Welcome From The Chief Editor – January 2011
In a lot of ways, it's difficult to imagine that 2010 is already over. It just didn't seem to last long, at all. 2010 was a busy year for PCLinuxOS. We saw the arrival of KDE 4 as the default desktop for PCLinuxOS. The move to KDE 4 was welcomed by many, and lamented by others. We also saw the number of alternate desktop environments increase to include not only Gnome, Xfce and LXDE, but also Openbox, e17, and even Wmii. Of those, most were offered up in both "full versions" and "mini versions." We even saw the introduction of "KDE Full Monty," which has most anything and everything a user might want to install, via a Live DVD. Now, there is literally a desktop for every user, running most any kind of hardware, new or old.
Typically, the coming of the New Year's holiday signifies a time to ring in changes. For The PCLinuxOS Magazine, it means a small name and logo change. After 18 months, we are no longer "NEW." So, in keeping with the spirit of the New Year's holiday, we are dropping the "NEW" from the name of the magazine. Nothing else changes. Me, along with the rest of the staff, remain dedicated to bringing you the magazine on a monthly basis, packed with the informative and entertaining articles that you have come to expect. The new logo for the magazine was designed by Timeth, and will now grace the cover of our monthly magazine.
This month, we continue our look at the e17 desktop. Meemaw begins a three part look at the e17 System Panel settings, while I take a look at e17 Modules and the use of gadgets on the e17 desktop. Pete Kelly returns with an in-depth look at Grub, with some tips on how to fix it when it seems to get a mind of its own. Meemaw also takes a look at another of the Ladies Of PCLinuxOS, with her interview of JRex.
I take a look at using and setting up Radio Tray, in the Repo Spotlight column this month. Leiche shows us how to add some useful eye candy to our PCLinuxOS desktop, exploring how to set up and use Wbar, which will give users a Mac OS-X like quick launch bar. Meemaw kicks off another multi-part article series that will cover using Scribus to create a newsletter. This topic is dear to us who work on the magazine layout every month, since we use Scribus to lay out the PDF version of the magazine. There's nothing quite like covering a topic that you know intimately!
Gary Ratliff, Sr. returns with another installment in his Computer Languages From A To Z column, with a look at Unicon. Darrel Johnston finishes up his look at Kolibri, in his Alternate OS article series. Of course, ms_meme graces us with two installments of Forum Foibles this month, along with two installments of ms_meme's Nook. Mark Szorady's Double Take & Mark's Quick Gimp Tip is back for another of his dose of his monthly column and cartoon. We also have a couple of testimonials, culled from the PCLinuxOS Forum.
As the New Year arrives, I'd like to wish each and every person out there the most prosperous and healthy New Year. Until next month, I'd also like to wish each and every one of you peace, prosperity, happiness, serenity and tranquility.
