Here we go, again, another popular distribution.
Why PCLinuxOS?
PCLinuxOS is another rising star in the Linux constellation. Based on Mandriva, PCLinuxOS aims to be a simple distribution that reaches to the masses, allowing Windows users to easily and painlessly convert.
Compared to Mandriva, PCLinuxOS is not shadowed by the political controversy of its copyright battles over the distribution name (formerly known as Mandrake), firings and the alleged direction in which it is headed, of becoming more enterprise-oriented rather than community-oriented.
As a simple user, this should definitely not bother you. What more, you might find it very refreshing that PCLinuxOS uses Synaptic as the frontend for the APT package management system, also used in Ubuntu. On the other hand, it retains many of the GUI-oriented functions that Mandriva has, making it suitable for Linux newbies.
Therefore, in a way, this tutorial will well complement the Mandriva tutorial I have written and posted some time ago, as well as allow you to compare the usability and flexibility between PCLinuxOS and Kubuntu, both of which use KDE as default desktop.
Some things you should know before you start
This guide will be slightly shorter and less detailed than my previous tutorials, for several reasons:
- My tutorials build one upon another; you are well advised to read them first. The tutorials are written in such a way that they introduce new concepts and levels of difficulty gradually, allowing you to slowly progress in your understanding of Linux.
- PCLinuxOS and Mandriva are quite similar. Several stages in the installation and some post-install configurations are practically identical. While all of the stages will be mentioned here, you can easily refer to the Mandriva tutorial for more details.
Namely, for full step-by-step tutorials into the installation of some other Linux distributions, you should read:
