Tux ahoy! My experiences with LINUX

I Love Linux!

A "Distro" is an abbreviation of "Distribution" meaning one of either:

• 1) A package of the Linux kernel with a desktop interface and numerous programs
• 2) A set of software components, typically (but not necessarily) open source components , that have been packaged into a larger product or component

Dating Linux distros sisters

I started out using a Linux distro called "Puppy". It was fun, fast, a very small download. I learned a little bit about Linux and became hooked. It reminded me of the good ol' carefree days of DOS. I lived in DOS, the pre-WINDOWS "Disk Operating System" that was the only way to do anything in a computer back in the day of i286 and earlier

I liked it. Linux can be fun and you get a sense of 'being involved' with what is happening with your computer.

I switched to "DSL" ("Damn Small Linux") for a while. Then, -what did I try next? I forget. I casually dated a few available Linux distros but I ended up almost going steady with a relatively newcomer, "PCLinuxOS". We had an off and on relationship for several months. More off-&-on, I'm afraid. My ex, -that's "XP" to most people, still had a strong hold over me.

Then, I switched to Ubuntu. I don't why or what inspired me to try Ubuntu. I just have this secret crush on Linux and good things were being said about Ubuntu. More than an anti-MS diatribe, the whole concept of 'open source' appeals to me on some primary level and I wanted some. The same could be argued of any Linux Distro but the Ubuntu mantra of "It Just Works" appealed deeply and isn't that the Holy Grail of a computer's Operating Systems? That they 'just work'?

Growing pains

But with Ubuntu I had this nagging problem that it returned errors on start-up trying to mount ("install drivers" for) my USB ports. It 'searched' for about a minute to find an appropriate driver I guess before failing, returning an error message and then moving on to the NEXT USB port, etc. I have six USB ports. So, to boot Ubuntu took about 6 or 7 minutes it seemed (probably a bit less than, but easily 3X longer than XP!)

I could not really get any 'help' with this, -even in the Ubuntu forums the best answer that anyone could provide was a sincere "...what a wonderful opportunity for you to learn something new!" And yeah, their glass really is half-full. I didn't really NEED my USB ports as much as I needed Ubuntu to start-up in under 7-minutes. That is what I needed.

These people were of course, completely and undeniable correct about the 'you could learn' bit. But I wasn't after a learning experience, I wanted a faster boot and solving the USB error messages was how to achieve this. What I wanted (and let's be brutally honest) was a handout FIX. A 'download this and run it' solver patch. Whatever. Even a 'cheat sheet' would suffice. A 'do this, this and then do this , and voilá! FIXED!'

-Wasn't happening' folks. I should have figured this out. Yes, I may have missed an important opportunity to LEARN something useful. Ubuntu is an awesome distro but that it was not working right pained me too much. I wanted it to, well, keep it's vows and ...just work

Little sister Kubuntu

So, just over a week ago I switched to KUBUNTU. I have heard that is is very easy to learn, etc.

Well, the USB ports were now being recognized and the interface was pretty awesome, beautiful and pristine. Yet, it is seemed MORE confusing than even UBUNTU! There are just too many choices. KDE has been around longer than GNOME so there's more support for it just because there are more programs for it. But that isn't necessarily a GOOD thing, is it, -too many choices? (A rhetorical question. I am not expecting any challenges and they will go un-answered if there are any). It just felt to me that KUBUNTU has this 'clunkiness' about it. That it seemingly struggled to do anything. For example, for two days I played around with the CD-player AMORAK trying to get something in the way of music out of my CD-player. Come to find out, it was working, -I just had to turn the sound up to 100% to actually HEAR anything! Rather faint, but there was sound. Granted, my sound card is a cheapie but it WORKS and it should be quite audible at even 50%...

So, in desperation, I found and installed old flame PCLinuxOS 2007. Okay... WOW!!!! They changed a LOT of things with PCLinuxOS! A new desktop, faster load-time, -a new attitude! The whole experience is slipstreamed

PCLinuxOS is still KDE, the "K-Desktop Environment" and while I am the most comfortable using the other environment "GNOME", this has a welcoming feeling about it. I can learn this

I have read that PCLinuxOS was originally based upon Mandrake 9.2 but later changed to Mandriva 2007. Maybe this is the notable change I mentioned? I'm pretty sure that this isn't the same distro that I used over a year ago. It is better!

More Praise for PCLinuxOS

It's very slick, smooth, -even more so than before. Easy to use, intuitive, almost sublime! For me it loads in about one-minute fifteen seconds to the 'log-on' screen and other 15-seconds for me to type my phat-def password in and then, I'm using Linux again . A 'under 2-minute start-up' beats Ubuntu/Kubuntu's 3 and 5+minute respectively start-up times!

In fairness, the faults here are probably all mine. Other people have not had the difficulty with the Ubuntu/Kubuntu distros as I have. Or, -maybe they have? I don't know. I have not been to the Ubuntu forum in awhile. But I'm definitely going to drop by the PCLinuxOS boards. I like my new Operating System. A lot

Instead of 'It just works ' and 'It just works, barely ', I've gone back to "PCLinuxOS" and likely here I shall stay for a long, long time. They herald PCLinuxOS as "the distro-hopper stopper". I readily concur

The opinions expressed in this article, while biased and probably to be taken somewhat lightly, are free to become your own. That is 'open source'. I recommend anyone interested in trying Linux to give PCLinuxOS a chance.