PClinuxOS

[Blueychan]

Has anyone here tried PClinuxOS? Any good? I see alot of ATers using Ubuntu but yet Ubuntu is second on distrowatch behind PClinuxOS.

Looking to try linux, any suggestion between the two?

 

[Netopia]

I have a box set up with PCLinuxOS 2007. I like it very much. Very easy and intuitive desktop with MANY things GUIfied for ease of use.

Joe

 

[nubian1]

Very easy to setup & use distro with great stability & a very active community. They are on top for a reason.

 

[daniel49]

been using it for a couple of years now. pretty nice os.

 

[accguy9009]

PClinuxOS is a very nice OS. You should try the live CD for Mandriva 2008. They are very similiar and both are great for a new user to get started on.

 

[decimus]

Originally posted by: Blueychan
Has anyone here tried PClinuxOS? Any good? I see alot of ATers using Ubuntu but yet Ubuntu is second on distrowatch behind PClinuxOS.

Looking to try linux, any suggestion between the two?

Yeah, PCLOS is a decent distro. It installs and configures easily (for the most part). Like most of the newer distros, it's easy to use as long as you don't try anything too exotic with it. Like most distros, it carries simplicity and automation only so far. If you decide you absolutely gotta have that uber-cool, obscure piece of software, it will probably require tracking down missing dependencies and configuring things manually There will be some command line editing required, but that's no biggie. you can do that from a terminal within the desktop environment. And there are tons of resources out there for the linux noob. Just google your problem and you're sure to get dozens of hits. Ubuntu has massive resources for the noob. And the linux community is a lot friendlier to the noob than they were 15 years ago. Just remember to read and follow posting rules when you use one of the forums.

I would feel ok letting a friend or relative use PCLOS.. It's one of the group of newer linux distros geared toward the linux newbie. Ubuntu is also part of this group. The main advantage Ubuntu holds over many other distros is its' package management and extensive repositories. It is extremely easy to install and configure Ubuntu, and to keep it up to date and to add or remove most software packages. I still use Ubuntu on my main machine because you just can't beat it for easy maintenance. It's a dream to install, configure, and maintain. Like the ad says..."it just works".

Ubuntu is based on Debian, which has the largest repositories of any branch of linux.
PCLOS is based on Mandrake Linux (now known as Mandriva) which in turn was based on Red Hat. They're both good choices for a first distro. Freespire, Foresight, Xandros, Mint (an Ubuntu derivative), Kubuntu & Xubuntu (same as Ubuntu, but with different desktop environments) Knoppix, Mandriva, CentOS, Zenwalk, and OpenSUSE are also good distros for anyone new to linux. Sabayon is a pretty cool distro too. Very cool, in fact. Lots of eye candy and fairly easy to use. It's based on Gentoo, and uses the KDE desktop. It has steeper hardware requirements than the average distro though.

The fact is... I would recommend you burn a handful of distros and just play around with them for a few weeks. Eventually you'll find yourself gravitating toward the one that just naturally feels right to you. I would recommend using live cd versions, if you can. That way you wont disturb windows as you learn your way around linux. Do this, then come back around and let us know how things worked out for you.

Peace!

d

 

[BurntCpu]

I've set up a quite a few family members and friends with PClinuxOS
and they love it. 2nd favorite Opensuse 10.3
I'm running Pclos/Opensuse/Mepis; Like PClinuxOS better: the update installed and readied
Compiz Fision
which was a pain in the azz to do in suse

 

[zach0624]

I run pclos on my desktop and ubuntu on my laptop. Both are great distros but pclos was easier to setup and I think I like KDE a bit more than gnome. Also PCLOS has beryl and compiz preloaded (don't remember if ubuntu does) and all I had to do was enable it in the configurator program.

 

[Netopia]

I greatly prefer KDE to gnome... but that's all a matter of taste.

Joe

 

[trmiv]

I tried it for a few months. It was really good, but I eventually ditched it because the Fn key on my laptop wouldn't work with it, so I couldn't adjust the brightness. It works on Ununtu, so I went with that. I may switch to OpenSUSE though because I do prefer KDE to Gnome.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: trmiv
I tried it for a few months. It was really good, but I eventually ditched it because the Fn key on my laptop wouldn't work with it, so I couldn't adjust the brightness. It works on Ununtu, so I went with that. I may switch to OpenSUSE though because I do prefer KDE to Gnome.

Why not use Kubuntu then? The pre-release of Hardy Kubuntu with KDE4 looks slick.

 

[KlokWyze]

I think I'll try PCLOS out in the future after I learn the deeper intricacies of Linux through my easy-to-understand-&-use Ubuntu.

 

[Iron Woode]

I really like PCLinuxOS 2007. So easy to use and understand. Networking was a snap and updates are so simple and easy.

By far the best distro I have used.

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: Brazen

Originally posted by: trmiv
I tried it for a few months. It was really good, but I eventually ditched it because the Fn key on my laptop wouldn't work with it, so I couldn't adjust the brightness. It works on Ununtu, so I went with that. I may switch to OpenSUSE though because I do prefer KDE to Gnome.

Why not use Kubuntu then? The pre-release of Hardy Kubuntu with KDE4 looks slick.

I don't like Kubuntu as much as either OpenSuse or PCLinuxOS or even Ubuntu for that matter. It's always felt like it's had second class citizen status in the Ubuntu world. I'd rather stick to a KDE distro where KDE is the main focus.

BTW, apparently that Fn key thing was fixed with the latest kernel in the PCLinuxOS repos, so I may give it another shot if I can ever work up the desire to reinstall all my crap.