PCLinuxOS impressions

[meshica7]

Hello all,

I have been posting to the forums for the past 3 weeks or so concerning various install/performance issues with Ubuntu/Kubuntu on my Dell Inspiron 1100.I was able to install Kubuntu Gutsy (along with Gnome) and my system was overly sluggish,Compiz was very iffy,and even my network connections where less than stellar.
I do not know why this was the case as running the latest Ubuntu on a system like mine should be pretty much hassle free.
I picked up the latest issue of Linux Format and was pretty intrigued by the article on PCLinux (a derivative of Ubuntu) and decided to run the live cd.
Damn.
The speed at which the live cd runs is amazing! Yes, I know that Live CDs which boast a more robust architecture will not run at full speed but PCLinuxOS flat out performs.The Live CD boot set up my network connection without a hitch and the install took less than 20 minutes.
The eye candy that the good folks at PCLinux provided for their default look is full of smooth,anti-aliased icons,crisp fonts,a slick login screen,and wonderfully rendered desktop gui goodies via Compiz,Beryl,and Emerald.The repos in Synaptic are almost as populated as that of Ubuntu's and the forum community at PCLinux.com is well informed and willing to help.
If you are looking at an alternative to Ubuntu that performs at top shelf and has an easy to learn gui layout,give it a try.It may not be for everyone but I have found a new OS for my laptop!

[Robertnlr]

Hi Everyone

I've been using computers since Apple IIc. Over the years, I've managed to learn enough to do what I have needed to do. I've recently tried pclinux, and of all the distros I've tried its the most friendly. The DSL was automatic, the printer was a no brainer, Firefox is a pleasure and logs me on in a snap. Recently I purchased Linspire, thinking they might take the lead in Desktop distros, but I was disappointed with the problems I encountered. I will soon try LinuxMint. We'll see. My view of Linux is that I really want it to succeed. I don't care for Microsoft, and refuse to buy any program after Win2000, that I still use to do what Linux won't do yet. I like that there are programs now that I can use on Win and Linux, such as KeePass. I recently downloaded a list of distros that was 49 pages long. Perhaps, the programming guys are spread too thin. I would be willing to pay some for good distributations, but I don't want to pay before I use them. I learned quickly that what you buy isn't guaranteed to be the best. Oh well.

Regards

[daark.child]

...I picked up the latest issue of Linux Format and was pretty intrigued by the article on PCLinux (a derivative of Ubuntu) and decided to run the live cd...

Just a small correction. PCLinuxOS is a Mandriva derivative and not based on Ubuntu at all. You are right though, that its a very good distro. Along with Linux Mint, Its one of the few distros that have impressed me recently.

[elija]

Agreed. I prefer Mint purely because it comes from the Debian
stable. But PCLos is without a doubt the nicest looking out of the
box experience I have had with Linux.

All the more impressive as it is (mostly) the work of one man!

[carlosponti]

on pclinux i didnt much care for it. not to say its not a good distro or that i wouldnt recommend it as a distro for new users i just didn't get a thrill out of it like i have with what i currently use or what i use as a fun time distro. ubuntu and slackware respectively. my one biggest complaint is i dont much care for KDE as a personal preference. i have used mandriva and dont care for it either. however my top list of distros to try if you are a new user are;

ubuntu
pc linux os
linux mint

distros if you want to try more just for fun;

fedora
debian
slackware

distros if you want to learn the inner workings;
linux from scratch
crux
arch
gentoo


ps linux mint is still based on ubuntu as far as i recall and its based on debian unstable.

pps they have an alpha version to show what linux mint would be like if ran from debian testing branch. but its version 4 is based on gutsy.

[oz]

I used to try pretty much every new PCLinuxOS release as soon as it was availalbe, but found them all to be overly buggy, and my overall impression of the distro itself was that it did not suit my tastes, so I quit trying new releases a while back.

The good part of this comment is that I'm extremely glad it's out there for those that like it. I'm always very happy when someone succeeds at finding "their" spot in the world Linux.

[SkittleLinux18]

Mint and PCLOS are all I've got. If I want to try something else, I just use a Virtual Machine.