Short Review of PClinuxOS plus screenshot(Vanity)

01-08-06 | postaldave

[postaldave]

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1.i am not a MS hater, i just wanted something without all those virus problems. i do have a theory that the virus programs are all writen by linux users.(smiles)

2.i have tried most of the top 50 distros at distrowatch and hated most of them. i came close to keeping desktopBSD but it pissed me off too. in the end most distros just don't work after you install them. they either come broken or just plain lack the programs for the things i need installed.

then came pclinuxos OMG!!!!!! wow!!! it really works.
samba hooked up to my local MS network, amarok played my mp3s and built a database of all my music across my whole network and pulls it off on a 600mhz computer streaming eveything. kick butt!! i surfed all my normal sites and they all showed up perfect. i never felt these two things were too much to ask for but this is the first distro that pulled then both off straight from the install. great job guys!

it's a keeper!

two problems though:
synaptic software manager found nothing that needed updating after install.
isn't that kinda odd???

how do i get xscreensaver working? I really want the matrix screensaver and have install that package with the package manager. i can't find it on the screen saver setup in KDE and really don't have no idea what to do next.

postaldave

[postaldave]

for more

http://www.pclinuxonline.com/index.php

[postaldave]

ping?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Just happened on this:

10 things you should know about every Linux installation

[postaldave]

great link, thanks. i guess i should start reading this stuff. i really think i'll make the jump over to the linux camp.

the one problem i do have with linux is all the moonbats that use it. have you read slashdot lately? they are even blaming the new DVD format on bush..

[goldstategop]

Have you tried Xandros? For newbies coming to Linux, a Debian based distro is the best bet. Its easy to download, install and configure apps. And the better ones have renamed all the main KDE windows so it feels like you're working in Microsoft Windows. All you need to do is turn on the built in-firewall or download a third party GUI front-end to manage the command-line firewall settings.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[postaldave]

i think it and most the other debian distros use lilo bootloader. until pclinuxos i didn't know lilo wouldn't intall over top of grub. so none of them would boot after install.

i had to use a dos disk to clear the MBR to install the bootloader. i guess i could go back and try all those that failed to load.

[ShadowAce]

[clyde asbury]

PClinuxOS looked good to me, too. Until I installed v 0.92. My hardware is only a year old and nothing exotic, but it didn't detect my DSL unit, USB mouse, or sound card.

I may check again when it's more mature.

[Vinnie]

Since this thread is going to be a Linux thread, I have a question.

If I install a Linux, it will partition my hard drive right?

What if I don't like it, can the partition be undone, that is a simple way?

I've tried Knoppix, so-so.
Puppy, I simply can't get to load.

[N3WBI3]

If I install a Linux, it will partition my hard drive right?

Are we talking a box wich also has windows or a devoted Linux box?

[goldstategop]

Modern Linux distros have graphical installers that will automatically partition a hard drive for you. You can decide whether to wipe Windows and let Linux take over the computer or you can ask it to install Linux in the created partition and dual boot with Windows. At the bootup prompt, you can decide what OS you want to run. Its that simple.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[goldstategop]

He meant the former. Of course if you just want to ditch Windows, thats no problem. Linux today is so good it will detect and install appropriate drivers for your hardware. It might not find a winmodem but if you have DSL or cable, it can access the Internet from those devices. Increasingly, there's no reason not to switch. And you don't have to work from a command line interface if you don't want to. Even grandma can get work done on Linux and not know its not really Windows. All that it needs to do is work.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[Vinnie]

Are we talking a box wich also has windows or a devoted Linux box?

A comp w/ XP on it.
A dual boot machine. Can the partition be removed easily as in uninstalling Linux?

I really want to get away from Windows. The constant virus,worm problem is getting to be a PiA but I don't want to 'burn my bridges' either.

[N3WBI3]

Vinnie,

Ive never doe that but if would be as easy as booting into windows and using the disk utility to reformat the partition ntfs.

A better angle for you might be live cd distro's like knoppix..

[clyde asbury]

Mandriva Linux makes it easy to resize a Windows partition and dual boot. Their install disks are free to download, although they are a bit heavy on joining the "Mandriva Club."

It was my first experience with Linux almost a year ago. Even though I didn't stay with Mandriva, I am still using Linux.

Look for them near the top of the list at Distrowatch. You can download their install CDs or purchase from companies with links also on Distrowatch.

Once you have their disks, you resize the Windows partition using a utility called QTParted. You then create a new partition for Mandriva and install. Some distributions probably have the same ability, but certainly not all of them.

When you feel comfortable dual booting with Mandriva or another distribution, you can learn how to run fdisk or cfdisk to partition. They aren't hard and it seems they are more common in install programs. With time, you may see that you don't even need or want to dual boot.

[clyde asbury]

If you decide you don't want the Linux partition and want to delete it, you can simply reinstall Windows. It will use the entire disk. Then, just restore the Windows backup you made before installing Linux.

[postaldave]

i suggest either upgrading your computer or buying a cheap one to play with on the side. keeping xp working on one while playing with linux on the other. linux can really piss you off until you get the hang of it and find the distro you want.

i don't believe it's any harder to learn the switching to mac but it doesn't play by the same windows rules you are use to.

with a distro like pclinuxos you feel right at home with the layout. i really do think this could be the windows buster that everyone is looking for.

anyone reading this that hasn't tried a linux OS download the live CD and give it a try. it will do NOTHING do your system and can try out almost everything available to linux.

[postaldave]

did other versions work?

i'm still a linux newbie but would a package update and a kernel update fix that?

[clyde asbury]

It's possible. The only version I tried was 0.92. Like I said, I expect I will try again later.

Mandrake ran great on my system, so I was surprised PCLOS didn't because it's Mandrake-based.

I've tried at least a dozen distros on the side. My main system is SUSE, and I'm very happy with it. But I keep hearing good things about PCLOS, so I understand your enthusiasm.

[postaldave]

enthusiasm is an understatement. i've wanted to go linux for a long time but nothing worked out for me. the either were 4 disc to install, 50 meg nothings and tons of single disc installs that were buggy and useless. i am very happy now.

being your a linux guy i have a problem you might be able to solve. i'm planning to put the distro on my big box that i use for a server for the network running XP. my three extra drives all run on NTFS. the live disc read them fine but i'm worried about running linux with them. i hear linux can really screw up an NTFS drive if it writes to it.

secondly, how would i make my pclinuxos box share with other computers on the microsoft network? i use samba to read those computers but i don't know how to share back.
the wants to keep here XP computers until i'm ready to fully support linux like i can do windows now.