Passwords. They're the bane of computer users and a necessary evil, but they have risks and challenges associated with them. None of the choices are great. If it's up to your memory, you'll end up using the same password again and again. Use a password manager like 1Password, and you're reliant on its database security and portability. Two-factor? Um, can I borrow your phone for a minute?

Nextcloud could be the first step toward replacing proprietary services like Dropbox and Skype. In its simplest form, the Nextcloud server is "just" a personal, free software alternative to services like Dropbox or iCloud. You can set it up so your files are always accessible via the internet, from wherever you are, and share them with your friends. However, Nextcloud can do so much more.

Imre Palik tried to speed up some of Linux's networking code but was met with stubborn opposition. Essentially, he wanted networking packets to bypass the netfilter code unless absolutely necessary. Netfilter, he said, was designed for flexibility at the expense of speed. According to his tests, bypassing it could speed up the system by as much as 15%.

DPDK is a fully open-source project that operates in userspace. It's a multi-vendor and multi-architecture project, and it aims at achieving high I/O performance and reaching high packet processing rates, which are some of the most important features in the networking arena. It was created by Intel in 2010 and moved to the Linux Foundation in April 2017. This move positioned it as one of the most dominant and most important open-source Linux projects.

Networking is one of Linux's strengths and a popular topic for our subscribers. For your weekend reading, we've curated some of Linux Journal's most popular networking articles.    NTPsec: a Secure, Hardened NTP Implementation by Eric S. Raymond

So many of you have asked how to help Linux Journal continue to be published* for years to come. First, keep the great ideas coming—we all want to continue making Linux Journal 2.0 something special, and we need this community to do it.

Ravada is an open-source project that allows users to connect to a virtual desktop. Currently, it supports KVM, but its back end has been designed and implemented in order to allow future hypervisors to be added to the framework. The client's only requirements are a web-browser and a remote viewer supporting the spice protocol. Ravada's main features include: