1. Welcome From The Chief Editor

2. LibreOffice Tips & Tricks: Extras

3. Watermark Your Photos With Ease

4. KDenLive: Part One

5. PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner

6. 2013 Annual Holiday Gift Guide: Paul's Picks

7. 2013 Annual Holiday Gift Guide: Meemaw's Picks

8. 2013 Annual Holiday Gift Guide: YouCanToo's Picks

9. PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight: Linuzoid

10. Quick Guide To Running OpenVPN With KeePassX

11. Why A Virtual Windows Installation Beats Dual Booting

12. ms_meme's Nook: PCLinuxOS Is The One To Choose

13. PCLinuxOS Puzzle Partitions

14. NOW May Be The Time To Move To Linux

15. GIMP Tutorial: Fixing A Photo

16. Creating The ebook Version Of The PCLinuxOS Magazine

17. Game Zone: Door Kickers

18. Screenshot Showcase

Welcome From The Chief Editor

No matter what religion you practice or believe in ... or even if you aren't a religious person at all ... it's easy to get swept up during the holiday season with the holiday spirit. Unlike at any other time of the year, people seem to be more tolerant, a little bit kinder, more generous, and a better human being overall. Most people act the way you wish they would throughout the rest of the year.

It's also easy to understand why so many people view the holidays with disdain. Large, pushy crowds fill the stores, self-absorbed in their quest for that perfect gift. The stores open earlier and stay open longer in a greedy grab for more and more profits. It's next to impossible to even find a parking space at your favorite store, even if you're only joining the throngs to buy essential items. The commercialism of the holidays has masked or stripped away the true meaning of the holiday season for some people.

This year, my wife and I have a new reason to look forward to the holiday season. For the first time, we get to play Santa Claus, since the arrival of Ryan. We recently went to Toys R Us (with Ryan in tow, who slept throughout most of the shopping trip ... as long as he was moving in the shopping cart) to purchase the Santa gifts for him. We've looked forward to being able to do this for such a long time, and we weren't sure we'd ever get the chance.

Many people will testify that children change your life. Indeed, having children makes you rearrange the priorities in your life. It gives you a different world view. It makes you more closely examine and spend more time thinking out the consequences of your actions. It gives you a new appreciation for things you might have previously taken for granted. Yes, having children does change your life, for the better.

I can only hope that we can all hang on to that "holiday spirit" well into the new year. I hope that we can all keep our priorities straight and in better order. I hope that we can all bear witness to the innocence of a child, and marvel in it.

Until next month, I bid each and every one of you peace, happiness, serenity and prosperity. Happy Holidays!

LibreOffice Tips & Tricks: Extras

by Meemaw

In this last installment of LibreOffice Tips & Tricks, I will include just a few things that weren't in earlier articles.

Import PDFs

You can open a PDF in LibreOffice, but it will open in LODraw. Sometimes, depending on the complexity of the PDF, may not open correctly. However, if you have a PDF that was created by someone else, and you feel the need to open it to correct a grammar or spelling error, you can do it in LibreOffice Draw. Notice that when you click on the error you want to correct, LODraw treats every line as a separate text frame.

Extensions

LO Extensions are separate items that enhance the program. These include clipart collections, extra dictionaries and many more. I have one called "Export As Images," which will export each page of a presentation as a jpg, png, gif, bmp or tiff image.

You should go to the site and browse to find something that you can use. I have found a calendar extension, a barcode extension, and many different language dictionaries and spell-checkers.

The calendar extension allows you to open a calendar from within LibreOffice by clicking Tools > Add-ons > Calendar, or pressing <CTRL> + <Shift> + F2. Highlighting a cell and double-clicking a date will insert that date into the selected cell.

Templates

LibreOffice has a number of templates included by default, but you can download templates from the LibreOffice site. If you go to the main LibreOffice site, you should click on "Features" to find a link to Templates. From there, you are directed to the separate template center, where you can choose from available templates to download. The direct link is http://templates.libreoffice.org/. You should see budget worksheets, fax covers, presentation backgrounds and many more.

Another site, Vertex42, has a huge number of document and spreadsheet templates you can download. Even though the site advertises "Excel Templates", most of them are in OpenOffice format as well as MS Office format. There are invoices for calendars, timesheets, invoices, financial tables and many more.

Now, imagine you have designed a form, spreadsheet or even just a letterhead that you use all the time. It might be nice to save it as a template. I have an accounts payable spreadsheet that I share with my board. Another secretary friend of mine asked what I used, so I saved it as a template (with all my company information removed) and sent her the template.

Simply design your spreadsheet or document with the basic design. Make sure any automatic calculations are included. In mine, there are two locations that have sums to be calculated. When you are satisfied, click File > Save As Template.. or click <Shift> + F11. The templates window will open, allowing you to designate the location where you want it saved. When you click on the location, you will be asked to name your template. Give it a meaningful title and click OK. Now, when you click on Open Templates, it will be there.

Dock & Undock Toolbars

I like my all toolbars embedded in the program window. Some people like theirs separate from their work window. While you probably have your workspace set up just the way you like it, I'll give you a couple of shortcuts to change it just in case you ever want to do so. One way, of course, is to grab the toolbar using the "handle" and move it wherever you want it. The other way is to position your mouse over the handle and, holding down the <CTRL> key, double-click on the toolbar handle. The toolbar should pop right out of the docked position into your workspace where you can grab the title bar (just like any other window) and move it where you want it. Repeating the same procedure (<CTRL> + Double-Click) on the title bar of the undocked toolbar should pop it right back into the place it was before you moved it.

Macros

A macro is a recording of keystrokes and mouse actions. Macros are designed to save you time. Rather than having to repeat the same task repeatedly, you only have to do it once and the macro will then repeat it for you. Suppose I have several spreadsheets for a presentation and want the titles formatted the same on every spreadsheet, so it looks uniform. I don't want to do the same formatting over and over. So, I'm going to do a macro for that formatting. That way I can be sure the titles are formatted the same every time. I put in the title of one spreadsheet and merged several cells before I started my recording.

1. Make sure macro recording is enabled in your copy of LibreOffice. Go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Advanced and enable it by checking the box that says "Enable macro recording".

2. Open up a blank document or the document you need to format.

3. Click on Tools > Macros > Record new macro. A small box will pop up telling you that recording is on, with an area to click when you want to "Stop recording".

4. Proceed with your recording. I will record the following formatting: Font - A & S Speedway, Size - 24, Color - Black, Background - Blue11. That's all I want to do, so I will click the stop button.

5. As soon as you stop the script, you are presented with a window that shows the organization of the macros, and asked what name you want to give your macro. I chose "TitleFormat" and saved it in My Macros > Standard. You need to choose something that describes your macro's function so you can find it again. If it is more than one word, be sure to save it with no spaces between the words. Click Save.

6. Play back the macro. With another title filled in, go to Tools > Macros > Run macro and choose TitleFormat from the choices.

Notice that your document name is listed in the organizational structure. You can store your macro in only one document if you wish. For a spreadsheet that uses a certain calculation, the macro can be specific to that document by being saved there.

I will admit that I don't use macros too much, and never have recorded one until this one. However, it worked really well! I hope that this can give you an idea of how to record a macro. In all the articles I read, the author urges you to have the steps you are going to record firmly in your mind, or jot them down somewhere before you start your recording.

I hope that you have picked up a few pointers in this series. I know I have. Knowing more about LibreOffice is sure to make you better at using it.

Watermark Your Photos With Ease

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Imagine that you just returned from vacation or holiday. You shot lots of photos. You would like to share those photos with friends and family, and possibly even post them to your favorite photo sharing site. But, before posting your photos to the photo sharing site, you might want to add a copyright watermark to your photos. It will allow everyone to know who the photo belongs to, who shot it, and may help prevent less capable users from stealing your work. The copyright statement is also appended to the Exif data of JPG files.

For months, I've been reading (and re-reading) a column on the Linux and Life blog that shows how to add a transparent watermark to photos. The only problem was that it required a fair amount of manual manipulation, and it only worked on one photo at a time. As a result, it wasn't very efficient if you have a lot of photos that you want to apply a watermark to. I thought there ought to be a way to automate the entire process, so I created a bash script to do exactly that.

The script requires that you have ImageMagick, jhead and Zenity installed on your system. You will need to install them from Synaptic, if you don't already have them installed.

Before we go any further, let's take a look at the script. It ended up not being very long or involved. You can type in the script, copy and paste it, or download it from The PCLinuxOS Magazine website. If you choose to download the script, be sure to strip the "txt" file extension from the file name, and mark the file as executable. You will want to place the script in a directory that is in your path statement.

If you are typing the script in a text editor, or if you are copy and pasting it, be sure to delete the line numbers that I placed below to help you follow along in the script. Commands that span multiple lines are intended to be typed/entered on one long, contiguous line in the plain text editor.

#!/bin/bash

# Copyright © 2013, Paul Arnote. All Rights Reserved.

# As originally published in The PCLinuxOS Magazine, November 2013.

# Released under the GPLv2 license.

#

# You are free to alter, change or distribute this work, provided

# you do so while retaining this notice, and so long as your derivative

# work is also released to the public under any of the GPL licenses. Any

# distribution of this work must also comply with the terms of the GPLv2

# license, and no charge may be made for this work, whatsoever.

Year=`zenity --title="Watermark" --entry --text="Enter the image year (e.g. 2013):"`

if [ $? == 1 ]; then

exit

fi

Photog=`zenity --title="Watermark" --entry --text="Enter photographer name:"`

if [ $? == 1 ]; then

exit

fi

Text="Copyright © ${Year}, ${Photog}. All Rights Reserved."

compass=$(zenity --list --radiolist --column="Select" --column="Action" --title="Watermark" --width=200 --height=350 --text="Select the position of your\nwatermark text:" TRUE SouthEast FALSE NorthWest FALSE North FALSE NorthEast FALSE West FALSE Center FALSE East FALSE SouthWest FALSE South)

if [ $? == 1 ]; then

exit

fi

n=1

for file in $@; do

width1=`identify -format %w $file`

height1=`identify -format %h $file`

EXT=$(echo "${file##*.}")

name=$( echo $file | cut -f1 -d.)

outname=${name}"-wm."$EXT

convert -size "$width1"x"$height1" xc:transparent -gravity $compass -font /usr/share/fonts/TTF/liberation/LiberationSerif-BoldItalic.ttf -pointsize 25 -fill Yellow -draw "text 0,0 '$Text'" ~/tmp/overlay.png

composite -dissolve 50% -quality 100 ~/tmp/overlay.png $file $outname

if [ $EXT == 'jpg' ] || [ $EXT == 'JPG' ] || [ $EXT == 'jpeg' ] || [ $EXT == 'JPEG' ]; then

jhead -cl "${Text}" $outname

fi     echo $(($n * 100 / $#))

echo "# Processing file: $name-wm.$EXT"

let "n = n+1"

done | (zenity --progress --title "Adding Watermark To Image..." --percentage=0 --auto-close --auto-kill)

rm -f ~/tmp/overlay.png

exit 0

Running The Script

Running the script, which I've named watermark.sh, is actually quite easy. Open a terminal session and enter the following at the command line:

watermark.sh /path/to/your/image/folder/*.jpg

The script will work with any graphic file format that ImageMagick recognizes (which is just about any graphic format you can throw at it). I only used *.jpg files as an example, since that is the format that most digital cameras use to save their images.

Using the defaults of the script, you will first be prompted for the year of the image.

You will next be prompted to enter the name of the photographer. This information is used to "assemble" a proper copyright statement to display as your watermark.

Next, you will need to specify where you want your watermark to be placed. The script uses the ImageMagick -gravity command line parameter, which itself takes on a compass point style of parameter to help determine the placement of the watermark text. The following graphic will give you an idea of where your watermark text will be placed, with all nine possibilities listed:

"SouthEast" is the default value, placing the watermark text in the lower right corner of the photos.

Once you've determined where on your photo you want to place your watermark, select the OK button. A Zenity progress bar dialog box will be displayed to keep you informed of the progress through the job. Also, each image is renamed with "-wm" appended to the original filename, to differentiate it from the original, to identify the image as possessing a watermark, and ... most importantly ... to prevent your original photo from being overwritten.

What You Get

The top image is the original image. The second image is after application of the watermark. For the watermark, I used 2006 as the year that the photo was shot, along with my name. The watermark is created and applied to the image, in yellow text using the Liberation Serif Bold Italic font, in 25 point size, at the bottom right corner of the image.

How It Works

As the script "walks" through a whole directory full of images, the copyright statement is constructed from the information entered in the first two Zenity dialog boxes. Then, as each image is processed, the width and height of each image is read into variables. A PNG file with a transparent background is created, and the text written in yellow, 25 point Liberation Serif Bold Italic text, at the location specified by the ImageMagick gravity parameter that you specified. That transparent PNG file is then laid over the original image, and a new image is created from the two, creating the transparent text. The script also checks to see if the output file is a JPG file, and if it is, appends the text information (our copyright statement) to the end of the JPG Exif data. After all the images have been processed, the temporary transparent PNG file (stored in your ~/tmp folder as overlay.png) is deleted just before script exits.

Customizing The Script

What if you don't really want a copyright statement watermarked on your photos? What if, instead, you want your email address and/or your website address to serve as the watermark? In that case (or any other case where you want different text displayed other than the default copyright statement), alter line 23 of the script with the text you do want displayed. If you don't want or need the dialog boxes to prompt you for input, you can comment them out, simply by prepending "# " to the beginning of each line you want to prevent from being executed.

What if you want to use a different color for the watermark text? That one's easy enough. The default color is yellow (which happens to be my favorite color). You can choose any color that ImageMagick recognizes in line 38 of the script. Right after the -fill parameter, replace Yellow with whatever other color you want to use. You can find a complete list of colors that ImageMagick recognizes here. You can use the color name, the RGB values, or the hex values. Most users will find it simplest to use the color name. It's best to avoid using colors that are too light, too bright, or too dark. I recommend trying a new color choice on a few different photos to be sure it works well and is visible on a variety of backgrounds.

What if you want to use a different font for your watermark text? Simply change the path and filename in line 38 of the script to reflect the filename of the font you want to use. Liberation Serif Bold Italic is the default, and is located in /usr/share/fonts/TTF/liberation/ directory. While you're at it, you can also change the size of the text by changing the -pointsize 25 entry on line 38 to whatever font point size you want. I would caution you to not make it too small, however. It would be an equally bad idea to make it too large, since the watermark text may detract from your photo(s) if it's too large.

"Advanced" Uses

Having just completed the Xfce Power User Tips, Tricks & Tweaks article series, this script is yet another tool that can easily be turned into a Thunar Custom Action. Simply set the command as watermark.sh %F or watermark.sh %N. You can name it whatever you like, but I would recommend "Watermark Images" as the name. Under the "Appearance Conditions" tab, set the file pattern to *, and place a checkmark in front of Image Files.

You can also create a custom KDE context service menu. Ensuring that the script is stored in a directory in your path, you can create a custom KDE Service Menu entry that's available in Dolphin's or Konqueror's right click context menu. You can refer to the article in the October 2012 issue of The PCLinuxOS Magazine for more information about creating a new KDE Service Menu. Below is my suggestion for the .desktop file that creates the KDE Service Menu for using the watermark.sh script.

[Desktop Entry]

Type=Service

Name=Watermark

Encoding=UTF-8

ServiceTypes=KonqPopupMenu/Plugin,image/*

Actions=Watermark;

MimeType=mif;PNM;pgm;ppm;bmp;ras;JP2;JPC;jpg;jpeg;png

Icon=image-x-applix-graphics

X-KDE-Submenu=Watermark

[Desktop Action Watermark]

Name=Apply Watermark To Selected Photos

Exec=watermark.sh %F

Icon=image-x-applix-graphics

Be sure to run the command kde4-config --path services at a command line prompt in Konsole to find out where to store the .desktop file for your new KDE Service Menu. If you want your new service menu to only be available to you, choose to store your .desktop file in the location indicated in your /home directory. If you want your new service menu to be available to every user on your computer, choose to store your .desktop file in the location indicated in your /usr directory. Remember that the latter can only be written/placed there with root user privileges.

Summary

Now, with the watermark.sh script, it's easier than ever before to watermark your photos. It may take a little bit of time to do a large number of images, but you can start the process and simply allow it to run in the background while you perform other tasks. Furthermore, thanks to the script renaming the output file, you can rest assured that your precious original photos are not overwritten. Still, it's always a good and prudent practice to only EVER make edits to copies of your images, with the originals safely stored elsewhere.

KDenLive: Part One

by loudog

There are many video editing software choices on the market today, from simple free home movie makers to fully developed professional editors costing hundreds of dollars. Having used the simple ones and paying dearly for a professional version in the past, I have concluded that Kdenlive is in a class of it's own. It has improved dramatically in the four years since I discovered it. The program provides a video editor that's fairly easy to use, all the professional tools necessary for eye-pleasing polished videos, and plenty of effects. Want to fly? Dance with the stars? Kdenlive provides the tools to do just that … in the movies, of course. To top this off, it's open source and absolutely free. Like most open source projects, donations are gladly accepted.

In this first article we will be making a simple video from some short video clips we shot with our camera, phone, tablet etc. So first things first, let's start the program and get acquainted with the GUI. As you can see, it's pretty barren looking and not very intuitive. That's OK, because we all crawled before we could walk. So let's crawl up to the "new" icon in the upper left corner and select that. Tip: Kdenlive has the undo and redo options. The menu that we are presented with is the project's initial parameters.

Select the video quality your videos are formatted in from the menu. If you don't know, Kdenlive will select it for you when the first clip is played. I will be using the example in the image (HD 720p 29.97 fps), as this is the set format for my video camera. Notice also that you have audio/video track options. You can add or subtract the amount of tracks you want.

We will leave this on the default settings, as that will serve our needs for this particular project. Click ok. Next, we want to select our monitors. To do that, we will go up to the top and click the view tab. From the menu, select clip monitor, project monitor and then project tree. You will see the project tree window on the left, the video monitor in the middle and the timeline window at the bottom. Your version may have them already checked and open by default.

I like to increase the size of my video monitor. You may do what is most comfortable for you. To do this, grab the top of the timeline window and shrink it down until the video monitor almost touches the project tree window.

Then, drag the bottom of the project tree window down until it fits properly.

Now we are ready to add some video clips to the project tree. In the project tree window, click the little blue arrow in the upper right corner, and select the add clip option from the menu.

This will open a window that allows you to navigate to your video files. I will be using the "chocolate cream stout" folder, which contains a number of clips that will be used to assemble a video tutorial on the brewing of a chocolate cream stout beer. You can open your folder with the files you want to use and select/open them individually or, as in my case, I know all the clips in the folder will be used so I highlight them all and click open.

It may take a minute or two for them to be imported into the project tree. And voila, there they are in the tree with one already queued into the clip monitor.

Now is a good time to save the project (called a document) with an appropriate name. Unfortunately, Kdenlive does not auto save your progress, so occasionally hitting the save icon is a good idea. I learned this the hard way. However, remember that once the save button is hit, you cannot undo from that point on (I learned this the hard way, too). Go ahead and click the play button to watch the particular clip in que. Cue a different clip on the project tree by clicking on it. If you are having a difficult time choosing the proper clip by name, you can watch it in the viewer, then right click on it in the tree and rename it for easier reference.

Before we get started on actually putting the video together, I have found that an introduction looks nice. I prefer to use .png files. You can use almost any picture format you want, but it's important that the size is as large or larger than our anticipated output pixel size. Output size is chosen during the rendering process at the end. I will choose 720p at the end, so the standard for that format is 1080x720 pixels. An image size of 1024 x 768 will work alright, but if you can enlarge it slightly, then crop it into a 16:9 aspect ratio (1080x720), it would be better, as there will be no noticeable squishing and/or stretching of the image in the final render. Gimp is an exceptional image manipulating program that can do this, but for a quick, no nonsense resize and/or crop edit, Gwenview is my personal choice. Go to the project tree, add clip button and add your image. If you don't have one, you can skip this part. I have selected a recent wallpaper I created in Gimp, since it was handy, and I still enjoy its straightforward lighthearted message.

Place your mouse on the image file in the project tree and drag and drop the file into the first video track. This lower area is called the timeline.

Make sure you have it moved all the way to the beginning of the track, you will see the snap to timeline movement when it is set. You may have noticed that when you placed the file there, the monitor tab changed to project view (the tabs below the project tree window). Go ahead and play the image, I believe the default is 5 seconds. Rewind the player. You will also notice a long line that hangs down from an arrow, that moves across the timeline while the video plays. This is called the timeline marker. You can move this marker at any time with the mouse by dragging the red triangle back and forth. If you select another clip in the project tree, the monitor will revert back to clip monitor.

No intro is complete without sound, so we are going to import an audio file from the open source fair use library. All of the files in the library are free to use in your projects, Kdenlive or otherwise. It just so happens Kdenlive has the library embedded into the program. (Just gotta love open source!) At the top of the window, click the project tab, then the online resources option.

This will open a window that lets you choose from three different main categories, then you can do a search for a particular style/genre. When your search results are displayed you can choose a file and preview it before downloading it to the project. I have done a search for heavy metal, and, after previewing a few, settled on a rather shrieking guitar grunge.

When the sound clip is imported, it is automatically loaded into the project tree. Now drag and drop this sound file into the first audio track timeline, (fourth track down), making sure its at the beginning of the track. Go ahead and play this in the monitor.

Now let's add some effects so as to polish it up a little. Place your mouse at either the beginning bottom corner or the end bottom corner of the little video intro clip in the timeline. You will see a small green triangle blinking. Right click this and from the menu select add effect, fade, fade from black if at the beginning or fade to black if at the end.

The image shows my selecting the tail end of the clip, so fade to black is the proper choice. You will now see some new things on the clip, such as a yellow bar hanging down on the ends, and a triangle in the upper corners after the effects are added. Now do the same thing with the sound clip, except choose fade in for the beginning and fade out for the end. Play the intro. Not too bad, eh? If you are satisfied with the intro, a quick save would be in order at this point.

Next we will add the first video clip from the project tree. Drag and drop your clip into the second video track on the timeline. Align the beginning of this clip with the end of the intro clip, looking for the telltale snap to timeline movement. Staggering the clips between two video tracks makes them easier to work with when you have more editing work to do on them.

As you can see in the image, I am dragging the clip over to match up with the end of the intro clip. You may have also noticed this clip is much longer in the timeline than the intro. Add your standard fade from black and fade to black effects to the ends of the clip. For the next clip, just drag and drop it on the first video track timeline.

Align the clips and add the effects. Continue the same way, alternating the clips from video track one and video track two, adding your effects as you go. When the tracks move out of the viewable timeline, and they often do, go to the bottom of the screen and adjust the magnifier. Play with this a little and you will understand; it will show individual images from the video on a frame by frame basis. This is how professionals get the cuts perfect.

I prefer to add an exit to the end also. Tip: Since I have some experience with this I have the intro clip we created at the beginning in a separate video file already rendered and ready to use. I just add it to the beginning and end of the current project I am working on without having to do all the effects, etc; again.

Now that you have all the clips you want in the project, and the tracks are ready for rendering to a single file, let's get Kdenlive ready to utilize your hardware potential. Rendering video is very processor intensive and very, very time consuming, so we want to do a couple of changes from the default setup. Click on the settings tab at the top of the window. From the menu, choose Configure Kdenlive > Environment.

In the processing threads option, choose two for a dual core, and three for a quad core or more. If you are doing this on a single core processor leave it at the default setting. This is still in the experimental stage, so be aware. I have had no issues with it set at 3 for my quad core and getting a 35% reduction in rendering time completion. Close out the window and select the render button at the top.

This will open the rendering options. Name your file in the output box. Otherwise, it will show as untitled in the destination folder. You will see that I made this mistake (again) in the rendering progress image. Choose the output format you want. I will choose MPEG4 because almost any digital device around will play it. Choose the amount of threads you want to use. I have had no problems with one thread per processor, but your hardware may support more.

Audio and video bitrates are fine at default, although if you imported higher quality clips, let the settings reflect that. Now a word about two pass encoding. If you plan on showing your completed video on a large 1080p flat screen and chose to render it to 1080p, the two pass encoding is the best choice. Two pass encoding takes twice as long, but is stunning in detail. If you are going to watch them on your computer monitor, single pass is fine. Regardless, I always use 2 pass because the improved file quality is worth the wait. Select render to file, grab a refreshing beverage, and wait.

Congratulations friends! You can now go through all those video clips you have and compile them into full videos. I believe it's time to head to the cellar and enjoy a homemade beverage of my own.

Next month, we'll take a look at the second article about Kdenlive. Part two will be about working with single clips and more movie magic with effects and transitions.

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner

Grilled Barbecued Bacon-Chicken Skewers

Ingredients:

5 bamboo skewers (6 inch)

3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb)

4 large green onions

5 strips of cooked bacon cut into thirds (15 pieces)

1/2 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

Cooking Instructions:

1. Soak skewers in water at least 30 minutes to prevent burning. Meanwhile, cut each chicken breast in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise to make 10 (about 1-inch) pieces. Cut onions into 2-inch pieces (30 pieces total).

2. Heat gas or charcoal grill. Push 1 skewer through end of 1 bacon piece, then through middle of 1 chicken piece and back through other end of bacon piece; add 2 onion pieces, then repeat with another bacon piece and chicken piece. Place on large plate or tray. Repeat to make remaining kabobs.

3. Place kabobs on grill over medium heat. Cover grill; cook 5 minutes. Turn kabobs; brush with half of the barbecue sauce. Cover; cook 5 minutes. Turn kabobs; brush with remaining sauce. Cover; cook about 1 minute longer or until chicken is no longer pink in center. If desired, serve with additional barbecue sauce for dipping.

2013 Annual Holiday Gift Guide: Paul's Picks

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

It's that time of year again. It's time for our annual holiday gift buying guide. If you're strapped for ideas of what holiday gifts to buy those on your holiday gift list, maybe we can help. Between myself, Meemaw and YouCanToo, we'll present you with a total of 30 gift ideas ... 10 each ... for your gift buying needs. All prices are given in U.S. dollars.

AGPtek® 2.4GHz Hi-Fi Wireless Stereo Bluetooth V2.1 Headset ... Newegg.com, $37.99

Cut the cord! Well, at least to your stereo headphones. These wireless headphones use Bluetooth technology to send the audio from your Bluetooth-enabled device (PC, tablet, smartphone, BluRay player, etc.) directly to your ears ... privately. These wireless headphones employ a rechargeable lithium ion battery to provide up to 54 hours of cordless use, up to 1200 hours of standby time, and recharge in as little as three hours. Like most Bluetooth devices, these high fidelity stereo headphones have a range of 10 meters (or about 33 feet). Of course, the stated range is without obstructions (like walls) between the headphones and the Bluetooth transceiver. The package includes an AC charger and USB cord.

Link Depot USB 2.0 Flash Memory Card Reader (MicroSD/Secure Digital SD) ... Walmart.com, $5.03

If you have a tablet or smartphone, chances are high that it has or uses a MicroSD card. It can sometimes be a real pain to connect and read or transfer files from these devices. But what if you could transfer your files to the MicroSD card, then read those files on your computer? It sure would make things much easier!

This adapter does exactly that. The MicroSD card inserts into the USB plug. Yes, you read that correctly. A blue LED lights up to indicate that the reader is plugged in. To extract your MicroSD card, press the yellow button and your card slides out to where you can grab it. Works with MicroSD and MicroSDHC cards.

Bright 10 LED Flexible USB Light Desk Lamp for Laptop or Desktop ... Newegg.com, $9.40

Never work on your computer in the dark again. This handy handy lamp plugs into an open USB port (or USB hub) and lights your computer and desk with 10 bright LEDs. Useful for either a laptop or desktop computer. The lamp has extremely long service life (up to 20x longer than normal lamps) and bathes the area with a soft and warm white light. It features an on/off switch and consumes low power. The USB cable is over one meter in length, allowing you to place the lamp in a convenient location.

5m USB Waterproof Endoscope Borescope Inspection Camera ... Amazon.com, $19.99

Here's a USB camera with a purpose. Waterproof, you can send this down a drain to help find a clog, or a missing piece of jewelry. Send this into a small hole in the wall to help locate studs and wiring. If you're working on the family vehicle, this can provide views in the tightest locations that you normally wouldn't be able to see.

Although the specifications call for Windows, this endoscopic USB camera is reported to be working flawlessly with Linux, via VLC. Simply plug in the camera and launch VLC to view the images. This camera also includes 4 LED lights to provide illumination in dark quarters.

Native Union Retro POP Phone ... Amazon.com, $19.99

Do you remember the old style bakelite telephone handsets? Are you annoyed by trying to cradle your cell phone on your shoulder while you write down a phone number or address? With the Native Union Retro POP Phone, you can use an old style telephone handset with your 21st century smartphone. Featuring a 3.5 mm plug (standard on many cell phones), it simply plugs into your cell phone. Then, you can put your cell phone safely into a shirt pocket, backpack, or purse, and use the two foot coiled cord (that stretches out to approximately six feet) to talk on your cell phone, with this handset comfortably cradled on your shoulder.

While you may get some strange stares as you walk down the street talking on your cell phone, via this handset, it does eliminate 99% of the cell phone radiation. This is a good thing, since it seems as many studies say it's dangerous as those that say it's of no consequence. With this handset, all doubts are erased. Just don't set your smartphone down on a stationary object and walk away with the handset, or you may send your smartphone crashing to the floor.

Rosewill RTK-045 45 Piece Premium Computer Tool Kit ... Newegg.com, $19.99

If you do any of your own work on your computers and the computers of friends and family (and what Linux user doesn't?), it pays to have a dedicated toolkit to use. This toolkit features not only an antistatic wrist strap, but a ratcheting multi-tip screwdriver, a collection of hex key wrenches, needle nose pliers, wire strippers, tweezers, sockets, and even a collection of common spare parts. They are all fit into a zippered black case for easy transportation. All tools are fully demagnetized to prevent damage to your system, peripherals and magnetic media.

I Love Bacon Calendar ... ThinkGeek.com, $9.99

I've never seen such a large collection of bacon lovers in one place as I've seen in the PCLinuxOS forum. If PCLinuxOS has an “official food,” it would have to be bacon. The only gift better for the bacon lover on your list than bacon would be this 12 month 2014 calendar that allows them to celebrate bacon every day of the upcoming new year. Each page of this calendar contains fun trivia facts about bacon, along with bacon recipes.

Sizzling Bacon Candy ... ThinkGeek.com, $4.99 to $9.99

While we're on the subject of bacon, here's another idea for the bacon lover on your holiday gift list. Sizzling Bacon Candy are little rocks of candy that pop and sizzle when placed in your mouth. Carbonated candy chunks, to be a little more accurate. They jump and sputter and taste like smoky bacon - only they "sizzle" right in your mouth. Each Sizzling Bacon Candy single box comes with 2 packets of bacon (therefore the 3 pack comes with 6), so you'll never be without the sizzling joy of bacon.

Linus Libertine ... Linus Bikes, $939 (no direct link yet)

OK ... this is the most expensive item I've ever featured in the magazine's annual holiday gift guide. If you're in the market for a new bike, why not ride a bike that shares the namesake of the father of Linux? In a nostalgic, days-gone-by style, but with the comforts and reliability of modern bicycle technology, the upcoming 2014 Linus Libertine bicycle may be the one for you. This new road bike features a 16-speed drivetrain with an 8-speed rear derailleur and a front double chainring that's fitted to the crank. It also features “old-school” downtube shifters, fenders, and two accessory attachment lugs (one on the downtube and the other on the seatpost).

If you're thinking that this bike looks like a throwback to the road bikes of the 60s and 70s, then you're getting the right impression. In fact, the targeted audience for this new bicycle is someone who might be prone to look for a classic, vintage bicycle to rebuild. Here's the company's story, from the Linus Bikes website:

Inspired by French bicycle design of the 50s and 60s we have created a bicycle that preserves the simple elegance and pure form of that golden era, but has all the benefits of modern comfort and reliability. LINUS is the utilitarian city bike... simple and reliable, but with a personality and style that makes you feel like you're in an old French movie... you're floating a little from the wine you drank at lunch... maybe instead of going back to the office you'll take a nap under a tree, go for a swim in the sea or drop by your lover's house...

In most urban cultures bicycles are viewed as legitimate transportation and not merely recreation, but sadly this idea never really caught on in the US. We take numerous little journeys, under 5 miles, as part of our everyday lives.... to the store, the pub, to work, etc. Besides the obvious joy of riding a bicycle, these small bicycle trips reduce carbon emissions, congestion, noise pollution, and make for a happier, city experience.

That's LINUS... a simple, affordable, elegant bike for riding around and doing stuff.

All of the bikes from Linus Bikes can be viewed on their website. You can also search for a dealer (U.S. and Canada only, at this time).

PCLinuxOS Color T-Shirt ... PCLinuxOS CafePress Store, $24.99

What better gift for those on your holiday gift list than a genuine PCLinuxOS colored t-shirt. These t-shirts are available in 11 different colors (shirt above shown in royal blue), and in sizes from small to 3X (add $3 for sizes XL Tall, 2XL, 2XL Tall, 3X and 3X Tall), so all are guaranteed to find a size that fits. All shirts are made with ultra-soft 100% pre-shrunk cotton (except the charcoal color, which is made from a 50-50 cotton/polyester blend). Now you and those on your holiday gift list (who receive this shirt) can help spread the word about PCLinuxOS!

2013 Annual Holiday Gift Guide: Meemaw's Picks

by Meemaw

Wow! Shopping time again! This year has really gone fast, and we are once again faced with picking out the perfect gifts for friends and loved ones.

I've been browsing for the past few days, and have found a few gifts. Some are a little different, but at least a different gift probably won't duplicate anyone else's. I tried to find things that any of us could use or enjoy, and most at a price we can handle.

Many of us already have tablets, so a Tablet Stand with Keyboard and Carrying Case will complete the set. Amazon has several models in various colors. Most of the ones I've seen are for 7-inch tablets. The list price there is $32.25 but they are on sale as low as $7.88.

I spend most of my computer time in my easy chair with my laptop in my lap. A lap desk would make things more comfortable. Bits and Pieces has this one for $29.99, which includes an LED light and a cup holder. At 14" x 18", most laptops will fit on it. If you want to read a book instead, you should have everything you need!

Some of these user manuals are written in really small print, as are some books and newspapers. If your eyesight isn't what it once was, maybe this Page Magnifier Light will help. Also at Bits and Pieces, it is $12.99. It looks like it would help with reading or just viewing small items, and the light is an added bonus.

If you like grilled food, you probably like smoked food as well. My husband has smoked just about every kind of meat. This 2.5 cubic foot electric smoker will do the job for you. Amazon has several models that range in price from $80 clear up into the thousands. This particular one costs $165. It is the size of a small refrigerator and is very easy to use.

While we are thinking about food, I found a popcorn popper! While that's not unusual, this is a small, counter-top version of the big popper we've seen at carnivals and such. J C Penney's has this model for only $79.99.

We need something else... How about an apple? Do you eat the peel, or throw it away? It really is the part with the most nutrients. Just in case you throw it away, here is a novel idea for getting the peel off: an apple peeler. This gizmo, from L L Bean, is only $29.95, and not only peels an apple, but spiral slices it as well.

Oh, my gosh! It's amazing how much dust can accumulate around my desktop computer! I need something that can get in all the small areas between my keyboard, monitor and tower as well as around the printer and scanner (and all the other junk that seems to have appeared on that desk!) How about a mini vacuum cleaner?

Depending on your preference, you can choose from one of these. At $20 each, either of these could help tame the dust-bunnies!

ZOpid Desktop Vacuum from Amazon

The Henry Desktop Vac from Bits and Pieces

I've been looking at the photos of Parnote's new son, and he's adorable. One gift idea, if you know a new parent or new parent-to-be, is a layette set including socks, caps, 'onesies', t-shirts, a towel, washrags, and several other items. Also from J C Penney's, the set is $50.99, and also comes in pink and yellow.

This Aquarium Lamp looks fun! I don't have fish myself, but I never pass up a chance to stand in front of an aquarium and look at the fish. This would be a good idea for people like me who love to look at them, but don't want live ones of their own. This one simulates an ocean reef. It is 7.5" x 12.25" so it won't take up much space, and is only $29.99 at Bits and Pieces.

I have always liked jigsaw puzzles, and this one is unique. It is a Hometown Map Puzzle from L L Bean. When you order it, you give your US street address and they make the jigsaw puzzle out of the map of your area. Your address is at the center, and it covers six miles east and west and four miles north and south. It is $39.95 and measures 12" x 18". They also have an aerial view puzzle, but it's $10.00 more.

Speaking of puzzles, Bits and Pieces seems to be the place for Brain Teaser Puzzles. Many of them are the frustrating wooden or metal objects that come apart in many pieces, and the object is to take them apart, often retrieving something from the inside, and put them back together. I have several of these puzzles and while they are often very frustrating, they are also very fun. They range in price from $5.99 up to $49.99 (at least on this page!) The site says there are 74 different puzzles.

We're such a time-oriented world! It is nice to have a clock that advertises and helps support our favorite distro! This PCLinuxOS Wall Clock is very nice. It's one of the many gifts you can find at the Cafe Press gift site and is just $13.99.

I hope your holidays are wonderful, and that you find the perfect gift for everyone on your list!

2013 Annual Holiday Gift Guide: YouCanToo's Picks

by YouCanToo

The "Everything Tastes Better with Bacon" Apron         $19.95

Spice up conversations in the kitchen or around the BBQ with this tasty-looking apron. Ideal for cooking, baking, grilling. Two generouspockets hold utensils and more.

- 31" long & 29" wide

- 100% heavy cotton twill

- Machine washable

Boss Hog's Bacon Flavored Seasoning         $6.00

Make everything taste like bacon! Yes, even your friend's terrible cooking!

Sometimes you just want everything to taste like bacon: French fries, bread, fruit, tequila... you're not picky about what it is you want to taste like bacon, you just want that scrumptious bacony flavor. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that! It's just a little hard to find bacon flavored ice cream or even bacon flavored French fries whenever, where ever. But we have your fix right here!

Your Coffee will Taste Better in a PCLinuxOS Mug         $14.99

The perfect size for your favorite morning beverage or late night brew. Large, easy-grip handle. Treat yourself or give as a gift to someone special.

Measures 3.75" tall, 3" diameter

Dishwasher and microwave safe

Remember, a portion of the proceeds go to help pay the bills for PCLinuxOS.

Sabrent High Power 1000mW WiFi Wireless USB Range Extender         $19.51

Quickly and easily enhance range and signal quality at longer distances with the Sabrent Wifi Adapter. Includes a 6 dBi dipole antenna to help you get the best connection possible.

Wireless Data Rates up to 54 Mbps

Compatible with all standard 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b wireless routers and access points

Transmitter Output Power is 1000mW (1 watt)

Transmitter range up to 800 Meters (2624.67 feet) in open space.

Operating Systems Supported -- Linux, Apple and Windows

Roku LT Streaming Player         $49.97

600+ channels with movies, TV shows, music, sports & more.

High-definition streaming up to 720p HD

Works with virtually any TV

Free app for iOS and Android

Built-in wireless Wi-Fi b/g/n

RCA Video and Audio outputs with mini HDMI output

Weight:     0.3 ounces

Dimensions:     3.9 x 3.9 x 1 inches

Specification Met     certified frustration-free

Restricted Area Linux Fans Only Hobbies Plastic Sign         $11.99

Use outdoors or indoors. Sign is 8.75 x 11.50 inches.

Barnes & Noble Simple Touch Ebook Reader         $79.00

Running a Linux-based OS, this gray scale Ebook reader is not only affordable, but also boasts the longest battery life of all the Ebook readers on the market: 2 months! It also features a bright-white LCD display that is easy to see, even in bright sunlight. Built-in wifi also makes it easy to browse and purchase books (over 3,000,000) from Barnes & Noble, and have them delivered to your ebook reader. Plus, you can also download and read The PCLinuxOS Magazine’s epub Ebook edition every month.

OLYMPUS SZ-15 Black 16 MP 24X Optical Zoom Wide Angle Digital Camera HDTV Output         $149.00

Certainly, there are less expensive point-and-shoot cameras on the market. But what sets this one apart is the 24x zoom, that goes from a 25mm wide angle lens (in 35mm terms) to a 600mm extreme telephoto. Couple that with the 16 MP resolution and the excellent reputation of Olympus, and you have a deal that’s hard to beat. This camera will also take 720p HD video, which can be played back on your TV, via the camera’s HDMI port.

Pivothead Aurora Shale Video Recording Eyewear           $299.00

Newegg and Pivothead say "You are not a spectator in life. You are a participant. Don't record your life through a viewfinder. Live, capture, and share moments of your life from a truly unique perspective - your own."

- Brilliant HD video 1080p @ 30 fps / 720p @ 60fps / 720p @ 30fps

- Auto, Continuous, Fixed, and Macro Focus Settings

- 2GB SDRAM, 8GB internal memory capacity

No Windows T-Shirt from CafePress         $26.99

Adult sizes Small to 3X-Tall and 11 different colors including camouflage.

Child sizes 2T to 4T and 4 colors         $19.99

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight: Linuzoid

by Linuzoid as told to Smileeb

Let me introduce Linuzoid

I included a large photo of my avatar, but none of myself. I've never posted any of myself and never intend to do so. I believe in anonymity. Hope you'll understand.

I did it this way because I was having a problem with Gmail. I'm on dialup and Gmail doesn't like it. It seems it was made for high speed.

How old are you?

I'm 47 years young.

Are you married, single or what?

I'm single.

Do you have children, grandchildren?

No children

Are you retired or working, for how long and at what.

I've been a self employed artist for most of my life.

What is the area you live in like? Weather, Quietness, Scenery.

I live in rural part of New Mexico. Here, we experience a little of all four seasons. I sit right in the middle of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. I'm surrounded by Juniper and Pinon trees. The mountain vistas are beautiful here, as are the sunrise and sunsets. The Pecos River is nearby, so I fish a lot.

Autumn

Pecos Valley

Pecos Winter

Sangre De Cristo Mountains

Snowtime

Sunrise

Are you handy with your hands or have any hobbies?

I enjoy oil painting and most forms of art, especially music, my first love. I like to garden. I also enjoy fishing, and I'm a life member of the North American Fishing Club.

What is your education level?

I earned my G.E.D. back in 1993.

Do you like to travel or go camping?

I used to go camping when I was younger, but since I move out of the city, it's kinda like I'm camping everyday. I never really travel. I'm a homebody, really.

What caused you to try Linux and join this forum?

I started using Linux because I got tired of paying Microsoft for an operating system full of bugs. I stopped with Windows ME, and since then, I've only used Linux. I started with Mandrake, but as soon as PCLinuxOS came to be, it became my main operating system. I joined the forum because I want to help my fellow members as I can. Being a proud member of PCLinuxOS. Being a contributor to it's excellence is very important and a great honor to me.

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight is an exclusive, monthly column by smileeb, featuring PCLinuxOS forum members. This column will allow “the rest of us” to get to know our forum family members better, and will give those featured an opportunity to share their PCLinuxOS story with the rest of the world.

If you would like to be featured in PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight, please send a private message to smileeb in the PCLinuxOS forum expressing your interest.

Quick Guide To Running OpenVPN With KeePassX

by OldGuy

The November 2013 issue of "The PCLinuxOS Magazine" had an article about "KeePassX: Not In The Cloud."

I had put together a series of text files to help a friend with running his paid VPN under PCLinuxOS. We are both using KDE64. Using the Auto-Type functions of KeePassX, I wanted to make his login simplified. The old way had several cut/paste sequences.

He uses iVPN (https://www.ivpn.net/). For my testing, I choose VPNBOOK (http://www.vpnbook.com/freevpn). However, the same setup should relate to both, if not all, VPN services.

Please note while reading these samples that my home directory is named /home/alpha, and yours will be different, so you will have to edit any reference to your home directory. Also, the password for VPNBOOK does change periodically, and as of the writing of this article, it may have changed again. Be sure to check the VPNBOOK site for the correct user and password to use their free VPN.

I downloaded the US OpenVPN Certificate Bundle from the VPNBOOK site, and installed the unzipped files into a directory called VPNCerts under my home directory. Use TCP if you cannot connect to UDP, due to network restrictions. I also downloaded openvpn from the PCLinuxOS repositories. This article assumes your firewall is set to no firewall, or that you have the tun0, tun1, tun2, along with eth0, checked on the firewall.

VPNBOOK has 4 different certificates; vpnbook-us1-tcp443.ovpn, vpnbook-us1-tcp80.ovpn, vpnbook-us1-udp25000.ovpn, vpnbook-us1-udp53.ovpn. You will need to make a KeePassX entry for each one you plan to use.

How to setup a KeePass entry, one entry per certificate

Title: VPN tcp 443 I chose this to reflect the certificate. You can use any name here.

Username: vpnbook

Guide to proper entries for url for each certificate. Pick ONE per entry.

Note that my home directory has a dedicated directory where the certificates are stored, in /home/alpha/VPNCerts. You will have to edit these entries below to reflect your home directory.

Url line for each certificate: note that the use of the semi-colon allows us to do more than one command on the url field.

cd VPNCerts;openvpn --config vpnbook-us1-tcp443.ovpn

cd VPNCerts;openvpn --config vpnbook-us1-tcp80.ovpn

cd VPNCerts;openvpn --config vpnbook-us1-udp25000.ovpn

cd VPNCerts;openvpn --config vpnbook-us1-udp53.ovpn

Password: ne9UFE9a

Repeat: ne9UFE9a

Note my test root password is "SuperUserPassword." Remember to replace it with your root password.

Comment line:

Auto-Type: su{ENTER}SuperUserPassword{ENTER}{url}{ENTER}{username}{ENTER}{Password}{ENTER}

Auto-Type-Window: alpha : bash -- Konsole

My Konsole window shows alpha, see Auto-Type above. Yours will have another name. Open a Konsole to see its name (title). For example, if your login name is mary your window might be:

Auto-Type-Window: mary : bash -- Konsole

My research on using Auto-Type comes from http://KeePass.info/help/base/autotype.html.

Sample of a filled entry in KeePassX.

Suggested run instructions.

1. Close other programs. Be sure your CAPS LOCK is off. It interferes with KeePassX.

2. Open a Konsole.

3. Open KeePassX.

4. Select the KeePassX entry for your VPN. Be sure it is highlighted.

5. Press CTRL+V, or right click on the entry and select "Perform Auto Type." KeePassX will close to the task-bar and type all the vpn commands to Konsole.

When you see "Initialization Sequence Completed" displayed in the terminal window, open your browser and check your ISP to be confident you are on the VPN. To check, you can go to http://www.whatismyip.com/. It will show your ISP location, which should be different from your normal ISP.

If you do not see "Initialization Sequence Completed" in Konsole, press CTRL+C, and then exit. Then, select another certificate to try again. I found that vpnbook-us1-udp53.ovpn would not work on my machine, but the other three ran just fine.

If you cannot connect check your firewall settings, most likely your tun0, tun1, tun2, or tun3 are not checked. They appear on page three of the firewall setup. They need to be checked to run the VPN.

When you are completed with your surfing via the vpn session, follow these next steps.

6. Close browser.

7. In your Konsole session press CTRL+C, now you can review the Konsole vpn session, or "X" out of Konsole to close Konsole.

8. Move on to your next task in life. Good luck, and good surfing.

Example directory of certificates.

Example showing Konsole open, and selected 443 in KeePass, ready for you to press CTRL+V to initiate the vpn session.

Example showing "Initialization Sequence Completed" we're ready to open our browser and surf on the vpn.

Example after surfing and pressing CTRL+C, you can review your session or use "X" in the right hand corner to exit the Konsole session.

h3>Why A Virtual Windows Installation Beats Dual Booting

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

In last month's magazine, we detailed the problems that the PCLinuxOS and The PCLinuxOS Magazine websites suffered by Avast! antivirus labeling of those sites as containing malware. I also touched on why it's better to run Windows in either VirtualBox or VMWare, instead of dual booting. So, I thought we should explore that line of thought a little further.

As I've stated previously, I've been a Linux user for the past seven plus years, and a PCLinuxOS user for six plus years. When I first started using Linux, I would always set up my computers with a dual boot configuration, so that -- "just in case" -- I could choose to boot up into Linux or Windows XP.

I discovered something along the way. Before long, I found myself booting into my Windows partition less and less often. After a while, I was forcing myself to boot into Windows at least once every three months, just to apply the requisite updates. But even that became a very arduous and dreaded task.

Initially, I was afraid of losing access to the programs that I had become accustomed to using under Windows. So, when I'd come across a task, my inclination would be to boot into Windows XP and perform the work there. Then, I'd have to reboot into my Linux partition and finish things up. I soon became aware of just how much time I was wasting just booting between two different operating systems.

So, I made an earnest attempt to find Linux programs to replace the Windows programs that I had relied upon. Believe it or not, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I originally thought that there was no way that Linux would have anything to replace Program X or Program Y. But, one by one, the old Windows programs I had previously relied upon were replaced with Linux equivalents. Those Linux program equivalents were, much of the time, easier and more stable, plus many of them did much more than the Windows counterpart that they replaced.

In other cases, I would find two or three Linux programs to replace the one Windows program that I had been using. I didn't originally realize one aspect of Linux application development: do one thing, and do it well, unlike many Windows programs that try to be all things to all users. So, by combining the capabilities of multiple Linux applications, I was able to do everything I needed, right there within my Linux session. No more wasting time rebooting for me! Hooray!

Sure ... there is WINE, but it's an imperfect solution, at best. With WINE being steadily improved upon, it is getting better. However, it will never be a perfect solution. It will never be able to run all the Windows programs that users want to be able to run. Hands down, a virtualized Windows installation will run any Windows program you throw at it, without any loss of functionality.

Excuses, excuses

I really think that the real reason users insist on setting up a dual boot configuration is that they are afraid of letting go of something that is known, and learning something new. Human nature is to prefer to have a crutch to fall back on. Ok, call it a backup plan, if you prefer; in this case, it's the same thing. Most humans also hate change. Humans are creatures of habit, and they rebel against new things, even if they are better.

No one in the history of computing or mankind was ever born knowing how to run any particular operating system. Every user, in the beginning, had to learn how to run or operate an operating system from scratch. Every user had to take the time then to learn something new, and the same thing applies even years later when moving to a new platform, such as Linux.

"I'm a gamer, and I need Windows to play my games." This is one of the more prevalent excuses users have for maintaining a dual boot configuration. Even as recent as 18 months ago, this would have been true. However, with the fairly recent release of Valve's Steam client for Linux, this is no longer the case. While I am not a gamer, I have been closely following the release of the Linux Steam client and the reverberations it has sent through the gaming community, as well as the Linux community.

The release of a Linux client for Steam has helped ignite the rocket engines that are propelling Linux to the front lines of the gaming industry. In many cases, game performance under Linux outpaces the performance of the same game under Windows. OpenGL is proving to be a much better graphics rendering system than Microsoft's DirectX, which has historically been the predominate graphics rendering system used for games over the past 10 or 15 years. Couple this with AMD/ATI, Intel and nVidia rewriting and/or reworking their Linux graphics drivers for vastly improved graphics performance, and it's the equivalent of adding booster rockets to the main engine that's thrusting Linux into the gaming spotlight.

Every month, more and more games are being tweaked to run under the Steam Linux client, and some games are being released only under the Steam Linux client.

"I have to have Windows to run Program X and Program Y." This excuse is used almost as prevalently as the one used by gamers. For my personal use, I can't think of any such programs, except for income tax software -- and that is the fault of the software vendors, not the lack of a market. In every other instance, I've been able to find Linux replacements for those Windows programs that I used to rely upon.

A lifetime ago, when I was a Windows user, my favorite "go to" graphics program was Paint Shop Pro. I had been a steadfast user of every version since Paint Shop Pro 2.0. Under Linux, I've found Gimp to be a much more than capable replacement. I've not been able to find anything that I was previously doing with Paint Shop Pro that I cannot do under Gimp. I just had to rethink the process in Gimp terms, rather than Paint Shop Pro terms. Plus, I find Gimp capable of doing much more.

So, let's say that you just absolutely have to be able to run a specific Windows program. The two Windows programs most often listed as "can't live without" programs for many users are Adobe Photoshop and one or another of the Quicken offerings. Some users want to use the extremely expensive graphics software that they have purchased when they were Windows users, such as Adobe Photoshop. For my use, and the use of many other users, Gimp has matured to be a full featured, premium quality graphics editor, and is well suited to replace Adobe Photoshop for most users. I could never afford to use any of the overpriced Adobe graphics programs, so I have long been accustomed to finding other ways to achieve what I wanted and needed to do.

Others bemoan the lack of any of the Quicken software offerings, and Quicken has done an outstanding job of locking users into using their proprietary system. In the case of these two programs, and any other you want to throw in there, a virtual installation of Windows makes much more sense, quickly and more than adequately providing a resolution to being able to run those "can't live without" Windows-only programs.

Why Virtual Is Better

Like I mentioned earlier, you waste a lot of time booting between two operating systems. When running a virtual machine, that "other" operating system -- and all of the programs you run on that "other" operating system -- are available at your fingertips, only a few mouse clicks away.

Of course, we're talking of running your virtualized copy of Windows on a PCLinuxOS host. Doing it the other way around doesn't make any sense, given the extreme vulnerabilities of Windows. Running Windows on a PCLinuxOS host leaves your Windows installation isolated from your PCLinuxOS host, while leveraging and inheriting the infinitely increased security of PCLinuxOS. How isolated your Windows installation is from your PCLinuxOS host is up to you. If you limit the use of "shared folders" on your PCLinuxOS host -- or eliminate their use altogether -- you can limit the exposure of files on your PCLinuxOS host to threats from Windows-centric malicious software.

Under a dual boot scenario, you first have to shut down PCLinuxOS, then boot up your Windows installation. When you're finished working in Windows, you have to then shut it down properly, then reboot your computer into your PCLinuxOS installation. This results in a lot of wasted time waiting for your selected operating system to boot, shutdown, boot, shutdown, then boot again.

With a virtualized installation of Windows, you only have to start the virtualization software, then boot Windows from there -- all from right within your currently running PCLinuxOS session -- and you skip all of the time wasting that's inherent with a dual boot installation. If you use VirtualBox's seamless mode, you can effortlessly switch between your running PCLinuxOS applications and your Windows applications with only a mouse click or two. If you don't want to use VirtualBox's seamless mode, you can also run Windows full screen on one of your PCLinuxOS virtual desktops, and your PCLinuxOS programs on any of your other virtual desktops.

Thanks to VirtualBox's "shared folders," you can share files from your PCLinuxOS installation with your virtualized installation of Windows. With shared folders, you can even save your files from your virtualized Windows installation to your PCLinuxOS directories. It would be prudent to limit what folders on your PCLinuxOS system you give your virtualized Windows installation access to, to limit any potential damages from Windows vulnerabilities.

The other nice thing about running Windows in VirtualBox is that you can take "snapshots" of a working installation. If your working copy of Windows becomes corrupt or infected with a virus, all you have to do is use the snapshot copy. Make a snapshot of your snapshot, and you have a perpetual "safe" backup. You will literally be back up and running in a matter of seconds, as opposed to a full blown re-installation -- which can often times take hours. You can make as many snapshots of your working Windows installation as you like.

Summary

With a virtualized installation of Windows, you have the "best of both worlds." In a sort of having your cake and eating it too view, you can have the security and stability of Linux and still use the Windows programs that you are reluctant to part ways with.

We have covered running Windows and other operating systems in VirtualBox several times in the pages of The PCLinuxOS Magazine. Here is a list to help you get started:

October 2008: VirtualBox: Easier Than You Think!

January 2009: VirtualBox Tips

May 2012: Move VirtualBox Drives With Ease

November 2012: Fun With VirtualBox Using Terminal

September 2013: Want To Run Windows In VirtualBox? For FREE?

While the 2008 article may initially seem a bit dated, the process has remained essentially unchanged in the five years since it was written. This is regardless if you are installing Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or any other version.

Even today, I rarely launch or run my virtualized Windows installation. For me, the only time is when I have to run income tax software. For the rest of the year, it pretty much sits there on my hard drive, untouched.

You may think or heard that running VirtualBox is difficult, but you can put your fears to rest. As my 2008 article is entitled, it really is easier than you think. You owe it to yourself to give it a try. I have no doubts that you will not regret it, and that you will find yourself moving between your native Linux installation and your virtualized Windows installations much more efficiently.

ms_meme's Nook: PCLinuxOS Is The One To Choose

MP3           OGG

PCLinuxOS Puzzle Partitions

PCLinuxOS Crossword Puzzle: December 2013 Countries

Download Puzzle Rules Here

Countries Word Find

Download Puzzle Rules Here

Tux Scrappler

Possible score 262, average score 183.

Download Puzzle Rules Here

Sudoku

NOW May Be The Time To Move To Linux

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

April 8, 2014. That is when Windows XP SP3 reaches its "end of life." After that date, Microsoft will no longer support this aging, albeit still very popular, version of their operating system. That means there will be no further updates, security related or otherwise. And, with Microsoft withdrawing support, it won't be long before third party software vendors follow suit and stop supporting Windows XP SP3.

So ... what to do, if you're a Windows XP user? It won't be long before you are locked into a cold, dark room ... so to speak. And, there's reason to fear the dark. With no more security updates forthcoming, every day that you run Windows XP increases the chance that some rogue hacker will find a way to exploit its many vulnerabilities.

Sure, a user could upgrade their computer and buy or install a later version of Windows. But what if you can't afford a new computer? What if you can't afford upgrades to your current computer? What about your older, still-quite-capable computer hardware? Fortunately, there is a solution: install Linux.

Nevermind the naysayers and the negative opinions espewed by Windows and Microsoft diehards. Linux is ready for the desktop. Linux is stable. Linux is secure. Linux is, feature for feature, a viable Windows alternative. Just ask anyone who has used Linux exclusively for the past several years ... me included.

Take Time To Find Alternatives

Granted, there are several popular Windows software titles that aren't available under Linux, such as Microsoft Office, Quicken, Adobe Photoshop, and many others. Rumors surfaced a few months back about Microsoft "exploring" the release of a Linux version of MS Office. But, there are also many viable replacements for those popular Windows-only programs.

Most users find LibreOffice to fulfill their office suite needs quite nicely and completely. KMyMoney and GnuCash have quite a following among Linux users as a replacement for the Quicken suite of financial programs. Most of the popular features of Photoshop are available in the free Gimp graphics editor.

Many programs Windows users are familiar with are also available under Linux. Firefox, Thunderbird, and Chrome immediately come to mind. There are full Linux versions of each available in almost every Linux distribution ... PCLinuxOS included.

Even popular shareware/freeware programs, such as the popular graphics viewer IrfanView, have Linux equivalents. XnViewMP is one such popular graphics viewer, among at least a dozen others. However, if you find yourself unable to live without IrfanView, there is a special version of IrfanView in the PCLinuxOS repository, that runs in its own WINE container!

If you find that you just cannot live without a Windows installation, then be sure to check out the "Why A Virtual Windows Installation Beats Dual Booting" article, elsewhere in this issue. You will enjoy a full-blown Windows installation, right there within your secure PCLinuxOS desktop. You should also give WINE a look. Short for WINE Is Not an Emulator, WINE allows many Windows programs to run on Linux. WINE is an open source "duplication" of the Windows API, all done without any infringement on any Microsoft copyrights or patents.

Make Sure Your Hardware Is Compatible

Actually, this step is far easier than most people realize. The best way to insure that all of your hardware is compatible with Linux is to run a Live CD. That usually gives you a pretty accurate indication.

Because Linux ... and the entire FOSS community ... are often shunned by hardware manufacturers, Linux usually gets very little "love" when it comes to device drivers. While the situation has improved greatly over the past few years, there are still many instances where the only Linux drivers around are the ones that are "homegrown." This is particularly true where it concerns cutting edge hardware. However, if you are converting from running Windows XP SP3 on older hardware, chances are quite good that drivers exist for all of your hardware components.

Research your hardware components. Perform an internet search for Linux drivers specific to your hardware components. You might be pleasantly surprised at what you find.

Anticipate A Learning Curve

Many of the skills you developed while using Windows will transfer directly to Linux. But, at the same time, don't expect everything in Linux to work exactly as it did in Windows. Linux is similar, but different. Some of the differences will be striking, while some of the similarities will also be just as striking.

No one was born knowing how to run Microsoft Windows. Just as you had to learn Windows, expect to spend some time learning the ins and outs of running Linux. Persistence is your friend. The journey may seem a bit daunting at first, but you will be surprised at how fast you learn the "Linux way."

You will not have to go on your Linux journey alone ... unless you just absolutely insist. Make use of the help forums (PCLinuxOS has one of the best). You would be well advised to read the sticky posts in the help forums, and conduct yourself according to the rules of the forum. Every Linux distribution has a help forum. Some are just more helpful and friendlier than others.

Linux: T-H-E Up & Coming Gaming Platform

Since the release of Valve's Steam client for Linux, gaming hasn't been the same. Ever since Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve, declared "Windows 8 a catastrophe for game developers," Valve has thrown its energies into making Linux the premiere PC gaming platform.

Once the bastion of Windows, many games have been rewritten and tweaked for Linux. DirectX is out. OpenGL is the new standard. As a result, many of the games run better under Linux than they ever did under Windows. Since the release of the Linux Steam client, game developers have released over 200 games for Linux.

Additionally, Steam recently announced the forthcoming Steambox gaming system. What is Steambox? Well, it's a well tuned gaming PC, using the Linux operating system.

So what about your collection of Windows games? Granted, not all of them will run under Linux. Game developers have little incentive to go back and rewrite old games for Linux. But many of those Windows games will run under WINE, with a little help from a WINE helper program called PlayOnLinux. Install PlayOnLinux from the PCLinuxOS repository, and take a peek around at everything that is available. Also, don't forget about using a virtual Windows installation, via VirtualBox, as described elsewhere in this issue.

At the very least, perform an internet search using "running [name of game] on linux" as your search term. You will be pleasantly surprised by the results you come away with. Even if your favorite game doesn't net any results, perform the search again in a month or two. There are many determined and enterprising individuals working on getting their favorite games running under Linux.

Summary

I made the switch to Linux about seven years ago. I've spent six of those years (happily) as a PCLinuxOS user. I switched to Linux after Microsoft's previous flop with Vista. I simply couldn't afford the upgrades that Vista required, and I was nowhere near ready to scrap my fairly recent computers. I certainly couldn't afford new computers.

I realized that there must be something better "out there." I had previously tried Linux back in 1999 with Red Hat 5.2, which I purchased at Best Buy. Back then, I tried it out on my 486-DX4 with 32 MB RAM. While I got it to run, I had absolutely NO idea what I was doing. I looked at all of those @%$&! RPM files, and couldn't figure out what to do with them. I was lost. I headed back to a Windows world (Windows 98, to be specific) with my tail between my legs, whipped.

This time around, however, things were different. Linux had matured WAY beyond what I had first experienced. It was easier and more intuitive to use. As with every other user making the transition from Windows to Linux, I had new things to learn and old things to relearn.

Persistence and perseverance are your friends in your journey from Windows to Linux. In the end, the rewards are enormous.

GIMP Tutorial: Fixing A Photo

by Meemaw

Not all the photos we have are in perfect condition, especially older photos of parents or grandparents. My cousin and I have shared many photos of family members, and many of those photos are not in the greatest shape. Many are torn or cracked. If you can scan and save these photos to your computer, Gimp can help you do a good job of fixing them.

I have this photo that is cracked and too dark in places;

I would like to fix the cracks and even out the color. Find a photo you would like to fix and we'll get to it.

Opening it in Gimp, the first thing you should do is choose File > Save a copy. Name it whatever you wish and allow it to be saved with the .xcf file extension. This way you will still have your original photo just in case something happens to your work.

Fixing the cracks will be done with the Clone tool, which looks like a date stamper to me.

Click on the Clone tool, choose a place in your photo you want to fix and, holding down the <CTRL> key, click on a spot nearby that is the same color and texture you want to use to fix the crack. If necessary, zoom into your drawing to see your work more clearly. Also, depending on what you need to clone, adjust the size of your brush. I'm working on the background, which has darker lines every so often, so I made my brush 5.5 px wide. The circle with the + inside is the indication that my clone area has been selected.

You will want to use small strokes and go slowly. Also, you will want to change your clone sample as many times as necessary to match the area you are fixing. I have to change several times because the background is a light color with darker lines, and different areas of the photo are different shades of those colors.

While I am at it, I've decided to try to reconstruct the bottom right corner of the photo, which has torn off. For the background, I have chosen to copy an area of the existing background and place it into the missing corner. I used the crop tool and outlined an area, clicking <CTRL> + C (Copy) and then <CTRL> + V (Paste), and then moving each pasted piece into position down the right side of the photo.

The tear on the corner also cut off part of her arm, so, using the clone tool again, I very slowly put the same colors as her blouse into the photo, changing my clone selection where it needed to be lighter or darker. I can always go back and put in more detail, but I'm happy with it at the moment. Any time you are happy with the work you have done up to that point, you should save your work. Remember, if you clone in a color and it looks wrong, you can always use <CTRL> + Z (Undo)

Once you get everything cloned to your satisfaction and save your photo, you can lighten the color a little by choosing Color > Brightness - Contrast. The Color menu has several color tools, but we can start here.

You can slide the sliders in the center, or click on the up & down arrows at the right. I choose the arrows because the sliders are not as easy for me to control and I always go too far. The good thing about the arrows is that you can go up or down one number at a time, and stop when you think you have it right. I ended up setting the brightness up to around 72 and the contrast up to about 22, but your photo may need different settings. When you get what you think you want, click OK.

This doesn't look right yet. One trick you can use is to Undo your editing using <CTRL> + Z and then Redo it using <CTRL> + Y. Toggling back & forth will give you an opportunity to see the original in comparison to your work, and decide what you need to do next. I don't think it's quite sharp enough, so I'm going to set the contrast up a bit.

I like this one, so I saved it. Feel free to keep adjusting your photo until it looks right to you, then save it.

The next thing I'm going to do is rotate my photo. It looks like it was placed in the scanner crooked. Click on the Rotation tool, then click in the center of the photo. You will get a Rotate window, and a grid will appear over your photo. Using the arrow keys will help you rotate your photo until it's correct (mine only needed a few degrees). When you are finished, click OK. You can always open it again if you decide that you need to change it.

Last, I'm going to crop the ragged edges out of it. Using the Rectangle Select tool, draw a rectangle around the photo and the choose Image > Crop to Selection. When you have it rotated and cropped to your liking, save your work. You can always keep the .xcf file to work on it further, but you can also Export your photo to an image file (png, jpg or whatever you want). Remember, if you click "Save", your photo is saved as a Gimp .xcf file. If you want to save it as anything else, you should click "Export...", then choose the format you want.

One other item is the color of the photo. This photo has a sepia tone to it. Some of the tone may be intentional by the original photographer and some may simply be yellowing because of age. You may wish to reduce the sepia tone using Colors > Hue-Saturation. This will change it to more of a black & white photo. Here is the photo with the saturation adjusted by -50.

As always, it is your creation, so you can change it as much or as little as you want. When it looks good to you, and you think it's finished, then you should save it and/or export it.

We've seen that just a few tools in Gimp's toolbox will help us "restore" a photo, or at least repair one. I'm sure that your photo album will look wonderful very soon.

Creating The ebook Version Of The PCLinuxOS Magazine

by YouCanToo

The tools I use:

Kwrite - word processor/text editor

Sigil - a multi-platform WYSIWYG ebook editor. It is designed to edit books in ePub format.

Calibre - a complete e-library solution.

As you may know, I took over laying out the HTML version of the PCLinuxOS Magazine from Rudge. I also create the monthly version of the magazine, in two popular ebook formats: *.epub and *.mobi.

I start the whole process using the articles supplied by the Editor (Parnote) and Assistant Editor (Meemaw).

I begin by copying the information from the shared documents and paste them into a set of templates. Then I go about setting up the general format of the page, IE: paragraphs, syntax, images and music files. When checking the syntax of the documents, I specifically look for code that can conflict with the HTML layout. I also change things like smart quotes used in Google Docs to straight quotes used in HTML. Otherwise, you would see garbage.

Once I have laid out all of the pages as per the PCLinuxOS Magazine article layout list, I upload that information to the server for review and approval from the editors. If they happen to spot errors in the layout or omissions of information, they send me an email telling me about the corrections required. I then make the corrections and re-upload the changed content to the server, where the editors once again go through checking everything. This happens until I get things right. Lucky for me, it doesn't happen a lot!

Once the HTML format of the magazine has been accepted, I can get to work on laying out the ebook version of the magazine.

Once again the ebook layout, like its HTML version of the magazine, uses a template for the basic layout. The content for the ebook comes directly from the magazine's HTML edition. Once again, I do this by cutting and pasting just the basic content into the template. At this point, I am using Kwrite to do most of the work, and normally have two windows open side by side.

There are some changes that are made to the ebook layout that the HTML version does not have or need. These occur in the links page. At this point, I have to convert all <a href="/201309/files/page01.html"> links to references like <a href="#page01">, and make sure there is a matching <a name="page01"> statement within the contents.

After copying and pasting all the pages in their proper place, I save the information and then open the saved file in Sigil.

Once open, I search for the end tag for each page and insert a "split marker."

This marks the end of each page when you are viewing the ebook in your favorite reader. Once this is done, I simple save the file as "ebook-template.html."

Now I open Calibre to finish things up and create the final epub and mobi versions. I add the book "ebook-template.html" file that I save from sigil. Once this has been imported into Calibre, I then edit the metadata of the file.

We now add the cover image and fill out any missing metadata, along with selecting the final ebook format.

I then convert the file. We now click "OK" to start the conversion process. This may take some time depending on the speed of your computer and the size of the file you are converting.

To make the .mobi format, we will repeat the process, except this time will will select the .mobi format to use. Now that we have finished converting the magazine to both the .epub and .mobi formats, the only thing left to do is rename the files and upload them to the proper place on the PCLinuxOS Magazine web server for your viewing enjoyment.

Viewing the finished ebook using the Calibre built in ebook viewer:.

Game Zone: Door Kickers

by daiashi

About The Game

Door Kickers is an innovative real time strategy game that puts you in charge of a SWAT team, and lets you command them during a tactical intervention.

You analyze the situation, plan team routes, choose equipment and breach points and coordinate multiple troopers to reach the hostage room before the bad guys get to press that trigger.

It may sound daunting, and like real world CQB combat, but that's what it intends to be. Most levels can be completed in minutes, and on the fly improvisation works. Achieving the perfect planning, getting the mission done with no false steps ... now that's a skill harder to master.

The game is in Alpha phase, which means that we're still shaping the basic gameplay but YOU can already play it. We have a solid blueprint and know where we're headed, and each day we add new features, new tactical options and sandbox improvements. By contributing with your voice and money now, you can help shape this game into the kickass strategy game that you'll love for years to come!

Although Door Kickers is currently in alpha, it is playable but not finished yet. Users and the press think its already very fun and addictive! And there's a lot of gameplay in 42 handcrafted levels, plus the mission generator, as of Alpha 6.

What can you actually expect? Obviously some features are not yet implemented. There are also small bugs or gameplay tuning issues and you can say the experience is not yet final quality. Regular updates to the game are being released, and will continue throughout 2013, with an estimated release of the final game in Q1 2014. Each update comes with new stuff, new toys, and new levels.

By buying the game in its early access stage, you will also receive the full game upon its release.

Some additional stuff that will be added to the final game:

Larger and multi-story locations

More tactical planning options

Melee combat, arrests and surrendering bad guys

Guard Dogs and other enemy types

Oh yeah, also lots of AI improvements

The folks over at KillHouse Games have just released version 6 of their tactical shooter game. It brings with it more guns, more toys, and more levels.

Being a long time favorite of the Rainbow Six franchise, this game certainly has as much to offer, if not more. True, it's a top down shooter: however, it is not turn based. This means there are no “you shoot, then they shoot” scenarios. You can either draw out a plan similar to a tower defense game, or just go for it and have direct control over each member of your team. Choosing your team from a roster, they can be assigned different equipment, from handguns to flash bangs. You have a choice of a breacher class, an assaulter class, stealth class and a point class as of this writing. The Breacher class has a choice of shotguns and handguns, while the assault class has a choice of assault rifles. The stealth class has silenced weapons, and the point man only has handguns.

Game play includes eliminating all terrorists, rescuing hostages and disarming bombs. This is one of the best tactical shooters I have played in decades, and I have played most of them. There is even a spot on their site offering your house and or face to be used in the game, according to your donation to the development.

While this is a game, it has some tactical training exercises that can and are being used in some local law enforcement agencies.

Along with some graphics that are easy on the eyes, this game is -- wait for it -- DRM free. So there are no hiccups from all that bloated software, as in some titles. Honestly, if you like strategy games or not, I think this is a game worth spending some cash on and giving it a whirl. So tango down and enjoy.

System requirements:

PCLinuxOS and Steam

Hardware:

Minimum:

OS: PCLinuxOS

Processor: Intel Pentium IV 2.6 GHz or equivalent

Memory: 2 GB RAM

Graphics: An OpenGL 2.0 graphics adapter. NOT SUPPORTED: Intel GMA 9xx / Intel HD Graphics or older, ATI Radeon X2500 or older.

Hard Drive: 2 GB available space

Additional Notes: 1366x768 minimum display resolution

Recommended:

OS: PCLinuxOS

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: NVidia Geforce 9xxx / AMD Radeon HD / IntelHD series or better

Hard Drive: 2 GB available space

Additional Notes: A resolution of 1920x1080

About The Company

KillHouse Games is a small Indie studio founded in late 2012, in Bucharest, Romania. They are experienced developers and hardcore gamers, not necessarily in that order. They believe in building games that matter, games that leave both the player and the developer fulfilled. They believe in making games as an engaging experience that enriches your life, not a boring and mindless pastime that wastes your time and ruins your health. In the interest of full disclosure, they admit to being guilty of losing countless nights to playing games, and will probably do so till the end of time. Games, like books, can be THAT good.

Some Gameplay Screenshots

Getting It To Run

Install Steam (if you don't have it installed already), then start it. You will need to create a new account, if you do not already have one. Once you have Steam up and running, go to the store tab. Click on the Linux tab and search for Doorkickers. If you have updated your system, including graphics drivers, you should be good to go.

Screenshot Showcase

Posted by: agmg           running: KDE

Posted by: alex255          running: Mate

Posted by: ff103           running: KDE

Posted by: Ika           running: XFCE

Posted by: jogurtmen           running: KDE

Posted by: kensum           running: KDE

Posted by: luikki           running: KDE

Posted by: Meemaw           running: XFCE

Posted by: oldude           running: KDE

Posted by: OnlyHuman           running: e17