PCLinuxOS

Here’s the new releases as of this morning:

xf86-input-fpit 1.4.0 – The xf86-input-fpit driver is for legacy hardware, namely the Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet PCs. This new Fujitsu input driver release just brings a bug fix, compatibility with the latest X.Org driver, and various clean-ups.

xf86-input-elographics 1.3.0 – The xf86-input-elographics is for old Elo touch-screen hardware. This X.Org input driver is just for their older touch computers — i.e. their older VIA Eden systems that are quite slow but physically built quite well and popular in point-of-sale environments (I have lots of Elo experience from one of my other companies). The Elo X.Org driver update just has a few bug-fixes and support for the X Server’s input ABI 12.

xf86-input-hyperpen 1.4.0 – The xf86-input-hyperpen driver is for very old HyperPen input devices, which you’ll be very hard pressed to find these days. “This driver is one of the legacy input drivers and if you know users of this driver you might want to put them under a display cabinet in a museum because they must have rarity value by now. There has been exactly one fix (in 2007) to this driver since the modularisation in 2003.” This release just fixes up support for the latest input ABI and some other minor changes.

xf86-input-penmount 1.5.0 – The driver for old PenMount input devices has also been updated with new ABI support and other minor clean-ups like the other drivers.

xf86-input-mutouch 1.3.0 – The xf86-input-mutouch driver is for select MicroTouch devices. This driver too now works with X.Org input ABI 12 and carries other minor fixes.

xf86-input-synaptics 1.4.1 – Of the driver releases this week by Peter, the xf86-input-synaptics driver should at least see some downloads since it’s at least still used and works with some modern Synaptics touch-pads. Still though, this point release isn’t particularly exciting. The Synaptics 1.4.1 driver update carries two fixes to syndaemon, an include update, and fixes a manual typo. In addition the 50-synaptics.conf file was modified based on user feedback in the xorg migration thread to function better out of the box.

These packages will be part of your normal Synaptic Package Manager updates.

written by admin

1. Maximize the KDE Panel
Right Click on the panel and select Unlock Widgets
Click on the Cashew on the right side of the panel
Click on More Settings
Click on Maximize Panel
Click on the red X to close

2. Thunderbird open Link in Firefox
Launch Firefox
Click on Preferences -> Advanced -> General -> Set Firefox as default browser.

3. Enable ATi fglrx driver Tear Free mode.
Open the Menu -> More Applications -> Configuration -> Ati Catalyst Control Center
Click on Display Options -> Tear Free
Check the box that says Enable Tear Free Desktop to reduce tearing
Click on Apply
Click on OK

4. Enable Automatic Updates
Open the Configure your Computer (PCLinuxOS Control Center)
Click on System
Click on Manage System Services
Check APT to start at boot
Click on Start
Click OK

* An update notifier for your taskbar will be available when yum and yumex comes out of testing.

5. Switch PCLinuxOS to the language of your choice
Click on the Localization Manager icon on your Desktop
Select your native language
Click OK
Wait while PCLinuxOS downloads additional translations
PCLinuxOS will reboot your system after installation is complete
Enjoy PCLinuxOS in your native language.

6. Install LibreOffice in the language of your choice
Click on the LibreOffice icon on your Desktop
Select your native language
Click on OK
Wait while PCLinuxOS installs Java then LibreOffice.
Once everything has been installed click on OK
Enjoy LibreOffice in your native language.

7. Install KDE 4 Help files
Open the Synaptic Package Manager
Click reload to get a current file listing
Click on search
type in task-kde4-help
Right click on task-kde4-help entry
Mark for installation
Click Apply
Click Apply

written by admin

PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.6 for 32 and 64 bits computers is now available for download. A 64 bit only release will be available in the coming weeks. PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.6 features the following updates.

The PCLinuxOS 2011.6 Desktop

What’s new:

Kernel – The kernel was updated to version 2.6.38.8. Additional kernels are available from our repositories such as a PAE kernel for computers with more than 4 gigs of memory. A BFS kernel for maximum desktop performance and a standard kernel with group scheduling enabled.

Xorg - Xorg server was updated to version 1.10.2. Mesa updated to 7.10.3 and libdrm to version 2.4.26. This update brings enhancements to the PCLinuxOS desktop including speed, 3D desktop support for most Intel, Nvidia and AMD/ATi video cards, better font rendering, black screen fixes for most Nvidia cards, better Flash playback and more. The most recent versions of Nvidia and AMD/ATi video drivers are included on the LiveCD and automatically configured for you. The bad news is users with older legacy video cards included in most dated computers may not function properly due to many depreciated xorg video drivers.

Toolchain – Gcc software compiler was updated to version 4.5.2 and glibc updated to 2.10.1. Locales were updated to version 2.12.1.

Package Manager – RPM was updated to version 4.8.1. apt-get and the Synaptic Package Manager were also updated to work with the updated rpm packages. yum and yumex will be available in the coming weeks as an alternative package manager.

Theme Update – The 2011 release received a full makeover. PCLinuxOS features a new brush metal theme including updates to grub, plymouth, kdm, kdesplash and application splash screens. Additional themes are available as well as our previous theme from our software repository.

Theme screenshots located here: http://goo.gl/il3CG

Remastering Tools – mylivecd was updated to work with the latest release. mylivecd added the ability to install PCLinuxOS from the boot menu without having to go to the desktop first. There are 3 compression schemes available now for remastering your installation. xz maximum compression, xz normal compression and gzip for fast compression. xz max takes longer to generate the LiveCD but produces the most compressed image where as gzip will create a LiveCD fairly quick but the compressed image will be larger. mylivecd can also generate a LiveDVD with up to 4 gigs of compressed data. Usually a 10-12 gig installation will compress into a 4 gig DVD.

Software – PCLinuxOS 2011 LiveCD come with the latest versions of most popular programs such as KDE 4.6.4, Firefox 5.0, Thunderbird 3.1.11, Pidgin 2.9.0, VLC 1.10.0 and Clementine 0.7.1 just to name a few. OpenOffice Manager has been replaced with LibreOffice Manager. Due to the limited size of the LiveCD the office suite is not included but can be installed through the LibreOffice Manager either in LiveCD mode (3 gigs memory required) or preferably after hard drive installation. Addlocale has updated translations and can convert a PCLinuxOS installation into over 70 different languages. The software included on the LiveCD was based on community feedback as to what the PCLinuxOS users wanted to be included by default.

A complete package list of what is available on the LiveCD can be found here.

PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.6 iso is available through the following torrent link from our wonderful friends at ibiblio.org.

http://torrent.ibiblio.org/doc/pclinuxos-live-cd-2011-6-release/201/torrents

And available on the following mirrors:

http://ftp.ch.debian.org/mirror/pclinuxos/live-cd/

http://debian.ethz.ch/mirror/pclinuxos/live-cd/

http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/pclinuxos/live-cd/

http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/pclinuxos/live-cd/

http://ftp.vim.org/ibiblio/distributions/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/live-cd/

http://ftp.nluug.nl/ibiblio/distributions/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/live-cd/

http://na.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/pclinuxos/live-cd/

md5sum: 59e1ba0b355b60c755f034433fc43f73  pclinuxos-kde-2011.6.iso

*Please note existing PCLinuxOS users who have been keeping up with their Synaptic Package Manager updates do not need to download and install this release as you are already updated unless of course you just prefer to start with a clean installation. *

PCLinuxOS  is released under the following license: Apache, Artistic, BSD, GFDL, GPL, GPL-2, GPL-3, LGPL, LGPL-2.1, LGPL-3, MPL, Nvidia, AMD/ATi and Adobe Flash. PCLinuxOS is copyrighted 2003-2011 all rights reserved and trademarked through the Linux Mark Institute. Linux is trademarked by Linux Torvalds.

written by admin

The KDE desktop has been updated to version 4.6.4 and will appear shortly in your Synaptic Package Manager if you have the KDE desktop installed. This update brings some KDE desktop bug fixes as well as the same ole bugs that have been there for months. ha!

In addition ksysguard was fixed and will show in the menu monitoring section. The PCLinuxOS menu icon has been updated to match the new brushed metal theme. This customization has been split into a separate package to make it easy to update and change without having to install an updated 30mb oxygen icon theme every time we want to check out a different icon. If you have problems viewing the new icon then delete kde cache file in the /tmp folder. ie kdecache-texstar log out and back in again.

For those who wish to retain the blue circle icon will need to locate the start-here-kde.png in their /usr/share/icons/oxygen/XXxXX/places folder and save them prior to updating to the new packages.

I have not yet updated the KDEpim package (kontact, kmail, knode etc) to their latest release. It needs to be built then put in the testing section before going into updates.

kdepassword package has been depreciated and contains no files. This removes the password config from kde systemsettings since we use userdrake from Configure your Computer to work with user accounts.

kajongg package has been depreciated and contains no files because this game program has some missing parts and does not run properly. I will check it out later to see if it can be fixed or not.

Digikam Marble (geolocation) plugin has been split into a separate package so I can include Digikam on the PCLinuxOS LiveCD without having to pull in 35 mb of Marble packages. Hopefully this will leave enough room to include python-kde4 on the LiveCD which is needed when a user tries to download new wallpaper, themes and iconsets from kde-look.org.

written by admin

The PCLinuxOS Magazine staff is pleased to announce the release of the June 2011 issue of the PCLinuxOS Magazine.

In the June 2011 issue:

* WindowMaker On PCLinuxOS: WindowMaker Internals, Part 1
* Using Scribus, Part 6: Templates & Master Pages
* Backup Basics, Part 2: Using Clonezilla Live
* FOSSCOMM 2011: Patras, Greece
* Video: Part 7 – DVD2Xvid
* Video: Part 8 – AcidRip
* Xbindkeys: Stopping, Editing & Restarting With wbar
* Firefox Add-ons: Image Zoom
* The Linux Landscape: A Sea of Confusion?
* Using PCLinuxOS on Older Hardware
* Photo Viewers Galore, Part 2
* Alternate OS: Icaros, Part 4
* And much more!

Download or read here

written by admin