RASPBERRY PI DISTRO) €s? TA TT ae Or Slated aia yy Wee » Share & back up your data — oR » Host your own website = ar ree tea e Remote backups a with Duplicity is a pe M ell mi CA Wal ee aoa Get your €PPs on the Be bei = Inside Amahi £5 Behind the scenes with i CUTAN RS ae — re Se Cel ii 710 ean Sess aT rap appsand tools —_your Nexus 7. == eae EEveLOVel mel) Cana | Plus every RasPi distro tested! Rehr irate one » openSUSE 12.3 reviewed | el = i Heiner sa sees) -) » Build web apps with Python pra CaioMANAG 7. FILES Convert Print Create Mopiry & ComBINE Aspose.Words Aspose.Pdf DOC, DOCK, RTF, HTML, PDF, PDF, XML, XLS-FO, HTML, BMP. XPS & other document formats. JPG, PNG & other image formats. Aspose.Cells Aspose.Email XLS, XLSX, XLSM, XLTX, CSV, MSG, EML, PST, EMLX & SpreadsheetML & image formats. other formats. Aspose.BarCode Aspose.Slides JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIF, WMF, PPT, PPTX, POT, POTX. XPS, ICON & other image formats. HTML, PNG, PDF & other formats. {$con our QR Code ae G ASPOSE Facebook & Twitter Your File Format Experts ead EL) EU Sales: +44 (0) 141416 1112 _AU Sales: +61 2 8003 5926 pea) CL eka) Pee eee eetRichard Hillesley wivsauater. of museca, Unocand Fes sotaretor svar of Publestonsandeapre tarot LmaxUser Asal providnghausualmerthy falumn Gage 7).himerth Fcharderarenthadownallot Nano starting pages Kunal Deo icaversran opensource devioper Tenangmulpie opensource Projects Heteaioos KOE fevioporand ne corrbutad {prany pjetsinarg OC Solr SeanieansOpenoto, ‘Thierarthna she ho towrtewebaposinPyien ns ‘evloportitgalon pager S285. jam Fraser isecresorofne hogy popular RacpberyPruteriatsouTube aneeanateatinixseneracmin fortheRagpbery Foundation ThemonthLamhowsbuasg Aovloprshow to shareter ‘eation th lon Rac aon ‘he Ragpery Store. You ening tte on paged 5 Joey Bernard na: ten usingLinxsthone foramen 2)yeursarahes tengetingpatrtes oreo Ener Ts ‘rr doy se show's Iranagesroectusgacand Fane iosesse- Rory MacDonald iscurressent open ute epetrnhakconnsefor Aoryansaoadeye toda You ® fantrdhalneststre stetng Gf sxoazetrcungsraiosbot Sregevran on romain, Speers eth rex San hebignowsinod congo os YearahbioWensCangecs Rob Zwetsloot sursedeerospeceengcesng stuns angPythono. rl eoroxsmetionsin Clase whit coring Fc atnome ineseue Rob ‘peasectiintytothe makers CFaetvand tan through oe procesot nealing our Touch Eran 037, Get Ug for £4.19 feed ty ize This issue » Build your own server » Secure remote backups » Install Touch on your Android » Make web apps with Python. Welcome to the latest edition of Linux User & Developer, the UK and America's favourite high-end open source and Linux magazine. Since there's no sign of your insatiable demand for the Raspberry Pi subsiding any time soon, we've put together a couple of special features celebrating some of the best software and distros on offer. Every issue we're inundated with emails asking for Raspberry Pi-related articles and this month we've taken on the most regularly requested ~ a group test made up of all the most popular distributions. Inhis eight-page super-test starting on page 68, Rob Zwetstoot tests sixoof the best and ruthlessly whittles them down to name the one worthy of the prestigious Group Test Winner badge. The results might not be terribly surprising, but we're pretty sure the growing list of options available are likely to raise a few eyebrows. IF you're aiming for a bit more power than the 700MHz ARM CPU for your next project, why not build your own PC? That's what we did for this month's cover feature and we're rather happy with the results, While it's designed asa home server, it packs quite a punch for numerous other uses too. Enjoythe issue! cate) Russell Bares, Exitor Get in touch with the team: linuxuser@imagine- pDiN co.uk == Ces Visit us online for more news, opinion, tutorials and reviews: www.linuxuser.co.uk Iesue 125Con Build your own Linux server Peet teen] Brel aioe OpenSource 06 News: 14 Opinions The latest fern your favourite free software alum 94 Letters Your viewson the magazine ‘and the open source scene Features 10 Inside Amahi What's happening w ‘open source sen hts solution? your own server tarted today! 42 Mono ~ lost in translation Itsdownfall investigated 56 The university of Linux No degree? No problem 76 20.amazing RasPi apps & tool Must-have software 86 Q&A Your problems solved! "sare easier than Lego— gat Tutorials 30 Secure remote backups Use Duptytoprotect your ties 34 Install Ubuntu Touch to your Android device Test the latest beta of Canonical’s Touch OS without losingall your data 40 Plan your projects with Gant Sortyourschedule with Gannt and Planner Developer tutorials 48 Get your apps on the RasPi Store Bultan app ortoofor RasP? Here'showto ‘make tavaiableto the whole community 52 Build web apps with Python rnotingyoucantachieve wth Python seringthe webincloded On your free disc 96 Cover disc The very latest distros on one DVD Fedora 18 Remix Raspbian Puppy5.5 ‘Arch ARM Reviews A 62 Huawei Ascend G330 Hasthe Ascend G300 ust becomea whole'30 better? 64 Popcorn Hour A~400 Latest open sourced-based media stream 66 Gizmo Explorer Kit when rawpoweris required = 68 Raspberry Pidistro 7) Supertest I hichdstroshouldyouinstal onyour$25 computer? B 80 openSUSE 12.3 Nebigsurprisesfortelatest pointreloase, butsomepalish 82 Sabayon 11 Weseehowthelatestbuldot thisGentoo-spinshapesup 84 Porteus 2 Portablecomputingreceivesa Join us online for more Linux news, opinion and reviews www.linuxuser.co.uk wwwwlinuxuser co.ukad SS ax Get MORE power when you need it! With a fully scalable 123-reg VPS and our powerful new add-ons. Maer TT Saet eee BACKUP STORAGE ‘ON super charge Plesk with the ON Add extra IP addresses to ON Keep your valuable data latest add-ons including “your VPS so you can use safe from error or hardware Plesk’s Power Pack, multiple SSL certficates on malfunction with our FTP Language packs and the same server backup storage add-on, Anti-virus software. START NOW with our new Starter package! PerOrarT Tay 20°): mean Power up your pees at www.123-reg.co.uk/VPS ee reg...OoenSource: 6 News| 14 Opinion | 94 Letters ‘Tho Chromabook Phot Is the fst notebook to truly challenge the Apple MacBook in terms ‘of looks and build quality, Praise for a Unux not come ary higher than ft ic rimaal: Hy, ve joined all the cool kids in having one of the new Googie xo laptops aka Chromebooks) And it is a eautiful screen, tothe point where I 9 Ti make this my primary lant” Torvalds wrote ‘on hie Googie Plus account. Praising the Pats {32 soreen format, and announcing his disdain for widescreen laptops, he commented: “Im stil ‘uaring Chrome OS on this ting, whichis ‘enough for tasting out some of my normal work habits (ie reading and wring ema, but expect toinstalarealdstrocntis soon enough. ‘One thing tht the Crro brings home is how erap normal laptops have become” Torvalde continued. “Why “do PC manufacturers even bother ary mare? No wonder the PC business it doing well, when ‘The chrome-plated Android on Google's Mountain View Campus is itahint? F vvvlinunauser.co.uk PIS oogle springs groundbreaking new hardware Chromebook Pixel puts Google head-to-he with Apple in the laptop market ‘thay stick to just churning out more rapoy stuff ‘and think tha full HD aka T0BQ¢) is somehow theeptome of greatness. Tonal is cetany atthe ony one rejecting PC hardware, Take yourself to ary open soures conference and you il tend ta soe an anful at of people werking on Apple MacBook laptops. hy? Because you spena hat your fe working, on any device, thare isan undeniable emetional attachment. Working en a. beautiful notebook makes aciference. Machined from snodised aluminium, the (Chromebook’s mast important arguably its Wightba, which delivers an ambient coloured cepa from tha backofthe cereen just ‘because it looks coo single finger opens the ney tuned piano hinge" to reveal a 12.85-nch display, whose 43 millon idvisible pels give the Pl the highest recolation of any notebook conthemarket The Gorila Glass screen also offers ful touch with tap, pinch and swige in parallel to the trackpad and backlit keyboard. Inside, the Chromebook Piel houses a dual-core 1.8GHe Intl Core 1 Processor with integrated intel HD (Graghice 4000 GPUand 4GBDORS RAM orage ie where Pixel tes you to Google's visionof the Chromebock, with earvices delivered ‘through the cloud. In the US, Google adver ‘wo versions ofthe Piso with either 32 or 6 of inurl solid-state storage. Quentin the UK, the Googie Pay store only offers the 2238 verion, and a call to the support staf sadly evered no results on how we Bits can dounle the internal capacity. What the Pive dos offer is TBof Googe Drive cloud storage for ee years, “| suspect I'll make this my primary laptop” - Linus Torvalds nthe operating sytem side, the hromebook alvers all your common programs ae aope Through the Chrome browser, This is where any reviows have critised the apes avaiable for what. at £1,048, & an undeniably high-and eve, With HTMLS, aope werk offi and sync automaticaly when they find a new connection ‘and for usere of Googe Decs, Gmail, Google, Hangouts and other Google cloud senoes, the device delves all you nod. However, Chrome ' not a primary target platform for most of the thi party spp community But tis is where it gets interesting. As long, ‘ago as 2000, the then Googe co-founder Sergey Brin stated that the company’s longterm plan as to marge its Chrome OS and Android into @ single ecosystem, Gacgle also has a habit of using the company’s visual branding to hint at future product announcements interesting then that just as Google launches ‘the Chromebook Pie, a chrome-plated Android figue has appeared on Google's Mountain View CCampusin Califor The abilty trun Android apps fine through the Chrome browser would instantly turn the (Chrometook Pia fom a truly beautiful cloud focused device, with inited avalabity of IMLS ‘applications, into a notebook with access to fan ecosystem of aver 700.000 apes. t seems \nlaly then tha this opportunity has escaped (Google's attentionNews Thelatest in the Linux community OPEN SOURCE Linux calendar ca Firefox OS attracts 17 key mobile operators Host of major firm inch new HTML5S for Firefox Mark Big news from the Mobile World Cong vas the advance of Mois retox OS and the announcement that 17 key operators across Europe, Asia and Latin America have Developer previews of upcoming Firefox-based phones ‘wo bilion peopeonline” explained Moca CEO Firefox 0S has also garnered support from signficant emartghona vendors lacking. f signed up to ship new devices loaded withthe | lower-cost devices to bring new customers in ew operating system. In addition, Mozila | developing coonomies onne, Th frst wave of announced Firefox Marketolace, a new vender- | Firefex OS devioes will be Bult by Alcatel On independent store for HTMLS apos that can be used across muti platforms. Firefor OS is @ smartphone platform buit inux kernel, using open web standard. The hardware and open APIa, throueh unetionaity are expased throug) with all of the HIMLs Mesias focus on delvering a phone through web technologies and standards has proved highly attractive to ‘operators looking Prov tive smartghone fepecaly for uso in emerging markets, With Android now subjact to an effective lcence fee hrough patent settlements. demanded from manufacturers by Microsoft and others daliveres ‘Our goal i to level the playing field and Usher in an explosion of content and services nat wil mest the diverse neods of the next Screenshots from Firefox OS Touch, LG and ZTE, with Huawe expected to announce further davies laterinthe year: ‘coe related to Mazilas plans for Firefox 0S, Firefox Marketplace also has a broade focus on HTMLS apps that can be used across muttiple platforms. Like other app stores Firefox Marketplace wil offer a range of apps aoross catogris ke gaming, news and media, business and productivity ‘standards and tie to onlin wil be able 10 tran marketplace alread Aironb, Box, Cut Tt ape, Disney book, Nowa Motite tan Titer, alongs local apps relvant to ve regions. However Mozila's key oim is oud, Spor personally toopen upthe worldof app develonment toa far broader spectrum of dovelopers. Firefox OS wil break vin tha wallsbetwaen apps and the web because Firefox OS apps ‘are built using w ke HTML; Jay Sulivan, Mosils tof products. “We expect to ose amazing apos but for Firefox opere are already creating rash 2 5 g | 2 27-28 April 2013 reste) Center Conference Serer canes erent ee eer ed gt) vo Ns Ee Glee a oe Pn eat Ce ea) ees De et) oy Belingham, WA eae and feature! eeeOpenSource voursourceoftinuxnewsand views Mobile World Congress 2013 loses headline Android announcements =~ Major vendors launch flagship handsets before and after in separate events Last month, Barcelona played host to the mobile industry's annual European fiesta, Mobile World Congress (MWC). Howover, this year many vendors chose to release their flagship phones in separate launches rather ‘than battling for thelimelight tthe show. ‘Sameung launched the Galaxy Note &, an {neh version of tha tablet. But those hoping fora firstlookat the Galany St had towaitfora mid-March launch eventn New York. Like there was no sign of the Motorola °X-phone which has been eagerly anaitedas the first real showcase product folowing Google's buyout of the company ast year ‘Sony was showing ofits waterproof Xperia Z that was fret announced at CES. This 6-inch smartphone packs a quad-core LSGH? Snapdragon $4 aracessor and an impressive 1a-magapixe camera. Importantly, the phone marks @ natable improvement in build quality from previous Xperia releases. New forthe show, Sony also released the Xoeria Tablet Z, a 10:-inch device, packing the sama process as the phone into a class leading 69mm (027-inch) thick case. All of Sorys Android devioes use & heavy modified version ofthe userinterface. Tere is focuson intograting with othor dovices such as TVs, as well as pushing the user towards content from Sony's own media and gamingempire. Although launched before the show, Asus, and HIC were all showing off ther evices to incorporate the new Qualcomm {600 processor. This quad-core, AR-based (CPU can be clocked at up to 18GHe. However, the intial wave of hones seem tobe raleased The S-inch Agus PadFone gives users the option of plugging the device into the back of @ 1O--inch docking station, turning the hone into 1920%1200 tablet with fll cellular retworking capability, LG, meanwhile, has ‘opted fora slightly larger S-inch form on its Optimus G Pro. Both davices havea 1920x1080 hel display and pack T3-mogapivel camera. Tre HTC One was launched slighty before the show, However, MWC was the First chance for most poople to play with the firm's now flagship dovice. HTC has focused on the ‘hone’s design and a truly stunning aluminium Unibody, HTC Is the frst phone manufacturer ta reject the ‘more megapocels’ bandwagon ing that hardcore camera enthusk have long known to be a poor indication of real quality). The camera on the HTC One uses 4 milan ‘ultrapivel' which, the company say, letin around four times as much ligt, giving far better results for motion capture as well a in low-light conditions The Beats Audio sound system, found on most HTC phones, has been eupplemented fon the One with a “Boom Sound” amp and the addition of two front-facing speakers on the evice. This allows the phone to be used as a ‘micro hin hotel rooms. The Sense TVfeature ‘also enables the HTC One to be used as a Universal infrared remote fo home electronics With the inereasing similarity in hardware specs for mast high-end Android handsets, many of the vendors have chosen to