[nflug] PCLinuxOS

[John G. Boice]

David Mangani wrote:
> Just wondering if anyone on the list is/has used PCLinuxOS. I read
> about it somewhere ( don't know where ) and figured I'd give it a
> whirl. I love trying out different distros. I have not installed it
> yet, but have run it a fair amount as a live cd. It is very nicely
> polished. It detected EVERYTHING perfectly. Uses apt-get/synaptic, is
> based on Mandrivia ( rpms ), also has 3d squigglies waiting to be
> turned on with a quick nvidia or ati d'load from the default
> repositories. KDE based. Seems pretty nice. System comes loaded with
> plugins for almost everything including windows media, Flash, Java,
> realmedia. Right off the cd it played the videos I tried no problems.
> Even ubuntu has to be configured a little. I was impressed. Also
> noticed its climbing up the ladder at distrowatch, its now #4. Nice
> little os for someone who doesn't want to tinker a whole lot.
>
> Dave
>
>
Hi, Dave.

Yes, I have tried it out, both on desktop & notebook machines.

It's gorgeous and fairly fast out of the box.  I've talking about the
"Big Daddy" version release from the end of 2006.
The configuration GUIs are not bad at all, and I'd say the HW detection
is very good.

The major problem with it seems to be that the repos are apparently on a
server that needs to be powered by a hand crank or something.  I mean,
imagine trying to update your install or add new software at dial-up
speeds. It's that bad.
Note: I'm on DSL, and not the fastest. But I can DL from the Mepis and
Ubuntu repos at up to 220-240 KB/S, which is about the fastest I get
from any FTP server.  The last time I tried to update my install of
PCLinuxOS, it advised me that it would take approximately 14 hours.
After an hour, that estimate hadn't changed, so I just canceled.

At Distrowatch it has shot up steadily in the hits/day ranking since the
"Big Daddy" release.  Definitely fun to try.  I have serious doubts
about anyone being able to use it as a primary OS due to the problem
DL-ing from the repos, though.

--John
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