The latest issues of Linux Gazette and Tux Magazine hit the virtual bookshelves in the last few days. Both are packed with useful and informative articles for Linux aficionados, and both are available as free downloads. Tux Mag comes in a glitzy full-colour PDF format and is the nearest thing I've seen to a virtual magazine while LG's available in a variety of on- and offline formats, including a PalmDoc version.

New users will probably find Tux Mag more accessible. That's it's slant. And their "sweet, humble, delicate and very cute genius" Mango Parfait pens one of the most amusing Q&A columns I've ever read.

With more than a decade behind it, Linux Gazette is a Linux institution and it's features tend to reflect a more technical pedigree. This month for example you can read an introduction to IP Cop, implement a simple Char device and dig secure tunnels with IPsec. If they don't rattle your dags you'll find up-to-date news in News Bytes and cartoons from HelpDex and Ecol. But the real LG advantage is tucked away beneath the surface: it's searchable. All 125 issues (and counting!) are googleable from within the site. And that's a lot of resource!

(Updated: 5 April 2006)
Missed one! A number of readers pointed out a missing mag. Free Software Magazine is another monthly in PDF format. I've not yet had time for a proper look but a quick skim through its 68 pages suggests its another worthwhile read. (That's the trouble with Linux.  Too much good stuff around, too little time to explore it all.)

As with Tux Mag and LG, all previous issues are available online (there's only 13 so far, including Issue 0) and you can keep track of their contributors via blogs (as if them things'll ever catch on...)

Thanks to those who spotted my ignorance - and added to my reading burden!