Table of Contents

- From The Chief Editor's Desk

1. How To Take A Screenshot Of An Entire Web Page

2. ms_meme's Nook: Only A Forum

3. The Story Of Meemaw's Laptop

4. PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner

5. Search Privately With These 13 Search Engines

6. PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight: Rhinomick

7. Repo Review: ISO Master

8. AudioTool: An Incredible Music Creation Tool

9. Find The Physical Location Of Any IP Address

10. ms_meme's Nook: Let's Go To The Forum

11. GIMP Tutorial: Exploring G'MIC, Part 2

12. PCLinuxOS Bonus Recipe

13. PCLOS-Radio! How Cool!

14. PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

15. Screenshot Showcase

From The Chief Editor's Desk

Giving thanks. As November rolls around, it's on many Americans' minds. November in the U.S. brings the national Thanksgiving holiday, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month.

But when you think about it, we all -- everyone, everywhere, without regard to their geographical location -- should be giving thanks every day for the important things and people in our lives. Imagine the world we could live in if everyone expressed thanks every day throughout the year. Instead, most of us become so consumed in the tasks of daily living and the pursuit of a "living" that giving thanks takes a distant backseat. Yes, I know it's a very utopian view of the world, but still one that deserves our relentless support and one that should remain one of our primary goals, despite its lofty nature.

It's already a preordained fact of life that each of us is different. Those differences come in as many shapes and forms as there are people who define them. There are many activist groups around the globe who single out those differences and build movements around those differences. But what could the possibilities be if we were to, instead of focusing on the things that make us different, focus instead on the things that we all have in common. Focusing on the differences breeds prejudice, strife and hatred. Focusing on our commonality brings people together for a common purpose and common goals.

I could wax on endlessly with a list of things and people that I am thankful for, but I won't bore you with such a personal list. Those of you who read this column and who know me, you already know what I feel thankful for. There are as many lists of things to be thankful for as there are people making those lists. Regardless of who you are, regardless of what your lot is in life, you have things and people in your life to be thankful for. Instead, I'll keep it short this month, and only ask that you ponder the possibilities that I have raised. Then -- maybe -- we can spread daily thankfulness over our small circle of friends and family. If each of them spreads it in a similar fashion, and each of those people spreads it, and so on, it won't take long to "go viral." It's a huge task, but not one that's impossible. Improbable? Yes, but not impossible.

So, until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity and prosperity. And I'm thankful for the uniqueness each of you bring to our collective group.

How To Take A Screenshot Of An Entire Web Page

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Sometimes, you want (or need) to take a screenshot of an entire web page -- not just what you can see on your screen. There are "add-ons" and browser extensions that allow you to do just that, in fact. But did you know that ability already exists within most of the more common browsers? The problem is, most people don't know how to access the feature.

Another problem exists for Firefox users. With Firefox preparing for a significant switch in how it uses browser extensions (starting with Firefox 57, Firefox is moving from XUL overlay extensions to WebExtensions, as is used by Google Chrome and Opera), Firefox users are going to find many of their favorite browser extensions go away (unless the extension developer chooses to update to the new extension format and rules). Your trusty old extensions simply will not work under the new Firefox.

One of my "always must install" Firefox browser extensions was ScreenGrab!, which was able to capture a complete web page -- not just what you could see on your screen -- with a minimum of effort. It is currently listed as a "legacy" extension, and it remains unclear if the developer will continue its development under the new Firefox system that fully embraces WebExtensions. All Firefox users will find out soon enough, as the new Firefox is scheduled to be released November 14. But that will be another article, after its release.

Engines That Power The Web

There are two primary HTML engines (sometimes referred to as layout engines) that power the web: Gecko and WebKit. The HTML engine translates the data you receive and displays it in your browser window. Let's take a look at each, because that will determine which method you use to take your screenshot of a complete webpage.

The Gecko HTML engine was developed by Mozilla, for Firefox and Thunderbird. As such, you'll typically only find it on Firefox, Waterfox, SeaMonkey and other browsers that depend on the Gecko code from Mozilla.

The WebKit HTML engine began life as KHTML. Yes, that's from the KDE development folks, and KHTML is (as far as I know) still in use by Konqueror. Apple's Safari web browser and versions of Google Chrome prior to version 28 use WebKit. Opera, Flashpeak Slimjet, and Google Chrome from version 28 onward now use the Blink HTML engine, which is a fork of WebKit.

WebKit/Blink Browsers

The instructions are basically the same for all the browsers that use WebKit or Blink. Sometimes, the implementation will vary slightly.

First, in Chrome, select "More Tools > Developer Tools" from the dot/hamburger menu. In Opera, select "Developer > Developer Tools" from the Opera menu.

By default (on my computer, anyway), the developer tools window is pinned to the right side of my browser window. You will probably want to change it so that it is pinned to the bottom of the window, as shown below. You can change the pinning location by selecting the menu option highlighted with the red square in the image below.

In the toolbar of the developer tools, click on the icon "Toggle device toolbar", which will appear near the center of the top of the window, where the web page is displayed. Using the size boxes, set the size you want your screenshot to be. You may be able to get away with setting only the width (which is the way I typically do it), but if not, you will then have to set both the length and width (which is the only way Meemaw reports it working).

Then, select the menu option outlined in green. You will see a menu like that pictured above. Select "Capture full size screenshot" from the menu, and your screen capture of the entire web page will be saved to your computer.

Gecko browsers (Firefox)

In Firefox (and related browsers), it's nearly as easy. First, go to the "Tools" menu and select "Web Developer > Toggle Tools." You should see the developer window open at the bottom of your browser window.

Find the "Settings" button (outlined in red in the image above) at the upper right corner of the developer's tools window. Select it.

Scroll down a bit in the developer's tool window, and look at the left side of the screen for "Available Toolbox Buttons." Look for the "Take a screenshot of the entire page" option, and make sure the checkbox is checked.

Look back over at the developer's tool window's toolbar on the right side of the screen, and you will notice that a new tool has been added. It looks like a camera (outlined in red in the image above). Click it, and Firefox will take a screenshot of your entire web page. On my computer, Firefox saves the image in my /home/user/Downloads directory.

You should only have to add the functionality once in Firefox. The next time you want to take a screenshot of an entire web page, just launch the developer's tools and click on the camera. Just that quickly and easily, you'll have your screenshot of an entire web page.

Summary

These settings are separate from the "new" feature that I've seen in Opera and Firefox lately. Chrome may have it as well, but I don't run Chrome enough to know (Chrome is a resource hog -- CPU cycles and RAM -- on my computers, and takes forever to do anything). Those two browsers have a feature that allows you to make a screen capture of a web page. Well, more accurately, a portion of a web page. Firefox calls theirs "Firefox Screenshots," and the new tool showed up on the far right side of my Firefox toolbar recently. Opera calls theirs "Snapshot," and is available from the Opera menu. Both work pretty much the same. Selecting it displays an image capture overlay that you can then resize to capture pretty much anything within its borders -- including the entire web page, if you so choose.

Granted, taking a screenshot of an entire web page is not something that you will find yourself doing every day. You may not even find yourself doing so even once a month. But, when the time comes that you need to take a screenshot of an entire web page, it's nice to know that you already have the ability, without the use of yet another browser extension or add-on. Those add-ons can be the source of slowing down your web browsing and making your browser run slower, so the more of those you can avoid, the better your web browsing experience will (can) be.

ms_meme's Nook: Only A Forum

MP3                                         OGG

The Story Of Meemaw's Laptop

by Meemaw

Sometimes you just want to kick yourself! Well, maybe it's just me, but I'm sure everyone occasionally does something that makes them feel a little foolish. My moment was towards the end of September, when I noticed that plugging in my laptop was not giving me the expected message "Your battery is charging". Well, it would say that, then immediately change to "You're running on battery power. (Insert dwindling amount of time here) left on your battery."

In exploring why it might be doing that, I discovered (with horror) that the port the charging cord connects to was loose, and I wasn't getting a proper connection. While I have opened a desktop tower on occasion, I've never done the same with a laptop, and they scare me. I immediately made arrangements to take the laptop to the local computer repair shop, in the hopes that it could just be attached again and I'd be in good repair (so I could work on the October issue of the magazine).

Of course, that was not to be. The repair guy told me that he would have to order a new connector, and try to fix it. Since the laptop is already seven years old, I opted to get it back from him (because all my data is on the hard drive) and purchase a new laptop with better specs. I live in a rural area, and Hubby and I had to go to "the city" (a larger city than the one we live in, with many more stores), so we went to some of the tech stores in the city. I had intended to do some pricing, then order it online after I researched some of it a bit, but while we were at one store, Hubby said, "I'm already sick of shopping around. Does this one have everything you want?" (Yes) "Well, then, Merry Christmas!" and promptly marched me up to the checkout with one of them in a box.

While the one I bought may not be powerful enough for you, it's about double what my old one had, so I'm happy.

The old one was a Lenovo G550 with 2G of ram and a dual-core processor. It had a 250G hard drive, which was only about half full. The new one is a Lenovo IdeaPad 320 with 8G of ram and a quad core processor. It also came with a 1TB hard drive, but it had Windows 10 on it. Since I bought it from a retail store, I used Win10 long enough to determine that everything was working properly. My plan was to install PCLinuxOS as quickly as possible.

Like many of us, I imagine, I have a great deal of knowledge about installing PCLinuxOS to an older laptop, but when the recent additions of UEFI and Secure Boot started to show up, I will admit that it scared me. So I enlisted some expert help. One of the older forum members said he would help (and by older, I don't mean age, but the fact that he was already a forum member when I signed on in 2006). He wishes to remain anonymous, so I will just call him Expert.

Being an MLU (Mature Linux User - that means old!), I needed to take notes. I also referenced a bit of this forum thread. We had a couple of big discussions about what to do and how to do it, and he gave me some great instructions. The easiest way for us to communicate was on PCLOS-Talk so we could have immediate conversations. I even sent an image or two when requested.

Since my laptop was brand new with Windows 10 on it, it was sure to have Secure Boot and UEFI enabled. The first thing Expert instructed me to do was go into the BIOS and disable Secure Boot, but leave UEFI enabled. That was a chore in itself! It seems there is a "Novo button" on the side of the laptop you push to get the boot and BIOS screen. It's a tiny hole that looks like a reset button (#9 below). You insert something small (a paper clip worked) and the computer will start up and give you the choice of boot order or BIOS. I chose BIOS to disable Secure Boot.

The user guide for this laptop stated that you couldn't install another operating system without changing UEFI to Legacy Support, but I was told that this wasn't the case. I just needed to disable Secure Boot, so I did. As soon as I did that, I was able to boot a live USB of Ika's excellent Xfce remaster (I could have used a live DVD as well). I tried to make sure everything worked correctly in the live session, even configuring the printer and wifi. The wifi didn't connect, but all the correct information was there, so I was pretty sure that I could get it going after installation.

The next day, I booted up the live USB and opened Pidgin to connect to PCLOS-Talk and ask Expert if he had time. And so it began. The first thing he told me was to open GParted and look at the partitions on the hard drive and see what they were. The boot partition was almost certainly an EFI. This is what I found (I took the screenshot from Windows, but the GParted view was the same):

Notice that the first partition says EFI. I'm not sure that I can explain UEFI, EFI and GPT even now, so I'll get help...

From Wikipedia:

The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. UEFI replaces the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) firmware interface originally present in all IBM PC-compatible personal computers, with most UEFI firmware implementations providing legacy support for BIOS services. UEFI can support remote diagnostics and repair of computers, even with no operating system installed. The user can enter a setup utility by pressing their manufacturers specific setup keys.

UEFI also works with a new partitioning scheme called GUID Partition Table (GPT), which is free from many of the limitations of MBR. In particular, the MBR places limits on the number and size of disk partitions.

UEFI systems can access GPT disks and boot directly from them, which allows Linux to use UEFI boot methods. Booting Linux from GPT disks on UEFI systems involves creation of an EFI system partition (ESP), which contains UEFI applications such as bootloaders, operating system kernels, and utility software.

Since the boot partition was already EFI, Expert said we should leave it that way. He suggested that I use GParted before installing rather than doing it during the install. I should leave the EFI boot partition and delete the rest, then create the setup I want. I should say here that UEFI was created as an improvement over BIOS, so if your new machine has UEFI, don't be tempted to revert to Legacy Support, but use the newer UEFI.

My choice was to go with his recommendations, delete the three partitions and leave the boot partition. I could then separate the remaining hard drive space into the partitions I wanted. You can see my finished work below. Notice the mount points say /media/*** at the moment, because I'm still in the live session. After installation, they will look different.

Finished in GParted before installation

Although I had designed my partitions, I still had some work to do. While I was working on this, one of the important chores was to format the EFI partition, so all the Windows information was gone (and remember, I'm still in a live session, so there is still much left to do.) Also on the EFI partition, the flags at right had to be designated as boot and esp, so the installer would know where the PCLOS bootloader (Grub2 for EFI) should be installed.

Notice the little keys in front of my data partitions? They meant I couldn't change anything right then. At this point I had to reboot the live session (and configure Pidgin again) so I could proceed. When I rebooted, the keys were gone. After the reboot, I was able to change the label on the partition labeled PCLOS, and rename it PCLOS_ROOT, since that is my root partition. My favorite setup is to have root and home separate, in case I have to reinstall (and I have had to, on occasion). That keeps my home fairly safe, and I don't lose it in the event that I have to reinstall.

This drive was also large enough that I could designate a data partition separate from home (named DATA_STORAGE). This keeps me from having to look through a huge amount of files in search of some document or photo. I'm fairly organized, but still don't want to have to search everything. I store most of my magazine files on the storage partition (including a copy of every past issue). You can see the partitions as they are now after installation, with the mount points showing as they should:

Shown in GParted after installation

This took about an hour or so, with Expert's wonderful help. At this point, I double-clicked the "Install PCLinuxOS" icon in the top left corner of the desktop, and I was off and running! The first thing, of course is the disk partitioning, but as I had already done that in GParted, I chose "Use existing partitions". I was still asked if I wanted to format my partitions, and to indicate which ones should be formatted. I chose to format all my data partitions, just to clean them all up. With the brand new system, it didn't take long.

As most of you know from installing PCLinuxOS, this step doesn't take long at all, and is the easiest part of the whole process. As soon as the install is finished, and the bootloader is installed, one simply restarts and then the users and passwords are set up.

Wow! I finally have PCLinuxOS on this computer! (I really tried to like Windows 10, but it's just not for me... not after using PCLinuxOS for eleven years.)

Of course, the first thing I did was configure everything (wireless still didn't work, but I plugged the ethernet cord in) and updated my system from Synaptic. Then I took "inventory" to see what I still needed (Inkscape, Scribus, glabels... several others including some themes and icon themes), and installed them. I'm sure I have forgotten something, but I'll discover it soon, and get it from Synaptic.

First screenshot of the desktop after installation

I did get back to the wifi and discovered (using the terminal command rfkill list all) that it was soft-blocked. So I issued the command rfkill unblock all and it connected immediately! I tried a reboot, but it didn't last. I read this thread and added the command to the file /etc/rc.local (just above the last line). I rebooted, and it worked fine. Wifi starts on boot now.

One of the main things I have brought away from this experience is that I need to back up my data much more often. When I discovered that my battery wasn't charging at all, I was already low on power and I hadn't backed up for a long time, so many of my recent vacation photos were in danger of being lost! External hard drives and USB drives are not very expensive these days, and I had just bought a 64G USB drive for about $30, but I hadn't done anything with it. I was lucky, because I was able to take the hard drive out of my old laptop, purchase a hard drive enclosure for it (for another $30), and copy the needed files over to my new laptop. I'm keeping the old hard drive and enclosure (of course) as a backup. However, you should back up your data often! (I know I will!) If you are ever in the position of having a non-functional computer, your hard drive may not be salvageable like mine was, and you'll lose data.

An additional idea, which was suggested to me, is to make sure your install is configured just the way you want it, and then create a live DVD or live USB. It won't include your data (you are backing it up now, right?), but you will have an updated iso in case you need to install your operating system again. It will include everything you want in your own personalized system. As an extra added bonus, you can take it with you and use it elsewhere, or use it to invite a new friend into the goodness that is PCLinuxOS. I made a live USB using the old laptop a couple of years, so it is outdated now.

All in all, I had a great experience with my switchover! The scariest part was the UEFI/UFI/GPT, and making sure that I did everything correctly, but I had great help with that, and the rest of the install was normal and easy as always. I do have a couple of problems that need to be fixed (my touchpad doesn't work, and I'm getting a weird message at boot), but I'm getting help with that, and I'm sure it will all be in perfect order soon.

I hope you never have to go through an experience like this - at least having it thrust on you suddenly - but if it happens to you, I know you can handle it! Remember, Back. Up. Often!

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner

Tilapia Tomato Basil Fillets

Ingredients

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

2 teaspoons olive oil

4 tilapia fillets, about 1/2 inch thick (1 lb)

3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning

1 can (14.5 oz) organic diced tomatoes, drained

3 tablespoons grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 11x7-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. In shallow dish, combine lemon juice, peel and oil. Dip fillets into lemon mixture turning to coat. Place in baking dish.

2. Sprinkle basil, salt and pepper over fillets. Spoon tomatoes over fillets. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover with foil. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork.

Search Privately With These 13 Search Engines

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Can you remember a time when you could search for things on the internet without worrying about being targeted for advertising or having your search queries tracked? It has been quite some time since that has seemed possible. Internet users across the globe are tiring of the targeted ads that result from their internet search queries. They are also becoming more sophisticated in their desire to preserve their privacy, instead of having their every move (search) tracked across the whole internet. Privacy concerns regarding government and government agency access to our data is also becoming a major concern.

Fortunately, it actually is possible today to do both. There are at least a baker's dozen (13) internet search engines that do not track you (and your search queries), and that do not target you with ads based on your search activity. While both seem to be cornerstones of Google's, Yahoo!'s, and Bing's business models, others seemed to have found a different business model that works well enough to at least keep them in business and pay the bills.

So, let's take a look at these search engines. They are presented here in alphabetical order, so their order of presentation does not reflect any bias towards any particular search engine over another.

Disconnect

While Disconnect uses the services of Google, Yahoo! and Bing, it doesn't collect your IP address. It also doesn't track your online activity or searches. Furthermore, any personal information you do divulge to Disconnect is deleted within 30 days of them receiving a request for your personal information to be deleted.

DuckDuckGo

Performing over 10,000,000 searches a day, DuckDuckGo is one of the better known private search engines. Their very secure -- and private -- search engine never tracks your searches, yet still manages to provide a very good search experience. DuckDuckGo never collects or stores your private and personal information, so there is never anything to delete. Because your search history is never stored or tracked, DuckDuckGo has nothing to sell to advertisers. Thus, there are no targeted ads served up based on your search activity. It also doesn't matter if you are using your browser in private browsing mode or not, it all works the same.

Findx

Based in Denmark, this search engine does not use Google, Yahoo!, or Bing to support its searches. A full service search engine that can be used to find web pages, images, videos and shopping, it draws its results from its own bot that crawls the web. Users can also contribute by rating the search results. Findx does not save your search history, does not track you, and no identifiable information is kept. While they will share your personal data if required by law, since they don't save any identifiable data, it is impossible for Findx to provide any data. Their privacy policy is clearly written, and easy to find.

GigaBlast

Considered one of the best private search engines that keeps you almost entirely hidden from marketers and spammers, GigaBlast is also an open source search engine. The code is freely available on GitHub. GigaBlast maintains its own index of billions of web pages, and it provides real time info without compromising your search or browsing history.

Hulbee

Providing a private search engine that delivers instant search results, without tracking your search or location history, Hulbee provides relevant information. It never analyzes or stores the information from its visitors. All searches are encrypted, to thwart against middleman attacks and data leaks. You can optionally select a region where you want to search in to narrow down your search. You can also select to "clear your activity," to avoid leaving any trace of your visit behind.

Lukol

Even though Lukol delivers customized search results from Google using a proxy server, it preserves your privacy by removing traceable elements from the search query. It is considered one of the best private search engines to protect from online fraudsters and keeping spammers away. It safeguards you from misleading or inappropriate sites, while ensuring full anonymity of your searches.

MetaGer

Based in Germany, MetaGer allows you to make confidential and untraceable searches that leave no footprints behind. It also integrates a proxy server that allows you to open any link anonymously from the search results page, yet keep your IP address hidden from the destination server. Since it never tracks your keywords, third parties and advertisers are denied the ability to serve up targeted ads, and malicious attacks are virtually eliminated. The link above will lead you to the English language search page.

Oscobo

Not allowing any tracking of any type is the name of the game for Oscobo. This anonymous search engine does not store or track user data in any way, nor does it allow any third party hack, mine, or misuse users' data.

Privatelee

While it may not be much to look at, Privatelee provides secure searches. It also provides strict filters, if you need them. Privatelee doesn't keep your search phrases to be used for ads or surveillance. It provides "power search" commands that allow you to configure your search. Based in Italy, it also goes by an alternative name, Qrobe.it.

Qwant

Based in France, Qwant promises to not collect your data. In fact, they don't even put a cookie in your browser. If you want your settings to be remembered, you have the option of opening an anonymous account with Qwant. Otherwise, the search engine remembers nothing. They have a data protection staff member, and their privacy policy is well explained and clearly written. Search results come from crawling the web with its own bot, and may be complemented with Bing search data. You may see advertising, but it is not targeted advertising since Qwant does not track its users.

Startpage

Startpage is probably one of the better known private search engines, especially among PCLinuxOS users. Startpage acts as an intermediary between you and Google. Startpage submits your search query to Google, and then Startpage strips out the tracking information from the Google results before providing them to you. Started in 2006, Startpage never stores any of your private information -- including your IP address -- and they never hand that information over to Google. Based in Europe, they operate in an arena that provides some of the strictest privacy protections anywhere. American companies, on the other hand, can be forced to turn user information over to the government or government agencies (like the NSA). Being in Europe, they are exempt from any U.S. data surveillance requirements. Since they never store any user information, Startpage has never handed over any user information to any government agency. After all, they can't give them what they don't have. Even Edward Snowden has said, "Be careful about what you share with large service providers. There are alternatives, like Startpage, that don't store that information." You can also connect to search results via a proxy link on the Startpage results, which helps insulate you from data collection by the destination site.

WolframAlpha

WolframAlpha is a computational knowledge engine. It provides very accurate answers and offers open knowledge. Its main purpose is to serve knowledge, and it does not track what you search for. It performs dynamic calculations using built-in algorithms, as well as delivering expert knowledge about calculations, people, money and finance, health and medicines, music and movies, and much, much more.

Yippy

With Yippy, you can manually filter the results according to categories, and you can flag any inappropriate results. Yippy will allow you to view cached pages (from other search engines, such as Google), and filter the results by tags like sources, clouds and websites. Since Yippy does not track your search queries, it also does not display targeted ads.

Other tips to help you browse securely and privately

I've collected a few other tips to help preserve your privacy while traveling around the Wild Wild West... er, I mean, the World Wide Web.

Do not accept any of the major search engines cookies. They might use them to identify you later on. If you already have a Google or Bing search engine cookie on your computer, delete them.

Do not sign up for email at the same search engine where you regularly search. Your personal email address can potentially be tied up to your search terms. Using Google and Gmail (both Google products) or Bing and Hotmail (both Microsoft products) together is not a good idea.

Mix up a variety of search engines. This will spread all of your searched terms across different companies and servers. Varying the physical location you search from can also be helpful. You can use a VPN or proxy to change your computer and country IP, and delete all of your search engine cookies before starting a new private searching session.

Summary

Your privacy and your security are completely and solely in your hands and under your control. Using services who collect your data for financial gain (selling ads), who are known to be in cahoots with governments and government agencies hell bent on collecting as much of your private, sensitive data as possible, puts the onus and blame on no one but YOU. This is especially true when you knowingly continue to use certain service providers, even when armed with the knowledge of the service provider's transgressions.

Remember that this has NOTHING to do with whether you have anything to hide or not. This has nothing to do with whether you are doing anything right or wrong, legal or illegal. You have a basic human right to your privacy, regardless what various regimes around the globe would prefer to have you believe. To quote a famous and historical U.S. figure, Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight: Rhinomick

What is your name/username?

My username is Rhinomick (has to do with my musical preferences). My real name is Chrissos Kavounis.

How old are you?

51

Are you married, single?

I have been single for the last 6 years.

How about Kids, Grandkids (names and ages)?

I have an eleven year old sοn.

Do you have pets, what is your favorite?

No pets at all.

Are you retired, still working and if working, what do you do?

Working for about 23 years as a school teacher (primary school). Still too early to think about retirement!

Where do you call home? What is it like? IE: weather, scenery

I have been living for more than 30 years in the island of Crete in Greece. It's a beautiful place, has great beaches, but also high mountains. It's filled with tourists at this time of the year … hot, but not as hot as other places in Greece.

Where did you go to school and what is your education level?

I went to school in Aigio a small greek city, and then finished the pedagogical department of University of Crete in the city of Rethymno.

What kind of things you like doing? hobbies, travel, fishing, camping?

I play electric and acoustic guitar (played for many bands here). Also I play tennis, and of course, "play" with my computers.

Why and when did you start using Linux?

I started using Linux in 2009. Accidently read a book from a magazine about Linux, and loved the philosophy of free software. I installed it side by side with Windows for about a year, and then wiped out Windows.

What specific equipment do you currently use with PCLinuxOS?

For the last two years, I've used PCLinuxOS LXDE on a Compaq Presario CQ60 as my main system. The laptop has dual core CPU and 3GB of RAM.

What would you like to see happen within PCLinuxOS that would make it a better place. What are your feelings?

It is an awesome place to be anyway! The forum is great and I am always finding answers, most of the times just searching. I hope that more people will learn and use PCLinuxOS in the future. It is a great example of how Linux should be for the desktop users: fast and simple to use!

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight is an exclusive, monthly column by YouCanToo, featuring PCLinuxOS forum member. 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 youcantoo, parnote or Meemaw in the PCLinuxOS forum expressing your interest.

Repo Review: ISO Master

by CgBoy

This month we'll be taking a look at ISO Master, an application in the repository that you can use to edit, extract, and create ISO files. It's a fairly simple program, so this article isn't very long.

ISO Master has a pretty straightforward user interface. There are two file browsers, the top one showing the files and directories on your computer, and the bottom one showing the files and directories in the ISO. Therefore you can add files to the ISO by selecting them in the top file browser and clicking the "Add" button. And to extract files from an ISO, just select them in the bottom file browser and click "Extract." Pretty simple.

The ISO Master website says that the program can open .ISO files, most .NRG files, and some single track .MDF files. But it can only save as .ISO files. If you right-click on a file in the bottom file browser, you can rename it, view and edit it, and change the permissions of the file.

If you open the file menu and then click on "Properties," you can view and edit some information about the ISO, such as the creation time of the ISO, the volume name, and the publisher. ISO Master also allows you to view and edit the boot record information of the ISO, but to tell you the truth, I'm not entirely sure what that actually means.

Summary

So, is ISO Master any good? I didn't have any problems using it. But then again, I don't really have much use for an ISO editor. I think the main useful feature for me would be being able to extract ISO files. But really, a file archiving program like Ark can already do that.

AudioTool: An Incredible Music Creation Tool

by Agent Smith (Alessandro Ebersol)

I've written about Audiosauna, a very interesting cloud music creation program, one that is powerful and free. However, compared to Audiotool, it is like a kid's cycle compared with a missile. Yes, Audiotool is all that, a powerful tool for music creation combined with a publication/distribution platform for works created with it.

What is Audiotool?

Audiotool (formerly Hobnox) is a German content distribution/publication website specializing in music. Most content on the website was associated with electronic music (due to its free browser-based modular-structured digital audio workstation under the same name, similar to Reason ReBirth), fashion and indie culture. Users could create and publish their music tracks onto the site using Creative Commons licenses or All Rights Reserved. In 2010, Hobnox was taken down because of financial issues. However, Audiotool is still available for use.

The concept of Audiotool

Some of Audiotool's modules.

Audiotool works on the concept of modules, and these modules act like Lego pieces. They can be freely connected, in order to achieve the desired effects.

And it all happens in the desktop area of the main program, where cables can be manually dragged from input to output, reflecting the workflow of early electronic musicians. This approach offers complete freedom when it comes to route, split or merge the different synth outputs.

Audiotool Modules

As I mentioned, Audiotool works on a modular concept, where all devices can be arranged to produce a different sound, with professional features, that leave nothing to desire to more expensive software (like Fruit Loops and others). And these modules are as follows:

Instruments:

Heisenberg

The Heisenberg is audiotools sonic wishing well. With its four oscillators and its massive filters section, this Phase Modulation synthesizer can offer everything from deep bass to high pitched whistle sounds. Use its LFOs (low frequency oscillators) capabilities to be synced via note values and you will even get this rhythmic background pattern you have been searching for all the time.

Pulverisateur

The pulverisateur is a polyphonic synthesizer. It is a very powerful device and can be used to make a wide variety of different sounds, from floating melodies of light to dark and heavy bass lines. The pulvérisateur includes three oscillators, a noise generator, an audio input channel and filter amplitude envelope and envelope controls, as well as a filter unit and LFO. Unlike some of the other devices, pulvérisateur does not include its own sequencer. This means that the pulvérisateur should be sequenced using a Note Track through the timeline, or using another device such as Tonematrix as sequencer.

Machiniste

The Machinste is essentially a sampler player with a clear focus on being a drum machine. The editor of integrated patterns and a powerful filter section are ideal to fit your drum samples and get started with your groove. But because it is up to you to load its samples, it also makes for a good FX board.

Beatbox 8

The Beatbox 8 offers the same well known sounds as the actual hardware behavior it mimics. This classical pattern based rhythm composer still offers a solid foundation to get your beat going. While you can still program it with the integrated pattern editor, thanks to its software implementation you can also create a note track in your arrangement for editing it like a MIDI instrument.

Beatbox 9

Beatbox 9 offers the same advantages related to the implementation of the software, as the beatbox 8, but uses its own controls and unique sounds.

Although similar to the Beatbox 8, the Beatbox 9 can be considered more realistic, given that some of the instruments are sampled beats of real drums, and the device has an overall sound much rounder and clearer sound than the Beatbox 8.

Bassline

The Bassline is another synthesizer inspired by real classic hardware. Unlike its name suggests it is best known for its driving hook lines, which will come to life when you tweak them with the integrated filter section. After all these years, it still drives people crazy on the dance floor.

Mixing & Routing

Master Output

The master output is the final destination of your stereo mixed signal. It allows you to level the global output, and offers its own optional Limiter.

Centroid

The centroid is the standard mixer of the Audiotool application. It allows 16 stereo channels to be mixed at the same time providing each channel its own EQ section. And with 2-channel stereo Aux channels, the Centroid offers the opportunity to bring consistent effects to your mix.

Audiotrack

The Audiotrack device offers the possibility of working with samples directly in your arrangement. It creates a stereo track that can be panned and levelled before being sent to the mixer.

Splitter / Merger

The Splitter and Merger are actually the same thing, but in different directions.While the Splitter powers three outputs with your stereo input, the Merger allows three stereo inputs to be merged to one.

Crossfader

The crossfader resembles a classic DJ mixer. As a typical DJ Mixer, a powerful EQ section allows you to isolate those annoying frequencies in your signal and get rid of them with a simple button press.

MiniMixer

The Minimixer is a minimum submixer. Its 4 stereo channels can be panned and levelled, and even be fed into the stereo AUX channel, but does not offer any kind of equalization as Centroid.

Effects:

Rasselblock

The Rasselbock is in essence a re-sampler with seven built-in effects. What makes the Rasselbock different is that has five separate channel outputs (not including the master output). This makes it possible to route effect pedals through the device and trigger them in real-time by drawing blocks onto the sequencing grid. You can decide how big the blocks are before you add them to the sequencing grid by toggling through the different snapping options.

Graphic Equalizer

The Graphical EQ empowers you to fine tune your frequencies with two full range bands for the mix. With the special stereo spread feature, it also qualifies itself as decent effects panel.

Autofilter

With its four modes, autofilter can be adjusted directly to the frequency range you want it to operate. And the Sidechain input allows the Autofilter to be triggered by a different input signal.

Stomp boxes

The Stomp Box Collection offers a variety of effects all layed out like known stomp boxes. From side chainable Compressor to Reverb and Delay you get a set of 13 different effects to tweak your sound to your likings.

Exciter

The exciter adds brightness to the input signal. The exciter does this by splitting the input signal into two bands, and then, by adding slight amounts of distortion to the higher frequencies before merging the two bands back together again.

Stereo Enhancer

The Stereo Enhancer will help you spreading your sound in the stereo field. Added right before The Output Box as a master effect, it supports you in widening your mix.

So, with all these components, you can assemble a complex and complete DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), as pictured below:

Verdict

Audiotool is a powerful tool for creating music, and in its latest versions, supports the use of a MIDI keyboard connected to the computer. The only requirement is that the MIDI keyboard will only work with Google Chrome browser. Other than that, the program works in any browser with Flash Player installed.

You can create from simple melodies to very elaborated songs. I browsed the Audiotool site and its section of music is incredible. Listening to the music created with it, one can not believe they were made on it, such is the quality of the final product (it sounds like it was made at some Fruit Loop's clone).

However, it is not an easy software to learn. It has a steep learning curve, since it is a program/platform quite complex and complete. So do not think that you will come out making music as soon as you access the site.

But despite the difficulties, there are many tutorials around the internet, from the Audiotool site to YouTube.

For best results, a large monitor (1920x1080 resolution) is advised, since the modules in the desktop area of the program might make it difficult to see what's going on. Hence, a big monitor will help.

Site: https://www.audiotool.com

Music: https://www.audiotool.com/browse/tracks/popular/month/

Tutorials: https://www.audiotool.com/help/tutorials

Find The Physical Location Of Any IP Address

by phorneker

I recently updated my website, which is hosted on GoDaddy.com. GoDaddy provides some useful tools to maintain domains, websites, e-mail servers, and web applications. (The IP address of my website and its home directory are blocked out as a security measure.)

Among those tools is a visitors log containing a list of IP addresses, the URL being visited, and the browser used. I then scrolled the page down to the Metrics section.

As there is only one domain, I clicked on the magnifying glass to get to the log.

Now, I am at the log.

(Inappropriate material has been blocked out in this screenshot.)

While looking through the visitors log, I found some strange URLs showing up in the log. Thankfully, GoDaddy logged the IP addresses of the visitors, and through a Google search, I found a tool to find out the location of these IP addresses.

Spiceworks, a community for IT professionals, provides such a utility that shows the actual location of the IP address, along with a map of where the IP address is located.

https://community.spiceworks.com/tools/ip-lookup/

Here, all you need to do is to enter a IP address or hostname of the machine in question. For example, I have a URL containing inappropriate material (blocked out in the visitors log) that has a IP address of 207.46.13.95. I enter that IP address into the IP lookup page at SpiceWorks and click on Lookup IP Address.

At least we know that a bot has been programmed to look for inappropriate material (depending on what Microsoft defines as inappropriate. Who knows?) on the Web.

Looking down the log, many of the referral URLs link to pages on the Forum. This is acceptable and to be expected. There are two other URLs that tend to support the theory mainstream media has regarding the Russian "hacks" on the past US election.

Entering this IP address into the tool gives us this:

As we can see, this IP address is actually in the Ukraine. I found out that this IP is linked to a machine still running an ancient web browser under Windows XP! The same visitor has a referral with a URL of:

Upon investigating this URL, turns out to be a computer sales and repair shop in the Ukraine. So there is no problem there, and all is well. I had other IPs coming from as far away as South Africa and Australia, none of which pose a threat of any kind, so again, all is well.

You can never be too careful about security of your digital assets (including your PCLinuxOS installation). It also helps to have your website hosted with a reliable company that looks out for its customers ... and never trust the mainstream media.

ms_meme's Nook: Let's Go To The Forum

MP3                                                   OGG

GIMP Tutorial: Exploring G'MIC, Part 2

by Meemaw

I hope you had fun exploring G'MIC a couple of months ago. We are going to do a few more this month, to illustrate how versatile G'MIC really is. If you haven't tried it, I urge you to do so at least once. There are literally dozens of effects located there.

Let's get started!

The first thing I want to do is give you a bit of a warning. NOTE - the bigger your photo is, the longer G'MIC will take. Some of the G'MIC commands take more time to accomplish as there are several commands in the filter. I'm telling you this because a complicated filter will slow down an older/slow computer, and you should be prepared for it.

Our first filter is called Artistic > Dream Smoothing. I took this photo of a grave I saw on one of my 4-wheeler rides this summer (believe it or not, there are a few graves in the national forest, along one of the riding trails):

After applying the filter, we get this result:

In an article from November, 2014, Khadis showed us how to create puzzle pieces in Inkscape. In GIMP, we can use the G'MIC filter Arrays & Tiles > Puzzle to create one from a favorite photo. Using the following scene, I applied the filter.

I could print this out and actually make a jigsaw puzzle with it:

Another filter, Artistic > Brushify looks a lot like the first filter above, only not so bright:

Artistic > Graphic Novel kind of sharpens up everything and makes it brighter than the original:

Another effect is Black & White > Pencil Portrait which is kind of like making a pencil drawing. You can choose the color, but sepia is the default. Warning: this one takes a few minutes.

This next one is something you might use to edit your photo. Details > Sharpen (texture) seems to help sharpen it, and it might be useful if you have a photo that's just a bit fuzzy.

Then, if you want to have a bit of fun, we can open the Rendering section and play! Start with a new project with a white background. I started with a white square. These would be useful if you need some sort of crazy background, or even wanted to create a zany wallpaper.

Rendering > Circle Art is kind of fun (this one takes a minute or so). Changing some of the settings can alter the nice symmetrical appearance I have going here.

Rendering > Neon Lightning is a bit different, but still fun. You can change your color settings here and have it green, orange or red if you want:

I'm sure there are well over one hundred filters in G'MIC! Some of our friends over at GIMP Scripts have added more as well. Your creativity is only limited by how willing you are to experiment. Just as a reminder, your results may vary greatly from mine. The more you alter the settings in each filter, the more different your photo will look. I stayed with the defaults most of the time. I'm sure you can make something truly amazing.

PCLinuxOS Bonus Recipe

Skillet Nacho Chili

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)

1 can (19 oz) Vegetable Classics hearty tomato soup

1 can (15 to 16 oz) spicy chili beans in sauce, undrained

1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chiles, undrained

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)

2 cups corn chips

STEPS:

1. Spray 12-inch skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Cook beef and onion in skillet 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until beef is brown and onion is tender; drain.

2. Stir soup, chili beans, green chiles and corn into beef mixture. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce is slightly thickened and corn is cooked.

3. Sprinkle each serving with cheese. Serve with corn chips.

TIPS:

Ground turkey can be used in place of the ground beef in this recipe.

Garnish this dinnertime treat with chopped fresh cilantro for an extra south-of-the-border taste.

PCLOS-Radio! How Cool!

by Meemaw

YouCanToo continually amazes me! Just when I think he's covered our every need, he gives us something new. Just last month, he introduced PCLOS-Radio. It's an amazing addition to our PCLOS-Cloud accounts.

To access it, we need only to open PCLOS-Cloud in our web browser, then click the menu at the top left of the screen which initially says Files. (You need to have a PCLOS-Cloud account. If you don't have one, you can sign up for one here.)

Click on the arrow and a menu will open. At the bottom there is a radio icon.

The radio section will open and you can choose your station.

Some of the radio stations offered include 2ROCK, BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4, .977 Classic Rock, Deutschlandfunk, Beatles Radio, Antyradio, Europe1, Audiophile Classical...just to name a few. There are many stations from around the world which have whatever you are looking for. The longer you browse, the more radio station are in the list!

Needless to say, this has caused many of our members great delight! The following compliments are just a few received from YouCanToo's posting of the instructions.

Thank you, YCT. Small steps but our distro is undoubtedly first class because of users like yourself. Archie

Thank you so much David. As others have said , it is people like you that make this PCLinuxOS great. Your efforts are much appreciated. joechimp

Very nice. Thanks for including this. Only problem is deciding what to listen to first.

Choosing something jazzy!     ms_meme

WOW!

The best distro just keeps getting better.

Thanks David!!! W3ie

Thanks, YouCanToo, for everything you do!!!!

PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

Scrappler

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Sudoku

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Crossword

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

WordFind

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Cryptograms

From the computer of ms_meme:

Everyday I work the daily crosswords and cryptograms in the paper. I like the cryptograms as they are wise/silly sayings of famous people.

The magazine article about secure passwords made me think of the cryptograms. We have people in the forum who are always posting famous/wise/silly sayings.

I have made a few into cryptograms, and hope our readers will enjoy them.

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Screenshot Showcase

Posted by YouCanToo, October 1, 2017, running KDE

Posted by Tuxlink, October 2, 2017, running KDE

Posted by tbschommer, October 19, 2017, running KDE

Posted by parnote, October 19, 2017, running Xfce

Posted by meemaw, October 2, 2017, running Xfce

Posted by luikki, October 3, 2017, running KDE

Posted by HERTZ, October 7, 2017, running Mate

Posted by francesco_bat, October 10, 2017, running icewm

Posted by DeBass, October 10, 2017, running KDE

Posted by aguila, October 7, 2017, running KDE