Considering the majority of distros are bloated with stuff many users don't need finding something basic is not so easy and since Netrunner Core is now abandoned that's another one less to choose from. Yes you can do a net install of Debian or there's Q4 or Neon but the Darkstar version of PCLinuxOS for me is just perfect plus being independent it doesn't rely on mixing it's own stuff with someone else's code. I have it installed on four very different systems and stuff you mostly expect to fail on at least one such as Bluetooth and my collection of Wi-Fi dongles all work out of the box. I only found it necessary to install kdeconnect via Synaptic.
I have installed and used many Linux Distros for about 20 years. There are several that I rate as good, but I rate PCLinuxOS as one of the best of the best. I prefer the Mate edition. Installs very easily. It is very reliable. It is very fast. It has a great format. It has the best of all background; simple and very attractive. It operates very fast; faster than any others to me. Has a very nice format.
Not so many normally useless bells and whistles.
A very good all around Linux Operating System!
I highly recommend PCLinuxOS!
I started using PcLinuxOS in 2010 and used it for four years with good results. Currently, I mostly use Devuan, but recently revisited PcLinuxOS to refresh my familiarity.
I encountered some difficulties with UEFI setup, which was not uncommon for Linux users, however less common nowadays. The default kernel didn’t work as expected during the next boot. To address this, I used chroot from Devuan to set up a new kernel in PcLinuxOS and updated GRUB (update-grub). In Devuan, I linked the root partition (/) to PCLinuxOS’s /boot and /boot/efi, then ran update-grub. This made PCLinuxOS appear in the GRUB menu within Devuan, and everything worked smoothly afterward. PcLinuxOS is very responsive and enjoyable to work with. The only thing missing is Wayland support for KDE5, similar to what Devuan offers. Both systems use SysVinit, which works well.
Pros:
• Excellent graphics
• A user-friendly control center (configure your computer)
• A good selection of programs in the default repository, including Vivaldi, MS Edge, Chrome, and SMPlayer
• Fast boot times and pleasant performance
• I set up both Squid and Apache as forward proxies, and they work well
• Regular updates
• Overall, it performs admirably
Cons:
• Some minor installation difficulties, but nothing insurmountable
• May require familiarity with chroot, whether on a live distro or another existing Linux system
• Having a chroot environment in your toolkit is always beneficial
Despite the kernel-related challenges, I’d rate PcLinuxOS 10/10.
Best regards!
PC-Linux is a great Distro. Although it is independent, you can use Synaptic to manage the rpm packages. PC-Linux is very snappy on my notebooks. It is much faster than the distros I had before. I also like the fact, that they offer good support and even a magazine with news and tips about the OS. You get the actual software without any snap or flatpak. But it is possible to put it onto the machine. A little issue was how to open a BitLocker encrypted stick. On the Debian or Ubuntu-based distros, it was no problem. But here I could not open it. Even when the same packages for that are installed. On one PC, I have an SSD and a mechanical hard drive installed. Here it had problems with hardware detection. Anyway, I found a workaround. You can feel the experience of many years of development. PCLinux needs a little more Marketing, It is a kind of Distro which just woks out of the box. No heavy usage of Ram, when using the Desktops. I had chosen the XFCE. For me one of the best. It is very stable. They now even try a Debian based version, but these version is slower than the original. So I hope they keep up on PCLinux a while longer.
Have had, and still have issues with the XFCE version of this distro, the latest being udev delaying startup, but there is also my personal issue with GTK and dark beckgrounds, such as VLC not using system theme, and even if one chooses GTK2+ this choice wil be ignored.
Previous I installed on a Dell Laptop, with the same problems, had to reinstall on the desktop to see if a particular CPU issue would be resolved - no chance.
This distro once up and running seems OK - but its that delay, and the GTK problem which makes it problamatical for myself.
I would like to use it, everything else seems fine, but it is to be replaced.
PCLinuxOS just works. I think it is one of the best beginner distros to help people move from Winwoe$ to Linux.
* Easy for beginners, plenty of tools for the more advanced. Plenty of eye-candy, yet efficient and easy to turn things on/off if you prefer a more minimal setup.
* It's a rolling release which keeps everything current and it is very stable at the same time. I've been using it for decades.
* Its other great strength is that it has a fantastic, generous, very helping community that realizes beginners need help, not just RTFM or google it yourself.
* It was one of the very first to offer live media to test it out. It easily allows one to create their own custom, bootable USB / CD / DVD / to share with others.
I use since 2009, when I started using Linux as main OS, I sticked with PCLOS because is a rolling distro, with the upgrades running, usually, smooth with no big deals. But, off course, it is recommended going to forum to check if there's any problem with an update.
In the repos we have a vastly variety of programs, and we can ask on forum to add a program we want to use and it is not on the repo.
In general, I think it is a great distro. I recommended to anyone who wants to start in Linux.
It bewilders me. I am (IMHO) a moron when it comes to Linux. If it weren't for all the work that has been done by Texstar and his ilk, I wouldn't be able to enjoy using PCLinuxOS so much. But Texstar and his merry band of Linux-loving fiends HAVE done a plethora of work to make this the most amazing Simply Radical Linux I've ever used. If a Linux tech-ignoramus like me can overcome the occasional snafu with help from the denizens of the PCLinuxOS Forums, I can't fathom why anyone else cannot do likewise .... especially after 20 years of piddling around with PCLinuxOS.
My satisfaction level using PCLinuxOS (despite the rare glitch) is presented here both to call out Texstar and PCLinuxOS's developers and maintainers for a job well done and to counter a recent not-so-good announcement I read on distrowatch.com concerning PCLinuxOS.
I have been using PCLOS for almost 20 years on and off, mostly on. When I was more active in communities I did make a point to recommend it to newbies over the various sudo-ing distros because I felt they would learn more by using "proper" linux. PCLOS was my first non-debian distro and there was a long stretch of many years with it while undergoing major KDE and X changes along the way. Of all the major updates in those days (a LOT) I only had two disasters. Backup Backup Backup. The only total borking was my not paying attention during a big x-org upgrade I overlooked there was the big change to Grub 2 to go along with the Xorg migration. PCLOS was my main driver and keeper of the boot for a tower that had 5 physical drives and I can't tell you how many different OS's in there. My fault for not paying attention and I believe I had also been neglecting regular updates.
This is the nature of a rolling release. If you can't handle the release of updates with PCLOS (or Manjaro) don't ever try debian SID. It is probably my early linux experience with SID that makes me shrug off the people that go for a rolling distro and either don't pay any attention to it and accumulated updates break it or they go playing with other repositories and wind up in a pickle when a big update comes out on an install that has been "tainted".
It is very important to have active, courteous community support when branching out into the great "linux unknown" and that is what kept me with PCLOS throughout the years. And just because you don't see a lot of activity in the forum or announcements on the site does not mean a distro is abandoned. As a matter of fact, quiet forums mean the users are happy. I am retired now and not as active as I was there years ago. I am also still running PCLOS (a community version - there is certainly variety) as one of 4 distros I have going at the moment. I keep my data backed up on separate disks and play with lots of distros now that I am not working.
Have been using this distro for over 15 years now. Since i don't have any training in computers, i was looking for something i could just plug in and get it to work. Well, this one turned out to be just that. In fact it has been such a wonderful distro to use and so easy to set up that i've helped over a dozen of other individuals get used computers and have set them up myself just 'cause it's so much fun!
Of course when i'm trying to set up used equipment with the distro i run into challenges sometimes, but it's nothing the user-friendly forum can't halp with and in a couple of minutes we're looking at the new, friendly horns of the Texas bighorn symbol of the distro on the screen.
The distro comes with all the programs you normally need - Spreadsheet, text editor, a paint program, a foto editor, the file manager of course - although i like to install Krusader, the web browser with others in the repository accessed with the program called Synaptic. Oh, and it has AnyDesk, Thunderbird which is a great OpenSource replacement for Outlook, GoogleEarthPro (well this has to be downloaded from their site but the installation is very easy, the VLC media player, BitWarden for your passwords, PDF readers galore, free accounting software called GNUCash which we use for our local Bahá'í accounting, Zoom of course, a screenshot program, Darktable for foto managament, Recoll to find your files and on and on, it's even got a free database program!
Just love this distro! Long live PCLinuxOS!
Version: apt Rating: 9 Date: 2024-03-06 Votes: 8
Installing PCLinuxOS is a breeze using the 2023.08 ISO. I prefer to use the Darkstar edition because the other ISOs don't separate free from non-free software. It comes with a plain version of KDE Plasma with the classic menu, but with a really nice transparent effect on the panel and a cool wallpaper. Interestingly it comes with MPV instead of VLC or perhaps one of the native KDE video players, and AisleRiot instead of Kpatience for card games. It really lives up the "Boomer Distribution" name, but don't let that fool you. PCLinuxOS is special because it's among the only distributions that don't use systemd, including the absence of elogind, but on top of that it's the most user friendly of the bunch. It proves to people that not having systemd doesn't make something not user-friendly, but it also appeals to the crowd that may explicitly want a system free of systemd and elogind.
Package management on PCLinuxOS revolves around Synaptic, as this is considered the most user friendly option. Under the hood it's actually using APT-RPM, an interesting combination that hasn't been seen elsewhere in years. I consider this a plus because RPMs are a lot simpler than Debian packages, with the bonus of the tried and true APT package manager. Unfortunately it's an older version of APT and one that lacks the ability to blacklist packages. Software is sometimes older in PCLOS but it's a stable rolling release where packages are updated when a maintainer gets around to it in the same vein as Void. Sometimes packages pull in or change way too much, for example the IceWM edition comes with EmelFM and a custom configuration. This is something I think would be better to leave up to the user. It's something that has gotten better than the last time I tried PCLinuxOS, but it's something to keep in mind.
The community is small and congregates on a forum but are extremely kind, active, and friendly.
Overall I give PCLinuxOS a 9/10, because it holds an important place in the world of distros as the only user-friendly, no-systemd distribution. More choices in what a user installs/removes would be great, but it's gotten better. PCLinuxOS recently added PipeWire and it seems like Wayland is on the way, so don't let anyone fool you that PCLOS is outdated or no one uses it! It's a stable, solid choice of a desktop OS with an active community.
Version: apt Rating: 1 Date: 2024-03-05 Votes: 2
Sorry to say that after about 20 years of using PCLOS, and enduring so many update/upgrade problems, and many successful and failed re-installs, and trips to the forums, it's time to move to some other OS.
I certainly would not recommend PCLOS to a newbie or anyone else, unless you are willing to spend a lot of time solving problems!
That being said, I appreciate Bill "TEXSTAR" Reynolds for his efforts to provide an ongoing distro, but it hasn't fulfilled his original intentions.
Sorry Houston but we've had too many problems!
I hope that you and your contributing people can resurrect PCLOS !!!
The install of PCLinux was very easy and quick. But things like setting screen resolution and simple files sharing is just to much trouble. Tried with some online sites telling how but it still blocks all sharing. I dont have the time to spend on trying to get this to work. It is very simple to do in other distros. The system is just kind of a mish mash. Looks nice though. I may look at it again at a latter time.
I remember when it was a pretty good distribution but seems to wandered a bit.
Just installed 2023.08 xfce version yesterday on my dell laptop.
The installation,reboot,update and installation of packages was smooth: I am now in the process of making a backup image to replace lmde on my desktop - I am that impressed.
I have been looking for a distro that is easier to maintain, that a lot of the configuration is already done, due to the fact I am older, and my eyesight is not what it once was.
Previous to this I tried lmde 6, which uses system d, but I had problem on the desktop due to systemd wanting almost everyboot to run something called initramfs - so lmde is gone.
Then I tried Devuan, that does not use systemd, but I found a show-stopper for myself - only one style which is white, could not find a solution, so that is ditched.
So for a distro for some ease of use, is more automated, does not cause problems - at least for myself its pclinuxos.
I really wanted to try a systemd-free rolling distro with KDE Plasma. I installed PCLInuxOS without major problems, but what a job getting it set up afterwards.
The biggest problem so far has been trying to get the language and locale set up. It seems to be english, or else. Luckily I use english as my native language, but I live in Germany and I want numbers, dates, currency, paper sizes and so on to use the local defaults. Unfortunately the regional settings page has the settings grayed out. This is the only KDE installation I have used that does not allow changing these settings out of the box. I went through a procedure that I found on the forum, but it left me with a german-language terminal, plus some other german language artifacts that have no business on an english desktop. In 2023.
There are so many application launcher entries that I had to scroll to view them all using Application Dashboard. There is an entry for "All Applications", but also an entry for "More Applications". No "Multimedia", but "Sound" and "Video". This is the only KDE distro that I have used that has such weird categories. I did change these in the short time that I used the distro.
The default fonts are really too large. This can be changed of course, but then some applications do not accept the change. Synaptic maintained its large fonts no matter what I did.
There are way too many notifications with sound enabled by default for my taste. I have not used another KDE distro with so many sounds enabled.
All of these issues can be solved, I thought. But then I tried to register for the forum. Good luck with that! I sent two e-mails to the account listed, but after 6 weeks I gave up and went for a different distro.
I probably would have been banned from the forum anyway, because one must not refer to other distros as I have done here.
Overall impression? "The Boomer Distribution", with a "Biscuits and Gravy" magazine.
PCLinuxOS is quite remarkable because while being a rolling-release GNU/Linux distribution, what means that it is very much updated, it is extremely stable, reliable and fast. It can be used in some not so new hardware with success, too. I have revived some old (64 bits capable, single or double core) machines with it. Also, it is simple to use, intuitive. Its repository is complete and the community helpful. You can chose to keep or update the kernel periodically, what it is good for stability and compatibility in your working environment. Also, for some of us, not having systemD is a very good thing (being a simpler, more solid and much reliable system). I've been using it at home and at college for more than ten years and surely recommend it to anyone.
I am a confessed distro hopper, usually using several a year; only Mandrake, Vector, Spiral and MX Linux lasting a longer time. PCLinuxOS might end being a keeper. It is very old school in that it is reliable with the basics such as startup, shutdown, suspend and resume being rock solid. No issues with detecting a networked printer or autoconfiguring the network. My computer is an ASUS A8 with 16 MB of ram. Btop reports only 2.39 Gib being used as I write this. While the XFCE edition does lack a GUI option such as Discover for Flatpaks, it is supported via the command line. Synaptic or the terminal using Apt works fine. Updates have been seamless. My wish would be that the Bauh package manager would be added to the repository for management of Flatpak and the regular repository as a one tool option. The default included software are astute choices. My personal favourites were all in the repository, which while not huge has most needs covered without having to Flatpak install a lot. Using the terminal as superuser requires SU, not sudo, which is old school cool. Not much hand holding here with many man and info pages non-existent. Curious as that should be an easy fix, but the internet is your friend for help. If your car is a Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla or you see value in AWD. If you can see the beauty in that plain girl everyone else is ignoring. Then, my friend, this may be the sleeper distro for you. For those younger readers, I mean sleeper as not yawn, but as that ugly car has a hot engine. PCLinuxOS is like that plain girl, after trying it, a real keeper that you rely on for the long haul.
Cheers,
Jefe
P.S Please change girl to whatever gender you prefer. Likewise, I mean no bias either to Chevy lovers.
Been using this distro for the past three months, not sure why have never tried this before, using the KDE version on an old acer with 4GB ram and runs so well, load less than 450M after boot , 650M with browser and 5 tabs open, never seen any full distro running this light and boots and shuts down so fast.
Very easy to set up and add software through synaptic maybe a bit old school without a gui package manager but works well, this is definitely the best for old hardware out there, well worth a look.
I checked every iteration of PCLOS when it was first established, based on Mandrake, wasn't it? PCLOS was my way of experiencing the KDE desktop environment. I liked its "works OOTB" quality. I recently needed a new home in Linux, so I checked out PCLOS since I was familiar with it. The Xfce version worked passably OOTB, but desktop icons were cartoonishly large, and Firefox fonts were too large as well. Screen resolution adjustments were not working. I probably needed a video driver. A new user must send an email to the forum to gain access. I sent an email, once, twice, three times but never got a response. And so I moved on. I still check PCLOS occasionally, but I'm not going to send another email.
Pro
1 functional out of the box
2 reliable, familiar territory
I just tried running PCLinuxOS 2023.07 on 2 of my desktop with Nvidia graphic cards, and it would not load past the command prompt. I was wanting to take a look at it however,. I was disappointed. It refused to recognize my now 2 year old Nvidia card as it appears there isn't even the nouveau drivers avaiable. these should be included in all the ISO's. That's a pity, I'm not about to try it again until maybe the next release...?... and see if they fix the problem. Also, I'm not too sold on the loader running ANSI.. Novel, but,... really? well at least til it refused to load startx.. ( I wanted to try the XFCE DE)
Great Distro. Great forum. Great maintainers. What more do you want?. Systemd free rolling release. Great looking. Plenty of apps. The lack of flatpaks by default is not a issue as not everybody wants that. It can be installed via Synaptic if needed. Always a very latest Kernel. I cant ask for more. It is a great beginner distro and comes in 3 different desktop flavors with other community spins available. If there is a problem the forum will respond and offer a solution the majority of time very quickly.
Pros:
Easy to install
Very modern look and feel
Friendly forum
Dedicated staff
All the apps you need
Easy on resources
Functions as it should
Cons:
None that will make a difference for me to change.
9 out of 10. The reason I don't give it a 10 is because nothing is perfect. You will be greatly served in giving this Distro a spin.
I love PCLinuxOS, and have been using it since 2006. It doesn't need to be bleeding-edge for people to love it, and works all the time for me, giving very few problems for a person who doesn't want to have to fix things all the time, but just wants to use their computer without any problems. Programs are updated so we're using current versions, and I have never failed to find just the right program in the repository. It's a positive feature that they don't change everything just for the sake of change.
I've been running PCLinuxOS since Mandriva went belly up. I've always multi-booted with other distros, many of which have come and gone. or stagnated. PCLinuxOS has always been rock solid with cutting edge packages running a sensible, solid core. Aside from native Steam support ( reasoning that I understand , but disagree with ), I'm not sure what else one could ask for from a free OS. Not only is the distribution stable and fast, but the lack of unnecessary change makes it very comfortable to use.
The only few downsides I can think of are interrupted installs leaving APT messed up. Dupeclean-GUI is an easy fix, but one that should be integrated into the packaging system. Manjaro's pamac is both faster, much more elegant and complete - particularly in terms of useful command line feedback . I find manual intervention is sometimes necessary in rolling release distros. There has to be a better method than visiting the forums. The latest nVidia repo change for PCLinuxOS was one of the few times I ended up with a borked system. Visiting the forums before updating, just because....something might happen, is just a bit silly. There has to be a better way. All that said, it's only ever broken once on me, and has otherwise always worked flawlessly.
It is simply a rolling distro that works without problems (not like Arch), I think at the same level as Debian Testing or OpenSuse Tumbleweed.
It has everything in its repository to work with: balena etcher, megasync, googl-chrome, librewolf, skype, etc. You don't have to be installing flatpak.
It is true that they do not take care of the aesthetic aspect, and that the installer is very confusing for someone who has not been in Linux for a long time. In the kde plasma edition they have slightly changed the graphical aspect of the installer to make it more user-friendly, and it certainly shows.
I have pclinuxos installed in its Enlightment version (community edition). It's retro but very configurable.
I have been using PCLinuxOS for 15 years. After having a look at some other distros it was easy for me to decide that Pclos was the one and only system for me. It hasn't let me down since. At times, when difficulties occurred, I was always helped quickly by the kind and knowledgeable community. There's even a monthly magazine, completely free.
When Pclos being labeled 'oldfashioned' I consider that as a recommendation, because the developers won't do changes in function or appearance just for the sake of change.
I've been using PclinuxOS for a long time, let's talk about 2008, its excellent nature of hardware recognition has no equal in the panorama, easy to use thanks to the countless guides and windows, the use of the terminal is reduced to a minimum thanks to the countless windows applied to the app.
What is very important is its control center from where you can set up the system.
In addition it has unique programs Mylivegtk and a window for Mylivecd and is used to recreate a reinstallable iso of your own iso.
You have to try it.
In all the years I have been using Linux, and the many distros I have used, I am quite happy to say that PCLinuxOS is easily the best balance of ease of use, hardware compatibility, choice of software, and eye-candy.
I have never, in all the distros I have used, been able to ask a question at a forum, and literally within hours get not only the needed answer, but many other tips of advice as well, sometimes from the developers themselves. Very helpful, very friendly community.
There are times when something new will set some alarms and bells off on some systems, but usually they are quickly solved and well documented. The latest artwork and overall look of PCLinuxOS screams sharp professionalism, with a tasteful choice of color and artistic form.
I have no plans to keep looking at multiple distros these days, as I have found the one that pretty much meets all my computing needs. I highly recommend it, so do yourself a favor and get real cozy with the rarest of gems in the world of Linux.
Version: apt Rating: 10 Date: 2023-09-04 Votes: 1
This is a great rolling release distro that just works. I've been using it for the last few years when I found myself looking to move away from Windows. I have dual booted Linux and Windows at times over some 25 years. I moved away from Linux when systemd became widespread. With Windows 11's release coming and my machine being older, as I said, I started looking to move away from Windows.
This distribution I found to be easy to install and maintain. There are several desktop environments that you can install and try out to find the one you like best. I highly recommend it to people who are new to Linux, want a distro that does not use systemd, and is a rolling release.
Version: apt Rating: 10 Date: 2023-09-04 Votes: 2
i'm also a 15 year user who just wants to be able to work on his computer. This OS is just great! It doesn't get in the way and provides what i need.
The Forum is great because the people on it are friendly, try to help, understand that if they told us to RTFM we would be offended and probably wouldn't understand half of it anyway (maybe this is why not many manuals are available) and we try to keep the Forum a safe and friendly place to ask questions and provide answers.
In fact the distro is so great that i've figured out how to install it on several laptops over the years which have been given to friends all over Mexico - from Cancun, 2 in Puebla, Aguascalientes and 3 in Mexicali plus one for the Anisa Foundation and one for the Bahái'í Community of Mexicali and - oh! - a friend in Los Angeles. Spreading Linux love all over the world. When installing on these older computers i almost always run into challenges and am able to ask in the Forum about how to solve them and get friendly advice and bam!, they're up and running!
This is the second distro we have had and we're really glad to have found it after our first one went under some 15 years ago.
As a long-time Linux user since 2005 (exit Windows in 2008), numerous Linux distros had been installed and removed - some as virtual machines and some - Archlinux, MX Linux, OpenKylin - on my other desktops and laptops. My mainstay has always been and will be with PCLinuxOS.
Many others mentioned Texstar. He is easy to get along with, always helpful, and a true reflection of PCLinuxOS that many of us in our community truly appreciate.
It may not look much to other Linux users but I can assure you that like most Linux distros PCLinuxOS is extensible; users just need to know how.
Version: apt Rating: 9 Date: 2023-09-04 Votes: 3
Being using PCLinuxOs since 2012.
I am still using the installed rolling version since a couple of years. So the 2023.07 version has been tested in VirtualBox.
Pros :
- The Forum community, very helpful and friendly. There are others distros like that, but not all of them.
- Easy to install.
- Hardware recognition.
- Community versions with other desktop environments available.
Cons :
- It's not explained at installation time or first boot that new kernels must be manually installed.
- Some heavy and frequently updated apps like LibreOffice or VirtualBox have a specific updater program. You find it easily at the Software Center of the main Menu.
I've been using PCLinuxOS for well over 15 years and have used it on various computers to help me run my consulting business. The selection of applications in the repository is outstanding.
Have I ever had problems with this OS? Sure, but any issues I may encounter are usually solved by visiting the forum and there's usually a solution waiting for me there when I check. The community is very friendly and always willing to help.
I've also used PCLinux OS several times to introduce friends and family to Linux with great results.
I can only recommend this distribution, excellent forum, internal tools that help a lot to make copies to reinstall with all the customizations -data etc etc in case of rare negative cases.
the iso released once installed configured and aesthetically changed by the user is localized in the language according to where the user resides with a comfortable graphic tools, having done this you have a program available to create your own iso of the system and it is possible reinstall it on other machines keeping or deleting your dates what more do you want...
Fantastic.
Version: apt Rating: 9 Date: 2023-08-15 Votes: 8
Someone else has given this distro 1/10 because apt/synaptic failed, but there were warnings on the forum and for anyone subscribed to emails from the distro, that you had to do an update during the month of July, because there was a new version coming out after July and the pre-July version could not be updated to the newer versions.
I updated my desktop running PCLinuxOS during July and again after, and it all worked as described on the site. However, my laptop wasn't used for a while until 4th August, and yes, I couldn't update it any more. So I re-installed. I had been using 1000 as the first user number, even though prior to the new version, it defaulted to 500. The new installation required a minimum user number of 1000, and I was able to use my old /home/me stuff. However, there was information on the site for people making a fresh install, how to change your user ID from 500 to 1000.
PCLinuxOS is a great distro, and not difficult to use, but you do need to check into the forum from time to time. You also need to update regularly, as a rolling release you can't leave too long between updates and expect it to go on working. If you're not prepared to do that, try another distro!
Version: apt Rating: 10 Date: 2023-08-13 Votes: 7
Tried to do some work with my VM this morning and had a problem using Virtual Box with Kernel 6.4.10. First call was to the forum and within 5 minutes, everything was back up and running....
Sometimes I get asked why I use a slightly obscure OS. My reply is that when something goes wrong I can either look up or post a message on the forum and the problem is usually fixed in double quick time. I know of no other OS that provides such a great support for its users and that is why I have used PCLinuxOS for over 15 years.
Many, many thanks to all the lovely people involved - you really are the best.
I have using the PCLinuxOS with KDE plasma desktop for a month. Today I tried to update the system with synaptic GUI. However, the process has failed showing the error message "Segmentation fault". As well as "synaptic", "apt" has not worked anymore. I searched on the web how to fix it, but I could not. It seems to me this is a serious problem of this distro. No effective way to use this distro left for me. Only I will delete this partition to be installed with another distribution as soon as possible...
I have used PcLinuxOS before, both the KDE (Darkhosrse) and Mate desktops and been very satisfied with it. I really like the fact that it is a semi-rolling release so I don't have to re-install the OS on regular basis plus, for most part you have access to recent and updated applications. You can find pretty much any application you need from their repository through using software Centre (Synaptic).
However, I have been disappointed with the most recent version as I am unable to adjust my screen resolution, an issue that has never been a problem in the past. I was really looking forward to using this distro again but unfortunately it is not possible for me at this time.
Nice systemd-free Distribution with a good repo, having everything a regular user needs. Lots of packages included that need to be added manually in other distributions like Teamviewer, Balena, VirtualBox etc. Rolling release. I've been using PCL since 2014. Never ever had a distributrion as well tested as that. Also nice XFCE Version and a few community-build Releases using other windowmanagers. Synaptic as Package-Installler, APT/APT-GET usable as well.
Absolutely recommended, even for newbies. Good connection to the programming and testing crew through facebook and PClinus-forum.
I just installed the full KDE version out of curiosity. Many things I dislike in it.
1. A lot of unnecessary packages pre-installed. I know I installed the full version but I only expected needed stuff included like browser, office suite, etc. Not three display managers, virtualbox spotify, videodownloader, megasync, timeshift (on ext4 filesystem) and a lot of other packages I don't even know about. Even the installer will be installed.
2. Small, not up-to-date repo.
3. KDE implementation is much to be desired. Had no success unifying or changing the resolution.
4. Xorg and pulseaudio by default, even on the 23.07 version.
Hi there.
I just tried running PCLinuxOS 2023.07 on 2 of my desktop with Nvidia graphic cards, and it would not load past the command prompt. I was so looking forward to trying it. What a disappointment. I never have any problems with any of the Ubuntu and Debian family. The Nvidia drivers should be included in all the ISO's. PCLinuxOS only works on my laptops because the onboard video graphic is intel. Anyway, that's too bad, and I'll try it again in a couple of months and see if they fix the problem. But for what I could see on my laptop, the KDE desktop looks very nice and sharp.
I have been using Linux Operating Systems since the early days of Linux. I started out with Ubuntu and have tried many, many other Linux Distros. I have tried almost every version and always go back to Mate.
PCLinux Mate Distro is the fastest of any of the many Linux Distros I have installed and tried
It is also one of the most stable and reliable of all Linux Distros.
PCLinux could use a better version of Synaptic. It is very imited on available software and apps.
I highly recommend PCLinux!
Version: apt Rating: 9 Date: 2023-06-10 Votes: 9
PCLinuxOS KDE (Darkstar) 2023.05 – excellent, simple, reliable and simply beautiful Linux system. I recommend it to everyone - as the main system for a home computer! I have been using this distro since November 2020 and it has never let me down. Everything is intuitive and simple, no special knowledge and skills are required. Works smartly, updates easily - and conflict-free. A good selection of programs for everyday use - even for a person who is quite advanced in the world of Linux. The impression of PCLinuxOS is generally the warmest!
A very stable and reliable distribution. Have used it for more than sixteen (> 16) years on a considerable number of different computers and servers, including touch screen laptops. Over the years I have not encountered a single peripheral device which could not be setup and used by the system, even odd / rarely used ones.
Very helpful, polite, forum contnuously assists newcomers and old hands alike with the occasional installation and use issues.
Highly recommended for new and old computer users of all trades who are fed up with limited or invasive software.
I have PCLinux KDE running very well on four PC's in the home.
Two laptops - one dual boots a UEFI Windows 11 [until I erase it] One is just PCLinux [Windows 10 was erased.
I have an I5 desktop running PCLinux for about four years now that does video conversion and editing as well as a newsletter publication for my local Computer club. I've managed to convert several of the members to Linux users. Most use PCLinux
I also recently purchased a Beelink mini PC from Amazon and hooked it up to a 32" TV with an HDMI cable.
PCLinux fills the screen perfectly and runs very smoothly.
I have several Lenovo Thinkpads and have personally used the Thinkpad T-series and L-series exclusively since 2007. I was able to install PCLinuxOS on almost all of them except for my current Thinkpad T490. Installation also failed on my L430. I even tried 5 PCL releases going back to 2019. Only the 2019 edition installed on the T490 from a DVD but I could not change the display resolution which was stuck at 1020X1920, way too small for my old eyes. So unless I want to go with UEFI (which makes a mess out of my HDD/SSD), I will pass on using PCLinuxOS for the forseeable future. Most other distros installed just fine from DVD on my T490, including Fedora 38/37, LMDE5, Debian, MX Linux, etc. I also made several Email attempts to get a User ID and password to access the PCL forum. I heard from no one. What a pitiful distro!
Nice excellent little distro spun by Texstar. The control center rocks.
Rolling Release very well tested. Good collection of software included in the repos.
I've been using PCLinuxOS since 2014 - good ol' times of it was offered as "the full monty", a distro with preinstalled software fitting all your needs (can nowadays installed using Synaptic or apt-get / apt).
Very good forum and a short connection within forum or facebook to Tex and a few other members of the maintainance and testing group.
Checked out a few others but never met such a quite actual and well tested distro ever.
Version: apt Rating: 1 Date: 2023-05-10 Votes: 0
Has Zoom preinstalled which is a violence against privacy and social participation (Also mentioned in the Big Brother Awards of 2023). Also Zoom and Spotify would perform even better and secure via Flatpak instead of native pkging which is also kinda lousy . Also apt-rpm is deprecated over years and has alot of security flaws. PCLinux very unstable due its lack of maintenance. It is a disappointment of any Linux Distro which i supporting init freedom and free software. I would rather using Ubuntu with Upstart instead of PCLinux.
I've been using various linux distros for several years, but for some reason, never tried PCLinuxOS. Looking for systemd-free options, I discovered PCLinuxOS ticks this box & I understand it also manages to avoid elogind, a systemd component.
I've been using PCLinuxOS as my daily driver for over a month now.
Installation was fairly easy & quite quick. It's rolling release, so packages are up to date & easily updated with Synaptic.
So far, despite being rolling release, it has been very stable, impressively so. Mpre stable than e.g. Debian Sid & definitely more so than Fedora Rawhide.
It has a very large selection of software in its repos. You name it, it's probably there, even browsers like Librewolf & Ungoogled Chromium. Nice.
Pros:
No systemd
No elogind
Very large software repository
Rolling release, so packages up to date
Very stable
One of the oldest surviving linux distros, a piece of FOSS history!
Community-driven, not run/backed by corporations
Good documentation on website
Cons:
KDE Plasma feels a bit slow (subjective, I'm now using MATE)
Everything seems to work, so I find myself using CLI less
Maybe not for tinkerers
No netinstall ISO
PCLinuxOS is one of the oldest linux distros & it's systemd, elogind free, it is a hidden gem. This distro doesn't seem to get much attention, well, anywhere. It deserves more IMHO.
There were a few niggles, so I wouldn't give a score of 10, if 9.5 was an option, that would be my score.
It may not be the best choice for absolute beginners, but for those starting their distro-hopping days, give PCLinuxOS a go.
I have been using PCLinuxOS Xfce edition for over a year on an HP laptop. It's a wonderful distro for almost anyone, I had no issues switching from a debian based distro to PCLinuxOS. But its best feature is the community forum. The people there is so kind, helpful, and they share a lot of funny/interesting stuff.
PCLinuxOS has the UFW firewall available in the repository, all famous browsers, office tools. The only thing I didn't find was Visual Studio Code, but it was easy to install anyway.
I highly recommend this distro to anyone who is tired of distro hopping. Logging into my PCLinuxOS is like going on vacation from the struggles and problems other distros have (arch/debian based). There are no problems here. Turn it on, do whatever you want to do, and enjoy the experience of ACTUALLY doing stuff WITH your OS.
The KDE desktop of PCLinuxOS was once a distro I liked and used for quite a while. No longer! The distro is just too buggy today. Synaptic in PCLinuxOS has all sorts of problems. A number of programs I installed showed I had done so in the package manager but never made it to the main menu. That's an unacceptable negative! The distro has an awkward to use installer and a very small repository. It is missing a number of apps I would very much like. It doesn't help not having flatpaks either. Texstar, the distro's creator has done a laudable job keeping this distro going for all these years, but it's now showing its age. PCLinuxOS is a distro dinosaur, a broken down animal from a past era. It's something cobbled together from a number of unrelated parts. No wonder there are issues with it. This is not a KDE distribution I can recommend.
Best way to describe PC-LinixOS is Frankenstein Linux.
There is mix of everything, Remnants of Mandriva Linux like original Control Center with original icons. Many software packages that are long dead still live here.
Somehow it all works mostly smooth.
Default Installation is bloated with everything including kitchen sink.
Installing packages with Synaptic is not always dependency aware. Many packages are broken unless you know what they depend on and install the missing dependencies.
Still good choice for those looking for systemd-free distro. And yes, you can disable/uninstall pulseaudio even in XFCE desktop!
I use KDE and like it since ages. PCLinuxOS runs the KDE Desktop absolutely stable, smoothly and is my favourite OS for serious works. In my opinion it is as close to "user-friendly" as a Linux Distro can be. Some colleagues here blame it to be not "idiot-proof" - is that possible at all? And do we want that? A bit of Linux/Unix knowledge is required, when you want to tailor it to specific needs. If not, you will be happy with that, what runs right out of the box. I hope that this distro will live long and enable me to use tools as kdenlive for many years. Big THX to Texstar.
This is clearly not a distribution for beginers. Well... It could be. But only for english speaking beginers.
Here is a short list of impeding stuff :
- Translations are not installed even though the selected language selected at install time isn't english.
- No idiot-proof way to install and configure the system language & region.
- Only american english provided (and "tok", whatever it is)
- Control Center with "localization" having the same options as KDE system settings, but identically useless
- Synaptic as the default software management application... This is clearly not for beginers.
- 3 different display managers (wtf ?)
- Unhelpful main menu
I stopped reviewing it here. I can't give that to a Linux beginer. It's not even user friendly.
PCLinuxOS is a rolling release now in use in 2 desktops and 4 laptops around the house (AMD and Intel cpu's), each with the KDE Plasma desktops installed. Latest kernels on all machines 6.0.13. The PCLinuxOS Control Center enables software installs and kernel selections for easy reboot to new kernel. This distribution uses SysVInit system, something I truly appreciate. The software repositories have Synaptic for the frontend and have all the packages I need and then some. This is one of the most dependable and reliable distributions out there.
PCLinuxOS for me has been a safe haven that I always seem to return to.
I'm not a "power user", or an "expert", but I have dabbled with Linux since the late 90's (Mandrake and Suse).
I've "distro hopped" quite a bit over the years, some of the distros came and went, others have survived and thrived.
Of all the distro's I've tried, PCLinuxOS just seems to be the most reliable (long term), and easy to use Linux distro for me.
I like Linux Mint as well, and personally rate that as a very close second place.
I've installed and run PCLinuxOS on multiple PC's and laptops, and only ever had one issue I couldn't sort, a laptop trackpad (I just plugged a mouse into a usb port in the end), and that was years ago.
Maybe I've been lucky that all the hardware I owned was supported, but in general PCLinux just works, and keeps working.
I honestly cannot think of any "cons" to PCLinuxOS, the OS is good and stable, and the community forums are full of friendly, helpful people.
I don't care about Distro wars, or fanboys / gurlz, I go by my own personal experience, and for a Linux Operating system PClinuxOS has been the best experience I've had, consistently over quite a few years.
While underneath almost every linux is near the same, PCLOS is very well built, beginner and advanced GUI / terminal friendly and has an updated repository. It is a general computing distro performing very well with Audio / Video and Graphics Studio software but also with some Linux friendly Game Engines for game developing general developing... except for Microsoft's C Sharp that is almost mission impossible to make it run, leaving some game engines that use that scripting language out of PCLOS world for beginners who start to learn it. Other than that, HW is recognized well and run without issues, but some proprietary network cards may become blacklisted after the first update, but there's no place for panic and all is needed is placing a " # " at network card name on the blacklist and it won't disable anymore. LibreOffice is installed by a custom script rather than straight from Synaptic Package Manager or via "apt-get install" on terminal and yet that script is wonderful on LibreOffice update process or in case a complete remove is required, but LibreOffice can also be installed manually or run by AppImage in the same ways every other distro does.
This is currently my daily driver having moved from Linux Mint and prior Manjaro as well as Mageia/ Open Mandriva with the odd Fedora thrown in😬.
So the good bits
---------------------------
Firstly the old school theme. For those who like the old xp or vista you get that kind of feel to it. There's an option to change the kde menu to something that looks similar to Windows 10 if that's your fancy.
Next is the Apt package management and the use of rpm's. Huge tick from me on that.
The bundled in software is everything you need and the only thing I have added is the Google Chrome browser to which you shall find within the synaptic package manager. That's the other good thing, synaptic package manager is your only gui tool for installing your software and this I really really like as there's know beating round the Bush with when you need to find some software or package.
You get all the usual Kde goodies and standard settings manager.
So I like so far but now the parts that could be improved, firstly the wallpaper packs need to be greatly expanded from the 2 that come pre installed. Secondly the login manager is gdm but I would much prefer sddm as standard here so I wish they would change that or at very least give an option during the setup process.
So a well deserved 9 but that's on a fresh install. I have fixed these things myself so I give my own system a 10.
Pclinuxos really is and always will be that dark horse that will always surprise you. Solid, reliable and just a rock of a distro.
During nearly 10 years, PCLinuxOS has been a mystery for me because either version of it simply refused to boot from the HDD of my old Intel-based PC. After the change to an AMD-based machine, it finally start up and let me see how imperfect it is...
To be honest, I always found stupid issues in just about every Linux/BSD distro under the Sun, but PCLinuxOS Xfce edition (the one I chose to test) certainly doesn't deserve to be called “the distrohopper stopper”. In reality, their developers did a lot of bad decisions. Among them, we must include the fact that the Xfce edition is configured to automatically mount NTFS partitions. And I'm still asking myself why it uses GIMP (instead of Evince) to open PDF files. An even crazier thing: Why VLC media player was set to open ISO images (in lieu of File-Roller, for instance)?
Having used many distros, mainly from the Debian family (Knoppix, Poseidon, Ubuntu, SolusOS, SolydXK...) and, years ago, SuSE and Mandrake, I found PCLinuxOS by means of a friend and coworker. It amazed me to have an apt-get/Synaptic packaging tool in a RPM package distro. Also, the fact that it is a rolling release distro but absolutely stable and reliable. It is also light on the RAM and CPU and fast. Undoubtedly a great distro to use in day by day home office or even at work (I have installed it in more than a dozen machines at the university and worked fine). The repos are quite good, updated and complete. Kudos to TexStar and the team.
I used it back in the day. It's always been a decent distro. After many years I tried PCLOS again. In less than 10 minutes my Linux was installed. The trouble was then to get a wifi network that works. But I admit it's a little different, quirky and unpolished in my opinion. But, because of this it's also highly powerful, and open. I see a lot of Arch in PClinuxOS these days verses Debian, but that's just me. Before Arch users start flaming me, I said much like, certainly PClinuxOS is kind of it's own thing. I can recommend.
Great distro. I've settled on this one. works great, installs great, run like a top on my Intel i3 with 16gb ram and an ssd for boot. Been using it for at least 3 years on this box with no problems. I use Wine on it to run some old Windows games so i have everything i need. i started out on an old mandrake release many years ago. I tried many other distros with limited success. the hardware support is great. using an external wifi adapter that took right off. ubuntu, mint, fedora, and many others work well but PCLinuxOS is the one I really enjoy. I use this as my main linux box. i still use windows (11) and an older iMac..
After many years I tried PCLOS again. When I recall it was round 2000 when I went to try Linux, The first distributions were Mepis now MX Linux and PCLOS. The trouble was then to get a wifi network that works. Very big challenge then and I ended then with Ubuntu. My AMD Ryzen desktop has no internal wifi card. So I had to use a wifi adapter. To my surprise the Sweex LW 163 and the Netgear WNA 1100 worked very well. With Manjaro and Linux Mint they did not. PCLOS has everything a linux user wants like reliability and always up to date through the semi-rolling release version. I want to recommend PCLOS for everybody especially the beginners. Keep up the good work!!
With PCLinuxOS Linux you can choose between different desktop environments. In less than 10 minutes my Linux was installed. You have full control over your own computer system from the beginning. A really good Linux without SystemD with which you can finally play all games on Steam without problems. The known problems with Easy Anticheat and BattlEye are fixed with PCLinuxOS if you don't have it installed as a virtual machine because they are without the teething problems of SystemD. I can recommend
Я использую PCLinuxOS LXQT. Очень быстрая, стабильная, современная система. При потреблении памяти в 170МБ работает очень шустро. Легко настроить все - поведение, внешний вид.
Огромный репозиторий программ. Свежий софт "завозят" чуть ли не на следующий день после релиза. Если чего то нет можно установить из rpm других дистрибутивов. Кроме того, поддерживается flatpak и AppImage.
Установка программ с помощью Synaptic проста а интуитивно понятна. RPM-пакеты так же ставятся в один клик.
Огромный выбор окружений (рабочих) столов. Можно установить все, даже Lumina (уже вполне годно для эксплуатации). Для "старых" компьютеров подойдет Trinity desktop, LXDE, LXQT (отличный DE). KDE вообще очень красив и быстр.
Тайловые менеджеры так же присутствуют полным комплектом и работают "из коробки".
SysV в качестве системы инициализации то же плюс. Отсутствие "спорной" SystemD упрощает администрирование.
Простое обновление системы из терминала или с помощью привычного всем Synaptic облегчает жизнь не только новичкам, но и администраторам.
С помощью drakxservices легко управлять сервисами. А kmod позволяет отключить ненужные модули ядра "на лету".
Большим плюсом является то, что нет проблем с видеокартами Nvidia, как новыми, так и "древними".
QMPlay2 вообще супер комбайн. Намного удобнее и функциональнее VLC. Огромный список тв и радиостанций, в том числе и Российских. Можно добавлять свои. Кроме того,поддерживается youtube и другие сервисы.
Систему можно смело рекомендовать новичкам. Есть развитые средства импорта данных из Windows.
What is understood about this linux distribution is that, it is very respectable in the software world because of its stability, reliability, practicality and community support. The forum is a great place because of its members and knowledge base.
Personally, I run the community version with the Trinity Desktop Environment which is enough to take all my computing tasks. I have it as the only operating system installed.
The software collection in its repository is quite low when comparing with other major distributions, but it contains everything needed for an everyday Joe to run a PC like a desktop or a laptop.
Few observations about this distro:
1. The installation is very quick
2. It is very light despite its 64 bit only architecture
3. Has a classic desktop feel
4. Functionality is complete with prominent applications like synaptic, control centre etc
PCLinuxOS does not lean on to any particular philosophy, but just gives what is needed from a computer. It is entirely user run through community channel not backed by any company.
An excellent linux distribution if you are willing to setup on your own system by learning.
After having been wandering through a dozen Linux distros from all major "families" (Debian, Slackware, Arch), I stumbled upon PCLinuxOS with the XFCE Desktop, one of the oldest (started in 2003!) and stablest Linux distros. What a breeze! It gathers the best of two worlds: easy of use and hackability.
Pros:
+ easy to use as Ubuntu, but faster and lighter, with its "Control Center", where you can hack most configurations of your PC without having to go to the command line;
+ you can change and remove practically everything you want (including PulseAudio) through the command line; in other distros, PulseAudio and KDE telemetry are almost impossible to get rid of;
+ no telemetry and no systemd;
+ huuuuge variety of packages to install through Synaptic;
+ it's a rolling distro: so, packages are constantly updated;
+ their help forum is better (and faster) than most paid customer support services - and is free;
+ fantastic community: people really spend the time to teach you the basics, and are super patient with newbies;
+ super stable, packages are well built, with dependencies always met.
Cons:
- if there's one, it's an issue which most distros suffer with up-to-date software: you'll need a computer with a minimum 2 GB of RAM to run it fairly (internet but not with 20 tabs open, watching 720p videos, office, graphics editing), and 4GB to get it working really well, with HD, editing videos and the like.
So, if it's so good, why is PCLinuxOS still unknown to many users? I guess it's because it has no big corpos like Google, Canonical or IBM behind it. It's fully funded by users, there are no "top-tier donors" telling what must be done.
All the for me important packages/programs are available from the repositories and easily installed via Synaptic.
If the package is not there, then there is almost always a replacement which does the same thing.
I requested a program to be added in the past, and it was indeed added.in the repository.
The forum is really helpful and so far my questions have all been answered and the few problems that I have had, have all been answered in such a way that they are solved.
I encountered a hiccup once which I could correct by using Timeshift and the next day it was solved in the update again
I have been using PCLinuxOS for more than 3 years now on 2 machines and so-far I am very happy with it.
Have used both the Mate and the XFCE versions
Pros
Stable
Rolling so you get the latest software, not like other distros which supply sometimes 2-year-old software.
This was my main reason to move to PCLinuxOS, to get up-to-date software.
Friendly and helpful forum, if you pose a question it gets often answered within 2 or 3 hours, and the issues I encountered get answered / solved.
Cons
Not really, I have to think hard to find them.
Maybe the only thing is that sometimes a program only has a .deb version published and not a .rpm, but that is becoming less and less of a problem, because it is very rarely needed to install a program outside the repository
Great Distro, Thanks Tex and crew. Couldn't ask for a better Linux distro. Best Magazine hands down. If I could had given a 100 as a score i would have.
Since PCLinuxOS is a rolling release, I merely selected the latest version.
Have been testing this excellent distro on and off for about 3 years, but have it running full time on a laptop for over a year. Trinity DE on an Alienware M15x laptop.
Recently installed the Plasma DE on a spare PC, a Dell OptiPlex.
Both installations are running flawlessly.
PCLinuxOS is a fun distro to work with, and a major selling point is the awesome community. Their forum contains everything from serious computer discussion to hard hitting news to jokes and stories. It's a place to really get to know the people who are so willing to help you.
I openly admit that Solus Budgie is my main system on a System76 Thelio desktop, but if ever I really needed to install another distro in its place, PCLinuxOS would win hands down!
MintSpider.
PCLinuxOS is the best of the desktop Linux distros out there, IMHO. Its hardware detection is without equal. It's free of the systemd scourge that has taken over most other distros.
Even though it doesn't have a rich benefactor or corporate donors, Texstar and his band of merry packagers manage to keep PCLinuxOS remarkably up-to-date. Stable is the name of the game with PCLinuxOS. With PCLinuxOS, everything just works, and works well.
The main DE is KDE and Gnome, with community versions of Xfce, Enlightenment, LXQt, Openbox, and Trinity desktops. I'm an Xfce fan, so that's the version that I prefer to use.
PCLinuxOS is a great choice for new and experienced Linux users alike. The user forum is extremely friendly and helpful. You couldn't possibly go wrong with PCLinuxOS.
Been using this as my main OS since 2016 and had it and other Linux distros as secondary boots since 2009. Always KDE with various themes. It finds my hardware with no problem. Brother, Canon, and HP printers have all worked perfectly for printing. Scanning with a multi function can be sketchy but no worse than any other Linux distro I've tried.
As a rolling release it stays up to date very well. The packagers are responsive if one of the more esoteric programs needs a newer version. Newer does not always mean better so if there is a downside it's that a function that has worked well in the past may quit with an update. PCLOS has a facility for making full remasters of the system as an .iso you can put on a bootable usb drive to go back to the working version. I do htis about once a month. There are other less cumbersome backup utilities like timeshift you can set up to take snapshots every hour and save for your preferred time from hours to years.
Another big plus is the forum. They tolerate fools the best of any distro I've tried. The Big Boss Tex reads the forum posts and responds daily. Sometimes you may not like the response but it's always accurate and better than wondering if anybody cares.
Been using PCLinuxOS since 2007.
I have run into minor installation issues as I have a wide selection of dated hardware but have always managed to achieve installation.
PCLinuxOS is very fast, smooth and there are tons of applications available. The forum is the best I have ever belonged to, the members are friendly and very helpful. Even the developer, Texstar with his many hours of hard work keeping PCLinuxOS up to date, adding packages and improving PCLinuxOS finds time to help members with any issues they may have.
IMHO there isn’t a better Linux OS available for the every day user than PCLinuxOS!
Yes, it's true.
It has trouble booting legacy, it hangs on hardware detection never ending but it boots in UEFI mode and it's always the best for newcomers with it's control center and the only one using buggy NetworkManager able to connect me to internet with a D-Link 131 E1 USB dongle and a Nokia 2 used as hot spot.
Neither MX linux the best IMHO out there fails to connect.
If you want something easy and ready OOTB also for newcomers boot UEFI and give it a spin.
I installed PCLinuxOs earlier and found it very good. After installing many other linux distro's I thought install PCLOS KDE again on my desktop. Everything works out of the box and very fast. Recommended!!
I've been using PCLinuxOS ever since I fell out with KDE4. I had formerly used Mandrake/Mandriva and had got used to the *drake tools provided in that distro. To my mind they are the best available and diskdrake knocks all the others into a cocked hat for ease of use. Everything was fine until the 2021 version came out and things started going wrong. I have had enormous problems getting the Nvidia card to work and actually had to revert from 5.14.16 to 5.10.91 to get away from the nouveau driver. Having successfully got the video card installed and working I noticed other problems. A game called Sunless Sea had previously worked flawlessly but with the new distro it failed and even the people at Failbetter Games were stumped as to what had gone wrong.
After trying the new 2022.1 things got worse and on a reboot the network failed and I could not get it to work.
I agree with the poster on 12/01/2022
PCLinuxOS was a great distro and the folks on the forum are helpful, friendly and long-suffering with all the difficulties I posed to them. The *drake tools are great and apt-get and Synaptic beat RPM hollow, but sadly given all that all the problems I am having means that it's time to move on. I'm currently downloading Linux Mint. I'm not very happy about it as it uses systemd and sudo, things that rub me up the wrong way but these days my computers are tools and have ceased to be a hobby and I am tired of struggling with what PCLinuxOS has turned into.
Like the Curate's egg, it's bad but good in parts.
Semi-rolling release distribution with some applications that do not ship with other distros; nice control center that is second only to Yast on (open)SUSE
Cons:
Way too many issues with this distro, including:
* Hit-or-miss kernel panics when booting
* Inability to automatically connect to my wireless network
* Inability to automatically log in at startup (when the system does boot)
* Inability to change any touchpad settings (no touchpad found)
* Inability to find working solutions to any of the above issues, and I am unwilling to register for a forum account when there are countless better distros out there
Unfortunately, I can use literally any other Linux distribution and not experience the above issues.
The number of issues and overall lack of polish makes PCLinuxOS near impossible to use even for experienced users. PCLOS was once a great distro for beginners, but today is not worth your time.
Have attempted to several times to get the live dvd to load.
I get the splash screen with the progress bar, but it fails to load. Have waited several minutes with ore progress.
Gave up all attempts. There is no support available, must email the developer. The forum is useless, unable to register, must email the same individual.
The live usb wouldn't boot for me. It hung on hardware detection. I looked at the user forums and found others have this problem. I tried the work-arounds and none of them worked.
I'm a distro hopper and I have very common hardware (Core i3-7100 with embedded intel graphics.
I've used Pclinuxos in the past and found it very quick to boot and very responsive.
This is the first distro I've ever tried a distro that wouldn't boot from a live image.
Tried the latest release...again. Ubuntu MATE and PCLinuxOS are the only two of dozens of distros I have tested through the years that still don't read my flash drive correctly. What is your problem PCLinuxOS?
Doing great after alle these years (I do have it for 10 years at least on partitions, mostly Xfce). Much from the repository-apps work, unlike in Ubuntu etc...
Mine is a roling community distro at origin, I love it. The forum-support is perfect, although one has to know a little of Linux.
Very ballanced distro, a little confusing App-menu, but a wealth of software and setting available.
Very active in updating via repo. Lots.. Try it..!
Version: 2007 Rating: 9 Date: 2021-11-18 Votes: 4
I started my full time migration away from Windoze in 2007 using PCLinuxOS and for 14 years it has been outstanding(but not perfect, what is?)
I have mostly solved any issues myself using the web. I have on occasion posted problems/issues on their dedicated forum to which the responses offered were quite condescending in nature and I was made to feel that I was bothering them.
All in all a great OS!!
I was a PCLinux user years ago and after becoming a converted user to Linux I then tried various distros. Anyway knowing that it had always served me well I decided to start using it again a few months back and am very impressed that is not still good, it is excellent. Stable and just as easy to use.
There is basically very little you are likely to need to add to the software recipe as there is a good selection and things just work as they are supposed to.
I initially thought I was going to have trouble with my latest HP Envy Pro 6420 Printer/Scanner but it turned out nothing to do with PCLinux but instead good old HP. I found they had just issued new drivers etc for these, not only for Linux but also Windows and Mac. Installed them and not a hiccup to be seen since.
System is remarkably snappy which is nice considering my current PC is getting a bit old in the teeth.
Am very happy with system daily updates as not encountered any issues whatsoever since I installed PCLinux...
The default programs that are there from day one all seem to be well chosen and work a treat.
Digikam works very nicely as does DarkTable plus I have added one Commercial program "Aftershot Pro" which prior to purchase by Corel used to be Bibble and was a Linux program. Aftershot Pro has run fine under PCLinux. I was very happy that the OS catered well for my interest in Photography as it does have a good selection of viewers and what have you in addition to Digikam. I have tens of thousands of photos and it doesn't miss a beat.
If you are looking for a nice OS and one that simply works, try it and hopefully be impressed just like I am.
Operating System: PCLinuxOS 2021
KDE Plasma Version: 5.23.3
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.88.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2
Kernel Version: 5.14.18-pclos1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 4 × Intel® Core™ i5-3230M CPU @ 2.60GHz
Memory: 7.7 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa DRI Intel® HD Graphics 4000
Since the year 2000 A.D., I have tried hundreds of Linux distros that are available on distrowatch.com.
Some have showed promise, but most have proven to be confusing and difficult to setup a comfortable desktop with the apps that I use. If you like the command line, and you like support forums, you’re in heaven! They will tell you how to install the latest versions of Zoom, GIMP, Gnucash, Web Browsers, E-mail Clients, etc. For most users it’s a real pain in the a--!
With PCLinuxOS you don’t have to mess around with Command Line most of the time!
It’s a “rolling release”, and it will enable you to, using the Synaptic app, upgrade the Kernel and all previously installed apps. YOU CAN USE YOUR MOUSE!!!!!!!!
Open Synaptic with your mouse, and select whatever you want, click apply and there you go!
To those who think that PCLos uses an inordinate amount of resources, well, sure, it uses disk space, but active memory, for the most part, is only used by the desktop. (e.g. KDE uses more memory, Xfce and others use less, but they don’t offer enhanced features!) If you’re using an old computer with limited memory and a boot hard drive less than 50 GB., then maybe you should try Puppy Linux!
This is “Cutting Edge Stuff”, and thanks to Texstar, the most valuable developer team, and forum members, you’re at the top of people in the “business” !!!
Give PCLinux a try...I think you’ll like it !!!
I recommend your support!
Version: apt Rating: 1 Date: 2021-11-14 Votes: 0
Sloppy, bloated distro that uses up a lot of my resources when idle. There are too many applications preinstalled (a lot of bloat) and most of which I’ll never use. Yes, I can uninstall the programs, but that’s not the point, the developers seek to mainly be focused on how the distro looks and not the stability and how well it runs. There are other better distros out there than this bloated mess.
A one-month review ... PCLinuxOS is still on my primary machine (Debian on the second), although some minor issues have shown up.
My most interesting discovery is that parts of KDE have been explicitly removed. Telemetry is gone - not just mitigated, removed so it does not even show up in user interfaces such as dolphin and kate - which is great. Unfortunately, the emoji picker and KDE Connect are also not there. The second can be installed manually (kdeconnect-kde) and works straight off, but the first is not available anywhere that I can see. I am glad that kmail and offshoots are removed, though, as the whole kcontact suite is a sprawling mess and the weakest part of KDE.
Digging deeper, there are a lot of thoughtful configuration changes. For example, background file indexing is switched off by default which is good as, on any platform, it has its issues. Printing and Bluetooth pairing with mobile phones and headphones, two often tricky features, "just work". Clearly the PCLinuxOS maintainers know KDE inside out.
Over the month there have been over 200 (installed) package updates, with most of those infrastructural - not just the flashy stuff. Most KDE standalone applications (e.g. krita) are bang up to date, but kstars is a bit behind. The 21.08 application suite was available a couple of days after it was released. LibreOffice 7.2 was available, via the installation script which removed 7.1 and installed it flawlessly, straight off. The VirtualBox script is also slick and installs the kernel modules too; installing those by hand can be difficult and has led me to the easy way out (Boxes) in the past.
There is a hidden trick where installing the kernel_latest package automatically installs the latest kernel as it becomes available; otherwise it remains at 5.13.7 until (presumably) there is a major update.
PCLinuxOS is now my permanent Linux installation and I will be setting up a monthly donation.
I have used it for a long time and I like its streamlined concept. You get what you want (a small or full bodied version). The installation is simple and after that - well, it just works. The forum is friendly and the whole team with helpful members seems to be online 24/7. Running KDE Darkstar on my Thinkpad i3, 8 GB. Stable and very small footprint of just about 330MB at idle (no unnecessary system services).
Very satisfied.
It is a really fantastic distro, I think it is not better known because it has a very ugly appearance, but it deserves the fight. Everything is installed with "sudo apt install" but the packages are rpm, and it is easier to directly install things like browsers, skype, balena etcher, etc. One bad thing is that it takes a while to get the wifi when turning on and after stand by. Also, like I said, it's ugly, but that can always be tuned. It is very very stable, I have tested it for months and it does not give problems or surprises. worth
After a lot of distro hopping I landed and am staying with POLinuxOs. The major reason is I don't have to do any tweaking. It works out of the box.
The forum is vey helpful, all of the testers and developers a right there to help out.
Came across it because it was listed on Distrowatch. I thoughtt "well yeah, another Windows-lookalike-linux"... I was totally wrong. So yes, you can make this distro look a lot like a Windows version of your choice. But that is all cosmetics no? I can have a Volvo look like a BMW if I put time and effort in it. The nice thing is that you have a well documented, easy to use and independent Linux distribution to get started with. If we want to have people come over from the dark side, I believe this is the way to go. You do not want to overwhelm them with technical mumbo jumbo, repositories, alternative apps... They just need to get things installed and get on with their work. And that is exactely what PCLinuxOS offers. So, to the creators: "job well done guys!"
I did however struggle a bit to get the correct version working on my UEFI Bios HP laptop. But, hey...that is the beauty of a live USB. It did eventually see my wifi built-in realtek and also my realtek based dongle. Personally, I just rearranged the desktop settings but I reckon the 'run-of-the-mill Windows user' will not care at all. All he/she will see is an easy to configure system with all of the settings just right there in your face and most of the needed applications already installed. They are "independent" but stray towards the "Debian" side with the apt install system and the synaptic software manager that goes with it. But, this system scores high in my book. So....
There are a couple of minuses: it is not that easy to determine the correct version to download (what the effe is a trinity version to a new user...???), also, there is the very lengthy update procedure after install. Mind you, it will install after all but you have to be very patient!
Then again, on the many positives: easy and intuitive to use, good app choice, it just gets the job done...
If I would have to convince someone to cross over to linux, PCLinuxOS would be the system I wou
PCLinuxOS is a low-profile independent rolling release distribution which has been around for years. On the evidence I see before me it deserves to be far better known.
Its Mandrake/Mandriva heritage is obvious from the installer, which is instantly familiar to a user of those old operating systems but has been streamlined. Install took 10 minutes and, after a reboot, there were about 20 updates although the ISO file I used to install (07-2021 Darkstar KDE) was only four days old. All packages have a ...pclinuxos... filename and are installed using synaptic, which is a real blast from the past although a very powerful tool.
That done, it is straight into a KDE 5.22.3 desktop. The appearance is deliberately conservative - blue background, simple one-level menu, only an icon to the Dolphin file manager on the Desktop. One huge improvement from PCLinuxOS of old is that there are tools to install both a KDE locale and OpenOffice with a locale. I could switch from en-us to en-gb and get British options selected everywhere, which is certainly not the case with many other distributions.
Darkstar is a very minimal KDE setup - I found quickly that even okular (PDF reader) is not installed. But what is there is sufficient to get going and build on. The only additions are tools to create a(nother) PC Linux pen drive and, most importantly, the Control Centre, which is another Mandrake/Mandriva borrowing. It provides all the machine-level (rather than KDE-level) tools required, but feels dated and doesn't cope well with a 4K screen, as the font sizes are all over the place.
Overall PCLOS is minimalistic, lightning fast and a rolling release ... near perfect. The only slight demerit is that the internal tools look a bit old-fashioned, especially against the huge improvements in consistency and appearance KDE has pulled off recently.
I have PCLOS on my pc's for about 15 years now (on partition).
It had its great periods en some down. So I always tried to be prudent.
For the last years PCLOS has done great for me.
Installation is quite simpel, things work mostly out of the box.
Software from the repo works with most of the programs. That can be very different with other tastes of Linux... Updating is frequent and thoroughly as far as I can see.
One can make a livemedium of the system which is nice for backup or transfer to other machines. Their forum helps very nicely and to the point.
And... it's rolling!! If there's anything I hate with OS-es it is the end of life after some years and next the move of your data and apps to a 'fresh installed system' from the bottom up. I love rolling.
PCLinuxOS XFCE flavor is awesome, very fast, nice looking, works out of box and as expected stable and have all required software.
Installation and maintenance are also easy and suitable for both beginners as well as experienced users.
Thanks to great people behind PCLinuxOS !!
Pros:
- works out of the box;
- great and varied repo, always with the latest packages - and it's a rolling release;
- the most friendly forum I've ever seen - with guys that really help you to solve your issue (very rare!);
- as a consequence, highly indicated for beginners;
- for more advanced users, it has all the tools to open the hood and dirty your hands;
- systemd-free;
- light on resources - for those with old 64-bit PCs, I recommend the XFCE flavor - using it on a 15-year old PC.
Cons:
- their site looks a little old. Such a great distro deserves a better look.
Considering the majority of distros are bloated with stuff many users don't need finding something basic is not so easy and since Netrunner Core is now abandoned that's another one less to choose from. Yes you can do a net install of Debian or there's Q4 or Neon but the Darkstar version of PCLinuxOS for me is just perfect plus being independent it doesn't rely on mixing it's own stuff with someone else's code. I have it installed on four very different systems and stuff you mostly expect to fail on at least one such as Bluetooth and my collection of Wi-Fi dongles all work out of the box. I only found it necessary to install kdeconnect via Synaptic.
I started using PcLinuxOS in 2010 and used it for four years with good results. Currently, I mostly use Devuan, but recently revisited PcLinuxOS to refresh my familiarity.
I encountered some difficulties with UEFI setup, which was not uncommon for Linux users, however less common nowadays. The default kernel didn’t work as expected during the next boot. To address this, I used chroot from Devuan to set up a new kernel in PcLinuxOS and updated GRUB (update-grub). In Devuan, I linked the root partition (/) to PCLinuxOS’s /boot and /boot/efi, then ran update-grub. This made PCLinuxOS appear in the GRUB menu within Devuan, and everything worked smoothly afterward. PcLinuxOS is very responsive and enjoyable to work with. The only thing missing is Wayland support for KDE5, similar to what Devuan offers. Both systems use SysVinit, which works well.
Pros:
• Excellent graphics
• A user-friendly control center (configure your computer)
• A good selection of programs in the default repository, including Vivaldi, MS Edge, Chrome, and SMPlayer
• Fast boot times and pleasant performance
• I set up both Squid and Apache as forward proxies, and they work well
• Regular updates
• Overall, it performs admirably
Cons:
• Some minor installation difficulties, but nothing insurmountable
• May require familiarity with chroot, whether on a live distro or another existing Linux system
• Having a chroot environment in your toolkit is always beneficial
Despite the kernel-related challenges, I’d rate PcLinuxOS 10/10.
Best regards!
I have installed and used many Linux Distros for about 20 years. There are several that I rate as good, but I rate PCLinuxOS as one of the best of the best. I prefer the Mate edition. Installs very easily. It is very reliable. It is very fast. It has a great format. It has the best of all background; simple and very attractive. It operates very fast; faster than any others to me. Has a very nice format.
Not so many normally useless bells and whistles.
A very good all around Linux Operating System!
I highly recommend PCLinuxOS!
PC-Linux is a great Distro. Although it is independent, you can use Synaptic to manage the rpm packages. PC-Linux is very snappy on my notebooks. It is much faster than the distros I had before. I also like the fact, that they offer good support and even a magazine with news and tips about the OS. You get the actual software without any snap or flatpak. But it is possible to put it onto the machine. A little issue was how to open a BitLocker encrypted stick. On the Debian or Ubuntu-based distros, it was no problem. But here I could not open it. Even when the same packages for that are installed. On one PC, I have an SSD and a mechanical hard drive installed. Here it had problems with hardware detection. Anyway, I found a workaround. You can feel the experience of many years of development. PCLinux needs a little more Marketing, It is a kind of Distro which just woks out of the box. No heavy usage of Ram, when using the Desktops. I had chosen the XFCE. For me one of the best. It is very stable. They now even try a Debian based version, but these version is slower than the original. So I hope they keep up on PCLinux a while longer.
Have had, and still have issues with the XFCE version of this distro, the latest being udev delaying startup, but there is also my personal issue with GTK and dark beckgrounds, such as VLC not using system theme, and even if one chooses GTK2+ this choice wil be ignored.
Previous I installed on a Dell Laptop, with the same problems, had to reinstall on the desktop to see if a particular CPU issue would be resolved - no chance.
This distro once up and running seems OK - but its that delay, and the GTK problem which makes it problamatical for myself.
I would like to use it, everything else seems fine, but it is to be replaced.
PCLinuxOS just works. I think it is one of the best beginner distros to help people move from Winwoe$ to Linux.
* Easy for beginners, plenty of tools for the more advanced. Plenty of eye-candy, yet efficient and easy to turn things on/off if you prefer a more minimal setup.
* It's a rolling release which keeps everything current and it is very stable at the same time. I've been using it for decades.
* Its other great strength is that it has a fantastic, generous, very helping community that realizes beginners need help, not just RTFM or google it yourself.
* It was one of the very first to offer live media to test it out. It easily allows one to create their own custom, bootable USB / CD / DVD / to share with others.
I use since 2009, when I started using Linux as main OS, I sticked with PCLOS because is a rolling distro, with the upgrades running, usually, smooth with no big deals. But, off course, it is recommended going to forum to check if there's any problem with an update.
In the repos we have a vastly variety of programs, and we can ask on forum to add a program we want to use and it is not on the repo.
In general, I think it is a great distro. I recommended to anyone who wants to start in Linux.
It bewilders me. I am (IMHO) a moron when it comes to Linux. If it weren't for all the work that has been done by Texstar and his ilk, I wouldn't be able to enjoy using PCLinuxOS so much. But Texstar and his merry band of Linux-loving fiends HAVE done a plethora of work to make this the most amazing Simply Radical Linux I've ever used. If a Linux tech-ignoramus like me can overcome the occasional snafu with help from the denizens of the PCLinuxOS Forums, I can't fathom why anyone else cannot do likewise .... especially after 20 years of piddling around with PCLinuxOS.
My satisfaction level using PCLinuxOS (despite the rare glitch) is presented here both to call out Texstar and PCLinuxOS's developers and maintainers for a job well done and to counter a recent not-so-good announcement I read on distrowatch.com concerning PCLinuxOS.
I have been using PCLOS for almost 20 years on and off, mostly on. When I was more active in communities I did make a point to recommend it to newbies over the various sudo-ing distros because I felt they would learn more by using "proper" linux. PCLOS was my first non-debian distro and there was a long stretch of many years with it while undergoing major KDE and X changes along the way. Of all the major updates in those days (a LOT) I only had two disasters. Backup Backup Backup. The only total borking was my not paying attention during a big x-org upgrade I overlooked there was the big change to Grub 2 to go along with the Xorg migration. PCLOS was my main driver and keeper of the boot for a tower that had 5 physical drives and I can't tell you how many different OS's in there. My fault for not paying attention and I believe I had also been neglecting regular updates.
This is the nature of a rolling release. If you can't handle the release of updates with PCLOS (or Manjaro) don't ever try debian SID. It is probably my early linux experience with SID that makes me shrug off the people that go for a rolling distro and either don't pay any attention to it and accumulated updates break it or they go playing with other repositories and wind up in a pickle when a big update comes out on an install that has been "tainted".
It is very important to have active, courteous community support when branching out into the great "linux unknown" and that is what kept me with PCLOS throughout the years. And just because you don't see a lot of activity in the forum or announcements on the site does not mean a distro is abandoned. As a matter of fact, quiet forums mean the users are happy. I am retired now and not as active as I was there years ago. I am also still running PCLOS (a community version - there is certainly variety) as one of 4 distros I have going at the moment. I keep my data backed up on separate disks and play with lots of distros now that I am not working.
Have been using this distro for over 15 years now. Since i don't have any training in computers, i was looking for something i could just plug in and get it to work. Well, this one turned out to be just that. In fact it has been such a wonderful distro to use and so easy to set up that i've helped over a dozen of other individuals get used computers and have set them up myself just 'cause it's so much fun!
Of course when i'm trying to set up used equipment with the distro i run into challenges sometimes, but it's nothing the user-friendly forum can't halp with and in a couple of minutes we're looking at the new, friendly horns of the Texas bighorn symbol of the distro on the screen.
The distro comes with all the programs you normally need - Spreadsheet, text editor, a paint program, a foto editor, the file manager of course - although i like to install Krusader, the web browser with others in the repository accessed with the program called Synaptic. Oh, and it has AnyDesk, Thunderbird which is a great OpenSource replacement for Outlook, GoogleEarthPro (well this has to be downloaded from their site but the installation is very easy, the VLC media player, BitWarden for your passwords, PDF readers galore, free accounting software called GNUCash which we use for our local Bahá'í accounting, Zoom of course, a screenshot program, Darktable for foto managament, Recoll to find your files and on and on, it's even got a free database program!
Just love this distro! Long live PCLinuxOS!
Installing PCLinuxOS is a breeze using the 2023.08 ISO. I prefer to use the Darkstar edition because the other ISOs don't separate free from non-free software. It comes with a plain version of KDE Plasma with the classic menu, but with a really nice transparent effect on the panel and a cool wallpaper. Interestingly it comes with MPV instead of VLC or perhaps one of the native KDE video players, and AisleRiot instead of Kpatience for card games. It really lives up the "Boomer Distribution" name, but don't let that fool you. PCLinuxOS is special because it's among the only distributions that don't use systemd, including the absence of elogind, but on top of that it's the most user friendly of the bunch. It proves to people that not having systemd doesn't make something not user-friendly, but it also appeals to the crowd that may explicitly want a system free of systemd and elogind.
Package management on PCLinuxOS revolves around Synaptic, as this is considered the most user friendly option. Under the hood it's actually using APT-RPM, an interesting combination that hasn't been seen elsewhere in years. I consider this a plus because RPMs are a lot simpler than Debian packages, with the bonus of the tried and true APT package manager. Unfortunately it's an older version of APT and one that lacks the ability to blacklist packages. Software is sometimes older in PCLOS but it's a stable rolling release where packages are updated when a maintainer gets around to it in the same vein as Void. Sometimes packages pull in or change way too much, for example the IceWM edition comes with EmelFM and a custom configuration. This is something I think would be better to leave up to the user. It's something that has gotten better than the last time I tried PCLinuxOS, but it's something to keep in mind.
The community is small and congregates on a forum but are extremely kind, active, and friendly.
Overall I give PCLinuxOS a 9/10, because it holds an important place in the world of distros as the only user-friendly, no-systemd distribution. More choices in what a user installs/removes would be great, but it's gotten better. PCLinuxOS recently added PipeWire and it seems like Wayland is on the way, so don't let anyone fool you that PCLOS is outdated or no one uses it! It's a stable, solid choice of a desktop OS with an active community.
Sorry to say that after about 20 years of using PCLOS, and enduring so many update/upgrade problems, and many successful and failed re-installs, and trips to the forums, it's time to move to some other OS.
I certainly would not recommend PCLOS to a newbie or anyone else, unless you are willing to spend a lot of time solving problems!
That being said, I appreciate Bill "TEXSTAR" Reynolds for his efforts to provide an ongoing distro, but it hasn't fulfilled his original intentions.
Sorry Houston but we've had too many problems!
I hope that you and your contributing people can resurrect PCLOS !!!
The install of PCLinux was very easy and quick. But things like setting screen resolution and simple files sharing is just to much trouble. Tried with some online sites telling how but it still blocks all sharing. I dont have the time to spend on trying to get this to work. It is very simple to do in other distros. The system is just kind of a mish mash. Looks nice though. I may look at it again at a latter time.
I remember when it was a pretty good distribution but seems to wandered a bit.
Just installed 2023.08 xfce version yesterday on my dell laptop.
The installation,reboot,update and installation of packages was smooth: I am now in the process of making a backup image to replace lmde on my desktop - I am that impressed.
I have been looking for a distro that is easier to maintain, that a lot of the configuration is already done, due to the fact I am older, and my eyesight is not what it once was.
Previous to this I tried lmde 6, which uses system d, but I had problem on the desktop due to systemd wanting almost everyboot to run something called initramfs - so lmde is gone.
Then I tried Devuan, that does not use systemd, but I found a show-stopper for myself - only one style which is white, could not find a solution, so that is ditched.
So for a distro for some ease of use, is more automated, does not cause problems - at least for myself its pclinuxos.
I really wanted to try a systemd-free rolling distro with KDE Plasma. I installed PCLInuxOS without major problems, but what a job getting it set up afterwards.
The biggest problem so far has been trying to get the language and locale set up. It seems to be english, or else. Luckily I use english as my native language, but I live in Germany and I want numbers, dates, currency, paper sizes and so on to use the local defaults. Unfortunately the regional settings page has the settings grayed out. This is the only KDE installation I have used that does not allow changing these settings out of the box. I went through a procedure that I found on the forum, but it left me with a german-language terminal, plus some other german language artifacts that have no business on an english desktop. In 2023.
There are so many application launcher entries that I had to scroll to view them all using Application Dashboard. There is an entry for "All Applications", but also an entry for "More Applications". No "Multimedia", but "Sound" and "Video". This is the only KDE distro that I have used that has such weird categories. I did change these in the short time that I used the distro.
The default fonts are really too large. This can be changed of course, but then some applications do not accept the change. Synaptic maintained its large fonts no matter what I did.
There are way too many notifications with sound enabled by default for my taste. I have not used another KDE distro with so many sounds enabled.
All of these issues can be solved, I thought. But then I tried to register for the forum. Good luck with that! I sent two e-mails to the account listed, but after 6 weeks I gave up and went for a different distro.
I probably would have been banned from the forum anyway, because one must not refer to other distros as I have done here.
Overall impression? "The Boomer Distribution", with a "Biscuits and Gravy" magazine.
PCLinuxOS is quite remarkable because while being a rolling-release GNU/Linux distribution, what means that it is very much updated, it is extremely stable, reliable and fast. It can be used in some not so new hardware with success, too. I have revived some old (64 bits capable, single or double core) machines with it. Also, it is simple to use, intuitive. Its repository is complete and the community helpful. You can chose to keep or update the kernel periodically, what it is good for stability and compatibility in your working environment. Also, for some of us, not having systemD is a very good thing (being a simpler, more solid and much reliable system). I've been using it at home and at college for more than ten years and surely recommend it to anyone.
I am a confessed distro hopper, usually using several a year; only Mandrake, Vector, Spiral and MX Linux lasting a longer time. PCLinuxOS might end being a keeper. It is very old school in that it is reliable with the basics such as startup, shutdown, suspend and resume being rock solid. No issues with detecting a networked printer or autoconfiguring the network. My computer is an ASUS A8 with 16 MB of ram. Btop reports only 2.39 Gib being used as I write this. While the XFCE edition does lack a GUI option such as Discover for Flatpaks, it is supported via the command line. Synaptic or the terminal using Apt works fine. Updates have been seamless. My wish would be that the Bauh package manager would be added to the repository for management of Flatpak and the regular repository as a one tool option. The default included software are astute choices. My personal favourites were all in the repository, which while not huge has most needs covered without having to Flatpak install a lot. Using the terminal as superuser requires SU, not sudo, which is old school cool. Not much hand holding here with many man and info pages non-existent. Curious as that should be an easy fix, but the internet is your friend for help. If your car is a Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla or you see value in AWD. If you can see the beauty in that plain girl everyone else is ignoring. Then, my friend, this may be the sleeper distro for you. For those younger readers, I mean sleeper as not yawn, but as that ugly car has a hot engine. PCLinuxOS is like that plain girl, after trying it, a real keeper that you rely on for the long haul.
Cheers,
Jefe
P.S Please change girl to whatever gender you prefer. Likewise, I mean no bias either to Chevy lovers.
Been using this distro for the past three months, not sure why have never tried this before, using the KDE version on an old acer with 4GB ram and runs so well, load less than 450M after boot , 650M with browser and 5 tabs open, never seen any full distro running this light and boots and shuts down so fast.
Very easy to set up and add software through synaptic maybe a bit old school without a gui package manager but works well, this is definitely the best for old hardware out there, well worth a look.
I checked every iteration of PCLOS when it was first established, based on Mandrake, wasn't it? PCLOS was my way of experiencing the KDE desktop environment. I liked its "works OOTB" quality. I recently needed a new home in Linux, so I checked out PCLOS since I was familiar with it. The Xfce version worked passably OOTB, but desktop icons were cartoonishly large, and Firefox fonts were too large as well. Screen resolution adjustments were not working. I probably needed a video driver. A new user must send an email to the forum to gain access. I sent an email, once, twice, three times but never got a response. And so I moved on. I still check PCLOS occasionally, but I'm not going to send another email.
Pro
1 functional out of the box
2 reliable, familiar territory
I just tried running PCLinuxOS 2023.07 on 2 of my desktop with Nvidia graphic cards, and it would not load past the command prompt. I was wanting to take a look at it however,. I was disappointed. It refused to recognize my now 2 year old Nvidia card as it appears there isn't even the nouveau drivers avaiable. these should be included in all the ISO's. That's a pity, I'm not about to try it again until maybe the next release...?... and see if they fix the problem. Also, I'm not too sold on the loader running ANSI.. Novel, but,... really? well at least til it refused to load startx.. ( I wanted to try the XFCE DE)
It is simply a rolling distro that works without problems (not like Arch), I think at the same level as Debian Testing or OpenSuse Tumbleweed.
It has everything in its repository to work with: balena etcher, megasync, googl-chrome, librewolf, skype, etc. You don't have to be installing flatpak.
It is true that they do not take care of the aesthetic aspect, and that the installer is very confusing for someone who has not been in Linux for a long time. In the kde plasma edition they have slightly changed the graphical aspect of the installer to make it more user-friendly, and it certainly shows.
I have pclinuxos installed in its Enlightment version (community edition). It's retro but very configurable.
I've been running PCLinuxOS since Mandriva went belly up. I've always multi-booted with other distros, many of which have come and gone. or stagnated. PCLinuxOS has always been rock solid with cutting edge packages running a sensible, solid core. Aside from native Steam support ( reasoning that I understand , but disagree with ), I'm not sure what else one could ask for from a free OS. Not only is the distribution stable and fast, but the lack of unnecessary change makes it very comfortable to use.
The only few downsides I can think of are interrupted installs leaving APT messed up. Dupeclean-GUI is an easy fix, but one that should be integrated into the packaging system. Manjaro's pamac is both faster, much more elegant and complete - particularly in terms of useful command line feedback . I find manual intervention is sometimes necessary in rolling release distros. There has to be a better method than visiting the forums. The latest nVidia repo change for PCLinuxOS was one of the few times I ended up with a borked system. Visiting the forums before updating, just because....something might happen, is just a bit silly. There has to be a better way. All that said, it's only ever broken once on me, and has otherwise always worked flawlessly.
I love PCLinuxOS, and have been using it since 2006. It doesn't need to be bleeding-edge for people to love it, and works all the time for me, giving very few problems for a person who doesn't want to have to fix things all the time, but just wants to use their computer without any problems. Programs are updated so we're using current versions, and I have never failed to find just the right program in the repository. It's a positive feature that they don't change everything just for the sake of change.
Great Distro. Great forum. Great maintainers. What more do you want?. Systemd free rolling release. Great looking. Plenty of apps. The lack of flatpaks by default is not a issue as not everybody wants that. It can be installed via Synaptic if needed. Always a very latest Kernel. I cant ask for more. It is a great beginner distro and comes in 3 different desktop flavors with other community spins available. If there is a problem the forum will respond and offer a solution the majority of time very quickly.
Pros:
Easy to install
Very modern look and feel
Friendly forum
Dedicated staff
All the apps you need
Easy on resources
Functions as it should
Cons:
None that will make a difference for me to change.
9 out of 10. The reason I don't give it a 10 is because nothing is perfect. You will be greatly served in giving this Distro a spin.
I can only recommend this distribution, excellent forum, internal tools that help a lot to make copies to reinstall with all the customizations -data etc etc in case of rare negative cases.
the iso released once installed configured and aesthetically changed by the user is localized in the language according to where the user resides with a comfortable graphic tools, having done this you have a program available to create your own iso of the system and it is possible reinstall it on other machines keeping or deleting your dates what more do you want...
Fantastic.
I've been using PCLinuxOS for well over 15 years and have used it on various computers to help me run my consulting business. The selection of applications in the repository is outstanding.
Have I ever had problems with this OS? Sure, but any issues I may encounter are usually solved by visiting the forum and there's usually a solution waiting for me there when I check. The community is very friendly and always willing to help.
I've also used PCLinux OS several times to introduce friends and family to Linux with great results.
Being using PCLinuxOs since 2012.
I am still using the installed rolling version since a couple of years. So the 2023.07 version has been tested in VirtualBox.
Pros :
- The Forum community, very helpful and friendly. There are others distros like that, but not all of them.
- Easy to install.
- Hardware recognition.
- Community versions with other desktop environments available.
Cons :
- It's not explained at installation time or first boot that new kernels must be manually installed.
- Some heavy and frequently updated apps like LibreOffice or VirtualBox have a specific updater program. You find it easily at the Software Center of the main Menu.
As a long-time Linux user since 2005 (exit Windows in 2008), numerous Linux distros had been installed and removed - some as virtual machines and some - Archlinux, MX Linux, OpenKylin - on my other desktops and laptops. My mainstay has always been and will be with PCLinuxOS.
Many others mentioned Texstar. He is easy to get along with, always helpful, and a true reflection of PCLinuxOS that many of us in our community truly appreciate.
It may not look much to other Linux users but I can assure you that like most Linux distros PCLinuxOS is extensible; users just need to know how.
i'm also a 15 year user who just wants to be able to work on his computer. This OS is just great! It doesn't get in the way and provides what i need.
The Forum is great because the people on it are friendly, try to help, understand that if they told us to RTFM we would be offended and probably wouldn't understand half of it anyway (maybe this is why not many manuals are available) and we try to keep the Forum a safe and friendly place to ask questions and provide answers.
In fact the distro is so great that i've figured out how to install it on several laptops over the years which have been given to friends all over Mexico - from Cancun, 2 in Puebla, Aguascalientes and 3 in Mexicali plus one for the Anisa Foundation and one for the Bahái'í Community of Mexicali and - oh! - a friend in Los Angeles. Spreading Linux love all over the world. When installing on these older computers i almost always run into challenges and am able to ask in the Forum about how to solve them and get friendly advice and bam!, they're up and running!
This is the second distro we have had and we're really glad to have found it after our first one went under some 15 years ago.
This is a great rolling release distro that just works. I've been using it for the last few years when I found myself looking to move away from Windows. I have dual booted Linux and Windows at times over some 25 years. I moved away from Linux when systemd became widespread. With Windows 11's release coming and my machine being older, as I said, I started looking to move away from Windows.
This distribution I found to be easy to install and maintain. There are several desktop environments that you can install and try out to find the one you like best. I highly recommend it to people who are new to Linux, want a distro that does not use systemd, and is a rolling release.
In all the years I have been using Linux, and the many distros I have used, I am quite happy to say that PCLinuxOS is easily the best balance of ease of use, hardware compatibility, choice of software, and eye-candy.
I have never, in all the distros I have used, been able to ask a question at a forum, and literally within hours get not only the needed answer, but many other tips of advice as well, sometimes from the developers themselves. Very helpful, very friendly community.
There are times when something new will set some alarms and bells off on some systems, but usually they are quickly solved and well documented. The latest artwork and overall look of PCLinuxOS screams sharp professionalism, with a tasteful choice of color and artistic form.
I have no plans to keep looking at multiple distros these days, as I have found the one that pretty much meets all my computing needs. I highly recommend it, so do yourself a favor and get real cozy with the rarest of gems in the world of Linux.
I've been using PclinuxOS for a long time, let's talk about 2008, its excellent nature of hardware recognition has no equal in the panorama, easy to use thanks to the countless guides and windows, the use of the terminal is reduced to a minimum thanks to the countless windows applied to the app.
What is very important is its control center from where you can set up the system.
In addition it has unique programs Mylivegtk and a window for Mylivecd and is used to recreate a reinstallable iso of your own iso.
You have to try it.
I have been using PCLinuxOS for 15 years. After having a look at some other distros it was easy for me to decide that Pclos was the one and only system for me. It hasn't let me down since. At times, when difficulties occurred, I was always helped quickly by the kind and knowledgeable community. There's even a monthly magazine, completely free.
When Pclos being labeled 'oldfashioned' I consider that as a recommendation, because the developers won't do changes in function or appearance just for the sake of change.
Someone else has given this distro 1/10 because apt/synaptic failed, but there were warnings on the forum and for anyone subscribed to emails from the distro, that you had to do an update during the month of July, because there was a new version coming out after July and the pre-July version could not be updated to the newer versions.
I updated my desktop running PCLinuxOS during July and again after, and it all worked as described on the site. However, my laptop wasn't used for a while until 4th August, and yes, I couldn't update it any more. So I re-installed. I had been using 1000 as the first user number, even though prior to the new version, it defaulted to 500. The new installation required a minimum user number of 1000, and I was able to use my old /home/me stuff. However, there was information on the site for people making a fresh install, how to change your user ID from 500 to 1000.
PCLinuxOS is a great distro, and not difficult to use, but you do need to check into the forum from time to time. You also need to update regularly, as a rolling release you can't leave too long between updates and expect it to go on working. If you're not prepared to do that, try another distro!
Tried to do some work with my VM this morning and had a problem using Virtual Box with Kernel 6.4.10. First call was to the forum and within 5 minutes, everything was back up and running....
Sometimes I get asked why I use a slightly obscure OS. My reply is that when something goes wrong I can either look up or post a message on the forum and the problem is usually fixed in double quick time. I know of no other OS that provides such a great support for its users and that is why I have used PCLinuxOS for over 15 years.
Many, many thanks to all the lovely people involved - you really are the best.
I have used PcLinuxOS before, both the KDE (Darkhosrse) and Mate desktops and been very satisfied with it. I really like the fact that it is a semi-rolling release so I don't have to re-install the OS on regular basis plus, for most part you have access to recent and updated applications. You can find pretty much any application you need from their repository through using software Centre (Synaptic).
However, I have been disappointed with the most recent version as I am unable to adjust my screen resolution, an issue that has never been a problem in the past. I was really looking forward to using this distro again but unfortunately it is not possible for me at this time.
I have using the PCLinuxOS with KDE plasma desktop for a month. Today I tried to update the system with synaptic GUI. However, the process has failed showing the error message "Segmentation fault". As well as "synaptic", "apt" has not worked anymore. I searched on the web how to fix it, but I could not. It seems to me this is a serious problem of this distro. No effective way to use this distro left for me. Only I will delete this partition to be installed with another distribution as soon as possible...
Nice systemd-free Distribution with a good repo, having everything a regular user needs. Lots of packages included that need to be added manually in other distributions like Teamviewer, Balena, VirtualBox etc. Rolling release. I've been using PCL since 2014. Never ever had a distributrion as well tested as that. Also nice XFCE Version and a few community-build Releases using other windowmanagers. Synaptic as Package-Installler, APT/APT-GET usable as well.
Absolutely recommended, even for newbies. Good connection to the programming and testing crew through facebook and PClinus-forum.
I just installed the full KDE version out of curiosity. Many things I dislike in it.
1. A lot of unnecessary packages pre-installed. I know I installed the full version but I only expected needed stuff included like browser, office suite, etc. Not three display managers, virtualbox spotify, videodownloader, megasync, timeshift (on ext4 filesystem) and a lot of other packages I don't even know about. Even the installer will be installed.
2. Small, not up-to-date repo.
3. KDE implementation is much to be desired. Had no success unifying or changing the resolution.
4. Xorg and pulseaudio by default, even on the 23.07 version.
Hi there.
I just tried running PCLinuxOS 2023.07 on 2 of my desktop with Nvidia graphic cards, and it would not load past the command prompt. I was so looking forward to trying it. What a disappointment. I never have any problems with any of the Ubuntu and Debian family. The Nvidia drivers should be included in all the ISO's. PCLinuxOS only works on my laptops because the onboard video graphic is intel. Anyway, that's too bad, and I'll try it again in a couple of months and see if they fix the problem. But for what I could see on my laptop, the KDE desktop looks very nice and sharp.
I have been using Linux Operating Systems since the early days of Linux. I started out with Ubuntu and have tried many, many other Linux Distros. I have tried almost every version and always go back to Mate.
PCLinux Mate Distro is the fastest of any of the many Linux Distros I have installed and tried
It is also one of the most stable and reliable of all Linux Distros.
PCLinux could use a better version of Synaptic. It is very imited on available software and apps.
I highly recommend PCLinux!
PCLinuxOS KDE (Darkstar) 2023.05 – excellent, simple, reliable and simply beautiful Linux system. I recommend it to everyone - as the main system for a home computer! I have been using this distro since November 2020 and it has never let me down. Everything is intuitive and simple, no special knowledge and skills are required. Works smartly, updates easily - and conflict-free. A good selection of programs for everyday use - even for a person who is quite advanced in the world of Linux. The impression of PCLinuxOS is generally the warmest!
A very stable and reliable distribution. Have used it for more than sixteen (> 16) years on a considerable number of different computers and servers, including touch screen laptops. Over the years I have not encountered a single peripheral device which could not be setup and used by the system, even odd / rarely used ones.
Very helpful, polite, forum contnuously assists newcomers and old hands alike with the occasional installation and use issues.
Highly recommended for new and old computer users of all trades who are fed up with limited or invasive software.
I have PCLinux KDE running very well on four PC's in the home.
Two laptops - one dual boots a UEFI Windows 11 [until I erase it] One is just PCLinux [Windows 10 was erased.
I have an I5 desktop running PCLinux for about four years now that does video conversion and editing as well as a newsletter publication for my local Computer club. I've managed to convert several of the members to Linux users. Most use PCLinux
I also recently purchased a Beelink mini PC from Amazon and hooked it up to a 32" TV with an HDMI cable.
PCLinux fills the screen perfectly and runs very smoothly.
I have several Lenovo Thinkpads and have personally used the Thinkpad T-series and L-series exclusively since 2007. I was able to install PCLinuxOS on almost all of them except for my current Thinkpad T490. Installation also failed on my L430. I even tried 5 PCL releases going back to 2019. Only the 2019 edition installed on the T490 from a DVD but I could not change the display resolution which was stuck at 1020X1920, way too small for my old eyes. So unless I want to go with UEFI (which makes a mess out of my HDD/SSD), I will pass on using PCLinuxOS for the forseeable future. Most other distros installed just fine from DVD on my T490, including Fedora 38/37, LMDE5, Debian, MX Linux, etc. I also made several Email attempts to get a User ID and password to access the PCL forum. I heard from no one. What a pitiful distro!
Nice excellent little distro spun by Texstar. The control center rocks.
Rolling Release very well tested. Good collection of software included in the repos.
I've been using PCLinuxOS since 2014 - good ol' times of it was offered as "the full monty", a distro with preinstalled software fitting all your needs (can nowadays installed using Synaptic or apt-get / apt).
Very good forum and a short connection within forum or facebook to Tex and a few other members of the maintainance and testing group.
Checked out a few others but never met such a quite actual and well tested distro ever.
Has Zoom preinstalled which is a violence against privacy and social participation (Also mentioned in the Big Brother Awards of 2023). Also Zoom and Spotify would perform even better and secure via Flatpak instead of native pkging which is also kinda lousy . Also apt-rpm is deprecated over years and has alot of security flaws. PCLinux very unstable due its lack of maintenance. It is a disappointment of any Linux Distro which i supporting init freedom and free software. I would rather using Ubuntu with Upstart instead of PCLinux.
I've been using various linux distros for several years, but for some reason, never tried PCLinuxOS. Looking for systemd-free options, I discovered PCLinuxOS ticks this box & I understand it also manages to avoid elogind, a systemd component.
I've been using PCLinuxOS as my daily driver for over a month now.
Installation was fairly easy & quite quick. It's rolling release, so packages are up to date & easily updated with Synaptic.
So far, despite being rolling release, it has been very stable, impressively so. Mpre stable than e.g. Debian Sid & definitely more so than Fedora Rawhide.
It has a very large selection of software in its repos. You name it, it's probably there, even browsers like Librewolf & Ungoogled Chromium. Nice.
Pros:
No systemd
No elogind
Very large software repository
Rolling release, so packages up to date
Very stable
One of the oldest surviving linux distros, a piece of FOSS history!
Community-driven, not run/backed by corporations
Good documentation on website
Cons:
KDE Plasma feels a bit slow (subjective, I'm now using MATE)
Everything seems to work, so I find myself using CLI less
Maybe not for tinkerers
No netinstall ISO
PCLinuxOS is one of the oldest linux distros & it's systemd, elogind free, it is a hidden gem. This distro doesn't seem to get much attention, well, anywhere. It deserves more IMHO.
There were a few niggles, so I wouldn't give a score of 10, if 9.5 was an option, that would be my score.
It may not be the best choice for absolute beginners, but for those starting their distro-hopping days, give PCLinuxOS a go.
I have been using PCLinuxOS Xfce edition for over a year on an HP laptop. It's a wonderful distro for almost anyone, I had no issues switching from a debian based distro to PCLinuxOS. But its best feature is the community forum. The people there is so kind, helpful, and they share a lot of funny/interesting stuff.
PCLinuxOS has the UFW firewall available in the repository, all famous browsers, office tools. The only thing I didn't find was Visual Studio Code, but it was easy to install anyway.
I highly recommend this distro to anyone who is tired of distro hopping. Logging into my PCLinuxOS is like going on vacation from the struggles and problems other distros have (arch/debian based). There are no problems here. Turn it on, do whatever you want to do, and enjoy the experience of ACTUALLY doing stuff WITH your OS.
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