MNT Seeks Financial Backing for NewSeven-Inch Linux Laptop

If you're looking for a tiny laptop that's barely larger than your smartphone and runs Linux, MNT has just the device for you.

The MNT Pocket Reform is a full-fledged laptop in a tiny form factor that could serve as your new on-the-go hardware. Sure, it's tiny and the keyboard is small enough to be problematic for larger hands, but having a Linux laptop in your pocket (granted a larger pocket) has plenty of upsides.

The MNT Pocket Reform includes an ARM Cortex-A53 CPU at 1.8GHz, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, 128GB eMMC flash memory, an NVMe SSD slot (for up to 2TB), full disk encryption (via LUKS), Vivante GC7000UL GPU, H.264/H.265 video decoder, Cortext-M7 Realtime core, HiFi4 Audio DSP, a mechanical keyboard with RGB backlighting, a micro-optical trackball, a 7" full HD+ (1920x1200px) display, WiFi 802.11c, Bluetooth 5.0, MicroSD card slot, and an optional M.2 key B WWAN slot for 4G/5G/LTE.

You'll also find two USB 3.0 Type-C ports (with one delivering power), a Micro HDMI port, an ix Industrial 1GbE ethernet port (with optional RJ45 adapter). The battery consists of two Li-ion cells for a total of 8000 mAh and an approximate run time of four hours.

At the moment, the MNT Pocket Reform is participating in Crowd Supply (https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/pocket-reform), so you can back the device for $899 for a black device or $969 for a purple one.

Ubuntu Flatpak Remix Adds FlatpakSupport Preinstalled

Recently, Canonical announced that Ubuntu and all of its official spins would no longer ship with Flatpak installed out of the box. Of course, anyone can install Flatpak on any of the official versions of the open source operating system, but some might prefer not to have to take the extra steps.

If that sounds like you, there's a new unofficial spin, called Ubuntu Flatpak Remix. As you might expect, this version is a pretty straightforward take on Ubuntu, only with Flatpak preinstalled.

To take this one step further, Ubuntu Flatpak Remix also installs a few of its basic apps (such as Firefox, Thunderbird, and LibreOffice) as Flatpak apps (instead of the official Snap versions installed on Ubuntu).

One very nice thing about going this route is the Flatpak version of the apps are all the latest releases, which is a departure from the traditional Ubuntu release, which often includes the stable (but not the newest) versions of common applications.

Other reasons to give Ubuntu Flatpak Remix a try include that the most recent Mesa graphic stack (version 22.3.5) is added to improve the gaming experience and support for Flathub Portal is installed by default (so you can install Flatpak apps from the GUI app store).

As far as the UI is concerned, this Flatpak spin doesn't deviate from the standard Ubuntu desktop, so it looks and feels just like Ubuntu.

Download an ISO of Ubuntu Flatpak Remix (https://flatpakremix.org/) and give this new distribution a try. Keep in mind, however, that it's still in alpha, so there could be bugs. Another thing to keep in mind is the download is only available as a torrent, so you'll need an app like Transmission (https://transmissionbt.com/) to download the file.

LPI Announces IT Security Essentials Certification

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) has announced the new LPI Security Essentials certification (https://www.lpi.org/our-certifications/security-essentials-overview), covering preliminary knowledge in all important fields of IT security.

This certification is intended for those who have completed a first course in IT security, for professionals who want to improve their security skills, and "for anyone who wants to attain a basic competence in the secure use of email, websites, social media, and the devices they use every day," the announcement says.

To obtain the LPI Security Essentials certificate, candidates must, for example:

• Have a basic understanding of common security threats of using computers, networks, connected devices, and IT services on premises and in the cloud
• Understand common ways to prevent and mitigate attacks against their personal devices and data
• Be able to use encryption to secure data transferred through a network and stored on storage devices and in the cloud

"The exam objectives (https://www.lpi.org/our-certifications/exam-020-objectives) cover a comprehensive range of topics, including typical IT security fields like encryption and data security, but also rather uncommon topics like aspects of privacy and the secure use of social media," says Fabian Thorns, Director of Product Development at LPI.