Table of Contents

1. Welcome From The Chief Editor

2. Short Topix: Amazon Kindle Now Supports EPUB Files ... Sorta

3. PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Quick and Easy Beef Bourguignon For Two

4. Inkscape Tutorial: Create A Sketch Effect

5. How To Disable Ad ID Tracking On iOS & Android, And Why You Should Do It Now

6. Of Mice, Men & Magazine

7. Game Zone: Psychonauts 2 On Linux!!!

8. Good Words, Good Deeds, Good News

9. Geofence Warrants & Reverse Keyword Warrants Are So Invasive, Even Big Tech Wants To Ban Them

10. Repo Review: Video Editors

11. PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner Bonus: Creamy Parmesean Pork Chop Skillet

12. PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

13. Screenshot Showcase

From The Chief Editor's Desk...

PCLinuxOS is a great operating system for everyone.

I think I might have just found one of our youngest users.

Yes, that is my daughter, Lexi.

Santa brought her eight-year-old brother a computer for Christmas, and he is a Minecraft fiend! Leaving Windows 10 (since updated to Windows 11) on his computer just makes things easier for him to play his Minecraft games. He plays "classic" Minecraft, as well as the newer Minecraft Dungeons.

Lexi loves to watch videos. She watches her videos (she used to call them "bideos") on YouTube Kids. Her favorite YouTube channel is "A For Adley." She has even created her own channel, "L For Lexi," which is one of her ongoing "dreams." She also watches many, many musical and dancing videos. The videos of massive numbers of dominoes "falling" are also some that catch her eye.

So, after Santa brought her brother a computer for Christmas, she wanted a computer of her own. So, I had my older Lenovo G530 laptop that I was barely using. I used it for years to do all of my magazine work on. So, I wiped the hard drive and installed Daniel's LXQt remaster on it.

Happy isn't quite enough of a word to describe her reaction. Ever since setting up the computer for her, she has spent parts of virtually every single day watching her videos on "her computer." She still does all of the "other" things that a normal five-year-old girl does ... playing on her playset in the backyard, playing with Barbie dolls, coloring, drawing pictures, riding her bicycle and scooter, etc. ... so watching her videos is just another part of her normal day.

Lexi is just finishing up (at the end of May) her final year of Pre-K classes at school. Currently five years old, she formally starts Kindergarten in August. She is going to Kindergarten "preparation" classes in Summer School for the month of June.

So, for all those nay-sayers who say that "Linux is too difficult" or that "Linux is for nerds," I give you my daughter. She doesn't care what OS her computer runs. All she cares about is being able to watch her videos. PCLinuxOS is her daily driver.

Can she troubleshoot her PCLinuxOS installation? Nope. Not any more than her brother can troubleshoot his Windows 11 installation. But that's what they have mom and dad for.

Lexi's needs and use of her computer isn't much different from most computer users. Just like her, they want to be able to perform simple tasks -- email, browse the web, watch videos, etc. -- easily and without much fanfare or trouble.

Lexi is walking proof that PCLinuxOS fulfills that need admirably. And if a five-year-old can use Linux, then just about anyone can.

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

This month's magazine cover celebrates the bicycle, which was patented on May 26, 1819. The cover, created by Meemaw, depicts Tux driving through a 19th Century town on a Penny Farthing bicycle.

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

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

Short Topix: Amazon Kindle Now Supports EPUB Files ... Sorta

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Assault On Your Privacy: Monthly Update

To make help for mental illness more accessible, various mental health apps have sprung up on mobile platforms. And, with the COVID lockdowns, the mental health crisis is greater than it ever has been. One such app that pretty much "leads the way" among the mental health apps is called "BetterHelp." BUT THE BETTERHELP APP RATED AS ONE OF THE LOWEST IN PROTECTING USER PRIVACY among the 32 apps tested and rated by Mozilla's "Privacy Not Included" buyer's guide. In fact, 28 of the 32 apps tested failed to meet the "grade." Only Wysa, PTSD Coach, Headspace, and Glorify were not issued a warning label in the guide. All of the others, including BetterHelp and TalkSpace, fell short in protecting privileged and private user data.

To quote the late and great Gomer Pyle ... Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! The great internet Hoover vacuum of personal and private data, GOOGLE, HAS NOW MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR USERS TO REMOVE SELECT PRIVATE/PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM SEARCH RESULTS, according to an article on NPR. You can choose to have your address, email address, phone number, bank account, credit card numbers, medical documents and some other personal/private information to be stripped from search results. Interested? Click here to access the Google tool to remove your selected information from Google search results. Careful though that so many people don't overload the server and crash it!

If ever you needed another reason to avoid systemd like the plague, here's another. MICROSOFT (of all people) HAS DISCOVERED A FLAW IN THE LINUX DESKTOP THAT GIVES ROOT PRIVILEGES TO UNTRUSTED USERS, according to an article on Ars Technica. Fortunately for PCLinuxOS users, the flaw/exploit only appears to affect Linux users who are plagued by use systemd. The flaw, named NimbuSpwn (actually two vulnerabilities, CVE-2022-29799 and CVE-2022-29800), according to the article, "combine threats including directory traversal, symlink race, and time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition. After reviewing the Networkd -dispatcher source code, Microsoft researcher Jonathan Bar Or noticed that a component known as "_run_hooks_for_state" implements the following logic:

- Discovers the list of available scripts list by invoking the "get_script_list" method, which calls a separate "scripts_in_path" method that's intended to return all the files stored in the "/etc/networkd-dispatcher/.d" directory.

- Sorts the script list.

- Runs each script with the process subprocess.Popen and supplies custom environment variables."

Of course, once a threat actor has root access to your computer, all of your data is at risk.

GOOGLE HAS FIXED AN ACTIVELY EXPLOITED ANDROID KERNEL BUG THAT ALLOWED ESCALATION OF PRIVILEGES, according to an article on Bleeping Computer. Of course, the Android kernel is a modified Linux kernel. The exploit, CVE-2021-2260, was initially discovered in January 2022, but it has taken a few months to fix in Google's own Android kernel.

MICROSOFT HAS STEPPED UP ACTIONS ON DISRUPTING THE RUSSIAN STATE SPONSORED HACKING GROUP STRONTIUM by taking control (court approved) of seven internet domains the group was using to launch cyberattacks on Ukrainian institutions, and "sinkholing" activity from those servers, according to a Microsoft blog.

THE FBI'S CYBER DIVISION ISSUED A FLASH (URGENT MESSAGE) DETAILING HOW SOME CYBERCRIMINALS ARE SCRAPING CUSTOMER CREDIT CARD NUMBERS FROM U.S. RETAILERS' WEB SITES. The hackers are injecting malicious PHP code into the business's online payment/checkout pages, according to the flash (PDF). You can also read more about the issue in the TechRepublic article.

If you thought your iPhone was secure because it has been shut off, think again. It seems that Edward Snowden was correct in his assertion that when your phone is "turned off," it really isn't off. According to an article on TechRadar, HACKERS CAN RUN AND INSTALL MALWARE ON YOUR IPHONE, EVEN WHEN IT'S "TURNED OFF." When you turn off your iPhone, it actually enters a "low power mode," which allows services such as Bluetooth, NFC, and/or ultra-wideband to continue running. These services run 24/7, so that on-device wallets and keys that use NFC can still operate, even if/when a user's battery is depleted.

MILLIONS OF MOBILE DEVICES THAT USE THE BLUETOOTH LOW ENERGY (BLE) PROTOCOL COULD BE AT RISK, according to an article on TomsGuide. Initially designed by Nokia in 2006, the BLE protocol allows users to experience lower power consumption with similar range when used with Bluetooth devices. Researchers at NCC Group were able to fool the BLE protocol into believing that they were near (in range of) the device, and exploit the flaw, even though they were physically hundreds of miles away. No fix is yet available for the exploit. The suggestions to protect yourself, at this time, is to disable passive lock functionality, and to turn off Bluetooth services whenever they aren't needed.

New Superconductor Breakthrough Could Mean 400X Speed Increase For Computers

Ever since its discovery in 1911, it was thought to be impossible to create superconductivity without magnetic fields. But, according to an article on the Tweak Town website, the creation of the Josephson Diode allowed researchers from Delft University of Technology to create one-way superconductivity.

Superconductivity allows current to travel along its path without resistance, potentially speeding up electronics hundreds of times.

As recently as the 1970s (ok ... half a century ago), scientists declared that "without non-reciprocal superconductivity, a computer running on superconductors is impossible."

Said Associate professor Mazhar Ali during a Q&A with Phys.org, "Technology which was previously only possible using semi-conductors can now potentially be made with superconductors using this building block. This includes faster computers, as in computers with up to terahertz speed, which is 300 to 400 times faster than the computers we are now using."

"Centralized computation is really how the world works now-a-days. Any and all intensive computation is done at centralized facilities where localization adds huge benefits in terms of power management, heat management, etc. The existing infrastructure could be adapted without too much cost to work with Josephson diode based electronics. There is a very real chance, if the challenges discussed in the other question are overcome, that this will revolutionize centralized and supercomputing," Ali said regarding how realistic it would be for computers to make use of superconducting.

And who said Moore's law is dead? Are you ready for processors capable of terahertz processing speeds? It might not be as far off as you think.

Amazon Kindle Now Supports EPUB Files ... Sorta

One of the LARGEST and earliest ebook distributors, Amazon has only supported MOBI and AZW files (the latter is an Amazon-branded version of the MOBI file format). That is, until now, according to an article on The Verge.

While virtually EVERY OTHER ebook reader manufacturer ... Sony, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, PocketBook, etc. ... decided to back the EPUB format for ebooks, Amazon decided to blaze its own trail for the past 15 years. The Amazon Kindle ebook reader first came out in 2007. Part of the reason is because Amazon bought the French company Mobipocket back in 2005. Might as well make good use of your investments, right?

Up until now, Kindle users couldn't load or read ebooks in the EPUB format. And technically speaking, they still can't. While still lacking native support for the EPUB format, an update to the "Send to Kindle" function will allow Kindle users to access EPUB files. The Send to Kindle function will convert EPUB books to an Amazon-specific digital ebook format.

This is a huge step forward for Kindle users. Previously, their only recourse would have been to try to find the book title they wanted in MOBI format, or to use an external program such as Calibre to convert the EPUB to MOBI format. Now, the new Send to Kindle function eliminates the middle step of manually converting the EPUB file to one that the Kindle likes (namely, MOBI or AZW). The converted file format is named KF8, I suppose to differentiate imported EPUB files from the other formats supported by the Kindle.

I'm a bit amazed that Amazon is still sticking with this path. Maybe they are expecting the masses to stay asleep and not wander or ask questions. With the proliferation of tablets and ebook reading apps for them, I would think that there are many, many users who would find it easy to sidestep Amazon's restrictions. They could just use the ebook reading apps on their tablets, giving them access to virtually every format of ebook files.

Scientists Discover Enzyme That Can Break Down PET Plastics In Days Instead Of Centuries

PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastics account for 12 percent of global waste. Swirling around in the Pacific Ocean is an "island" of plastic waste larger than the island of Manhattan. And, unless something is done, these mounds of plastics are going to be with us for many generations to come. On their own, these plastics take centuries to break down and decompose.

But, according to an article on Vice, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have used AI and machine learning to create mutations in proteins that can break down PET plastics in days, instead of the usual centuries it would normally take.

The process is called depolymerization, and the enzymes can break the PET down into its original monomers, which can then be reused to make virgin plastics for use in other items. As an added benefit, the new plastics are made without using any petroleum resources.

The team of scientists have named their new enzyme FAST-PETase. That is an acronym for "functional, active, stable and tolerant PETase." Maybe, just maybe, we won't have to leave mountains of plastic detritus for our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, and great-great-great-grandchildren to deal with.

PCLinuxOS Magazine Monthly Roundup

Google engineers are working on encrypted hibernation support for the Linux kernel as part of offering strong hibernation support for Google Chromebook usage, according to an article on Phoronix.

Apple is testing future iPhone models that replace the current Lightning charging port with the more prevalent USB-C connector, according to people with knowledge of the situation, a move that could help the company conform with looming European regulations, according to an article on Bloomberg.

An experiment in the Space Plants Lab at the University of Florida, has just shown that farming with lunar soil is possible, detailed in a study just published in Communications Biology. So, just maybe any future lunar colonies can be somewhat self-sufficient.

For years China's censors have relied on a trusted tool kit to control the country's internet. They have deleted posts, suspended accounts, blocked keywords, and arrested the most outspoken. Now they are trying a new trick: displaying social media users' locations beneath posts, according to an article in the New York Times.

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner:

Quick and Easy Beef Bourguignon for Two

INGREDIENTS

3/4 lb boneless beef sirloin steak, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 slice bacon, chopped

1 small onion, sliced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 cup beef broth

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

DIRECTIONS

Season beef cubes with salt and pepper. In a 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add beef, and cook 2 to 3 minutes, turning frequently, until browned on outsides, but still rare in the middle. Remove from skillet; keep warm.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes or until tender and browned. Remove from skillet; keep warm.

Reduce heat to medium; add bacon and onion. Cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes or until onions are softened and beginning to brown. Add tomato paste, garlic and thyme. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Add flour; cook and stir for 1 minute.

Add cooked mushrooms, broth and wine; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; simmer 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce is slightly thickened. Return beef to skillet; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is medium-rare to medium (145F to 160F). Garnish with parsley.

Expert Tips

White button mushrooms work well in this recipe, but if you'd like a bigger mushroom flavor, you can use Cremini mushrooms.

Inkscape Tutorial: Create A Sketch Effect

by Meemaw

I've been looking at some of the Inkscape tutorials on the YouTube channel "Logos by Nick". He has a lot of good stuff. One tutorial I enjoyed was one called the Sketch Effect. I'll review it here.

Sketch Effect uses the path effect, Hatches, and it's kinda fun. You can apply the path effect to nearly anything, and most of what I'll explain here is the settings included to make things look the way you want.

To start, create a square in Inkscape. Click on Paths > Path effects. The window you get has nothing because this is a new project and you haven't chosen any path effects for it yet. At the bottom, it says Click button to add an effect, and there's a plus sign in the bottom left corner of the window.

Click on the plus sign, and the following window appears:

This window has about 40 effects, in alphabetical order, so you should be able to find what you want pretty quickly, but just in case, there is a search box at the top. Click on Hatches. The effect will be applied, and you'll also get a settings window.

I'm sure you've noticed that this is a far cry from the square that was there at first. However, you'll also see four handles, two green and two yellow. The green ones control the density and direction of the hatches, and the yellow ones allow you to curve them.

Click on the right-hand green handle and move it towards the other green handle. You'll see the stroke density increase.

If you rotated the handle at all, you noticed that the hatch direction changed. You can rotate that handle all the way around to create the angle you want.

The yellow handles control the curve. The left handle is the starting point for the curve and the right hand handle increases the curve when you move it farther away from the starting handle. Grab the left-hand yellow handle and drag it to the left.

Now drag the right-hand handle to the right. Your hatch should start curving.

Depending on how far you drag, you'll get more curve.

There are more settings in the window. One of the settings is for thickness, and I set two of them to 10.00.

As long as you're messing with it, you can change things, and undo to your heart's content. When you get it the way you want it, click on Path > Object to path, and your Path effects window will empty and you won't be able to make any more changes.

Let's do this with some text! It works best with heavier text, so I'm going to use the Impact font.

Path effects don't work on text unless you click Path > Object to path to start, then we'll do it again when we are finished. Click on Path > Path effects, and choose your Hatches again.

Well, that doesn't look like anything. Remember to grab your right-hand green handle, and start dragging.

Mess with it until you have it the way you want it, then do Path > Object to path again.

I'm sure anything you do with this particular effect will be wonderful!

How To Disable Ad ID Tracking On iOS & Android,

And Why You Should Do It Now

by Bennett Cyphers

Electronics Frontier Foundation

Reprinted under Creative Commons Attribution License

The ad identifier - aka "IDFA" on iOS, or "AAID" on Android - is the key that enables most third-party tracking on mobile devices. Disabling it will make it substantially harder for advertisers and data brokers to track and profile you, and will limit the amount of your personal information up for sale.

This post explains the history of device ad identifiers and how they have enabled persistent tracking, identification, and other privacy invasions.

But first things first. Here's how to revoke tracker access to your ad ID right now:

On Android

Open the Settings app, and navigate to Privacy > Ads. Tap "Delete advertising ID," then tap it again on the next page to confirm. This will prevent any app on your phone from accessing it in the future.

The Android opt out is available on Android 12, but may not available on older versions. Instead, you can reset your ad ID and ask apps not to track you as below:

Source

On iOS

Apple requires apps to ask permission before they can access your IDFA. When you install a new app, it may ask you for permission to track you.

Source

Select "Ask App Not to Track" to deny it IDFA access.

To see which apps you have previously granted access to, go to Settings > Privacy > Tracking. The menu should look like this:

Here you can disable tracking for individual apps that have previously received permission. Only apps that have permission to track you will be able to access your IDFA.

You can set the "Allow apps to Request to Track" switch to the "off" position (the slider is to the left and the background is gray). This will prevent apps from asking to track in the future. If you have granted apps permission to track you in the past, this will prompt you to ask those apps to stop tracking as well. You also have the option to grant or revoke tracking access on a per-app basis.

Apple has its own targeted advertising system, separate from the third-party tracking it enables with IDFA. To disable it, navigate to Settings > Privacy > Apple Advertising:

Source

Set the "Personalized Ads" switch to the "off" position to disable Apple's ad targeting.

History

In the early days of smartphones, trackers used static device identifiers - the "Unique Device Identifier" (UDID) on iOS, and the "Android ID" on Android - to track users across apps. These identifiers were unique, permanent, and were frequently accessed by third parties without user knowledge or consent.

This was rightfully considered a problem for user privacy. A 2010 investigation by the Wall Street Journal exposed the extent of the issue, and in 2011, after a series of probing questions from US members of congress, Apple began restricting access to the UDID.

The industry had already begun to rely on data collection tied to UDID, and trackers scrambled to adapt to the change. Then, in 2012, Apple quietly introduced the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA). IDFA was almost identical to the UDID it replaced: it was a globally unique identifier that was available to all apps by default. The biggest difference was that IDFA could be reset -- though this was only possible if users knew what to look for. Apple also allowed users to enable a setting called "Limit Ad Tracking." This sent a signal to apps asking them not to track, but it did not actually affect the apps' ability to access IDFA.

Android followed suit in 2013, introducing the Android Advertising Identifier (AAID). Like Apple, Google made its identifier available to all apps by default, without any special permission. It also allowed users to reset their ad identifier, but not restrict access to it or delete it.

In 2016, Apple updated Limit Ad Tracking to set the IDFA to a string of zeroes - effectively deleting it. This meant that for the first time, users had an effective, technical opt-out of IDFA tracking.

In 2021, Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which requires apps to get affirmative consent before they can track users with IDFA or any other identifier. This had an enormous impact on the tracking industry. While previously, about 20% of users chose to opt out of tracking (meaning 4 out of 5 were "opted in"), after the change, the vast majority of users have chosen not to allow tracking. Defaults matter.

Meanwhile, Android finally started rolling out a way for users to disable their ad ID. As of April 1, 2022, Android also requires developers to request a separate permission in order to access the ad ID. However, this is treated as a "normal" permission, meaning users don't see any pop-up asking for their consent. Despite the ad ID's central role in enabling third-party tracking, the developer documents explain that this kind of permission is for data that presents "very little risk to the user's privacy." In other words, Android's ad ID is still exposed on an opt-out basis, and users have to go out of their way to defend their privacy on the platform.

In February, Google also indicated that it may eventually phase out the ad ID altogether. It plans to bring a version of the Privacy Sandbox framework to mobile devices to support behavioral advertising "without reliance on cross-app identifiers." But Google assured developers that it won't change anything substantial about the ad ID for "at least two years."

Why It Matters

The ad identifier is a string of letters and numbers that uniquely identifies your phone, tablet, or other smart device. It exists for one purpose: to help companies track you.

Third-party trackers collect data via the apps on your device. The ad ID lets them link data from different sources to one identity you. In addition, since every app and tracker sees the same ID, it lets data brokers compare notes about you. Broker A can buy data from broker B, then use the ad identifier to link those two datasets together. Simply, the ad ID is the key that enables a whole range of privacy harms: invasive 3rd-party profiling by Facebook and Google, pseudoscientific psychographic targeting by political consultants like Cambridge Analytica, and location tracking by the U.S. military.

Sometimes, participants in the data pipeline will argue that the ad ID is anonymous or pseudo-anonymous, not "personally identifying" information, and imply that it does not pose a serious privacy threat. This is not true in practice. First, the ad ID is commonly used to help collect data that is obviously personally identifiable, like granular location data. If you can see where a person works, sleeps, studies, socializes, worships, and seeks medical care, you don't need their email address to help identify them. And second, an entire industry exists to help trackers link ad IDs to more directly identifying information, like email addresses and phone numbers. In a vacuum, the ad ID may be anonymous, but in the context of the tracking industry, it is a ubiquitous and effective identifier.

Disabling this ID makes it substantially harder for most advertisers and data brokers to track you. These industries process data from millions or billions of users every day, and they rely on convenient technologies like the ad ID to make that kind of scale possible. Removing this tool from their toolbox will result in substantially less data that can be associated with you in the wild. It is not only beneficial to your privacy, it also makes the surveillance advertising industry less profitable. And don't take our word for it: Facebook has said that Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature would decrease the company's 2022 sales by about $10 billion.

But although it's a good first step, removing your ad ID won't stop all tracking. If you are concerned about a specific privacy-related threat to yourself or someone you know, see our other resources, including Digital Security and Privacy Tips for Those Involved in Abortion Access. You can also check out EFF's guides to surveillance self-defense, including personal security plans, attending a protest, and privacy on mobile phones. These resources are organized into playlists such as this one for reproductive healthcare providers, seekers, and advocates.

Of Mice, Men & Magazine

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Last month, we ran an article from Agent Smith that caused a shiitake mushroom storm. Quite literally.

Agent Smith, a.k.a. Alessandro Ebersol, is a frequent contributor to The PCLinuxOS Magazine. He has stepped up to help produce exclusive content for The PCLinuxOS Magazine when virtually no one else would. He is passionate about battling the continuing and continued overreach of Big Tech. He is passionate about PCLinuxOS. He is passionate about gaming on PCLinuxOS. Living in Brazil, he sometimes has a different take on events than many of the other people who volunteer for The PCLinuxOS Magazine.

Out of the storm that developed from "that" article, it has become apparent that there are some significant misunderstandings or misconceptions about the magazine that need to be cleared up.

That is the reason for this article.

History Of The PCLinuxOS Magazine

As unfortunate as it is, many of the original discussions that led to the formation of The PCLinuxOS Magazine are largely lost. Those existed on a long ago forum (MyPCLinuxOS.com), that hasn't been around for years. The MyPCLinuxOS forum existed as a place for experimentation and to try out new ideas. It was closed down and everything (except the posts) were brought into the main PCLinuxOS forum. Many of the discussions occurred as private messages between various key members, so those are for sure lost forever into the digital ethernet. In fact, few of those involved in the formation of The PCLinuxOS magazine remain around the PCLinuxOS corner of the Linux universe from that time.

In September 2006, the inaugural issue of The PCLinuxOS Magazine was released. You can still download it, as well as every other issue ever published, from the magazine's website.

For the next couple of years, The PCLinuxOS Magazine came out with a new issue on a monthly basis. Then, a certain past editor claimed there wasn't enough to write about for a monthly magazine, and shifted the publication schedule to quarterly. But even coming up with a new issue every three months was too much for him. He was also tied up with a group of developers and packagers who attempted to wrestle PCLinuxOS away from Texstar's control. Through some chicanery, he tried to "shut the magazine down." There were some of us (some of whom are no longer around) who said "not so fast!" Those developers who attempted their coup left to form their own distro, and he followed them.

That is where I stepped up. Archie, who was involved with the discussions that led to the formation of The PCLinuxOS Magazine, went looking for someone to lead the magazine. With my journalism background, I stepped forward to assume the role of Chief Editor. That was in July 2009. Originally, that was supposed to be for only a year or two. However, I've been in that position ever since. Since I've taken over as the magazine's editor, we've yet to miss a monthly release of the magazine in 13 years. There is plenty to write about, if you just look around. There are thousands of programs just in the PCLinuxOS repository alone. In addition, we've produced several "special editions" of the magazine. Meemaw replaced Andrew Strick as the assistant editor in September 2009, and has excelled at her position ever since.

After a couple of years of seeing that I had the best interests of PCLinuxOS in mind and at heart, and seeing that I wasn't going to try to undermine the magazine, Texstar turned the magazine over to me. I'd like to think that I've yet to let him down or to betray the trust he placed in me. If that has happened, he has yet to voice his opposition or dissatisfaction.

Challenges Facing The Magazine

It's important to keep in mind that I, Meemaw, and everyone else who works on and contributes to the magazine does so on a volunteer basis. That means we "also" fit the magazine duties into our everyday lives, as time and the situations allow.

I can attest that over the past 13 years that I've headed up the magazine, there have been MANY months where the ONLY contributors were the same three or four people. Multiple pleas over the years for contributions from the PCLinuxOS community have gone largely ignored, so the monthly production of the magazine falls to the same three or four people to make the magazine a reality.

To be perfectly honest, there were many, many months that the largest part of the magazine ... the article ideas, writing the articles, etc. ... fell solely to Meemaw and I. Month after month we'd have to come up with article ideas and then write those articles. Had we not done so, there wouldn't have been a magazine published those months. Long ago I lost count of how many times we'd look at what we had for the magazine come time to layout the magazine, and decide that there just wasn't enough content for that month. Then, one of us would rush off to try to whip out another article or two for that next month's issue at the last moment.

Currently, we have the largest number of community contributors that we've had in a VERY LONG TIME. Some contributors can be counted on contributing something every single month. Others, because of "life commitments," contribute on a semi-regular basis, as they are able. That's the nature of having an all volunteer "staff" of contributors. Having contributions from the PCLinuxOS community certainly takes a LOT of stress off of Meemaw and me. It also allows for a wider range of views to be presented, and draws from a more varied experience pool.

Forum != Magazine, Magazine != Forum

One thing became quickly apparent during this fracas. There seems to be this belief among some PCLinuxOS users that the forum rules extend to the magazine. As much as anyone might want that to happen, that isn't the case, and never has been the case. The two are VASTLY different entities, so what applies to one doesn't work so well for the other.

Specifically, the confusion is that political discussions are verboten in the magazine, as they are in the forum. I will state that political hot topics are avoided as much as possible, but it isn't entirely possible 100 percent of the time, for reasons I'll illustrate shortly.

The forum by its very nature allows for a back-and-forth debate-like environment for users to have discussions. It's very easy for political hot topics to escalate into a raging argument in less than a heartbeat. The forum is populated with users from all walks of life, from many different cultures, and many different countries.

Meanwhile, the magazine exists to deliver news and features of interest to (primarily) PCLinuxOS users. Just like your evening newspaper, the magazine is not a forum for debate. I am acutely aware that many non-PCLinuxOS users also read the magazine, but serving PCLinuxOS users is our primary focus. The PCLinuxOS Magazine is probably one of (if not THE) oldest, longest running, regularly published distro-based magazine in existence.

It used to be a lot easier to avoid political hot topics in the magazine. When I started in this position, Big Tech wasn't using their power to influence public opinion and to silence dissenting views. At least, if they were, they weren't doing so quite as openly. They, in effect, stayed in their lane of providing a service or a platform.

Back then, we didn't really have the degree of political divisiveness that current besieges users of all backgrounds. The "cancel culture" is a recent abomination where one group of users leverage social media platforms to silence those who disagree with them. It has led to a "mob mentality" that effectively and ultimately shuts down open discussion and healthy debate.

But today, Big Tech openly wields its power to influence public opinion and to silence dissenting and unpopular views. They do this by manipulating search results, or putting users with dissenting views into "jail," or even banning users from the platforms that have become the new "town square." Big Tech, by veering out of their assigned lane of providing a service or platform, has politicized the content they serve up by giving a voice to certain points of view and by silencing all dissenting views.

As unfortunate as it is, every single user who connects to the internet is affected by these Big Tech shenanigans. That makes them newsworthy. And, part of the magazine's job is to publish news, and this is news that affects users in the most visceral way. There are very few in society as a whole who don't interact with Big Tech, and even fewer computer/Linux users who aren't affected by Big Tech's actions. Had Big Tech "stayed in its lane" and not become a political player, then politics would never have to come into the discussion.

Sadly, that isn't the reality, nor the world we live in now. With Big Tech embracing certain political views and trying to silence opposing views, they have inextricably married politics into things that shouldn't be about politics at all. Thus, when reporting on Big Tech, it's very often impossible to separate the politics from the tech and deeds/misdeeds of Big Tech.

Role Of The PCLinuxOS Magazine

One of the comments about Agent Smith's article said that politics had no place in a magazine that was about PCLinuxOS. And, for the most part, I agree. But, we have to keep in mind the previous discussion above about how Big Tech veered out of its lane of providing a service and a platform, and into a lane where it takes a much more political role in the events of the day. If you don't think that is true, then you might want to ask yourself why Big Tech has been called to task by lawmakers all over the world for their actions.

Well, The PCLinuxOS Magazine isn't just about PCLinuxOS. Certainly, covering PCLinuxOS is very, very high on that list. But, more specifically, The PCLinuxOS Magazine is more about publishing articles that not only interest PCLinuxOS users, but also covering topics that impact their daily dealings and lives. Virtually every user who ventures out onto the web has dealings -- good and bad -- with Big Tech.

Just like when you read your local/favorite newspaper, or when you watch the evening news, not all of the news is "happy" news. You're certain to disagree with some of that news. But, it is published nonetheless.

So, should we suppress the things we don't necessarily agree with? I say no. Call me "old fashioned" if you want, but the only true way to gain knowledge and power is by examining all views, and then making an informed decision. To do otherwise makes us no better than those we are "reporting on" for having a narrow focus and attempting to silence voices. We become no better than the "Cancel Culture" mob/plague that floats around the internet like a swarm of locusts, looking to consume and ruin their next victim. We mustn't feed into that mentality. We mustn't feed that beast. Especially if we want this scourge to die and go away. According to the polls and rhetoric I'm seeing and hearing, the vast majority of people want to see this whole "Cancel Culture" thing die off yesterday.

All reasonable voices deserve to be heard. All reasonable voices deserve to have a chance to add to the debate. No one has to agree with everything or anything that's printed. But at least the right and ability to say it won't be impeded. It's only when all sides are heard and have a voice that our world can truly be inclusive. It's only when all sides are heard and have a voice that we can make an informed decision about where we stand on an issue. Without it, the best we can be are sheeple.

In Summation

When Agent Smith submitted his article, in no way did I ever see it as him supporting Putin. What I saw was Agent Smith using the current war between Ukraine and Russia as a way to illustrate how Big Tech continues to play political games by trying to influence public opinion. Those political games have consequences for those who have nothing to do with the war, fostering hatred and repercussions against innocent people just because of their heritage or ancestry. In this particular case, it's Russian expats and those with Russian heritage who are suffering the consequences, despite having nothing to do with the current war.

Could he have used another situation to serve as a metaphor? Perhaps. But he chose to use a current event that is at the forefront of all of the recent news cycles. Even he agrees that the war is bad. And, knowing Agent Smith as I do after his contributions over the years to The PCLinuxOS Magazine, I also know he meant no malice. I also know that he never thought anyone would view his article as him throwing his support behind Putin.

Agent Smith is a good writer, and has contributed to the magazine for several years now. And, despite English not being his native language (that would be Brazilian Portuguese), I find that his articles ... submitted in English ... require only minor editing.

With the divisive political climate we're all living in, it's not uncommon for people to latch onto something that they perceive as wrong, and ignore the overall message. I think that is EXACTLY what happened in this particular case. In a way, it's a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees. Any more, people want to focus on the things that they find "egregious" and ignore all the rest.

As the Chief Editor of The PCLinuxOS Magazine who has had what I've been told is a pretty good track record, I stand behind Agent Smith. Moreover, I stand behind his right to say it, even if I don't agree with it. Meanwhile, the plan for The PCLinuxOS Magazine is to continue exactly as we have over the past 13 years. That means that we will attempt to steer clear of political hot topics when we can. And for those times when we can't ... well, they will most likely find their way into the article.

Game Zone: Psychonauts 2 On Linux!!!

by Alessandro Ebersol (Agent Smith)

Although not as well known as the LEGO, "The Incredibles" and Sonic adventure game franchises, Psychonauts 2 is the creation of famed designer Tim Schafer from Double Fine Studios. Humorous, charismatic and touching, the game has amazing graphics and great gameplay.

Continuing the story of the acrobat Rex, the main character from previous titles Psychonauts and Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, the game brings more amazing acrobatic moves, several references and a world full of content to be explored.

The Story

Razputin "Raz" Aquato, agile acrobat and magnificent mentalist, has fulfilled his dream of becoming part of the international psychic espionage organization known as... Psychonauts! But now, these superspies have a little problem. The leader hasn't been the same again since he was kidnapped, and there's someone infiltrating the headquarters.

Combining fun missions with mysterious conspiracies, Psychonauts 2 is an adventure and platform game with a unique style and numerous customizable powers. Control Raz on a journey as dangerous as it is hilarious through the minds of friends and foes alike until you defeat a ruthless psycho-villain.

Psychonauts 2 continues the franchise's plot, starring young Raz, who has fled his life to join the camp of the Psychonauts, an international psychic spy group. For first time players not to get lost in the story, the game recaps the latest adventures of the characters through a quick video, which also serves to introduce the upcoming challenges.

An even better and more exciting version

Compared to its predecessor, Psychonauts 2 stands out by offering more interesting interactions, more attractive moves and moves, such as long distance attacks, and a more open world to explore. Although the villains are not as challenging, the game makes up for it with its creative design and excellent cultural references.

Graphics

Psychonauts 2 offers fans the richest 3D graphics and effects ever seen in the franchise, which makes for a more polished and appealing gameplay experience. The humorous interactions between the characters, as well as their strong charisma, also stand out. In addition, the game's mysterious missions and eccentric challenges make Psychonauts 2 a must-have for adventure aficionados.

Features

- Experience a creative and cinematic story that blends humor and intrigue, created by legendary game designer Tim Schafer (Grim Fandango, Brütal Legend, Broken Age).

- Explore unique environments using Raz's ability to enter people's minds to battle their inner demons, unlock hidden memories, and solve their emotional problems.

- Acrobatically leap through the air, over ropes and trapeze in a varied, challenging, and fun platformer experience.

- Use various powerful psychic powers to explode, incinerate, and levitate things, or even slow down time to solve environmental puzzles and strange enemies.

Trivia

- Psychonauts 2 was briefly released on the Xbox store for pre-load on May 5th 2021, but was removed less than an hour later.

- Psychonauts 2 was developed without any development crunch, as Double Fine founder Tim Schafer learned from the severe crunch times on the first game how unsustainable that style of game development is.

- GameInformer's May 2021 issue featured Psychonauts 2 as its cover story, and provided exclusive details about Hollis' Mind.

- Psychonauts 2 was stated by Tim Schafer to have "even more brains than the first game," which included 10 mental words. The game in general seems to have a much larger scope than its predecessor.

- The final line of dialogue to be recorded for Psychonauts 2 was Richard Steven Horvitz as Raz, saying: "I hope Ford dismantles this thing... or Bob turns it into a planter."

- There are a lot more characters with five fingers on each hand in Psychonauts 2, than in the first game. It's possible the reason is that the models in the second game are much more detailed. Still, most of the characters with 4 fingers are recurrent characters.

- There is an artwork gaffe in the intro video to the game, which recaps the events of both Psychonauts and Rhombus of Ruin. It depicts Raz, Coach Oleander, Milla, Sasha, and Ford running to the jet for the rescue mission to find Truman Zanotto. However, at the end of Psychonauts, Ford was briefly put out of commission, and it was Lili - not Ford - who went on the mission to find her father.

- In addition to the callbacks to the preceding Psychonauts and Rhombus of Ruin, Psychonauts 2 has multiple references to prior games worked on by Tim Schafer at both Double Fine and Lucasarts.

- he PSI King's Sensorium has numerous references to prior Double Fine game Brütal Legend, including and due in part to Helmut Fullbear's voice actor, actor/comedian/musician/songwriter Jack Black, who also voiced that game's protagonist, Eddie Riggs.

- The roulette croupier at the Lady Luctopus Casino says the same French and English lines said by the croupier at Manny's night club in Lucasarts' Grim Fandango.

Minimum requirements

- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

- OS: Any 64 bit Linux OS.

- Processor: Intel Core i3-3225, AMD Phenom II X6 1100T

- Memory: 8 GB RAM

- Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, AMD Radeon RX 560

- Storage: 30 GB available space

- Other notes: 2 GB video memory

- Essential: Steam account!

So folks, in these hard times of ours, taking an escape into a magical world from the creative mind of Tim Schafer might be a great mental hygiene, since good magical stories are what we need. A big hug, and see you next time!

Good Words, Good Deeds, Good News

compiled by Meemaw

Hero Dog Saves Family!

A family in Coventry, Rhode Island, was saved from a house fire recently because their dog knew exactly what to do. According to the Hopkins Hill Fire Department, the family's 10-month-old puppy started making a lot of noise, and it woke one of the residents. He realized something was wrong right away.

The moment he looked out a sliding door, he saw the deck area was engulfed in flames.

"He woke up everyone else," the Fire Chief explained. "But, their dog got him to be aware."

Five adults escaped the danger thanks to the young Labrador.

Rescue Dog Finds A Home

A dog rescued from a New York dogfighting ring has found a second chance at life with a new owner in Kentucky.

Arlo, a two-year-old pitbull, was rescued last August after being one of nearly 90 dogs discovered in 10 different locations on Long Island, all living in terrible conditions and being used in a dog fighting ring. During her involvement, Arlo sustained a number of injuries.

She was transferred to St. Louis' Even Chance Pit Bull Advocacy + Resources + Rescue. There, she underwent treatment and was given one-on-one training. These steps made it possible for her to find a forever home. She now lives with her new owner Jonathon Seale.

"I've had Arlo for about four weeks now," Seale told WBRD News. "She's brought me a ton of happiness. I moved here in the middle of the pandemic not knowing anyone."

Together for roughly two months, the pair have found a routine.

"Every morning we go for a walk and every evening we come walk through old Louisville," Seale told WDRB. "She was a little skittish at first coming in. She's been through a lot in a very short amount of time."

He looks forward to coming to see Arlo after a long day.

Girl Demands Release

Ivan Fox got into someone else's truck outside a gas station in Nassau County, Florida while two young children were inside it. However, the suspect apparently let the children out nearby because one of them spoke up during the tense moments.

"That little girl was so brave," noted K-9 Deputy Beth Smith. "She demanded that he let them out and demanded that she get her brother out."

After Fox let the children out, he drove to Georgia, only to be cut off by deputies. He then drove back to Florida, running the truck off the road into a ditch. An accompanying photo on social media showed Smith with K-9 Rogue who helped with the case by chasing down the man after he fled the truck and ran into the woods.

Boy, Missing Since 2019, Is Found

Connorjack had been reported missing from his California home in 2019. Diagnosed with Autism, he had run away before, but had always been found. This time, however, it had been nearly three years without a trace of him.

Residents in Summit County, Utah, recently noticed a homeless person sleeping at a store. They became concerned when they realized he was shivering. The police were called and the officer offered him a seat in his patrol car, so he could warm up. After refusing to identify himself, he did let the police run his fingerprint, which resulted in his identification as Connorjack. His mother and step-dad were notified, and they rushed to Utah to pick him up.

"There wasn't a dry eye in the room and we're talking law enforcement, family members, they been reunited with this individual they haven't seen for three years when he was 16, he's now 19," a Summit County Deputy said.

Georgia Couple Praises Lord For Their Adopted & Biological Children

Kim & Jason had tried to have children, even to the point of undergoing fertility testing. Five years into their marriage, they decided to adopt instead, adopting two brothers, ages three and four. For the next year, the family did some healing, helping Kim & Jason heal from their problems conceiving, and helping the boys heal from their time in foster care. They were looking into adopting another child when Kim found out she was pregnant! Since adopting the boys, three biological children have joined the family.

According to Kim, "Mother's Day was something I dreaded, just wanted it to be over, didn't want to have anything to do with it; and so now, it's really been redeemed, just to really be grateful for everything God has blessed us with. It's more than I could've asked for."

Geofence Warrants & Reverse Keyword Warrants Are So Invasive,

Even Big Tech Wants To Ban Them

by Matthew Guariglia

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Reprinted under Creative Commons Attribution License

Geofence and reverse keyword warrants are some of the most dangerous, civil-liberties-infringing and reviled tools in law enforcement agencies' digital toolbox. It turns out that these warrants are so invasive of user privacy that big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo are willing to support banning them. The three tech giants have issued a public statement through a trade organization,"Reform Government Surveillance,'' that they will support a bill before the New York State legislature. The Reverse Location Search Prohibition Act, A. 84/ S. 296, would prohibit government use of geofence warrants and reverse warrants, a bill that EFF also supports. Their support is welcome, especially since we've been calling on companies like Google, which have a lot of resources and a lot of lawyers, to do more to resist these kinds of government requests.

Under the Fourth Amendment, if police can demonstrate probable cause that searching a particular person or place will reveal evidence of a crime, they can obtain a warrant from a court authorizing a limited search for this evidence. In cases involving digital evidence stored with a tech company, this typically involves sending the warrant to the company and demanding they turn over the suspect's digital data.

Geofence and reverse keyword warrants completely circumvent the limits set by the Fourth Amendment. If police are investigating a crime--anything from vandalism to arson--they instead submit requests that do not identify a single suspect or particular user account. Instead, with geofence warrants, they draw a box on a map, and compel the company to identify every digital device within that drawn boundary during a given time period. Similarly, with a "keyword" warrant, police compel the company to hand over the identities of anyone who may have searched for a specific term, such as a victim's name or a particular address where a crime has occurred.

These reverse warrants have serious implications for civil liberties. Their increasingly common use means that anyone whose commute takes them goes by the scene of a crime might suddenly become vulnerable to suspicion, surveillance, and harassment by police. It means that an idle Google search for an address that corresponds to the scene of a robbery could make you a suspect. It also means that with one document, companies would be compelled to turn over identifying information on every phone that appeared in the vicinity of a protest, as happened in Kenosha, Wisconsin during a protest against police violence. And, as EFF has argued in amicus briefs, it violates the Fourth Amendment because it results in an overbroad fishing-expedition against unspecified targets, the majority of whom have no connection to any crime.

In the statement released by the companies, they write that, "This bill, if passed into law, would be the first of its kind to address the increasing use of law enforcement requests that, instead of relying on individual suspicion, request data pertaining to individuals who may have been in a specific vicinity or used a certain search term." This is an undoubtedly positive step for companies that have a checkered history of being cavalier with users' data and enabling large-scale government surveillance. But they can do even more than support legislation in one state. Companies can still resist complying with geofence warrants across the country, be much more transparent about the geofence warrants it receives, provide all affected users with notice, and give users meaningful choice and control over their private data.

Repo Review: Video Editors

by CgBoy

Whether you're creating YouTube videos, producing a cinematic film, or simply assembling a collection of your old home movies, having a decent video editor is essential. Thankfully, there are many free options available. In this article, I'll give a quick overview of what I believe are the best video editors available in the PCLinuxOS repository.

Kdenlive

Kdenlive is a full-featured, multi-track video editor suitable for both professional and basic use. It supports most video and audio formats, as well as 4K footage, and also has a built-in subtitle editor with speech recognition abilities. Kdenlive has a well designed and easy to use interface. A project bin, timeline, and audio mixer dominate the window, along with two video preview screens. One is for previewing a clip currently selected in the project bin, and the other is for playing back the entire project. Kdenlive can create lower resolution proxies of your video clips to improve editing performance.

You can drag video and audio clips directly into the timeline, which can have as many tracks as you need. Audio and video clips are separated onto their own tracks. Clip editing is reasonably straightforward. Trimming can be done by adjusting the edges of clips, and you are given an assortment of editing tools for cutting and splitting clips.

Kdenlive comes with a large amount of effects and transitions, and more can be downloaded and installed. It can do chroma keying (Green screening) and rotoscoping, along with other video compositing tasks. You can also switch Kdenlive's interface layout to Color mode for added convenience while color grading your footage. There are many color adjustment effects available, and you are provided with a histogram, waveform monitor, and vectorscope.

Kdenlive also has a useful built-in tool for creating 2D titles for your project. Exporting a project is a simple enough task, and Kdenlive provides you with plenty of format options, along with many quick presets to use. Overall, Kdenlive is an excellent video editor for professionals and beginners alike.

OpenShot

OpenShot is a simple, yet powerful video editor with unlimited track support. It is definitely the easiest to use video editor on this list. OpenShot has a much simpler, but extremely user-friendly interface. You're given a simple timeline, video preview screen, and project bin, where you can easily drag and drop all your video and audio clips. You can then drag clips from the project bin onto any track in the timeline, and adding more tracks is a simple task. Clip trimming is accomplished by adjusting the start and end points of a clip, and splitting can be done using the razor tool. In general, editing is very easy in OpenShot.

OpenShot provides you with a very large variety of transitions and a decent amount of effects for use in your projects. You can do chroma keying, and some basic compositing, too. Adding effects is as simple as dragging them onto clips in the timeline. In addition to the effects, OpenShot also lets you add Emoji icons into your videos, which can be keyframed and animated quite easily.

OpenShot also has a tool for creating title cards, with numerous default templates available. Animated titles are also available, along with animated lens flare and snow effects, although this requires Blender to be installed and does take some time to render. Exporting your project is extremely easy, and OpenShot provides you with a large number of presets and format options. All in all, OpenShot is a very easy and intuitive video editor to use.

Shotcut

Shotcut is a powerful, professional-grade, non-linear video editor with advanced compositing tools. It has JACK audio connection support, and also features video capturing through HDMI and webcams. Shotcut has a functional interface, though it is perhaps not quite as polished as Kdenlive or OpenShot. The layout is mostly the same as the previous two editors, with a project bin, timeline, audio meter, and preview monitor occupying the screen. Like Kdenlive, Shotcut can also create low resolution proxy versions of your video clips for better editing performance.

Editing in Shotcut is quite easy, though a little less intuitive than OpenShot. Shotcut provides you with a plethora of editing tools for splitting, cutting, trimming, and any other editing task you might need. You can also record audio straight into the timeline.

Shotcut includes a tremendous amount of effects and transitions for use in your projects. Among these are a large amount of audio filters and effects. Chroma keying, rotoscoping, noise reduction, and full color grading are all possible, and Shotcut even supports loading in 3D LUT color profiles. Numerous other compositing tools are also available.

As with the other editors, Shotcut provides many exportation presets, and also lets you define your own parameters. On the whole, Shotcut is a very powerful video editor well suited for professional work, but it does have a slight learning curve.

Cinelerra

Cinelerra is a multi-track, non-linear video editor intended for professional use. It has support for 8K video, motion tracking, and even rendering projects using a render farm. Cinelerra's interface is a bit different from the other editors, in that it consists of four detached windows making up the timeline, project bin, compositor, and preview monitor. Like the other editors, Cinelerra also supports creating proxy versions of your clips to increase playback performance.

Cinelerra has some advanced editing features, such as support for multi-camera shots, making it easier to sync up video and audio clips with each other. There are many editing tools available, and cutting and trimming clips is a reasonably simple task. The multi window interface can sometimes make editing a little more cumbersome, though.

Cinelerra supplies you with a huge wealth of video and audio effects, and it also has support for LV2 audio plugins. Effects and transitions are relatively easy to apply, and one effect can easily be extended to cover multiple clips. As with the other editors, Cinelerra has numerous advanced compositing features, including chroma keying, masking, image stabilization, and more, as well as full color grading tools.

Rendering projects is a little less straightforward in Cinelerra, though you are given complete control over all the settings. There are, unfortunately, no default presets included to make exporting videos quicker and easier. Cinelerra can also render and burn projects directly to DVD. All in all, Cinelerra is a very feature-rich video editor that is probably better suited to professionals than beginners.

Summary

As you can see, depending on your use case, there are several great video editors to choose from. For small projects and for beginners, I think OpenShot is probably the best option due to its ease of use, while for more professional work, Shotcut and Cinelerra are better choices due to their advanced features. All around, though, I think my favorite video editor is Kdenlive, because it managed to combine ease of use with feature-rich editing.

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner Bonus:

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Creamy Parmesan Pork Chop Skillet

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 boneless pork chops (1 1/2 lb), trimmed of fat

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup thinly sliced sweet onions

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (2 oz)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley

1 pouch (4.7 oz) Betty Crocker™ roasted garlic mashed potatoes, prepared as directed on pouch

https://www.bettycrocker.com/products/betty-crocker-potatoes/flavored-mashed/roasted-garlic

Directions:

Rub pork chops with salt and pepper. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat. Add pork; cook 2 to 4 minutes or until browned on the first side. Turn pork; reduce heat to medium; cook 1 to 2 minutes or until browned on the second side. Transfer to a plate; cover with foil to keep warm. Butter will be very dark.

Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter and the onions to skillet; cook 3 to 4 minutes or until onions soften and begin to brown. Stir in flour; cook and stir for 30 to 60 seconds or until mixture thickens and begins to brown. Stir in broth and whipping cream; heat to simmer over medium-high heat. Return pork to skillet; reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 4 to 6 minutes or until pork is no longer pink in center (at least 145F).

Remove from heat; transfer pork to plates. Stir Parmesan cheese into sauce mixture in skillet. Spoon sauce over pork; top with parsley. Serve with potatoes.

Tips:

Trim fat from pork chops before cooking. DO NOT overcook.

Add sautéed fresh mushrooms to gravy.

Substitute Noodles or Rice for potatoes.

Nutrition:

Calories: 750           Carbs: 38g           Fiber: 2g           Sodium: 1520mg           Protein: 48g

PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

Sudoku

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Scrappler

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Crossword

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WordFind

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Mixed Up meme Scrambler

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