We showcase the 14 hottest distros for 2008 - find the best one for you!
Special 10 distro double-sided DVD, including Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, PCLinuxOS and more...
Arduino returns - cool hardware hacking for £30
Tutorials on MP3-ifying vinyl records, sorting photos, Ardour music editing, game programming and mail servers
Features
Distro heaven
Why does toast always land buttered-side down? How long is a piece of string? Why are there so many Linux distros, and what are they all for? Find out here... (Neil Bothwick) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Linux at CES
Lucky Blighter John takes the Linux temperature at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (John Brandon) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Hardware hacking revisited
Thanks to overwhelming popular demand, our hardware hacking feature is back. Here's a Simon-type game using the Arduino and a few LEDs. (Graham Morrison) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Ubuntu: Pick your passion
Explore the aims, software and philosophy behind the various Ubuntu spin-offs - Mint, Studio, Edubuntu and more. (John Brandon) Click here to read!
Coverdisc
10 distro special
8GB double-sided DVD with: Ubuntu 7.10, OpenSUSE 10.3 Live, Mandriva One 2008, Debian 4.0r2, Mepis 7.0, PCLinuxOS 2007, Knoppix 5.1.1, Fedora 8 Live, Zenwalk 4.8, Damn Small Linux 4.2.3. Plus: VirtualBox to try the distros via an emulated PC! (Mike Saunders) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
HotPicks
gscan2pdf, Bazaar, Labplot, Rosegarden, Frets on Fire, Fish Fillets NG, Freecycle, Q DVD Author (Graham Morrison) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Tutorials
First steps: rip MP3s from vinyl
Records are making a comeback, inspiring Andy to begin ripping his collection of vinyl to the computer for the first time... (Andy Channelle) Click here to read!
Photography: The Linux Studio
Part 2, Photo album managers - the best software to archive, maintain and search our digital images. (Dale Strickland-Clark) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Ardour: on the right track!
Part 2: We demonstrate how to add moretracks to the Ardour session, and show you how to export a complete song. (Daniel James) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Code project: a ball game
Part 4: In the final tutorial of this series, we take a lighter look at coding with a simple (but addictive) game... (Mike Saunders) Click here to read!
Build your own mailserver
Most people who use it haven't got the faintest clue how email actually works. Banish the darkness of ignorance today with our beacon of knowledge. (Chris Brown) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Reviews
Eve Online
Now that the biggest spacefaring massively multiplayer online game has a Linux client, Minmatar Orestis lets us know why we should be training up. (Orestis Bastounis) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Navicat 8
Want a cross-platform admin front-end for MySQL? Web-based interfaces not flexible enough? This might be the tool you need. (Marco Fioretti) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Shuttle LinuXPC
Graham lifts a thumb on the recently launched Linux Shuttle and test drives the pricier of its diminutive Linux offerings. (Graham Morrison) Click here to read!
Mandriva Flash 2008
Graham never saw the point of USB-based Linux distros, until Mandriva and a damsel in distress helped change his mind... (Graham Morrison) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Zenoss Core 2.1
Availability monitoring, event management, performance monitoring and IT inventory management combined? We'll take some convincing... (David Cartwright) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Lightweight window managers
Give your desktop a speed boost and discover a new way of working. Rated: aewm, Fluxbox, IceWM, Ion, lwm, Openbox, Ratpoison, Wmii (Mike Saunders) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
More
News: KDE goes fourth
New desktop environment puts pretty and practical to the fore. Plus: Microsoft opens up to Samba, $199 KPC from Shuttle, Sim Sity GPLed, Sun buys MySQL, Intel abandons OLPC (Andy Channelle) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
Distrowatch: Back to work
A taste of Linux distributions to come: Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Mandriva unveil early alphas. Plus: FreeBSD turns 7.0, Geubuntu, and source package statistics. (Ladislav Bodnar) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
What on Earth: PulseAudio
We explain why you might find this cross-platform sound server useful on your desktop... (Daniel James) Available as a PDF to subscribers.
