“PCLinuxOS is a live CD distribution that enables users to test Linux without actually having to install it. The highly anticipated new version, PCLinuxOS 2007, was released on Monday. Its intuitive selection of software, high level of stability and functionality, and the quality of the graphics make this the distribution’s best release ever.”
It’s left a sour taste in my mouth since last time I tried it (can’t remember the version, but wasn’t long ago) I had all manner of problems on a few different machines.
Main one was booting, once installed I couldn’t get the damn thing to boot even with one to one assistance from a PCLinuxOS guru. Something to do with SATA drives, never managed fixed the problem even with the help and never went back. Ended up knee deep in config files, which I wasn’t up for at all
I hope it’s better now, might try it again.
Edited 2007-05-23 09:55
I’ve used PCLOS for the past two years on dozens of machines with hardware configurations all over the map. Nevertheless, the distro performed better than any other distro with regards to hardware recognition and ease of configuration. It’s the easiest and most functional Linux distro hands down (in my opinion.) My only reason for not using it today is that it lacks an x86-64 bit port. You might want to try it again.
Same here.
A bit of a fanboy review that.
One of the most impressive things about PCLinuxOS is that it works brilliantly when it is installed onto a USB stick.
The author either ignored this, or did not know how well it works.
Just install it onto a USB stick, then all your favourite apps are ready to work, no matter whos computer you get to use.
He did of course mention the way PCLinuxOS works with multimedia out of the box. That point alone is very impressive.
“
”
TBH multimedia has worked out of the box for every distro I’ve used thus far (and it’s been quite a few).
Maybe I’ve just been lucky though.
I gather you haven’t used Ubuntu or Red Hat lately, or if no not used a variety of multimedia files. Ubuntu at least is easy to fix, but it is hardly out of the box. Haven’t checked the situation in Red Hat.
It is smell so much like windows =/
PCBSD has a start button too, but no matter how long you would hit me, i would not tell you that it makes PCBSD smell like windows.
OS aint about look.
no matter how long you would hit me
I’m not that angry =)
OS aint about look.
So why most users so concerned about UI?
UI is what you will use.
Although the overall appearance is pretty nice,
things like Windows-cloned “My computer” make me sad.
Whose computer is this if not mine?
Do average Joe know what the computer he using is actually his?
Of course, the start menu is less messy than Windows original.
At least we, (Linux users) have some logical separation of applications.
BTW: OS ain’t about name?
Ok, but some do care.
“So why most users so concerned about UI?”
because they’re looking for something familiar, not for something innovative? Maybe that’s why PCLOS looks (to me) too much like this “Windows XP”.
“UI is what you will use.”
No, the UI is a layer to the applications which you use in fact. But the UI is what you can see. The first view one someting (so somebody) has a deep impact and sets up a prejudice (I do not imply a negavtive connotation here.) which has a big influence on the opinion about an OS or an application. No matter how powerful a program is, if it does not have dancing elephants, it’s crap. 🙂
“Although the overall appearance is pretty nice,
things like Windows-cloned “My computer” make me sad.”
The color sceme and the button appereance supports this way of recognition.
“Whose computer is this if not mine?”
If I borrow a computer from Jim, is it “Jim’s computer” then? 🙂
“Do average Joe know what the computer he using is actually his?”
Help guy: Please click on “My Computer”.
Joe: How am I supposed to click on your computer?
“At least we, (Linux users) have some logical separation of applications.”
You are allowed to extend this to all UNIX users. 🙂
“BTW: OS ain’t about name?
Ok, but some do care.”
This is very funny here in Germany, because almost all OS names, no matter if they are sold by MICROS~1 or come from Linux developers, seem to sound strange. Even people who do not know English know some OS or application names, pronouncing them in a strange and sometimes funny way. An opposite: BS2000 from Siemens (Betriebssystem 2000 [seemans betreebssistaym tswuytousand]), this is german. 🙂
But I’m not sure an OS’s name tells anything about its qualities.
Doc Pain stroke again
“So why most users so concerned about UI?”
Most users aren’t. The only ones who does are “power users” and geeks. Joe Average cares mostly about it not being an eyesore and being able to have his kids/wife/dog as a wallpaper.
things like Windows-cloned “My computer” make me sad.
Me too. I know this is a small issue, but I have disliked Microsoft’s use of My This and My That from the first time I saw it. It seems like a foolish attempt at mass personalization. Any GNU/Linux distro that copies it is mimicking the bad instead of the good.
Maybe it is dumb….but for those coming straight from windows at least they have an idea of what that means or does. Its apparently not geared to us whom have been using linux for some time.
“Maybe it is dumb….but for those coming straight from windows at least they have an idea of what that means or does.”
Lets not underestimate the users. I don’t think anyone would have a problem with the folders being called Documents and Computer respectively. The volume control on your stereo isn’t labeled “My Volume” now, is it?
Been using this distribution for a long time. I am very pleased with its robust power and ease of use.
Great distro, but terrible name
It’s recognized as a Linux before ones like Fedora, Ubuntu, and Mandriva to someone who’s never used Linux before.
I’d say they did wonderful picking out an easily recognizable name that many people will identify before the other distros.
I’ve tried the PCLOS live cd; it certainly looks nice and functions well. I think this is a good distro.
I prefer to use Slackware and Debian for my computers.
http://www.thecodingstudio.com/opensource/linux/screenshots/index.p…
and its does everything I want.
I particularly like:-
The control center drak tools originated by Mandriva,
apt4rpm / Synaptic instead of urpmi,
xdg based menu layout in KDE as it edits properly (for me).
The app selection is as good as any given the space constraint of 700MB. Apps not in the repo are just a request away.
The forum is still small, still helpful and RTFM free.
No distro or DE bashing in OS discussions is a general meme.
it`s the distro of my choice. it`s fast, it works, it`s up to date, it have the best support, and it`s easy to make your own live cd or dvd with mklivecd. it blow the xp from my pc – suse, debian, ubuntu and mubuntu doesn`t:)
cheers to mr.Tex!
If you have not tried 2007 final, you need to. No comparison with what has happened before, and frankly, after trying out 20+ distributions – recent ones – this is so far superior to most of them that it is not even funny.
A by the way – a branch of the Phililippine government has just adopted this distro: http://www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12&fi=p070517.htm&no=54
Invest in a blank CD, go to:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_ionfiles&Itemid=28
and download what will be a very positive experience.
jf
“A by the way – a branch of the Phililippine government has just adopted this distro:”
Hmmm…I would have thought they’d go for Bayanihan Linux:
http://www.bayanihan.gov.ph/
I have TR4 installed and running on 3 desktops + 1 laptop. It demands lots of ram, but beyond that, it runs wonderfully.
I get that some find it suspicious that PCLinuxOS has skyrocketted lately, but in its defense, it has gotten lots of coverage recently in european magazines and websites. Even a phillipine government agency is moving from windows to PCLinuxOS. It seems normal to me that there are lots of folks interested in finding out what the buzz is about. Is it the 10th wonder of the world? Heck no, but it’s a very good distro for people moving from windows to linux.
It gets lots of flack for not having a release schedule, but guess what? id software works the same way, and their games have sold like candy in front of an elementary school.
The moral of the story: Don’t mess with Texans? 😛
Everywhere I go I keep hearing good things about this distro. The icing on the cake was an old diehard winZealot friend of mine who I got into Ubuntu starting raving about PCLOS, saying it is everything feisty should be.
When I read reviews about it, it seems like a kde-centric Ubuntu with better admin tools and less of a package selection.
I don’t fully agree with your assessment.
I think PClinuxOS is to KDE what ubuntu is to Gnome. It does it just as good. But you can’t really compare them as such.
PClinuxOS is what Kubuntu _might_ have been if they chose to make KDE a priority. But they haven’t. Not even remotely.
Edited 2007-05-23 22:02
Lol, thats pretty much what I was saying 😉 Only PCLOS doesnt have the debian repos (universe and multiverse in ubuntu-speak), and Ubuntu doesnt have the mandrake control center.
PCLOS is one of the only Linux distributions I’ve tried that required virtually no messing about or config file editing. That left a very good impression, as did the overall level of polish. I’ll definitely try out the 2007 live CD, even if I don’t get around to making a new PCLOS partition.
The only think that puts me off a little is the use of RPM for software installation. Back when I used Mandrake Linux I had some serious problems when installing large OS updates, including one that rendered the OS unusable. After that I’m more inclined to use a Debian based installation like Ubuntu where I haven’t seen the same issues.
YALD = Yet Another Linux Distribution.
I’m sure it’s great.
PCLinuxOS is the best Linux distribution I’ve tried – In my own opinion of course.
No it isn’t all roses. Live CD indeed looks flawless. Wifi (WEP 128 bit) easy to set up. But after I installed it (QTParted never has been my favorite tool), on reboot , I get an error message along the lines of “key too long”. What the hell? It worked in live mode!
Second, installing the nvidia drivers, I get “transaction set check failed”. Wham bam thank you Ma’m. Game over. On to another distro. Sorry for the polished look, but just like OpenSuse, basic things are showstoppers.
Edited 2007-05-24 04:28
I’ve been hacking around with it for a while, and have generally been pleased. I think the attention to detail, artworkwise, is very important. The draktools are very nice as well. I do not care for the layout of kmenu though, and while I know you can change it, when I do, I end up with a sh!tload of stuff in “lost and found” and most of the remainder with no icons. I should point out that I am running tr3 upgraded to current, so there may be some glitches remaining from that. The point remains, though, that 4 to 6 level deep menus suck – period – and should be removed from the design of any OS that anyone is expecting a human being to use.
Except for the exceptional 5 level branch:- System -> Configuration -> KDE -> KControl categories -> KControl items
the rest of the default menu layout is 3 or 4 levels and its arranged as a very balanced tree. I can’t find a 6 level branch.
When desktops have greater than 100+ apps in the menu, an inbalanced layout will result in either several / many deep branches or several / many sub menus stuffed with 20+ entries or both. PCLOS’s stock layout balances it very well.
PCLOS’s KDE menu editor now uses freedesktop.org’s xdg standard which works much better than the previous menudrake editor.
Edited:-
It merges your kmenu edited ~/.config/menus/applications-kmenuedit.menu with the stock menu. If you bork your edits, just delete the above file and your next KDE startup will have a stock menu again.
Edited 2007-05-25 13:26
“Although the overall appearance is pretty nice,
things like Windows-cloned “My computer” make me sad.”
Is it beyond your computing skills to right click the icon and change the name to what ever you want ?
Lesson complete, PCLinuxOS should now please even the most discriminant anti-MS whine a$$.
Edited 2007-05-25 13:25