There’s been quite a few postings and articles on new users and Linux flourishing during the past year. The reason I believe this to be is that desktop Linux is approaching or has arrived at the tipping point where it can gain mainstream adoption. People are seeing Linux as a viable alternative to Microsoft. My wife recently had me nuke the dual boot computer and go with Linux due to Windows Media Player 11 restrictions set to come out when it is released. Her main concern is being told by companies how she should be able to listen to her music after she’s bought it…kinda like buying a car and the dealer tells you where you can drive it and how you can. She’s in the process of converting all her mp3’s to ogg’s to 1) save space and 2) because they sound better and are in a free format. Thus far, she’s not missing Windows.
Many blogs also have taken up this topic and, when determining the best Linux desktop, gushed about Xandros, Freespire, Ubuntu, and MEPIS. The thing I find odd is that they forget the little guy that’s outpacing all the others…and that little guy is PCLinuxOS. Let’s take a look at a few reasons why PCLinuxOS is, IMHO, the best Linux flavor for new users.
1. Hardware Versatility & Compatibility
PCLinuxOS comes in three flavors for the current .93a release. Those three are minime, Junior, and Big Daddy. Minime is a minimal 299MB iso with a functional KDE desktop. I’ve seen postings in the forum that this runs nicely on a 350Mhz PII and I’ve successfully had it running on a Celeron 900 with 256MB PC100 RAM. So I know that it works for older computers. If you don’t want a speedy desktop that you can custom build with synaptic and would rather have a few default applications installed right away…try Junior. You can also get the whole she-bang using “Big Daddy”. It’s really up to you…I dig this concept as well since it allows you to build from the ground up or hit the ground running right away.
Hardware detection with PCLinuxOS is fantastic. Wireless and ndiswrapper are configured through a central control center (see #4). PCLinuxOS is compatible with many old computers as well as new ones. PCLinuxOS will detect just about anything you throw at it. Most Linux does now but with the LiveCD project at berlios, PCLOS has an ace in it’s hand…it’s a fantastic project that allows great hardware detection. I’ve seen so many people have operational PCLOS desktops immediately after install…no tweaking needed. I’m amazed at this aspect of this distro.
If you want the solid performance of PCLinuxOS with full access to all repositories and software updates on a speedier desktop, you might try SAM Linux. SAM is PCLinuxOS as a base with XFCE for a desktop. SAM worked quite nicely on my Celeron 900 as well with even more speed than minime…which is understandable since XFCE is notibly faster due to less bloat.
PCLinuxOS has been nothing but solid for all my computing needs, whether XFCE, Gnome, or KDE. In all, hardware on PCLinuxOS is just as much a no brainer as it is on Ubuntu, MEPIS, Xandros, and Freespire…with three flavors to choose from.
2. Software
PCLinuxOS is meant for the desktop. It’s meant to be used for your day to day operation. It’s user-centric, not developer-centric. Since PCLOS is geared toward every day users and for desktop operation it contains access to thousands of programs that desktop users find useful. With less emphasys on maintaining packages for the server, the lead developer is able to concentrate on the desktop and actually listen to us, the users…and listen he does. PCLinuxOS is one of the only distros out there that I know of where I got a response from the head developer when I asked him a question or wanted a program added to the repository. That sets it apart from other distros. Texstar (the head developer) takes pride in his product and listens to his intended audience for direction…he doesn’t just hear them…he listens. 5,000+ software packages (and counting) in the official repository speak volumes for this fact.
3. It Just Works
Many new users go distro hopping, trying to find something that ‘just works’ for them. People often say in the official forums that PCLinuxOS is “The Distro Hopper Stopper“. It does seem to fill what is missing for so many new users. There’s a reason it has raced into the top ten distros at distrowatch.com this year…for so many users, it just works. ATI and Nvidia drivers are only a synaptic intall away…everything works right out of the box. This is one of the reasons new users should consider PCLinuxOS.
If one were to compare shopping for any product out there with shopping for a Linux distro…would you want the product that required you to ‘fix it’ before you could use it? You just order XYZ mp3 player from Amazon…but when it arrives, you have to configure it, tweak it, and hack it until it’s usable. To me, this doesn’t make sense. If I find a distro that requires less configuring and tweaking to get me up and running and one that provides the best experience…I’d stick with it.
For me, there is no other choice. I use PCLinuxOS because it requires me to invest the least amount of time (and since my wife uses it as well, the least amount of worry) spent configuring, compiling, and setting things up. PCLinuxOS users’ needs are no different than other Linux distro users. They need to edit, listen to, and organize their music. They need to design the layout of that web page. They need to develop programs and write code. They need to slice and dice all aspects of their desktop experience. If you are one of those other distro users, I commend you for using Linux since it puts you in the drivers seat. Keep at it and keep at using and spreading Open Source software and Linux. If you’ve made the switch to desktop Linux and haven’t tried PCLinuxOS in the past month, I recommend you do so…you’re missing out on a gem of a distro made for you, the desktop Linux user.
I also commend PCLinuxOS for providing the users with the “desktop experience” it provides which allows those users to do this fluidly and with the greatest amount of efficiency. People that try and use PCLinuxOS know right away that something is different. It’s the attention to detail and fluid design that combine together give the user that “desktop experience” that no other distro can. For me, it made using Linux fun.
4. PCLinuxOS Control Center
When I first switched to Desktop Linux, I immediately noticed that there wasn’t a control panel where I could go for a ‘one stop shopping place’ to control my applications and running services. Having been a slackware user for about 4 years at the time, it didn’t matter much to me…but when I thought of new users coming in as Windows refugees or having no computer experience…it made me cringe. How could Linux not provide a central place to control their system? Sure, KDE has the control panel to control appearance, layout, and behavior…but what about network interfaces? Can everyone use ifconfig? Does everyone know how to modprobe? Most likely not.
PCLinuxOS makes a fantastic effort in this realm. With the PCLinuxOS Control Center, you are in the drivers seat of your operating system…not along for the ride. You control boot options, hardware, mount points, networking, security, system configurations, sharing, network services, authentication, and groupware; all from a handy control center that is point-click easy. The Control Center is the single greatest reason I’ve converted more users to PCLinuxOS than any other distro. It’s also the single greatest reason that new users should consider PCLinuxOS first before all other flavors of Linux.
5. The Community
Sometimes, smaller is better. Go with me on this and get your minds out of the gutter. PCLinuxOS has quite a bit smaller community than Ubuntu, MEPIS, Mandriva, and Fedora Core. All of those distros have quite a huge following. So how is it that such a small distro can march into the top ten at distrowatch and hold its own? The community is a huge reason. This small community has produced some of the greatest tools for their users: The wiki, the New User Guides, PCLinuxOS Magazine, Kids Safe PCLinuxOS, and countless other projects and startups. There are so many things happening within the community right now, there’s always a place to become involved or to stand back and watch things happen (politely tagging along for the ride). I really feel great about the directions that PCLOS is moving in and the future of this desktop. The thing I take most heart in is that the developers listen to their community.
As a Slackware user, I remember getting flamed quite heavily in an IRC channel I joined after first installing it. Rightly so…I was asking the dumbest questions and not even trying to search for things…but of course, I didn’t know how to search. Had someone shown me the proper way of doing things, I might have had a flameless time with Slack. With PCLinuxOS, I envy new users. They get to be a part of a community that welcomes them in and treats them as equals regardless of experience level. They get a fantastic wiki that takes their hand and walks them through setting up their desktop and feeling comfortable in their new environment. Many of the “gee whiz” items that new users ask about and get flamed for are solved for them in the wiki and if it isn’t, the forums are friendly and welcoming.
6. Try Before you “Buy”
PCLinuxOS is a Live CD. You can boot up and run the entire operating system without installing it. This allows you to take a look at things before you “buy” (you don’t buy since it is 100% free) aka commit it to a hard disk. Ubuntu went in this direction as well with their last version. SuSe also has a Live CD as well. This is a great way for new Linux users to experience Linux. With Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS, it is taken a step further…you’re able to install the operating system while using the Live CD. After the install is finished, a reboot and you’re up into your shiny, new desktop.
One of the niftiest features of PCLinuxOS as a Live CD is that you can install the CD to RAM and pull out the disk. This means that you’re running the entire operating system from RAM…which also means fantastic speed. PCLinuxOS becomes a Live RAM distro at that point. It does take a while to load to RAM, but after you’re up and running you’ll be amazed at the speed. You can install the OS in this mode as well.
7. Community Projects
I am the webmaster and administrator at MyPCLinuxOS.com. This is a community projects site for PCLinuxOS. If the community has a want or need for the OS, we start a project and rally support around it. We then take that idea and make it a reality. The new user guides and wiki were a product of this and other fantastic projects are springing up ever single day. There is a SOHO edition in the works, a MythTV Edition, the PCLinuxOS Beautification Project, Edulos – PCLinuxOS Eduction Edition, the PCLinuxOS Magazine Project (now on it’s third issue), and other projects. I encourage you to get involved if you use PCLinuxOS and help give back to your favorite distro. If you’re not using PCLinuxOS and are curious about what’s going on, come on in and register at MyPCLinuxOS…drop us a comment or question and we’ll do our best to help you get the information you need. Please remember that this website is ONLY for community projects…all official help requests should go to the official forums at pclinuxos.com.
8. Pride and Ownership
All of the reasons above combine to make this last reason hit home. The userbase of PCLinuxOS really takes pride in their distro. The pride comes from having a stake in the way in which PCLinuxOS is developed. See, Texstar is a unique developer in that he listens to his users and adapts his development to suit them. Of course, you can’t please everyone but Tex does a fantastic job with about 90% of the userbase and the other 10% are a synaptic install away from being happy.
When you have a community that develops with you, you develop with the community. Texstar has seen this happen from the early and small beginnings when PcLinuxOS was just a fork of Mandrake 9.2. Fast forward to today where PCLinuxOS is a conglomeration of many different distros with an active community that takes pride and ownership of their favorite desktop Linux. I don’t know how he did it, but others should take note and duplicate it. PCLinuxOS is near and dear to its users and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
In closing, I really feel that PCLinuxOS is on track to be the best Linux desktop users can get for free today. I’m sure there are supporters of other distros out there that are saying “But my_distro does this too!” or “my_distro has all of the things you’re talking about as well”. In that case, congratulations on finding a great fit for you! I commend you for using Linux and am glad we’re members of the same community! Just remember that the same size glove does not fit everyone…if you’re helping others in their Linux journey…make sure that your bias toward one distro doesn’t limit the choices that the new user deserves. I always give new users that I help the choice between all of the major desktop-centric distros before I tell them which one I think is best…it’s great to see what happens when the decide. And remember, if your distro is the best for that new user…they’ll choose it and use it. Just make sure that in the spirit of open source you do not limit their choices in the beginning. Hopefully, you’ll take another look at PCLinuxOS and include it in the list of those you present to new users!
I think the new mandriva One 2007 is also worth to have a look at it. (in some test a 7 years old child is using it very quickly http://www.technewsworld.com/story/53627.html)
you can download it there via bittorrent:
http://qa.mandriva.com/torrent/2007/mandriva-one-2007-kde1.torrent
there are also ftp servers you can go there:
ftp://ftp.free.fr/mirrors/ftp.mandriva.com/MandrivaLinux/official/iso/2007.0/One
the kde1 and gnome1 are english versions (have a look here for other languages an release notes: http://qa.mandriva.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/MandrivaLinux2007Official )
Hi, just a little comment about PCLinuxOS : I tried the last release recently and although it’s a good distro the one thing that made me reject it is the lack of support for i18n.
The Live CD is only in English and even with every translation packages installed, there are a lot of non-translated applications in KDE.
Compared to distro that ship on a DVD or to the several Livecds of Mandriva it’s really not good.
This may not look important to English-speaking users but for the rest of the world, it’s crucial.
Beside that, I think PCLinuxOS can become even better in the future.
Of course it lacks this support…it doesn’t have a fully funded business behind it like Ubuntu, Mandriva, Fedora, and MEPIS do. If Texstar (head dev) could fund it, I’m sure translation would be done…but he does it in his spare time.
It’s important to note that many Mandriva packages install out of the gate with PCLOS as well so you might see if language packs install via that avenue.
Since PCLinuxOS just started in 2003 and is developed in the US, it is an English Centric distro. It needs the help in this area…but no one seems to be interested in this aspect. I monitor the mailing lists, forums, and even have mypclinuxos.com…the pclinuxos community projects website…yet I have never seen anyone interested in helping to translate things of this nature.
I know that the wiki has been translated into other languages (or is being) and we also have the new user guides being translated into spanish and dutch. It’s a tough project to do part time though…believe me…especially when no one is interested in helping out.
Wish we could motivate people to help out in this aspect…
If wishes were fishes, we’d have some to fry right?
I have to admit that I was impressed with pclinuxos. I would have kept it as my main O.S. However, I was unable to get my wireless (WPA-PSK)working. I would have continued working on the issue, but I am very limited in time because of school. So, I decided to go with Opensuse for the time being. Maybe the next release of Pclinuxos will be a bit more wireless friendly. 🙂
Odd…that’s what I’m using at home with my US Robotics WAP and it works flawlessly 😀
WEP doesn’t work though without compiling drivers (unfortunately…the stock .93 kernel missed the ieee package but it’s a quick fix). .94 promises to be fantastic.
Does PCLinuxOS at least come with various international fonts pre-installed? If not, is there a “painless” way to install them? Although I’m basically an English-only reader, I’d like to see the proper fonts if I view a web page that’s in Chinese, Japanese, etc.
As many as Mandriva has 😀 Tex often ports Mandriva packages over to PCLOS using source. He also pulls packages from SuSe and Fedora as well.
I did a quick look in Synaptic and saw a good number of fonts there. Of course, there it would be point click install 🙂
A very good os, it goes very fast om my p3 1ghz..it also has a lot of software in the repos. But it needs a better translation..
ciao
look for msfonts and msfonts-style in the Lepository. Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, etc.
I’ve been using pclos in one form or another for the last 3 years. The live cd’s are invaluable for file recovery on windows systems. Especially since the new “mini-me” will run on older systems with less ram. As a computer service owner, I do many windows file revovery jobs for people and therefore I can’t afford to have a system that’s down because of viruses and spyware. I had been using Mandrake distros for years, but became frustruated with all the problems mandrake has since release 9.2. (rearranging menus, changing mirror paths at the drop of a hat etc) I had been using the live discs for file recovery, as I stated above, but decided to go with pclinuxos because it flat out works with little or no configuration after install. I’ve been keeping up with other distros but keep coming back to Texstar.
Devnet, Give credit where credit is due. I just wanted to clarify, for those that never used Mandrake/Mandriva, that the Master Control Center you rightly gush about (I completely agree) is the Mandrake Control Center. Texstar’s work is a fork of Mandrake (I hate the Mandriva name, I’ll always refer to it as Mandrake). Even the LiveCD installer draklive, is Mandrake’s. Texstar used his own developed installer for 2 years, but eventually tossed it in favor of draklive. Anyway, whatever you like about PCLOS, it would not exist if not for Mandrake. Texstar continues to use the drakxtools, all of them except rpmdrake/urpmi, and now SMART. He uses Synaptic/apt-get rpm instead. Texstar, removes or completely reworks the parts that Mandrake has (lately) screwed up, and the overall integration is what Mandrake is like after a competent installer ‘fixes’ the stupid stuff that Mandrake comes with. Texstar cut his teeth making custom rpm’s for Mandrake users for years before he decided to simply fork. Ever since then, he’s had the better distribution, although from late-2005 to mid-2006 Mandriva 2006, with all ‘fixes’ taken care of was a better distro, installed. PCLOS for LiveCD, yeah, but installed, Mandriva 2006. That was until a few months ago. with the trinity of the minime/junior/big daddy .93a releases, he’s head-and-shoulders above Mandriva. 2007 has AIGLX/XGL out-of-the-box, but pretty much everything else needed for a stable distro is pretty well borked. Even for a good installer, the ‘fixes’ will take too long to correct. Sorry, Mandrake, maybe you shouldn’t have bitten the hand that fed ya (firing Gael Duval). Texstar is better at Mandrake than they are!
Soon, it will not matter. The aliens will arive and eliminate the humans. Windows users, weird mac lovers, and the linux nerds will be put the grind. Alas, no more oppression of the poor electrons, forcing them through small wires. It is The birth of a new era, then end of an old one.
Hi all,
I’ve been reading all the various competent comments above and I surely am too much of a Linux newbie to be able to give my own opinion on any of those. I nonetheless wish to say one thing based on my personal experience:
I have been a Mac user, advocate and evangelist for years. Then I got married, had two kids and stopped shelling lots of money on my favorite hobby.
Yes! That means I got me a pc and started running windows XP…
All went well for a time then i started having lots of weird problems such as malfunctions, hangups, corrupted/missing/invalid files and, up to a point I kept coping with the whole (believe me, I’ve been using comps for 25 years so I think I know my way around a box).
One day the system got so screwed up that I decided to erase and reinstall. The master cd wouldn’t even allow me to go through the installation procedures as a BSOD woudl show up after a short while. I checked the whole hardware twice and found no apparent reason for such behaviors. As I was totally fed up I decided to give an old Suse distro I had lying around a try. Install was flawless and at boot everything was fine, my old box seemed snappier and healthier than ever. The only problem was that some of my (many) peripherals were unrecognised.
As I previously wrote I have no background on Linux so I thought that instead of fiddling with unknown parameters I would rather try out some “modern” distros and see which of those would fit my needs and my hardware specs.
So I went through a serie of trials involving (between others) Mandriva, OpenSuse, Freespire, Ubuntu, Knoppy, Kubuntu, Debian etc.
To my surprise some of those wouldn’t even install properly (yes! I checked my isos before installing 🙂 ). Some others would not recognise and configure properly all my peripherals etc.etc.
I finally landed on PCLOS and everything went well from start to end. Installation was a breeze, all the peripherals were instantly recognised and configured and in 30 minutes I had a completely and perfectly working desktop.
I now have been on this distro for six months, the box is connected and crunching code 24H and not a problem has arised.
Synaptic keeps my system on the cutting edge in a simple, elegant and fast way. I have got access to all the software I need and, very often, I tend to forget that I am not driving XP anymore…
There surely are more sofisticated distros out there but this is not a perfect world and, as far as I know, PCLOS covers all my computing needs.
Moreover: I’ve had the need to obtain some drivers to be loaded within Synaptic so, all I have had to do is ask for it in the proper PCLOS forum. Within a matter of days I received an answer from Texstar himself telling me that the drivers were available for me. As simple and straightforward as that… 😀
As my motto always has been “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” I leave U/X intricacies to purists and technically-minded individuals while I’ll stick to this little (freeware!) miracle.
Long live PCLOS!!
My kids computer was a plain box that I bought in 01 and had installed win 98 on. I decided to take it off as it was insecure and having creash problems. I tried several linux OS’s. Fedora was my first (big mistake) I didn’t understand most of what was going on or how to do stuff. Most of the newbie stuff basically said it up to you to learn. Never could get the sound to work (after googling I see that I was not the only one with this problem). Ubuntu wouldn’t load, Mepis kept freezing, Freespire couldn’t find the sound, Knoppix 4 worked but not 5 and it was not a permanent solution. Then I ran across PCLOS. Installation was a breeze, help was great for a newbie, It recognized the sound (onboard not card, it did have a high frequency squeal that turned out to be the modem speaker adjustment I turned it off and all is well) The only problem I have with it is that my son has an iriver 899 player and for some reason I can’t get it to recognize it when I connect it up to the computer via usb cable.
@Mrs Devnet: I hope you don’t convert mp3 files to ogg files literally. That would just add ogg distortions to mp3 distortions. You must get the ORIGINAL CD and convert straight to ogg to benefit from the improved sound quality.
@tony: I think there might be some stuff on the net whereby you can change the firmware on some “iriver” players so that it works as a simple USB Hard Drive when connected to the computer. I’m not sure whether it will make any operational differences when playing.
Like many, I started with Mandrake, the last one I used was 9.2. I then tried Gentoo, and was successful at setting it up. I tried a later Mandrake (coverdisk) and did a parallel install, then found that there was no “texstar” repository any more. A websearch revealed that Texstar is the on-line name for one person, and that he had split from Mandrake and made his own distro. So I thought I’d give that a go.
Eventually, I had two running systems, Gentoo and PCLinuxOS. I had to remove one in order to try out some others. So what do I delete? PCLinuxOS which I could re-install in 1/2-hour, or Gentoo which took me hour and hour of compiling and flag-setting to get it going just nice? That’s right, I could not bear to get rid of PCLinuxOS.
And that’s been it ever since!
I am also a novice user and os far I have found one problem. I recently updated my Firefox, because it wasn’t on the update list in Synaptic. Even though it downloaded, I had and still have no idea how to install it and I am assuming each compatible program will be the same.
How do you install a Java based application from a cd? I ask because an app I have is being re-written in Java and the author says it should run on a Linux platform which would be great(Just a matter of learning how to install) I am sick of corrupted Windows files each month. I now have to call Microsoft for each install.
Sorry to make this a novel.
Thanks
R Howard
Excellent website and article. That info in “7. Community Projects” especially should be on a Home Tab/page of MyPCLinuxOS.
Now I understand a lot more about PCLinuxOS. I am just wondering now what advantage it might have over if Xubuntu, which I have not tried, but which might be better in having a bigger package set, .debs instead of .rpms, and a small er and presumably faster gui (xfce)?
David, you can tune your system to be any which you like. Even PCLinuxOS can become Xubuntu
I’m fairly good with computers, well I was fairly good with windows at least and could get rid of stupid bugs and errors that popped up, except for one the whole of windows would crash for some inexplicable reason, or when it would stop reading devices, or slow down to an almost unusable speed no matter how much defragging, registry cleaning, program deleting and services fiddling I’d do. This is why I decided I couldn’t honestly be bothered with the whole malarky anymore, I’d already tried some opensource win32 programs in the past and knew that most all the desktop programs I wanted were available in some form or another, but I’d never tried linux before.
Then I found PClinuxOS on a forum and, since day one, I’ve been thoroughly impressed :). After a few dodgy downloads (files corrupted by my xp install no doubt) I finally got a livecd up and running and it worked perfectly, found everything bar my graphics card and wireless internet, which only took about ten minutes anyhow as all the tools were there to make it work. I now think I’m a linux convert and I’d recommend anyone, even if you’re not exactly fluent in windows, to give it a try (it’s twice as easy to install as windows is!).
Thanks Tex and team 🙂
Mandriva is good,but might get to be a tad expensive love affair in the long run. At some 130 bucks a year for recommended level it is reaching mickeysoft pricing. I find PCLOS to be the best bang for buck. Heck, it is the best anyway, so the suggested donation is well deserved. I know it`s trivial to bring up the financial point, but nobody rides for free. And nobody shouldn’t have to toil for free, either.
PCLinuxOS is a nice distro, it is usually the one i give to non-geeks when they ask me about Linux.
OT: It is not true that Vorbis is a better format than MP3, they reach transparency at roughly the same bitrate for most people (visit hydrogenaudio, THE authority on digital audio).
And if she is transcoding her MP3s (which is the impression i get from what you have written), the resulting Vorbis files will actually be of worse quality.
I have never ever been able to ABX a single LAME 3.90.3 –alt-preset standard or LAME 3.97 -V 2 –vbr-new encode.
But Ogg Vorbis is actually my choice of lossy format as well. Not because it is better (which it isn’t), but because it is free as in freedom.
I just recently switch my main machine to Ubuntu, but I have been running PCLinuxOS on a flash drive for quite a while. I like knowing that I can carry an entire operating system in my pocket.
Although it is a fantastic operating system, I don’t know if I will ever run it exclusively. For one I feel committed to Ubuntu. It’s where I learned Linux and I am comfortable with it. Secondly, I don’t think it’s as popular and thus not supported by the community as much as Ubuntu.
You’d be surprised at how popular PCLinuxOS actually is. You’d also be surprised at the differences between the Ubuntu community and the PCLOS community. Many people feel more comfortable with PCLinuxOS for this factor alone. If anything, I’d say that PCLinuxOS benefits from having a smaller community. Communication works better with smaller numbers…bugs are stamped out in hours instead of weeks and months. It’s really nice to have the creator and developer take an active interest in new users…and I don’t find that anywhere else in Linux. Even Mr. Shuttleworth doesn’t interact with his community as much as Texstar does with PCLinuxOS.
Your commitment is commendable but remember that you should be committed to what works best for you…not what works best for everyone else. Decide for yourself what is best and don’t buy in to any hype. That’s how I came to PCLOS…and that’s how I decided that Ubuntu isn’t for new users (see most popular articles on the side menu)
Gotta thank you all, I just installed my first Linux “distro” (egad! Using Linux Lingo!), a copy of Fedora that came strapped to a magazine. I am over the moon, though have been having my issues (coming from XP, I just expect it now). This post has convinced me Fedora is probably not the stuff for me, and I’m going to meander over to PCLOS right now. Maybe after I’ll be able to find printers, get MP3s to play and skype to work… Thanks.
something to keep in mind is that .94, the next version of PCLinuxOS is very close to being released….and it WILL require a full re-install because it will use a different version of compiled software that won’t work with .93a
So, if I were you…I’d wait another month to throw my entire weight into PCLinuxOS so you don’t have to erase your desktop when .94 comes out.
I also promise that .94 will be FANTASTIC. There has been so much effort put into this next version that I belive people will be floored by it.
Thanks for the advice. However, I ran out an made the CD, booted it up and… well, I’m like a child on christmas eve. Fedora is a bit too much for me, I can’t get MP3s to play, etc.
Besides, its not as if installing PCLOS is particularly hard!
I have to say though (excuse the novel) that this whole Linux thing is truly amazing. I don’t know if longtime linux users realize how liberating it is making the switch from Windows. Things work. Its amazing. And if things don’t you just ask somebody. THATs amazing.
Thanks you very much, I really do appreciate it.
I’ve been using PCLINUXOS for a few months now and it has worked great for me. I’ve had a few problems here and there but most of them have come from a lack of knowledge in what I wanted to do. What I wanted to address is that the PCLINUXOS community is VERY knowledgable and will help you with any problem you have. Give it a try. You might like it.
everything you said is right on i was having major probs with duel screens but PCLinuxOS worked perfect the first time iv been using it ever since i recommend it highly