Saturday, September 11, 2010

PCLinuxOS

PCLinuxOS or PCLOS is based on Mandrake. The Gnome version comes equipped with an ugly gray colored background. I attribute this to the fact that most PCLOS users are KDE desktoppers and don't really care what color Gnome is.

The OS has a larger repository than Debian and is not afraid to try newer programs.
The office programs consist of Abiword (dictionary and word processor), an icon for installing Open Office (by leaving off OO, it makes installation faster), gedit a smaller editor, glabels and evince (pdf viewer).
The audio comes with Audacity, Rhythmbox, Xmms a multimedia player.
Video has Cheese a web cam application, MeTV (digital TV viewer), Totem (movie player), Gnome mplayer, Imagination DVD slide show maker, Brasero a CD/DVD disk burner and Gsopcast a streaming direct broadcast system (make your own radio programs). Got to try that someday.
PCLOS comes with the usual games that come with Ubuntu.
The graphics programs are Gimp and Photo Frame.
Internet includes Firefox (with Flash already installed), gmail notifier, Pigeon, Thunderbird, Transmission, Xchat and Tucan ( a download/upload sharing program).
PCLOS also has a tweak program to get the most out of your machine.

Adding software and packages is a snap, this is what Linux is about, not some primitive terminal command (If I want old style, I'll get out my 8088. It still runs and I remember some of the DOS commands). In addition it uses Synaptic update manager, but the status reload is extremely slow.
Despite the fact that most PCLinuxOS users are KDE and get most of the support, the Gnome version is very good, I will give this OS an 'A-'.

4 comments:

  1. Your information is way out of date. PCLinuxOS was forked from Mandriva years ago. It is not based on Mandriva. It is built from the ground up using packages from the PCLinuxOS repository. These packages may be originals, the newest KDE4, Gnome, LXDE, E17, XFCE and etc, or they may be reworked from other sources.

    The Gnome graphics were chosen by the Gnome remastering team. They have nothing whatsoever to do with the choices made by the "main" or KDE release. Each official remaster of PCLinuxOS, Gnome, LXDE, E17, XFCE and Openbox has its own graphics chosen by its team.

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  2. I agree with nb. A poorly researched article with misleading information. Better luck next time and--hey, here's a thought--research prior to publishing! :)

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  3. More packages than Debian?

    that is so not even close to correct.

    They are right, you need to learn to research.

    Big Bear

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  4. I did not say it was derived from Mandriva, I said it was derived from Mandrake. I refer you to:
    http://wiki.lxde.org/en/PCLinuxOS
    Many of the packages are Mandrake packages.
    Besides that the color still sucks.
    "What a Maroon"-Bugs Bunny

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