| Popular PCLinuxOS announces new release |
May 22, 2007
 PCLinuxOS has had it rough lately: first its Web hosting company took the site down; then, its main repository, Ibibio, suffered a major hardware failure causing some to declare the Linux distribution dead. Despite such adversities, the developers kept working and have just released PCLinuxOS 2007.
Like its predecessors, PCLinuxOS 2007 is meant to be easy enough for the new Linux user, but powerful and with enough features for an experienced user.
This distribution runs on the 2.6.18.8 Linux kernel, and as its desktop environment it uses KDE 3.5.6. For users with higher-end graphics cards, it also includes the option of using the Beryl 3D desktop.
For applications, PCLinuxOS includes OpenOffice 2.2.0, Firefox 2.0.0.3, Thunderbird 2.0, Ktorrent, Amarok, and the Adobe Flash player. All of this -- almost 2GB of software in total -- is compressed onto a single, self-bootable live CD. This CD also can be used to install the system.
Once installed, more than 5,000 additional packages are available through PCLinuxOS's Synaptic software manager and file repositories. This works essentially in the same way as Debian and Ubuntu's update system. However, instead of using deb packages, it uses RPM. Thus, PCLinuxOS users must use their distribution's own repository -- it is not interchangeable with the Debian or Ubuntu program libraries.
The developers also want potential users to note that PCLinuxOS -- unlike distributions such as Freespire and Mint -- does not ship with Win32 codecs or DVD decryption software. In addition, to make the fullest possible use of some graphics cards, users may download proprietary NVIDIA and ATI drivers after installing this Linux distribution.
With all that taken into account, the PCLinuxOS developers claim that, "PCLinuxOS comes fully equipped with just about everything a desktop user would want in an operating system. Browse the Web, send and receive emails, chat with friends on Yahoo, MSN, AOL and IRC. Play games, listen to music, share files, rip CDs and watch videos. You can also burn CDs, DVDs, import, view and edit pictures. Our office suite allows you to write letters, do spreadsheets, drawings and slide presentations. Everything you can do with that other OS you can do in PCLinuxOS without worrying about virus infections, adware or spyware."
In DesktopLinux's recent test of the PCLinuxOS version immediately before this one, P93A "Big Daddy," we found it to be "a nice, easy-to-install, easy-to-configure, and easy-to-use distro."
PCLinuxOS began life as a set of RPM packages designed to improve successive versions of Mandrake (now Mandriva) Linux. These packages were created by Texstar, who, from 2000 to 2003, maintained the Mandrake-enhancement RPM repository. In 2003, Texstar, PCLinuxOS's lead developer, stopped working on Mandrake and launched this distribution.
At this time, the distribution is only available online as a BitTorrent download. Once the mirror sites are populated with copies of the new distribution, would-be users will be able to download it from those sites. A PCLinuxOS 2007 CD can also be purchased for $5.99 from On-Disk.
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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