Comments for Review: PCLinuxOS (PCLOS) 2007 Final

I have used various Linux distro's from Redhat 6 back in 1998. My favourite distro for a few years was Mandrake and one of the packagers was Texstar.

As a former Mandrake/Mandriva user, PCLinuxOS caught my attention and I have been using it for over a year as my main OS. quite simply I like it.

Ubuntu likewise is a very good distro as well and I have experience of both distros.

Why do I use PCLInuxOS 2007? simply because I prefer the KDE desktop. For anybody who prefers Gnome, then Ubuntu is likely to be their preferred choice.

Rather than waste time arguing which distro is better, surely any linux distro is preferable than using XP or Vista and it's built in restrictions.

Why is PCLinuxOS 2007 getting a lot of attention? because it is a very good distro, pure and simple.

I dont believe people here are actually expecting impartial people to agree with them when they start screaming things like that this review is disguisting.Its an impartial and well balanced review and its the only one i ve read that doesnt miss the point.Really simple or more of the same ? PCLinuxOS looks good and has alot of the useful software in its repos but thats all.Its one distro just like all the others.Its not the best distro (maybe for some but not for all).I agree with all the points of the author.I had more success with ubuntu than PCLinuxOS and even though i was planning on switching i changed my mind pretty quicly after trying the live cd.I am wondering if people here have actually tried ubuntu, or any other modern distro.This is absolutely ludicrous.

If you think that you can expect to be treated seriously when you start talking about conspiracies and crap like that you are seriously deluded.Noone has an interest in holding PCLinuxOS back.Ubuntu does some things better than PCLinuxOS just like some distros do better than others.

These practices of bashing someone who has something negative to say about your favourite distro are childish at best.If you really love it so much you should allow some constructive criticism instead of this.This review isnt biased at all.YOU are biased.You have to undersand that you look like crazed fanboys just like OSX fans who go into rampage when someone finds something bad to say about apple/OSX.This is absolutely ridiculous.I use ubuntu and i dont get upset when i read a critical review.I feel good because maybe it might reach the developers ears and correct some of the problems i am facing.You should do the same.Just because you are a majority in PCLinuxOS discussions and you keep reinforcing each other doesnt mean that this behaviour is normal or healthy.

Grow up and start acting like adults

Linman,

please check replays made by people that TRY both distributions a little bit more then check liveCD (NOT JUST: changed my mind pretty quicly after trying the live cd). Please do NOT "wondering if people here have actually tried ubuntu" - instead of this read and focus on what peoples are saying!

Why simple YOU open our eyes and give some example instead of saying "Ubuntu does some things better than PCLinuxOS". Anyone can say such things and even talk general and try to look smart :)

We all put replays here ONLY because of expressing our personal opinion according our experience with some distributions on someone review. What is problem with that?

Best Regards
Zocky

Zocky

I dont have to install it , thats what live cd's are for.I was actually planning on switching but not after what i saw...If i take my time i am sure all the issues can be resolved but then again that makes PCLinuxOS more of the same.If i am
to conclude that its better than ubuntu i am actually expecting to do something for me that ubuntu cant.When i logged in after all these pointless questions and hunting down my time zone i tried to see if my on board mic worked (that was one of the reasons i tried it , because so many people said it has such an excellent hardware support) and of course it didnt.Then i realised that my media buttons didnt work either (which did work under ubuntu).Then i tried to have a look the beryl intergration.I was amazed to find out that i had to log out and in again for the changes to take effect ! What is this ? windows ? i played with it for a while and i decided to change the settings and then when i logged in nothing had changed.Very dissapointing.Then i tried installing gaim which of course didnt work (synaptic gave me an error , i think it couldnt find a package).I tried enabling all the repos and it finally worked.But the battle had been lost by then.If you are claiming a perfectly smooth experience then i demand nothing less.If you are willing to admit your flaws then i demand nothing.My
PCLinuxOS experience was incredibly dissapointing.I realise that it doesnt work like that for most people but i am not most people and i will judge from my experience.PCLinuxOS performed poorly and well under the standrards set by ubuntu in practically all fields including hardware detection and software installation and configuration.

Hows that for opening my eyes and giving examples of what ubuntu can do for me that PCLinuxOS cant ? I hope i am looking a bit smarter now.Why are you asking me of proof that ubuntu worked better for me and not asking proof from others that PCLinuxOS worked better for them ? Thats exactly what you are all doing here !

Of course its not that ubuntu can do these things , most distros can.I have no loyalty to any distro.As soon as i find something that gives me something that ubuntu doesnt and its worth the effort i am switching.Linux is linux and if one distros loss is anothers gain then so be it.Thats why i downloaded the iso with the purpose of switching but at least i learned one thing:Beware of hype.PCLinuxOS is a classic example.Ubuntu is too of course but there are people who are actually criticising it fairly so thats why i am not complaining about that.


We all put replays here ONLY because of expressing our personal opinion according our experience with some distributions on someone review. What is problem with that?"


Well zocky theres nothing wrong with that and maybe thats what you re doing (i dont look at posters names) but thats definetly not what some people are doing here and on other discussions.Ad homined attacks against the author because hes criticising your distro ??? If you cant see how crazy this is i cant help you.Implying that there is some sort of conspiracy to "dr people away from PCLinuxOS" This is paranoid crap and you know it.And yet you are criticising me instead of these people.


If you want a healthy and vibrant Linux (and PCLinuxOS) community then this kind of bwehaviour cant be tolerated.Dont you realise that if an outsider
had a look at this he would think that linux users are a bunch of loons ?By observing this kind of behavior i realised that not switching was a really good idea.Nobody likes goons who try to bully their way to the top and try to stifle criticism by such low puns and personal attacks.

If something is disguisting here its not the review but the sick notions that some people hold in their brains about the relation of one distro to another and what criticism is.This is absolutely incredible.After watching this i am actually thinking about switching back to windows.I dont think i want to be a part of this anymore.At least if i see similar behavior from ubuntu users then i am definetly switching to arch.

No offense Zocky but i dont like that holier than thou attitude.There are people here that have said incredible things and by your post you are backing them up and attacking me when i am calling for some moderation and reason so excuse me if i think your attitude is a tad hypocritical.

I dont believe i had to make this post.I sincerely hope this isnt representative of the linux or PCLinuxOS communities.

Linman,

Do not worry about "I sincerely hope this isnt representative of the linux or PCLinuxOS communities", I like and use PCLOS for almost 2 years together with SimplyMEPIS on other machine because I am not some distro-lover or have some moral problems to use more then one distribution :)

Thank you for reply and giving real examples for issues that you find and to be honest you reply tells much more then this poor review :) Of course I do not agree that re-logging is some PCLOS problem for using Beryl (I saw this in many distributions) and specially for package that you try to download from repository - this only tells that they put newer version there (just thinking what could be a problem - but not 100% sure).

On other side, as I like to use different distributions I also try Kubuntu twice (some 6.x version and 7.04). Last time this was with my new laptop when I decide to give second try to distro from my favorite list (PCLOS, SimplyMEPIS and Kubuntu). I like look&feel of Kubuntu 7.04 a lot, but after struggling with it for one month I decide give up :( Reasons were many, but most important was instability of system (as I use it in every day work for at least 10 hours and have every day some problem, this start to annoy). When choosing distribution I do not look on name, design or community size. Only important thing is: stability of system, possibility to easy update and install SW from repository and this is it :) I do not plan to install or reinstall system every second day to look on this as important issue, also I do not plan to use system booted as liveCD to bother how it is working live. Live CD is important for me ONLY to check if my HW is supported and if yes I am installing it and start using and judging distribution from this point! This is a major reason why I do not like such reviews!

I thought that I was clear in my previous reply, but to point something out: I do not defend any "stupid" replies (to be honest, I do not even read them :) ), only thing that I wanted is that you clear out what problems you have with distro more technically then generally (how I saw your first posting). Also, I do not have any problem with "stupid" posts - I was focused on review, express my opinion about it and look for some reasonable post (this is why I reply on your post as wanted to hear something more detailed).

Thank you for taking some time to answer me!!!

Best Regards
Zocky

I use both PCLinuxOS (PCLOS) and Kubuntu (64 Bit). Though I must admit that I use PCLOS almost only out of curiosity, to see and try to understand what's so great about it, but also to have a 32 Bit system ready for the not-so-rare occasions that I need one. I can honestly claim that I've spent some sincere amount of time with PCLOS for the past couple of weeks. Since I earn my living partly as an administrator for Debian-based systems, I tend to look at Linux-distributions more from the technical side and therefore as someone who's not afraid of using the CLI.

The only thing that really sets apart PCLOS from most other Linux-distributions is the Control Center. It's a very nice integrated GUI utility to quickly set up many things that otherwise would need the CLI or a KDE control module or a seperate GUI tool. For the intended audience of PCLOS, the Control Center is a great tool, while for more tech-savvy people (not to say control freaks) it's missing more depth.

Default look'n'feel is just like with (K)Ubuntu: Don't like it, so I change it. But what's a real show-stopper here for me is PCLOS' font rendering. I generally dislike antialiased fonts, and almost the first thing I do on any X-based system that I use is to install the msttcorefonts (which are called webcorefonts AFAIR in PCLOS), set hinting to full and antialiasing off. Which results in garbled fonts for me in PCLOS. Complete show-stopper. In general, PCLOS' font rendering seems to do a rather poor hinting.

The last kernel update went very smoothly, with the one single flaw that the new kernel doesn't get activated by defaut in grub. So the user has to change that manually, while not necessaryly from the CLI, but still on his own via Control Center. For the intended audience that is a rather scary thing to do, if it even got noticed at all. With a Debian-based grub, manual intervention wouldn't be necessary.

Also I really dislike PCLOS CLI setup. Konsole in KDE seems rather sluggish and user-modified bash config files are ignored in Konsole. I didn't find the nerve to sort this out, so I just modified the system-wide config in /etc.

A point where PCLOS simply is no option, compared to Ubuntu this time, is a definite roadmap. For Ubuntu, it's clear for how long a release is supported with security updates and when a new release will come out. Those are valid points for a distribution that targets not only private Windows refugees, but corporate enterprises or just users with a high demand for quickly released security bugfixes.

Also one has to acknowledge that no other company/Linux distribution has done more for bringing Linux "to the people" and also to the enterprise (and I mean neither the NX-01 nor any of the NCC-1701s) than Canonical/Ubuntu have done in the recent time. Sun, Dell, just to name two not-so-marginal names. I'd call that success.

I also don't understand why "Uoo-boon-too-haters" most often act like it's a bad thing that Ubuntu is sponsored by a millionaire. So far, I can't see that fact hurt the adpotion of GNU/Linux/FLOSS, but increasing the rate of adoption. There's no need to blaim Ubuntu for it's superior marketing and free shipping of CDs, unless one is as paranoid as to think of Mark Shuttleworth as a drug dealer that shouts "The first 10 million CDs are free...".

Finally, well, now that PCLOS is #1 on DW's weekly hit list, their fanboys better get used to be treated as part of an evil empire, now that Ubuntu has become the underdog. ;-)

I need to question the author of this review with respect to installation. PCLinuxOS is without question one of, if not the easiest install in all of Linux Land. Additionally, unlike so many other distros. I can install PCLinuxOS into the MBR on any of my hard drives.

It is no accident that PCLinuxOS is rising in popularity like wild fire. For most desktop users it is the Rolls Royce of Linux distributions at this time. And, nobody makes installing Nvidia drivers, win32 codecs, libdvdcss2 and more easier. Not to mention that the system is faster on my machine than the Ubuntu 64.

Texstar and the Ripper Gang have a gargantuan winner with PCLinuxOS. No ifs, ands, or buts about it

If you'd like an honest comment on your review, I'll give it to you. :)

It's biased against PCLinuxOS from the beginning. I'm not just saying that....The minute you compare PCLOS to another distribution in a "review" you aren't doing a review anymore...you do this within the first few paragraphs.

When reviewing a distro...you should stick the comparisons at the end after 'on a personal note' or 'conclusions'. This allows the reader to feel that the review was done objectively and that the "why's" and "what were they thinking" are afterthoughts and that these did not effect the reviewers thinking at the beginning...otherwise, it looks as though you've written off what you're reviewing at the beginning.

One other word of advice...NEVER edit comments by deleting them. If they contain poor language, input %@#$@# for the language but leave them be...I never, EVER edit comments for anything other than swearing on my blog and it is my personal opinion that deleting comments raises a huge censorship flag.

Hope this comment finds you well...the blog looks very tight and the comments with edtbox are cool. Also, even though it gave your article a bit of bias...thanks for even comparing PCLinuxOS to Ubuntu...that's huge for a distro that small to even be compared to the reigning champ. A year ago people would have scoffed at this comparison. :)