Volume 143 December, 2018 Hhaappppyy Hhoolliiddaayyss
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Volume 143 December, 2018 HHaappppyy HHoolliiddaayyss PCLinuxOS Magazine Page 1 In This Issue ... 3 From The Chief Editor's Desk ... 6 Paul's 2018 Holiday Gift Guide The PCLinuxOS name, logo and colors are the trademark of 10 Meemaw's 2018 Holiday Gift Guide Texstar. 13 Screenshot Showcase The PCLinuxOS Magazine is a monthly online publication 14 YouCanToo's 2018 Holiday Gift Guide containing PCLinuxOS-related materials. It is published primarily for members of the PCLinuxOS community. The 17 phorneker's 2018 Holiday Gift Guide magazine staff is comprised of volunteers from the 20 ms_meme's Nook: Don't Bring Windows PCLinuxOS community. 21 PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Double Barbecue Bacon Chicken Visit us online at http://www.pclosmag.com 22 Screenshot Showcase This release was made possible by the following volunteers: 23 YouTube: Now Offering Free Movies With Ads Chief Editor: Paul Arnote (parnote) 25 Screenshot Showcase Assistant Editor: Meemaw Artwork: ms_meme, Meemaw 26 Until AM: So You Think You Can Scratch? Magazine Layout: Paul Arnote, Meemaw, ms_meme HTML Layout: YouCanToo 30 Alternatives To Dropbox, Part One Staff: 33 The Best Audio (Codec) You Probably Haven't Heard ms_meme CgBoy 34 Screenshot Showcase Meemaw YouCanToo Gary L. Ratliff, Sr. Pete Kelly 35 Short Topix: Berners-Lee Seeks Web Reset Daniel Meiß-Wilhelm Antonis Komis daiashi Khadis Thok 39 Screenshot Showcase Alessandro Ebersol Smileeb 40 Inkscape Tutorial: Snowflakes And Christmas Trees Contributors: 44 PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight: iceman Jabari Zakiya 46 Repo Review: Cool Retro Term 47 ms_meme's Nook: The Twelve Days Of Linux 49 PCLinuxOS Bonus Recipe Corner: The PCLinuxOS Magazine is released under the Creative Dijon Chicken Smothered In Mushrooms Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 Unported license. Some rights are reserved. 50 Testimonials! Copyright © 2018. 51 Screenshot Showcase 52 PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions 56 More Screenshot Showcase PCLinuxOS Magazine Page 2 From The Chief Editor's Desk ... Isn’t it strange how some people come into your life distributed MiniHelp Plus, a help authoring program delay, the very well spoken and kind lady on the just when you need them the most? We may not and system for the old RTF-based Windows Help other end established if I was, indeed, the always realize it at the time. Sometimes, we may system, more affectionately known as Winhelp. Most programmer/author of Arsenal.dll. I confirmed that I even be a bit reluctant to open the door for them to of what I did, programming wise, centered around was that person. Like a racehorse out of the gate, an come in. But some people are so persistent, there the Windows Help subsystem. One aspect of that immediate friendship was born. simply is no telling them “No.” Closed doors are no was seeing how far I could “push” Winhelp to do obstacle, either. They just keep knocking until the things it really never was intended to do. Ralph She went on to detail her pet project, Vacation door is answered. They’ll even find a way to force Walden, the Winhelp project lead at Microsoft at that Alaska (now defunct). It was an electronic publishing their way in, if you don’t open the door. time, had the foresight to make Winhelp extensible attempt when most people hadn’t even heard of – or with specially designed dynamic linked libraries, or considered – electronic publishing. She was looking I once had a friend just like that. DLLs. To that end, I was also the programmer/author to move it from its DOS based roots, to the more of Arsenal.dll. It had a literal arsenal of tools that robust Winhelp. Arsenal.dll helped her overcome allowed the display of true color images (native some of the inherent limitations of the standard Winhelp support for images was limited to a 16 color Winhelp, making it her first choice as the new palette … you could display whatever color you destination platform. Two people talking about wanted, just so long as it ONLY included those 16 something they had in common: a passion for using colors), video playback, audio playback, and a whole Winhelp as an electronic publishing platform host of other “delights” that typically weren’t available within the RTF-based Winhelp. Hence, its That phone call couldn’t have come at a better time, name … Arsenal.dll. during one of the worse and darkest periods in my life. I certainly felt alone. I was living in a town that Email didn’t play as “big” of a role then, as it does was about 200 Km from my family. I had moved now. It wasn’t as easy to find someone as it is now. there, foolishly, to be nearer the fleecing girlfriend. Me, with my wife, Laura. The internet, compared to what it is today, was in its She was history, so there I was, alone, and I really infancy. BBS systems were waning, Usenet didn’t know anyone else in town. Town? It barely had I guess I should back up a bit. There is a bit of a newsgroups were THE thing, AltaVista and Yahoo 1,800 people in it. Talk about feeling like a fish out of “backstory” here, and I need to fill in some gaps for competed for the top spot among web search water! I had moved from the Kansas City area, this all to make sense. Back in the 1990s, I had just engines, and IRC was still king of the online chat. where the metropolitan population is somewhere been through a divorce with my second wife. The Online “people searches” hadn’t really been around 2,000,000 people. Yes, million. Two of them. “girlfriend” after my second divorce took advantage organized into the big business that it is today. But, of me, financially. Between the bills I “inherited” from to my friend, none of that deterred her. She set out If you don’t know much about small towns in the my second wife, coupled with the financial to find me, and failure was not one of her options. rural parts of the midwestern U.S., let me tell you a shellacking of the girlfriend, I was in a bad, bad few things. First, the sidewalk literally rolls up at six place. I often wondered how I’d afford my next meal. One day, out of the blue, I got a phone call. It was or seven in the evening. Most of the local I worked full time, and still just barely managed to from a phone number and name I did not recognize. businesses cease operation. The only things open in keep a roof over my head, and just barely kept my After having been bombarded endlessly by creditors town after that time were a convenience store, a bar, aging vehicle road worthy. I was unable to pay their desired payments, I McDonalds, and Pizza Hut. Second, you’re either remember almost not answering the phone. At first from there, or you’re not. And if you’re not, good luck During that same time, I was a small time Windows reluctant and thinking it was yet another creditor, I fitting in and making friends. Once an “outsider,” Shareware programmer and author. I wrote and relented and answered the phone. Without much you’re always an outsider. Oh, people are kind and PCLinuxOS Magazine Page 3 From The Chief Editor's Desk ... “friendly,” but that isn’t the same as friendship. As large million dollar condo. It was literally feet from Finally, in or around 2004, while I was with the last hard and as much as I tried, I never really made the lake. Go out on her dock just 30 feet from her girlfriend before I met my current wife, Laura, we friends there. I was that prototypical outsider. In patio door, and you literally were standing on Lake made a brief trip down to Hot Springs to finally meet retrospect, the longer that situation went on, the Hamilton. my long time friend. The image above is from that harder I tried. In the end, I probably tried too hard trip. After nine years of talking on the phone, we and too much, without any gain. My friend was a pioneer, of sorts. It was a role that finally got the opportunity to meet, face to face. she loved. She fell in love with – and moved to – That first phone call lasted for HOURS. Over the Alaska before it was even a state of the U.S. Her After my wife and I married in 2006, we took a ensuing years, the phone calls became regular, tales included how she and her then husband built delayed honeymoon down to Hot Springs, where we sometimes daily, as we talked about every topic roads for the logging industry in Alaska. There were were my friend’s guest in her million dollar condo. under the sun. Sometimes, the phone calls were just tales of her as a bush pilot, flying with high profile We had a great time, as newlyweds typically do, but minutes long. But, most often, they were hours long. visitors into the Alaskan wilderness. There were still we also spent some high quality time with my friend, Such was the bonus of having unlimited long other tales of hunting moose, caribou, bear and deer just the three of us. distance calling on my landline, long before it was to provide meat for the camp meals. There were popular or prevalent. many tales of fishing. One of her favorite sayings and advice was to fill up your life with the three “F’s” I knew she was older than me, but I never knew how … friends, family and fishing.