Comments for Review: PCLinuxOS (PCLOS) 2007 Final

Sorry, but the quality of this review is very weak.
You have to do better ...

I find the review a BIT weak too. But not because it has some critics in it, its just too small for my taste.
Its funny to see all those PCLOS lovers springing out and bashing at someone who was NOT same experience as some have with it. I also barely see what might be so great in PCLOS!? I mean, i tested TR3 and 4 and now looked into Final. The Live Mode is very quick and nice, but whats so nice about it? Menus are silly as mentioned in review, "JRE come preinstalled" ole, 2 clicks away in nearly any distro that got a GUI for package management. So many simple things are praised and things like "working shutdown", "userfriendlier installation" are overlooked, pretty hilarious in my eyes. For me its still a mysterium about hyping....

Well, per my opinion review is too obscure. I also try many distributions and but few of them I use in every day work for a month till I get some conclusion. For example, I "try" to use Kubuntu for two times (v6.x and latest 7.04) and give up because of stability issues on first place (any many other small issues, but I do not want to bother with this). At last I stay only with two distributions that are worth for every day usage: PCLinuxOS and SimplyMEPIS. I can recommend this two distributions to all newbies that want to get rid of M$ and do not have time to try many distro's (there are always some geeks like me that want to try everything :) ).

Best Regards
Zocky

Errr... a pre-requisite of using Linux is that you have to engage brain. If you want someone to hold your hand, use something else.

If you have problems with PCLinuxOS 2007, you're really gonna struggle with most of the other distros out there. It really is one of the slickest.

If you want it to change, submit your reservations as feature/bug requests. Your review comes across as if you were paid to find fault with the distro.

Hi there. The bootup is a matter of taste. Fact remains that by the time you have a desktop in front of you, your keyboard, clock and internet should be set up. This facilitates two things: if you want to browse the net from a live CD, you're ready. If you want to install, you don't have to do it again. If I just need a live environment up to repair something, I just bypass them all.

It is a question of personal taste, but the way we're doing things and the choice of software is based on what our community wanted.

If you prefer Ubuntu Linux, Mandriva Linux, Fedora Linux, etc, fine. We are trying to make Linux accessible, as long as you adopt Linux we are happy.

Nice review but I disagree. Of all the distros I've tried, the two I keep coming back to are PCLinuxOS and Mepis. Both are solid and well thought out distros. Both are easy to install for anyone who bothers to read the screens. Both of them pretty much work with all the hardware I throw at them without a lot of hassle.
I don't mind messing around with the system, editing files and tinkering around if I have to...but I usually have more important things to do. These two distros don't waste my time, make me jump through hoops or get in my way. They just work.
Your mileage may vary.

I agree with a few things - the time zone and hardware clock problems have always puzzled me and the partitioning is a bit unsophisticated compared to others. The menu structure is not my favorite.

While I don't use Open Office much (I prefer a real DB, Gnumeric, and Abiword), the big packages included on the CD keep a new install from having to pull in a mammoth Open Office installer, as most new users will likely want it.

Yeah, I wish that Xorg 7.2 was there, but 7.1 is workable. Installing the NVidia drivers is a snap. I have also had absolutely no problems getting my PCMCIA Wifi card running using Ndiswrapper.

I have tried about 15 distros in the past 4 months and found that the overall best balance of beauty, packages, usability, and ease of use are all most satisfied by PCLinuxOS. Is it perfect? Certainly not. It meets my needs closer than any other distro right now though.

With the smaller and very helpful community, if you don't like something, you might actually have a chance to voice your opinion and have it heard. Getting new packages, for instance, is as simple as requesting it (include web page link to source code) on the forum. Unless it's esoteric or does not remotely meet the definition of desktop linux, they'll likely add it.

-KW

First let me preface by stating that I have watched the development of PCLOS for several years and since TR4 it is my only OS. I do find your "review" to be seriously lacking... and can be summed up by your own words.

" Just a dirty comparison in size: #ubuntu on freenode has 1253 users in while #pclinuxos-support has just 25. Not the world's most accurate metric but one all the same."

Dirty comparison, Had you bothered to use the PCLOS forums and it's search functions all of your complaints/faults would be rendered mute. As for the community, just because they don't hang out in the same location as Ubuntu fans is laughable. I just checked the PCLOS forums 559 guests and 81 members online... One post mentions the 7000th member, using your questionable methods one could conclude there are 7 guests for every 1 member 559/81=6.9 7000* 6.9= 48,300 + 7000 = 55,300 users. Is that a fair conclusion? No, but as you state "Not the world's most accurate metric but one all the same."

To suggest that PCLOS should work the same way your personal favorite system works is like a Microsoft spokesman complaining that Linux doesn't work just like Windows.

My experience on 3-4 year old hardware has been nothing short of stellar!
No trouble acquiring my needed Nvidia drivers through synaptic. Did not even need to reboot. Everything else was detected flawlessly. Beryl desktop has been running for weeks without any issues. Perhaps you should review your method of reviewing Linux OS's? I believe your review can be summed up like this... Not the most accurate.

The real showstopper for me on the few distros I have tried has been that doing an update of all packages or simply adding a new program from the repositories would break the system. I have been using PCLOS now for several years and have never had a problem with this. That is the #1 reason it is my distro of choice. (Not the only reason just the main one.)
I would like to see reviewers use the program for awhile, do a massive update of say kde or Open office, download and install some major programs, etc. and see if the system stays stable. That would be useful information in a review.

Just for fun, to express meself, not necessarly on the same focus :-) :

"I'm a really hard person to please when it comes to installations. On my main PC I have a really awkward setup and on my other testing PC I have several distributions."

uh??

Get The Facts *: My english skills and writting are low :=)

First a little note on partitioning :
Win Vista: You may re-structure your disks and screw it
Win XP : You may re-structure your disks and screw it
Unbuntu : You may re-structure your disks and you may re-structure your disk and...(repeat until...) -- oops - before 7.04, be aware that their partition tool was screwed %80 of the time: -> Changing root mount point from the default choice leaded to "No root partition error - go back and restart your hard work "

Installer : What do you have against the installer ??? It is even better than Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Mint etc.... And so on for the partitioner. If you are to install Linux or any other OSes (m$-Windows versions), you are facing off two choices: Re-structure your partitions or leave it to the installer, risking to loose data.... novice, newbie or expert....

From the first line of your review I could sense your feel : PCLinuxOS is not impressive to you.It is your taste.

Out-Of-The-Box:
Get The Facts *:Even Windows Vista - the LATEST giant OS supposedly far superior than anything in the earth - cannot be OUT - OF - THE - BOX with everything hardware vendors on the M$-Side!!

MacOS is written and released only after everything work within the very known hardware ( ahhh! I miss my Amiga-500, 1mb ram TRUE multi-tasking, one 800kb Workbench diskette, and the funny "guru meditation" crash handler :-) )

Linux is working with most of the hardware, if not - and - no restrictions on closed firmware, then we can be assured to get the latest driver.

etc....
Get The Facts *: Linux is NOT Windows with all hardware for it because of $$$$$$$$$$$$$....
Get The Facts: PCLinuxOS is NOT Ubuntu which is not Mandrake, which is not Fedora etc.... We have our choices and prefered tastes - Unlike M$-Windows. The strength of one distro for newbie is not necessarly the same for the other newbie or distro.

Get The Facts *: I am replying to your negative comments on my prefered distro with my own negative comments on other concerned distro -- funny isn't it ?? :-)


Foot notes:
*: The "Get The Facts" expression is a trade mark of Microsoft Corporation which (be aware) will going to restrict free speech, free coding, steal prior art, just as other big f^%$ US Corporation are going too, until the end of the world, until we can no longer talk at all for the rest of the eternity. -- In second thought, Microsoft is not as evil as it looks, but it is a big part anyway.