Authors Daniel Griffiths David Crouse Denis Martinez Kevin Eldridge
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
TM
user The content of this magazine is released under
the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
3.0 Unported license. For more information visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Issue #2 - May 2009
EDITORS DESK ................................ 2
COMMUNITY NEWS ........................ 3
REPLACING THE
ARCH INITSCRIPTS ......................... 5
DISASTER PREPARATIONS: HOW
PARANOID SHOULD YOU BE? ........ 6
GAMERS CORNER ........................... 9
TIPS AND TRICKS ........................... 10
LIVING AT THE COMMAND LINE .... 11
PIMP MY ARCH ................................ 12
SOFTWARE REVIEW ....................... 13
Q&A ................................................... 15
EDITORS DESK
Arch User Magazine Issue 2 Released! ARCH USER STAFF
Daniel Griffiths (Ghost1227) ........... Editor
W ell, obviously Issue 2 has been released... You're reading it, right? Our first
issue was met with overwhelming success. In the first two weeks alone we
pulled in almost a thousand downloads! Those of you who read Issue 1
might recall my promise that as long as interest was expressed, I would continue
David Crouse (Crouse) .......... Contributor
Denis Martinez (Denis) .......... Contributor
Kevin Eldridge (LeoSolaris) ..... Contributor
to write. I'd say that we far surpassed expectations.
So what do we have in store for you this month? For starters, our friend David
Crouse has given us another article in his series "Living at the Command Line,"
this one featuring a nifty little tool he wrote that many of you may find useful (I
know I did). Denis Martinez has contributed his two cents with an article on a little
project he has been working on called ArchInit, and Kevin Eldridge prompts our
loyal readers to be prepared for when disaster strikes. We also have a bonus for
you this month... check out page 8 for details.
My only issue is that while we have had a great response from the community in
terms of downloads and commends on the wall, no one has yet to use the forums
or submit any suggestions for us. We have a great staff, but they can only come up WHAT IS ARCH LINUX?
with so much. Without your help we aren't likely to last long. Hence, I must plead Arch Linux is a lightweight, flexible Linux®
for your support in whatever small way you can contribute. Stop by our forums and distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.
leave us an idea or two and I'll be happy.
Our strong community is diverse and
I hope that you all enjoy this months issue of Arch User Magazine, and I look helpful, and we pride ourselves on the
forward to putting together yet another fine publication next month! range of skillsets and uses for Arch that
stem from it. Please check out our forums
Daniel Griffiths (Ghost1227) and mailing lists to get your feet wet. Also
Editor, Arch User Magazine glance through our wiki if you want to
griffithsdj@archuser.org learn more about Arch.
2
NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
Is Linux Use Suspicious? "[The accused] uses two different operating desktop Linux applications. Weighing in at
systems to hide his illegal activities. One is a tiny 48MB, xPUD still maintains binary
Believe it or not, this may actually be a the regular B.C. operating system and the compatibility with most major Linux
valid concern for Linux users everywhere. other is a black screen with white font distributions.
Recently, Boston College Campus Police which he uses prompt commands on."
siezed a significant amount of personal Although under heavy development, xPUD
property belonging to a Computer Science I don't know about the rest of you, but this is an interesting project which enthusiasts
major under the guise of searching for sounds a little like a witch-hunt to me. should definitely keep an eye on!
evidence of "Obtaining computer services
by Fraud or Misrepresentation" and Source: Source:
"Unauthorized access to a computer http://eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/boston- http://xpud.org
system." college-prompt-commands-are-suspicious
But where do these charges come from? EVO - Open Source Gaming
The student implicated was accused of
sending an email to a school mailing list Streamline Your Desktop? US-based developer Envizions Computer
identifying another student as gay. Entertainment Corporation has announced
Unethical? Yes. Illegal? Probably not. But Although Linux is all about choice, it seems that its Advanced Open Source Game
the Campus Police saw it differently and that nine out of ten new Linux distributions Console, called EVO Smart Console, has
filed a search warrant application citing the are nothing more than a remastered copy been released for purchase by developers,
following allegedly suspicious behavior: of an existing distribution. However, a new resellers, earlier adopters and potential
player has recently appeared on the scene software partners. Envizions began
"[The accused] is a computer science which caught the attention of our staff. This distributing the 100 available beta units on
major who is considered a master of the upstart distribution is called xPUD, and April 10 at a cost of between $279 and
trade amongst his peers." boasts an average boot time of about ten $350 per unit. The beta will run until June
seconds. But what makes it so special? 17, 2009 and all beta units will have three
"it is not uncommon for [the accused] to months of free phone support and a 30 day
appear with unknown laptop computers xPUD was designed to be a fast-booting, money back guarantee for earlier adopters.
which he says are given to him by Boston kiosk-like distribution that uses the Mozilla
College for field testing or he is 'fixing' Gecko Runtime to display a simple user Being the first Linux-based Open Source
them for other students." interface that allows you to launch normal game console, what can we expect from
3
NE W S
COMMUNITY NEWS
the EVO? The system will support both Easy Peasy Netbook OS released backup solution "Back In Time"
digital distribution of content and games employs the use of the wonderful rsync
from the Envizions cloud. The physical On April 20, a custom version of Ubuntu command, its easy of use makes it a viable
game format will be on compact secure Linux known as "Easy Peasy" was option for less CLI-savvy users.
digital (SD) cards. Each game will come released. Designed specifically for use on
with a manual, packaging, support, free Intel Atom powered netbooks, Easy Peasy Back In Time allows you to set a custom
expansion levels, and cloud game save 1.1 is based on Ubuntu 8.10 and includes automatic backup wait in hours, days,
storage. Firefox 3, OpenOffice.org 3, and the months or even years, and gives you the
Ubuntu Netbook Remix program launcher. same flexibility for configuring automatic
As of now, games are slated to run at deletion of old backups. Since it creates
around $19.95, although third party While most of this also applies to the multiple snapshots with only the most
developers are encouraged to set their upcoming Ubuntu 9.04 release, Easy recent changes in each, it also saves you a
own pricing standards. Additionally, Peasy creator Jon Ramvi says there are good deal of space compared to alternative
Envizions has announced an open source plans to incorporate new features including backup solutions. Even its restoration
3D community known as "Our Universe" for better integration with web apps and functions are a breeze to understand and
the EVO Smart Console. Expected to go services in Easy Peasy 2.0. activate - simply select a snapshot, choose
live in the last quarter of 2009, Our what folder or folders you wish to restore,
Universe will allow users to create their Source: and hit "Restore."
own avatars and explore a real-time virtual http://www.jonramvi.com/easy-peasy-11-
world. finally-released Currently available are two GUIs for Back
In Time: one for GNOME, and one for
The suggested retail price for the EVO is KDE4. Regardless of which GUI you use,
$379.99, and will include nine classic Linux Back In Time all you have to configure is where to save
games. Combining a PC, DVR, Gaming your snapshots, what directories you want
Hub, Cloud, and Internet TV in an all-in- Those of you who have ever used a Mac to backup, and when backups should take
one device, the EVO is definitely a platform might have wondered why Linux never place.
that has the potential to revolutionize Linux offered a one click backup solution similar
gaming. to Time Machine. Well, that same kind of Source:
no-worry, space-saving snapshot http://backintime.le-web.org
Source: protection has finally come to your favorite
http://www.envizionscorp.com/news.html operating system! Although the recently-
4
REPLACING THE ARCH INITSCRIPTS BY DENIS MARTINEZ
Have you ever wanted to speed up boot become significant. Replacing these of the /etc/rc.conf file. But what does this
time? Do you find the standard initscripts interpreted scripts with native language mean to you? This means that if your
clumsy? If so, you may find it worthwhile to provides better CPU usage, cuts down on configuration resembles the Arch defaults,
check out ArchInit. ArchInit is a new boot system I/O, and can even help extend the there is nothing to do. Unfortunately, at the
system for Arch Linux, designed with one life of laptop batteries! moment ArchInit will not parse multi-line
simple goal in mind: to speed up the boot variables, shell commands (obviously), or
process. With Windows, Mac and various WANT TO TRY ARCHINIT? syntaxic details.
Linux distributions constantly vying for the
title of "the fastest, most stable operating Although readily available through its REBOOT!
system," Arch Linux already ranks among website (http://archinit.mupuf.org), the
the leaders, thanks to its simplicity. simplest way to try out ArchInit is to use the As soon as installation has completed, you
archinit-svn (initscripts) and archinit-udev- may reboot your system (and hope for the
One recent success story in the startup svn (udev) packages available in the Arch best). Enjoy the benefits of a visibly faster
speed wars was made by Ubuntu through User Repository. But isn't this a bit boot! As of now, you can expect a gain of
the replacement of the traditional Bash dangerous? Of course! But if you've made somewhere between one and three
shell with the slimmed-down alternative it this far, you must be feeling adventurous seconds; this is going to significantly
Dash. While this is a start, ArchInit has a today. Additionally, you can append a flag improve in the future.
significantly more ambitious goal: it aims to to your kernel by editing your GRUB
replace the standard initscripts with configuration, like so: Although the ArchInit project is progressing
compiled C++ executables (as of now, only steadily, our faithful users can help move
post-init has been completed). linux /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sdXX us along by contributing. If you have
ro archinit=failsafe questions, suggestions or bootcharts, don't
But what is wrong with initscripts? Simply hesitate to submit them!
put, the traditional Linux initscripts are As it suggests, this will activate the ArchInit
simply a series of shell scripts which make failsafe mode. This will revert the boot
heavy use of fork/exec calls. And this is process to the original initscripts, allowing The ArchInit project is headed by
bad why? Because all of these functions you to safely boot if ArchInit breaks. users Denis Martinez
can be easily compiled into a single (deuns.martinez@gmail.com)
program. Although some of these CONFIGURING THE SYSTEM and Martin Peres.
operations only slightly impact system The ArchInit homepage is located at
performance, the overhead can quickly ArchInit does the minimal possible parsing http://archinit.mupuf.org
5
D I S A S T E R PR E PA R AT IO N S :
HOW PARANOID SHOULD YOU BE? BY KEVIN M ELDRIDGE
Backups are important. They protect you OPTION 1: This will allow you to always have a static
from accidents, screw ups, and anything copy of your system that you can boot from
else that can happen to your precious If you have less than 4.7GB of stuff to any computer.
computer. Almost every thread in the backup, using a DVD±RW would be an
forums that deals with mucking about in option. Simply copy all of the data you EDITORS NOTE
something important includes some little want to backup into a folder and compress If you intend to use this option, be sure to
warning that says "make sure you backup it. From here, all you have to do is burn it build your live CD using larch or a similar
before you start doing this..." to a disc with your favorite burning tool. build suite. Simply creating an archive of
your system and copying it to CD won't
We get it. We have to have a method of While this form works well enough for the help you any... Feel free to try it though!
protecting ourselves from ourselves. The purposes of backing up your personal files,
next logical question is "just how paranoid it has numerous drawbacks. DVDs
do I need to be?" degrade over time, they can be easily OPTION 2:
scratched into uselessness, and are easy
There are two basic levels of paranoia. The to lose. This method also lacks any form of If you are looking for a more flexible,
first being simply creating duplicate copies automated restoration, leaving you to automated and centralized backup option
of things such as rc.conf to rc.conf.bak or remember where all of your files go! with the ability to restore the information
what have you. That way, when you mess you need a second hard drive. This hard
something up, just boot up a live CD and On the positive side, this method requires drive can be connected through USB,
restore the original file. This method is very little money since most modern network attached storage (NAS), or simply
relatively easy and straight forward. It computers have DVD burners built-in. a second hard drive in your rig.
might actually be a good idea even if you Unlike the rest of the backup methods we
do use other forms of backup, because it will discuss, all this option requires is a few There are many tools available through the
allows a quick fix for simple errors. blank DVDs, which cost around $15 for a Arch Linux repos and the AUR to help with
fifty-pack from online retailers. this sort of backup. Rsync is a good, light-
Now the second level of paranoia involves weight choice to sync your files and folders
making copies of your data and storing to nearly any storage medium other than
them somewhere other than your local ALTERNATIVE OPTION 2: CD/DVDs. I will be writing more on this tool
machine. This is where the fun starts. in the future, so keep on reading Arch User
There are quite a few options depending if you have a very small install that rarely Magazine!
on your individual needs. changes, you can also create a live CD.
6
D I S A S T E R PR E PA R AT IO N S :
HOW PARANOID SHOULD YOU BE? BY KEVIN M ELDRIDGE
This option can be more complicated to ALTERNATIVE OPTION 2: or comporate users, and their prices are
setup, and it will certainly cost more. The vastly different accordingly. For example,
prices will vary widly from a cheap, small Much like the prior alternate method, you http://www.ibackup.com runs at $10 per
secondary hard drive, all the way up to a can turn a thumbdrive into a bootable month for 10GB of space, while 10GB on
second computer. medium. Arch supplies a USB image for http://www.dataprotection.com starts at an
just such occasion. The bootable USB stick incredible $50 per month. Dataprotection's
Everyone's resources are different when it has permanence, which a live CD does value starts to kick in as you increase the
comes to spare computer parts, but not. This means that if you make a change, amount of data you are backing up, which
cobbling together a server without it's own you can save it and it will carry over when lends itself towards companies with a few
keyboard and monitor is definitely an you reboot. It should be noted that the grub terabytes of information they need to keep
option, and a good use for that old menu on the USB drive will be different, so safe.
computer. It sure beats letting it get tossed take that into account!
out with the trash! Servers for home use do Most Linux backup services rely on rsync
not need to be the latest and greatest, not to manage the backup process. It works
that Linux needs the latest and greatest, OPTION 3: just like using rsync to a local NAS, but
but a server needs even less from the most good data security companies require
hardware than the average desktop install. For the truly paranoid, you can purchase stunnel to provide an encrypted transfer to
online backup protection from any number their servers over the Internet. Be aware
On the positive side, using a home server of companies. While many companies, that some off-site backups, like IBackup,
or a secondary hard drive, either USB or such as http://www.mozy.com, cater to do not preserve file ownership and
physically installed, is a lot more flexible in Windows and Mac users, there are more permissions. However, there is a simple
terms of restoration. You can easily create than a few that allow Linux users backup workaround for that issue. Compressing
snapshots and backup more often than you space on their servers. your files and folders into a single tarball or
could with the DVD method. With USB gzip archive before sending it over the
storage devices getting cheaper every day, Two such sites that seem to comprise the wires will preserve your ownership and
this is becoming even easier. An 8GB different perspectives that online backup permissions.
thumbdrive (USB flashdrive) can be bought companies have towards prospective
for between $13 and $23 from online clients are http://www.ibackup.com and This is your data. You know how hard you
retailers. You can get much larger USB http://www.dataprotection.com. Most worked on it, and how much of a pain it will
drives, but don't forget the prices will companies are either geared towards be to recover it if the worst happens to your
increase incrementally with the size! providing backup services for home users system. There is an apt commercial for
7
D I S A S T E R PR E PA R AT IO N S :
HOW PARANOID SHOULD YOU BE? BY KEVIN M ELDRIDGE
the Mozy backup service that is currently
popping up on TV where a busy, distracted
nerd puts his laptop in the microwave
instead of his lunch. This sort of nightmare
can easily happen to anyone.
There are many different methods of
backing up data. I strongly encourage you
to invest some time and effort into finding a
solution that fits your needs and keeps
your data safe!
AUTHORS NOTE:
No. I do not explicitly endorse any of the
external sites discussed in this article. They
simply make convenient references that
everyone online has access to. Always
shop around for the best deal, as the
resources in this article may be out of date,
or higher in price than a comparable
service/product found elsewhere.
Kevin Eldridge (LeoSolaris) is an active
Arch user, as well as first time contributor
to Arch User Magazine. Keep an eye out
for his upcoming followup article to
Disaster Preparations: How Paranoid
Should You Be?
8
GAMERS CORNER
Here's another score for all the first-person implimentation of the Quake engine, and vanquish your foes.
shooter fans in the audience. Nexuiz is a Nexuiz scales back quite well, making it
3D deathmatch game that has become a usable on many older systems. Like many first-person shooters, Nexuiz
remarkably popular addition to the Linux only really shines in the online arena.
gaming community. Entirely open source, a It you are looking for a game to play while While it does offer a single player mode,
single download allows access to the you kick back and relax, this probably won't it's really nothing more than an increasingly
source for engine, gamecode, maps, and be your best bet. Its hair-trigger style difficult series of instant action matches.
compiling tools alike. requires quick thinging and reflexes if you Since completion of the single player mode
want to get ahead. Classic moves such as offers no rewards, it will probably bore
While Nexuiz may look similar to other bunny hopping, rocket jumping and the like many gamers long before they complete
games of its genre, its excessive gameplay may be required to survive the onslaught the ladder. On the other hand, multiplayer
featuring high speed mode offers a variety of servers available
combat and intense fast for all gameplay types and promises to
paced action makes it keep action fans busy for quite a while.
stand out from the rest.
Along with its well-known Is Nexuiz the next Quake? Not hardly.
deathmatch mode, Nexuiz While it does provide a free, fast-paced
features capture the flag, FPS experience, its main selling point is its
domination, and an array cost. The graphics and sound are as good
of online modes and as one can expect from an open source
mutators to ensure an project, but not quite up to the standards of
endless variety of action. similar commercial products. Similarly,
while Nexuiz sports a loyal and (usually)
Based on the ever- mature online community, it isn't quite as
popular Quake graphics densly populated as some of the more
engine, Nexuiz features popular commercial titles. If you're looking
per-pixel dynamic lighting for a good shooter, and especially if you're
and shadows, advanced running on slightly outdated hardware, than
particle effects, and high- Nexuiz is definitely worth a shot. Who
resolution textures and knows... you might actually like it.
models. Thanks to its
9
TIPS & TRICKS
BOOTSECTOR BACKUPS HANDLING FILENAMES IN SHELL Or how to spell it? Well here's a simple
THAT BEGIN WITH DASHES script to make searching easier.
Have you ever messed up your Master
Boot Record? If so you might recall how If you have ever accidentally created a file #!/bin/bash
much of a pain it can be to recover. whose name began with a dash (-), you firefox "http://google.com/search?q=
Thankfully, there is a simple way to backup know how difficult they can be to remove. If `xsel -p -o`&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8"
and recover that all-important bit of you try to use the standard rm command
information. To backup the bootsector, you are greeted with a message like this. Just save the above snippet, make it
simply use dd. executable (chmod +x) and bind it to a
rm -f -testfile keychain. Whenever you execute it, it will
dd if=/dev/hda of=bootsector.img rm: invalid option -- t search for whatever you have hilighted.
bs=512 count=1
As a result of the dash at the beginning of Got a useful tip or trick you'd like to share
Similarly, restoration is a breeze. If you the filename, the shell thinks we want to with the community? How about an idea for
somehow manage to screw up your MBR, provide another option for the rm an article or a particularly nifty screenshot?
simply boot with a live CD and restore the command. Thankfully, there is a simple Drop us a line!
bootsector with: solution to this problem.
Gamers Corner
dd if=bootsector.img of=/dev/hda rm -f -- -testfile gamerscorner@archuser.com
The addition of the -- characters tells the Pimp My Arch
shell that there are no further optional pimpmyarch@archuser.com
ASCII WARS arguments for the command itself and
prevents any further option parsing. Tips & Tricks
All right, so technically it's not a Linux tip. It tipsandtricks@archuser.com
is, however, very cool. If you've ever
wondered what Star Wars would look like WEB SEARCHING SIMPLIFIED General Submissions
in ASCII, head over to login to the official submissions@archuser.com
ASCII Star Wars site through telnet at Have you ever needed to search for
towel.blinkenlights.nl. something, but by the time you got to Corrections
google you couldn't remember what it was? corrections@archuser.com
10
LGRIV I N G A T T H E C O M M
EP BY PARAGRAPH BY DAVID CROUSE
A ND LI N E :
What is grep by paragraph, you ask? If you the output. the default paragraph Regular grep pulls information line by line,
are at all familiar with Tru64, than you separator is a blank line. where grepp pulls information by
probably already know. However, since I paragraph. This can be useful when
suspect that most of you are not intimately I actually add this to my .bashrc file, working with things like mailboxes or other
familiar with Tru64, I'll explain a bit. although you can put it anywhere you want large documents. Hopefully this little utility
as long as it is in your $PATH. I called my proves to be a useful tool in your grep
Linux, to the best of my knowledge, does version grepp, short for grep -p of course. toolbox.
not have grep -p. I wanted this functionality
on my Arch Linux machine, so I decided to grepp() {
write a version in bash. After several if test -z "$1" || test -z "$2" ; then We welcome back David Crouse with the
incarnations implementing awk and sed, I echo "USAGE: grepp searchterm second installation of his series "Living at
finally ended up writing it in perl instead. filetosearch"; the Command Line". David is the founder
Did that rhyme? Where is that haiku else of the USA Linux Users Group as well as
thread... Ok, sorry. Back on topic. My perl -00ne "print if /$1/i" < $2 the maintainer of the archlinux.us webmail
implementation is actually bash/perl, but it fi } service for Arch users.
works pretty well for what I needed it for so
I thought I would share it with you.
EXAMPLE OUTPUT OF GREPP
Simply put, grep -p greps out by
paragraph. From the Tru64 grep man [crouse@veronica ~]$ grepp DAE /etc/rc.conf
page, the -p option shows the following. #
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
-p paragraph_separator # -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Tru64 UNIX] Displays the entire #
paragraph containing matched lines. # Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
Paragraphs are delimited by paragraph # - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
separators, paragraph_separator, which # - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
are patterns in the same form as the DAEMONS=(syslog-ng hal !dbus network netfs @openntpd @crond @sshd)
search pattern. Lines containing the the
paragraph separators are used only as [crouse@veronica ~]$
separators; they are never included in
11
PIMP MY ARCH
Since no one replied to my requests (check your email people)
I am stuck with posting my updated screenshot, minimalistic as
it is. Didn't feel like redoing Awesome after a rebuild, so here's
a minimalistic OpenBox with stalonetray and a little conky clock.
Daniel Griffiths (Ghost1227)
Currently using OpenBox with the syscrash theme to match the
wallpaper. Panel is pypanel, configured similarly. Also in the screenshot
are conky and screen running in sakura.
Dan39
12
SOFTWARE REVIEW: NEWS READERS
AKREGATOR
http://akregator.kde.org
Built for the K Desktop Environment, Akregator is an RSS feed reader designed to
be both easy to use and powerful. Supporting both RSS and Atom feeds, Akregator
allows users to sort feeds into categories that can be configured to fetch new
content at regular intervals. Featuring a Konqueror integration, Akregator can open
feeds in it's built-in tabbed browser, or any available external browser. Its simple
interface and ease of use make this a viable option for KDE users looking for a
good feed reader. Recently added to the kdepim metapackage, non KDE users
should probably look elsewhere... this one might have a few too many
dependencies for you.
To install Akregator, use the `kdepim` metapackage in [extra].
LIFEREA
http://liferea.sourceforge.net
Designed to be a simple Gtk news aggregator, Liferea (short for Linux Feed Reader)
certainly fits the bill. Written in C and requiring a minimal set of dependencies, Liferea is
a fast, easy to use news reader that still maintains support for all the major feed formats
as well as podcasting. With a design similar to that of the mail client Evolution, Liferea
should be easy for users of GNOME to pick up.
To install Liferea, use the `liferea` package in [extra].
13
SOFTWARE REVIEW: NEWS READERS
RSSOWL
http://www.rssowl.org
Billed as a "news reader for everyone," RSSOwl is a truly platform independent news
reader. Written in Java, the latest version greatly increased stability while providing a
powerful, easy to extend news reader that is still remarkably easy to use. Built on the
Eclipse Rich Client Platform with db4o as its database backend and Lucene for full-
text searching, RSSOwl provides a smooth news reading experience. Unfortunately,
this all comes at a price. Due to its Java dependency, RSSOwl tends to be a bit
bulkier, and at times slower, than similar aggregators. Despite this glaring deficiency,
RSSOwl still made our list and is definitely worth a shot if you are looking for a good
feed reader.
To install RSSOwl, use the `rssowl` package in the AUR.
NEWSBEUTER
http://www.newsbeuter.org
Not to be left out, here's an alternative for the command line enthusiasts out there.
Newsbeuter provides impressive configurability and a vast number of its features for
its size, making it ideal for those who need a fast reader that can be controlled via
keyboard. A flexible categorization and query system, support for the widely used
OPML format, and full color configuration make this a powerful news reader for
anyone who is not afraid of the console. Comparible to the email clien Mutt,
Newsbeuter is probably the most complex, yet most powerful, option we reviewed.
To install Newsbeuter, use the `newsbeuter` package in the AUR.
14
Q&A
WHY USE THE PDF FORMAT?
WHY NOT JUST POST IT ONLINE?
First things first... Why did we choose the
PDF format? For starters, it is pretty much
universally supported. Just because Arch
User is designed for Arch users, doesn't
mean you are the only ones allowed to
read it. Believe it or not, we had several
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
Windows readers last month. As for why
didn't we just post it online... If we did that,
it'd just be a blog, right?
HAVE YOU CONSIDERED ADDING No, this space isn't really for rent. However, given the lack of questions (or submissions in general for
AN RSS FEED TO THE SITE? that matter... what did you expect? I had a nice, big space to fill. I figured that at the very least, this would
catch your attention and show you just how important your support is to the continuation of Arch User
Actually, there are already two RSS feeds Magazine. Please! Contribute!
on the Arch User site. One for issue
releases, and one for comments. Check
the footer.
NEXT ISSUE CAN WE HAVE
KENSAI DOING A ROUNDHOUSE
TO THE BSD DAEMON ON THE
COVER?
We tried... we really did... but we just
couldn't find a decent picture of Kensai.
Unless you were referring to a Kensei, not
our own Kensai in which case we have to
ask... does a warrior so reknowned for his
swordsmanship need engage in unarmed
combat?
15