Table of Contents

- From The Chief Editor's Desk

1. Paul's 2017 Holiday Gift Guide

2. Meemaw's 2017 Holiday Gift Guide

3. YouCanToo's 2017 Holiday Gift Guide

4. phorneker's 2017 Holiday Gift Guide

5. ms_meme's Nook: Bonnes Vacances C'est Si Bon

6. PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Beer Battered Grilled Cheese Sandwich

7. Google Cloud Print Capable Printer Using Raspberry Pi

8. Repo Review: Play It Slowly

9. Inkscape Tutorial: Creating A Pattern

10. GOG's Gems: Two Worlds - Epic Edition

11. Take Better Pictures With Your Smartphone

12. Is PCLinuxOS Really Safe In Today's Cyberworld?

13. ms_meme's Nook: Tex Is Good For You

14. PCLinuxOS Bonus Recipe Corner: Chicken Curry Salad

15. PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight: Reziac

16. PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

17. Screenshot Showcase

From The Chief Editor's Desk

It doesn't seem like enough time has elapsed for the holidays to be coming around again, but they literally are just right around the corner. I know we've been busy buying the kids their holiday gifts, as well as gifts for each other. We have had to pare down our holiday gift lists this year, mostly focusing on the kids. The grandparents have asked us to not buy them anything for the holidays, preferring to focus on the kids and just having everyone around to share some precious time during the holiday season.

This month features our annual holiday gift guide, highlighting things that we think might make good gifts for those on your holiday gift list. You'll find gift ideas from me, Meemaw, YouCanToo, and phorneker. All totalled, there are 34 gift ideas from four different perspectives. You are certain to find something fitting for those on your gift list (or for yourself) that fits into your budget. Item costs on the lists range from under $20 to around $500.

Since my wife and I both work in healthcare, one of us always seems to have to work on the holidays. Sickness never takes a holiday, so neither does the hospital staff. My wife had to work on Thanksgiving this year. In their ever greedier ways, many retailers around our parts open with "Black Friday" sales on Thanksgiving evening (even though Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of every November). Personally, I will NEVER go to a "Black Friday" sale. I'd rather spend more and have to fight less to get the items I'm after. Fighting the crowds just isn't my cup of tea. Plus, it would probably trigger my temper to explosive levels, so it's probably best if I avoid the annual "circus" of Black Friday and Thanksgiving sales. Look for video on YouTube, you'll see what I mean. Just search for "2017 Black Friday" and watch how ridiculous some people behave just to save $50 ... or less. My idea of holiday shopping for the past 10+ years is to order everything online, and sit back and wait for UPS to deliver the stuff to my doorstep.

So, having spotted some items she wanted for the kids in a Wal-Mart sale that started on Thanksgiving evening, she managed to leave work about 45 minutes early so she could stop by a local Wal-Mart store on her way home. Wal-Mart was opening at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, which should allow my wife to get there in plenty of time, leaving work at 5:30 p.m. Now the parking lot for this particular Wal-Mart is acres in size. She spent over 30 minutes trying to just find a parking spot, because every single one was filled. She ended up parking in a neighboring restaurant's parking lot, and walking to Wal-Mart from there.

Upon arrival to Wal-Mart, she was shocked to find everyone behaving in a well-mannered way. No one was getting riled and ridiculous. Everyone was actually being rather courteous to one another. Well, almost everyone. One lady was verbally "venting" as she navigated through the sea of people. There always has to be at least one. But my wife didn't witness anyone fighting over merchandise, like you commonly see in the videos on YouTube or on the nightly news.

Amazingly, she found everything that was in the advertisement that she went there to get. Plus, she found a couple of other items on sale for really good prices for Lexi. And, she also got the grocery items she needed to pick up. When she called me from her cell phone that she was in line to check out, I asked her where she was in the store. She told me, "by the baby diapers." At that time, I told her that she'll spend at least 45 minutes in line, if not an hour. The baby diapers are at the BACK. OF. THE. STORE.

I have to give props to the people working at Wal-Mart. This obviously wasn't their first rodeo. They had a system in place, and it worked. Each "line" (queue for my UK friends) was merely a "feeder" line. At the front of the line was a Wal-Mart associate. Their job was to assign checkout registers to the people in the feeder line as they became available. Each associate was charged with directing people to between four and six checkout registers. As such, my wife spent less than 20 minutes in a "feeder line" that went all the way to the back of the store, before being able to pay for her items and hike back to her car ... parked in a neighboring restaurant's parking lot.

I truly thought we wouldn't see "mom" before 9 p.m., and I was making plans to feed the kids so they wouldn't have to wait that long for dinner. But, because she got through the checkout line at Wal-Mart so quickly, she was home before 8 p.m., and we were able to eat together, as a family.

I hate the "commercialization" of the holiday season as much as anyone. Many people get caught up on the sales and "excitement" of finding a bargain. Lost amongst all of the commercialization and bargains is the true meaning of the holiday season. For me, I tend to focus more on the spirit of goodwill, peace, harmony, and charity that typically follow the holiday season, much more so than the various religious aspects that are inextricably applied to the season.

As such, I hope each of you find a deeper meaning in the holiday season than just a bargain or good sale. I hope each of you are a force to spread goodwill, peace, harmony and charity to everyone around you.

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

Paul's 2017 Holiday Gift Guide

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

It's time, once again, for the annual Holiday Gift Guide from us at the PCLinuxOS Magazine. We pick out items that we think would make nice gifts for those on our holiday gift lists, as well as items we think we wouldn't mind ourselves as gifts.

You are certain to find something of interest, since the choices come from me, Meemaw, YouCanToo, and phorneker. As in previous years, all prices listed are in U.S. dollars, and availability may be restricted in some areas.

So, let's get started.

Star Wars R2-D2 Coffee Press       $39.99

This may be the droid you're looking for. With the latest installment in the continuing Star Wars saga hitting theaters 10 days before Christmas, Star Wars gifts may be on a lot of people's holiday wish list. With this coffee press, you pour in your coffee grounds, add boiling water, wait a few minutes for the coffee to brew, then press the plunger on top. R2-D2 will graciously make up to 32 ounces (0.95 liters) of piping hot coffee. The housing is made from BPA-free plastic, the body is made from glass, and the filter is made from stainless steel. This is sure to tantalize even the most die-hard coffee drinking Star Wars fan on your holiday shopping list, and provide many years of service.

Star Wars Death Star Popcorn Maker       $49.99

What's watching your Star Wars movie collection (or any other movies, for that matter) without popcorn? Now, you can pop up your favorite movietime treat with this hot air popcorn popper modeled after the (in)famous Star Wars Death Star. The top becomes the bowl for the popped popcorn, while the (play along with me here) shielded exhaust port dispenses the freshly popped popcorn. Since it's an air popper, you don't have to use any oil or butter, making for a healthier treat or snack. Simply dispense the uncooked popcorn kernels into the air popper with the included measuring scoop, and you'll be enjoying popcorn in no time at all, thanks to the 1100 watts hot air being generated. Your 1/2 cup of uncooked popcorn kernels will yield about 8 cups of delicious popcorn. Top with butter, salt, or other flavorings (although doing so may negate the health benefits of popping your popcorn without oil or butter).

2018 The Last Jedi Star Wars Wall Calendar       $14.99

With the end of the year literally right around the corner, everyone could use a calendar for the new year. And what could be better than this 16 month calendar (September thru December 2017 are included) for the Star Wars fan on your holiday gift list. Now, they can not only re-live some of their favorite movie moments from "The Last Jedi," but they can also keep track of how many days until the release of the new Star Wars movie next year, about Han Solo (currently in production, and which will be directed by Ron Howard).

Exclusive Doctor Who Gallifreyan Symbols Blanket       $19.99

Of course, not everyone is a Star Wars fan. Maybe you have a Dr. Who fan on your holiday gift list. If so, here's something they are sure to love: the ThinkGeek Exclusive Doctor Who Gallifreyan Symbols Blanket. It is 50" wide by 60" long (127 cm x 152.4 cm), and made of super soft polyester. Blanket can be washed in cold water, and tumble dried on low (or line dried).

Star Trek 20 oz Ceramic Heat Change Travel Mug       $16.99

Sit back in your Captain's chair and drink your coffee from this 20 ounce mug. When you pour hot liquid (your coffee) into it, the image of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 shows up on the side of the cup. As you drink your coffee and the level drops in your cup, the image disappears. This is an ideal gift for any Trekker on your holiday gift list.

Solarbotics Perpetual Motion Marble Kit       $34.99

While not quite perpetual motion, it appears to come close. Easily fool your friends who may not be as science savvy. This kit allows you to build the device, which is activated either by solar cells (which also work with indoor lighting) or a hand crank. If you use sunlight, a marble is dropped down the ramp every minute. Under indoor lighting, it'll operate a bit slower. You'll need a soldering iron, glue, and some other unspecified basic tools to assemble this kit, along with the knowledge and skill of how to use them.

The Walking Dead: The Official Cookbook & Survival Guide       $29.99

After a long day of scavenging for food and supplies, avoiding walkers, and just trying to survive, you will want to come home to a nice dinner. Fans of AMC's The Walking Dead will appreciate this cookbook, chock full of recipes such as Carl's chocolate pudding, Carol's cookies, and Hershel's spaghetti. The book is also packed with survival tips, especially good for avoiding being eaten by zombies, or for just surviving day to day when society breaks down. Those survival tips include foraging for food and supplies, hunting wild game, and outdoor cooking. Any fan of The Walking Dead will treasure this holiday gift.

Kid's Basic PCLinuxOS T-Shirt       $16.99

Have your kids help spread the word about the best Linux around ... PCLinuxOS! These quality Hanes tagless short-sleeve crew-neck t-shirts are 100% pre-shrunk cotton and are soft & durable for a comfortable feel. The fit is unisex standard designed for both girls & boys. Machine wash cold inside out with like colors and tumble dry low for easy and convenient care. Available in kids sizes extra-small to extra-large.

PCLinuxOS Baseball Cap       $18.99

Made with unstructured 100% cotton, an adjustable hook/loop tape closure that adjusts from 20" to 24", a crown measuring 3.25" this baseball cap is a sure fit. The brim is low sitting & the inside includes a sweat band to help wick sweat away. Available in white or khaki (pictured).

The GorillaBox       $435.00

The GorillaBox is the ChimpBox's "big brother." If you're looking for a slightly larger computer than the ChimpBox, take a look at the GorillaBox. The GorillaBox features an AMD A8-5545 Quad core 1.7G, turbo 2.7G Processor, 16GB DDR3 PC12800 Installed (32 GB Max) RAM, a 1TB SSHD Hard Drive, a CD/DVD optical drive (readable format(s): CD-R, CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R Dual Layer; writable format(s): CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R Dual Layer, DVD+RW), a 4-slot card reader (reads CF, SD, MMC, SM, and Sony MS media), 2 USB 2.0 ports, and 2 USB 3.0 ports. This thing is feature packed, and might be just what you are looking for ... especially if you have need for PCIe expansion ports. Click on the link above to view a full list of this powerhouse of a computer's specifications. Plus, it comes with PCLinuxOS KDE 5 installed and ready to go, right out of the box.

There you have it ... 10 holiday gift ideas that should appeal to quite a few people on your holiday gift list. Be sure to check out the holiday gift ideas from Meemaw, YouCanToo and phorneker, elsewhere in this issue. I'm sure that between all of the holiday gift ideas, you will be able to find something for everyone on your holiday gift list.

Regardless of your views, the winter holidays are almost universally observed by a vast majority of people around the globe. So we -- those of us at The PCLinuxOS Magazine -- wish you and your family a joyous and happy holiday season.

Meemaw's 2017 Holiday Gift Guide

by Meemaw

I've been so busy this year, December has snuck up on me! Time for holiday shopping again!

Three of my go-to sites are Amazon, Bits & Pieces and LLBean. You can find many interesting things at each of those sites. We'll start with Amazon.

Gravity Maze       $29.99

This is basically a science game. The object is to build a structure that takes your marble from a starting cube to a target cube. You are given a card with a specific color pattern on it, that you must build. The card also includes an addition to your maze, which must be constructed so that the marble goes in at the starting point, falls through or out of several other cubes on its journey to a certain ending point. Although it probably starts with easy patterns, I'm sure it gets harder later.

This is one of a set of five games. The others are Circuit Maze, Rush Hour, Roller Coaster Challenge and Laser Maze, each of which concentrate on Math, Engineering or Science, for age 8 or above.

Lever Gear Pro-Clip       $32.00

This is a credit card sized tool kit which also happens to be a money clip. The clip comes off if you need one of the tools under it. It looks pretty handy for small jobs, and could be used in place of a wallet.

One of my other favorite sites is Bits and Pieces. They always have some really unique items.

Saturn Wind Spinner       $16.99

I love wind chimes, but some people don't like the noise. Instead of wind chimes, this wind spinner will light up at night and spin around, showing seven different colors as it spins. It has a solar panel to charge up the lights and a carabiner to hang it.

1200 piece Grandfather Clock Jigsaw Puzzle       $19.99

Bits and Pieces has several really awesome jigsaw puzzles. This one is a 1,200-piece grandfather clock measuring 17" x 54". It comes with a battery operated clock mechanism, so it can be put together and used.

Water Lily Serenity Fountain       $34.99

Some people like fountains, and this one is interesting. Water is pumped to the top bloom, then spills over into the other two before falling down into the pot. If you like fountains, this is a pretty one.

Four Colorful Brainteasers       $12.99

Here are four brainteaser puzzles, each measuring 2" in diameter. The object is to take each apart and put it back together (without too much frustration!)

Retro Robot Mug       $8.99

This is a 12 oz. ceramic coffee mug. It has a cute retro design that someone on your list might love.

Another site I visit is LLBean. They have loads of outdoor clothing and sports supplies, along with some different activity sets.

Slackers Night Riderz Kids' Zip Line       $199.95

I've done a couple of ziplines, and thoroughly enjoyed them! This is a set for ages 8 - 14 that you can set up in your backyard. The set contains a 100' steel zipline cable, a steel trolley with rubber handles and an LED-lit seat for night rides. It will hold up to 200 pounds.

Yaylabs Softshell Ice Cream Ball       $39.95

This is an ice cream freezer! There are two chambers inside, one for the ice cream mix and one for the ice & salt. Fill them and seal them up and then play with the ball for 30 minutes. When you open it up, the ice cream will be soft-frozen, ready to enjoy. There is a quart size and a pint size (pictured here). The quart size is $49.99, but last time I looked they were out of stock.

2-Gallon Crock       $74.00

My mother-in-law used to make pickles in crocks like this! LL Bean has this one available, and you can just use it as an accent in your home. However, it is glazed and fired correctly to make pickles in, if you so desire.

Be sure to check out the holiday gift ideas from parnote, YouCanToo and phorneker, elsewhere in this issue. I hope you find something awesome for someone on your list!

Have a wonderful holiday season!

YouCanToo's 2017 Holiday Gift Guide

by YouCanToo

We have made our list, and we have checked it twice. We hope you like them, because they are all so nice!

Progressive International GMMC-68 Microwavable S'Mores Maker       $10.56

This bad-boy cooks two s'mores in 30 seconds, because who needs a campfire to enjoy some chocolate marshmallowy goodness?

KettlePizza Deluxe USA Pizza Oven Kit for Kettle Grills - Includes Stone and Metal Peel       $198.95

Turn your charcoal grill into a wood-fired pizza oven with a KettlePizza Pizza Oven Kit. KettlePizza works with all kettle grills including Weber and others. The basic KettlePizza kit includes a laser machined stainless steel riser sleeve, a high-temp thermometer, wood handles with stainless hardware and a 14 inch pro pizza pan. Deluxe versions include a hand-made, USA-manufactured baking stone and your choice of wood or aluminum pizza peel. Users can assemble and install the riser sleeve in minutes,

Light-Up EQ Bluetooth Speaker       $34.95

Back in your high school or college days did you ever turn off the lights in your room, throw on some house music or Phish and load up a screensaver to WinAmp on your PC? You could watch as the colorful lasers moved to the music and bounced to the beat. It's like the Pink Floyd laser light show without having to leave your room. And also possibly without the Pink Floyd, depending on your musical tastes.

The Light-Up EQ Bluetooth® Speaker brings that same joy forward to today. This tower includes two Bluetooth speakers and one light column, reminiscent of ST:TNG's warp core. Watch as the LEDs illuminate the 10 acrylic layers, acting as a visual equalizer based on the music you're playing.

MP Select Mini 3D Printer V2, Black       $219.99

Action figures, chess pieces, knickknacks and more; a 3D printer is the gift that keeps on giving -- er, printing. Give someone the power to create whatever they want

TP-Link AC1750 Wi-Fi Range Extender w/ Gigabit Ethernet Port       $89.99

Eliminate dead spots in rooms with weak Wi-Fi coverage with the RE450. Its three powerful antennas deliver rapid, blazing-fast dual band AC1750 Wi-Fi across your home for 4K streaming and gaming in any room. Easy to install and move.

GNARBOX - Portable Backup & Editing System for Any Camera, 128GB       $299.99       (256GB - $399.99)

GNARBOX is a portable backup & editing system for any camera, allowing you to backup, edit and share your footage anywhere via phone app. USB3.0, microSD and SD ports allow you to connect any camera to quickly access and manage your content. Connect an external SD/HD for additional space. GNARBOX is rugged - shockproof, dustproof and ready for your adventure. Never lose your best moments again. GNARBOX has a 4000mAh battery, so you can use it for 4-6 hours on a single charge.

Albott 70 Inch Digital SLR Camera Aluminum Travel Portable Tripod Monopod with Carry Bag       $44.99

Featuring a center column that converts to a 5-section monopod, the Albott Tripod brings enhanced flexibility by enabling you to quickly switch between tripod and monopod shooting without missing a beat. It is equipped with a 3-way head that supports loads up to 8.8 lb and is suitable for both photo and video applications. The head provides pan and tilt control, as well as a horizontally tilting camera platform for switching to 90° portrait orientation. For easy camera attachment and removal, a quick-release plate with a standard 1/4"-20 screw and video register pin is included.

Deyard K020 Waterproof Memory Card Case Shockproof Memory Card Carrying Case Protector Box: 24 Slots for 12 SDHC / SDXC Cards and 12 Micro SD Cards       $9.99

High quality, waterproof and robust memory cards protection box made of polycarbonate.

Spirit/Bubble Level for Camera - 3 Axis       $5.21

Take better pictures when using a tripod by making sure your camera is level. This 3-Axis Spirit/Bubble Level makes it easy to line up great shots. Simply put it into the camera's hot shoe/flash mount and check the three bubbles. All lined up? Shoot! Fits most standard flash mounts on SLR or DSLR cameras. ]

Switchmate Home Lighting       $129.99 (2 pack toggle with SWM power outlet)

The world's first home lighting device that instantly snaps over existing light switches to bring lighting controls right to your phone. Works with Toggle or rocker light switches and power outlets. Sold individually $39.99 and $49.99 Works with iPhone or Android phone.

Be sure to check out the holiday gift ideas from Meemaw, parnote and phorneker, elsewhere in this issue.

Happy Holidays to all.

phorneker's 2017 Holiday Gift Guide

by phorneker

The holidays are fast approaching. As early as late August, retailers began hiring for the holiday season, and now have holiday merchandise already in the stores. So, it would not be unreasonable to come up with a holiday gift guide for this year.

One thing that is trending is retrogaming. Earlier this year, I wrote some articles on retrocomputing with Virtualbox. Atari is still alive as a company, and is about to release the Ataribox, a hybrid video gaming system and home computer powered by Linux and (as expected) contains emulators such as Hatari and Stella (both of which are in the PCLinuxOS repository) to emulate the classic Atari systems of the day.

I have always been a fan of Atari systems, as these machines were well known for their graphics and sound capabilities. Programming graphics on the Atari 400/800 was facilitated with graphics commands included with Atari BASIC. Atari DOS was easy to navigate as it was menu based.

Contrast that with the Apple II series machines that I worked with at the time. DOS commands can be embedded in Applesoft BASIC programs by prepending the command inside quotes with a Control-D. For example,

PRINT CHR$(4);"CATALOG"

Is the equivalent of the ls command in a terminal window. Commands such as HGR and HGR2 turn on the high resolution graphics mode (which by today's standards is anything but!). The difference between these two commands is that HGR adds four lines of text to the bottom of the screen, at the same time clipping the graphics from that same area on the screen.

Of course that machine will not be out until next year.

Gift Idea #1: The Chimpbox

But why wait for the Ataribox, when you can purchase a Chimpbox for about the same price as the projected price for the Ataribox, and then add the Atari emulation (mentioned) from the PCLinuxOS repository today.

Prices start at $325.00 USD for 4GB of RAM and 500GB SSD drive for local storage.

Also available is the GorillaBox for $435.00 USD for 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD drive for local storage. This is a better value, especially with the current offerings available at OfficeMax Office Depot (the combined name of the two merged chains), Wal-Mart, Best Buy or Staples, and you get PCLinuxOS already installed, so you do not need to mess around with the UEFI just to get the installation DVD to boot.

Gift Idea #2: Retro Gaming Consoles

Retro gaming consoles are not just a nostalgia trip, but proof that anything old can be new again.

Atari Flashback (in versions 7 and 8), Sega Genesis Flashback, Intellivision Flashback and Colecovision Flashback have been on the market for the past few years. Joining this list is a miniature version of the SuperNintendo Flashback.

Not all of these are going to be available in stores, so if your local discount retailer (including Dollar General) or department store does not have the console you want, you can always shop the retailer's websites or Amazon, or you can simply do a web search for the product you are looking for.

Average price for these consoles is between $30.00 and $50.00 each.

If you have old Sega Genesis cartridges, those games should be playable on the new consoles as that console has a slot for the cartridges.

Many of these consoles were designed to work with older TVs through composite video outputs. Newer versions of these consoles are starting to include HDMI output, especially with the SuperNintendo Flashback.

Gift Idea #3: For the cats...

If you have cats, you know they love to scratch on most anything. You could buy a wooden scratching post for them ... or you could buy them the Mona Lisa.

This could be the world's most expensive scratching post ($222.75 USD at the time of writing), but it is still a bargain compared to replacing the real thing (if it could be done). This version of the Mona Lisa is available at:

- Purrfect Design

- Studio Erik Stehmann (The artist's online store)

- Fletcher of London

- Lord Lou

Gift Idea #4: RFID Wallet

If you know somebody who carries around a set of credit and debit cards in his/her wallet, give him/her this accessory to prevent would-be crackers from electronically stealing card numbers.

Prices for this gift start at about $5.00 and vary as widely as the product is available, from Wal-Mart to Nordstroms.

Be sure to check out the holiday gift ideas from parnote, YouCanToo and Meemaw, elsewhere in this issue.

ms_meme's Nook: Bonnes Vacances C'est Si Bon

OGG                                                   MP3

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Beer Battered Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Beer Battered Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Ingredients

6 slices hickory-smoked bacon

4 slices rustic white bread

2 slices provolone cheese (3/4 oz each)

2 slices Cheddar cheese (3/4 oz each)

1 egg

3/4 cup pale ale beer

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder

1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. In 12-inch nonstick skillet, cook bacon until crisp; drain on paper towel.

2. On 2 of the bread slices, place 1 slice provolone cheese, 3 slices bacon and 1 slice Cheddar cheese on each. Top with remaining bread slices.

3. Heat griddle or skillet over medium-high heat or to 375°F. In shallow bowl, beat egg, beer, flour and chili powder with fork until smooth. Dip each sandwich into batter, giving it a few seconds on each side to absorb the batter; drain excess batter back into bowl.

4. Melt butter on hot griddle. Place sandwiches on griddle. Cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Tips:

If you need to serve a crowd, this recipe can be doubled or tripled. Prepare all of the sandwiches first and then dip in the beer batter and cook them all at once on a griddle.

Google Cloud Print Capable Printer Using Raspberry Pi

by kolosus

Our objective is to make a standard printer into a cloud print capable printer, without breaking the bank. This will allow us to be able to print to the printer from any program within PCLinuxOS.

Background

I have a trusty laser printer (Brother HL-2270DW). The printer itself is pretty good and reliable. It has the duplex feature, is wifi capable and ink is pretty cheap. I usually buy one (aftermarket) toner and after it is empty I refill it 1-2 times. It hasn't given up on me yet.

I print a bunch, both office work and personal. I am not always close to my printer when I want to print to it. I have used a Google Cloud print capable printer before at a different job and it was awesome. Print from anywhere convenience. Go back to the printer and it is printed. Sadly, that job is no more, and with it went my access to the printer. So I looked into getting my own cloud aware printer, but they are not so popular: few models exist and the cost is prohibitive.

I learned that if I had a box with Chrome on the same network as the printer then I could make the plain printer "cloud aware". The problem with that is that running a box 24/7 brings costs into question. Even if you use a netbook, it will consume roughly about $130/year in power. Looking around the internet I came upon the idea of using a Raspberry Pi. Cost of running a Raspberry Pi is roughly about $5/year. Both estimates will vary on your wattage costs, etc.

Thus, my project was born. While it is possible to have a full on desktop on a Raspberry Pi with a toned down version of Chrome, I wanted to get this done with the minimum of fuss.

Here are the tools used in this project.

- Printer

- Raspberry Pi (while I used a pi 0 w, any iteration will work)

- Computer on the same network that can be used to SSH into the Pi.

A few different setups can be used: a wired network printer, a USB printer that's wired to the Raspberry, or a Raspberry that's wired into the network.

First, we get a fresh Rasbian Stretch image directly from their site.

Two different versions exist. The one with a desktop and the one without. If you want a full on desktop, then you'll need a 8GB tf card. I wanted a very sparse installation with nothing extra on it. I used the lite version. The lite version, with all the programs needed for this project,will fit comfortably into a 2GB flash card.

Once the download is complete, unpack it. Then use the following command to write the image to the card. Please make sure the device you are writing to isn't mounted when writing to it using dd. You may have to be root to do this so start with su.

dd bs=4M if=/path/to/image/2017-xx-xx-raspbian-stretch-lite.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 conv=fsync

There is no visual indication that the image is being written, so just give it a bit. Lite took about five minutes for me. A full desktop image will take significantly longer since it is about three times the size.

A word of warning. Bad things can happen with the misuse of dd. Please make sure you're writing to the correct device!

After the image is written, remove the transflash card from the computer and reinsert it. You will notice that there are two partitions. A boot partition and another unnamed partition. At the root of the boot partition create two text files.

- ssh

- wpa_supplicant.conf

The file named ssh will be left blank. The file wpa_supplicant.conf should have the following text in it.

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev

network={

ssid="YOUR_NETWORK_NAME"

psk="YOUR_PASSWORD"

key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

}

Don't forget to replace YOUR_NETWORK_NAME for your wifi network's name and YOUR_PASSWORD for your network's password. If leaving a plain text file with your network password on the Raspberry Pi gives you sleepless nights, then the password can be configured as a pre-encrypted 32 byte hexadecimal number. You can use the wpa_passphrase utility to generate an encrypted PSK. This takes the SSID and the password, and generates the encrypted PSK. With the example from above, you can generate the PSK with wpa_passphrase "YOUR_NETWORK_NAME" "YOUR_PASSWORD". The wpa_passphrase CLI tool is built into PCLinuxOS.

If you're using a wired Pi for this, then the wpa_supplicant.conf file is not needed and you can skip the whole section. It is only for connecting to wifi networks.

At this point, the Raspberry Pi's "hard drive" is all set up, and you can put the flash card into the Raspberry and supply power to it. After about a minute or two, the Raspberry should boot up. I didn't use a usb keyboard, mouse or a monitor on my raspberry. So I'm going to ssh into the Raspberry remotely. If you have a keyboard, mouse and monitor, then you can do the next steps directly on the Raspberry.

The first order of business would be to find out the network IP of the Raspberry Pi. I simply logged into my router and looked up the list of connected devices. If you have a monitor hooked up to it, then you will see "My IP is xxx.xxx.x.x" in the CLI interface. If you have the full desktop, then you can hover over the wifi icon on the taskbar, and the IP will show up.

From another computer connected to the same network, issue the command ssh pi@<raspberry IP>.

It will ask for the Raspberry's password. Since this is the initial boot up and the password hasn't been changed yet, the default password is "raspberry." Once inside you can issue the following commands in succession.

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

sudo apt-get install cloudprint cloudprint-service

sudo adduser pi lpadmin

sudo reboot

Let me explain what's going on. First we update the Pi. Then we upgrade. Then we install the cloudprint and cloudprint-service. This will bring on a host of other packages that need to be installed, such as CUPS, printer drivers, etc. After all that is done, we add the user "pi" to the group "lpadmin," and after that, we reboot.

Fresh back from rebooting the Pi, we issue the command: sudo nano /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

This will open up the file cupsd.conf and let us edit it. Change the line

Listen Localhost:631

to

Listen 631

In the sections <Location>, <Location /admin> and <Location /admin/conf> add the line Allow All

You can alternatively, instead of allowing all, allow only IPs from inside the network access the CUPS tools by not putting in "Allow All" and instead putting in Allow 10.0.0.*. Or, 192.168.0.* or 192.168.1.*, whatever the case may be.

At this point, CUPS is set up, and access to CUPS can be done from any browser within the network. Simply pull up a browser on any computer that has access to the network the Pi is on, open the location *<yourpi's IP>:631*, and you'll be greeted with the CUPS landing page.

Add your desired printer to CUPS through this portal. I will skip this part. I'll assume that you were able to add the printer successfully to CUPS and printed a test page. Done? Great! Now let's add this printer to your Google account. </0>

Issue the command sudo cps-auth

After a few seconds, you'll be directed to visit a webpage. Open the page on your web browser, log into your Google account if you're not in it already, and you'll be asked if you want to add the printer to your list of Google cloud printers.

That's all there is to it! You've successfully added the printer to GCP (Google Cloud Print) and you should be able to print to it from anywhere with Internet access!

For security, cleanup, completeness you should issue the following commands:

sudo apt-get clean

passwd

sudo reboot

The first line is to clean up the /var/cache/apt/archives area so that the *.deb files are deleted, saving space on the card if you need it. The second will change your default password to something else. This is for security so that others cannot get into your Raspberry and do unwanted stuff. Then a reboot (or halt) for a clean start (or to relocate the Raspberry since setup is complete).

After setting up the Raspberry to be my print server, I still have a bunch of space on my 2GB card.

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/root 1.8G 1.2G 487M 72% /

At this point you should be able to print to the printer from Chrome from any computer. Print some random webpage to test things out.

If you want, you can choose to share the printers that is available to you with other Google users. The steps to share a printer are as follows.

1. Go to www.google.com/cloudprint

2. Log in using your Google account, if prompted.

3. Select Printers in the left panel.

4. Select your printer.

5. Click Share.

6. Type the Google account(s) of other user(s) in the text box, then click Share.

7. Tell the other users to:

1. Log in to Google Cloud Print (www.google.com/cloudprint) using their Google Account, and

2. Click Accept, to accept the sharing invitation.

3. They can now use the shared printer.

Now the objective is to add the printer into CUPS on your main workhorse computer. My workhorse happens to be a laptop that travels with me all over the place.

On the computer that you want to add the cloud printer to, launch Synaptic and install python-httplib2, available in the official repo. It is a needed dependency for the next step. For this, we'll use a program made by Niftiest Software. They can be found at http://www.niftiestsoftware.com/ (NOTE: We should repeat the well-known warning about installing software from outside the official repo. Outside software can create problems with your install. Proceed at your own risk.)

First, become root. We will have to install software into your installation and add a printer to CUPS. Both of these need root access. Issue the three commands in succession.

rpm --import

https://niftyrepo.niftiestsoftware.com/rpm/RPM-GPG-KEY-niftiestsoftware rpm -i

https://niftyrepo.niftiestsoftware.com/cups-cloud-print/packages/cupscloudprint-20160502-1.noarch.rpm

/usr/share/cloudprint-cups/setupcloudprint.py

The last command will start up the process of authenticating your Google account and adding the printers to your computer's list of printers. The dialogue will look something like the following...

Name for this user account ( eg something@gmail.com )? @gmail.com

Open this URL, grant access to CUPS Cloud Print, then provide the code displayed :

https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth?scope=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.googleapis.com%2Fauth%2Fcloudprint&redirect_uri=uand_so_on

When you go to the address provided, you will be given another code from Google. If you are not signed into a Google account, you'll be asked to sign in, or if multiple accounts are signed in, you'll be asked to pick the account you want to use. Copy/paste the code that you get back from Google after signing into your account back into your terminal window.

Example code from Google: 4/EbUy5C36c0eB3L3AUgzYeEAWUwcG0Ps_xand_so_on

At this point, you'll be asked if you want to add other Google accounts, and if you want to add all the printers that are on this account. Cloud print is a very convenient service, but there are a few things to note. Using the Raspberry Pi is not the fastest solution, certainly not as fast as printing directly from a computer to your printer. Most of the time, a little slow down is not really a factor when the alternative is not to be able to print until you get home. The print job is also going through multiple servers, so please do not send/print sensitive information using this method.

Repo Review: Play It Slowly

by CgBoy

This month I'll review a program in the repository that's designed to help you learn songs. It's called Play It Slowly. It allows you to play audio and video files at different pitches and speeds, and loop over parts of them, to make it easier to learn those songs. This will just be a short review, though.

The interface is pretty simple. At the top of the window is the file selection button. Below that is the track slider and elapsed time readout. Then there are the audio speed and pitch controls. The speed control slider will change the speed of the music without changing the pitch. There are two pitch control sliders. One changes the pitch in semitones, and the other changes the pitch in cents, the latter being for more precise control.

Then there are two more sliders to set the start and end times of the music. Below that you'll find a play button, a rewind button, a volume control slider, and a "Save As" button, which allows you to save the music as a .WAV file. Play It slowly can play plenty of audio formats, and even videos too.

Summary

So, what do you think of Play it Slowly? I think it could be pretty useful to people trying to learn songs. I am not a singer, though, so I don't have much use for it. But for those who are, I recommend you try Play it Slowly. Now, why don't you go use it to learn some Christmas carols or other holiday tunes?

Inkscape Tutorial: Creating A Pattern

by Meemaw

I found this tutorial a while back and thought it looked fun. We'll be making a wreath for the holidays. By using repeating objects as markers, we can create a wreath out of any shape. We're going to make a pattern first.

To start out, using the rectangle tool, draw a green square. If you hold down <CTRL> and drag, it will be a perfect square. We will use the square as a background to our pattern to make sure there are no blank spaces in our finished product.

Choose the pencil tool and set these settings: Mode: Bezier Path, Smoothing: 50, Shape: Triangle in. Now create several short lines/triangles. You can make several different lengths, then select them and duplicate them (<CTRL> + D) to get as many as you think you might need. Make them different shades of green to give your wreath some variety.

Group them over the square until you have them arranged the way you want them. Select them all and Group them (<CTRL> + G). Now choose Object > Objects to Marker to make this a marker. Don't be shocked, as it will take your pattern and put it in markers, and it won't show on your page any more.

This will be a simple circular wreath, so draw a perfect circle with the ellipse tool by holding down <CTRL> and dragging your mouse. Also, choose Path > Object to Path to convert your circle to nodes. You will see 4 nodes.

With your circle selected, choose Fill and Stroke and click the Stroke style tab. From here, you should assign your custom object as a Start Marker and Mid Marker.

To add to your wreath, select your circle with the Nodes tool and click the Add nodes button or double-click on your circle in the location you want a node. Every node you add will add more of the pattern, so just keep adding nodes until you get your desired results. If your pattern doesn't look big enough (or too big), adjust your stroke size up or down.

We need to add some finishing touches. Many wreaths have berries or decorative balls on them. All you need is a red circle, a white ellipse for a light reflection and a dark green circle for the shadow. You can also make some yellow or blue ones for color variety.

Many wreaths also have a bow on them. You may have to draw this by hand , but I'm sure it will be wonderful. Remember to add a drop shadow from Filters > Shadow and Glows to give your creation some depth.

Mine is finished, and I'm sure yours is beautiful. Happy Holidays!

GOG's Gems: Two Worlds - Epic Edition

by Alessandro Ebersol (Agent Smith)

The world changed when Aziraal, the god of war, was killed in the great battle long ago. The hordes of Orcs lost their divine leader and were forced to retire to the southern highlands. Now, thousands of years later, the location of Aziraal's tomb is still unknown, well hidden by other gods who did not dare to entrust the secret to mere mortals.

However, now a fragile peace between the civilized races and the hordes is at stake. When the mining expedition of dwarves discovered an ancient temple dedicated to an unnamed deity, a silent war began, and soon will ignite the flames that will lead to the holy crusade of the Orcs. However, the real danger lies elsewhere. A powerful force working silently, weaving a secret plot of fear and destruction. In the end, only one of the two worlds will remain.

So begins the epic adventure of Two Worlds - Epic Edition, a little known gem from GOG. Let's take a look at it this month.

Two Worlds - The Game

The game begins 300 years after the banishment of Aziraal, a brother and a sister are thrown into the conflict that rages between the Orcs and the free world. Kyra, the younger sister of the hero, suddenly disappears under mysterious circumstances.

It turns out that you, the hero, belong to a family of chosen ones, which many centuries ago helped defeat Aziraal, and is the guardian (your family) of the relic that banished him from the world of men.

For all practical purposes, you are a hunter and an unscrupulous mercenary, but the search for your sister takes you back to your roots.

Earlier in your epic adventure, a mercenary task takes you to the far north. But, you're also following a mysterious lead at the same time, the first you have received since the disappearance of Kyra. You're shocked to learn, during a meeting with emissaries from an obscure Brotherhood, that the kidnappers of your sister, are right after your family's relic. If there is any truth that your family is made of chosens or not, others obviously believe it. If you want to see Kyra again, you will have to act quickly.

You're the only person able to unravel the secrets of the grave of a dead god, and all the forces in the land want your help to harness his (the dead god's) power.

Features:

Extraordinary landscapes: a fantasy world where every inhabitant lives a separate dynamic life with realistic daily routines. Your actions determine the fate of the land ravaged by the conflict, Antaloor.

Liberating freedom: Two Worlds is not for those who do not like to make decisions, because often you will have to choose one side or the other. A smart reputation system and network for guilds and secret societies ensures that.

Knight, thief, mage or alchemist: spectacular fights, dynamically choreographed by foot or on horseback. An absorbing alchemy system for creating individual potions and power-ups provides diversification. If this is not enough, try the sophisticated magic system.

Intuitive interface and individual development attributes: you can experiment with all the character attributes, and develop your skills as and when you want. An elaborate inventory system ensures that you always have a clear overview, no matter how hot the action is.

Massive multiplayer included: bustling towns are the trading centers and meeting points for several hundred players. Self-created characters fight gripping PvsP duels in Arena mode, or solve a series of exciting quests as allies.

Upgraded game engine: the new 1.6 engine update is now included!

Gameplay

The game takes place in a three-dimensional fantasy landscape in real time. As such, it was compared with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. (Although, in certain situations the hero appears dressed as Geralt of Rivia, the character from the Witcher series).

The Skills' tree

As in Oblivion and Gothic 3, the gameplay is not linear. The player is free to explore the game world, accepting side quests at will. However, there is a central mission, centered on the rescue of the protagonist's sister, who is being held hostage by mysterious forces trying to open the tomb of Aziraal, the god of fire.

The game does not use fixed character classes like other RPG games. As the character gains experience and levels, it is possible to invest Attribute Points earned on any attribute, leading to a variety of playing styles and approaches.

Fight on foot

The world in which the game takes place is called Antaloor. While traveling through the game, the player will find new teleporters, caves, villages and other places, and these trips are recorded at the minimap in the game. The teleporters allow quick travel between explored regions. Horses are available for the player as well as other animals and creatures, although several critics bemoan the clumsy controls when riding in.

The beautiful landscapes of Antaloor

Death in the game leads to resurrection in a near sanctuary; these shrines are spread throughout the game world and also replenish health when the player reaches a sufficient proximity. However, the maximum level of difficulty of the game features a permanent death feature.

There are various creatures in Two Worlds. Unlike other CRPGs with wilderness areas, the enemies do not respawn, although most of the areas are densely populated.

In addition to the main quest, there is not a rigid storyline. The player can choose to complete the quests of his/her liking and explore at will. The player can choose to act as a righteous hero and be honored among the population, or to be diabolically evil and feared by the reputation gained by completing certain missions. However, the chosen path will have consequences on the outcome of the game.

Review

Upon its release, the game was highly criticized. Nothing was spared: From horrible voice acting to badly made cutscenes, critics did not forgive it. The game got 50.32% score in the site Game Rankings, 65 points on Metacritic and 5.1 in the TeamXbox site.

But ... Is it that bad? Not really.

Let us analyze its points, both strong and weak.

Graphics

One of the many dungeons

The graphics are beautiful, and one of the most visually beautiful fantasy worlds I've ever seen. It still feels more like a real place, thanks to the distant range of vision, which renders objects and landscapes far from the player. The game world is huge and crowded with cities, people, creatures, beautiful hidden spots, side quests and herbs to choose from. Although not doing anything revolutionary or new, everything has been designed so carefully and joins so well that, as a whole, it can compete with the best ones of the genre.

Sound

Well, here we have to make a distinction between the music, soundtrack and sound effects and voice acting.

The voice acting is ... disappointing. Yes, sometimes it is wooden and emotionless, sometimes over the top and too dramatic. There are even times that sounds robotic and lifeless. The reason is that the voice acting for Two Worlds was actually made by the team at Reality Pump, who are nonprofessional actors. And, it appears, in the clumsy way that the dialogues occur.

Now the music is another story. The official soundtrack of Two Worlds was released on a CD on October 14, 2007 by TopWare. It was composed and arranged by Harold Faltermeyer (yes, the one from "Beverly Hills Cop" and many other hit films). The music was played by the musicians of the MGM Grand Orchestra and contained a mixture of Gothic, classical and rock. The title song "Play the Game" was sung by Kyra and included several remix versions.

Verdict

This game is very inexpensive, on sale at GoG. It is a game that has been compared to the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Gothic, and even Witcher. It has great graphics, uneven voice acting, laughable at times, but phenomenal music. It also has a multiplayer mode, in which several players can play co-op or PVP, the immense scenery of the game and this version from GoG comes with two addons: Tainted Blood and Curse of Souls. With a 4.3 GB size, it is a gigantic open world RPG, which will leave you entertained for months. Of course, don't get in a huge hurry to finish the main quest. Rather, explore the world of Antaloor, for a more complete and satisfying experience.

Credits:

Developer: Reality Pump

Publisher: TopWare Interactive, SouthPeak Games

Designer: Mirosław Dymek

Composer: Harold Faltermeyer

URL GoG: https://www.gog.com/game/two_worlds

Price: US $ 0.99

Size: 4.3 GB Requirements : Nvidia video Card compatible with shader 3.0 and Wine with support for Win32 applications.

For this holiday season, it makes a great gift option. I hope you like it. Happy Holidays!

Take Better Pictures With Your Smartphone

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Cell phones -- particularly, smartphones -- have had a tremendous impact on our daily lives. Jumping from the realm of sci-fi (think Star Trek communicator) to what has become a necessary part of daily existence for many, many individuals, they allow us to stay connected, and not just as a phone. Today's smartphones are little portable computers that connect us to social media, on-demand videos, web searches, text messaging, and a whole host of other services that have permeated modern life. In fact, today's smartphones are more powerful than the computer that helped land the lunar module on the surface of the moon in 1969.

Not only do smartphones keep us connected, they allow us to document our daily lives in ways never imagined even 20 years ago. This is largely due to the high quality, high resolution cameras that come on smartphones today. For many users, their smartphones are their camera for documenting life's events. In fact, one of the "battlegrounds" among smartphone makers in recent years has been who can put out a smartphone with the best camera. The end users are the ones who end up being the ultimate winner in that contest.

I have to admit that I use the high quality/high resolution camera on my smartphone more than I ever thought I would ... and probably more than I should. Yes, I am a former award winning newspaper photographer, and I do prefer to use a "real" camera for most things. But there are times when the camera on the smartphone is just more convenient (just whip it out of my pocket and take the picture), more close at hand (sometimes the camera is at home ... and I'm not), and of sufficient quality that I find myself using it to take pictures of the kids and other family events. Plus, I never have to worry about "losing" any pictures, since all of the photos on my smartphone are automatically backed up to Google Photos, without even one ounce of intervention from me.

The cameras on our smartphones, thanks to their increasing quality, are becoming everyman's cameras. For many, their smartphone's camera is the ONLY camera they have. So let's take a look on some ways to help improve the quality of images we shoot with our smartphones.

Composition

Just because you're using a smartphone's camera, that doesn't free you from needing to conform to the rules of basic image composition. The most basic of those rules of composition is called the "Rule of Thirds." You could have the most awesome of awesome subject matter in the frame, and if it isn't properly composed, it will turn that photo into a ho-hum one. Following the rules of good composition will impart that awesomeness of your subject to those who view your image. In fact, following the rules of good composition, you can take a ho-hum subject and turn it into an awesome photo.

Imagine a Tic-Tac-Toe grid on your smartphone's screen, dividing the image into nine equally sized squares. Notice in the graphic above that I've highlighted the points where those lines intersect. Placing the primary subject of your photo at one of those intersecting points will improve composition. If you're shooting landscapes, place the horizon along either the top or bottom line, depending on if you're trying/wanting to emphasize the hardscape below or the sky above.

If you want to learn more about the Rule of Thirds, check out this awesome explanation.

Paint With Light!

Ever since photography was invented, it has always been about capturing the way light falls on a subject. A poorly lit subject will nearly always result in a bad photo. Sometimes, poor light actually helps tell a story in a photo, but that is usually the exception, and not the rule. Smartphone cameras work best in natural light, and tend to struggle in poor light. Using the built-in flash always creates harsh lighting and shadows, so avoid its use unless it's just absolutely necessary.

Photographers refer to the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset as the "golden hours." This is typically the best light for shooting outdoors, and tends to produce striking images, like the one above by Fir0002 taken at Swifts Creek, Australia (photo used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence, via WikiCommons). If you have to shoot pictures at/near high noon, find some open shade. It will help soften the harsh shadows.

Most importantly, pay attention to where your light is coming from, as well as how the shadows are falling across your subject. Those shadows will be accentuated in your photo. You can also use reflectors to bounce/reflect light into those shadows, softening them considerably. Use silver or white reflectors, if you choose to go that route. If you're taking portrait-types of photos, find a north facing window and place your subject very near that window. The light from a north facing window is more diffuse, and it will produce softer shadows and not-so-blown-out highlights, softening the overall image.

Watch Your Backgrounds

It's not enough to pay attention to just the Rule of Thirds and lighting. You must also pay attention to your backgrounds. Everything else could be perfect, but if you have overhead wires going through your subject's head, or a telephone pole or tree branch coming out of your subject's head, or if your subject is missing feet or is cut off at the knees (cardinal rule we learned in photojournalism is to NEVER allow the image edge to be at a joint, if you can avoid it), your image just suffered irreparable damage. Plus, clean backgrounds detract less from the subject of your image.

Find THE Angle

Nearly everyone takes a photograph of Mount Rushmore straight on. Since nearly everyone else has seen Mount Rushmore from that very same angle, your photo also shot straight on will not stand out, and will be forgotten in less time than it took for you to find it in your phone's photo gallery ... no matter how good you think it is.

Look for a unique angle, but be aware of a couple of caveats. First, the line between unique and just plain weird is oftentimes a very thin line. Be careful to not cross it, or you'll detract from what you're trying to accomplish (which should be to convey your image in a way that's memorable and flattering). Second, don't allow your pursuit of that "unique angle" to potentially place you in harm's way. Who's going to see the image (or care about seeing the image) if you end up seriously injured or killed because you did something risky/foolish trying to obtain that unique angle? No photo is worth injury or death, regardless of the equipment used to shoot it.

When taking pictures of people, children, pets and animals, get on their level. How many times have you seen six foot tall adults shooting pictures of three foot tall children without bending or kneeling to get down on the child's level? More often than not, they end up with nice pictures ... of the top of the child's head. The child's facial expressions are most often obliterated from view, which is what will define a great child photo versus a ho-hum (or bad) child photo. I have been reminded of this many times when taking photos of my own children. The photo I envision in my head isn't looking like what's actually appearing on my smartphone's screen ... until I get down on my children's level. It's very easy to get caught up in capturing the "moment," so much so that it's easy to forget to get down on the child's level.

It didn't take me long to find an example on my own smartphone. Take the image above of Laura, Lexi and Ryan carving pumpkins into Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns. Even though I was kneeling in the corner, the image would have been better if I had been able to get down even lower, shooting my image more from Lexi and Ryan's perspective plane.

Similarly, if you're short (vertically challenged?), and you're taking photos of someone significantly taller than you, you have two choices. First, you can have the taller person sit down (if possible). Your second choice is to stand on something so that you're not looking up your subject's nostrils (well, that's what it appears like when shooting a picture from down below), and get more on their level.

The closer you are to your subject, the more you will want to be/get on their level. Distance has a way of leveling the playing field, so to speak, but it also sacrifices that up-close and personal feeling of a much closer photo. This is one area where "real" cameras with telephoto and zoom lenses surpass the abilities of a smartphone camera, allowing you to capture that up-close and personal image despite the distance.

Smart Photographers Use Smart Tools

Typically, to take a photo on a smartphone, you tap the screen. However, tapping on the screen can alter or change your composition, and introduce vibration, shake and other movement. But, did you know that on most of today's smartphones, you can also take a photo by hitting/tapping the volume up or down keys on the side of the phone while in the camera function? If you have headphones that plug into the headphone jack of your phone, the volume controls of those headphones can also be used to take a photo. Thus, your headphones become a sort of remote shutter release. Couple this with tripod mounts that are available for many smartphones today, and you just gained a larger amount of control over your smartphone's camera.

About those "add-on" lenses. Don't bother, for the most part. Most of them are poorly designed and/or poorly made, and will produce less than professional results. They are usually more trouble than they are worth, and can often just produce blurry pictures, due to their poor construction and design. The old maxim "a fool and his money are soon parted" truly applies here. Save your money, and just concentrate on composing a good shot with good lighting, instead.

Avoid Digital Zoom

If at all possible, avoid using the digital zoom feature found on many smartphone cameras. Image quality always suffers when you use digital zoom. Here's what's really happening when you use digital zoom: the central part of the image from the imaging chip is expanded or enlarged to fill your screen/photo frame, simulating optical zoom. This will cause you to lose image resolution, because there's less data to create your photo. You're only using a portion of the data from the imaging chip, versus all of the chip's capabilities. You will be much better off capturing your image while using all of the imaging chip's capabilities (shooting your photo full frame, without digital zoom), then cropping and enlarging in a post-processing tool, such as GIMP, if you still feel the need.

Summary

Actually, as I finished up writing this article, I realized that everything here doesn't apply only to using your smartphone camera. Everything here also applies to using any other camera. Yes, even the "real" cameras you might have. So, it doesn't matter if you have the latest, greatest dSLR camera, a point and shoot camera, or just your smartphone camera.

Keep these aforementioned tips in mind, and go out and take some truly awesome photos. No matter what your camera source, anyone can take great photos by just following some of the "rules" of good photography.

Is PCLinuxOS Really Safe In Today's Cyberworld?

by phorneker

What a difference 20 years makes, which is an eternity in the world of technology.

Back then, the computing world was all about the Windows Desktop, and much of the hardware being developed for the consumer market centered around Windows, with little consideration given to Macintosh systems of the time (which was itself just as closed as Windows was, and still is today), let alone alternatives such as IBM's OS/2, FreeBSD, and Linux distributions of that day. (Remember, PCLinuxOS did not exist in 1998.)

The Fall 1998 Comdex event changed all of that.

It was at that event where Linux was introduced into the mainstream computing world, emphasizing the same stability, security, and simplicity we now take for granted.

That same event also introduced the idea of distributing software (and its updates) through the Internet rather than supplying the same on CD-ROMs or floppies (there were no DVD-ROMs then). This evolved into file sharing services as well as audio, image and video streaming services we use today.

The idea of LiveCDs originally came in 1999 with a bootable CD produced by a Linux vendor (which has since ceased to exist) that demonstrated the capabilities of Linux without having to install Linux on a hard drive.

But, it was Klaus Knopper who came up with the idea of a full working Linux installation on a CD (and now DVD) that one can boot. (I am of course talking about Knoppix.) As we saw in the last issue, Knoppix was one of the influences that made PCLinuxOS possible.

Knoppix was never designed to be installed on a hard drive, nor was it intended to be a rolling release as PCLinuxOS is. Instead, to update Knoppix, you simply download a new ISO image.

With PCLinuxOS, you need to install only once, and simply update with Synpatic (using the Reload, Mark, and Apply method). This is one of the things that makes PCLinuxOS great.

Also, if you have been to my website lately, I have also been working on a distribution of my own, influenced the same way as PCLinuxOS. (Don't worry, it will not compete with PCLinuxOS.)

What About OS/2?

Back in 1998, I was supporting IBM's OS/2 on my website. OS/2 had evolved into Version 4, which had the desktop we now see as a classic desktop, and then 4.52 before IBM decided to drop the product line altogether. Support from IBM ended in 2005.

Serenity Systems took over development of the product, and renamed it eComStation. Archive.org has ISO images of several versions of that product available for download. I would have recommend downloading these images, but an e-mail I received this past June (from PCWorld Magazine) changed all of that.

A company by the name of Arca Noae in Leesburg, VA has been developing device drivers and patches to support existing (enterprise) customers that continue to use OS/2 in its IT infrastructure. Arca Noae purchased the rights to develop OS/2 from IBM, and as a result, there is a new release of OS/2 called ArcaOS 5.0, which is a continuation of OS/2 Warp 4.52 adapted to work with desktops and laptops built in the past 15 years!

This is a commercial product, and the Personal Edition sells for $129.00 for installation on three machines. This includes six months of access to their OS/2 repository, which includes OS/2 ports of many applications in the PCLinuxOS repository. Subscriptions can be extended at $50.00 per six months. If you need to reinstall ArcaOS, anything downloaded from that repository can be redownloaded and reinstalled at no additional charge. (Try that with a Windows 10 repository.)

What makes this product worth it? Look at who is still using OS/2, namely Whirlpool (which includes the brands Kitchen Aid, Maytag and Amana), Safeway (the grocery store chain), Colgate-Palmolive, and Johnson and Johnson to name a few.

So, what drove me to switch to Linux back in 1998? I had two machines, one running Red Hat 5.2, and the other running OS/2 Warp 3. One factor was the need to transfer data between my IT infrastructure and Windows machines at the public library.

When OS/2 works with the FAT16 (and FAT32) file system, two hidden files are created, one containing what are called extended attributes and the other to store the long file names and their 8.3 filename translations. Extended attributes are used by OS/2 to distinguish file types and their associated applications.

Linux has the mtools package (available in the PCLinuxOS repository) that does a much better (and more efficient) job of data exchange between Windows machines and Linux machines.

The other factor is that Linux is the nature of Open Source allows free distribution and modification of the software, further making the use of Linux very cost effective especially when it comes to maintenance and other operational costs.

But that was then. This is now.

Today, mainstream computing is no longer about the desktop. It is no longer about PCs or Macintoshes. In fact, smartphones, tablets, televisions and other gadgets have all but dominated mainstream computing. No longer is a computer required to access the Internet.

Linux certainly has had an impact on this, but to this day, never really dominated the desktop. The fact that we are using PCLinuxOS distinguishes ourselves from the crowd even in 2018, and even with various other Linux distributions used in the world, Microsoft continues to dominate the desktop, but not in the way it did back in the 1990s.

We have Wine, PlayOnLinux and VirtualBox available to run Windows applications on PCLinuxOS. But even then, not everything designed for Windows will run on PCLinuxOS.

We can connect Android powered smartphones and tablets to PCLinuxOS (and exchange data through applications such as KDE Connect), and even run Android X86 inside VirtualBox.

Too bad the same cannot be said for Apple's iPhone products, though we can connect an iPhone to PCLinuxOS through a USB connection or a Bluetooth connection, and exchange data with the device, provided it is connected as a USB mass storage device, or we can use a media player such as aTunes or Clementine to access the music or video media on these devices.

For less than the cost of an iPhone X, you could purchase three ChimpBoxes or GorillaBoxes, or up to four laptops to install PCLinuxOS on.

Rise of Malware, Phishing, and other Havoc

Just as the mainstream computing world evolved, so did the ways that world can be destroyed (or at least be a complete nuisance), and not just on the devices we use, either.

The recent data (and security) breach at Equifax is such an example. In the October issue, I told about my working relationship with Equifax back in the 1990s.

Update: Since I wrote that article, I have found out that Equifax had been using outdated software components on their servers that provide the online services since (at the very latest) last December.

It was this neglect that significantly increased the security risk, in addition to everything else I mentioned in the article ... and it was this neglect that placed more than 145 million people (or about half of the US population) at risk for identity theft.

Thankfully, PCLinuxOS was not affected by the WannaCry malware, the Bad Rabbit malware, or other forms of ransomware at this time.

While this may be good news, it does not mean that we will not be affected by future versions of this malware or ransomware. In fact, there is some malware today that could literally cripple the Internet due to the way the malware is distributed (in a Bittorrent-like fashion).

This is not the time to think that because we use PCLinuxOS we are safe. So it becomes important to keep track of what is going on in the mainstream computing world.

We Have the Holy Hand Grenade

This reference to Monty Python represents how serious what is happening on the Internet is. I have been keeping up with the latest security issues through a newsletter I am now getting in my e-mail...and who better to get this information on the mainstream computing world than Kim Komando and her staff.

I know what you are thinking. This sounds like an advertisement, but it is not! If you have ever listened to her radio show, or visited her website, you will know what I am talking about. She has been doing the show for 21 years (and counting) nationally (and two additional years locally in Phoenix before going national).

Up to the time of the Equifax breach, I had concentrated on keeping my PCLinuxOS installation up and running, and making sure everything works as intended locally.

It was the breach that changed everything. No longer is my practice about keeping the desktop running without dependence on anything. It is now a practice to keep the desktop running while protecting ourselves from mayhem. For that I have to find a way to keep up with what causes this mayhem.

Though her newsletters and website material are geared towards the mainstream devices, there is a significant amount of material in these newsletters that applies to PCLinuxOS (or can be adapted for PCLinuxOS), so getting these newsletters is a good idea.

Also, on her website is a section on Cool Sites. Back in 1997, my website, then called “OS/2 in Focus” actually made it on that list of Cool Sites. A lot has changed since then.

Tools I Use

Last month, I showed you how to look up the physical location of any IP address on the Internet.

There are other tools you can use to help protect your website, your reputation, and your digital assets from unauthorized access.

URLvoid.com is a tool to tell if a particular website or domain has been involved in fraudulent activities such as spamming, distribution of malware, or other forms of dishonesty.

WebPageTest is a website that tests the performance of your website by simulating access from various locations such as Phoenix, Denver and Dallas, and various devices such as a Linux desktop, a Windows 10 machine, a Mac OS-X machine, or various popular smartphones.

I have visited some websites to test my knowledge of Phishing.

OpenDNS (Cisco Systems) has a 14 question test to see how well you can spot a fake website. (I got a perfect score on this one.)

Majory's Phishing IQ Quiz is a bit tougher in the sense that some questions have more than one answer. For those questions, all possible answers must be selected to get the question correct.

The following are sample questions from the quiz:

...but even quizzes could have mistakes.

This next question requires attention to detail to get this correct.

...and as expected, I get a perfect score on this quiz.

Another question on the quiz was a fake e-mail from the “Department of Finance Canada”.

In the US, our tax agency is called Internal Revenue Service. I happen to know that the Canadian equivalent to the IRS is called “Revenue Canada”, not “Department of Finance Canada”, and that should have been a possible answer to that question in the quiz.

In addition, like the IRS, Revenue Canada would never notify people by e-mail or phone if there was a tax problem. Such notifications would be sent through regular mail (in this case, through Postal Canada).

It All Comes Down To This.

What is common when it comes to protecting yourself against the dangers of technology, now and in the past is:

1. Always backup what you have on your system to physical medium.

2. Use common sense in everything you do online and offline.

3. With great power comes great responsibility.

I know this is an overused cliche, but it still applies and is still good advice.

ms_meme's Nook: Tex Is Good For You

OGG                                                   MP3

PCLinuxOS Bonus Recipe Corner: Chicken Curry Salad

Chicken Curry Salad

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon curry powder, or to taste

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces (1 1/4 lb)

4 ribs celery, finely chopped

3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

2 medium apples, finely chopped

2 bananas, chopped

1 medium cucumber, finely chopped

1 can (8 oz) pineapple chunks, drained

1/3 cup chopped unsalted roasted cashews

1/2 teaspoon salt

STEPS:

1 Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add curry powder and chicken. Cook and stir chicken 6 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Transfer chicken to a large serving bowl.

2 Stir in celery, tomatoes, apples, bananas, cucumber, pineapple, cashews and salt.

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight: Reziac

As told to YouCanToo

What is your name/username?

Reziac (occasionally seen elsewhere as Rez Zircon)

How old are you?

62. Is that old enough to know better?

Are you married, single?

Single!

How about Kids, Grandkids (names and ages)?

Nope, none of those.

Do you have pets, what is your favorite?

In Real Life, I'm a professional dog trainer and breeder of classic working Labradors. I've had 14 generations of my own line (2nd oldest contiguous bloodline in North America and 4th oldest worldwide) and have finished 56 UKC Champions, including the only 100% field bred Lab to get a Best In Show anywhere in the world since 1974.

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

Semi-retired from training, though I still have my own dogs. I write science fiction (my ongoing space opera epic will probably be published next year) and edit for other writers. Used to have a side business in computer repair, but as they've become more disposable that's pretty much gone away.

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

I'm near Billings, Montana. The area is a mix of farm and ranchland, prairie, and mountains, so every direction looks different, but I'm just off the Yellowstone River. As to the weather -- Montana holds the world record for most extreme climate variation; our state motto is "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes -- it'll change!"

Billings Montana   "Big Sky Country"

Yellowstone River

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

I grew up in Great Falls MT which had one of the best school systems in the country. My first computer was my high school's IBM 1620 -- we wrote programs for it in Fortran 2-D, and it was a big deal when we upgraded from punch cards to paper tape.

Then went 3 years to Montana State University, majoring in Biochemistry and Microbiology... I needed just 3 more classes to graduate but all three were in the same timeslot, so it would have taken 3 more years to finish! At that point my brain had a disk-full error, and I went on to other things.

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

I'd travel more (I love driving) but when you've got a bunch of dogs, well, it's like having a pack of children. So I garden, fish, fix up the house, read, write, and mess with computers (right now I have five in service and a dozen more in my infamous Computer Closet).

Why and when did you start using Linux?

I first heard about Linux in 1994 or '95, when a friend described it as the new OS for "people who enjoy formatting their hard drives once a week". To this old DOS-head (I once had a DOS triple-boot setup) it sounded new and exciting. Went to the first LinuxWorld in 1998 and came home with a pile of CDs. The first I tried was RedHat 6, which unfortunately wasn't real useful and had dreadful performance. But I was still interested and kept testing distros whenever I could. I liked Mandrake 7.2 quite a lot -- still too buggy for everyday use, but KDE and the new Drake config system looked really promising.

Fast-forward to the present... I've always been happy with the Windows product line (once beaten into submission, my WinBoxen regularly boast uptimes measured in months or even years, and wouldn't dare crash) -- up until it left XP. My everyday boxen still run XP and XP64, but I didn't much like the changes in Win7, and as to 8/10 -- if I wanted a cellphone interface, I'd use a bloody cellphone! So if I need an updated OS, it's no longer going to be Windows, and I really dislike MacOS.

PuppyLinux has been my go-to boot disk for years, but it's not what I need in an everyday OS. So once again I started seriously testing distros -- in the last 3 years I've tried close to 150 -- some definitely better and more my style than others, but none really caught my eye and behaved the way I want for everyday... till I chanced on PCLinuxOS "Full Monty". Delightfully set up, nicely discoverable, and everything worked; maybe not yet quite my everyday desktop, but getting close. And as I continued to test, I kept coming back to the PCLOS variants... better performance, fewer issues and frustrations, easier config, nicer default setups.

And then I noticed the PCLOS/Trinity distro -- and finally after all these years of testing and hoping, I've found a Linux I can love! Looks and acts how I want in my desktop, has all the KDE apps that I like, and runs great... This one is a keeper!!

What specific equipment do you currently use with PCLOS?

I build frankenputers from salvage, so it's somewhat luck of the draw. As it happens I'd put together a "new" machine just in time to give it to PCLOS/Trinity -- runs well and everything works:

Motherboard: Asus P5B Deluxe

CPU: Intel Core2Duo 2.5GHz

RAM: 8GB DDR2

Video card: MSI/NVidia 256MB

Hard drive: Western Digital 350GB

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

Because of my experiences across various OSs, I've become really leery of major changes, and exceedingly fond of stability. Keep it conservative, don't go off on wild tangents; remember that real users don't like rude surprises, and truly hate disappearing features.

Thanks for having me, and a big hello to everyone in the PCLOS family!

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight is an exclusive, monthly column by YouCanToo, featuring a 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.

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 tuxlink, November 2, 2017, running KDE

Posted by Yankee, November 1, 2017, running Mate

Posted by francesco_bat, November 8, 2017, running icewm

Posted by gold4fun, November 11, 2017, running KDE

Posted by HERTZ, November 1, 2017, running Mate

Posted by lifeless_user, November 20, 2017, running Openbox

Posted by luikki, November 4, 2017, running KDE

Posted by Meemaw, November 2, 2017, running Xfce

Posted by OnlyHuman, November 13, 2017, running e22

Posted parnote, November 20, 2017, running Xfce