Welcome From The Chief Editor

Hear ye, hear ye! The 2012.08 maintenance release of 32-bit PCLinuxOS KDE and 32-bit PCLinuxOS Minime KDE have been released. Both have been produced by Pinoc. Unfortunately, if you want a LiveCD, your only choice is to download the Minime version, since the full KDE desktop now fits only on a DVD sized optical medium, with the ISO weighing in at 1,283 MB. Or, you could install the PCLinuxOS LXDE 2012.06 release, which fits easily onto a LiveCD.

The latest maintenance release contains KDE 4.8.3, an upgrade from the previous KDE 4.6.x desktop. On the full KDE version, LibreOffice is also included, along with a whole host of other applications. Minime (with an ISO weighing in at only 508 MB) is a good choice for advanced users who know what applications they want installed on their PCLinuxOS installation. This helps you to avoid having a whole host of applications you may never use and that you may not want installed, and that unnecessarily take up room on your hard drive. Of course, you can take your pick of the over 13,500 packages in the PCLinuxOS repository to tailor your Minime installation to be just how you want it.

Along the Riverfront Heritage Trail in Kansas City, MO.

Also, due to changes in the KDE desktop from the old 4.6.x version to the 4.8.3 version, there is not a “clean” upgrade path to the newer KDE desktop. To help you out, we’ve published a couple of “cheat sheets” to help you with the upgrade of your 4.6.x KDE desktop to the 4.8.3 KDE desktop. While either method by itself will get you there, some users are reporting success using a combination of the two approaches. To help prevent data loss, it is highly recommended that you backup your data before attempting the upgrade. Of course, one other option exists – to reinstall from the freshly updated maintenance release. If you choose the latter, be extra sure to backup your data before reinstalling – or risk losing it altogether.

With the new upgrades and the new ISOs having been released, most of us will have plenty to do to occupy our time. So, until next month, I bid each of you peace, prosperity, serenity and happiness.