PCLinuxOS 2008 - a mini survey

I have been using PCLinuxOS for last 3 years though every now and then I switch to different distros, always I keep coming back to the comfort of PCLinuxOs. I love PCLinuxOS for some reasons and I hate it for some other. However, a copy of PCLOS remains with me wherever I go.

I am sure it gives the best desktop experience of Linux than any other distro, but still some people prefer another to it. Why??? For this I had polled a mini survey on this blog, which addressed to this issue and some others as well. Here are the results:

What makes PCLinuxOS the best? Stability, Beauty or Performance?

My visitors liked PCLinuxOS best for its stability. No doubt it's beautiful and a good performer. But the beauty and performance is delivered from other desktop distros also.

Which is the best desktop Linux? PCLinuxOS, Mandriva, Fedora or Blag? I have removed Ubuntu from the list, because it is very much cliched.

I posted above poll just to compare PCLinuxOS with Fedora/Redhat. Sometimes I feel sorry about Fedora. It has never been ready for desktop. In desktop arena, PCLinuxOS beats Redhat/Fedora all the way.

What is your preferred desktop environment? KDE, Gnome, Xfce or IceWM?

Poll result shows KDE is still the winner, but Gnome is rising on the scene at an alarming speed, may be it will outdo KDE very soon. It's good that PCLinuxOS also has a Gnome remaster ready for avid gnome lovers. Visit http://linuxgator.org for more...

Why Linux is still not the preferred desktop? Are people not aware of the latest improvements in Desktop Linux Distributions? Is Linux Desktop environment not as tightly integrated with the system as that of Mac OS (OS X) or Windows XP? Do so many Linux distributions dilute the focus of interested users? Is Linux not as usable as Windows or Mac OS (OS X)?

The above poll topic attracted very few responders, but pathetically responders proved it that Linux is still rough around the corner, still lacks the polish of Mac or Win. It's really pity that Linux being free and versatile sits on 2% of the desktop/laptop! Good heavens, distros like PCLinuxOS, Mepis and Mint are working hard to give Linux its long deserving polishness.

PCLinuxOS 2008 MiniMe Rocks

The wait seems worth it after having face to face with PCLinuxOS 2008 MiniMe. I have a special interest in this edition, because it was downloaded on my machine coinciding with the birth of my first child - Piyush. Both have unlimited possibilities, but the possibilities of MiniMe is pronounced at its release whereas my son has to prove it at sometime in future....



PCLinuxOS 2008 MiniMe was released on 7th Jan 2008. It is a minimalist live CD with KDE. It comes with 2.6.22.15 kernel and xorg-server 1.3. It is a minimal live CD that is bootable and installable. To it you can add your own background, window decoration, localizations, preferred applications and supporting libraries, to power up your desktop.

Tex and the Ripper gang have always gifted us with a better PCLinuxOS in every release, this MiniMe is no exception. But what I liked the most in it is its swiftness and look. The default window decoration Linsta Squared simply rocks.

The most noteworthy point in the release of MiniMe is that - PCLinuxOS regular release is just around the corner. I hope to see more in that as well.

Tex, you have done a great job.
Download : http://spout.ussg.indiana.edu/linux/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/live-cd/english/preview/pclinuxos-minime-2008.iso

PCLinuxOS Business Edition Linux or simpley BEL

PCLinuxOS has risen up in popularity like no other distro. And alongwith it there came several community projects like: SAM, PClinuxOS Gnome, TinyME and PCFluxboxOS. However, the news is that it has a Business Edition also, PCLinuxOS Business Edition Linux or simply BEL.



PCLOS BEL is a business implementation of PCLinuxOS 2007. It caters to the needs of small and medium businesses. It is one of the easiest to use Linux Distributions available to them.

BEL comes out in multiple version such as - Terminal, Workstation, Server and SOHO.

I installed its Workstation edition my Compaq C702TU notebook. It is very much responsive. I would say it a blazing distro, though not cutting edge. The only problem I faced was configuring the x3100 graphics card, like PCLinuxOS 2007 it does not support the graphics card. Well, that's not an issue with business deployment.

As the BEL people say, it brings the full power of GNU/Linux to help your office computer make you more productive, and offer cost effective, resource light solutions that make your office tasks more efficient and easy to use. My opinion is if you are purchasing SLED or RHELD, you should try PCLOSBE. Who knows, it will prove just right for your business. And you won't have to spend a penny.

Visit BEL website for more.

PCLinuxOS 2007.1 or PCLinuxOS 2008 - Which? When??

I have always appreciated the rather delayed PCLinuxOS. Because I am sure Tex and the Ripper Gang bring out wonder releases everytime. So, the wait is worth. This is first time I have become impatient and pleaded the PCLinuxOS people - "please bring out an updated pclinuxos iso, if not a new release."

Definitely, not for me! I got mine working with Granular, PCLinuxOS Gnome Remaster plus hours of hooking to the forums. The reason was just to get my new laptop hardware work on PCLOS. Though I have tested it on Mandriva 2008 and Ubuntu Gutsy, and it worked fine, I just can't help keep me away from PCLinuxOS. Now I am working on Granular. I updated intel driver, xorg and kernel in Granular matching with that of PCLinuxOS Gnome Remaster (it is the latest of all the pclos clan). Wait... wait... i also had do some manual editing to get my pclos laptop work well. So, how a noob is going to do all these....? Besides the repo has been greatly changed. It sounds a new installation is better than a complete update.

I agree, PCLinuxOS 2007 is the most stable, radically simple and it just works. But dear, there has been much change in desktop and laptop hardware since kernel 2.6.18 and xorg 1.1.

While somebody put a query in pclinuxos forum about - the next release, updated iso, etc. There is but one reply - "It will be ready when it is ready." Oh my God! It sounds philosophy.

We all know, Tex and the Gang go out of the way to give us a great distro each time. But if they take a little pain and give a rough date of next release or next updated iso, it will give complete peace of mind to many restless pclinuxos fans. The release date can be a approximate, 1 month back or forth does not matter much. But it will definitely give much solace.

Tex, it's not a complain, but a plea.

Edulos - Education the PCLinuxOS way

Hi,
All you governments, educators, parents and students, PCLinuxOS is coming you way to make learning fun and effective. The Edulos is cooking! Edulos, a PCLinuxOS remaster is about to hit the Linux World soon. It is designed to provide plenty of software to help you in learning, training and teaching. This includes creating easy to read and understand How-Tos and tutorials to enable the user to use the software that we provide, as we see ICT as enabling one to learn, not only as a separate subject to be learned.

The target of Edulos is:

* primary school users
* secondary school users
* educators and parents

Edulos will have packages to facilitate learning as well as teaching. This means packages for languages, arts, maths, science, sports, ICT, lessonplans, timetabling, grading and even educational games.

There have been many education-oriented small Linux distros like Edubuntu. But most them don't go beyond gcompris, childsplay and kde-edu, but not any more. Edulos is going to be "complete education on Linux platform."

It will:
* make the teachers' job easier
* give more involvement like showing children the beauty and complexity of molecules or DNA in 3D
* help the dance teacher in working on choreography
* help a person to create timetable without pen and paper
* make the auxiliary things such as lesson plans, worksheets, correcting homework, developing tests and writing reports, a lot easier and fast.
* have a lot of fun stuff and games.

What should I say? If it's on PCLinuxOS, it should rock!

Yet another PCLinuxOS Remaster - Ultumix

Thanks to the fan-following (not fan-boyism), here comes Ultumix, yet another PCLinuxOS Remaster. It prides to be the easiest PCLinuxOS ever for being "The OS designed for Windows users by previous Windows Users."

Its final pre-release is available for testing.

download link torrent: http://www.mindblowingidea.com/Ultumix2008v0-0-1-0RC2.torrent
download link ftp: http://www.mindblowingidea.com/Ultumix2008PreRelease/Ultumix2008Pre_v0.0.1.0.iso

So, what is this Ultumix?

1. It includes more non-free packages than PCLinuxOS.
2. It includes more applications (financial programs, games, emulators, documentations + a bible) in general and comes as DVD image somewhat comparable to Granular Linux.
3. The look is customized to give a windows feel.

Ultumix has a forum - http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=200997 to support new users.

I found the windows affinity of Ultumix is more than any of the PCLinuxOS Remasters released so far.

Let's hope for more localized PCLinuxOS remasters in future.

Working with .docx files in PCLinuxOS

There has been much hoopla over the so called new standard of Microsoft Word - .docx file format, introduced in Microsoft Office 2007. I don’t assume it as a better format to .odt, the native format of OpenOffice.org. But sometimes we need to work on those files. May be your boss mailed you a text document in .docx format or may be you worked on Microsoft Word in your office and took home to work on it later on PCLinuxOS.

Before, going ahead with the solution, let me remind you that: you can "Save As" your .docx file as .doc in Microsoft Office 2007. This option is there.

However, if you want to take a little challenge, here is how to fix OpenOffice.org to open and edit .docx files.

1. Update your OpenOffice.org.
2. Download odf-converter-1.0.0-5.i586.rpm
3. Install file-roller.
4. Open the odf-converter-1.0.0-5.i586.rpm using file-roller.
5. Extract /usr/lib/ooo-2.0 from inside the rpm to your desktop.

• Now in "ooo-2.0" folder you have a program at /ooo-2.0/program, named "OdfConverter". Go to konsole, as root, and issue: cp /home/YourUsername/Desktop/ooo-2.0/program/OdfConverter /usr/lib/ooo-2.3/program
  
  
• Then, there is a file named "MOOXFilter_cpp.xcu" located in /ooo-2.0/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter. Once again as root issue: cp /home/YourUsername/Desktop/ooo-2.0/share/registry/ modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter/ MOOXFilter_cpp.xcu /usr/lib/ooo-2.3/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter
  
  
• The third file is "MOOXTypeDetection.xcu" and is located in /ooo-2.0/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Types. As root issue: cp /home/YourUsername/Desktop/ooo-2.0/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Types/ MOOXTypeDetection.xcu /usr/lib/ooo-2.3/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Types

You are done! Now reboot the system and try working on your .docx files on top of OpenOffice.org in PCLinuxOS. Eureka!!

PCLinuxOS Magazine Highlights till Nov. 2007

Though PCLinuxOS does not have such a vast number of know-how documents on the web, PCLinuxOS Magazine tries to address some of the common issues related to the usage of desktop Linux. Month by month it brings out some really nice documents. Here in this posting I just want to highlight some outstanding topics choosing from all the issues.

Links to PCLinuxOS magazines

• Issue 2 - Oct 2006
• Issue 3 - Nov 2006
• Issue 4 - Dec 2006
• Issue 5 - Jan 2007
• Issue 6 - Feb 2007
• Issue 7 - Mar 2007
• Issue 8 - Apr 2007
• Issue 9 - May 2007
• Issue 10 - June 2007
• Issue 11 - July 2007
• Issue 12 - August 2007
• Issue 13 - September 2007
• Issue 14 - October 2007
• November 2007 - Issue 15

Links to some Interesting PCLinuxOS topis

• Xorg.conf repair: xorg.conf has all the information of your xdesktop. Here is a great topic issued on Oct. 2006. Please visit this link to know how to fix something related to your xdesktop or xorg.
• Desktop Shortcuts: We are used to the shortcuts in Windows in combination with Alt, Ctrl or Startup Key. Know their counterparts in PCLinuxOS.
• Command line: PCLinuxOS leaves very little chance that you will ever need to make your hands dirty on commandline. But then, you should better know it to fulfill your linux experience.
• Music on PCLinuxOS: This pages teaches on various music player available on linux.
  VMWare How-tos: Need a guest OS on top of PCLinuxOS. Read this page.
• Split Large files: Sometimes you will need to split large files, this is an easy approach how to attain this goal.
• Reasons to use PCLinuxOS or any Linux: Why should you use PCLinuxOS or any Linux if you are comfortable with you Windows? Know the reasons.
• Know how to speed up your PCLinuxOS: Seems PCLinuxOS little slow on your system. Here is a mini guide to give that extra boost to your home desktop.
• Windows NTFS from Linux: Know how to start sharing with Windows NTFS from the very beginning of PCLinuxOS installation.
• Basic Guide for Beginner: Read this basic guide from PCLinuxOS people for Linux beginners.
• Some nice PCLinuxOS Tips: These tips will make your PCLinuxOS experience a fun.
• PCLinuxOS clan: If you believe in beauty in diversity. Here is info you need to know about other distributions built on top of PCLinuxOS.

What keeps some PCLinuxOS users from deleting Windows?

I was browsing and responding to my threads (on X3100 graphic driver for GMA965 graphics adapter) posted on PCLinuxOS and Granular almost full time for some 15 days. There I came across a thread in the PCLinuxOS forum, “What's keeping you from deleting Windows?” by PiEp.

By the time of posting this blog, this thread was spread across 19 pages and growing. I found this one really very interesting as it posed some practical clues to improve desktop Linux. The forum members (suppose them as regular PCLinuxOS users) give a diverse reasons why they can’t delete Windows from their Desktop/Laptop and make devote totally to PCLinuxOS(or any Linux). Some major reasons were:

1. Lack of industry standard software
2. Lack of support to a variety of devices
3. Lack of good games
4. Some professional and personal constraints

Definitely, there is lack of some industry standard software that run on Linux. This a real hurdle in desktop deployment of Linux in home as well as in office. Pathetically, software makers have no problem in porting their software to Linux, but they don’t do it because porting to multiple types of distributions would cost them more than they can make profit. Hence, this problem is supposed to be there until some great free software comes in. Here is the list of software for which many Linux users still run Windows on their Linux machines.

• Adobe Photoshop CS2
  
• Davilex Business


• Faststone Image Viewer


• Topstyle Pro 3.12 (CSS editor)


• Adobe Premiere Elements 3


• Corel Draw


• Paint Shop Pro


• Land Designer


• Some Accounting software


• Video Editing software


• Some development software like .Net, VB and Visual Studio


• AutoCAD software


• 3D CAD software


• Movie Editing software


• Web Designing/Authoring software


• Translation software


• OCR software

Let me explain it. I have been using Linux for quite a long time and PCLinuxOs at least for last three years. But still sometimes I need Windows for some industry standard software like Adobe Premiere, FinalCut Pro, AutoCAD, PhotoShop, etc. No doubt, there are Kino, Gimp and other Linux wannabes, but they just are not as polished or as productive as their Windows counterparts.

The next major reason for not deleting Windows from their PCLinuxOS Machines (Note: I call their machines as PCLinuxOS machines, because they do their regular chore mostly on PCLinuxOS, and rarely boot Windows for some specific works) is somewhat personal and somewhat professional. Someone has to make his/her PC dual boot with Windows and Linux, since the spouse and kids love those wonderful windows games. Whereas someone keeps Windows to do some official work at home, and Linux applications are not 100% compatible with the company’s Windows standards.

A very few members told they have not deleted Windows because they have already purchased Windows Copies. And they don’t want their money go waste of non-use. While a few shaky beginners to PCLinuxOS have kept Windows as their second boot OS, as the last resort if something goes wrong with their Linux.

A good many members told that they have to live with Windows as their second OS owing to some gadgets and latest pc/laptop devices and software. They need windows to sync their devices and/or run those device drivers. Here is list of those gadgets and devices:

• PocketPC


• Mobile Phone


• Plug2Surf Internet Card


• Some TV Tuners


• Some Scanners


• Some Cell phones software


• Some latest graphics cards


• Xbox 360

More on this topic next time…..

Till then have fun!

Some pclinuxos fixes

Some pclinuxos fixes

1. Fixing "failed to stop fuse" error.

Some people really can't delete XP from their system, due to professional or personal reasons. But they would like to access windows stuff from the safety of linux. To get the read/write work perfectly on pclinuxos you need to install ntfs-3g, libntfs, fuse and libfuse.

I also did the same. Install ntfs-3g and changed my /etc/fstab to mount the windows partition with ntfs-3g support. I did not have any problem in reading/writing in the windows partition. But during shutdown I got the error message.

"failed to stop fuse"

I am sure many pclinuxos 2007 user have also faced the similar problem. Here is the fix.

Add the line mentioned below to /etc/rc.d/init.d/fuse at the beginning of the stop) section:

fusermount -u /mnt/xyz (where xyz is your fuse mount point)

Visit http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=24436.msg186338#msg186338 for more info.

2. Widescreen resolution for 915GM chipset graphics card

PCLinuxOS 2007 has no problem configuring 915GM graphic cards on desktops. But when it comes to laptops, it does configure but with incorrect resolution. Many widescreen laptop users see 1024x768 resolutions stretched in a 1280x800 monitor. Hence, the display is scrunched.

You can install 915resolution to fix this problem.

Usage: 915resolution [-l] [mode X Y] [bits/pixel]
Options: -l display the modes found into the vbios

Use the exact mode as per the screen resolution.

Remember, this trick holds good only for Intel 915 graphic cards and some older cards. This fix did not work for my GMA965 graphics card. To get the standard resolution of the latest Intel GMA965 graphic cards, you have update the kernel and xorg. Then you might also need to change the xorg parameters manually.

Else wait till the next pclinuxos comes. It will have the best from the West - drivers, software, kde4 and almost everything...

Visit http://shengchieh.50webs.com/915resolutionreadme.txt for more info.

3. Install software that's not in the repository

The simplest way to install any package is to download its source from sourceforge http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/ and compile & install.

1. download source packages
2. go to the directory where you saved the downloaded files
3. type ./configure --prefix=/usr/local ; make
4. type su -c make install

That's it!

Well, if you have downloaded some rpm backports or non-pclinuxos rpms, there is a way to install them, though it might not work always.

type rpm -i name-of-package.rpm

If it ask to resolve some dependencies, you have to manually do it. Else, if you are sure that those dependencies don't matter much, you can ignore them.

type rpm -i --nodeps name-of-package.rpm

Happy pclinuxos computing!