PCLinuxOS - a livecd distribution, better than Knoppix

PCLinuxOS is a derivative of Mandrake 9.2. It is still in beta, but is of
very high quality. I've been running it for several months now with few
problems.

See http://pclinuxonline.com/pclos/index.html and/or http://pclinuxonline.com
for more information. This is a community distribution, put out by a
well-known contributor and builder of Mandrake .rpm packages who goes by
Texstar. Tex finally got frustrated with Mandrake, for whatever reason, and
finally succumbed to the urge to build his own distribution.

The CD is a livecd, which means it will run from the CD drive much like
Knoppix. Unlike Knoppix, it is very polished. It is also fairly easy to
install, although you do have to read the directions. Once it's installed,
synaptic or apt-get are used to keep current and install new packages. Space
required for installation is approximately 2 GB, although I would recommend
5-6. Tex has built hundreds of other packages which are not included on the
CD, but are available through apt/synaptic.

I've been running preview 5 for several months now. It's installed on my
laptop and has been happily running ever since. It has been incredibly
stable, despite staying on the cutting/bleeding edge. While I am not a full
time linux user any more (using Win2000 at work) the system goes through the
paces with flying colors.

There is a new .iso version out now, preview 6, which you can find from the
links above. Support for the distribution is from the forums on
pclinuxonline.com, and is pretty good. Texstar himself is very active in
squashing bugs and building packages upon request.

This is a good CD to hand out to people who want to give linux a try but are
too scared, or too whatever, to do it. There is also software out there for
making your own livecd distribution, which would be a good project for
somebody who wanted to make their own custom-built distro for their own use.

Reply to me via the list for more info.

Russ
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Received on Tue May 18 18:31:41 2004