It's summer time here in the northern hemisphere (although it did snow at my house
on May 15, 2016—hopefully Mother Nature is done with that nonsense). When the sun is
shining, there's nothing I like to do more than sit outside—under an
umbrella, with SPF 50+ sunscreen and, of course, a book. These days, those books usually
are digital, and since it's June 1st, that means a new issue of Linux
Journal is ready to read.
This month, Reuven M. Lerner switches things up a bit and describes how easy it has become to use nginx as a Web server for your applications. It's been a viable and efficient option for
several years now, but Reuven shows just how polished and easy it is to install
and configure. Next, Dave Taylor does some polishing this month as well, as he puts the
final touches on his wegrep series. I'm ashamed to admit that my scripting often never
gets that last bit of polish, and it's unfortunate, because a good script should be
flexible and portable. Dave shows how to take that last important step.
Kyle Rankin's latest series on the Qubes distribution has been incredible, and if you've been a
little overwhelmed, no worries. In this issue, Kyle describes some of his real-life
examples on how to use Qubes on a daily basis. The notion of virtualizing
applications isn't new, but the way Qubes compartmentalizes everything you do is
unique, and sometimes examples help to clarify things.
I make some clarifications this month as well, but in my case, I'm clarifying photos of birds. Specifically, I demonstrate my new homemade IP cameras built using Raspberry Pi devices. The camera modules for the RPis are cheap and incredibly high quality. It only makes sense to take advantage of
that for BirdCam!
Andrei Lukovenko has an incredible article this month on
HTTPS certificates. First
off, he introduces the Let's Encrypt certificate authority (which I'd never heard
of), and then goes on to walk through automating the certificate renewal process! I've been
using StartSSL for years to get free SSL certificates, and even though the one-year
expiration is a long time, it seems like every year, I have to relearn how to
install certificates. Andrei explains how to make your computers do all the work,
while getting more frequent SSL cert updates as well! It's an article you don't
want to miss.
This month, you also will learn how to install the full R statistical software on a mobile Android
device. Mobile devices are powerful enough that installing such packages
makes sense, and with the help of Marius Hofert and Kurt Hornik, you'll learn how to do
so using Linux in a chroot environment on Android. Even if you're not interested in
installing R, the process for installing Linux inside Android is fascinating and
fun! Marius and Kurt go through the entire process, including information on
unlocking bootloaders and rooting devices.
This month's issue of Linux Journal is perfect for reading in the shade with a
glass of iced tea and a hammock. Or, if you happen to be in the southern
hemisphere, perhaps curled in a blanket with a cup of hot tea. Either way, I love
issues where you learn to do cool things, and this one is full of ideas and
projects. We also include product announcements, cool apps, tech tips and
countless other nerdy tidbits that will help make your summer a bit cooler. We hope
you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together!
--Shawn Powers
on May 15, 2016—hopefully Mother Nature is done with that nonsense). When the sun is
shining, there's nothing I like to do more than sit outside—under an
umbrella, with SPF 50+ sunscreen and, of course, a book. These days, those books usually
are digital, and since it's June 1st, that means a new issue of Linux
Journal is ready to read.
This month, Reuven M. Lerner switches things up a bit and describes how easy it has become to use nginx as a Web server for your applications. It's been a viable and efficient option for
several years now, but Reuven shows just how polished and easy it is to install
and configure. Next, Dave Taylor does some polishing this month as well, as he puts the
final touches on his wegrep series. I'm ashamed to admit that my scripting often never
gets that last bit of polish, and it's unfortunate, because a good script should be
flexible and portable. Dave shows how to take that last important step.
Kyle Rankin's latest series on the Qubes distribution has been incredible, and if you've been a
little overwhelmed, no worries. In this issue, Kyle describes some of his real-life
examples on how to use Qubes on a daily basis. The notion of virtualizing
applications isn't new, but the way Qubes compartmentalizes everything you do is
unique, and sometimes examples help to clarify things.
I make some clarifications this month as well, but in my case, I'm clarifying photos of birds. Specifically, I demonstrate my new homemade IP cameras built using Raspberry Pi devices. The camera modules for the RPis are cheap and incredibly high quality. It only makes sense to take advantage of
that for BirdCam!
Andrei Lukovenko has an incredible article this month on
HTTPS certificates. First
off, he introduces the Let's Encrypt certificate authority (which I'd never heard
of), and then goes on to walk through automating the certificate renewal process! I've been
using StartSSL for years to get free SSL certificates, and even though the one-year
expiration is a long time, it seems like every year, I have to relearn how to
install certificates. Andrei explains how to make your computers do all the work,
while getting more frequent SSL cert updates as well! It's an article you don't
want to miss.
This month, you also will learn how to install the full R statistical software on a mobile Android
device. Mobile devices are powerful enough that installing such packages
makes sense, and with the help of Marius Hofert and Kurt Hornik, you'll learn how to do
so using Linux in a chroot environment on Android. Even if you're not interested in
installing R, the process for installing Linux inside Android is fascinating and
fun! Marius and Kurt go through the entire process, including information on
unlocking bootloaders and rooting devices.
This month's issue of Linux Journal is perfect for reading in the shade with a
glass of iced tea and a hammock. Or, if you happen to be in the southern
hemisphere, perhaps curled in a blanket with a cup of hot tea. Either way, I love
issues where you learn to do cool things, and this one is full of ideas and
projects. We also include product announcements, cool apps, tech tips and
countless other nerdy tidbits that will help make your summer a bit cooler. We hope
you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together!
--Shawn Powers
