Issue 20: Roaming the World with Ubuntu Explorers

Jono takes a look at development in the year ahead.

Just because you're a geek, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy going out into the open. Fortunately, Ubuntu can bring you the best of both the virtual and real worlds.

When you get back from a trip, you're usually bursting to tell everybody all about it and share your photos. Organizing your pics by location makes it easier to describe your adventures.

Once a regular part of every classroom, the good old world globe has been almost completely replaced by Google Maps. With the Marble program, the globe has made something of a timely comeback.

An old EeePC with Linux is great solution for creating a powerful off-road navigation system. Putting together some of the components involves some tricks, however.

With just a few lines of shell code, you can build a flexible and easily adaptable stream player.

KVM, with its small yet great set of command-line tools, lets you quickly start virtual machines without having to click through cumbersome menus.

The alternative Genymotion Android emulator lets you test a self-developed app under real conditions.

Instead of toiling over a graphics layout, you can use Graphviz to concentrate on the essential content and let the software do the design.

A wireless LAN is easier to set up than a cable LAN but is significantly less secure. A RADIUS server can change that.

The Blather, FreeSpeech, Palaver, Simon, and Vedics speech recognition programs are ready to respond to voice commands. This sounds good in theory, but there are some pitfalls in practice.

If the default Ubuntu image viewer doesn't cut it for you, there are plenty of other excellent image viewing applications you can choose from.

Besides basic drawing functions, Inkscape provides sophisticated effects that can transform vector lines into soft, flowing brushstrokes or automate the drawing of paper-fine lines.

SpaceFM provides a solid file manager. With additional plugins, you can expand it into an optimized tool for all your daily tasks.

A new mail program for Linux, Geary, has finally arrived. The smart software brings some fresh air to the genre.

Photivo closes the gap between RAW converters and easy image editing, thus making often required reworking in other programs unnecessary.

Working with the Scribes editor isn't completely automatic, but with a little skill, you can save yourself a lot of typing.

Ubuntu 13.10 offers some changes to the installation process. 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.

Ubuntu's Software Center lets you install just about anything, including free software, purchased apps, and games.

Movies, music, and Internet telephony are easy to use in Ubuntu. You just have to load the right software packages onto the computer. We present some favorite multimedia apps.

Most of the people working with computers don't interact with the community. How do we reach them anyway?

Crowdfunding can distribute the load onto many participants when making large steps in development. We'll take a closer look at what you can learn from the process.