Welcome From The Editor
October 2009
by Paul Arnote
WOW! What a month it has been! Where do I start?
First, KDE 4.3.1, although still being refined by Texstar and the Packaging Crew, has made its way to PCLinuxOS users' desktops. As expected, Texstar's touch can be felt, as it feels very solid. Despite the warning that it's not intended for everyday use, I have experienced no problems running it on my test box. KDE 4.3.2 is reported to be close to finished.
Second, Sproggy has released Phoenix, the PCLinuxOS XFCE remaster. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, you owe it to yourself to give it at least a trial run from the Live CD. Not only is it lightweight, but it's also fast and attractive.
Third, the PCLinuxOS "toolchain" – the gcc compiler and glibc – have been upgraded by Texstar, from version 4.1.x to 4.4.1. This now allows PCLinuxOS to offer later kernels, and to compile newer versions of programs.
Fourth, and speaking of kernels, a new kernel was recently released, version 2.6.27.31.tex5. Installation was easy (via Synaptic), and it seems to run noticeably faster on my laptop.
Meanwhile, this month the PCLinuxOS Magazine brings you lots of new articles. First, we have reviews of Phoenix and KDE 4.3.1. Patrick Hornecker continues his "Through The Lens" series, with Gimp Basics, as well as giving us a David Letterman-style top seven reasons to choose PCLinuxOS over Windows 7. Two new columns premiere this month, Game Zone and Gadgets & Gear. Linuxera reviews "Second Life" for the Game Zone, while I review the SanDisk SansaClip MP3 player for Gadgets & Gear. Georgetoon returns with another installment of Double Take, along with a Gimp tip. Ms_meme regales us with another round of Forum Foibles and ms_meme's Nook. She also gives us a special gift, with her birthday wishes for PCLinuxOS, while I pen a special article about the 6th Birthday of PCLinuxOS. October also marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Meemaw walks us through using XSane with your flatbed scanner, in Scanner Saga. Critter starts a series on the command line interface, with his CLI Introduction article this month. We visit the Gutsy Geeks, the only radio talk show in the United States devoted exclusively to Linux and open source software. Musonio brings us another installment of Scripts-R-Us, with his article on how to create a GUI with GTKDialog. Meemaw also "demystifies" the System menu, by providing a brief description of the sometimes-scary-items under the KMenu's System entry in her System Secrets article. We get to go "Behind The Scenes" again, this month with Joble, in his own words. Eronstuc explores Dylan, in his continuing series of articles examining various computer languages, in Computer Languages From A to Z. We also have a couple of testimonials this month, from Catilley and pullapint. Stricktoo brings us another Flashback article, and his five favorite Firefox add-ons/extensions. Athaki updates his Acer Aspire One article from last month, since he has updated his netbook to run KDE 4.3.1. Galen Seaman was fortunate to be able to attend LinuxCon in Portland, Oregon, and he gives a first hand report of his attendance to readers of the PCLinuxOS Magazine. And, once again, Timeth has blessed us with another of his original artwork creations to use as the cover for the October issue of the PCLinuxOS Magazine.
There is more yet to come. Sproggy is reported to be working on an e17 Enlightenment remaster. As I mentioned earlier, KDE 4.3.2 is literally right around the corner. And there are other projects in the works.
I'd like to extend special thanks to Texstar, as well as the Packaging Crew, for their continuing hard work that has enabled PCLinuxOS to continue to evolve as one of the best (if not the best) Linux desktop system out there. I'd also like to extend a warm thanks to the PCLinuxOS community, for being so gracious and welcoming to new users, and for being so helpful in assisting to solve other user's problems in the PCLinuxOS Forum. All of this, combined, is what makes PCLinuxOS the quality Linux distro that it is.