Here’s a snippet from the BBC television show Click. They review PCLinuxOS and have some very nice things to say about it.

You can see the original post and review on Click’s site here.

PCLinuxOS is one of the very best Linux distributions in use around the world today. It’s easy to test drive (via a Live CD), install, and use. Plus, it has one of the nicest, most helpful forums around. The folks on the PCLinuxOS forums are extremely knowledgeable about Linux and very friendly and approachable..

When you download and install PCLinuxOS, simply create an account on the PCLinuxOS forums, introduce yourself, and jump right into the discussion.  The forum has also posted a very informative guide to help you more easily join the discussion.

So, give PCLinuxOS a try!  The fist step, obviously,  is getting it. You can download a variety of desktop environment versions here.

And, like most Linux distributions, PCLinuxOS is free!

PCLinuxOS.  A stable, free to use and own, fully functional operating system with thousands of software apps.  What’s not to like?

Be careful when using public computers. Thieves could be lying in wait to steal your banking and identity information.

Recently, hardware keyloggers were found on library computers in the UK.  I learned this from a post on the PCLinuxOS forums (by menotu).  You can read the article here.  You can also view a brief video from the BBC here.

You might be asking yourself, “What the heck is a hardware keylogger?”

A keylogger is a simple little device that plugs into the USB port of any computer.  Then, you plug the keyboard into the keylogger. Now, whatever is typed on the keyboard is automatically recorded by the keylogger device.

These devices are popular with writers.  I can imagine having one of these being a lifesaver if yourcomputer had drive crashed or became infected. You could simply unplug the keylogger, plug it into another computer, and retrieve all your keystokes/text.

They are perfectly legal.  And, as the linked article points out, a keylogger works on any computer running any operating system (Windows, Mac, or Linux).

“The advantages of using a hardware keylogger are that they work regardless of the operating system the host machine is running, require little expertise to use and they are very hard for anti-malware software to detect.”

And therein lies the problem. Because they are legal (and work universally), a thief can easily obtain one, plug it into a public computer, and allow it to record all the keystrokes of all the users.  He/she then returns to retrieve the device.  And the keylogger could now contain sensitive banking information, passwords, etc.

So the moral of the story here is, be very careful when using a public computer.  Think twice before using one for online banking or anything else that requires keying in sensitive information.

The original Fountain Pentel Pen.

Paul Fell, a very talented cartoonist and good friend, introduced me to a terrific pen for cartooning a number of years ago. It was the Fountain Pentel Pen.

The Fountain Pentel was a disposable fountain pen and allowed the cartoonist to draw with a varying line thickness.  And laying down thin and thick lines really gives life and spark to your cartoons.

Well the Fountain Pentel was wonderful!  After using it, I posted on an older website of mine, “A cartoonist friend recently introduced me to the Fountain Pentel pen and it is absolutely the most amazing pen I’ve ever used! Made by Pentel, it has a fountain pen shaped nib that holds up over a long period of time. It gives thin and thick lines, has a great looking ink…and unfortunately has been discontinued. If you can find these pens (they sell for about $2.00-$3.00), snap them up!”

Well, it was true. It had been discontinued. I couldn’t find them locally at all. Fortunately, Paul located some in his neck of he woods and was kind enough to mail me several.

I used and treated them like gold knowing I had a finite supply.

Just the other day, I looked in my stash of Fountain Pentels and noticed I was down to my last one!

Unbelievably, simply through needing a fresh supply of other pens and cartooning tools, I discovered that Pentel has brought back the Fountain Pentel and are selling it under the new name,  “Stylo.”

I snapped up a few to make sure it was the same pen.  It is.

Like I said, it’s an amazing and wonderful pen for cartooning.  Grab it and take it for a test drive. You won’t be disappointed.

You can get the pen from amazon.com. (And  I think my friend Paul may be getting a few in the mail soon, too.)

My alma mater is The Ohio State University.  I’m a life member of the alumni association.  And, like many other alums, I’m on a lot of the university’s mailing lists.

On February 16, 2011, I (along with other Alumni, students, faculty, and staff) received an email from Ohio State University  president E. Gordon Gee.

The email contained a jaw-dropping announcement!  A 100 million dollar gift to The Ohio State University from Les Wexner, founder of The Limited. It’s the largest philanthropic gift in university history.

Dr. Gee correctly characterized this 100 million dollar gift as “a transformative moment in the history of this university.”

It was a wonderful day for the university and buckeyes everywhere.  You can read more about it here.

Thank you , Mr.  Wexner.  God bless you.

A lightning bolt created entirely in Gimp.

On Tuesday,  I posted a friendly reminder about lighting and protecting your computer.

I needed an image for that post, and quickly turned to The Gimp to create it.  And it was easy!

I first went to Deviant Art and downloaded lighting brushes for Gimp. You can get those here.

Extract the file and drop it into your /.gimp/brushes folder (Fro Linux users).

Then, Open Gimp, select the brush tool, scroll down the brush tool menu and select a lighting bolt. Adjust the color and size and click the mouse on your canvass.  You’ve just created a lighting bolt!

Use a dark solid color as a background so the lighting effect stands out.  For added effect, I used a dark gradient.

Get Linux, Get Gimp, get creative!

(Editor’s note: This article by Mark Szorady is a reprint from a blog post that previously appeared on oneclicklinux.com.  We felt it would be informative here on georgetoon.com.)