Welcome From The Editor

by Paul Arnote

Paul Arnote

Welcome to the February 2010 issue of The NEW PCLinuxOS Magazine. February is looking to be a very busy month. First, KDE 4.4 is scheduled to come out in the early part of the month. Second, the new 2010 release of PCLinuxOS draws nearer (very near!) with each and every passing day. Texstar has been a packaging machine, as he works hard to provide a new, stable, and updated ISO that will be PCLinuxOS 2010, featuring the latest up-to-date version of KDE 4.4, Kernel 2.6.32.4 and an updated xorg server.

In preparation for the new PCLinuxOS release, this month's magazine features a series of articles aimed at getting PCLinuxOS users more familiarized with KDE 4. First, Meemaw compares Konqueror and Dolphin, in KDE 4: Konqueror or Dolphin? I take a look at Plasma in KDE 4, in my article KDE 4: Introducing Plasma. To further help with the transition to KDE 4, the magazine reprints the official KDE 4: Plasma FAQ from the KDE 4 userbase site. The magazine staff is planning on taking a closer look, in future issues, of other new developments and changes with the KDE 4 desktop.

Not everything deals with just KDE 4 in this issue, however. I have written an article to help users transitioning from another operating system to Linux, with 10 Beginner Mistakes To Avoid. AndrzejL writes another Gadgets & Gear column this month, featuring a new Canyon Notebook Stand for his notebook computer. Gary L. Ratliff, Sr. offers up another installment in his exploration of computer programming languages, Computer Languages A to Z: Haskell. Mark Szorady provides another Double Take cartoon, along with his monthly "Mark's Gimp Tip." I review another game for the Game Zone column, with Game Zone: Machinarium.

We get a close up view of yet another person responsible for helping keep (and make) PCLinuxOS what it is, with the Behind The Scenes: davecs article. Ms_meme graces us with another installment of her monthly columns, Forum Foibles and ms_meme's Nook, as well as a special birthday wish for Texstar. Peter Kelly continues his series of articles on learning the command line, with Command Line Interface Intro: Part 5. Dave Buckler gives us a good tutorial on creating high dynamic range photographic images, using programs from the PCLinuxOS repository, with his article HDR Photography With Qtfpsgui & Gimp. We also have 3 testimonials from new users in this month's magazine. Finally, this month's magazine cover was created by me, to celebrate Valentine's Day, which is a February tradition in the United States.

All I can say is that you had better hang on to your seats, as February is looking to be a very exciting and busy month for PCLinuxOS users! Lots of changes are literally just around the corner. Stay tuned, and pay close attention to the announcements on the PCLinuxOS home page, as well as developments that are posted in the forums and on the PCLinuxOS Twitter page.

Until next time, may each of you enjoy nothing but peace, love, happiness, and joy!

Paul Arnote [parnote]
PCLinuxOS Magazine Chief Editor