Full Circle

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE FOR THE UBUNTU LINUX COMMUNITY

ISSUE #167 - March 2021

MICRO THIS, MICRO THAT

PROGRAMMING THE RASPBERRY PI PICO
Full Circle Mfull
agacircle
zine ismagazine liated with,1nor endorsed by, Canonical Ltd.
#167 contents ^
neither affi
 Full Circle
HowTo

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE FOR THE UBUNTU LINUX COMMUNITY

Python p.21 Linux News p.04

Latex p.25 Command & Conquer p.15 Linux Loopback p.36 Everyday Ubuntu p.41

Fritzing p.28 Ubuntu Devices p.47 The Daily Waddle p.35 Micro This Micro That p.42

[Link] My Story p.51 Letters [Link] Review p.54

Inkscape p.31 Q&A p.60 Book Review p.57 Ubuntu Games p.64

Graphics
The articles contained in this magazine are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. This means you can
adapt, copy, distribute and transmit the articles but only under the following conditions: you must attribute the work to the original author in some
way (at least a name, email or URL) and to this magazine by name ('Full Circle Magazine') and the URL [Link] (but not attribute
the article(s) in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you must distribute the resulting
work under the same, similar or a compatible license.
Full Circle magazine is entirely independent of Canonical, the sponsor of the Ubuntu projects, and the views and opinions in the magazine should in no way be
assumed to have Canonical endorsement. full circle magazine #167 2 contents ^
 EDITORIAL
This magazine was created using :

WELCOME TO THE LATEST ISSUE OF FULL CIRCLE

I n this month's issue we have more Python, more Inkscape, and new things! Erik is starting a new
series on Latex, and Greg is starting a new (second!) series about the myriad of microcontrollers
out there. Specifically the Raspberry Pi Pico. If you haven't heard of the Pico, it's about 3" x 1" and
comes in at under £5 GPB. An absolute bargain.

Elsewhere, we have my review of the Entroware Ares all-in-one unit that I ordered last month. Is
it worth it? Read on! Erik has also supplied a quick look at Fritzing. For all your circuitry needs.
Richard continues to research retro emulation and SJ is back with a brief look back (loopback?) at
his own story.
Find Full Circle on:
Next issue marks fourteen years (!) of FCM! I'd love to know how you found FCM. How long have
[Link]/
you been reading? What have been your favourite articles? I'd like to feature some of these stories
fullcirclemagazine
next month.
[Link]/#!/fullcirclemag
Don't forget: if you're looking for some help, advice, or just a chit chat: remember, we have a [Link]
Telegram group. I mention this as I've been giving out the wrong link in a couple of emails. The link fullcirclemagazine
is: [Link] I hope to see you there. Come and say hello.
[Link]
@fullcirclemagazine
Anyway, stay safe, and all the best for 2021!
Ronnie
ronnie@[Link] Weekly News:
[Link]
feed/podcast
[Link]
fid=85347&refid=stpr
[Link]
FCM PATREON : [Link] Circle-Weekly-News-p855064/

full circle magazine #167 3 contents ^

 NEWS
Submitted by ErikTheUnready

PALE MOON 29.1 BROWSER

RELEASED:
lightweight themes. Pale Moon is
built on the UXP (Unified XUL
Platform) platform, within which
1000 software packages covering a
variety of applications, from DBMS
and server systems to graphical
T elegram Desktop package
maintainer for Fedora and RPM
Fusion said they would be removing
03/02/2021
the Firefox components are forked shells and media players. the packages from the repositories.
from the Mozilla Central repository, The day before, end of support for
P ale Moon 29.1 web browser is
now available, a fork of the
Firefox codebase to provide better
free of bindings to the Rust code
and not includingany of the work of
Linux From Scratch 10.1
Implemented transition to Glibc
Telegram Desktop was also
announced by the Gentoo package
the Quantum project. 2.33, kernel Linux 5.10.17, SysVinit maintainer. In both cases, it was
performance, preserve the classic
2.98 and Systemd 247. Updated 40 declared that they are ready to
interface, minimize memory
[Link] packages, including Binutils 2.36.1, return packages to the repositories
consumption, and provide
[Link]?t=26327&p=210045 Autoconf 2.71, Bash 5.1 , Eudev in case a new maintainer is found
additional customization options.
3.2.10, Grep 3.6, Inetutils 2.0, for them, ready to take the
Pale Moon binaries are built for
IPRoute2 5.10.0, Meson 0.57.1, Perl maintenance into their own hands.
Windows and Linux (x86 and
LINUX FROM SCRATCH 10.1 5.32.1, Python 3.9.2, Tar 1.34, Tcl
x86_64). The project code is
8.6.11, Util-Linux 2.36.2, Vim The reasons for the refusal to
distributed under the MPLv2 AND BEYOND LINUX FROM 8.2.2433, Zstd 1.4.8. Errors in support Telegram Desktop by the
license (Mozilla Public License).
SCRATCH 10.1 RELEASED: loading scripts were fixed, editorial current maintainers are the
03/02/2021 work was done in manuals. repulsive and hostile attitude of
The project adheres to the
developers who do not even try to
classic layoout of the interface,
without switching to the Australis
interface integrated into Firefox 29,
N ew editions of Linux the From
Scratch 10.1 (LFS) and of
Beyond the Linux the From Scratch
[Link]
pipermail/lfs-support/2021-March/
[Link]
figure out the errors that lead to
problems with building from source
in Linux distributions. Messages
and providing ample customization
the 10.1 (BLFS), as well as editions about such errors are immediately
options. Remote components
of LFS and BLFS with systemd. closed with the "WONTFIX" sign
include DRM, Social API, WebRTC,
Linux From Scratch provides FEDORA AND GENTOO DITCH and a recommendation to use semi-
PDF viewer, Crash Reporter, code
instructions for building a basic proprietary binaries from the
for collecting statistics, parental
Linux system from scratch using MAINTENANCE OF official site.
controls, and people with
disabilities. Compared to Firefox,
only the source code of the TELEGRAM DESKTOP
required software. Beyond Linux The other side of the conflict
the browser retains support for PACKAGES: boils down to the fact that most of
From Scratch complements LFS 03/02/2021
XUL technology and retains the
instructions with information on the messages about problems are
ability to use both full-fledged and
building and configuring about irrelevant or quickly fixed, and the

full circle magazine #167 4 contents ^

NEWS
disagreement lies in the reluctance without the need for additional resources, which can be obtained,
to support old versions of Qt and configuration, simplified scripting for example, from the demo
dynamic linking with the tg_owt language , support for the X11 version of Heroes of Might and
library on their own. clipboard, convenient search tools
NOMADBSD 1.4: Magic II.
03.03.2021
in the history of operations
[Link] performed. The project code is [Link]
list/rpmfusion-
developers@[Link]/
distributed under the GPLv2
license. Ready packages are
T he NomadBSD 1.4 Live
distribution is now available.
This is a release of FreeBSD,
releases/tag/0.9.1

thread/ generated for Ubuntu ,Debian,

adapted for use as a portable
5A7MRE3BG66PQXSP263FUZ7XS5 Fedora, openSUSE and RHEL . ELECTRON 12.0.0:
desktop that boots from a USB
PMDNUV/ 03/05/2021
stick. The graphical environment is
[Link]
based on the Openbox window
[Link] mailman/message/37230050/
gentoo-dev/message/
d20d6ec5a06582782fcf17291a40d
manager . DSBMD is used to mount
drives (mounting CD9660, FAT, HFS E lectron 12.0.0 has been
announced, which provides a
self-contained framework for
+, NTFS, Ext2 / 3/4 is supported).
66f OPENSSH 8.5 RELEASED: developing multi-platform user
The size of the boot image is 2.4 GB
03.03.2021 (x86_64). applications, using the Chromium,
V8 and [Link] components as a
FISH SHELL 3.2 RELEASED:
03/01/2021 A fter five months of
development, the release of
OpenSSH 8.5, an open client and
[Link]
[Link]#1.4
basis. The significant change to the
version number is due to the
upgrade to the Chromium 89

T he interactive command shell

fish 3.2.0 (friendly interactive
shell) has been announced,
server implementation for the SSH
2.0 and SFTP protocols, is ready.
FREE HEROES OF MIGHT
codebase , the [Link] platform
14.16, and the V8 8.9 JavaScript
engine .
developing as a more user-friendly In one of the upcoming releases, AND MAGIC II 0.9.1
alternative to bash and zsh. Fish they plan to disable, by default, the RELEASED: [Link]
supports features such as, syntax ability to use the "ssh-rsa" public 03/04/2021 electron-12-0
highlighting with automatic key digital signature algorithm,

A
detection of input errors, which is mentioned in the original release of project "fheroes2
suggestion of possible input RFC for the SSH protocol and 0.9.1" is available, trying to ONLYOFFICE DOCS 6.2
options based on the history of remains widespread in practice. recreate the game Heroes of Might
past operations, autocompletion of ONLINE EDITORS:
and Magic II. The project code is
options and commands using their [Link] 03/05/2021
written in C++ and is distributed
descriptions in manuals, openssh-unix-dev/2021-March/ under the GPLv2 license. To start
comfortable work out of the box [Link] the game, you need the game
A new release of OnlyOffice
DocumentServer is available,
full circle magazine #167 5 contents ^
NEWS
with a server implementation for for Windows and Linux (deb- and fsarchiver 0.8.6, Python 3.9.2 are
OnlyOffice online editors and rpm-packages). also included.
collaboration. Editors can be used
to work with text documents, [Link] [Link]
SAMBA 4.14.0 RELEASED:
11.03.2021
spreadsheets and presentations. 2021/03/onlyoffice-docs-v6-2-with- Changes-x86/
The project code is distributed data-validation-and-table-of-
under the free license AGPLv3. figures-released/ CANONICAL PROMOTING S amba 4.14.0 is out, continuing
along the development of the
In the near future, OnlyOffice UBUNTU AS A REPLACEMENT Samba 4 branch with a full-fledged
implementation of a domain
DesktopEditors update is expected, RELEASE OF THE FOR CENTOS: controller and Active Directory
built on a single code base with 09.03.2021
online editors. Desktop editors are SYSTEMRESCUE 8.0.0: service, compatible with the
03/06/2021 implementation of Windows 2000
the desktop applications that are
written in JavaScript using web C anonical has launched a
campaign to promote Ubuntu
and capable of serving all versions

S ystemRescue 8.0.0, a dedicated of Windows clients supported by

technologies, but combine client as a replacement for CentOS on
Live-distribution based off Arch Microsoft, including Windows 10.
and server components in one set. servers used in financial services
Linux, designed to recover from a Samba 4 is a multifunctional server
They are designed for use on the companies. The initiative is driven
system failure. Xfce is used as a product which also provides an
user's local system, without by Red Hat's decision to stop
graphical environment. The size of implementation of a file server,
accessing an external service. For releasing updates for classic
the ISO image is 708 MB (amd64, print service, and identity server
collaboration at your facilities, you CentOS 8 from December 31, 2021
i686). (winbind).
can also use the Nextcloud Hub in favor of the CentOS Stream test
platform, which provides full project.
The functional changes in the [Link]
integration with OnlyOffice.
new version mention the update of samba-announce/
While Red Hat Enterprise Linux
the Xfce desktop to the 4.16 2021/[Link]
OnlyOffice claims full and CentOS have both firmly
compatibility with MS Office and branch, the Linux 5.10 kernel and established themselves in the
OpenDocument formats. the inclusion in the paperkey financial services sector,
Supported formats: DOC, DOCX, package for printing private keys. fundamental changes in CentOS APACHE NETBEANS IDE
The exfat-utils package has been
ODT, RTF, TXT, PDF, HTML, EPUB,
replaced with a new set of utilities,
could push financial companies to 12.3 RELEASED:
XPS, DjVu, XLS, XLSX, ODS, CSV, rethink their operating system 03/11/2021
PPT, PPTX, ODP. It is possible to exfatprogs, created after the exFAT decisions.
driver was added to the Linux
T
expand the functionality of editors he Apache Software
through plugins, for example, kernel. Updated versions parted [Link] Foundation's integrated
plugins are available for creating 3.4, gparted 1.2.0, btrfs-progs ubuntu-linux-the-leading-choice-to- development environment,
templates and adding videos from 5.10.1, xfsprogs 5.10.0, e2fsprogs replace-centos-for-finserv- NetBeans 12.3, which provides
YouTube. Binaries are generated 1.46.2, nwipe 0.30, dislocker 0.7.3, infrastructure
full circle magazine #167 6 contents ^
NEWS
support for Java SE programming In the new release, support for by leveraging specialized CPU
languages, Java EE, PHP, C / C++, Python 2 has been discontinued, instructions to speed up AES, CRC-
JavaScript and Groovy, is out. This is and now requires Python 3. The end 32, SHA-1, and SHA-256
FLATPAK 1.10.2 UPDATE
the seventh release made by the of support for Python 2 has made it computations. FIXES SANDBOX ISOLATION
Apache Foundation since Oracle much easier to maintain the project VULNERABILITY:
handed over the NetBeans code. and add new features. The code has [Link] 03/14/2021
been completely rewritten with the discussion/45797/thread/

A
[Link] implementation of audio cec5e63147/ bug fix update is available for
entry/announce-apache-netbeans- spectrograms. the Flatpak 1.10.2 self-
12-3 contained package toolkit, which
[Link] MESA 21.0, FREE fixes CVE-2021-21381, that allows
[Link] the author of an application
IMPLEMENTATION OF
DECENTRALIZED MEDIA package to bypass the sandbox
OPENGL AND VULKAN: isolation mode and gain access to
SHARING PLATFORM
THE OFFICIAL CONSOLE 12.03.2021 files on the main system. The
MEDIAGOBLIN 0.11: problem has been there since
VERSION OF 7-ZIP FOR LINUX
11.03.2021
HAS BEEN RELEASED: T he first release of the Mesa
21.0.0 branch has an
release 0.9.4.

A new version of MediaGoblin

has been announced, designed
11.03.2021 experimental status - soon the
stable version 21.0.1 will be
The vulnerability is caused by a
bug in the implementation of the
for hosting and sharing media
content, including photos, videos,
sound files, videos, 3D models and
I gor Pavlov released the official
console version of 7-zip for Linux.
The fact is that the p7zip project
released. Mesa 21.0 introduces full
OpenGL 4.6 support for the 965, iris
(Intel), radeonsi (AMD), zink, and
"file forwarding" function, which
allows manipulating the .desktop
file to access resources in the
PDF documents. Unlike centralized has not seen an update for five llvmpipe drivers. Support for external file system, that the
services like Fliskr and Picasa, the years. The official 7-zip for Linux is OpenGL 4.5 is available for the GPU running application is not allowed
MediaGoblin platform is aimed at similar to p7zip, but not a copy. The AMD (r600) and NVIDIA (nvc0), and to access. When adding files with
organizing the exchange of content difference between the projects is OpenGL 4.3 to virgl (virtual the GPU tags "@@" and "@@ u" in the Exec
without being tied to a specific not mentioned. The program is Virgil3D for QEMU / KVM). Vulkan field, flatpak will consider that the
service. They are using a model released in versions for x86, x86-64, 1.2 is supported for Intel and AMD specified target files were explicitly
similar to StatusNet and [Link], ARM and ARM64. 7-Zip Code cards, and Vulkan 1.0 for VideoCore specified by the user and will
and making it possible to raise the License for Linux - GNU LGPL. VI (Raspberry Pi 4). automatically forward access to
server to its capacity. The project these files to the sandbox. The
code is written in Python and is In addition to porting to Linux, [Link] vulnerability could be exploited by
distributed under the AGPLv3 improvements in 7-zip 21.01 archives/mesa-announce/2021- the authors of malicious packages
license. (Windows) show performance March/[Link] to gain access to external files,
improvements on ARM64 hardware
full circle magazine #167 7 contents ^
NEWS
despite the appearance of being the publication of updates,as well macOS and Windows

A
launched in isolation mode. as the elimination of vulnerabilities fter a year of development, the
for the kernel and the most The program combines a simple GNU Mes 0.23 toolkit was
[Link] important system packages until interface that allows beginners to released , providing a bootstrap
releases/tag/1.10.2 April 2024. Access to ESM updates quickly get used to the process of process for GCC and allowing for a
are limited to paid subscribers of creating models, with a rich set of closed rebuild loop from source.
technical support services. options for advanced users, The toolkit solves the problem of
CANONICAL TO RENEW including tools for writing verified initial compiler assembly in
[Link] automation scripts and applying distributions, breaking the chain of
UBUNTU 16.04 SUPPORT ubuntu-announce/2021-March/ their textures. LeoCAD is cyclic rebuilding.
FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS: [Link] compatible with LDraw tools. It can
03/14/2021 read and write designs in LDR and GNU Mes offers a self-hosting
MPD formats, as well as load blocks Scheme interpreter written in C and

C anonical has warned about the

imminent expiration of a five-
year period for updates for the
LEOCAD 21.03 RELEASED:
03/15/2021
from the LDraw library, which has
about 10 thousand elements.
a basic C compiler (MesCC) written
in Scheme. Both components are
mutually assembled. The Scheme
[Link]
L
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS distribution. eoCAD 21.03 computer-aided interpreter makes it possible to
Starting April 30, 2021, official design has been announced, releases/tag/v21.03 build the MesCC C compiler, which
public support for Ubuntu 16.04 designed to create virtual models then allows you to build a stripped-
will end. For users who do not have assembled from parts for Lego down version of the TinyCC
time to transfer their systems to designers. The program code is GNU MES 0.23, A TOOLKIT compiler (tcc), which is already
Ubuntu 18.04 or 20.04, as well as written in C++, using the Qt sufficient to build GCC, whew!
for past LTS releases, the ESM FOR SELF-CONTAINED
framework and is distributed under
(Extended Security Maintenance) the GPLv2 license. Binaries are DISTRIBUTIONS: [Link]
program is offered , which extends available for Linux (AppImage), 03/15/2021 gnu@[Link]/[Link]

UBUNTU TOUCH'S
SIXTEENTH FIRMWARE
UPDATE:
03/15/2021

T he UBports project has

published an OTA-16 (over-the-

full circle magazine #167 8 contents ^

NEWS
air) firmware update. The project is for corporate workplaces and
also developing an experimental [Link] personal use, is out. The OS is
port of the Unity 8 desktop , which
APACHE OPENMEETINGS 6.0 included in the Unified Register of
openmeetings/entry/
has been renamed to Lomiri. WEB CONFERENCING SERVER openmeetings-v6-0-0-security Russian Programs and Databases.
RELEASED:
Update Ubuntu Touch OTA-16 is 03/16/2021 The assemblies are prepared for
available for the OnePlus One the x86_64 architecture available as
NEW RELEASE OF GIT:
T
smartphone, Fairphone 2, Nexus 4, he Apache Software Foundation installation image (4.3 GB) and Live
03/16/2021
Nexus 5, Nexus July 2013, Meizu unveiled a web-conferencing image (3.1 GB). The product is
MX4 / PRO 5, VollaPhone, Bq supplied under its own License
G
server, Apache OpenMeetings 6.0. it 2.31 distributed source code
Aquaris E5 / E4.5 / M10, Sony Xperia It allows you to organize audio and Agreement, which provides an
is now available. Git is one of
X / XZ, OnePlus 3 / 3T, Xiaomi video conferencing on the Web, as opportunity for free use by
the most popular, reliable and high-
Redmi 4X, Huawei Nexus 6P, Sony well as collaboration and the individuals, but legal entities are
performance version control
Xperia Z4 Tablet, Google Pixel 3a, exchange of messages between the only allowed testing it.
systems, providing flexible non-
OnePlus Two, F(x) tec Pro1 / Pro1 X, parties. Webinars with one speaker linear development tools based on
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 and Samsung and conferences with an arbitrary The distribution is equipped
branching and merging. To ensure
Galaxy Note 4. This release began number of participants interacting with a graphical interface for
the integrity of history and
the assembly of stable releases for with each other are supported. configuring the system, including
resistance to changes
Xiaomi Mi A2 and Samsung Galaxy (One to many and many to many) an authentication module (Active
"retroactively", implicit hashing of
S3 Neo + devices (GT-I9301I. The project code is written in Java Directory and LDAP / Kerberos),
the entire previous history in each
Separately, without the "OTA-16" and distributed under the Apache setting and synchronizing time,
commit is used. It is also possible to
tag, updates for Pine64 PinePhone 2.0 license. managing users and groups,
certify with digital signatures of the
and PineTab devices will soon be viewing system logs and adding
developers of individual tags and
built. Additional features include: printers. The package includes
commits.
tools for integrating with a proprietary NVIDIA drivers instead
[Link] calendar-scheduler, sending of the free nouveau ones.
[Link]
blogs-news-1/post/ubuntu-touch- individual or broadcast notifications 2021/3/15/2413
ota-16-release-3744 or invitations, sharing files and [Link]
documents, maintaining the archive/view/novaja-versija-os-alt-
address book of participants, rabochaja-stancija-k-91-adaptivn/
keeping an event protocol, jointly ALT WORKSTATION K 9.1:
scheduling tasks, broadcasting the 03/16/2021
output of running applications
(screencast demonstration), and
conducting polls. A lt Workstation K 9.1, equipped
with a graphical environment
based on KDE Plasma and designed
full circle magazine #167 9 contents ^
NEWS
A NEW WAY TO FIND errors for various reasons: 7.4.15, Pillow 8.1.0, Thunderbird QLITE 3.35 DATABASE
architectural incompatibility 78.8.0, dnsmasq 2.84, libproxy
COMPATIBLE COMPONENTS RELEASED:
(difference in chipset generations, 0.4.16, openjpeg 2.4.0, openldap
LINUX COMPUTERS: 03/18/2021
differences in the set and 2.4.57, pylxml4.6.2 and python-
03/17/2021 generations of slots for equipment, mod / cryptography.
etc.), "vendor locks" (binding to a
T he release of SQLite 3.35 ,
lightweight DBMS, designed as
A new way to search for
compatible components, for
upgrading your computer, is
supplier), incompatibility of some
components of different
manufacturers (for example,
[Link]
announcing-oracle-solaris-114-
sru31
a plug-in library has been
published . SQLite code is
available using the hw-probe utility distributed as a public domain, i.e.
Samsung SSD drives with AMD
and a database of supported can be used without restrictions
AM2 / AM3 motherboards), etc. This
hardware from the Linux- and free of charge for any purpose.
should assist you in selecting tried AUDACITY 3.0 SOUND
[Link] project. The idea is SQLite developers are financially
and tested components.
quite simple - different users of the EDITOR RELEASED: supported by a specially created
same computer model (or 03/17/2021 consortium of companies such as
[Link]
motherboard) can use different Adobe, Oracle, Mozilla, Bentley and
probe/

V
individual components for different ersion 3.0, of the free audio Bloomberg.
reasons. If at least two people sent editor Audacity, has been
telemetry of the same computer released. It provides tools for [Link]
model, then each of them can be
SOLARIS 11.4 SRU31 editing audio files (Ogg Vorbis, [Link]
offered a list of the components AVAILABLE: FLAC, MP3 and WAV), recording and
from the second one, as options for 03/17/2021 digitizing audio, changing the
the upgrade. parameters of an audio file, LINKS 2.22 RELEASED:
This method does not require O racle has published the Solaris
11.4 SRU 31 (Support
overlaying tracks and applying
effects (for example, noise
03/19/2021

T
knowledge of computer Repository Update) OS update, suppression, changing the tempo he minimalistic web browser,
specifications and special which offers a series of fixes and and tone). Audacity code is links 2.22, has been released. It
knowledge of the compatibility of improvements for the Solaris 11.4 distributed under the GPL license, supports both console and
individual components - you just branch. To install the fixes binaries are available for Linux, graphical modes. In console mode,
select those components that have proposed, simply run the 'pkg Windows and macOS. it is possible to display colors and
already been installed and tested update' command. control the mouse, if this is
by other users or a vendor on the [Link] supported by the terminal used (for
same computer. The new release denotes only audacity-3-0-0-released/ example, xterm). Graphics mode
the update of programs with the supports image output and font
Upgrading a computer or laptop elimination of vulnerabilities: BIND anti-aliasing. In all modes, the
traditionally causes difficulties and 9.11.28, Firefox 78.8.0esr, PHP S display of tables and frames are
full circle magazine #167 10 contents ^
NEWS
provided. The browser supports the not to make patent claims and are RETROSHARE 0.6.6
HTML 4.0 specification but ignores free to authorize the use of
CONFIDENTIAL MESSAGING
CSS and JavaScript. There is also patented technologies in projects
support for bookmarks, SSL / TLS, related to the Linux ecosystem. OIN PLATFORM RELEASED: ONLYOFFICE DESKTOP SUITE
background downloads, and menu- members include more than 3,300 03/20/2021 6.2:
driven control. When working, links companies, communities and 03/20/2021
consumes about 2.5 MB of RAM in
text mode and 4.5 MB in graphics
mode.
organizations that have signed
licensing agreements for the
sharing of patents. Among the main
A fter two years of development,
a new version of RetroShare
has been released. It is a platform A new release of OnlyOffice
Desktop is available, designed
OIN participants, providing the for confidential file and messaging for working with text documents,
[Link] formation of a patent pool using the encrypted Friend-to- spreadsheets and presentations.
[Link] protecting Linux, are companies Friend network. Binaries are The editors are designed as
such as Google, IBM, NEC, Toyota, available for Windows, FreeBSD and desktop applications that are
Renault, SUSE, Philips, Red Hat, many GNU / Linux distributions. The written in JavaScript using web
Alibaba, HP, AT&T, Juniper, source code for RetroShare is technologies, but combine client
D-LINK JOINS LINUX PATENT written in C++, using the Qt toolkit and server components in one set,
Facebook, Cisco, Casio, Huawei,
PROTECTION INITIATIVE: Fujitsu, Sony and Microsoft. and is under the AGPLv3 license. designed for use on the user's local
03/19/2021 system, without accessing an
The signatory companies gain In addition to direct messaging, external service. The project code is

D -Link just got included in the

number of participants in the
organization of the Open Invention
access to the patents held by the
OIN in exchange for an obligation
the program provides tools for
chatting with multiple people,
distributed under the free license
AGPLv3 .
not to sue for the use of organizing voice and video calls,
the Network (OIN). This helps technologies used in the Linux sending encrypted e-mail to [Link]
protect the Linux ecosystem from ecosystem. Among other things, as network users, organizing file 2021/03/onlyoffice-desktop-
patent claims. It is noted that over part of joining the OIN, Microsoft exchange with selected users or any editors-v6-2-with-digital-signature-
70% of D-Link's networking and transferred the right to use more network member (using technology seafile-integration-and-more-is-
communications products are than 60 thousand of its patents, to similar to BitTorrent), creating released/
initially implemented using open OIN participants, pledging not to decentralized forums with support
source software. The company use them against Linux and open for offline message writing, as well
continues to advocate open source source software. as creating channels for content
software and no patent aggression, delivery by subscription.
and is committed to contributing to [Link]
the OIN community to drive d-link-joins-oin-to-support-open- https://
innovation. source-software/ [Link]/
2021/03/15/release-notes-for-v0-6-
OIN members are committed 6/
full circle magazine #167 11 contents ^
NEWS
FREE SOFTWARE with the GPL, detecting GPL under the LGPLv2 license and is CELLULOID V0.21 VIDEO
violations, and legally enforcing distinguished by flexible
FOUNDATION ANNOUNCED PLAYER RELEASED:
GPL compliance. customization and functionality
THE WINNERS OF THE 03/22/2021
expansion through the connection
[Link] of add-ons. Ready assemblies are
T
ANNUAL AWARD FOR he Celluloid 0.21 (formerly
software-awards-winners- prepared for Linux (AppImage),
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE GNOME MPV) video player
announced-civicrm-bradley-kuhn- macOS and Windows. The interface
release is now available , providing
DEVELOPMENT OF FREE and-alyssa-rosenzweig is built using the Qt library. Add-ons
a GTK-based GUI for the MPV
SOFTWARE: can be written in Python. Supports
console video player. Celluloid has
03/21/2021 saving and loading models in
been selected by the Linux Mint
FREE CAD RELEASE various formats, including STEP,
distribution developers to replace

L ibrePlanet 2021, which was held IGES and STL. Open CASCADE is
FREECAD 0.19 used as a modeling kernel .
VLC and Xplayer starting with Linux
online, like last year, hosted a 03/22/2021 Mint 19.3. Previously, a similar
virtual awards ceremony that decision was made by the
announced the winners of the Free FreeCAD allows, by changing the

A fter almost two years of developers of Ubuntu MATE.

Software Foundation (FSF) annual parameters of the model, to play
development, the release of around with various design options
Free Software Awards 2020. This is the open system for parametric 3D [Link]
awarded to people who have made and evaluate the work at various
modeling FreeCAD 0.19 is officially celluloid/releases/tag/v0.21
the most significant contribution to points in the development of the
available. The source code of the model. The project can act as a free
the development of free software. release was published on February
Software, as well as socially replacement for commercial CAD
significant free projects. The
26, and then updated on March 12, systems such as CATIA, Solid Edge PORTEUS KIOSK 5.2.0
but the official announcement of
commemorative plates and and SolidWorks. The system can be RELEASED:
the release was delayed due to the used in other areas, such as
certificates awarded at the 03/23/2021
unavailability of installation architectural design, despite the
ceremony were sent to the winners packages for all announced
P
by mail (the FSF award does not fact that the main purpose of orteus Kiosk 5.2.0, based on
platforms. Today, a warning that FreeCAD is mechanical engineering
imply a monetary reward). Gentoo and designed to equip
the FreeCAD 0.19 branch is not and development of new product stand-alone Internet kiosks, demo
officially ready yet and is under design.
The Free Software Promotion stands and self-service terminals, is
development has been removed
and Development Award went to out. The distribution boot image is
and the release can now be [Link]
Bradley M. Kuhn , executive 130 MB (x86_64).
considered complete. The current Release_notes_0.19
director and co-founder of the version on the site has also been
Software Freedom Conservancy Porteus includes only the
changed from 0.18 to 0.19.1.
(SFC). Bradley is known for his work minimum set of components
in persuading people to comply required to launch a web browser
FreeCAD code is distributed
full circle magazine #167 12 contents ^
NEWS
(Firefox and Chrome are Public License and GPLv2 under GNOME (2.6 GB) and Xfce (2.4 GB) based on openSUSE and an
supported), which is limited in its which the code was previously graphical environments. Builds with installation image prepared as part
capabilities to prevent unwanted distributed. Budgie, Cinnamon, Deepin, LXDE, of the GNOME OS initiative are
activity in the system (for example, LXQt, MATE and i3 are developed available. GNOME 40 is also
changing settings is not allowed, The main idea behind Plan 9 is to with community participation . included in the beta builds of
downloading / installing blur the distinction between local Fedora 34.
applications is blocked, only access and remote resources. The system To manage repositories, Manjaro
to selected pages). Also, specialized is a distributed environment based uses its own BoxIt toolkit, designed The project switched to a new
Cloud versions are offered for on three basic principles: all in the same way as Git. The version numbering scheme. Instead
comfortable work with web resources can be viewed as a repository is supported on a rolling of 3.40, release 40.0 was published,
applications (Google Apps, hierarchical set of files; there is no basis, but new versions go through which allowed getting rid of the
Jolicloud, OwnCloud, Dropbox) and difference in access to local and an additional stage of stabilization. first digit "3", which has lost its
ThinClient for working as a thin external resources; each process In addition to its own repository, relevance during the current
client (Citrix, RDP, NX, VNC and has its own mutable namespace. there is support for using the AUR development process. Intermediate
SSH) and Server for kiosk network The 9P protocol is used to create a (Arch User Repository) repository. bug-fix releases will be shipped as
management. single distributed hierarchy of The distribution is provided with a 40.1, 40.2, 40.3 ... Major releases
resource files. The classic Plan9 graphical installer and a graphical will continue to be published every
[Link] codebase has continued to evolve interface for configuring the 6 months, i.e. GNOME 41.0 will be
[Link]#210322 from the 9front and 9legacy system. released in fall 2021. Odd numbers
communities , which have produced are no longer associated with test
prebuilt versions for use on modern [Link] releases, which are now labeled
NOKIA RE-LICENSED PLAN9 hardware. manjaro-21-0-ornara-released/ alpha, beta, and rc. They decided
59399 not to use version 4.x in order to
OS UNDER MIT LICENSE: [Link] avoid confusion and overlap with
03/23/2021 blog/plan-9-bell-labs-cyberspace/ GTK 4.0.
RELEASE OF THE GNOME
N okia, who in 2015 acquired
Alcatel-Lucent, which owned
research centre Bell Labs, MANJARO LINUX 21.0
40:
03/24/2021
[Link]
2021/03/24/gnome-40-release/

announced the transfer of all Plan 9 RELEASED:

intellectual property to the Plan 9
Foundation, which will oversee the
03/24/2021
C ompared to the previous
release, more than 24 thousand
further development of Plan 9.
Simultaneously, the Plan9 code was
published under the MIT permissive
M anjaro Linux 21.0, built on
Arch Linux and aimed at
novice users, is out. Manjaro comes
changes were made, in which 822
developers took part. For a quick
assessment of the capabilities of
license in addition to the Lucent in live builds with the KDE (2.7 GB), GNOME 40, specialized live builds

full circle magazine #167 13 contents ^

 The VirtualBox Networking Primer
Connecting and Configuring Virtual Machines

The VirtualBox Networking Primer is a no-nonsense guide for the

VirtualBox user taking their next steps into virtual networks.

While Oracle VM VirtualBox is a great free tool, the real power of

virtualisation comes when you start connecting virtual machines to
each other and to the wider world. Software development, sales,
education and training are just some of the areas in which network
access to virtual machines offers endless opportunities. But the world
of computer networks is filled with complex technical jargon.

Complete with principles, practice, examples and glossary, The

VirtualBox Networking Primer takes the frustration and confusion out
of connecting real-world projects.

Author: Robin Catling

Publisher: Proactivity Press
ISBN13 : 9781916119482

Amazon US link:
[Link]
ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

Amazon UK link:
[Link]
Connecting-Configuring/dp/1916119484/ref=sr_1_1?
dchild=1&keywords=virtualbox+networking+primer&qid=16002536
99&s=books&sr=1-1

Kobo:
[Link]
primer

full circle magazine #167 14 contents ^

 COMMAND & CONQUER
Written by Erik
LMMS Pt.2
follow a tutorial by someone who industrial on it? Should we work industrial remix, we do not want it
I am doing this tutorial on a craptop knows nothing about music???? some cowbells into it? that slow. Set your tempo to 140
with tiny speakers. This may sound Well, all I will say is that the proof BPM please. Remove all the
different on a PC with great sound. of the pudding is in the eating... I chose this tune because of its instruments given and close the
Don’t be afraid to adjust the key simplicity. Maybe it is monotonous, beats and bass-line editor. (Most
that the tutorial is in. Simply press The eighties was a great time but I want you to be able to make a tutorials on YouTube start you with
ctrl+a then drag all your notes up or for electronic music artists. Simple, well known tune by the end of this the beats&bassline). Yes, close it.
down. repetitive tunes, big hair, and you article. Don’t knock it. It is meant We will not be using it. Right-click
had it made. (Okay, the re-launch of for n00bs, not muso’s. We will be the little gears and click “remove

D o you want to make music with our base tune was in 1981). using only the built-in instruments, this track”, until the song editor is
free software? Of course you so, no need to download anything. blank. As with many other songs,
do! Are you musically challenged, Let's look at a simple tune and This is important for you to re- let us begin with the bass. Open
like me, or maybe tone deaf? Let’s see if we can simplify it even more. create what I have done. your instruments and find ‘kick01’
see if we can make something This is what we are after: https:// and drag it into your song editor
simple that won’t break the bank. [Link]/video/ Fire up LMMS and let’s begin! (fig.1). Double-click on the first
Once you hear what you have done, x115e. (However, we want our own black bar next to the “pan” button,
it may boost your confidence. The remix!). The original song had more The original song is about 124 to bring up the piano roll. You do
idea here is to have fun, and learn of an industrial, gritty perception beats per minute. I “calculated” this not need to know anything about
as a by-product. I will try to keep it (to me), but I got that the writer of by using an app called ‘bpm tap’ on music, but it helps. I am going to
under ten instruments, to show you the song thought that all models my phone. Since we are making an assume you are all bright, and not
how easy it can be! (Why should you were robotic. How about we go

full circle magazine #167 15 contents ^

COMMAND & CONQUER
having to explain why there are the beats should be (see fig.3 for
piano keys down the left, or why it mine). Now, instead of painting the
is called a piano roll. If you would notes over and over, let’s simply
like a tour of the interface, write to copypasta! Shift+s puts you into
us at misc@[Link], “select mode”. Highlight your notes
and I will accommodate you. and they should turn blue. Ctrl+c &
ctrl+v, and the notes went back to
Find C5. Paint a note. It will be cyan. What happened? Well you
quite harsh, if your sound is loud. If pasted your notes over the other note below. You can move it up or
you listened to the video above, ones. Ctrl+d puts you back into Drum... check (fig.4) down the scale to suit your liking
you would hear about 3 notes. Dum “draw mode”, and you can now use (fig.5).
dum-dum. Over and over. Paint ctrl+shift to click and drag your What is a drum without a snare?
them in as you hear them (fig.2 - selection to the next bar. *Tip: your Grab ‘snare06’ from your Snare... Check (fig.5),
previous page). Now press the play selected notes need to be dark blue instruments, drag it to your song
button. The timing is all wrong? Not before you drag, or it will drag editor, and open the piano roll as Press the play button in your
to worry, we can fix that! We need individual notes. Repeat this for above. If you listen to the video, song editor. What you hear is a beat
to shorten the notes, by clicking on four (4) bars and that’s it! you can make out a steady tish-tish that fits with Zombie nation or Das
the end of each (you will see <->), on the offbeat. Let’s make that! modell. (Yes I know it is very harsh,
and dragging them shorter. What Troubleshooting: do any of the Find C5 again and paint the snare in but we will deal with that later).
seems to sound right, is when they drumbeats *not sound like the twice per block. However if you
are two (2) of the smaller blocks others? Check if you don’t have listen long enough, there is a Let’s move on to the high-hat
long. However, the beat is off. See multiple notes overlaid on each double tap to break the monotony. you hear. It is a simple rhythm of
if you can figure out, by ear, where other. Save your progress often. See if you can figure out where. tap-tap-tap-tap. Easy enough, you
Follow the instructions in the first say. Grab the first closed high-hat
part if you get lost. Also having and get to the piano roll. I am not
beats all on C5 grates my ears, so I going to repeat everything;
will drop the snares to the white detailed instructions are in the first

full circle magazine #167 16 contents ^

COMMAND & CONQUER
monotonous. The beat never scraping sounds. This time, head
changes. down to C4 and start painting
notes. I am not quite sure where
In the SONG EDITOR, this time, the melody belongs as I am tone
hold down the ctrl key and left-click deaf, but C4 sounds about right on
& drag each of the turquoise blocks my laptop speakers. (If you are
right four times. Don’t worry if they serious about making music, this is
do not line up, you can simply left- where a decent sound card and
click & drag them into position speakers come in). Okay, let’s
part. I will take the high-hat down that the turquoise blocks span only
(fig.8). Repeat this action four more dissect that tune. Baam bam-bam-
to the next white key, and fill four a few seconds when you hit the play
times and you have the base of your bam-bam-bam. A long note
beats. Did you get yours the same button, though they repeat. Now
(their) song. When you hit play now, followed by five shorter ones that
as mine? If not, listen again (fig.6). obviously I don’t want to paint in
you will hear typical windscreen see-saw. Then it drops down with a
every note. The idea of music
wipers, as I call it. Left and right baam bam-bam-bam baam. See if
High hat... Check (fig.6). software is to speed up the
swishing of the music, if you will. If you can work out the tune. If you
creation, and music does repeat a
you don’t hear it, move your head did, congratulations!! If you did not,
I now have three entries in my lot. Now, if you listen to the song,
from side to side with the beat. XD copy mine for now (fig.9). If you
song editor (fig.7). You will notice you realise that is why it is so
listen to the song from beginning
Now for that iconic sounding to end, you may notice that the
tune. Drag the ‘horrorbass01’ from melody itself is also just repeated
your instruments into the song over and over. Hit play on your song
editor and open its piano roll. We editor. It’s rough, but it’s there!
are aiming for ‘gritty’, remember?
Crunchy bass, low tones, and Basic melody... Check (fig.9).

full circle magazine #167 17 contents ^

COMMAND & CONQUER
are supposed to be three at a time,
Now we need to start rounding but two works for me. This
out our tune. I think this is called compliment to your melody is going
core or chord progression, don’t to play as long as your melody is
quote me! Basically, it’s harmony to playing (at least). So don’t make it
our tune. This is almost like it too harsh! ‘Bell_choir02’ might also
carries the melody. Don’t get hung work here, but you generally want a
up on terminology, do! Before we soft instrument. The reason I chose
start, I will warn you that this is the “rave choir01” is that at low pitch it
hardest part if you do not have a sounds like something being we are going to do with our basslap half of the tune down, let’s get this
midi keyboard. (Not that I know dragged, which fits our theme. In is, shadow the main melody. The shadow going. The shadow has to
how to play a midi keyboard, I am your song editor, ctrl & drag it out first part of the main melody harmonise with the main tune and
fluent at playing only the fool). to match the other permanent repeats twice, then it changes. So the foundation. I have shamelessly
Open your instruments, drag repeats. For now, just turn this hold down control and copy the stolen it from elsewhere as I could
‘rave_choir01’ into the song editor, instrument’s volume down to 25%. turquoise block to the right. The not work it out (fig.12). This is OK.
and open its piano roll. We can (It must still sound gritty, but not next part of the tune is longer than Stealing with your eyes is allowed,
either use very long notes or very take over the song). We will make it the rest, but it does not matter. my mother used to say. My teachers
short ones. Lots of short notes pretty later. (Or not). Baaaam bam-bam-bam baaam bam did not appreciate it during exams
impart energy to a tune and long baam. Then, there seems to be one though... ;)
notes just compliment your Harmony... Check (fig.10). more note before it jumps back. Let
energetic tune. Head on over to C3 me try to recreate it in the piano Shadow... Check (fig.12).
on the piano roll. This time, we Drag ‘bassslap02’ into the mix. roll. Copy mine if you did not get it
need to ‘sort-of’ follow the main Keep it there, we will get to it now; or are too lazy (fig.11). This repeats Now let’s look at the alternate
tune. If you look at (fig.10), you can first we need to finish the main four (4) times. Then, at about fifty piece at 50s into the video. Since
copy what I did. I think these notes melody before we add to it. What (50) seconds into the tune, there is you basically know how the
another keyboard or sample being instruments work, we will go
played. Now that we have the fist slightly next level. We do not have
an instrument in our arsenal that

full circle magazine #167 18 contents ^

COMMAND & CONQUER
sounds right. We will use window will pop up (fig.17). Type
“Matrix1000_pluck01” for this. “reverb” without the quotes and
Now, as you may be aware, a pluck select “C*plate 2x2...”. You need to
is not going to cut it, as these are adjust the “bandwidth” and “tail” to
long notes. Try to recreate the maximum, and bring the
tune, hum that part to yourself, and dampening down to about fifteen
see if you can paint your own notes. (15) and get blend to maximum.
(This is YOUR remix! Nothing is set You can close those windows and
in stone!). This screenshot is going press play in your piano roll. Sound
to be in two parts, as it is too long a lot fuller now? Also more
for my WXGA screen (fig.13 & dramatic, whilst still feeling gritty.
fig.14). When you play this, it However, it needs a bit more, as
sounds AWFUL! Click on the word these are looooong notes, so if you
“Matrix1000_pluck.ogg” in the song look at (fig.16), you will see the
editor, and another window will word ”controls”. W/D or ‘wet & dry’
pop up (fig.13). Click on the letters needs to go to zero (0) and “Decay”
“FX” and “add effect”. Another to maximum. I put this track’s

volume at 60% for now. We will be For fun and some artistic licence,
applying ‘reverb’ to some of the drag the snaph01 to the song
other tracks, just before we get editor. Copypasta the snare pattern
into automation! into the snap. Now you can middle
mouse click, or right-click remove

full circle magazine #167 19 contents ^

COMMAND & CONQUER
on the snare where the new the notes in LMMS. See if you can part of the song, and I will show you
pattern starts. Paste the snap in as beat me to make the little ‘solo’ or a few more easy tricks.
a replacement. You should now ‘riff’ or whatever it is called (not a
have a gap in the snare – like a kid musician, remember?) that pops up See you in the next issue when
missing its front teeth. If you are at about 1:50 in the video. Just be we finish up our ‘industrial remix!’
unsure, see (fig.18). Now you are aware that, although it seems to
also going to take a ‘bite’ out of repeat, there are some notes at the
your main melody, of course. You end of the second piece that are
want the ‘new part’ to stand out, slightly different to break the
like in the original. monotony of the song. (I will give
you a hint: it’s something common
For your homework, I want you nowadays, with three notes down,
to finish copy-pasting what you two up, then one down again). Play
have to make the first part of the it through, once done, and be proud
song, right up until the next little of yourself. Feel free to play around
‘solo’. Don’t worry, it is only like 8 and edit instruments, or add your
bars. You currently have everything own. Slice and dice the tune. The
to complete this task in 5 minutes. only one that you need to impress
Train your dragon, erm... I mean is yourself. Just keep a copy of what
your ears, by listening to the we did so you can continue in the
original in the video, then painting next issue when we do the second

Erik has been in IT for 30+ years. He

has seen technology come and go.
From repairing washing machine sized
hard drives with multimeters and
oscilloscopes, laying cable, to scaling
3G towers, he's done it.

full circle magazine #167 20 contents ^

 HOW-TO
Written by Greg Walters
Python In The REAL World Pt.115
F irst things first. Last month, I
gave you a quick overview of
the [Link] board, so I thought
model, so the choices have
changed. When I’m sitting in my
living room, I want to be able to
[Link], and you will be
connected to the Sign-up page. It’s
very simple. Just type your email
Your API Key: ?
key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I’d give you a quick update. I tried check the weather outside and get address twice, create a password Location: &q=78748
some “normal” GPIO type tests, and the forecast for my location. Since I and enter it twice, and click the “I’m
they worked well. However, when I live in an apartment, a proper not a robot” box, then agree to the Additional Parms (if any)
tried an I2C program to a simple I2C freestanding weather station is just Terms and Conditions. Finally, click
device, it failed to run. I’ll try to not possible, so I have to rely on an the “Sign Up” button. You’ll get an The URL can easily be
keep playing and let you know. outside source. email asking you to verify your constructed from variables and an
email, and you’ll receive a key. Be “f-string”...
Now, on to the Raspberry Pi Pico I did a quick check the other day sure to save this key somewhere,
board. Yes it did come in. The darn and found one that has a plan that I because you’ll need it as part of any Base = ‘[Link]
thing is so tiny, and I’m so old with can get behind. It’s called Weather queries to the system. v1/’
bad eyesight, that it was hard for API, and you can visit their
me to solder the pins for the homepage at https:// As we have done before, this API Query = ‘[Link]’
breadboard. I did it, without any [Link]/. They offer 5 has you build the http query with
shorts (or melting the board), but it plans, one of which is free. Their the query type, the location you Key = ‘?key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx’
took me twice as long as it would free plan offers the ability to make want, and your API key. Here is
have 4 years ago. It worked pretty 1,000,000 calls per month which what the simplest format (with my Location = ‘&q=78748’
well, I must say. There are lots of works out to over 2,000 calls per API key obscured) looks like...
possibilities for the RP2040 chipset day. Plenty to get a reasonable link = f"{Base}{Query}{Key}
and I can see many powerful source of information. [Link] {Location}"
[Link]?
microcontroller boards coming out key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&q=787
in the future based on it. As they They offer return data in either 48 The location can be “US Zipcode,
say in Texas, “They done did XML or JSON format. We’ll explore UK Postcode, Canada Postalcode, IP
GOOD!” (I don’t say that, but ‘they’ both formats, and some of the data Here’s the breakdown of the address, Latitude/Longitude
do). that is returned. URL: (decimal degree), or city name.” Of
course, the IP address needs to be
This month, we’ll revisit free Before you can get anything, Base URL Address: http:// your EXTERNAL IP address, not
weather APIs on the Internet. Why? you need to sign up for a free API [Link]/v1/ your local internal IP address.
Well many of them have either key. Point your favorite browser to
closed down or gone to a full pay [Link] Type of query: [Link] You can paste the URL into the

full circle magazine #167 21 contents ^

HOWTO - PYTHON
browser of your choice, and the can have a forecast for up to 3 days.
{
result looks something like the The number of days depends on "location": {
code shown right. the level of account you have "name": "Austin",
signed up for. "region": "Texas",
"country": "USA",
You can ask for the data to be "lat": 30.17,
returned in JSON format (as we did So the big changes from our "lon": -97.82,
"tz_id": "America/Chicago",
here), or XML format. previous current-weather query is "localtime_epoch": 1614079451,
the “[Link]” instead of "localtime": "2021-02-23 5:24"
Here is the link to the API docs: “[Link]” string, and the },
"current": {
[Link] addition of days, aqi=yes (aqi "last_updated_epoch": 1614078905,
docs/. There are many options here. stands for Air Quality Index), and "last_updated": "2021-02-23 05:15",
As I was writing this article, they the alerts=yes. There is also a "temp_c": 3.9,
"temp_f": 39.0,
added two new options, Weather language option that you can use, "is_day": 0,
Alerts and Air Quality. but you should look at the "condition": {
documentation to get the correct "text": "Clear",
"icon": "//[Link]/weather/64x64/
Before we get into code, let’s parameter. night/[Link]",
take a quick look at the forecast "code": 1000
},
call. When we send this query to the "wind_mph": 0.0,
API, you’ll get back a LARGE "wind_kph": 0.0,
[Link] amount of data. I’ll just paste a "wind_degree": 0,
[Link]? "wind_dir": "N",
key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&q=7874 portion here (below). "pressure_mb": 1020.0,
8&days=3&aqi=yes&alerts=yes "pressure_in": 30.6,
You get the location information "precip_mm": 0.0,
"precip_in": 0.0,
For the free API account, you and current condition information, "humidity": 76,
"cloud": 0,
"feelslike_c": 1.3,
{ "feelslike_f": 34.4,
"location": { "vis_km": 16.0,
"name": "Austin", "vis_miles": 9.0,
"region": "Texas", "uv": 1.0,
... "gust_mph": 12.3,
}, "gust_kph": 19.8
"current": { }
"last_updated_epoch": 1614170717, }
"last_updated": "2021-02-24 06:45",
"temp_c": 18.9,
"temp_f": 66.0,
...
"gust_kph": 35.6,

full circle magazine #167 22 contents ^

HOWTO - PYTHON
just like when we did the current THE CODE Time: 2021-02-28 04:30
query. In addition to that, you also Conditions: Overcast
get the Air Quality information, Now we can concentrate on the Temp: 72.0
Wind: 13.6 Gusts: 22.6 From: S (170°)
since we asked for it (bottom left). code. Luckily, it is very similar to the Feels like: 76.6
logic that we’ve used before. As Pressure:
Next comes the forecast always, we start with our imports... 1010.0mb
30.3 in
information. Under the general
[‘forecast’] header, you get a import requests -------------------
forecastday group of data for each 3 Day Forecast
import json
of the days that you requested (3 in 2021-02-28
this case), each of which starts with We now define some of our
Conditions: Patchy rain possible
“date” and “date_epoch”, then goes Forecasted High: 76.3
variables. Forecasted Low: 66.7
on to giving a day overview Chance of rain: 91%
followed by the astronomy data for When we run the program, our
Chance of snow: 0%
Phase of Moon: Waning Gibbous
that day (sunrise, sunset, etc), then output will look something like that Moon Illumination: 83
24 hours of data grouped by hour. shown right.
Then it repeats for each extra day 2021-03-01
Conditions: Patchy rain possible
that you requested, then finally any That’s it. Very simple and easily Forecasted High: 52.5
alert data that might have been modifiable to add or delete Forecasted Low: 47.3
issued. Each of these data groups Chance of rain: 87%
elements as you wish – to Chance of snow: 0%
are pretty much the same as the customize the output to your Phase of Moon: Last Quarter
current condition data. needs.
Moon Illumination: 69

2021-03-02
It’s a lot of data – which is why I I’ve placed the code on my Conditions: Partly cloudy
used JSON format for the ease of github repository at https://
Forecasted High: 58.8
Forecasted Low: 43.3
picking out what I want on any call. [Link]/gregwa1953/FCM-167. Chance of rain: 0%
Chance of snow: 0%
"air_quality": { Phase of Moon: Last Quarter
"co": 250.3000030517578, Moon Illumination: 62
"no2": 3.0,
"o3": 67.19999694824219, No alerts at this time.
"so2": 1.399999976158142,
"pm2_5": 11.5,
"pm10": 16.600000381469727,
"us-epa-index": 1,
"gb-defra-index": 1
}
},

full circle magazine #167 23 contents ^

HOWTO - PYTHON

One final thing. Last month, I

promised that I would give my first
impressions of the Raspberry Pi
Pico microcontroller. I had originally
intended doing the update here,
but even before I got the Pico
board in, I was so excited that I
talked to Ronnie about creating
another series of articles under a
separate title. He said that it would
be no problem, so I will now be
trying to do two articles a month,
one on “standard Python” and one
on working with Microcontrollers
using MicroPython and
CircuitPython. I’m sure that every
once-in-a-while, there will be an
occasional crossover project that
will take up both.

Be sure to check out my new

article series called “Micro This
Micro That” in this and future
issues of Full Circle! Greg Walters is a retired
programmer living in Central Texas,
USA. He has been a programmer
since 1972 and in his spare time, he is
As always, until next time; stay an author, amateur photographer,
safe, healthy, positive and creative! luthier, fair musician and a pretty
darn good cook. He still is the owner
of RainyDaySolutions a consulting
company and he spends most of his
time writing articles for FCM and
tutorials. His website is
[Link] .

full circle magazine #167 24 contents ^

 HOW-TO
Written by Erik
Latex - Pt.1
Website: [Link] parody newsletter on a dot matrix thought Red Hat WAS linux!). and once you get the hang of it, you
[Link]/ printer for a few of my friends. Though even today, I still consider can use your favourite latex
Though it was received well, myself a beginner, I was dropped application. The reason I am
Prerequisites: A willingness to ribbons were extremely expensive, into the deep end and made lots of suggesting TeXstudio is because,
learn. and my little printer would eat mistakes. I thought it may be good like an IDE, it gives hints and “code
ribbons, to the extent where I for others to learn from my completion”. This is an immense
Target audience: N00bs would buy ink at a 100th of the mistakes. help.
price of a ribbon and “fill” it by

M y uncle was a typesetter for a

small town newspaper.
Though it fascinated me, it did not
wetting and winding the ribbon
through. You could only do that
once or twice before the ribbon
There are a lot of Latex
applications in Linux, simply type
latex in the search bar of your
Let’s get started. Open
TeXstudio and you will be
presented with a blank interface.
seem very difficult or something I would wear out. So printing was software centre. Don’t worry, I will take you through
would ever want to do. It was weird never my forte and, as such, it never it.
to watch, all the backwards letters bothered me. Fast forward to the I am going to use “TeXstudio”;
and infinite arranging. The only year 2014 and I had to support a it’s like an IDE for Latex, but the Like many programming IDEs,
printing I ever did, was a small client who used Latex (poor souls second name of Linux is choice, so TeXstudio is laid out in 3 big panes.
use what makes you happy. I If you have used an IDE before, you
suggest you use it to follow along, will know that it is sort of like your

full circle magazine #167 25 contents ^

HOWTO - LATEX
file browser, with an output Apparently, he likes the rat poison I
window at the bottom. However, put out, as he eats it all in one go. If
you need to know certain it makes him sick, he probably has
“commands”, and I don’t know how better medical aid than me too, as
to ease you into it, other than he is always back for more. *Le
letting you do it. Monkey see, Sigh...
monkey do...
In the empty document, type \d article. You do this by double- compile your document, F7 will
The catch with TeXstudio is that and peruse the drop-down menu, clicking the word you want to display it in preview mode. F5 is the
you can’t type where you need to, to get an idea of how busy it can replace and it should highlight, key you use if you have a wide
until you press CTRL+N or click the get. Feel free to type other letters then just type the word you need. monitor, as it includes F6 & F7.
“New” button. after the “\” to peruse the drop-
downs, and see why I thought this Go to a new line. This part is TeXstudio does not save your
Open a new empty document was an application for Sadists. important. Almost every Latex document automatically when you
with the above method. I was Select: documentclass {keyvals} document needs this. Type \begin compile it. Save often.
thinking of making a lost pet poster {class}. and hit enter. The IDE will fill in the
(something simple), but I realise
\end for you (see above). Okay, now to “redpill” you. Your
most people will want to do some Now for some substitution, official “need-to-know” is here:
text work first. Also, the closest I replace the word “keyvals” with Just like before, we are going to [Link]
have to a pet at the moment, is the “a4paper”, and the word “class” substitute the “*environment- comprehensive/[Link]
roof rat in my ceiling that is eating with “article”. This is a magazine name*” with our own. In our case, it
me out of house and home. and we are going to make an will just be “document”. Within our However, I find it ugly, with all
document boundaries, we will nest the blocks, so here is a clean
our article (see below). version:
[Link]
The keys you need to get [Link]
familiar with are F6 and F7. F6 will

full circle magazine #167 26 contents ^

HOWTO - LATEX
Download it and keep it for document, compile it and preview
reference. it:

Now a quick word on what we What happened? Nothing? Are

did. you sure?

A documentclass refers to a Because we added our title and

“class”, or recipe, or blueprint. Let’s author outside our main body, it
imagine that to be bread. We can was recorded, but not printed. Be know at:
have white bread, we can have aware of the beginning and end. A quick word on layout, The misc@[Link]
whole wheat bread, we can have (Luckily for us, Latex has a built-in reason we type it all out, one line
rye bread. But - all of them are command to take care of the little after another, is for readability and We would love to hear from you.
bread. They are all the same, but things, but more on that after this). for finding errors. The IDE will put
different, ie. they share The best way I can describe using red marks next to the line REFERENCES:
characteristics. At the moment, I latex is that it is like cooking a meal. containing the error in the margin.
don’t want us to be caught up in If you set out all your ingredients That said, the following is just as [Link]
jargon, but it may look strange to first, then do the measurements valid: 2015/1/15/1357854/-Self-
someone who has never used an beforehand, the experience of
publishing-101-Using-LaTex-to-
IDE before. using it will be much smoother. Let Lots of educational institutions create-a-beautiful-book
me demonstrate, add the following have guides on using Latex. Why we
People have written books in to your document, and compile and are doing this, is because [Link]
Latex, so it is not for documents run it: sometimes it is easier when there view/latex-beginners-guide/
only. Let us look at adding your are pictures and sometimes we just 9781847199867/[Link]
particulars to a document. \maketitle will now make a title need someone to whip out the
in a large font, add your author and crayons. A document by a [Link]
Add the following lines to your today’s date. Handy, no? professor, for a professor, is like documents/3722/[Link]
eating dry dog biscuits for a
beginner.

Did we make a mistake? Do you

know a better way? Why not let us

full circle magazine #167 27 contents ^

 HOW-TO
Written by Erik
Fritzing
Website: [Link] from the “help” menu. You navigate does not find “raspberry” or “pi” ,
the window via the top tabs. Please so just scroll down to it.)
Price: 8.99 Euro (Donation)
INSTALLATION click on “Breadboard” to bring up a
breadboard, the components on PARTS
On Ubuntu, the install is as simple
Blurb: “Fritzing is an open-source the right should cover all your
as:
hardware initiative that makes project, but if you need one that is Mostly, you will find everything
electronics accessible as a creative sudo apt install fritzing not there, you can create it. Neat you need, but you may need some
material for anyone. We offer a fritzing-data fritzing-parts hey? The next three tabs will be new part. Check the Fritzing forums
software tool, a community website empty if you have not started and you can download parts in
and services in the spirit of Now you just launch it from your creating anything yet. the .fzpz format. You can then
Processing and Arduino, fostering a menu.
import that part into the program.
creative ecosystem that allows users To get to where Greg was in Convenient, right?
to document their prototypes, share GETTING STARTED issue 104, all you need to do is find
them with others, teach electronics the raspberry pi in the core parts
in a classroom, and lay out and list, then drag it on to your screen TAKING IT A BIT FURTHER
The welcome screen is your
manufacture professional pcbs.” starting point for help. Actually, with your breadboard. Right-click,
and rotate. (The search function When you place an item on your
more and thorough help is available
breadboard, you can go to your

M any of you may have been fourth tab, PCB, to move the part.
Following Greg’s awesome You have two layers to play with.
tutorials and may have seen him For instance, place a resistor
mention Fritzing in issue 104, but anywhere on your breadboard and
gotten stuck at the paywall. I know I go to PCB. Now on your right-hand
did. ($9 may be small change in first side, under inspector, you can
world countries, but here that is the choose which side of the PCB you
equivalent of $150.) You may have would like that resistor on. You can
gone to github and tried to build it, also choose if it should go through
and ended up with a blank screen, the board or be a surface-mount.
etcetera. Well, come along for the Most parts have options in the
ride. I will attempt to fill you in and inspector, even the simple
get you up to speed to follow Greg breadboard. You can name parts
in his awesome tutorials. and that name will appear on your

full circle magazine #167 28 contents ^

HOWTO - FRITZING
PCB layout. Naming your parts will If you would like some Fritzing
help you identify them quicker as fun in future issues, why not drop
having a bunch of resistors of us an email on
differing values makes it easier to misc@[Link] ?
spot the one you are looking for.

TIP: You can rotate parts with your

mouse wheel for faster operation.

I am back on track with Greg’s

tutorials, what is your excuse?

Erik has been in IT for 30+ years. He

has seen technology come and go.
From repairing washing machine sized
hard drives with multimeters and
oscilloscopes, laying cable, to scaling
3G towers, he's done it.

full circle magazine #167 29 contents ^

full circle magazine #167 30 contents ^
 HOW-TO
Written by Mark Crutch
Inkscape - Part 107
A s promised last time, I’m going
to continue describing the
flowed text improvements in
to best fill the width. Ordinary
(non-flowed) text refers to text
objects that aren’t constrained
Typing into this box will produce
flowed text which, in practice,
behaves the same way that flowed
Inkscape draws the container in red
in this situation, as a visual indicator
that the text has overflowed
Inkscape v1.0. Previously, I showed inside a rectangle or other shape, text did in earlier Inkscape releases, outside of the allowable space.
you how to turn off the new SVG and don’t flow to fill the space. Line but with greater compatibility
2.0 flowed text implementation, in breaks are explicitly entered, and outside the program. In this example, it’s pretty
order to produce files that are have to be manually adjusted if you obvious that the text has
compatible with Inkscape 0.92, but, want the layout of the text to The image below shows a single overflowed the last container, but
unless you’ve got a specific reason change. Whereas flowed text gives piece of flowed text that was that’s not always the case. When
for doing that, I strongly layout control to Inkscape, ordinary duplicated twice (and the text color dealing with large amounts of text
recommend sticking with the SVG text keeps that control solely with changed). You can see that each in a bigger container, you may not
2.0 variety for compatibility with the creator. container has a small diamond- notice that the border turns red
web browsers and future Inkscape shaped handle at the bottom-right when you add a word into the
releases. This time I’ll dig into the In earlier versions of the corner: dragging this resizes the middle of the prose. The second
gory details of the new features, program, it was possible to create container and re-flows the text, as flowed text type, referred to as
both from an Inkscape user’s flowed text by dragging a rectangle seen in the black and red text “Column mode”, goes some way to
perspective, and also with regard to with the Text tool selected, then versions. The one with the blue text addressing this possibility.
the way flowed text appears in your typing your content into it. was achieved in the same way, but
SVG file. Ordinary text was created by just the handle was deliberately Column mode begins life as
clicking on the canvas with the Text dragged such that the container ordinary, non-flowed text. Just click
First, some definitions: flowed tool in order to position the text size was too small for the text it on the canvas with the Text tool,
text is the sort that will entry caret, and then typing. Those needs to contain. You can see that and begin typing (or paste in some
automatically wrap its lines to fill were your only two options: flowed already written content). But,
the available area. Usually that area or ordinary. With Inkscape v1.0, instead of beginning the tedious
is defined as a rectangle (though however, there are now two task of manually entering line
Inkscape can also flow text into different varieties of flowed text to breaks, look at the right-hand edge
arbitrary shapes), and the text will understand. of the text box, where you’ll find a
be rendered so that each line fills small diamond-shaped handle. Start
the width of the rectangle as fully As with previous releases, you dragging that handle and you’ll see
as it can. Changing the dimensions can click-drag to create a a pair of vertical blue guides appear
of the rectangle causes the text to rectangular text box on the canvas (representing the left and right
move around – to “flow” – in order when the Text tool is selected. edges of the “column”), and your

full circle magazine #167 31 contents ^

HOWTO - INKSCAPE
text will be flowed to fit between you create your content.
them.
The click-drag type of flowed
text consists of two parts: the text
itself, and the rectangle that
constrains it. The latter is created
as a hidden object in the <defs>
section of the XML, and is then
referenced via the “shape-inside”
CSS property, within the style
attribute of the svg <text>
TECHNICAL DETAILS both of these approaches is that element. In the image below, you
Inkscape adds an SVG 1.1 can see the highlighted text on the
With two different ways to compatible fallback right which references “rect98”, the
create flowed text, let’s take a look implementation when you save ID of the rectangle near the top of
What’s important about this
at the technical details behind your file. This can potentially mean the left-hand pane.
mode is that it sets the width of the
these new features. Feel free to that Inkscape’s XML editor is a little
flowed text, but doesn’t constrain
skip this section if you just want to misleading: look at it just after As you can also see on the left,
the height. This has the advantage
use them as an artist, and aren’t creating some flowed text, and the <text> element just contains a
that you’ll never accidentally clip
interested in what happens in the you’ll see a different structure than single <tspan> as a child, which
the end of your text with the flow
XML code. if you’d saved it and re-loaded the contains the entire text string.
container, but it also means that
file. Let’s start by looking at the
your text can flow to be taller than
The first thing to know about structure that is used as soon as Column mode is fairly similar,
you intend, possibly leading to it
interfering with other parts of your but there’s no need to reference a
design. Where this type of flowed hidden rectangle. Instead of the
text comes into its own, therefore, “shape-inside” CSS property,
is in loose designs where you want Inkscape inserts an “inline-size”
to tweak the column width property which defines the width
dynamically to see what works best of the column. Once again the text
for your particular layout (think itself lives as a single line within a
posters and leaflets), rather than solitary <tspan> child element.
designs which already have well
defined areas of a specific height in Unfortunately, both of these
which the text has to fit (such as approaches are broken in web
magazines or newsletters). browsers today. Whilst the “inline-
size” method is well supported in
full circle magazine #167 32 contents ^
HOWTO - INKSCAPE
modern browsers, in my testing it itself, we’re faced with a structure single child, one-level deep, to a line breaks being inserted which
appears to have an effect only on like this. collection of two-level children. This conflict with those that Inkscape
HTML content, and does not work is the SVG 1.1 fallback content that has already provided, breaking the
for SVG files. The “shape-inside” allows the current batch of intended layout.
CSS property, on the other hand, is browsers to display the content as
not currently supported by any it appears in Inkscape. But these concerns are purely
browsers. It is part of the CSS hypothetical at this point, whereas
Shapes specification, but was This change of structure has the problems with flowed text in
dropped from Level 1 of the spec repercussions. Because it produces v0.92 are very real. The changes in
(the one the browsers have the expected visible result in a version 1.0 are a definite
implemented), and moved to Level browser, it will probably serve the improvement, and make it an
2 (the one they haven’t, yet). needs of 99% of users. But it also obvious choice if you wish to use
changes the nature of the text. flowed text in your designs. The
On the surface, therefore, it What was previously a single string details above really matter to only a
might seem that flowed text hasn’t is now broken into separate blocks: minority of web developers, so
really advanced much. We’ve gone this could potentially have an effect shouldn’t prevent you making the
from a non-standard, unsupported on screen readers and search switch.
technique to a pair of nearly- engines, depending on how they
standard, but still unsupported treat <tspan> elements. It would If you really don’t want the SVG
techniques. Yet, if you save a file definitely have an effect on 1.1 fallback text included in your
with flowed text from Inkscape JavaScript programmers who want file, it can be turned off in the
1.0.x and load it into a browser, the to dynamically find or change the Preferences dialog (Input/Output >
text is visible – line breaks and all. text on the page, or had hoped to SVG Export pane). Note, however,
So what’s going on? use code to alter the column width that this will affect only newly
or rectangle size with the content created flowed text – any
You can see the reason for this The single <tspan> element, flowing automatically to suit. previously saved file that already
apparent support if you examine containing the entire text, has been contains multiple <tspan> elements
the file via the browser’s developer replaced with a separate <tspan> This does raise some questions will still maintain that structure.
tools, or if you load the same file for each line in the resultant output about how these files will fare in
back into Inkscape and look at the – the same sort of structure you the future. If browsers do start OTHER CHANGES
XML editor. At first all seems to be would expect to see if you had supporting “inline-size” on SVG
as expected: the <text> elements manually entered the line breaks. text, or add support for CSS Shapes There are a couple of other
are present, with their These elements are used for Level 2, how will they behave when changes to mention regarding
corresponding “shape-inside” or positioning each line, but then a faced with text that already has flowed text, though they’re
“inline-size” properties, but when second level of <tspans> is used to line-breaks? It’s possible that this relatively minor points.
drilling further down to the text style the text. We’ve gone from a could result in additional automatic
full circle magazine #167 33 contents ^
HOWTO - INKSCAPE
line of ordinary SVG text? In this shapes are filled is now based on
One feature of 0.92 was the case, the program is oddly the order in which you select them.
ability to convert flowed text into contradictory as to the method you Previously it used the selection
ordinary text via the Text > Convert use. Version 0.92 offered the Text > order in reverse, which is less than
to Text. This would “apply” the line- Unflow menu option, which still intuitive, so it’s good to see this
breaks by converting the content to works for click-drag style flowed change make its way into the
a SVG 1.1 compatible <text> text in version 1.0. It’s always had a program. It makes the behaviour
element with multiple <tspan> nasty habit of moving the un- more familiar to anyone who has
children. This no longer works in flowed text quite a distance from ever used a desktop publishing
version 1.0, and has no effect on the original flowed version for program, such as Scribus – though I
the structure of the XML. Saving some reason, so if you do use this, still maintain that Inkscape is a poor
the file will insert an SVG 1.1 and your text seems to disappear substitute for a real DTP application
compatible version of the text entirely, try zooming out and for anything but the most basic of
however (as discussed in the panning around. page layouts.
previous section), but it also inserts
some CSS which will cause Inkscape For reasons best known to the Next time, we’ll conclude this
to still treat such content as flowed. Inkscape developers, this approach part of the series by looking at the
doesn’t work for text that has been support that has been added for
Essentially if you actually want flowed via column mode. To revert new font types in Inkscape v1.0.
to convert from flowed text to this to a single line, you need to
fixed line breaks in a way that Ctrl-click on the diamond handle
Inkscape will recognise, you have used for adjusting the column
little choice but to manually insert width. To further add to the
the breaks, or to remove the new confusion, this same technique
CSS from a saved file. As far as I can does not work with the diamond
tell, this now makes the Convert to handle at the bottom right of the
Text menu option completely rectangle used for click-drag style
redundant, as any attempt to use it flowed text. Come on devs, how
simply puts a “No flowed text(s)” about a little consistency!?
message in the status bar, and has
no effect on the text or SVG The final change to mention is a Mark uses Inkscape to create three
structure. small but important usability webcomics, 'The Greys', 'Monsters,
Inked' and 'Elvie', which can all be
improvement. If you use the Text >
found at [Link]
Rather than fix the line breaks, Flow Into Frame option to flow text
what if you want to un-flow your into multiple shapes on your
words, to revert them to a single canvas, the order in which the
full circle magazine #167 34 contents ^
full circle magazine #167 35 contents ^
 LINUX LOOPBACK
Written by S. J. Webb
A Father's Wisdom
I struggle to find the correct
words or phrases for this article. I
will start with the simplest answer.
months, then I drifted over to Linux
Mint. I stayed on Linux Mint for a
year. In this timeframe, I began
never able to call it home. Using
Distrowatch, I came across
KororaOS. I installed Korora and felt
I now realize I use Linux due to
its inherent strengths and the
My father raised me to look for the looking into Linux magazines, at home. Eventually, I reached out alternative role it assumes. And
best alternative to get a task gone. podcasts, and websites. I developed to the project team and became now I strongly understand my
My father came from a large my knowledge. I learned about RPM their social media manager. And, in father will be with me as long as I
agrarian family, and I know this based Linux, and developed deeper time, like all small teams, Korora write about Linux in all forms.
shaped his role as my father. into my Linux Love. And my interest was discontinued. I drifted back to
in ChromeOS devices started. Fedora.
I used Linux as an alternative Incidentally I started to read Full
operating system. My old Windows Circle Magazine. I started looking at Arch-based
Vista laptop became infected, and distros and BSD operating systems.
was not working. I used Linux to I moved into using openSUSE. I Slowly our Macbook became
recover the missing files. In time, I was perplexed by YAST and zypper obsolete. I replaced macOS with an
found a replacement Windows commands. Yet I was willing to Arch-based Linux and continue to
laptop, and reinstalled the missing learn. After 3-6 months, openSUSE write for Full Circle.
files. My wife and I then saved our announced Leap and Tumbleweed
money to purchase a MacBook Pro. as being the main products from In time, like all children, I lost my
We fell under the impression that SUSE. I was put off by the recent father. And I spent the last few
Apple was completely better than announcement, and I drifted months recomposing myself for my
Windows. towards Fedora. family. And I make the parallels
between my life’s decision to my
We were left with an older It was at this time I asked Ronnie upbringing. My father gave me two
Windows laptop that was not being to write an article to cover pieces of advice that I strongly
utilized. Following a close friend, Chromebooks. He did not have a reflect upon:
Mike, I installed Ubuntu onto that Chromebook, but offered me a
laptop. And slowly I became chance to write an article. Using my “Sometimes the only choice you have
evangelized against Windows. We work bonus, I purchased a Toshiba left is to be strong.” SJ Webb is a researcher coordinator.
maintained the MacBook and I Chromebook 2, and I wrote my first When he is not working, he enjoys
time with his wife and kids. He thanks
began my distro hopping. Always article. “Choose the best alternative for
Mike Ferarri for his mentorship.
looking at downstream Debian you.”
projects. I ran on Ubuntu for 3-5 Fedora felt better, but I was -PA Webb
full circle magazine #167 36 contents ^
 EVERYDAY UBUNTU RetroComputing: CoCo Nuts Pt2
Written by Richard Adams

L ast month, we set up a

repository for an emulator,
XROAR, for the old Radio Shack
VERY expensive add-on.

Software on the CoCo came on

CoCo – to manage and catalog the
contents of your floppy diskettes.
Once a program, BASIC or machine
In my personal case, I still own a
Color Computer 2, so it’s
conceivable that I thereby have a
Color Computer. In order for solid state cartridges, on cassette language, was loaded and invoked, legitimate license to use the ROMs
XROAR to run properly, we needed tapes, or on floppy diskettes. The the computer was effectively a for it, even in digitized format in an
to have virtualized copies of the cartridges were plastic boxes single-tasking, single purpose emulator.
ROM chips that ran the CoCo, as containing a printed circuit board computing machine, until the
the Color Computer was and a ROM chip, or chips, that advent of OS-9 and DeskMate, Consequently, I did a Google
affectionately nicknamed. Although plugged into a slot in the computer about which more later. search and readily found the three
we were able to find copies of the (in the CoCo’s case, on the right needed ROMs, even finding them in
ROMs for download easily enough, side), and basically turned the CoCo FINDING THE FIRMWARE (OR versions specifically labeled for use
there was no documentation as to temporarily into a single-purpose in XROAR. I downloaded them and
where to put the ROMs on the local dedicated computing function ROMS) saved them to my Downloads
drive so that XROAR knew where to machine. There was no capacity directory under Home. They were in
find and load them. (originally) for any kind of In order to get XROAR to work ZIP format, so I unzipped them
windowing or multi-tasking. That correctly, we’re going to have to after downloading was complete,
would, however, change later, as find and install all three of the as detailed last month. The
BASICS OF HOW TO LOAD BASIC ROMs: Color Basic, Extended
we’ll see shortly. unzipped firmware ROM format is
SOFTWARE ON THE COCO Color Basic, and Disk Basic. Without *.rom. However, after spending a
Other software was the ROMs, XROAR, or even a significant amount of time
As a quick recap from last loaded from cassette hardware CoCo, does searching for and reading
month, the CoCo had its operating tapes, via a cable not know how to do documentation on XROAR, I could
software, a version of Microsoft running from a anything at all. find nothing indicating where to
Basic, on a pair of chips inside the cassette deck to put the ROMs so that XROAR could
computer, a ROM (Read Only the computer, or There is a find and load them. Quel
Memory) chip for Color Basic, and from floppy caveat here; the dommage! (That’s specifically for
another ROM chip for Extended diskettes. The legality of using the amusement of Full Circle’s
Color Basic, which mostly added floppy drive virtualized copies French version translator, Elizabeth/
graphics and sound commands. The controller was in of the ROMs in an Auntie E.)
machine did not have a DOS, or Disk cartridge form and emulator may be
Operating System, by default, as also had a ROM chipset questionable, so we
disk systems at that time were a can’t advocate or recommend it. WHERE TO PUT THE
that stored a very basic DOS for the

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EVERYDAY UBUNTU
FIRMWARE FILES modifying them or their contents. Zip files with the ROMs and double- that most Color Computer software
In order to see these files and click each in turn. Navigate to the has lapsed into the public domain,
Well, here’s where it’s handy to folders, we need to change the ‘.xroar’ folder under Home and notwithstanding that even back in
know how things usually work in default behavior of the Ubuntu File unzip the three ROM files into that the day, it would be hard for a
Linux, and to apply those general Manager, by going to the folder. company like Spectral Associates to
principles in the hope that they’ll ‘hamburger menu’ in the upper prosecute someone for making
hold true for a specific program right then click the checkbox for RUNNING XROAR unauthorized copies of Lunar Rover
(although there’s certainly no ‘Show Hidden Files’ to get Linux to Patrol or Cubix when they were
guarantee of that, so let’s keep our show all the hidden files. Now, we’ll Now, let’s return to the program almost certainly not legitimately
virtual fingers crossed). need to create an XROAR folder. launcher at the bottom-left of the copyrighted, since Spectral did not
We’re going to take a stab in the screen, and navigate back to have the license for the original
Many Linux applications will dark here that XROAR uses a XROAR, almost certainly on the last Moon Patrol or Q*Bert. I still
create a folder in the Home hidden folder called ‘.xroar’ in the page. Left-click to launch, and voila! bought them, rather than pirating
directory with the application Home folder, so click Home on the Now you’ll get this screen, the them, to support the companies,
name, preceded by a ‘.’ character. left side, then right-click a blank normal screen you would see on a but they were probably never truly
The ‘.’ in front of a folder or file’s area in the right hand pane and Radio Shack Color Computer. 32X16 copyrightable and I doubt most
name indicates it is to be hidden, select ‘New Folder’. Name the new black text on a green screen with a CoCo software companies even
something that is often done with folder ‘.xroar’ (minus the single big ol’ black border around it all. maintained a pretense of copyright
configuration files to keep users quote marks), and hit <Enter>. Now, Now, THAT’S retro! (especially since most of them are
from accidentally deleting or go back to wherever you saved the long out of business by now).
Consequently, CoCo software can
easily be found for download.
[Link] has a good selection,
just for starters: [Link]
details/softwarelibrary_coco2.
There’s even more at: https://
[Link]/
view_archive.php?archive=/3/items/
Tandy_TRS80_Color_Computer_TO
SEC_2012_04_23/
Tandy_TRS80_Color_Computer_201
2_04_23.zip

FINDING COCO SOFTWARE A few games that I specifically

recommend:
It is a reasonable assumption • Dungeons of Daggorath: Early
full circle magazine #167 38 contents ^
EVERYDAY UBUNTU
first person (wireframe) role • Lancer: Very challenging CoCo versions of CoCo print material. actually show some lag as though
playing game (RPG). version of Williams Electronics it’s reading the diskette. After
• Dragonfire: Uses nifty game Joust. BAREBONES BASICS ON HOW loading the disk, use the command
programming tricks to display more • Galagon: Close copy of videogame ‘DIR (0)’ to see the contents of
than 4 colors in 4 color graphics great Galaga. TO LOAD AND RUN COCO Drive 0 (the first drive). If you see a
mode. • Pooyan: Lesser known whimsical SOFTWARE BIN file, you can load it with the
• MegaBug: Very early software arcade game, very good translation command:
synthesized voice: “We GOTCHA!” and a rare actual licensed version. Software for the CoCo is going
• Tetris: Obviously a true classic. • Zaxxon: Another rare licensed to come in two types: BASIC LOADM”PROGRAM NAME
• Downland: Interesting and arcade game, by CoCo programs and machine language.
challenging precursor to Super uberprogrammer Steve Bjork. Best Most commercial programs were in (The CoCo does not require
Mario Brothers. home version of this game I ever machine language format, which is typing in the .bin extension, or even
• Doodle Bug: Clone of underrated saw, in my opinion vastly superior to much faster, but there are still a lot closing the quotes).
arcade classic Ladybug. the vaunted Colecovision version. of useful and/or entertaining
• Super Pitfall: Sequel to the Atari • Guardian: Defender copycat that programs in BASIC. Most machine Important side note: There are
2600 smash hit. uses seldom employed graphics language programs will have an several keys on the CoCo keyboard
• Polaris: Excellent clone of Missile mode from the Video Display extension of BIN, most BASIC that are mapped differently than
Command. Using the keyboard as Generator (VDG) chip, called programs have an extension of BAS. our English keyboards, one relevant
fire buttons for three separate ‘semigraphics mode’, providing a A few will use other extensions, here is that the CoCo’s double-
weapons depots raises this above much broader color palette than which will often force you to guess quote key is SHIFT-2. Here’s an
almost any other home version. most games. Very fast-paced shoot if the program is BASIC or machine example where we’re loading the
• Donkey King: Really impressive ‘em up. language and to use the proper excellent Joust clone Lancer:
version of Donkey Kong, with all associated load command.
FOUR screens (unlike the FINDING COCO MANUALS, Fortunately, there are generally
Colecovision version, that only had only the two possibilities, so it’s
three). INSTRUCTIONS, MAGAZINES, pretty easy to figure out.
• SR-71: For anyone who ever AND BOOKS
wanted to fly the famous super- BAS and BIN programs on
speedy Blackbird. Many of these are also XROAR are usually going to be
downloadable from [Link]. loaded from a disk image, with the
Not on [Link], but highly There were, as mentioned last extension in Linux of DSK. Go to File
recommended: month, a LOT of CoCo magazines – Run in XROAR and find the
• Lunar Rover Patrol: Excellent (and books), and many have been desired disk image (which may very
clone of arcade Moon Patrol. scanned and posted to [Link]. well have multiple programs on it).
• Sailor Man: Startlingly good A Google search will show many The load process emulates a
version of arcade Popeye. other locations online with scanned hardware disk closely enough to
full circle magazine #167 39 contents ^
EVERYDAY UBUNTU
Hit <Enter> and the CoCo will in a 256x192 resolution 2-color select Red-Blue. If this comes up Once you’ve signed in, you can
load the requested program. Type mode. The video output actually wrong, try Blue-Red. Alternatively, play with a joystick, or go to the
EXEC, then hit <Enter> to run the overpowered the display on a the shortcut Ctrl-A will cycle Hardware menu, select Right
program. normal TV (or composite color through available video modes Joystick, then Keyboard. Use the
monitor), producing the blue and without a complete reset. Here’s arrow keys to control direction, the
For BASIC programs with the red artifact colors, while effectively the initial screen for Lancer once left Alt key to flap your ostrich’s
extension BAS, the sequence is lowering the real resolution to a you choose the Red-Blue wings. You can also go Full Screen
almost identical, but load with the still very acceptable (by the Composite Phase: using F11. Happy Jousting! Or
command: standards of the time) 128x192. Lancing, as the case may be:
However, XROAR will default to a
LOAD”program name mode that does not use the color
artifact technology:
again, no need for .bas
extension or trailing quotes. Hit
<Enter> to load the program. To
look at the program, type LIST, then
hit <Enter>. To run the program,
type RUN, followed by an <Enter>.

If you’re working with cassette

images, the process is almost
identical, but the load commands Once you hit <Enter> here, you’ll
are cloadm or cload. Exec and Run OS-9: A KIND OF PROTO-
get this sign-in screen:
are still used just as in the case of LINUX/PROTO-UNIX
disk software.
Many games of the time opened To bring things back around to
Most CoCo machine language with a blue or red static screen, Linux, in a way, the Color Computer
programs, and a lot of BASIC ones which was usually intended to be got a more sophisticated operating
as well, used a special ‘artifact’ red. If it came up blue, the user system later in its lifespan. It was a
color mode. However, XROAR would hit the machine’s RESET multi-user, multi-tasking OS called
defaults to a black-and-white button repeatedly until the screen OS-9, which is a command-line
vertically striped screen instead. To changed to red. After that, you oriented operating system that is
get the 4-color mode used in most would usually hit <Enter> to VERY similar to pre-GUI versions of
arcade style games on the CoCo, proceed into the program. In Linux, prior to the advent of
with the colors black/white/red/ XROAR, you can go to the View GNOME, Unity, or KDE. If you are
blue, one had to actually program menu, click Composite Phase, then familiar with the Linux command-

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EVERYDAY UBUNTU
line, the jump to OS-9 would be a real-time clocking/dating, but the stuff!
very easy one. OS-9 Level One will CoCo did not have any such
run on XROAR, and there was some capability. Well, I hope you enjoyed that
nice software available for it. little walk down memory lane with
me, and that we learned some
more Linux lessons in the process. I
encourage you to play around with
the emulator and read a few of the
archived books and magazines. It’s
interesting to see, and to reflect on,
how much computing as an activity
has changed over the years. As
different as computing was back
then, it was its own kind of fun!

Here’s the main DeskMate

screen:
DESKMATE
DeskMate for OS-9 was an
applications suite, including a basic
word processor, minimalist
spreadsheet, terminal/
communications program, and
virtualized disks on it. It was very
like a rudimentary version of
something similar to today’s basic
computer Operating Systems.
When starting into OS-9, or any OS-
9 program, you had to put in the As you can see, there was a
date and time, as the CoCo’s 6809E Calendar program, a basic flat-file Richard 'Flash' Adams spent about
database (Index Cards), a simple 20 years in corporate IT. He lives in
did not have a real-time clock. In rural northwest Georgia, USA, with
fact, the ‘E’ stands for ‘external spreadsheet (Ledger), a Paint his adopted 'son', a cockatiel named
clock’, denoting that the 6809E program, a Telecommunications Baby who now has a little brother, a
relied on having access to external application, and a Text Editor. Back dusky-headed conure named Skittles.
in 1986, this was some really heady
full circle magazine #167 41 contents ^
 MICRO THIS MICRO THAT
Written by Greg W. Walters
Pt.1
Before we get into any of the RP2040 chip. The most exciting find things like the “f-strings” will
March 2021 - Welcome to the first projects, let’s take a look at exactly thing for those of us who program throw syntax errors.
of the “Micro This Micro That” what a microcontroller actually is. in Python is that the RPi Pico can
series of articles. Hopefully I will be From the AllAboutCircuits website, not only be programmed using C/C+ At this writing, libraries like
able to keep up with doing two we get a very clear explanation of +, like the Arduino, but with both numpy, pandas and matplotlib are
articles each month. this... MicroPython and CircuitPython. not currently available in the forms
Many of the products from Adafruit you are used to. However, a small

S o what is Micro This Micro That? “Microcontrollers are small, can be programmed using subset of numpy is currently under
The goal is to provide readers versatile, inexpensive devices that CircuitPython, but the Pico lets you development, and matplotlib
with information and projects to can be successfully implemented and choose between all three. shouldn’t be far behind. This
demonstrate MicroPython and programmed not only by experienced however, exposes a problem with
CircuitPython compatible electrical engineers but also by Let’s look at MicroPython, in MicroPython. There are at least
microcontroller boards and sensors. hobbyists, students, and general, for a moment. eight different implementations of
Occasionally, I might throw in a professionals from other disciplines.” MicroPython is the brainchild of MicroPython (one for each
Raspberry Pi board to show the [Link] and its founder different basic board type) out
differences between Python, Today, there are many different Australian programmer and there, and drivers and libraries for
MicroPython and CircuitPython. types of Microcontrollers out there. physicist Damien George, who one board don’t necessarily work
These articles will have code, The line of Arduino products is a created it to support their brand of on another, and, in many instances,
schematics, diagrams and more – prime example of Microcontrollers. Microcontrollers. The MicroPython isn’t even available on the board
trying to provide real world The group at Adafruit also have language is a special subset of you are trying to develop for. To
programming techniques for many products as well as the folks Python 3.4, originally designed to make matters worse, CircuitPython,
microcontrollers. I’ll attempt to at Sparkfun. Most recently, the run on their own pyboard while a different port of
point out the similarities and Raspberry Pi Foundation Microcontrollers. While it’s a really MicroPython, is not compatible, and
differences between CircuitPython, announced and released the neat little board with many is coded, for the most part,
MicroPython, and “Full grown” Raspberry Pi Pico board that is features, the price is about 30 USD. differently than MicroPython.
Python. Believe me, there are based on their brand new RP2040 That puts it out of the reach for Libraries don’t move from one to
TONNES of differences. I might chip, which is their first many developers who have a another.
even try to include an Arduino Microcontroller product. The shoestring budget for hobby work.
project here and there, but my main response to the RPi Pico has been For years, I’ve told my son, and
thrust will be on MicroPython and astounding, and there have been As cool as that sounds, there are many others “If you live or work on
CircuitPython. many companies that have some limitations. If you normally the bleeding edge, you WILL get
announced products based on the program using Python 3.7+, you will cut!”, and believe me, that’s SO very

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MICRO THIS MICRO THAT
true when dealing with any external LEDs or sensors to see The latest version (as of this
Microcontrollers. I’ll explain more in the board work, since there is an writing) is 3.3.5. To install it on your Once you see this window, you
a little bit. addressable LED already on the Linux machine, you can simply use can release the BOOTSEL button.
board. You don’t even need to wget in a terminal… Now back to Thonny, and select
All that having been said, I won’t solder the header pins for our first Run|Select Interpreter from the
only deal with the RPi Pico board in two projects. wget -O [Link]
[Link] main menu. You should see a
this series of articles. Yes, I will for-linux window pop up that looks
concentrate on it for a few articles, Of course, you’ll also need a something like this:
but I also intend on talking about computer to talk to and power the If you don’t have wget, you can
the Adafruit FeatherS2 RPi Pico. You can use any type of install it by using:
microcontroller and some of the computer. Many people use a
Arduino boards, and maybe some Raspberry Pi 3 or 4, and I use my sudo apt install wget
of the boards from Sparkfun and normal Linux Desktop. I am sure
others as my budget allows. that it also will work on a Windows Once you have the file, change
or Mac PC. the permission to executable, then
run it from the terminal command
RASPBERRY PI PICO
In addition, you will need a copy prompt.
As I write this, the RPi Pico has of Thonny IDE. If you are using a
Raspberry Pi as your connection to Now start Thonny, and get your
been available for a little over one
the Pico, you probably already have RPi Pico and Micro USB cable ready. Click on the [Install] button; you
month. As you can see in the image
Thonny. Just make sure that it’s On the Pico, hold down the white should see it start to download the
below, it’s a tiny little thing that’s
version 3.3.3 or better. If you are BOOTSEL button and, while holding MicroPython for the Pico. When it’s
about 2” x 1”.
using a Linux or other OS PC, you it down, plug in the cable. Make finished, you will see a window like
probably will need to download it. sure the other end is connected to this…
You don’t actually need to have
You need version 3.3.3 or greater. your computer. In a moment, you
will see a new file manager window
pop open.

Now we can start programming!

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MICRO THIS MICRO THAT
PROJECT #1 be an input or an output pin. We’ll code presented here at my github
call this object “led_onboard”. repository at: [Link]
Notice that we are using the GPIO
PROJECT #2 gregwa1953/
In project #1, we’ll do a very
simple program that simply blinks number, not the physical pin MicroThisAndMicroThat
In project #2, we’ll make the
the onboard LED. The code is number. Other systems like
onboard LED do something a little
below. CircuitPython use the physical pin Since we have used the onboard
bit different. Rather than just
instead of the GPIO number. We’ll LED for these two projects, there
blinking on and off, we’ll use the
Now before I explain the code, get more into that another time, were no external components
PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)
click on the Run button in Thonny but for now, just remember that required. However, for our
function. We’ve done this a long
and see what happens. You should when you are using MicroPython, upcoming projects, we’ll need a
time ago on the Raspberry Pi.
see the LED near the USB port you will want to use the GPIO breadboard, LEDs, jumper wires,
come on for about 3 seconds and designation. resistors, etc. One word of warning
I won’t go too deeply into the
then go off for three seconds, and though. ALL voltages for the RPi
code with you right now, we’ll
start all over again. Next, we create a forever loop Pico are 3.3 volts. Many older
revisit this in a future article, plus,
that sets the value to 1 (high) or 0 sensors and displays are 5 volt, and
as I said, we did a similar project on
Now I’ll explain the code. First, (low). When the pin switches to will cause problems with the Pico,
the Raspberry Pi a few years ago. I
you will need to import two high, the voltage (in this case) goes up to and including burning out the
just think that the throbbing LED is
libraries, machine and utime. The to 3.3 volts which turns on the LED. Pico. You should consider getting a
cool and especially with the
machine library will almost always When the pin switches to low, the Logic Level Converter that will
onboard led.
be needed, and utime is a voltage goes to 0 volts. Once we safely change the voltages from 5
MicroPython time library similar to set the value to 1, we sleep for volts to 3 volts. Here are two
You should be able to find the
the “big brother Python” time three seconds then set the value 0
library, only smaller and designed and sleep 3 more seconds, then # LED Throb 1
start it all over again. # Imports
just for MicroPython. from machine import Pin, PWM
from time import sleep
Next, we create an object by Be sure to save your code on
your main machine, just in case pwm = PWM(Pin(25)) # Onboard LED
pointing to the pin number and
telling it whether it’s supposed to something happens to your Pico. [Link](1000)

import machine while True:

import utime for duty in range(65025):
led_onboard = [Link](25,[Link]) pwm.duty_u16(duty)
while True: sleep(0.0001)
led_onboard.value(1) for duty in range(65025,0, -1):
[Link](3) pwm.duty_u16(duty)
led_onboard.value(0) sleep(0.0001)
[Link](3) sleep(0.8)

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MICRO THIS MICRO THAT
sources that can get you started in either under MicroPython or your display or sensor is extremely
your search… CircuitPython, or have support on old or had limited sales, you might
one, but not the other. There is very have to “bite the bullet” and
[Link] limited support for using WiFi on consider getting a newer version
products/12009 the Pico at this point. I suppose this that does have support, or look into
is due to the fact that the writing your own driver library.
[Link] Raspberry Pi group never thought
757 that anyone would need I’m certain that in the next
networking support on a board this month or so, many of these issues
Also, before you start small and low cost. will be solved. I don’t think that
interfacing devices to your Pico, anyone thought that the Pico or the
you should get your hands on the This is all to be expected this RP2040 would take off as strongly
pinout of the board. You can early in the process. Sales of the as it has. The price of the Pico
download a copy of the RPi Pico Pico are so swift, that many makes it perfect for someone who
pinout for your easy reference… retailers haven’t gotten a single wants to break into Microcontroller
stick and are still in a “back order” programming and experimentation.
[Link] mode, or they have gotten some,
pico/[Link] but sold out within a day or two. Until next time, as always; stay
The Arduino RP2040 device is safe, healthy, positive and creative!
One final thought. Earlier I said coming with WiFi support, but still
“If you live or work on the bleeding doesn’t have a release date or price.
edge, you WILL get cut!”. The RPi Sparkfun and Adafruit have boards
Pico has only been out a little over coming out based on the RP2040,
a month as I write this. The but still haven’t been released. If
MicroPython for the Pico (http://
[Link]/download/rp2- Greg Walters is a retired
pico/) seems to be updated on a programmer living in Central Texas,
USA. He has been a programmer
daily basis and is missing many of since 1972 and in his spare time, he is
the “standard” modules that other an author, amateur photographer,
boards enjoy. CircuitPython has luthier, fair musician and a pretty
other things that are missing for darn good cook. He still is the owner
of RainyDaySolutions a consulting
the Pico, and is being worked on as company and he spends most of his
fast as the programmers can get time writing articles for FCM and
the code out. There are so many tutorials. His website is
displays and sensors out there that [Link] .
have no current support on the Pico
full circle magazine #167 45 contents ^
full circle magazine #167 46 contents ^
 UBPORTS DEVICES
Written by UBports Team

U buntu Touch is the privacy and

freedom-respecting mobile
operating system by UBports.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
Xiaomi Mi A2
Volla Phone
installed with the UBports Installer
and has an entry on [Link]-
[Link].
Once all that work was done, it
was time to fix all of our software
to account for deprecated features
Today we are happy to announce Samsung Galaxy S3 Neo+ (GT- and new bugs. Rodney left a
the release of Ubuntu Touch OTA- I9301I) WHAT'S NEW? distinct mark on this release with all
16, our sixteenth stable update to Samsung Galaxy Note 4 of this work, which has been
the system! OTA-16 will be available OTA-16 is the second-largest ongoing since July last year.
for the following supported Ubuntu The Pine64 PinePhone and release of Ubuntu Touch ever (OTA-
Touch devices over the next week: PineTab are updated independently 4, the switch from Ubuntu 15.04 to Upgrading the version of Qt we
of the rest of these devices. The 16.04, being the largest). use and its dependent packages
LG Nexus 5 stable channel for the PinePhone helped prepare us for the Ubuntu
OnePlus One and PineTab will not receive an In this release, we upgraded the 16.04 -> Ubuntu 20.04 transition,
FairPhone 2 update labeled "OTA-16". installed version of the Qt which we are currently working to
LG Nexus 4 frameworks from v5.9.5 to v5.12.9. complete.
BQ E5 HD Ubuntu Edition NEW DEVICES THIS CYCLE Qt makes up a massive part of
BQ E4.5 Ubuntu Edition Ubuntu Touch, and using it saves us While the Qt upgrade shone a
Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition With this update we have new huge amounts of time while bright light on this release, we
Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu Edition devices officially joining the release creating software that can scale found time to test and integrate a
BQ M10 (F)HD Ubuntu Edition cadence! This means that these between phone, tablet, and number of other features and fixes
Nexus 7 2013 (Wi-Fi and LTE devices will now have a "Stable" desktop uses. Upgrading it put us you're sure to love.
models) update channel available in System back inside Qt's Long-Term Support
Sony Xperia X Settings -> Updates -> Update cycle and gave us a number of new
Sony Xperia X Compact MORPH BROWSER
Settings -> Channels. You can install features we hope to take
Sony Xperia X Performance Ubuntu Touch on these devices advantage of in Ubuntu Touch and
Sony Xperia XZ Morph, Ubuntu Touch's default
using the UBports Installer: the Lomiri operating environment. web browser, has received a
Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet
Huawei Nexus 6P number of excellent upgrades
Samsung Galaxy S3 Neo+ (GT-I930I) Over 1/3 of the binary packages during this cycle.
OnePlus 3 and 3T By Florian contained in Ubuntu Touch have
Xiaomi Redmi 4X changed in this release! This
Google Pixel 3a Kugi completely overhauled the
If you're a porter with a near- includes not only the various Qt Downloads system, a much-needed
OnePlus 2 ready device that is not in the libraries, but also packages that Qt
F(x)tec Pro1 change. Instead of a full-screen
above list, make sure it can be libraries depend on.
full circle magazine #167 47 contents ^
UBPORTS TOUCH
page interrupting your browsing at than it is wide. Oxide web rendering engine with or #ut_appdev:[Link] on
the start and completion of a this release. Matrix.
download, there is now a simple MAKING DEVICES MORE
headerbar icon to alert you of the Oxide was a Chromium-based ANBOX INSTALLERS
download's progress. The icon READY FOR YOUR POCKET. web rendering engine created at
turns blue and shakes when your Canonical for the "Ubuntu for INCLUDED BY DEFAULT
downloads have finished. The upgrade of Qt to 5.12 Devices" project. After Canonical
allowed us to finally integrate the dropped that, we knew that we The Anbox installer is now
The downloads page has also gst-droid work that Ratchanan has would not be able to maintain the included with Ubuntu Touch. This
been supplemented with a "Recent been working on for what feels like rendering engine. allows users of supported Anbox
Downloads" panel. This panel forever. This brought video devices to use Anbox without
shows any downloads which have recording support to 32-bit Android The default web browser modifying the Ubuntu Touch root
been started during the current 7 devices. The newer GStreamer switched from Oxide to filesystem. It will also prevent
browsing session. support also allowed us to bring up QtWebEngine in OTA-5, released on Anbox installations breaking with
a hardware accelerated camera October 12, 2018. Since then, we've every update.
Speaking of the current viewfinder on the PinePhone. warned people not to use the
browsing session, a control has Oxide rendering engine or Note that Anbox itself is not
been added to the tab Alfred enabled video recording [Link], its simpler QML installed by default, and it will not
management page which allows on the Sony Xperia X and fixed component counterpart. The run unless it is installed. To install
reopening the most recently closed problems with call audio being too replacements for these are Anbox, see "How to install" on our
tab. loud on the OnePlus 3 and Xperia X. importing QtWebEngine or, even Android apps documentation.
better, using the [Link]
Chris re-enabled custom user If you're a device porter with wrapper. OTHER FIXES
agents in the browser and added a Android 7 devices and they *don't*
checkbox which allows you to support video recording yet, ask in With Oxide removed, any This release also features a
"Always Deny" location access to a the UBports Porting group on applications which depend on it number of less mainstream fixes
webpage. He also fixed the Telegram. It might only need a directly will cease to function. Apps that are all exciting to us.
webpage zoom controller, fixing a couple of configuration changes to which used [Link] may still
problem where the page's zoom enable camcorder on your device. work, but will likely have unforseen Marius fixed auto-brightness
didn't always follow your settings. problems. If you're an app support on Android 9 devices like
Changes for app developers developer and you've got an app the Volla Phone.
It is now easier than ever to use Qt 5.12 brings its own changes which depends on Oxide, we can
Morph in a tablet or desktop to app development, including a help you make the transition to Jami Kettunen added support
situation. Tabs are taller and easier number of performance QtWebEngine. Find us at for controlling the flashlight on
to hit, and the browser won't rotate improvements and new features. [Link], Snapdragon 835 and 845 devices.
itself whenever its window is taller However, we also removed the (at)UbuntuAppDevEN on Telegram,
full circle magazine #167 48 contents ^
UBPORTS TOUCH
Lionel Duboeuf added support Catalan keyboard layout, making it We broke Daniel Kutka's fix to the alarm's "snooze" functionality,
for animated images to the default far more consistent. Joan also tab previews in morph-browser and new keyboard layouts. It should
Messaging application. He also created the release mascot for with the Qt 5.12 transition. Luckily, be exciting, even if it isn't a
fixed a number of problems with OTA-16, the tangram cat. This he came back to fix it again. blockbuster.
recording audio, playing back audio, release truly was like a cat: All was
and timing across the core apps. quiet, until it was suddenly a "NotKit" has mostly been
complete mess. Everything was all working on pushing Ubuntu Touch
Ratchanan was essential to over the place for a while. But onto new, interesting devices. You'll
finding and fixing an issue with eventually, it settled down and all see his work mainly on GitLab in the
seemingly random segmentation was beautiful once again. "Community Ports" section.
faults and "Stack Smashing However, he snuck in a fix for
detected" errors in this release. The Mateo Salta made some quality- showing the correct device name in
cause was actually an incredibly of-life tweaks in Morph Browser the "About" page on some Android
convoluted web of assumptions and system-settings, including 9 devices.
between Android's bionic libc and moving the "Update Settings" pane
our glibc which couldn't be of the Updates plugin from a WHAT'S NEXT?
mediated by Libhybris (and not a strange bottom edge control to the
single case of stack smashing or header bar. Unfortunately, this release
segmentation violation). That marks a slight slowing-down period
might be worth a blog post Alfred found and fixed an for Ubuntu Touch updates. We still
someday... AppArmor error when using plan to issue Ubuntu Touch releases
QTemporaryFile after the Qt 5.12 every 6 to 8 weeks as usual, but the
"natur-produkt" fixed switching transition. He also made the Xperia changes between releases will
the mobile data SIM in some cases X a stellar device to use every day likely be less pronounced. This is
on Android 9 devices. by improving its battery life and due to our continuing work building
general stability. In particular, the Ubuntu Touch based on Ubuntu
Between his work on TELEports device always wakes on the first try 20.04, which will better prepare us
(the Ubuntu Touch Telegram client) with the power button and always for the long-term future.
and six new device ports, Florian wakes for calls and messages.
made it possible to rotate the That said, there is already plenty
"spinner" splash screen upside- Caleb Connolly took some time in store for OTA-17. On the list of
down. Who knew some devices had out of his fervent work on mainline proposed updates is a navigation
their screens installed upside- Linux for the OnePlus 6 to fix haptic history feature when pressing and
down? and LED feedback on the device holding the Back or Forward
with hybris. buttons in Morph browser, fixes to
Joan "Cibersheep" fixed the
full circle magazine #167 49 contents ^
full circle magazine #167 50 contents ^
 MY STORY
Written by Graham James
Mapping With Inkscape
A while ago, a friend announced
that he was planning to write a
book about the Australian Army's
episodes. What follows is the basic
outline of how I produced the maps
together with some tips I picked up
Import dialog, choose Imbed and
From File. This imports our base
map and displays it on the screen. In
all of the one feature on its own
layer allows you to select all those
features and change the size, line
involvement in France during the along the way. the Layer list down the left side of style, text font, or whatever, in one
First World War. Having recently the screen you will see it named step.
retired with plenty of time on my GETTING STARTED ‘Layer 1’. Rename the layer to
hands, I volunteered to produce something like Background by right- CAPTURING LINEWORK
some maps to be included in the First thing is to find an existing clicking on the name. This layer will
book. During my working life, I had map of the area of interest. The not appear on the finished map, but I used the Draw Bezier Curves
been involved with Geographic extent of the map varies depending the features required will be and Straight Lines tool, and clicked
Information Systems (GIS) and on whether this is for a specific transferred onto new layers. on the start of a line then double-
assumed that the open-source battle or a larger area showing clicked on the end point. This gave
product QGIS would be just what troop movements. Sometimes the LAYERS me a straight line between the two
was needed. Very soon I realised author was able to supply a copy of points. Zoom in at one end and
that was not the case. It does an the ‘Trench Map’ used by the army I found the more layers I had the using the Edit Paths by Nodes tool,
excellent job of storing and editing at the time, but, more often, I better. Starting with the first double-click on the new line to
the location and overlaying of started with a list of towns that background layer, I added separate create a node then drag it to the
masses of geographic information. were in the area. I found a Map of layers for every type of feature to correct position. Repeat this
What I needed as well was full France website ([Link]- be shown: coastlines, roads, procedure until you get to the
control over the layout of textual [Link]) very useful here as it railways, rivers, lakes, woods, troop other end. This is what it looks like
information such as town names, allows searching French towns by start positions, end positions, part way through, capturing part of
military positions, and movements. name, but there are many other movement arrows, and more. Roads the France-Belgium border.
websites that can be used. I was and railways actually had two layers
So I turned to Inkscape and surprised how often the same name – see below. I usually ended with up
worked my way through the first was used for two or three towns in to 20 layers on each map.
dozen or so instalments of Mark different parts of the country. Once
Crutch’s tutorials starting in Full I found the area I wanted, I would Even though the final result was
Circle issue 61 back in May 2012. take a screenshot and save it as a to be a black-and-white map, I often
This gave me all I needed to get jpg file. used colors while capturing the
started – sorry Mark but black-and- linework – blue for water, red for
white maps printed on paper don’t Now start up Inkscape and roads, black for railways, etc, then
make use of the latest 100+ Import the saved JPG file. On the changed them to black later. Having

full circle magazine #167 51 contents ^

MY OPINION
of Inkscape tutorials and was able Often (well always), they
to find what I needed. For instance, needed changes so he would print
ROADS AND RAILWAYS TOWNS a wooded area is usually shown them out, mark the changes in
covered by little tree symbols. To pencil, scan that, and send it back
Depending on the scale of your Again these change with the
achieve this, I zoomed right in, and, as another JPG file. I would add this
map, the road may appear as a scale, sometimes shown as dots,
on yet another layer, drew a tiny as a new layer to Inkscape, and
single line, but most of the battle sometimes with a black border and
tree, and made a copy of it a little stretch it so that it was the same
plans were drawn at a larger scale, a shade of grey inside. Be aware of
above and to the right. Then, using size as the original, making sure to
requiring roads to be shown as two where the town layer is in the list,
the technique described in the retain the same aspect ratio. This
parallel lines, with a gap between. depending on whether you want to
Inkscape Tutorial on patterns-for- step was often repeated several
After some experimentation, I see other features visible through
mechanical-drawings, I was able to times.
found the easy way to achieve this the town or have the town
produce an acceptable result.
was to start with a single black line, obscuring anything underneath.
Another tutorial on drawing ropes Eventually, we were both happy,
thick enough to cover the whole When I was showing the towns as
helped me create and use a symbol and a final JPG file was produced to
width of the road, as my Roadsides dots, I would use the circle tool to
to show trenches (there were a lot send to the publisher. Altogether,
layer. Then duplicate that layer, draw one and fill it with black, then
of them in that war). over 30 maps were produced for
rename it as road centres, change copy it for all the other towns to
the book which is now awaiting
the color to white, and decrease make sure they were all the same
publication. Here is a sample of a
the width a little to allow the edge size.
finished map.
of the roadsides layer to show
through. As you can see below, Town names (and any other text)
road intersections are handled as usually need to be on a higher level,
they should be. so the name is not covered up by
other features. I found getting the
size and position of text was
surprisingly time consuming. OUTPUT AND EDITS
The only way to save your work
WOODS, TRENCHES AND in Inkscape – so you can work on it
SPECIAL SYMBOLS later – is as an SVG file. However,
when sending my (draft) maps to
While Inkscape comes with a the author, he needed JPG files.
good selection of line styles and Inkscape can export only to PNG
Railways are just as easy, just area shades, it does not have much files, which I then converted to JPG
use a dashed white line as your in the way of mapping symbols. using GIMP and emailed them to
railway centre. Here I searched through the range him.

full circle magazine #167 52 contents ^

 HOW-TO
Written by Ronnie Tucker
Write For Full Circle Magazine
GUIDELINES • Images should be JPG, no wider REVIEWS
than 800 pixels, and use low

T he single rule for an article is compression.

that it must somehow be GAMES/APPLICATIONS
linked to Ubuntu or one of the • Do not use tables or any type of When reviewing games/applications please state clearly:
many derivatives of Ubuntu bold or italic formatting.
(Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc). • title of the game
• who makes the game
If you are writing a review, • is it free, or a paid download?
RULES please follow these guidelines : • where to get it from (give download/homepage URL)
• is it Linux native, or did you use Wine?
• There is no word limit for articles,
• your marks out of five
but be advised that long articles
When you are ready to submit • a summary with positive and negative points
may be split across several issues.
your article please email it to:
articles@[Link] HARDWARE
• For advice, please refer to the
Official Full Circle Style Guide: When reviewing hardware please state clearly:
[Link] TRANSLATIONS
• make and model of the hardware
• Write your article in whichever If you would like to translate Full • what category would you put this hardware into?
software you choose, I would Circle into your native language • any glitches that you may have had while using the hardware?
recommend LibreOffice, but most please send an email to • easy to get the hardware working in Linux?
importantly - PLEASE SPELL AND ronnie@[Link] and • did you have to use Windows drivers?
GRAMMAR CHECK IT! we will either put you in touch with • marks out of five
an existing team, or give you access • a summary with positive and negative points
• In your article, please indicate to the raw text to translate from.
where you would like a particular With a completed PDF, you will be
image to be placed by indicating able to upload your file to the main
Full Circle site.
You don't need to be an expert to write an
the image name in a new paragraph
or by embedding the image in the article - write about the games, applications
ODT (Open Office) document. and hardware that you use every day.

full circle magazine #167 53 contents ^

 REVIEW
Written by Ronnie Tucker
Entroware Ares
M y old PC was starting to really
show its age. It was so old I
don’t even remember when I got it,
• UK Power Lead
• 3 year warranty
• Logitech keyboard & mouse
instantly. For some reason,
Entroware needs 7 days to process
a payment. It does tell you this on
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED
or how I got it. It was time for an = £774.97 their ‘Ordering Information’ page,
The machine arrived via DPD in a
upgrade, and I wanted to support but really… it should tell you this
big box. Plenty of padding. In the
Linux PC suppliers. But I didn’t want One negative thing I do want to on the page when you’re about to
box was the Ares, and required
a laptop. The screens are too small highlight here is their way of taking click to pay. I thought something
cables. But, also a nice little sheet
for my aging eyes. Eventually, I payment. I paid using my regular was wrong when my order said
of Ubuntu stickers, an Entroware
went with Entroware. bank/credit card. I use this same ‘processing payment’ for a couple
pen, and Entroware branded pad.
card with Amazon, eBay, etc, and of days. But for some reason PayPal
Nice!
ENTROWARE ARES everyone gets their money is almost instant. Very strange.

Entroware doesn’t have a large

choice of machines. They have an
all-in-one unit and two desktop
tower machines. Since I’m not
gaming, and looking to save space, I
went with the Ares. It’s an all-in-one
unit. The only thing I customised in
my Ares was to up the RAM from As you’d expect for an all-in-one
8GB to 16GB. I stuck with the it has a base to allow it to stand on
240GB SSD drive as I have other your desk, but I mounted mine on a
plans for my storage. I did add a wall bracket with an arm.
keyboard and mouse, but more on
that later. On the left side of the screen is
the on/off button. Right side has
The final spec: two USB ports. The on/off button
• Core i3-10100 4.3GHz [4 cores, 8 does baffle me a bit. If you press it,
threads] you immediately get the option to
• 16GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM shut the machine down. There
• 240GB SSD doesn’t seem to be any way to keep
• Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
full circle magazine #167 54 contents ^
REVIEW
it running but turn the screen off! before. So I activated that. preinstalled stuff, I did notice that
When the machine is first Entroware has a nice little support
One downside I have to mention switched on you are presented with hub app which is nice.
about the hardware is the the first of several Ubuntu installer
placement of the other ports. screens. It’s all easy, basic, stuff. Set
There are two USB ports on one your language, region, username
side of the screen. Which is good and password, the usual stuff. I
for easy access. The remaining USB won’t bore you with screens of
ports, HDMI, network port and every step. If you’ve installed
power are at the bottom of the Ubuntu, then you’ve seen these
screen, but two inches up. So you screens before. READY TO GO
have to tilt the screen WAY back to
even hope of seeing the ports. So With all that done, it’s now into There doesn’t seem to be any
plugging things in at the bottom of the desktop. bloatware, just the basic Ubuntu
the screen takes a fair bit of installed software.
fumbling around.
SNAP TIP: one thing I noticed when
KEYBOARD & MOUSE installing software in Ubuntu these
days is that it installs a lot of snaps.
I checked the box to include a This gave me grief (not Entroware’s
Logitech keyboard and mouse. This Once you’re into Ubuntu it’s fault) when I tried to open files
added £25 to my order. I was time to do a bit of Ubuntu setup. from external drives in things like
gobsmacked to see that they’ve First is to connect any online GIMP. When you install something
included a WIRED keyboard and accounts. I did add my Google Time to check and make sure I in the Ubuntu Software app, it
mouse! Why not include a account. got what I ordered. finishes installing and the buttons
Bluetooth or wireless keyboard and at the top say ‘Open’ and
mouse? I mean I did pay £25! It ‘Permissions’, then make sure you
takes up two USB ports when it click Permissions and set it how you
could have been Bluetooth and like with regards to read/write
used none. And at £25 it was a total external drives and with/without
rip off. I could have bought a wired print access.
set off Amazon for less than half
that. For storage, what I’ve done is
put all my files on a USB external
Next, you set up Livepatch. While looking through the 1TB hard drive and have another
FIRST BOOT Which, being honest, I’d never seen 1TB drive to hold backups. The only
full circle magazine #167 55 contents ^
REVIEW
thing stored on the Ares is my take an Entroware screen where PROS:
Dropbox and Spideroak files. I’ve no idea what it’s doing). I’ve • Ubuntu pre-installed
Dropbox doesn’t like being used the HDMI port on the Ares • Screen is lovely and big and bright
installed on the external drives (for (shown right in the photo) for a • Free stickers, pen and pad!
some reason), and Spideroak plops second monitor (left in the photo) • Entroware support hub to help
its folder on the machine by default which works perfectly. with any issues
and trying to move it is more hassle
than it’s worth. Of course, to clarify, Make no mistake, I could have
none of that is Entroware’s fault. gone with an £800 desktop machine
CONS:
• Extra 7 days wait for card payment
with a nice graphics card which
• Keyboard and mouse is daylight
CONCLUSION would have been more than
robbery!
capable of playing modern games, Ronnie is the founder and (somehow)
• Placement of the bottom ports is
I’m very happy with the but I really don’t play any games still the editor of Full Circle Magazine.
a bit fiddly He's a part-time artist and his work
Entroware Ares. The screen is these days. My Ares can easily
• No way to turn just the screen off? can be seen at
lovely and big and bright. It whizzes handle Minetest and that’s good [Link]
Really?
along and I reckon Ubuntu boots enough for me.
within about 12 seconds (give or

full circle magazine #167 56 contents ^

 BOOK REVIEW
Written by Erik Learn Linux Quickly
documentation and help tools. The That said, this is not a ‘read’

T
book shows you how to manage his book should have been book but a ‘do’ book. You gain
users and groups, and takes you named: working at the terminal, nothing from reading the book
through the process of installing and your first 100 commands. alone. This book covers about 100
managing software on Linux Thankfully, the “Linux history” is bash commands, and a few pages
systems. As you advance, you'll kept to one page. on editors and other packages.
discover how you can interact with Though I looked forward to this
Linux processes, and troubleshoot The book tries a bit too hard book, it turned out very dry and
network problems, before learning sometimes, that it almost ends up semi-formal (and a horrible font to
the art of writing bash scripts and in confusion. Let me give you an boot). Technically, the information
automating administrative tasks example. This spaghetti (below) is correct and covers the basic
with Cron jobs. In addition to this, illustrates the ‘.’ and ‘..’ files in the usage, yet I felt a bit skimped,
you'll get to create your own Linux directory structure. Should I frown? compared to other books on the
commands and analyze various disk subject. No insights, no fun, four
management techniques.“ lines of text explaining what was
next, and printed examples of
directory listings and screen
Web Page: https:// outputs. Here and there I found a
[Link]/cloud- few nuggets, but I also felt like a
networking/learn-linux-quickly prospector. After a few chapters I
caught myself skimming.
Price: 27 USD to 39 USD
As for the Quickly part, I am not
Blurb: “This Linux book is a practical quite convinced, but I can say that it
guide that lets you explore the power is faster than using the “Linux
of the Linux command-line interface. Bible”. I would place this one as a
Starting with the history of Linux, book for someone who has some
you'll quickly progress to the Linux Linux experience, but it is his first
filesystem hierarchy and learn a or second year with the OS. It is not
variety of basic Linux commands. quite a “reference” book either, and
You'll then understand how to make not as quick as “Learn Linux in
use of the extensive Linux 24hrs”. What I did like was that the

full circle magazine #167 57 contents ^

BOOK REVIEW
book did not have four warnings have a Linux computer or VM, but I suggest “Learn Linux in 5 days” by
and four tip blocks per page – would counter by saying that if you Jason Canon, Which is basically the
breaking your stride, which is why I do not have these things, you same book, with clear-to-read
like Packt and No Starch Press should not pick up this book. fonts, lots of screenshots, and only
books. about 200 pages.
As this book covers mainly bash
I am going to pick a spot and tell commands, it follows that once you I will put this book in the back of
you what is there and what is have learned these commands, a my Linux bookshelf.
missing. Under the heading: good idea would be to bring it all
“Corrupting and fixing filesystems”, together in bash scripting at the Was I unfair, did I make a
you are shown how to corrupt a end. Maybe do something useful or mistake? Let us know on:
filesystem and how to fix it. What “real world” examples, like misc@[Link]
you are *not told, is why you need automating docker or something.
to unmount the filesystem. You are One would think, but the scripting
just told to unmount it. I am a why is squirrelled away in the middle
person; as a kid, I took things apart somewhere, and has “hello friend”
not only to see what was inside, but and “hello world” over it instead of
why it was the way it was. Once I scripts deploying users or filling a
understood, even more or less database with dummy info or
what was going on, I could repair it. whatnot. The exercises at the end
Everyone thought it was a ‘smart’ of each chapter are short ‘n silly,
kid fixing their radio’s at seven like a few true/false questions. I did
years old, but I knew why it was not really care for them. As for
broken and smart had nothing to “creating your own Linux
do with it. The same principle commands”, it’s just alias. I can say I
applies here; if you tell your readers was disappointed.
why, they will put two and two
together and the “how” will be a lot At the end of the day, the book
easier. I realise there is a section on teaches you bash commands with
man pages, but just a little more some sides, like meat and salad, no
explaining and a little less directory veggies or starch. It does not do Erik has been in IT for 30+ years. He
listing is what this book needs. Yes, what it says on the label. Grab this has seen technology come and go.
almost every page has either a book on discount for a fiver, but I From repairing washing machine sized
hard drives with multimeters and
directory listing or a few terminal would not pay full price for it.
oscilloscopes, laying cable, to scaling
outputs. I suppose you could say 3G towers, he's done it.
that this is for people who do not As an alternative, I would
full circle magazine #167 58 contents ^
 Join us on:
LETTERS
If you would like to submit a letter for publication, compliment
or complaint, please email it to: letters@[Link].
PLEASE NOTE: some letters may be edited for space.
[Link]/
fullcirclemagazine

[Link]/#!/fullcirclemag

[Link]/company/full-
circle-magazine

[Link]/
[Link]?f=270

FULL CIRCLE NEEDS YOU!

Without reader input
Full Circle would be an
empty PDF file (which I don't
think many people would find
particularly interesting). We are
always looking for articles,
reviews, anything! Even small
things like letters and desktop
screens help fill the magazine.

See the article Writing for Full

Circle in this issue to read our
basic guidelines.

Have a look at the last page of

any issue to get the details of
where to send your
contributions.

full circle magazine #167 59 contents ^

 Q&A
Compiled by EriktheUnready
If you have a Linux question, email it to: questions@[Link],
and Erik will answer them in a future issue. Please include as much
information as you can about your query.

W elcome back to another

edition of Questions and
Answers! In this section, we will
to receive them. (There was a delay,
as they have to clear EFTs with
head office.) I called to find out if I
handshakes when the company
folds, workers get retrenched... (am
I wrong?). Linux and most of its
to quickly be able to have the same
machine.

endeavour to answer your Ubuntu

questions. Be sure to add details of
the version of your operating
can collect yet. I was paired with
another customer who was calling
about his M$-office license. We
related applications are free. Would
it hurt you to donate a coffee to a
developer of your favourite
A : The easiest way I know of is to
open Synaptic, mark all the
packages that you want, and
system and your hardware. I will try realised we were 2 customers and application(s)??? OR... Would you Synaptic will mark the
to remove any personally went about calling again. Again, we rather he/she develops for Macs – dependencies for you. You then
identifiable strings from questions, got matched. Eventually I asked him for the crumbs from the Apple simply click on ‘file’ and ‘generate
but it is best not to include things what the issue was. He said he was store? download script’. Name it, and save
like serial numbers, UUIDs or IP in a farming community, and it to your thumb drive. You need to
addresses. If your question does bought office licenses, and it does install Synaptic only on the PC you
not appear immediately, it is just
because there is such a lot, and I do
not work. I offered to help and
within a minute we had it sorted via Q :wallpapers?
Hey man, how can I get more
Is it possible to get
are making your script on.

them, first-come-first-served. Anydesk. I immediately had a new all back issues of the Ubuntu
client and they lost one. All because
they did not pay a receptionist
wallpapers going back all the way
to Warty? Thanks. Q :keep
I tried your tutorials, but I
getting “Couldn't open a
NOTE: Guys, with the latest Google minimum wage, and entrusted raw socket. Error: Permission
hack, my Gmail accounts are all in
limbo, if you sent me any messages
there, I will get to those only when
automated machinery to handle
their calls. I am not saying
automation is bad, but some things
A : Open the Synaptic package
manager and do a search for
wallpapers. Tick them all and install
denied (13)” with nmap. I have
obviously installed it wrong, but I
even tried the administrative
it unfreezes again. require a human touch. Would that and enjoy! command-line and still nothing. I
CEO miss 10 grand a month off his tried with Ubuntu 18 and 20.
salary to pay someone to answer

S o, the other day my boss got me

to order some cell phones for a
client. One of the retail stores was
the phone? Definitely not. Taking
10 grand from all the upper
management salaries and
Q :mundane,
My question may be a bit
but I need to know. I
want to make a script of
A : “Administrative command
line” is telling. You will get that
error in WSL as windows took that
2k cheaper than everyone else – employing an army of receptionists, applications PLUS their away long ago “to prevent hackers
probably incorrect pricing, but we would not even dent their strides. dependencies for installation, so using windows to hack with”. SMH.
bought anyway. I think they Losing customers will hurt that I can copy it to a USB stick and
realized afterwards, but by then we everyone else in the company. use it over and over. I currently hop
had already paid and were waiting CEOs walk away with golden between Ubuntu distros and want

full circle magazine #167 60 contents ^

Q&A
Q :with
Guy, I am getting so frustrated
Q : My dual booted computer become attached to Runecats
Xubuntu 18.04 and VLC. I
have tearing ¾ down the screen. All
(Ubuntu 20.04 + Windows 10)
has the following error. “Dirty bit is Q :setting
Hi, quick one. Some things like
fan speeds and fast
Roccat. Is here a way I can make it
work in Ubuntu? (This will influence
the stuff about composters and the set. FS was not properly charging are missing in Ubuntu, my choice of distro).
like is not working. It is noticeable unmounted and some data may be that I could do with Windows,
even with MP4 files. I download an
ASMR video from youtube, and the
corrupt.” before. How can I get that Lenovo
control panel in Ubuntu to use A : You need to check a few
things first, like: does Ubuntu
playback is torn. It’s not even H.264.
My laptop is an i5 with 8GB of A : Usually, that happens when
the Windows partition did not
those functions? still support PowerPC? As far as I
know, Roccat browser is Mac only,

A
memory and a 256GB SSD. No shut down cleanly. However, it : You can try installing the meaning it will not run on Ubuntu
proprietary cards or drivers. This could be the Ubuntu filesystem, but application with WINE or you and as the code is not open source,
should not happen. it is an 80/20 chance that it’s can contact the manufacturer. you can’t even compile it yourself.
Windows. Fsck your linux partition, Those kinds of things are usually

A : Step1: set VLC video output to

“OpenGL video output”.
Step2: With sudo, create a
and run ‘chkdsk /f’ on your windows
one.
proprietary, so it takes a while to
filter to FOSS.
Q :remix.
I am trying out Ubuntu Unity
I would like to edit the
folder and file here: /etc/X11/ menu a bit. How would I do that?
[Link].d/[Link] . Put this
Q :from
I am new to Xubuntu, I come
Q :I After catching up on Mr Robot,
code inside that file and reboot:

Section "Device"
Windows 8, where I used
Total Commander to bulk rename
my files, for instance removing
installed Kali Linux next to my
Ubuntu install. I want to keep my A : I am not sure. You would have
to see what menu the remix
uses. If you want to catch some fish
Ubuntu PPA repositories. Is there a
Identifier "Intel Graphics" those numbers and letters from way for me to quickly transfer them on dry land, you can try alacarte.
Youtube videos if you grab the from one install to the other, Otherwise, I found this: https://
Driver "intel" whole playlist. I have looked at [Link]/24626-how-to-
without having to boot between
Option "AccelMethod" [Link], but I don’t get along the two? edit-application-menu-in-ubuntu/
"sna" with those file commanders.

A
Option "TearFree" : Simply, no, and don’t do it, as Maybe one of our readers can
"true"

EndSection
A : Thunar is actually very capable
there; simply select all the files
you wish to rename, and use the
you will break your Kali
updates.
help?

[Link]
automation, like remove 8
Q :butMyalso
question is ubuntu related,
[Link]/Intel_graphics#Tear-
free_video
characters from the end and you
should be golden - without Q :goodbye
It has become time to say
to Leopard on my
not quite, so if you
don’t answer, it is OK too. We have
downloading and installing extra Quad G5. Ubuntu seems to be my recently converted to solar energy
software. preferred distro. I say ‘seems to be’ with gel batteries. I sit up late at
as I have not yet installed it. I have night on my computer, when the
full circle magazine #167 61 contents ^
Q&A
power is low. I don’t want to drain
the batteries too quickly. My friend
suggested I use Ubuntu to lessen
tried more than 10 times to
download e-sword and install it. I
am not a fundi, but I feel very dumb
A : I am a bit unsure what you
want, but I assume it is that
Chrome has more screen real
A : Install ‘Stacer’ and use its
uninstaller to remove the
applications. You should be able to
my power usage. However, I am not here. estate. Click on the hamburger see all installed applications. I do
sure if it is Ubuntu, Kubuntu, menu in the top right, choose suggest that you run a sudo apt-get
Xubuntu, etc, that I should use. Can
you point me in the right direction
pls?
A : Are you using crossover or
wine? Why don’t you save
yourself the trouble and install
customize. Then look at the
bottom-left and take the tick off
“title bar” and you should have a
autoremove from the terminal once
you are done to clean up orphans. (I
am almost sure the clean-up option
Xiphos? It is compatible with e- Chrome look-alike. in Stacer does not do that).

A : The biggest draw would be

your PSU, don’t use a 750W
sword and is Linux native. E-sword
is Windows only and I do not see a
when a 250W will do. Secondly, wine bottle for it.
Q :well
I have a 2GB swap partition as
check out wattOS. (I read
somewhere it is making a return).
as a 2GB swap file. I see
that system monitor shows that my Q :server
I want to back up a Centos
to import into a new
Based on Ubuntu, but optimised for
minimal power usage. Q : Help! What does this mean? E:
Malformed entry 37 in list file /
swap space is 2GB. How do I know
which one it is using?
Ubuntu server. I am new to all this,
and don’t want to skip any open
etc/apt/[Link] (Component) E: files in use. How can I see that?
The list of sources could not be
read. E: _cache->open() failed. A : Open a terminal and type: Also, who is on the server so I can
ask them to log off before I back

Q : Why can’t I update from swapon -s up.

Voyager - Ubuntu package
based - 18.04 to 20.04? I am quite A : Go to line 37 in your
[Link] and comment it
A : Linux is not Windows, you can
upset about this. out. (Use a # at the beginning of
the line). Don’t just add sources
Q : I added some applications via
Gdebi via downloaded *.deb
have multiple access to a file.
That said, you can have a look at

A : Theoretically, it is possible, without knowing they are for files. I needed space on my SSD and what is running with ps (use ps
but they say on their website Ubuntu. deleted all my debs. How do I now -aux). You can simply type w to see
that there is no upgrade path. You uninstall them easily? who is on. Depending on your
need to back up and do a fresh backup software, you can create a
Also I am not sure what they all
install of 20.04, then make a user
with the same name and copy your Q :more
How can I make Firefox look
like Chrome in Ubuntu? It were, so trying to download them
snapshot as-is even if someone is
busy editing a document.
backed up user in again. See it as an just seems dated compared to one-by-one to uninstall is not an
opportunity to start fresh. Chrome. I can’t waste bandwidth option. I am not too sure of myself
at the terminal, so I would like to
having to update Chrome on a daily
basis. avoid it if I can. Thank you. Q :hasI want to know something that
been bothering me. Is

Q :18.04.
I am currently still on Ubuntu
My issue is that I have
POPOS Ubuntu or not? Why should
I choose it over normal Ubuntu?
full circle magazine #167 62 contents ^
Q&A

A : Yes, currently POP OS is

Ubuntu - with extras to make
your life simpler with their
hardware. Have a look here: https://
[Link]/pop-os-vs-ubuntu/

Q :server
Why did Ubuntu change the
install?

A : Not sure, we are not at

Ubuntu, but a community
magazine, more information here:
[Link]
server-installer-plans-for-20-04-lts/
13631

Erik has been in IT for 30+ years. He

has seen technology come and go.
From repairing washing machine sized
hard drives with multimeters and
oscilloscopes, laying cable, to scaling
3G towers, he's done it.

full circle magazine #167 63 contents ^

 UBUNTU GAMES
Written by Erik Nebuchadnezzar
Website: [Link] resources. Just don’t go insane like small city, does not work for a
nebuchadnezzar/ Nebuchadnezzar did! Sounds like So your first task as king of medium city, etc. How you
something you would like to play, Baby-lonia, excuse the pun, is to get overcome these problems is what
Price: $ 19.99 USD then read on! your fledgling kingdom off the makes the game challenging and
ground. You need to plan, however; interesting.
Blurb: “Nebuchadnezzar is a classic INSTALLATION your grain needs to get to the mill,
isometric city builder game, inviting and there needs to be a road from The game is presented to you in
players to experience the mysterious I used the GOG installer for this the mill to the baker, as well as a an isometric view. The graphics are
history and culture of ancient one. Though this game has a road from the housing district, so just awesome. The game is true to
Mesopotamia. In the campaign, minimum install requirement of that people can go get bread. You its roots, and there is no 3D. I am a
players get to rule over influential Ubuntu 18.04, you cannot run it on always have to balance supply and fan of isometric games, so I was
historical cities filled with Ubuntu 18.04 as the game was demand. To understand this, look at fine with it, but those who have
magnificent monuments.” compiled against glibc 2.29, which a modern version of this game, grown up with 3D everything may
is not available in Ubuntu 18.04 Frostpunk. If you have not tried have an issue with it. The viewport

I f you remember Pharaoh or

Caesar or Zues, this is more of
that, in high resolution. If you have
because of dependencies. Frostpunk yet, why not? It is a great
game. The secret to the game: as
your city grows, what worked for a
is locked to one view only. The
scaling is much better than other
games of this type, and your little
never played these types of games, people are well animated. Building
it is essentially a city builder. If you monuments grants prestige, and
have, this is a homage to those they look amazing, and the sense of
games with a perfect replication of scale really helps with the
the fun you had in 1999. immersion. (I think I will try for the
tower of Babylon!).
I have always loved that name,
such a strong name. The music is there, in the
Nebuchadnezzar! (Say it again, background, and stays there. It has
oooh gives me chills... hehehe). The that Arabian nights feel, and suits
premise is simple, your royal the desert setting perfectly. I
highness has to lead his people by would have preferred a full
building them a city, with soundtrack for $20, but it is not a
monuments to yourself of course, deal breaker.
all the while managing space and

full circle magazine #167 64 contents ^

UBUNTU GAMES
What was amazing, is the wiki lacking. There is no innovation, I cannot, in good conscience, tell
built into the game regarding Unlike SimCity, these types of there is only a higher resolution you to splurge $20 on this. I’d wait
ancient Babylonia. If ever you games introduce tiers, where, say, from Zeus that I played twenty until it is on sale before buying it.
needed facts on anything at the first tier you need only food years ago. That was a bit
Babylonian or about the area, skip and shelter, the next tier may be disappointing. That said, there is If you are nostalgic, I
Wikipedia and come straight here. religion, and now you need temples nothing “wrong” with the game, recommend looking here:
My advice is not to skip the and different resources to but there is that “it would have
campaign briefings as they really progress. You can also regress to a been nice” that is missing, if you [Link]
fill out the imagination. You will previous tier, if you can not keep up know what I mean. It still is a time augustus
realise that you start long before with supply and demand. Tier two sink, where you can while away a
Nebuchadnezzar, probably even may need fountains and gardens to lazy Sunday afternoon without or
before Nabopolasser, and it maintain the status quo, and to noticing it. If your intention is
definitely was an eye-opener for have those you may need different nostalgia, the game does not [Link]
me. This is such a value-add for me, resources still, making the micro disappoint. You can simply drop in
but if you don’t like random management more intense. Twenty and play, without reading a manual. The Caesar games are also $5.99
factoids about history, you may get years ago, this type of gameplay The mechanics are simple and easy on GOG at the time of writing.
bored. To immerse yourself further, was the norm; now, however, it to learn, making the entry to the
I suggest watching some videos on feels more of an armchair general game accessible to all. Like the
YouTube regarding the ruins. See: situation. Again, if I compare it to a games that came before it, there is
[Link] modern version of the genre, like some replay value, but not much.
v=ya1Io0F468c Frostpunk, the gameplay feels

full circle magazine #167 65 contents ^

 PATRONS
MONTHLY PATRONS Oscar Rivera Gavin Thompson
Paul Anderson Brian Kelly The current site was created thanks to
Alex Crabtree Paul Readovin Ronald Eike Lucas Westermann (ex-Command &
Alex Popescu Rino Ragucci Michael Grugel Conquer) who took on the task of
Rob Fitzgerald Glenn Nelson completely rebuilding the site, and
Andy Garay scripts, from scratch, in his own time.
Bill Berninghausen Roy Milner David Dignall
Bob C Scott Mack Lee Whitehead The Patreon page is to help pay the
Brian Bogdan Sony Varghese Dan Prizner domain and hosting fees. The yearly
Taylor Conroy target was quickly reached thanks to
CBinMV those listed on this page. The money
Darren Tom Bell 2021: also helps with the new mailing list that I
Dennis Mack Tony Floyd Smith set up.
Devin McPherson Vincent Jobard Dale Reisfield
Volker Bradley Jan Ågren Several people have asked for a PayPal
Doug Bruce (single donation) option, so I’ve added a
Elizabeth K. Joseph William von Hagen Linda Prinsen button to the right side of the website
Eric Meddleton melvyn smith
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Raymond Mccarthy used Patreon and the PayPal button.
George Smith SINGLE DONATIONS It’s a HUGE help.
Henry D Mills
Hugo Sutherland 2020:
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fullcirclemagazine
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JT Frank Dinger [Link]
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Lee Allen Daniel Rojo
Leo Paesen Frits van Leeuwen
Linda P Peter Swentzel
Mark Shuttleworth Anthony Cooper [Link]
Norman Phillips Dale Reisfield monthly-donation
full circle magazine #167 66 contents ^
 Full Circle Team

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE Editor - Ronnie Tucker

ronnie@[Link]
FCM#168 Webmaster -
FULL CIRCLE NEEDS YOU! Deadline:
A magazine isn't a magazine without articles and Full Circle is no admin@[Link]
Sunday 11th Apr. 2021.
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Friday 30th Apr. 2021.
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We are always looking for new articles to include in Full Circle. For help and advice please Dyer and Emily Gonyer
see the Official Full Circle Style Guide: [Link]
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full circle magazine #167 67 contents ^