Free Software’s Radical Past

Something is absurd about the idea that free and open source software (FOSS) is apolitical. How could a movement that changes the way software is produced and alters conventional notions about the rights of users not be political in the broadest sense? Admittedly, though, FOSS in 2019 seems less political than it used to be.…

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Single-sourcing in LibreOffice

LibreOffice may seem like just another word processor, but looks can deceive. A case in point is the ability to single-source, using features that go under the deceptively simple description of Hide. Single-sourcing is the maintenance of multiple versions of a document within the same file. For example, you might three versions of a software…

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PureOS and Purity

I have been following the development of Purism‘s Librem 13 and 15 laptops for several years. Like many Linux users, I am attracted by the efforts to build secure and free systems, but hesitant about the high prices for mid-list hardware. At the very least, I would want to try before I buy. However, because…

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Editing With Calibre

I’ve used Calibre to organize my ebooks for years. Despite an awkward and eccentric interface, it’s a comprehensive tool, which has every feature I could imagine for working with my online library. However, it’s only in the last few months, as I prepare to write a book about creating ebooks that I’ve come to appreciate…

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pyRenamer: Bulk Renaming Made Easy

Renaming files in batches is a rare task. Probably, that is why, with the exception of Xfce’s Thunar, desktop file managers can only rename files one at a time. However, when I digitize music, I am dealing with ten or more files per albums, and I need a bulk renamer. Of course, I could use…

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Writing LaTeX Using Kile

Last month, I reviewed Kile, a KDE editor for LaTeX. This month, I am going to show the basics of formatting a document in Kile. Once you know the basic structure of LaTeX, writing documents in it is even less complicated than manually coding HTML. Whether you use unmodified Kile’s templates for document structure, write…

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Semi-Automatic LaTeX: KDE’s Kile

One reason that I appreciate KDE is that I am always discovering new applications. In fact, I make a point of regularly searching for them. My most recent discovery is Kile, a graphic editor for LaTeX. Kile is not the first of its kind, but, unlike the better known LyX, whose interface resembles a word…

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8 KDE Plasma Irritations

KDE’s Plasma has been my chief desktop for over a decade. My work-flow depends on Activities, and I appreciate how much I can customize in Plasma and how Plasma 5 has improved former weaknesses in interface design. While I frequently use other desktop environments to keep in touch, every one of them feels feels clumsy…

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