Table of Contents

Welcome From The Chief Editor

Paul's 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff

Meemaw's 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

The_CrankyZombie's 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

TBS's 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

Inkscape Tutorial: Inkscape 1.4 Released!

ICYMI: New Spear-Phishing Attacks From Russian Hackers

Tip Top Tips: Accented Characters In Plasma/Qt

How To Install Typst Compiler Locally On PCLinuxOS

Good Words, Good Deeds, Good News

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner Bonus: Instant Pot Tomato Soup

PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

Screenshot Showcase

From The Chief Editor's Desk...

I’m sitting here on Thanksgiving morning writing this, while my wife is at work at the hospital (we’ll have our traditional Thanksgiving dinner on the day after the “official” Thanksgiving Day holiday). In the U.S., we are urged to reflect on the things in our lives that we are thankful for during the Thanksgiving holiday. So, that’s the direction I’m going to go with this month’s “From The Chief Editor’s Desk” column.

I’m thankful for the family that my wife and I have created. We weren’t even sure we’d be able to have kids. We went through seven years of infertility before Ryan came along. After having a couple of meetings with “fertility experts,” we discovered that “fertility treatments” were something WAY outside our budget. We managed to find an OB/Gyn doctor who felt confident that he could restore my wife’s fertility status. By this point, we were actually exploring (and starting the paperwork for) a state-sponsored adoption. And then, soon after meeting with this doctor and meeting with the other doctor he referred us to for a consultation (and a few procedures later), we found out we were expecting.

For my daughter Lexi, we didn’t do anything. We weren’t actively trying, but we also weren’t doing anything to prevent a pregnancy. Three years to the day after discovering we were expecting Ryan, we found out we were pregnant again.

These kids are a true blessing in our lives, and we are truly thankful for them.

Dad and Ryan in the blind, deer hunting

I’m thankful for PCLinuxOS, and all the PCLinuxOS friends I’ve made over the years. Like many people, I was a “Windows refugee.” The last full version of Windows I used was Windows XP. I was what many would call a WinXP “power user,” customizing everything possible to get it to run the way I wanted. When Vista came out, I saw it as an unmitigated disaster. None of my computers, which I had just purchased within the previous two years, possessed the hardware specs to run Vista, so I was going to be “left behind.” I knew there had to be something better out there, so I restarted my Linux journey (which had previously flopped). After a bit of distro hopping, I discovered PCLinuxOS. It was the ONLY distro among the dozen or so that I had tried that recognized all of my hardware on the initial installation. I was hooked. I had found my new OS to replace the aging Windows XP. The rest is, as they say, history. I joined the PCLinuxOS forum, met a LOT of friendly folks, and made lots of friends in the PCLinuxOS community. I’ve never looked back.

Oh, I’m also thankful for many other things. In fact, there’s way too many to list here, but let’s try to hit the highlights. I’m thankful for relatively good health. I’m thankful for having such a wonderful wife. I’m thankful for retirement, especially when I hear the horror stories of the stuff my wife has to deal with at work (she’s also a respiratory therapist). I’m very thankful for being able to be (in retirement) a “stay-at-home dad,” always able to be there for my kids on a daily basis. I’m thankful for the relatively comfortable life I lead, with a house and all of the things I need. There are a lot of folks a whole lot worse off than I am.

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This month’s cover is a composite of a few different images assembled to make the final image. The main image of Santa Claus is from Pixabay artist Gerd Altman. The wreath is an image from Pixabay artist Dianne. The PCLinuxOS logo (of course) I already had. I assembled them together, and thought they made a nice holiday themed cover just for PCLinuxOS.

********************

Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity, prosperity, and continued good health. Oh … and Happy Holidays!

Paul's 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Fa La La La La La La La La!

Yep! ‘Tis the season!

The season for holiday gift giving is once again upon us. No matter how you celebrate the holidays (or maybe you don’t), there’s a general spirit of giving and good will among people at this time of year. For the most part, at least.

This year, as we’ve done every year since I’ve taken the reins of the magazine, we’re presenting our annual Holiday Gift Guide articles. This year, there are 10 gift ideas – EACH – from The CrankyZombie, Meemaw, tbs and me. That’s a total of 40 unique holiday gift ideas to help you find that perfect gift for those on your holiday gift list. Who knows … maybe you’re on your own gift list!

Collectively, we’ve tried to include items that fit into just about every budget. The prices expressed are in U.S. dollars, and are accurate as far as we know at the time that the articles were written. Certainly, we can’t guarantee the availability of all items in all areas, but we hope that you are able to find what you’re looking for. If ordering online, be sure to order the gifts early enough that they show up before the holiday you’re celebrating.

So, with further ado, here’s my 10 gift ideas…

Environmentally Conscious Lighting, Saltwater Camping Lantern
Amazon.com    $49.99

If you spend any amount of time outdoors, or if you have an emergency preparedness stash for those unexpected emergencies, you most likely have a need for an economical lighting source that won’t fail you when needed the most. With my son and daughter both in Cub Scouts, and with us enjoying camping as a family, any kind of portable lighting is always “on our radar.” What I love most about this lantern is IT DOES NOT REQUIRE ANY BATTERIES (which always seem to be dead when needed most)! Simply fill the reservoir with 350ml of water, and mix in a tablespoon of salt. The electricity for the light is generated from a chemical reaction between the salt water and the replaceable aluminum plates on the interior of the lantern reservoir. The lantern will stay lit (producing light) for up to 140 hours on a single fill. The lantern can produce as much as 350 lumens of soft, diffuse light that’s sufficient to light up your immediate area. Be sure to drain the salt water (and rinse out the interior) to stop the chemical reaction in between uses to prolong the life of the aluminum plates that participate in that chemical reaction. This salt water lantern is an environmentally conscious emergency and camping light that requires no batteries. The lantern is versatile, suitable for outdoor activities like camping, hiking, and emergency preparedness kits. It’s compact and portable, being lightweight and easy to transport, ideal for travel or outdoor adventures. There is no fuel required, utilizing a safe and renewable energy source, eliminating the need for hazardous fuels or disposable batteries.

11pcs Windshield Cleaner Tool, Car Window Cleaning Wash Kit
Amazon.com    $15.99

With today’s automakers attempting to make vehicles more aerodynamic, one thing that has happened is the increased “sloping” of the windshield. That sloping makes it an exercise in contortion-ism just to clean the interior of the windshield. In many cases, you cannot get to some areas of the windshield to clean. There simply isn’t room to get your hand in there to clean it effectively. That makes this tool super useful, allowing you to be able to clean your windshield from edge-to-edge, with ease. The handles telescope to give you not only the best angle to clean the windshield, but to also extend your reach. There are two different shaped microfiber pads (rectangular and triangular) to allow you to reach all of those areas of your windshield. This kit comes with three pads in each shape, two extendable handles, a soft brush, and a couple of small spray bottles. This turns the job of cleaning the interior of your windshield into a super simple job, that’s almost fun to do. The only thing you need to provide is your favorite glass cleaner, a little bit of time, and a little of your “elbow grease” to complete the job!

Men's Nylon Web Ratchet Belt, Casual Reversible Belt
Amazon.com     $14.98

I stumbled upon this belt quite by chance, and it has become my absolute FAVORITE belt out of all of the belts I own. To be perfectly honest, I had never even heard of a “ratchet belt” before finding this. I hate belts with large belt buckles, and with buckles with sharp corners that dig into the physical evidence of my dunlap disease (don’t ask). I’ve tried all sorts of belts. Fabric belts. Check! Leather belts. Check! Canvas belts with the pinch roller. Check! The leather and fabric belts get “distorted” from using the same hole over and over and over. The canvas webbing belts that use the pinch roller can be troublesome to undo in a hurry (should that need arise). However, the ratchet belt is infinitely adjustable (like the canvas belt with the pinch roller), and is quickly released by the release lever on the right underside of the “buckle.” As an added bonus, the belt is reversible, giving you two colors of belts to choose from, with a simple twist of the buckle. And, the buckle is pretty minimalist in nature, preventing it from digging in when I bend over. The belt pictured here is the belt I have, with black on one side, and khaki on the other side. There are other color combinations available, including blue/black, coyote/black, gray/black, and coffee/black.

Aluminum USB C 3.2 Hard Drive Enclosure for 2.5 Inch SATA SSD/HDD
Amazon.com    $19.99

When I find them on sale, and when I have the extra money to spend, I tend to buy SSDs in various sizes. I use them to replace spinning rust drives in some of my computers, and use others for an assortment of external storage devices. This particular drive case is made of aluminum, providing a very stout and secure drive enclosure. It has ample air vents, to help ensure that the drive contained within runs cool and any heat is easily whisked away. It comes with drive cables that connect to an available USB-C port, and utilizes the faster USB 3.2 protocol to rapidly transfer files. If you don’t have an available USB-C port, you can plug in the USB-A cable adapter, and use that to transfer files (albeit somewhat slower).

Collapsible Hiking Poles, Lightweight Folding Travel Walking Sticks
Amazon.com    $27.99

As I mentioned earlier, both my son and daughter are in Cub Scouts. In fact, my wife and I are the hiking chairs for our Cub Scout Pack, charged with arranging a monthly hike for our entire pack (yes, even during the winter). After getting a few “try ‘em and see” hiking sticks, I finally found these. Some of the “other” hiking sticks I tried weren’t tall enough for an adult. Others were so flimsy that they were barely useful as hiking sticks. Not only are these lightweight AND sturdy, but they also extend to an acceptable height for use by an adult (for what it’s worth, the “proper” height adjustment for a hiking stick is to a height where your arm is bent at the elbow and your forearm is parallel to the ground). These come with four different attachments for the ground-contact end of the hiking poles, as well as a storage bag for the sticks and their attachments. The handle is very comfortable, made from cork that flexes slightly in your hand to give you a sure grip.

Astromania 10X42 HD K9 Prism Monocular
Amazon.com     $37.97

This high power monocular telescope provides 10x magnification with a 42 mm objective diameter wide lens. It provides a 305 ft/1000 yards of large field of view. Perfect for bird watching, hiking, hunting, sporting events, etc. The monocular is waterproof, anti-fog, dustproof, shockproof, and slip resistant. The lens cap protects the lens from dust and moisture. It is nitrogen filled, providing protection in any weather and in any condition. This monocular has a fully multi-coat lens, offering a brighter view and clear low light vision. High light transmittance of up to 99.9 percent provides clear, high contrast, and color accurate images. Only 6.38 inch x 3.03 inch x 2.28 inch and weighs 0.86 lbs, the mini design is perfect for one handed and fits easily into your pocket or backpack. The rubber armor with stripes increases the friction, helping to keep it from slipping out from your hand. The monocular is packed with an English instruction manual, flannel pouch, lanyard, cleaning cloth, and lens cap, as well as sporting a socket for mounting on a tripod.

Knife & Scissor Sharpener with 5 Adjustable Angles (15°-24°) – Coarse & Fine Slots    Amazon.com    $35.99

Of all of the knife sharpeners I’ve tried over the years, this is the latest one that has become my favorite. Most of the sharpeners I’ve tried over the years only sharpen your knife blades at one “universal” angle (that doesn’t exist). However, this one has a dial (the yellow knob on top in the image) that allows you to choose from five different grinding/sharpening angles: 15°, 18°, 20°, 22°, and 24°. That is for the coarse sharpening slot. The fine sharpening slot is self-adjusting, and fine tunes the sharpening. The third sharpening slot (behind the tip of the knife in the picture above) is specially designated for sharpening your scissors (and there’s little else as frustrating as a dull pair of scissors). The sharpener has an anti-slip base, and an offset handle to help keep your “other” hand safe. It also comes with a nice storage bag (lower left in image). There’s even a brief guide on the side of the sharpener to help you select the proper sharpening angle for the various knives you might want to sharpen with this sharpener.

Portable AM FM Radio with Bluetooth 5.3, 7400mWh Rechargeable Radio with Best Reception    Amazon.com    $24.63

I love this little radio! It has SO MANY features packed into such a small package! First of all, there’s the 1940s/1950s styling, reminiscent of many radios from the era it copies its styling from. Even the tuning dial is the “old fashioned” analog tuner. Tuning is easy, and the stations come in very clear. Simply select (top front knob) the band (AM or FM) you want to listen to, and manually tune in the station with the large tuning knob. The sound from this radio is exceptionally clear and rich, even if it’s not stereo sound. If that was all this radio did, that would be enough to rank it right up at the top of its competitors. But, it does do more. You can play music (or other audio media, such as podcasts) stored on a USB flash drive, or on a TF (microSD) card. The radio can also run off of 2 common D-cell batteries, and it also has its own built-in rechargeable LiON battery. Plug the supplied USB cable into a charger, and you can recharge that built-in battery. The LED on the tuning dial will turn red while charging, and changes to green when fully charged. Plus, you can also stream music via Bluetooth from your mobile devices, and play them back over this radio. It also has an earphone jack to allow you to listen without disturbing those around you.

PCLinuxOS Light Men's Value T-Shirt
PCLinuxOS CafePress Store    $23.99

Our Men’s Value T-Shirt is an everyday essential! This short-sleeve midweight fabric T-shirt is comfortable, economical and made to last. Designed with a traditional fit that runs true to size, you’ll show off your personality, humor and interests with an easy, relaxed style. Comfortable, midweight Men’s Value T-Shirt is made of 100% preshrunk cotton; gray colors are made of a cotton/polyester blend. Short-sleeve tee shirts for men available in 15 colors. Double-needle stitched bottom and hems for extra durability. Crewneck T-shirts professionally printed with sharp, vivid designs that resist fading. Designed for the cost-conscious shopper. Machine wash cold with like colors, inside/out, then tumble dry low.

Donate To Keep PCLinuxOS Alive
Stripe    Open ended amount

The holiday gift giving season is ripe for making a donation to keep PCLinuxOS going, so you can make a donation either in your name, or in the name of the PCLinuxOS user on your holiday gift list. Texstar’s sole occupation is working on PCLinuxOS, and he could use your donations to help keep himself stocked with tacos and beer. Server space doesn’t come free, so there are “other costs” associated with making your free (as in beer) and favorite operating system available to as many users as possible. You can enter the amount you can afford, and pay using a credit card, or from funds drawn on a U.S. bank account. No reasonable amount is too small.

Summary

There you have it … my 10 holiday gift ideas. If nothing I’ve listed strikes your fancy, I’m sure you’ll be able to find something that does on either Meemaw’s, The CrankyZombie’s, or tbs’ holiday gift guide.

Happy Holidays, from all of us here at The PCLinuxOS Magazine!

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff

Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS:

2 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup onion diced
1 1/2 tsp salt divided
1/2 tsp pepper
2 lbs stew meat cubed
4 tsp garlic minced
1/2 tsp rosemary dried
1/2 tsp paprika
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
2 Tbsp flour
3 cups beef broth
8 oz. wide egg noodles
1/2 cup sour cream
parsley for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Turn Instant Pot onto sauté. Add oil and heat for one minute. Add in onion and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes.

Sprinkle beef with 1 tsp salt and pepper. Add beef to pot and cook until browned on all sides, about 2-3 minutes. Add in garlic, rosemary and paprika. Stir to combine. Add in Worcestershire sauce and salt. Add in mushrooms and flour. Stir until combined.

Pour in beef broth and stir. Lock on lid and set to high pressure for 10 minutes. (will take about 10-15 minutes to come up to pressure)

When the timer goes off, carefully do a quick release, open the pot and add in egg noodles. Close and lock and set timer for another 5 minutes at high pressure (it will take about 5 minutes to come back up to pressure)

Release pressure naturally for five minutes and then do a quick release. Open and stir in sour cream

Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.

NUTRITION:

Calories: 707    Carbs: 49g    Sodium: 1737mg    Fiber: 3g    Protein:63g

Meemaw's 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

by Meemaw

Wow, it seems like time has flown by since last holiday season! Just when I think I have lots of time to figure out the best presents for my family, I discover that I don't have as much time as I thought. Maybe some of these will be great presents for my family as well.

Bits and Pieces

Bits and Pieces started out as a jigsaw puzzle seller, but has evolved into many more areas: gifts, clothes, yard ornaments, books, mind puzzles and more. They still have jigsaw puzzles, but have many more items.

Metal Bell Chimes    $49.99

I've had yard art in my gift guides every year, and even bought a wind spinner this year! This is a little different, being a bronze bell stand instead of a spinner. The website's description reads, Stake this attractive bell collection anywhere in your yard or garden you might want a little music. Sculpturally pleasing to the eye, it is made of bronze-finished durable iron. And at the top, seven more tiny bells hang in miniature hearts that add to the twinkling, melodious sound, when caught in the breeze. A beautiful addition to any garden. Measures 54" high x 8" wide with a 7-1/2" stake pointed on each side to secure into the ground.

Brain Games Book Series    $16.99

These puzzle books are designed to keep your brain active. There are at least 14 different themed books. Challenge your inner Einstein by solving 190 word and number puzzles. Spiral bound, 192 pages.

Newegg

Newegg is a wonderful site! I've gotten some computer parts there, but they have loads more: toys, games, gifts and even furniture and appliances.

Montessori Toddler Busy Board    $25.99

My great granddaughter turned 1 in August! She's very alert and very active, and I'm thinking that this busy board might be a good toy for her this Christmas. It is 9 x 1.5 x 2 inches, which will make it small enough to tuck into the diaper bag and take with them. It takes 2 AAA batteries. From the site:

This busy board is specially designed for toddlers who love switches and LED lights. There are 8 different switches set up on this busy board, and each switch corresponds to a different color or style of LED light. The brightness of each LED is adjusted to be just right for the baby, not too bright, too dazzling or too dark to see clearly.

JY03 Drone with Camera    $59.99

From the site:

Get ready for a thrilling and immersive flying experience with the JY03 drone! Equipped with a 1080P HD camera that can be adjusted up to 90°, you can capture stunning aerial photos and videos from various angles. The drone also features Wifi FPV real-time transmission, allowing you to view live images and videos on your mobile device for a genuine FPV flying experience. The JY03 drone also features a range of exciting functions that make it a great choice for drone skill training. Fly with ease using the One-Key Takeoff/Landing and Headless Mode functions, while the 3-speed settings give you the flexibility to adjust your flying speed to your preference. Impress your friends and family with 360° flips and gestures photography, and let the drone follow your face using its Facial Recognition Follow feature. Moreover, the JY03 drone has a Double Flight Time, thanks to its two Modular Li-Po Batteries yielding up to 20 minutes of maximum flight time.

Drones on Newegg are priced from $24.99 up depending on what you want.

Raspberry Pi 4    $61.99

From the site:

The speed and performance of the new Raspberry Pi 4 is a step up from earlier models. For the first time, we've built a complete desktop experience. Whether you're editing documents, browsing the web with a bunch of tabs open, juggling spreadsheets or drafting a presentation, you'll find the experience smooth and very recognizable but on a smaller, more energy-efficient and much more cost-effective machine. Specs are:

• Broadcom BCM2711, quad-core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1. 5GHz---4GB LPDDR4-2400 SDRAM
• 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz IEEE 802. 11B/g/n/ac Wireless LAN, Bluetooth 5.0, double-true Gigabit Ethernet
• 2 × USB 3. 0 ports, 2 x USB 2. 0 Ports---2 × micro HDMI ports supporting up to 4Kp60 video resolution
• 2-lane MIPI DSI/CSI ports for camera and display--4-pole stereo audio and composite video port--Micro SD card slot for loading operating system and data storage
• Requires 5. 1V, 3a power via USB Type C or gpio-poep (power over Ethernet) enabled (requires PoE hat — not included))

It's approximately the size of a playing card.

Amazon

Many of us order things from Amazon on a regular basis, even going there first before checking anywhere else.

Electric Kettle    $35.09

This kettle boils water in just three to five minutes with a 1200W heating element. The indicator light turns off when boiling and switches off automatically when done. The 0.65mm fine spout allows for precise control of water flow speed if you make pour-over coffee, resulting in better flavor and taste. The inside of the pot is 100% Stainless Steel. It has auto safety features: an auto shut-off feature and built-in boil-dry prevention. When the water boils or when there is no water left in the kettle, it will automatically shut off. The rectangular cordless power base design improves the kettle body's stability.

8x25 Waterproof Binoculars, 8X Magnification    $95.00

Many of the guys I know (and some of the girls) go deer hunting in the fall to add to their meat supply. Most of them always carry binoculars with them.This pair seems like a great buy. The binoculars are lightweight, compact, pocketable binoculars (weight: 11.85oz.) featuring anti-reflective Fully Multi Coated optics, a central focusing system, and Swiss-designed Bak4p prism for a bright field of view wherever you go. Scratch-proof, fog-proof, and fully waterproof, these rugged binoculars are designed to go anywhere to provide bright crisp views for birdwatching, stargazing, hiking, camping, wildlife viewing, and traveling. They are rated IPX7, meaning the binoculars can take a smattering of dust, humidity, and water (submersible in up to three feet of water for 30 min.) without ever compromising on performance. The ergonomic Rugged Wave Grip design ensures no slip in palm, a comfortable feel in hand, and impact resistant housing to protect the optimal system. They are available in eight different colors.

Indoor Herb Garden    $107.00

As many cooks as we have around here, this would be ideal to grow some of the herbs that are used for recipes. The AeroGarden Harvest is an indoor hydroponic gardening system that grows your favorite vegetables, herbs, or flowers in water without the mess of soil. It is 10.5" long x 6" wide x 17.4" long. It has a full spectrum 20W LED grow light with an automatic on/off timer that mimics natural sunlight to help plants germinate up to five times faster than in soil.

From the site:

WHAT'S INCLUDED: The AeroGarden Harvest comes with a 20W LED grow light system, power adapter, one 3 oz. bottle of liquid plant food, and the Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit featuring Genovese Basil, Curly Parsley, Dill, Thyme, Thai Basil, and Mint.

L L Bean

I like L L Bean for clothing. I know what you'll say - too expensive - however, many of the items I have bought in the past, like flannel shirts for my husband, lasted three or four times as long as some of the more inexpensive brands. I don't shop there very often, but I really like their clothing because it's durable.

Slippers    $49.95 - $135.00

I wear slippers around the house all the time while at home. I bought some “cheapies” several months ago, and they are already starting to wear out, so this time I'm going to try the L L Bean slippers. I like the scuffs, and ordered the pair on the right, but with a flowered pattern. The slippers on the left are $49.95 and come in three colors. The patterned ones on the right are $69.95 and are available in ten different patterns. There are loads of other styles, priced depending on whether they are leather or fleece, and whether they have soles on them which can be worn outside.

CafePress PCLinuxOS Section

    $30.49

This mug will advertise the best Linux distro!

I hope your holidays are the best!

The_CrankyZombie's 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

by YouCanToo/The_CrankyZombie

Santa says, “Ho… Ho… Ho…” It's that time of the year once again. So let’s get to it…..

Feeling Stressed?  Heating Pad for the Neck and Shoulders    AMAZON    $28.00

Most of us tense up, particularly in our shoulders, when stressed. Drop those shoulders from your ears and lie back with this heating pad designed specifically for those troublesome areas. It snaps around your neck so it won't slip off.

Quinlianf 5-Outlet Extender        AMAZON    $10.00

Never fight with your family members over power outlets again. This electrifying gadget boasts five AC outlets and four USB ports, enough for everyone to charge their devices all at once.

CyberPower ST625U Standby UPS System, 900VA/500W, 8 Outlets, 2 USB Charging Ports    AMAZON    $109.00

900VA/500W Standby Battery Backup Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to safeguard home office and entertainment needs, including computers, gaming consoles, and broadband routers. 3-YEAR WARRANTY – INCLUDING THE BATTERY; $125,000 Connected Equipment Guarantee. The CyberPower ST900U has a user-replaceable battery.

AnkerMake - M5C-B 3D Printer        BEST BUY    $299.99

3D printing. So Easy. So Fun. Explore the world of 3D printing and bring your creative designs to life with AnkerMake M5C 3D Printer. Ultra-fast, superior printing ensures objects are ready quickly with PowerBoost 2.0 technology. Delivering print speeds up to 10X faster (500 mm/s) than other 3D printers using default 50mm/s printing speeds, your models are completed in no time.

Simple assembly and user-friendly App will have you creating in 15 minutes. Enjoy full management and monitoring from anywhere. Connect the printer to your smartphone or laptop and design your own pieces or leverage one from the free print-ready library of models available in the App. Ideal for printing collectible items or missing parts.

Instant Pot — 6Qt Crisp 11-in-1 Pressure Cooker Air Fryer — Silver    BEST BUY    $173.99

Pressure-cooking and air frying are fantastic ways to help you save time and energy when cooking healthy meals, and the Instant Pot Duo Crisp plus Air Fryer is one hot pot that you won’t want to miss. Cook and crisp all in one place by swapping out the pressure cooker lid for the innovative air fryer lid, and add a whole new set of cooking techniques to your culinary collection. All the same taste and texture of your deep-fried favorites, but made with as little as 2 tablespoons of oil. Save space by replacing your pressure cooker, slow cooker, sauté pan, steamer, sous vide cooker, warmer, air fryer, roaster, oven, broiler and dehydrator — it’s like having 11 appliances in 1. Use the pressure cooker lid to easily pressure-cook, sauté, steam, slow cook, sous vide and warm your meals. The air fryer lid is useful to quickly air fry, roast, bake, broil and dehydrate all your favorites.

Make Your Own Artisan Root Beer Kit        UNCOMMON GOODS    $35.00

Craft creamy, spicy, revitalizing root beer from scratch with this kit’s hand-selected blend of all-natural botanical ingredients. In just a few hours, craft 4 liters of thirst-quenching root beer with rich botanical flavor and a creamy, satisfying mouthfeel. No corn syrup or food coloring, just high-quality ingredients: caramelly demerara sugar and a custom blend of real sarsaparilla, birchbark, ginger root, and juniper berries. The easy-to-follow instructions (supplemented by a how-to video via QR code) include customization tips, like how to cook up caramel color the old-fashioned way. Mix the finished syrup into seltzer water for instant soda, or use the included yeast and bottling kit to carbonate the root beer naturally: a science experiment that’s deliciously fascinating for all.

L8000 Laser LiDAR Navigation Robotic Vacuum        AMAZON    $119.00

Tikom L8000 robot vacuum, with Smart Mapping Technology, can quickly create maps for your home and store up to 5 maps suitable for multi-floor families. Systematic path planning prevents repeating or missing cleaning. 150 minute runtime on a full charge.

L8000 supports multiple cleaning modes: Sweep Only, Mop Only, or Sweep & Mop at the same time. 14 No-Go Zones & 20 Virtual Walls: You can set No-Go Zones or Virtual Walls for bathrooms and easy-to-get-stuck places. No-Mop Zones are designed especially for carpets. Works with Amazon Echo, Smartphones, Google Home, Wi-Fi 2.4G.

Make Your Own BBQ Sauce Kit        UNCOMMON GOODS    $42.00

This DIY barbecue set has everything you need to whip up savory or spicy tomato-based sauces, piquant mustard-based preparations, and peppery vinegar mop sauce. The easy-to-follow recipes and ingredient packs make creating your own set of sauces a sure-fire success. The kit includes three bottles with lids and blank labels to create custom packaging for your concoctions. The kit makes a great gift for dads and creative drillmasters. Made in Portland, Oregon.

PCLinuxOS Notebook        CAFE PRESS    $30.49

Math Wall Clock — Unique Wall Clock        AMAZON    $15.99

A UNIQUE WAY TO TRACK THE HOURS Instead of Roman numerals or traditional numbers, this clock has a different equation at each demarcation.

TBS' 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

by TBS

Yes, it's that time of year again. For over 2 months, you wouldn't be able to miss the upcoming holiday season in stores all around. So here are a few picks I came up with, just to give you a few ideas for the people you care about. Since I live in Germany, I tried to cover products that are available for purchase in the US as well as the EU. I'm fairly sure that they can be bought in many other countries around the world. Let's start:

Thermopro TP19H — Digital Meat Thermometer    Amazon    $16.99 (US) / €16.99 (DE)

At a time when air fryers are almost everywhere, and especially useful for singles (like me), one important aspect is making sure that meat is thoroughly cooked. Meat thermometers are an essential tool when cooking meat, so I recommend the Thermopro TP19H digital meat thermometer. There are more expensive models which include more options, some with a bluetooth connection for your smartphone. But this inexpensive model is highly recommended, especially for those starting off (like me).

Carhartt Deluxe Compartment Insulated Cooler    Amazon    $39.99 (US) / €42.20 (DE)

This lunch box is highly recommended for its features and quality. From the staff of bestproducts.com: “Lunch boxes may seem too practical, but this option from Carhartt is definitely gift-worthy … It features two insulated compartments for extra storage, a zippered pocket ideal for utensils, and two carrying options — a top handle and shoulder strap. It's also made of durable water-repellent fabric, so your recipient can take it on rainy days and know their food will be safe. Choose from five colors to make the gift feel more personalized for your recipient.”.

OXO Good Grips POP Container    Amazon    $17.99 (US) / €16.81 (DE)

Kitchen containers are always a popular choice as holiday gifts, and OXO containers are available in a variety of shapes and sizes. As an example, I picked the tall, square container, ideal for long pasta like spaghetti.

Beelink EQR5 MINI PC AMD Ryzen™ 5825U/5650U    bee-link    $299.00 (US) / €279.08 (DE)

Mini PCs are becoming more and more popular, and for good reason. With the current specs, they pack a punch, are very energy-efficient, extremely quiet, and fit anywhere you like.

I have mine sitting under the monitor, as it replaced my previous machine, a tower rocking an AMD Phenom II X6 1055T processor, and an Nvidia GTX 750.

The mini PC blows that machine straight out of the water in every way, without making a sound. And at this price, it can hardly be beat for someone who doesn't need a high-power machine (e.g. for gaming, or image, video or audio processing, etc.).

There are many configurations available for the PC mentioned here, and there are quite a few more manufacturers (e.g. Minisforum) that can also be recommended.

Snap Circuits “Arcade” Electronics Exploration Kit    Amazon    $45.00 (US only)

For kids ages 8 and above, this kit provides a cool way to learn about how electronics work. The kit is safe, and has won many awards.

From the product description: “Learn the basics of electricity, engineering, and circuitry with full color, curriculum-rich, easy-to-follow instructions.
Snap Circuit products were created to provide a fundamental, hands-on education in how electrical circuits work to run everyday devices. All parts mount on plastic modules that snap together with ease. Young engineers will have hours of educational fun learning about electronics and how to build circuits”.

PCLinuxOS Merchandise — Large Coffee Mug    Cafepress    $18.74

Be inspired with this unique PCLinuxOS labeled ceramic coffee mug. it's capcity is 15 oz. (444 ml), is 4.5” tall x 3.25” diameter (11.43 cm x 8.3 cm).

Other noteworthy features:

choice of all-white or with a color handle and interior

Durable ceramic construction with easy-grip handle

Scratch-resistant finish

Coffee mug is ideal for both hot and cold beverages

Your one-of-a-kind images produced in vivid color and guaranteed not to fade

Microwave safe. Wash in dishwasher on top shelf.

Imported for final manufacture locally

Also, check out all other PCLinuxOS merchandise here!

PCLinuxOS Donations    Donations

A holiday gift for the provider of our wonderful Linux experience. PCLinuxOS is free, and only exists because of donations from the community. No millionaires or large corporate support here. Please help if you can!

Inkscape Tutorial: Inkscape 1.4 Released!

by Meemaw

Inkscape is one of my favorite open source graphics programs! Recently, Inkscape 1.4 was released with several improvements. In the News section of their website, the news story began, “November 6, 2024, marks the end of the 20th anniversary year for the Inkscape project, and the beginning of a new decade of adventure. There were a few milestones this past year, among them an informal global celebration, a bug-fix program, an About Screen Contest, an Inkscape Summit, a summer of code, and the launch of version 1.4.”

Rather than creating something this month, we'll look at some of the new features or version 1.4. The full list of improvements is here.

Before you start using this new and improved Inkscape, you'll need to make sure you updated it on November 22 or after, because there was a bug. Texstar, wonderful person that he is, got it fixed within a week of knowing about it. If you want to read that post, it is here.

Welcome Screen

The welcome screen has two more items than before: Shape Builder and Custom. Custom has five custom layout templates, one with a certain size page. Shape Builder has 17 custom-made patterns that you can use. Simply double-click on the one you want and it will open.

Filter Gallery

We use filters to create certain effects, but if you are anything like me, you don't always remember the name of the filter you want to use, or would like to try something new but don't want to apply — undo — apply — undo for a long time. In this newest version, there is a Filter Gallery, accessible from the Filters menu. You'll see a display of all filters, but there is a sidebar with the section list, and a small sample of each in the main window. The gear icon at the top right of the window will let you adjust the size of your sample.

If you find the filter you want, and double-click it, the filter will be applied to your drawing.

Modular Grids

In Document Properties, you can choose the type of grid you want to use. There are now three customizable grid types: Rectangular, Axonometric, or Modular.

Unified Font Browser

From the site: Inkscape is testing out a unified font browser preview. Activate this feature in Preferences and restart. After that, you will access visual previews for fonts with settings such as adding your own sample text. Check for particular font characteristics by searching fonts by collection type. Click on the one you want and watch it be applied to your text.

We'll have to look at this more.

Extension Gallery

When you want to quickly get an overview which extensions are available to you, you can now browse your Inkscape extensions in a gallery similar to the one for filters.

Toolbar

Toolbars now try to make use of the available space by not hiding options in dropdown menus when there's enough space. Instead, they are sorted into multiple dropdown menus, when the window is shrunk or there is not enough space. Previously, any options that did not fit went into the same small arrow dropdown at the end of the toolbar and were hard to discover.

Rectangle Tool

A new mode to only draw squares with Alt + Ctrl has been added to the tool.

Spray Tool

The Spray Tool now shows an outline preview of the next item that it is going to spray, including its shape, rotation, and size. The preview is only visible when the tool is not currently spraying. That way, you can choose where to place the next item (with a single click instead of holding the mouse button down). It is possible to change the previewed (soon-to-be-sprayed) item by right-clicking and then moving the mouse by a tiny amount.

Align & Distribute

The alignment options field Relative to now hides irrelevant options when only a single item is selected, with Page being the default.

Gradient Editor

It is now possible to control the gradient's angle numerically from the Gradient Editor section of the Fill and Stroke dialog. An additional slider allows for changing the angle by simply dragging. A button to rotate the gradient by 90° completes the new angle controls.

Pattern Editor

Also in the Fill & Stroke dialog, the Pattern Fill section has many more options than before. You can edit the pattern you use, changing its size and even its rotation angle. An “Edit on Canvas” button gives you a box with handles that allow you to edit it in the drawing rather than entering numbers in the dialog.

Shape Builder Tool

There is also a new tool called Shape Builder, just below the Nodes tool in the toolbar at left. We'll look at that in a future article.

Many more changes are there. I hope you'll read the release notes and see what more there is that's changed.

ICYMI: New Spear-Phishing Attacks From Russian Hackers

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

On October 28, Google released a new update for Chrome, upgrading it to version 130.0.6723.91/.92 for Windows and Mac, and 130.0.6723.91 for Linux. When you install the update and refresh your browser, you won't be greeted with a new UI or a handful of new features or changes. Instead, you'll be running a browser that patches two security vulnerabilities found in older versions, according to an article from Lifehacker. The security vulnerabilities were discovered on October 23, 2024, by Apple. One of those security vulnerabilities is labeled as “High” severity. Tracked as CVE-2024-10488, this is a use after free vulnerability in WebRTC, a real-time communication protocol for web browsers. In use after free flaws, a program fails to clear the pointer to a memory location after freeing that memory location, which enables bad actors to exploit the flaw and attack the program. The other flaw, however, is a bit more interesting to me. CVE-2024-10487 is labeled as “Critical” severity, and is an out of bounds write in Dawn, the open-source implementation of WebGPU in Chrome. An out of bounds write flaw occurs when a program writes outside of its allocated memory. An attacker can take advantage of this situation to crash the program and run their own code.

ChatGPT Plus subscribers, Team subscribers, and SearchGPT waitlist members can use OpenAI's generative search engine starting October 31, the AI giant announced on, according to an article from TechRepublic. That might be a scare for Google Search, as OpenAI directly targets pulling users away from Google's algorithm. OpenAI created a Chrome extension to set ChatGPT search as the browser's default search engine. ChatGPT search also competes with Microsoft's Bing Chat in the Bing search engine. ChatGPT search will open up to enterprise and education users “in the next few weeks,” OpenAI said in a blog post. Free tier users will see the new functionality “in the coming months.” Another article from Lifehacker compared the search results between ChatGPT Search and Google Search. From their take, Google has reason to be worried.

Comic Sans has turned 30, and it's done being your punch line, according to an article from FastCompany. For three whole decades, Comic Sans cowered at your reproaches and winced at your jokes. It barely flinched when Google's practical joke made sure that searching for “Helvetica” would render all results in Comic Sans. Or when CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, made it the butt of an April Fool's joke three years later. It even sat quietly while people gathered signatures for its demise. But Comic Sans has just hit the big 3-0 — and it's ready for its second act.

Image by Satheesh Sankaran from Pixabay

Microsoft Threat Intelligence has uncovered a new attack campaign by Russian threat actor Midnight Blizzard, targeting thousands of users across over 100 organizations, according to an article from TechRepublic. The attack leverages spear-phishing emails with RDP configuration files, allowing attackers to connect to and potentially compromise the targeted systems. The attack campaign targeted thousands of users in higher education, defense, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies. Dozens of countries have been impacted, particularly in the U.K., Europe, Australia, and Japan, which is consistent with previous Midnight Blizzard phishing campaigns.

The federal government is encouraging software manufacturers to ditch C/C++ and take other actions that could “reduce customer risk,” according to the Product Security Best Practices report, says an article from TechRepublic. In particular, CISA and the FBI set a deadline of Jan. 1, 2026, for compliance with memory safety guidelines. The report covers guidelines and recommendations rather than mandatory rules, particularly for software manufacturers who work on critical infrastructure or national critical functions. The agencies specifically highlighted on-premises software, cloud services, and software-as-a-service. While it isn't directly stated that using ‘unsafe' languages could disqualify manufacturers from government work, and the report is “non-binding,” the message is straightforward: Such practices are inappropriate for any work classified as relevant to national security. “By following the recommendations in this guidance, manufacturers will signal to customers that they are taking ownership of customer security outcomes, a key Secure by Design principle,” the report states.

An article from Lifehacker details how to find your saved passwords in Google Chrome. The bonus to saving passwords in Google Chrome is that they are also then available on Android and from the web (which sounds like a security nightmare to me). You'd probably be a LOT better off (and a lot more secure) using a bona fide password manager, like Bitwarden, but if you've been bitten by the convenience bug and used Google Chrome to remember your passwords instead, this article tells you how to find them, both on your computer and on your mobile device.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

NordPass has released their list of the 200 most commonly used (a.k.a. worst) passwords for 2024. Believe it or not, the number one WORST password on the list is a perennial favorite: 123456. The worst password list also contains a column that tells you how long it takes to “crack” your insecure password. In many cases, it's a trivial matter, and many take less than one second to crack. If your “password” is on this list, you need to change it to something a LOT more secure yesterday. Don't worry. Those who try to hack passwords also pay attention to these lists, and update their “dictionaries” to contain these insecure passwords, making them some of the first to try when attempting to break into an account.

Thieves across the United States are eyeing Hyundai and Kia models as easy targets thanks in part to viral social media posts, according to one article from TheDrive.com. Essentially, if it's a modern car from one of those automakers that doesn't utilize push-button start, they can fire up the car and drive away in less than a minute. The only tool required is something that can be found in just about every vehicle: a USB charger. In a followup article, TheDrive.com explained that many Hyundai and Kia vehicles that use physical keys don't have ignition immobilizers. In a vehicle that has an anti-theft immobilizer, the key contains a computer chip that verifies the key being used is legitimate and allows the vehicle to start. These cars that have become targets do not have this feature. To protect your Hyundai or Kia car from theft, the second article explains that the use of a steering wheel immobilizer, commonly referred to as “The Club,” is recommended. In fact, in some communities, Hyundai and Kia are giving out free steering wheel immobilizers to owners of affected Hyundai and Kia cars.

Thomas E. Kurtz, a mathematician and inventor of the simplified computer programming language known as BASIC, which allowed students to operate early computers and eventually propelled generations into the world of personal computing, died on November 12, 2024, in Lebanon, N.H., according to an article from the New York Times. He was 96. The cause of his death, in a hospice, was multiple organ failure from sepsis, said Agnes Kurtz, his wife. In the early 1960s, before the days of laptops and smartphones, a computer was the size of a small car and an institution like Dartmouth College, where Dr. Kurtz taught, had just one. Programming was once the province of scientists and mathematicians, specialists who understood the non-intuitive commands used to manipulate data through those hulking machines, which processed data in large batches, an effort that sometimes took days or weeks to complete.

The European Commission has slapped tech giant Meta with another fine for tying Facebook Marketplace, its classified-ad service, to Facebook and using non-public advertising data, according to an article from TechRepublic. Authorities are demanding a €797.72 million fine for Meta, which is essentially giving Marketplace an unfair advantage over competing digital storefronts. Marketplace was set up in 2016 as a way for individuals to buy and sell items over social media, typically furniture. The Commission has two main problems with Meta. The first is that “all Facebook users automatically have access and get regularly exposed to Facebook Marketplace whether they want it or not,” and competitors cannot reach the same level of exposure.

The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society announced that it had acquired New York Central L-3a “Mohawk” 3001 and planned to restore the 4-8-2 locomotive to operation for use on its popular Indiana Rail Experience excursions, according to an article from RailFan. The 3001 is the largest surviving NYC steam locomotive and the only member of the L3a class to escape the scrapper's torch. The locomotive was under the care of the City of Elkhart, Ind., and has been on display at the National New York Central Museum for decades.

Over a million NHS employee records — including email addresses, phone numbers, and home addresses — were exposed online due to a misconfiguration of the low-code website builder Microsoft Power Pages, according to an article from TechRepublic. In September, researchers with the software-as-a-service security platform AppOmni identified a large shared business service provider for the NHS that was allowing unauthorized access to sensitive data through insecure permission settings on Power Pages. Specifically, the permissions on some tables and columns in Power Pages Web API were too broad, inadvertently granting access to “Anonymous” users or those who aren't logged in. The misconfiguration has since been disclosed to the NHS and resolved.

NASA

The International Space Station had to adjust its orbit to avoid space debris, according to an article from NPR. The debris avoidance maneuver involved firing thrusters on the ISS at 2:09 p.m. CT for 5 minutes, 31 seconds, according to NASA. This adjustment raised the ISS orbit to “provide an extra margin of distance from a piece of orbital debris from a defunct defense meteorological satellite that broke up in 2015,” the agency says. Had the maneuver not been conducted, the debris would have come within nearly 2.5 miles of the station, NASA also says. The debris was “small,” U.S. Space Forces-Space tells NPR.

Astronomers have captured a “zoomed-in” image of a star outside the Milky Way for the first time, according to an article from Space.com. The team brought the vast red supergiant star designated WOH G64 into focus using the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). WOH G64 is located a staggering 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite dwarf galaxy companion of the Milky Way. Astronomers have known of the existence of this star for some time, and it has earned the nickname the “behemoth star” because it is an incredible 2,000 times the size of the sun. The VLTI was able to see this distant star in such detail that it also revealed its surrounding cocoon of gas and dust. These outflows of material indicate that WOH G64 is dying, in the final stages of its life leading up to a massive supernova explosion.

A grad student discovers a planet orbiting around a nearby star, astronomers say. The celestial body is the youngest transiting planet found to date, according to an article from ABC News. Madyson Barber, a grad student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was researching young transiting systems in space when she made a remarkable discovery. Barber used data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite to observe the brightness of stars over time. During the observations, Barber noticed some “little dips” in brightness, indicating that a “transiting” planet may be passing near Earth. “This planet discovery popped out,” Barber told ABC News.

In all our explorations of Mars to date, no evidence has been found that meets the rigorous standards to claim that we have conclusively found life, according to an article from Science Alert. But, decades ago in the 1970s, when the Viking landers became the first US mission to safely land on and explore the red planet, we may have been close. One researcher raises the possibility that life existed in a sample of Martian soil. And then, in our quest to sniff it, we snuffed it out. Just like that. According to astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch of the Technical University Berlin in Germany, an experiment to detect the signs of microbial life on Mars could have been deadly.

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has made significant contributions to understanding the universe's structure over the past 11 billion years, confirming Einstein's theory of general relativity on a cosmic scale, according to an article from SciTechDaily. Through extensive data analysis of nearly 6 million galaxies and quasars, DESI has provided new insights into the growth of cosmic structures, the mass of neutrinos, and the distribution of dark matter and energy. As DESI continues to gather data, expectations are high for revealing more about the evolving nature of dark energy and the universe's expansion.

Last year, it was reported that China's Zhurong rover found evidence for an ancient ocean on Mars. Now, another team of scientists in China said they've found even more evidence for that ocean, according to an article from EarthSky. The ocean would have covered a vast region of the lowlands in the Utopia Planitia region in the northern hemisphere. Researcher Bo Wu at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and his team published their peer-reviewed findings in Scientific Reports on November 7, 2024. From a post on X by New Scientist, “A possible ancient shoreline has been found in the region of Mars being explored by the Chinese rover Zhurong, hinting that an ocean may once have covered a vast area of the lowlands in the planet's northern hemisphere.”

Many migratory birds use Earth's magnetic field as a compass, but some can also use information from that field to determine more or less where they are on a mental map. Eurasian reed warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) appear to calculate their geographical position by drawing data from different distances and angles between magnetic fields and the Earth's shape, according to an article from NewScientist. The findings suggest that the birds use magnetic information as a sort of “GPS” that tells them not only where to go, but where they are initially, says Richard Holland at Bangor University in the UK.

Apple's latest security updates for iOS, macOS, Safari, visionOS, and iPadOS contained brief but critical disclosures of two actively exploited vulnerabilities, according to an article from TechRepublic. The tech giant said Clément Lecigne and Benoît Sevens of Google's Threat Analysis Group discovered the vulnerabilities. NIST lists the vulnerabilities as CVE-2024-44308 and CVE-2024-44309. With CVE-2024-44308, attackers could create malicious web content, leading to arbitrary code execution. Apple detected this exploit possibly in use on Intel-based Mac systems — unlike those systems using Apple's own M chips, which have been the standard since 2023. Apple put improved checks in place to prevent this issue. CVE-2024-44309 has been exploited similarly and applies to Intel-based Macs, but the fix was different. Apple said its team addressed a cookie management issue by improving state management.

A new quantum theory explaining how light and matter interact has also provided the first ever depiction of the shape of a single light particle, a photon, according to an article from Cosmos. Understanding these fundamental aspects of photon-matter interactions could open up new possibilities in quantum physics and material science. It could pave the way for new and improved nanophotonic technologies, pathogen detection or controlled chemical reactions. The research is published in the Physical Review Letters.

Image by mcmurryjulie from Pixabay

Long-term use of cardiovascular drugs may reduce dementia risk in older adults by up to 25%, while antiplatelet drugs could increase it, according to an article from SciTechDaily. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and investigate related lifestyle factors. A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, suggests that commonly used cardiovascular drugs are associated with a reduced risk of dementia in older adults. “We can see a clear link between long-term use – five years or more – of these drugs and reduced risk of dementia in older age,” says Mozhu Ding, assistant professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, and one of the lead authors of the paper. The researchers also found that, on the contrary, the use of antiplatelet drugs may be linked to a higher risk of dementia. Antiplatelet drugs, such as aspirin and clopidogrel (Plavix), are medicines used to prevent strokes and stop platelets from clumping together. One possible explanation is that these drugs increase the risk of microbleeds in the brain, which are associated with cognitive decline. The study is an important piece of the puzzle for finding new treatments for dementia, according to the researchers.

A group of U.S. students has smashed a series of world records after launching a “homemade” rocket farther and faster into space than any other amateur rocket, according to an article from LiveScience. The student-made missile soared 90,000 feet (27,400 meters) beyond the previous record-holder — a rocket launched more than 20 years ago. The record-breaking rocket, named Aftershock II, was designed and built by students at the University of Southern California's (USC) Rocket Propulsion Lab (RPL) — a group run entirely by undergraduate students. The students launched Aftershock II on Oct. 20 from a site in Black Rock Desert, Nevada. The rocket stood about 14 feet (4 meters) tall and weighed 330 pounds (150 kilograms). The rocket broke the sound barrier just two seconds after liftoff and reached its maximum speed roughly 19 seconds after launch.

A research group led by Specially Appointed Professor Takami Tomiyama of Osaka Metropolitan University's Graduate School of Medicine has found that administering the dried seeds of a type of jujube called Ziziphus jujuba Miller var. spinosa, used as a medicinal herb in traditional Chinese medicine, holds promise in restoring cognitive and motor function in model mice, according to an article from SciTechDaily. By administering hot water extracts of Zizyphi spinosi semen to model mice with Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson's disease, and dementia with Lewy bodies, the team found that cognitive and motor functions were restored. Furthermore, when the seeds were simply crushed into powder and administered to the model mice, the team discovered that the cognitive function of the model mice recovered to a level above that of control mice. In addition, the powders apparently suppressed cellular aging in older mice and improved their cognitive function to a similar level as younger mice.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the US Department of Justice's top antitrust officials would likely ask a judge to enforce a significant break up of Google, in part proposing that Chrome be sold off, according to an article from PC Gamer. As of the night of November 20, 2024, the official paperwork has since been filed, and we can now see that the authorities' plan is even further reaching than initially suggested. Not only will a judge be asked to enforce Google's sale of Chrome, but the filing made to a Washington federal court also outlines that, “following its divestiture of Chrome may not reenter the browser market for five years” (via The Guardian). The proposal also calls for Google to be prohibited from “acquiring any interests in search rivals, potential entrants, and rival search or search ads-related AI products,” and that it must let go of any it already holds in its clutch. Furthermore, the documents additionally call for a halt to all “anticompetitive payments to distributors, including Apple” that are made to ensure Google is the default search engine on various companies' devices.

News broke recently that China-backed hackers have compromised the wiretap systems of several U.S. telecom and internet providers, likely in an effort to gather intelligence on Americans, according to an article from TechCrunch. The wiretap systems, as mandated under a 30-year-old U.S. federal law, are some of the most sensitive in a telecom or internet provider's network, typically granting a select few employees nearly unfettered access to information about their customers, including their internet traffic and browsing histories. But for the technologists who have for years sounded the alarm about the security risks of legally required backdoors, news of the compromises are the “told you so” moment they hoped would never come but knew one day would.

Google might merge Chrome OS and Android, according to an article from Android Authority. This information was related to a new Google laptop in the works that will very likely have Android under the hood, not Chrome OS. Ostensibly, Google is doing this to better compete with the iPad — backed up by the fact that, later, we heard Google has also seemingly canceled the Pixel Tablet 2. Regardless, dumping Chrome OS for Android would dramatically shift Google's overall compute strategy, considering how much mindshare Chromebooks and Chrome OS already have, especially in the education space.

Tip Top Tips: Accented Characters In Plasma/Qt

Editor's Note: Tip Top Tips is a semi-monthly column in The PCLinuxOS Magazine. Periodically, we will feature – and possibly even expand upon – one tip from the PCLinuxOS forum. The magazine will not accept independent tip submissions specifically intended for inclusion in the Tip Top Tips column. Rather, if you have a tip, share it in the PCLinuxOS forum's “Tips & Tricks” section. Occasionally, we may run a “tip” posted elsewhere in the PCLinuxOS forum. Either way, share your tip in the forum, and it just may be selected for publication in The PCLinuxOS Magazine.

This month's tip is from PCLinuxOS forum member elephas.

I was searching for a way to persuade a writer friend to Linux from Windows, his dependency on ALT-ASCII codes in Windows and unwillingness to use compose key or Ctrl-shift-U unicodes led me to search for other methods.

I found this:

https://pointieststick.com/2020/12/04/this-week-in-kde-big-new-accented-alternative-character-input-feature/

By inserting QT_IM_MODULE=plasmaim in /etc/environment and rebooting, I got the additional option in KDE System_settings-Input_devices.

It works (as described in the above URL, and shown below here) for me in Konsole*, Kwrite and LO (ver7.6), and seems poorly documented so I thought I'd share it here. I use an English (UK) keyboard, and can't comment on what happens in other languages.

“Konsole has a glitch;” see the post from Seacht below.

**********

The post from Seacht:

It worked for me in Kwrite but is problematic in Konsole where it first prints the unaccented letter and then the accented one that is selected.

**********

From the pointieststick.com website:

Now, when you press-and-hold a key, a small palette will appear offering alternative characters similar to the one you're holding down. This makes it enormously easier to type accented characters from other languages or symbols uncommon in your language without having to change your keyboard layout or memorize compose key sequences. It is super intuitive and awesome to use.

You can also use it to type alternative symbols, such as currency symbols uncommon in your locale. This is useful if, for example, you live in the USA but deal with monetary sums denominated in Euros a lot, or the reverse.

Naturally, the feature can be disabled (on the System Settings keyboard page) if you prefer the current behavior to repeat the held-down key.

The feature is mostly completed and merged, but a few bits are still remaining, including full integration with GTK apps, and compatibility with other input methods. For now, adventurous people using git master packages can test it out by setting QT_IM_MODULE=plasmaim in their environment.

This work was done by Carson Black and will be included with Plasma 5.21 by default. Thanks Carson!

How To Install Typst Compiler Locally On PCLinuxOS

by David Pardue (kalwisti)

In my previous article, I discussed the basic features of Typst, a new typesetting system for the sciences. Although the developers recommend signing up for Typst's web app for the smoothest writing experience, you can also install Typst locally on your computer — without needing to rely on an internet connection. If you are interested in this use case, I will explain how to install the Typst compiler and configure a code editor (VSCodium) for use with Typst.

Before proceeding, I must mention this violates one of the standard rules of PCLinuxOS system maintenance: to only install programs from the official PCLinuxOS repository. However, in this case, I can assure you that installing the Typst compiler is safe and will not bork your PCLinuxOS installation. I have followed the procedure below on two different PCLinuxOS computers; I have not experienced any glitches or breakage during the several weeks that I have been using Typst locally.

Download the Typst Binary

You should first download the Typst pre-built binary. Look for Release ver. 0.12.0 (Oct. 18, 2024) Download the file: typst-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.xz.

This contains the Typst compiler and its CLI, which is everything you need to compile Typst documents locally.

Extract the Typst Binary

Move the tarball from your Downloads folder to your /home folder. Extract/unzip the tarball. It is a modest 39.8 MB in size. To simplify the naming convention, I renamed the unpacked directory from “typst-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl” to just “typst”.

Within the typst directory, use your DE's file manager (Dolphin, Thunar, Caja, PCManFM-Qt, etc.) to double-check that the typst binary is set as executable:

Place the Typst Binary in Your $PATH

You must now place the typst directory in your $PATH. A path — or the search path — is the list of directories that will be searched for anything you type on the command line. After editing your path, when you call/invoke Typst, the system will look for [and find] the typst binary in your /home directory.

Your default $PATH in PCLinuxOS probably looks something like this:

To (permanently) add the typst directory to your PATH.

Open a Terminal and issue the command below in your /home directory to edit the .bashrc file:

(I chose the nano editor but you may use whatever your preferred text editor is — vim, Emacs, etc.)

Type the command: $ nano .bashrc

Do not forget to type the initial period/full stop (“.”) before bashrc.

Add the line export PATH=/home/david/typst:$PATH

at the bottom of the existing .bashrc file:

(Change “david” to whatever the username is on your system.)

Save the file. I logged out of my current session, then logged back in to make sure the change took effect.

To double-check the results, type:

$ echo $PATH

Your results should look something like the screenshot below:

I did not have to make any changes/edits to my ~/.bash_profile file.

If you would like to read some additional background on $PATH, the article is helpful and concise.

Choose a Code Editor to Use with Typst

Although Typst can be used exclusively from the command line (as described on the GitHub page), in my experience it is more comfortable to use the app within a code editor.

The two commonly recommended choices are Visual Studio Code (often abbreviated as “VS Code”) and VSCodium. I experimented with both applications. Each works with Typst.

VS Code is a Microsoft product licensed under a non-FLOSS license, and it has telemetry reporting enabled (although the telemetry can be disabled). VS Code is a cross-platform code editor that straddles the line between a text editor and an integrated development environment (IDE).

I prefer VSCodium because it is a free/libre binary distribution, licensed under the MIT license (open-source) without Microsoft's proprietary additions.

Both packages are available in the PCLinuxOS repository and can be installed via Synaptic. VSCode has the package name “VSCode 1.82.1-1pclos2023.” VSCodium's package is named “VSCodium 1.93.1.24256-1pclos2024.”

Install Recommended Extensions for Typst

Extensions (or plugins) are third-party software packages which extend the code editor's functionality and improve your workflow. You download and install these extensions from the so-called “Extension Marketplace.” Due to licensing restrictions, Microsoft's official extensions for VS Code are not available in the VSCodium extension marketplace (which instead uses the open-source registry open-vsx.org). However, that does not pose a problem because the Typst extensions we need are available through open-vsx.org.

First, find the Extensions icon in the Activity Bar of the left-hand panel:

Next, type “typst” in the Search box to filter the available extension offerings:

To install an extension, click on the Install button beside its description (as shown above). When the installation finishes, the Install button will change to the Manage button [a gear icon]:

The two extensions I am using with Typst are Tinymist Typst (shown above) An integrated language service for Typst, and Vscode-pdf (shown below) Display PDF file in VSCode (or VSCodium).

An advisory on the Typst LSP extension: This community-provided extension is no longer recommended. The author did not it update it beyond Typst ver. 0.11.0 (Typst's current version is 0.12.0) and he has recently archived its project repository.

All functionality provided by Typst LSP in the past is available in the Tinymist Typst extension. (I would like to thank Martin Haug, the co-founder of Typst, for clarifying this point.)

To start a new Typst file, from the File menu > select the New File option. A dialog box will open in the editor's toolbar:

Enter the name of your new file (for this example, I called it “test.typ”), press Enter/Return and choose the directory (e.g., Documents) where you want to save the file.

To open a preview of your document, just click on the Preview tab in the top portion of the editor pane:

The screenshot below shows a Typst test file, open in the VSCodium editor, with a document Preview displaying in the right-hand pane:

Clicking on the Export PDF tab will export your current document as a PDF to your Documents folder, and display the generated PDF in a new tab of VSCodium's right-hand pane.

Error Messages in VSCodium

Error messages display differently in the VSCodium editor than in Typst's web app. The Tinymist Typst extension which I installed earlier handles the function of error reporting. In the screenshot below, I was using Typst's “term list” function and intentionally omitted the mandatory colon following the term. (It should be: / Thylacine: “test.typ”):

A brief message appears near the editor's toolbar, notifying me that there is a problem in the file:

To view Typst's logs, click on the Notification panel in the lower right corner of the editor:

Clicking on the Problems tab of the log will display the specific error message as well as its location in the file:

Changing the Default Font

By default, Typst uses fonts embedded in the CLI: Libertinus Serif, New Computer Modern, New Computer Modern Math, and DejaVu Sans Mono.
However, the Typst compiler can also use system-wide fonts that you have installed. To display a list of available fonts, open a Terminal and type the command: $ typst fonts

After you have decided which typeface to use, add this code snippet at the beginning of your document:

// Default document font #set text( font: “Lato”, size: 11pt )

Change the typeface and font size to suit your taste. (Lato, the Polish word for ‘summer’, is an attractive typeface [shown below] which was designed by Łukasz Dziedzic.)

Adding Images to Your Typst Project

It was not immediately obvious where to store image files that I wanted to add to my project, so I experimented with a few different methods.

I created my example file (“test.typ” [pictured above]) in my Documents folder. VSCodium expects to find both your Typst file and any image files in the same folder.

If your Typst file contains numerous images, you will find that your Documents folder quickly becomes cluttered — something you probably want to avoid. I learned that it is possible to create subfolders within the Documents folder, which store your image files.

In the screenshot below, you can see that I have one image file (circled in blue) in my Documents folder, as well as three image test subfolders (circled in red, green and purple):

When you type the code for Typst's figure function to insert a figure, the editor will help autofill the image file name(s). If the image is in the same folder as your Typst document, just use the image file name. However, if your image is located in a subfolder, you must include the path, e.g., “/typst-images/Tux.png”, etc.

The screenshot below illustrates that VSCodium will detect image files in the Documents folder, in addition to the typst-images, typst-images-bis, and typst-images-tertius subfolders. The code completion autofill should begin working when you type the image(“ ” portion of the code snippet:

A Better Organized Workflow in VSCodium

After skimming through the Visual Studio Code documentation and watching a couple of video tutorials, I realized that the recommended approach of using a folder (also known as a workspace) results in a cleaner workflow.

Follow the procedure below to benefit from a more organized workflow:

1. Create a new (empty) project folder in your Documents folder. (I called this example “typst-project-2”)
2. Start the VSCodium editor.
3. From the File menu > choose Open Folder, then select the “typst-project-2” folder.
4. The “Workspace Trust” dialog will appear.

This feature lets you decide whether code in your project folder can be executed by VSCodium and extensions without your approval.

5. Click on the blue “Yes, I trust the authors” button.

Your new folder (aka workspace) will display in the Explorer tab [the stacked sheets of paper icon] of the Activity Bar in the editor. The Explorer view lets you view and manage the files and folders in your workspace:

6. Click on the New File icon:

7. In the box, type the name of the Typst file which will be created in your workspace. (I called mine “test-2.typ”):

8. Copy any image files you wish to use into your “typst-project-2” folder.

9. The image files and the Typst file will be listed under the Explorer tab:

10. Add the image files to your Typst document as you normally would, via the “#figure” command.

Stay Up to Date with Future Releases

Once you have installed Typst locally using this procedure, you can stay up to date with future releases by opening a Terminal and issuing the command:

$ typst update

I tried this recently when the Typst developers released the new version 0.12.0 on Oct. 18, 2024. (I had previously installed ver. 0.11.1.) The update process worked smoothly.

I hope these instructions will allow you to successfully install Typst on your local PCLinuxOS system and use it productively with VSCodium.

Additional Resources

Although the resources mentioned below focus on Visual Studio Code, they are also helpful explaining the basics of VSCodium because VSCodium maintains feature parity with VS Code.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/ Visual Studio Code Documentation (official)

The tutorial on getting started with VS Code provides a succinct overview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORrELERGIHs

Ruscica, Tim. Tech with Tim. “VSCode Tutorial for Beginners: Getting Started with VSCode.” YouTube, 13 Feb. 2021. (22 min., 56 sec.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjeHLSrhPao

Coding with Estefanía. “Learn Visual Studio Code: Course for Beginners” YouTube, 20 Jan. 2022. (43 min., 15 sec.)

If you are interested in seeing a Typst-generated replica of this article, I uploaded the PDF [12 p., 976 kB] to my PCLOS Cloud account and publicly shared it from there. The document's body typeface is Source Serif Pro, and the headings use Source Sans Pro.

Good luck and have fun with Typst!

Good Words, Good Deeds, Good News

compiled by Meemaw

Hero Dog Saves Master

A Stevens County, Washington, Sheriff's deputy came across a dog in the middle of the road. Deputy Wright tried to get the dog to get into his vehicle, so he could find her family, but she refused to move. She looked up a driveway and then back at Wright before running up the driveway.

Wright followed her up the driveway, where he found 84-year-old Keith, who had fallen and broken his hip. Keith had let the dog, Gita, out, and was walking behind her when he fell.

According to the sheriff's office, 13-year-old Gita is a rescue dog. “We credit Gita for saving his life that day. The loyalty and heroism of our furry friends never cease to amaze us,” the agency said.

Maine Neighbors Revitalize Veterans Monument

Kevin was waiting at a stop sign in Westbrook, Maine, when he noticed a granite block under an overgrown bush. Later, he went back and pulled the bush up so he could see the block. It read, “Erected to honor Pride's Corner veterans of all wars, presented by the Kiwanis Club of Pride's Corner, 1983,”

The monument fell into disrepair after the Kiwanis Club disbanded years ago, but volunteers were not about to let that be the end of the matter. Kevin's coworkers created a group to restore the monument, and hope to replace the flagpole. They plan to return on Veterans Day to honor the veterans.

Man Hiked Through Damage to Reunite With Parents

Sam Perkins decided to launch a one-man mission to make sure his parents were alive and safe because he had not heard from them in two days, USA Today reported on October 1st.

Because of the damage, he couldn't drive, so he set out to hike 11 miles to check on them. That hike took him 2,200 feet up in the hills and across mudslides, fallen trees and washed out roads to make sure his parents were ok.

They were fine, but completely cut off from any help. When he got there, his father was working with his chainsaw, cutting up fallen trees. He made it a point to hug both parents.

Elementary School Honors 100 Year-old Veteran

Students at a New Hampshire elementary school honored several veterans at their Veterans Day program, held the Friday before the holiday. Each veteran received a bouquet of flowers and was thanked for their service. One veteran honored was 100 years old. Wilfrid had been drafted at age 18, and had served in the 776th Battalion, also known as “Liberty Bell.” During his service, his battalion protected English airfields from enemy attacks.

The School Principal said, “He's an extremely special man, and I think he exemplifies what we want all of our children to grow up to be.”

Veterans Day is always observed on November 11, and it is a day set aside for Americans to celebrate and honor the nation's veterans “for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good,” according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' website.

Idaho Secret Santa Gifts Needy Family

In eastern Idaho, a “Secret Santa” has been giving much help over the last few years. The anonymous Secret Santa is giving out $1 million to “deserving people” in eastern Idaho over the next season, Eastern Idaho News reported.

This year, they started off by helping Saidu and his wife, Selena. Selena just gave birth after a high-risk pregnancy, and the baby had to be delivered early via a c-section. They found out that the baby had been diagnosed with Down's Syndrome, and doctors discovered a hole in his heart.

“The baby came in four weeks early,” Saidu said. “The baby is going to be at the NICU for the next four weeks, maybe, because he's still using oxygen until he's able to breathe on his own.” “It's challenging, especially juggling — because we have a two-year-old at home — trying to figure out, because… you have to be 18 years and above [to go to the NICU],” Saidu explained. “And so [we're] planning between going to the NICU and who is going to watch the two-year-old at home. And currently we have one car, so it's really been hard. Like, she has to drop me off at work [and] find somebody to look at the two-year-old to go to the NICU.”

The news outlet has found that Saidu and his wife are the “most generous couple you'll ever meet”, delivering groceries to their elderly neighbors, or helping someone who had fallen.

The news crew delivered $2,000 in gift cards to a local grocery store, and a check for $3,000. Continuing to shake and cover his face to hide the tears, he said, “I'm just grateful. I think this is gonna really take us a long way [by] helping us with medical bills and everything.”

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner Bonus: Instant Pot Tomato Soup

Instant Pot Tomato Soup

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 lbs. tomatoes roasted or fresh
2 Tbps olive oil
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp garlic minced
1 cup onion diced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup basil leaves packed
1 Tbsp parsley fresh or 1 tsp dried
1 tsp oregano dried
1 tsp salt to taste
1/2 tsp pepper
basil for garnish
Parmesan Cheese for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Turn Instant Pot onto sauté and add olive oil and onions. Sauté until onions are soft and translucent. Add in garlic and stir for another 30 seconds.

Add in remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Put on the lid, set the valve to sealing and set on high pressure for 15 minutes if using fresh tomatoes and set for 8 minutes if using roasted tomatoes. When the cycle is done, turn the Instant Pot off so it doesn't enter the warming stage. Allow a natural release for 15-20 minutes.

Remove lid and blend soup to desired consistency using an immersion blender or a high speed blender.

Garnish with some additional fresh basil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Tips & Notes:

Tomatoes: You do not have to peel the tomatoes. I love the texture the peels give the soup but if you prefer, you can definitely peel them.

Using roasted tomatoes adds amazing flavor to the soup, but it is also delicious with just fresh tomatoes.

Cream: If you prefer, you can add some half-and-half or whipping cream to the soup to make it richer and creamier, I'd start with a 1/2 cup. Add the cream after blending the soup. Do not add it to the Instant Pot.

Blend: You can blend the soup two different ways. You can use an immersion blender or put it into your high speed blender. If you are using a regular blender, only do a little soup at a time, as the hot soup can cause the lid to blow off the blender. Blend to desired consistency. I like my soup a little thicker, with more texture.

NUTRITION:

Calories: 141    Carbs: 13g    Sodium: 1362mg    Fiber: 4g    Protein:3g

PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

Sudoku

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December 2024 Word Find
Holiday Decorations

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December 2024 Crossword
Holiday Decorations

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Mixed-Up-Meme Scrambler

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