Issue 32: Essentials – The Tools You Cannot Live Without

I recently wrote a piece for the 2016 Open Source Yearbook . My piece was called "5 Initiatives that pushed the free software envelope in Europe in 2016" (no, there was no subtitle like "Number 3 will make you cry!"). The piece looked at legislation and policies adopted in the public sector in Germany, Brussels (for the whole of the EU), the Netherlands, Russia, and Bulgaria.

This month, on our double-sided disk we have the latest version of the most popular Ubuntu derivative, Linux Mint, and the up-and-coming, KDE-backed neon.

The Ubuntu toolbox is jam-packed with interesting stuff. So much so, it is sometimes easy to miss what you really need. In this issue, we'll try and solve that.

Apt-fast speeds up software installation under Debian, Ubuntu, and all its derivatives.

Etcher is an easy-to use graphical tool for making a bootable USB from an ISO file.

Linux has some compact tools for quickly finding out the filesystem of a given storage medium. We show you how to use these effectively.

The moreutils package expands the standard tools for the shell with useful and sometimes exotic tools.

Let's face it: Except for the most paranoid (or best-informed) of us, security is a drag – it's what you have to deal with before you can get on with real work. Luckily, Ubuntu comes with a complete toolset of security utilities that make the process much less painful.

Firefox tends to get sluggish pretty quickly when it is used intensively. There are some settings and add-ons available that can help it pick up speed again.

There is hardly a website out there that doesn't have advertisements and trackers. Some sites are practically flooded with them. Ad blockers like uBlock Origin can be used as effective countermeasures.

Keeping an eye on possible changes to the filesystem can prove very beneficial. It can also help you to automate many processes.

You can edit your LaTeX documents with online editors that run across platforms and are device independent. Documents get saved online, thus giving you and other members of a work group easy access from anywhere.

Flash chips are now used as storage devices for operating systems. MultiSystem lets you pack as many operating systems as you want on a USB stick.

The latest offering from PlanetWatt, this lightweight distribution is specifically geared towards energy efficiency, giving older machines a new lease on life.

In macro photography, multiple images are merged together in order to generate a single picture. Under Linux, the enfuse tool performs this task. An alternative approach is to use GIMP, which lets you merge images manually, an approach that brings with it additional possibilities.

Staying on top of stock inventory levels will allow you to plan for capacity and profit. PartKeepr will help you out.

Ubuntu has turned the desktop inside out with Unity 8. However, Unity 8's new concepts do not always impress in their current state.

LXQt is a lightweight desktop environment based on Qt 5. The similarities to LXDE are no accident.

Ubuntu 16.10 offers almost no changes to the installation process. But, in case you are new to Ubuntu, we'll walk you through upgrading or installing the latest release.

With NetworkManager, you can access the Internet during the Ubuntu installation process. The first step is to download updates to make your system more secure.

The new Ubuntu Software app lets you install just about anything, including free software, purchased apps, and games.

You can watch movies, play music and place calls over the Internet with ease with Ubuntu. You just have to load the right software packages onto your computer. We present some of our favorite multimedia apps.