Okay, I tried PILinux2007 in another virtual machine and am very impressed! Setting up my network printer was completely automatic and considerably easier then Ubuntu. It’s nicely configured and I’m finding little that needs tweaking.
I wasn’t able to find a migration utility like the one you said comes in every distro, but there’s a nice add-on to Thunderbird that exports your emails and keeps your folder structure intact. I used that to pull my emails over to the PCLinux2007. Setting up the actual accounts was a manual chore but took no more than 5 minutes.
After a day of playing with it, I’m finding things are more stable than in my Ubuntu installation. Thunderbird has yet to crash, though it would do so a few times a day in Ubuntu. Now, I’d changed Ubuntu to Kubuntu by downloading various KDE thingies, and maybe that contributed to the occasional whoops there. But the fact is, I was trying to make Ubuntu look and feel like PCLinux2007 looks and feels in its standard configuration. Fonts, decoration, window behavior... you name it, it’s nicely set up and intuitive to use, and rather pretty. So now I’ve switched.
Thanks for the recommendation!
(I love FR!)
And furthermore: My sons both have rather old but still solid Win98 and WinME (yecch) Sony laptops that they’re no longer using, having gone to Macs a couple years ago (and wonderful machines those are). They wanted to try Linux, but I could not get Ubuntu to install on those machines. From my research today, I learned that Ubuntu is hard-core into open-source, and everything in it is open-source, and that’s lovely, but if your video card (for example) is only supported by a proprietary driver, well then you’re just S.O.L. as far as Ubuntu is concerned. PCLinux2007 has no such philosophical aversion to deploying closed-source drivers when needed. Bottom line: the boys’ old laptops now sport fresh, shiny new Linux OSes!
About your sons’ old laptops: Perhaps your sons’ older laptops are incapable of booting from the CD drive. In that case, they would need to make a SmartBootManager boot floppy. Here are some instructions:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SmartBootManagerHowto
1. Smart Boot Manager is on the Ubuntu install CD, in the /install folder, sbm.bin is the filename. Otherwise, you can [WWW] download it. (for more information about this, [WWW] click here.) Here is an alternate link to the [WWW] newest version of Smart Boot Manager.
2. Now we need to make a boot floppy. To do this, use a utility called [WWW] rawwrite. (for more info about this, [WWW] click here.)
3. First format the floppy. In Windows, open a command prompt (Start / Run / “cmd”) and type format a:
4. Then use rawrite command: rawrite -f sbm.bin (rawwritewin.exe sbm.bin)
5. Make sure your computer’s BIOS has been set so the computer boots from the floppy disk - for instructions on how to accomplish this, please refer to your computer’s documentation or manufactures website.
6. Insert the floppy disk and Ubuntu CD, then start or restart the computer. When the Smart Boot Manager’s menu appears, choose the menu option with “CD-ROM” in it, and press Enter. If the CD-ROM option does not appear in your boot menu, press tab to see the Smart Boot Manager options and choose Rescan all boot records. The CD-ROM drive should now appear in your boot menu.
7. Congratulations - your computer will now boot from the Ubuntu CD.
BTW since your sons’ laptops are pretty old (most likely), it might be wiser to install Xubuntu instead of Ubuntu. The above instructions should work for Xubuntu as well.
PCLOS is the bomb. Blows Ubuntu and every variant of it away. KDE is rock solid and sets up out of the box, and if your machine will handle it, Beryl runs as solid on it as any distro I have ever tried...and once again comes pre-configured out of the box. Glad you liked it. Your reaction is about the same as everyone I have recommended it to. They don’t even know why they were messing with Ubuntu after just a few hrs in PCLOS.