Magazine Article Ideas

[parnote]

Hey there!

The PCLinuxOS Magazine is produced by members of the community, for the PCLinuxOS community. As such, you should have some input regarding what you want to see in it (it's been this way all along).

Those of us who volunteer our efforts to make The PCLinuxOS Magazine come to life cannot possibly come up with all of the ideas for magazine articles. We also cannot write all of the articles you may wish to see, due to our varying backgrounds, areas of interest, and our skills set.

As such, I thought I'd open up a fresh thread where you ... the PCLinuxOS Forum community members ... can make suggestions of articles you'd like to see in The PCLinuxOS Magazine.

I'll kick this off with a list of articles ideas that I have. These are ideas, but I'm not sure I have the "ability" to write about some of these topics. If you see something in the list below that interests you, or that you happen to know a lot about, please dive in and write an article about it in the magazine. (Don't worry about your writing skills. Me, along with the other members of the magazine, will assist you and help make your article everything it should be.)

Also, if there is something that you'd like to see covered that doesn't appear in the following list, please post a reply to this thread and suggest it!

Article Ideas

     A Beginner's Guide to Using Kdenlive

     A How-To for Using CinePaint

     Using MondoLive/MondoBackup to Back Up Your System

     A Primer on Using dd

     How To Run ___________ in Wine (this one could turn into a regular feature of the magazine, called "The Wine Rack")

     Create Your Own Custom Plymouth Boot Splash

     Create Your Own GDM/KDM Login Screen


If you'd like to "tackle" any of the topics above, please feel free to PM me here in the forum.

If you have other ideas for articles, please list them in a reply to this thread.

Thanks for your help!

Paul Arnote [parnote]
PCLinuxOS Magazine Chief Editor

[wayne1932]

One thing that might be addressed is "samba and the home LAN."  My house has his and her desktops and laptops(wireless)  as well as a experimental machine.  Something is forever getting screwed up for no apparent reason.  Right now my network is completely down, I can't access any machine from anywhere. Seems like this happens every time there is a massive update.

I know there was an article sometime in the past, but if I recall correctly it was written for a different DE. I use KDE.  And things are different now.  I remember trying to set it up closely following his steps and ended up with nothing working.  I have tried editing the smb.conf file with mixed results.  That file is a universal fits all for all kinds of networks with everything commented out except......   The problems obviously are in the "except"  which can be unobtrusive. 

[parnote]

An update on Samba is a good idea!

Now to find someone to write that article, since I probably know more about doing the Mamba than I do about Samba. 

parnote

[longtom]

An update on Samba is a good idea!

Now to find someone to write that article, since I probably know more about doing the Mamba than I do about Samba. 

parnote

I'll beat you on the Mamba part .... 

This is a great idea of getting ideas out there.  If you want more help from the community, which you certainly deserve, you must remember that most of us are not Linux geeks.  That's why we use PCLinuxOS - it is so simple to use.

So some of the themes must be manageable for the less knowledgeable members to be able to learn them themselves and put this experience into an articulated form.

If you are an absolute "don't know a thing, I just press buttons" type like me, than you better post screenshots if you have any on offer.

I hope I could convey what I mean ... if not, please ask.   

[Neal ManBear]

How about an article on creating a home network both with and without windows machines? Many of us have no windows machines, while others do have them.

[Meemaw]

I agree wholeheartedly with parnote's first post ... while we have thought of several articles (and article series) to write, we can't necessarily think of everything that you readers want to see, since everyone is interested in different things. We are asking for suggestions from the people we are writing for, our readers.

Even if you think your subject suggestion is too basic, please submit it anyway.... we have many users who have just started into this wonderful distro and will be asking the basic questions. True, much of it is already  in the forum, but it never hurts to have some basicsg.

Also, please don't be hesitant to jump in and write an article if it is a subject you know about! I started out as only a proofreader, but have found myself writing more articles (Hopefully they are articles you can use.) The magazine staff cooperates well to make sure each article is clear and understandable.

All suggestions are appreciated!!!
 

Thanks wayne1932, longtom, & Neal!

[longtom]

How about an article on creating a home network both with and without windows machines? Many of us have no windows machines, while others do have them.

That could slot in with the Samba article I reckon.

[Neal ManBear]

How about an article on creating a home network both with and without windows machines? Many of us have no windows machines, while others do have them.

That could slot in with the Samba article I reckon.

I suppose I wasn't clear enough. I intended what I said to be 'in addition to' / 'a part of' what had already been said in the discussion.

[aguila]

How about

"How to refurbish / revive your old computer with PCLinuxOS"

Which could include

- general cosiderations and steps when planning to reuse an old box:
  - how to check the hardware and
  - for which purpose could I reuse it?
     - NAS
     - print / file server in a small network
     - desktop for guests / giveaway to family / "disadvantaged" kids
     - home supervision
     - etc.

- if desktop: which flavour of PCLOS to use with which specs
  - e.g. up to 256 MB ram, 1 GHz processor: Openbox, LXDE; 256 to 500 MB, 2 GHz cpu: add Gnome, XFCE; etc.

That's just to frame the idea, maybe links to tutorials / organizations may also be helpful here.

[parnote]

How about

"How to refurbish / revive your old computer with PCLinuxOS"

Which could include

- general cosiderations and steps when planning to reuse an old box:
  - how to check the hardware and
  - for which purpose could I reuse it?
     - NAS
     - print / file server in a small network
     - desktop for guests / giveaway to family / "disadvantaged" kids
     - home supervision
     - etc.

- if desktop: which flavour of PCLOS to use with which specs
  - e.g. up to 256 MB ram, 1 GHz processor: Openbox, LXDE; 256 to 500 MB, 2 GHz cpu: add Gnome, XFCE; etc.

That's just to frame the idea, maybe links to tutorials / organizations may also be helpful here.

Now there's something I do have some experience in. Good idea!

parnote

[wyzwyk]

How about having a comprehensive look at setting up and using the newly revamped activities feature in KDE 4.6?

[uncleV]

An article on chip cooling, PSUs, computer housing/chassis?

[Neal ManBear]

An article on chip cooling, PSUs, computer housing/chassis?

Good idea.

[parnote]

An article on chip cooling, PSUs, computer housing/chassis?

Anyone around here want to try their hand at this? I don't have a lot of experience in this area, since most of my computers are "rescued throwaways."

parnote

[Xenaflux]

Something that seems to be a " problem ", regardless of distro, is dual/triple monitor.

Many people ask me, why is it so easy in windows, sometimes difficult and sometimes impossible in Linux ?

Maybe something like that....

note: I could use that as I have 2 monitors, and never managed to...........you know