We've had a complicated relationship. In the early days it was great - you made the web better, and you brought about games and videos that couldn't be done in any other way. Well, I spent some time hanging out with RealPlayer, which was pretty good when I had dialup and I could listen to foreign radio stations. Those were good days. But RealPlayer gained weight and became annoying.
Remember the days when Paul used to post reports here of his holidays? Yes, I miss them too. So much, in fact, that I've decided to have a natter about my escapades in central/eastern Europe (depending on your definition). So, pull up a chair, grab yourself a nice warm bowl of Halušky and enjoy.
As we've just posted over on TuxRadar, we're looking to revive the "Anatomy of a Geek Desktop" section in the magazine. The idea is simple: you send a decent photo of your real, physical desktop (not a screenshot!) at 1600x1200 pixels, and 4MB or less please, to me. Also send some text describing your computer, the distro, your workspace and other bits 'n pieces. If it's awesome, we'll print it in the magazine and you'll be famous for the rest of your life. We look forward to seeing them!
Regular listeners to the TuxRadar podcast will know that I switched to Firefox 4 a few weeks ago, after a couple of happy years with Google Chrome. Initially I was very happy with Firefox's performance, and really wanted to like it, but... Well, read on.
Well, it looks like this Twitter thing is starting to take off, so I'd better put down my Z80 assembly language manual and get into the modern age. We've created a new Twitter account especially for the magazine, which we'll use to keep you in the loop with updates from Team LXF - when new issues go on sale, when subscribers get early access to PDFs, and so forth.
Follow us on @linuxformat now!
A few weeks ago we ran an Open Ballot on our sister site, TuxRadar, asking to hear your success stories in converting people to Linux. We planned to read out some of the best stories on our podcast (and we did), but there were so many awesome responses - so much positive news - that we've made it a permanent feature on the site, linked in the top bar.
Click here to view the messages, and please add your own success stories!
Hello! We've had thousands of threads on our Help forum with so many different solutions to common problems, and we're really grateful to our forum regulars for the help they provide. Well, Khakilang just came up with an awesome idea: a hints and tips forum. We've created a new place where you can share Linux knowledge you've gained - how to get a certain piece of hardware working, for instance, or how to install a particular program.
Click here to access the new forum and share your Linux wisdom with the world. Thanks!
Almost a year ago I wrote a blog post about an iPhone app I made called Fake Linux - it's a hoax app that makes it look like you've installed Linux on your iPhone, and so spits out boot messages, lets you run commands, and has various in-jokes for Linux users. It's just a bit of fun, but when I tested it on Team LXF everyone thought it was real, so it can't be bad ;)
Anyway, after me making another set of changes - mainly adding a new user interface for when the app starts - Apple has finally approved the app for sale worldwide. So, if you're an iPhone/iPod Touch owner and want to prank your friends, check it out: here's the link to the App Store.
I have just over a month left here at LXF Towers, so I'm busy clearing up my inbox, answering reader requests. One such request came in to put online the Linux Contradictionary, a side bar from the administeria section of LXF run by Dr Chris Brown, so here it is, in full:
Welcome to 2011! Here at LXF Towers we're putting the final touches to Linux Format issue 142, which will be in a bag and include something cool. We're not saying what this object of coolness is just yet, because life is all about surprises, but we know you'll find it useful.
