Welcome From The Chief Editor

It's ready when it's ready. That has been the PCLinuxOS mantra for as long as I can recall. True to form, a project of over two years duration to produce a 64 bit version of PCLinuxOS bore fruit with the official release of that same 64 bit version. Started by Texstar before he took his "leave," the rest of the work was taken up and completed by the Bacon Brigade - the small band of developers and packagers who tirelessly work to maintain PCLinuxOS.

Of course, the Bacon Brigade is led by Neal Brooks, a.k.a. NealManBear. The month of April found Neal spending some time in the hospital for surgery. Texstar returned from his leave to keep things on track while Neal recuperates. Only Texstar knows if it's a temporary or permanent return, and he's not saying.

According to Old-Polack, who has been in telephone contact with Neal during his hospital stay, Neal has come through surgery in fine shape, and is in the process of healing up and getting stronger. Keep Neal in your prayers and thoughts as he recuperates. I suspect it won't be long before he's enjoying his favorite food (bacon, of course! DUH!) and a large cup of coffee.

Ms_meme, despite having "retired" her Forum Foibles and Forum Foibler columns, reprises the latter with a special Forum Foibler article this month, dedicated to Neal as he recovers. Georgetoon, a.k.a. Mark Szorady, has found it necessary to end his monthly contributions to The PCLinuxOS Magazine so that he can better focus his attentions to his business - which is producing his cartoons. I'd like to thank Mark for his continual support of The PCLinuxOS Magazine. Mark signed on during a tumultuous time when we were making efforts to revive the magazine, and has been a steady contributor since July 2009. Before coming to an end with the April 2013 issue, Mark contributed 46 consecutive "Double Take & Mark's Quick Gimp Tip" columns without ever missing an issue.

To replace the loss of these regular columns, we're going to try something a little new this month. The May 3013 issue will feature the premiere appearance of a set of puzzles created especially for PCLinuxOS users. The puzzles include a Sudoku puzzle, a Scrabble™-like puzzle, a crossword puzzle, and a "Word Search" puzzle. You won't have to wait until the next month's issue to get the solutions to the puzzles. Instead, we're making the solutions a separate download from the magazine website. Check out the puzzle pages, called PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions, for more information.

Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, prosperity and serenity.