bjoernvold.com

Posted: **12 Oct 2013, 18:24**

I downloaded and installed PCLinux OS today.
It has been regarded as kind of a B-member of the Mandriva family; well since Mandriva was the popular original and PCLOS was an early fork (2003).
In addition PClinux did not have a 64 bit version - and that kind of put it in the hobbyist distro category.
The Live cd startup looks nice:

To me the lack of 64bit was the biggest turnoff regarding PCLOS since it indicated that they did not have the capacity to adapt PCLOS to the inevitable future.
The 32 bit version was good - and better than most of the competition; that was not the problem.

Now PCLOS does have a 64bit version so that doubt is gone. Many thought it was strange that Texstar went for APT-GET rater than urpmi as a packet manager.
Especially old Mandrake/Mandriva geezers had trouble with digesting that.

I have never understood why urpmi should be so much better than APT (and I have translated the URPMI documentation so I have a fairly good overview of the functions there). I am sure many experienced Mandriva users will hurry and explain this to me thoug.

Until they convince me I will maintain that this simply is a matter of habit (habits I try to avoid in order to have an open mind regarding packet managers).

I mean both apt-get and urpmi are hopeless names and hard hard to pronounce (urpmi more so than apt-get) Yast and Yum and Pacman are easy to pronounce and therefor also easy to remember.
The syntax that goes with it matters though. and I find Yum to fit my quirky logic's best in that department. Pacman is my preffered package manager - but I will admit that the syntax there is not as logic as yum's so that is my habit speaking....

In the case of PCLOS this does not matter much. They discourage the use of the terminal and encourage the use of Synaptic.
That is the tool to manage your software not the terminal.
This makes perfect sense for a newbie friendly Linux distro

naturally you can use the terminal.

But many would make the error of doing a
sudo apt-get update
and then
sudo apt-get upgrade
while it should have been
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Synaptic does not make errors like that, and it is an important issue on a rolling release distro.

And that brings me right to the next great thing about PCLOS it is a rolling distro.
Basically that means install once - and never again. you may simply update it forever.

In Windows you will have a lot of work in upgrading from XP to Vista etc...there you cannot simply use the windows update.
That is what you can do with distros like PCLOS Manjaro and Arch.

Naturally you should update regularly and PCLOS recommends at least twice a month.

So the installation then:
It uses the famous Draktols and Draklive makes it a walk in the park. These tools are the strong-points in the Mandriva family. They resemble the Windows control panel - only easier to use.

It partitions your disk and installs the stuff. It is as easy as that.

then a reboot before your are prompted about the timezone the root password and the username and password for your everyday user.
That is it - we are now ready to log in.

Once we have done that there is a one time information about what to do next - which is to update the system.
This is only a snapshot of a rolling release - so that makes sense.

So I start the Synaptic packet manager and press reload and mark all upgrades and the system starts to update.
It all went smoothly.
Ok here I am with a shiny metal looking desktop and pleasant system sounds.
Since I went for the Minime version (smaller iso) and not the full version i need to install flash myself also my desktop and menu was in US english
I had to install kde-|10n-nb Java was pre-installed with java-1.7.0-sun-plugin I was surprised that it was not icedtea - but it worked out of the box.

I searched for the chromium-browser and installed it.
I then went to the control center and changed the resolution of my generic display to get a bigger display in my VirtualBox.

Flash plugin was also easy to find in Synaptic.

After that one short logut and login and everything was as I wanted it.

So is this the top distro in the Mandriva family these days?

Sit tight and you will find out......

Posted: **12 Oct 2013, 22:25**

PCLinux OS comes with a lot of tools installed even in the MiniMe version.
Bleachbit is one of them.

It had this no nonsense feel and it is easy to handle and just works.
The look and feel of the desktop is better than with Mageia - maybe because of those pleasant sounds. PCLOS is probably the distro that a Windows user - trying linux for the first time - would prefer.

And that is a compliment. I can find nothing to pinpoint that does not work. It simply is a great desktop.

So this is a contest between PCLOS and Mageia. I will leave Rosa out of it (some would disagree with that) and Mandriva is non existent at the moment.

Mageia has those pleasant sounds too but not quite as good as PCLOS. The PCLOS menu does not look as good as Mageias - I do not know why they chose those fonts.

But the overall look and feel of PCLOS is better. This is a matter of taste so you be the judge:

PCLOS uses Apt-get where mageia uses urpmi. This is of no importance to a newbie and both have decent "software centers" to install programs with.

Mageias software center is more userfriendly than PCLOS with Synaptic for a newbie IMHO
But if you pick the full PCLOS version you will get pretty much everything out of the box.

PCLOS feels a bit "snappier".
PCLOS has been around for 10 years Mageia has been around for 3 years. But that does not have to mean anything.

The one thing that makes the difference is the rolling release.

To be able to tell a newbie that dreads the install - that he never has to do it again.
That is manna from heaven for him (and me too :-D

) It means more up-time it means more and longer usability.

So PCLOS is a good desktop distro for everyone and especially for new Linux users.
For experienced Linux users the remastering capabilities are tempting. After you have put all the important goodies in there you can make a new "distro" and share with the world - easily:
Install draklive-install

Code: Select all

umount -a

and then

Code: Select all

mylivecd name.iso

That basically creates your new distro.

.....
What version did I test?

It does not matter - its a rolling release so I updated it and tested the latest version.
Here is the "HW" I tested it on:

Posted: **13 Oct 2013, 05:12**

They still around?

I need to give them a whirl

Posted: **13 Oct 2013, 14:21**

You should

They are worth the attention.
I have read some comments about them having a rude community and fan-boys. :confused

The distro is good though - no doubt about that.
They seem to have a "just works" attitude and put the stuff in there that gives you the best experience.
I do not think they are FOSS fanatics - they are pragmatic.

So I guess the Open source purists may dislike PCLOS for that very reason alone.
(Don't get me wrong; there are very good reasons for supporting FOSS - I'll admit that).

PCLOS is currently no 6 on the Distrowatch list...

Posted: **14 Oct 2013, 18:18**

I dislike it because it isn't Arch or FreeBSD! lol

Posted: **10 Dec 2013, 00:42**

I made an update more than a month later.
No problem - the "rolling" seems to work.

bjoernvold.com

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