TUX Issue #20 Now Available

Issue number 20, December 2006, of TUX now is available.  Subscribers, you can download this issue here or simply follow the Download TUX button on the right to download the current issue.  If you're not yet a TUX subscriber, consider subscribing today for instant access to this issue and many more!

 
TUX Cover
 

Issue #20, December 2006: Table of Contents


P2P

  • Preaching to the Unconverted  by Phil Hughes
  • Time to Celebrate  by Tony Mobily
  • Letters  by Various
  • Q&A with Mango Parfait  by Mango Parfait
  • TUX People: Pamela Jones  by Colin McGregor

Home Plate

  • Nativity on Your Linux Desktop  by Dmitri Popov
  • Customizing KDE for the Holiday Season and Methods for Keeping New Year's Resolutions  by Jay Kruizenga
  • Working with Groups  by Phil Hughes
  • Linux Edutainment  by Phil Hughes

TUX Explains

  • Linux Commands: ls and cd  by Brian Jones
  • Basic Steps with OpenOffice.org Basic  by Dmitri Popov
  • Install Linux on a Second Hard Drive  by Willy Smith
  • Here They Are: the Linux PC Shops  by Jay Kruizenga

Diversions

  • Unreal Tournament 2004: Linux vs. Windows  by Travis Kepley
  • Planeshift  by Matija Suklje

Next Month

  • Install and manage your printer under Linux
  • Using Windows fonts in Linux

Web Editor - Sat, 2020-12-02 14:23.

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Subscription

Hi, I was wondering how do I subscribe to TUX?

jellyfish (not verified) - Tue, 2021-02-06 09:17.

Looking forward!

As always I am looking forward to reading the new issue always love getting TUX

Alice (not verified) - Fri, 2020-12-08 08:46.

Acrobat Reader(tm) ???

In your email you give us shortcut indication about how to use bookmarks and other stuff related to the PDF. as a Linux magazine, don't you think that many of your readers use something else the Acrobat Reader?

I personally use KPDF which works fine. but F5 does not do the bookmark thing. I tried to find the shortcut, but I am not totally sure what do you mean by bookmark. I have a content pane on the left which can be shown or hidden using CTRL-L

also, KPDF has two different Full screen mode. one is call Full screen (CTRL-ALT-F) in which you can use the CTRL-L and there is a Presentation mode (CTRL-ALT-P) which is also full screen but you cannot use the CTRL-L.

The Presentation mode is what is launched automatically when openning the Tux Magazine PDF file.

Enjoy my blog at http://blog.somekool.net
And do your budget online at http://justbudget.com

Mathieu Jobin (not verified) - Sat, 2020-12-02 20:07.

Different readers, different options

Each reader offers different features. When TUX is built a bookmark list is created which allows users of Adobe Reader to click directly to a section or to an article within a section. As far as I can see, KPDF does not yet support this.

On the other hand, if you are using KPDF, you have a very cool feature. Click on "Draw rectangle around the text/graphics to copy". Click and drag over some text. When you release the mouse button you get a menu that includes "Speak Text". To me, that beats bookmarks.

Phil Hughes

fyl - Sun, 2020-12-03 06:11.

TUX Build Platform

If the TUX is about touting the benefits of free and open source software, why is it created using proprietary software (Adobe Distiller 6.0.1) on a proprietary platform (Macintosh)?

How about an article on desktop publishing in Linux and discuss how TUX is built?

Brian

Brian Sell (not verified) - Tue, 2020-12-05 17:16.

It's on our list

Over a year ago we intended to move TUX production from Quark (which we use for the actual layout) to Scribus. Scribus has capabilities well beyond what would normally be needed to produce TUX for print. If you are reading TUX, you know that we have covered Scribus.

The problem we have is with producing the best PDF for an electronic magazine. Currently, Scribus produces a file that places each individual text character in the file rather than complete strings or lines of text. The reason for this is that it offers the most flexiblilty. You could, for example, output a line of text with each character in a different color, slightly different size, kerned differently or moved above or below the baseline.

We have talked with the Scribus folks about this and we agree it was the right short-term decision. For a print publication it makes little difference as the PDF file is read once to produce the plates for the printing press. Unfortunately, for TUX, it means that each subscriber will receive a much larger file. In our PDFs, most characters only take up one byte of space. In a Scribus-produced PDF it could be from 10 to 100 characters.

The Scribus team intends to add this additional output mode in a future release. We are watching carefully and when Scribus has this capability we intend to move our production and delivery systems entirely to Linux.

Phil Hughes

fyl - Wed, 2020-12-06 08:46.