important,
to create in UrBackup’s attractive UI, enabling you
that was connected to the same network. An however, to note that Intel has rated the to effortlessly transfer your files online.
official report from Intel explained the flaw vulnerability as critical, and so users should
further: “There is an escalation of privilege look to perform a system scan of their 4 Box Backup
vulnerability in Intel Active Management desktop to eliminate any external issues.
Box Backup is one of the few dedicated Linux
Technology (AMT), Intel Standard In the same advisory posted by Intel, a
backups that runs entirely online. Due to this,
Manageability (ISM), and Intel Small Business second flaw is said to have been discovered.
processing speeds are lightning quick, enabling
Technology versions firmware versions 6.x, Although much less of a threat than the issue you to move both small and large files to the cloud
7.x, 8.x 9.x, 10.x, 11.0, 11.5, and 11.6 that can mentioned earlier, the second flaw is said to with the utmost of ease.
allow an unprivileged attacker to gain control give attackers an alternative way to attack
of the manageability features provided by your desktop. Again, Intel has been quick 5 Zmanda
these products. This vulnerability does not to release all necessary patches. For those
The primary reason why Zmanda has gained
exist on Intel-based consumer PCs.” worried about whether their desktop could such a great following is that it works in tandem
The flaw is noted to have affected many be at risk, it’s worthwhile checking out the with many leading cloud backup services.
core Intel manageability firmwares, covering official Intel Newsroom (https://newsroom. Files can be distributed to different accounts,
both early and later variants of the firmware. intel.com) for more information. depending on what you need placed where.
www.linuxuser.co.uk 9
OpenSource
Your source of Linux news & views
oPen sourCe
Baidu open-sources self-driving tech
The ‘Apollo’ project could be on a road near you soon
although best known for being China’s
largest search engine group, Baidu has
also been one of the pioneers of the self-
driving automotive industry in recent years.
While its plans closely resemble those that
we’re hearing from the likes of Google, Apple
and Uber, the Chinese firm has taken the
decision to open-source its entire suite of
self-driving secrets.
Named ‘Apollo’, Baidu describes its open
source endeavours as a ‘complete and
reliable software platform for those within
the automotive and autonomous driving
industry.’ Although it’s unclear as to the
scale of the project, the company has gone
on record to discuss how it will open up its
technology. In July, Baidu will begin opening
its intellectual property for its ‘restricted
environment’ policies, quickly followed by the above China’s largest search engine group has made big strides in its automotive tech
research the firm has done on urban road
driving. By the end of 2020, the company has said that its fully autonomous driving makers, and it has already been road-tested
capabilities will be readily available. in California and Beijing. While certain legal
By the end of 2020,
While Tesla has previously led the way issues still need to be considered, Baidu
Baidu’s fully autonomous when it comes to open-sourcing its driving already boasts an Autonomous vehicle
technology, it’s yet to be done on the scale Testing Permit, something that many of its
driving capabilities will be
that Baidu has promised. Until recently, the competitors are yet to achieve, and early
readily available company has been developing its technology plans are in place for further testing through
with the help of Chinese domestic car the US and China in the coming months.
KerneL
Linux 4.11 has been released
Improved support for SSD swapping and much more
as far as updates go, the Linux 4.11 kernel major plus, as it’s ideal for automating connectivity. Among the smaller updates
update is one of the biggest yet to come several key components of your CPU, and found in the 4.11 kernel, a new front-end for
from Linus Torvalds. tailored to work well on low-resource the ftrace interface has been introduced,
“So after that extra week with an rc8, machines. virtual machine support has named as the perf ftrace tool, alongside
things were calm, and I’m much happier also gained some much-needed attention, support for pluggable I/O schedulers.
releasing a final 4.11 now,” said Torvalds in an with Shared Memory Communication over With the 4.11 update now readily available,
official blog post. RDMA allowing for quicker communications the merge window for the Linux kernel 4.12
At the top of the update list is improved between machines. is officially open. It’s believed that the next
support for swapping solid-state disks; Digging a little deeper, graphical update will be noticeably smaller than what’s
there’s also official support for OPAL enhancements have also been made clear in been featured here, with more of a focus on
self-encrypting disk drives. For business the new update. There’s improved integration fixing the errors found in 4.11. As ever, turn to
users, the integration of Intel’s Turbo Boost of AMDGPU power management, while Intel’s Jon Masters’ Kernel Column, on p16, for the
Max Technology into the kernel will be a DRM driver can now handle DisplayPort deep dive.
10