Spy der Mann's Journal: Goodbye, Windows! Good morning, PCLinux OS!

This is the sequel to my previous disappointment with Ubuntu Linux.

I tried to install PCLinux OS 2007 from a burned ISO I downloaded. Everything worked fine, until I rebooted. Another error 17. But behold! The LiveCD included a chat application (XChat), which automatically connected to the PCLinuxOS support channel!

There I met a guy who explained to me that I had my partitions wrongly set up. He told me everything I needed to know - the partitioner was really cool, there was an option to autoallocate that created your root, home and swap partitions.

I repartitioned, rebooted, and voila! :D I'm in Linux! No more error 17.

Some apps weren't up to date, like GTK 2.0 and the drivers. Fortunately, the chat guy told me what to do about the drivers. There was no commandline at all! Everything was done graphically.

There was something wrong when I updated the screen to 1280 x 1024 (i was suddenly in text mode - eek!), but a reboot fixed it. Also, i had remembered the startx command that booted up. Well, it's still in beta, so I hope by the next version these glitches will be fixed.

The next problem was accessing the Windows partitions. Unfortunately, the partitions weren't enabled by default, but clicking on the "advanced" tab on the Administration Center / Partition thingy showed me how to enable them. I clicked on "mount", and voila!

Synaptic installs everything for you - no need to reboot except on special rare occasions. I installed Pidgin, and copied my buddy icon from my old windows partition. Still, I miss the MSN custom emoticons. This is one thing I'll have to do without. But I can't base my freedom on my personal tastes.

Since I have often to use the console (i find the "My computer" stuff ackward and slow), i right clicked on the Konsole icon and a menu popped up. Oh, didn't I metion? The window manager is very similar to Windows. Specially if you choose the "Redmond" theme (wink wink, nudge nudge). So, I clicked on "copy to desktop", and ta-da, there was my lovely terminal on the desktop.

Firefox is installed by default, but I forgot to import the settings from my old account (oopsie), so I have to add my bookmarks by hand. What a pity. Or was that option in Ubuntu and not PCLinuxOS? I forgot - sorry. Anyway, the flash plugin is already installed by default, so whee! I can watch my favorite youtube clips, like Silent Hill Chibi Edition, or some of the Bleach AMV's.

Amarok doesn't have the winamp interface, but the player looks similar to a simplified version of Winamp. It doesn't have an "open" button, but if you click on the playlist, the full window appears and you can choose stuff. Looks very advanced - too much for my taste, but oh well.

Now, for the downsides: The font for textboxes on Firefox looks awful. I couldn't reboot to the Windows partition - I'm stuck on Linux for the moment, but I can access my files, so it's no big deal. Anyway a boot from the Windows CD will fix the problem if I want to go back. I really hope i can find some tech support that will fix my boot manager. .... and that's about it. The task bar looks weird with those HUGE icons, but these are minor details.

Another thing that has kept annoying me is that the numpad, when used with shift, returns numbers instead of the cursor actions. I'm accustomed to using it. This is one thing I hadn't liked about Linux.

One warning: You should update Firefox, this version is 2.0.0.3 and the latest is 2.0.0.8. I don't want to get infected by some java virus or something :P

Well, it's all about upgrading packages and installing replacements for Windows ones now - The OpenOffice is 2.2, and I want 2.3 - and I need an html editor for my webpages. I had tried running the other one with WINE (wine hapedit.exe), but the font's all messed up. It's better to use native linux apps - they work out of the box.

It's hard to imagine that Linux is THIS easy. All those misconfigurations, application crashes are a thing of the past. The setup, altho difficult for non-standard settings like mine, was swift thanks to the live tech support on the irc channel.

Now if I only knew how to fix this ugly font on Firefox...

UI goodies

[Spy der Mann]

Don't you hate it when you can't minimize a windows modal window (i.e. a progress display)because it hasn't got a minimize button?

Well, in Linux you can just minimize the containing window. Even when the modal window is active, you can minimize the main app. It's refreshing to know that many annoyances in Windows aren't present in Linux. :)

Does this mean

[weierstrass]

..PCLinuxOS is the new n00buntu?

Re:

[Spy der Mann]

I wouldn't say that PCLinuxOS is the new "n00buntu". Configuring some parts is a bit tricky and might scare some Joe users - I had to google to find a way to write in the NTFS partitions from PCLinuxOS. But what I like about PcLinuxOS is that even those difficult things are EASY to do - just follow the instructions. In other words, it's not beyond a Windows power user. I hadn't been able to cross that chasm until PCLinuxOS.

I knew how to configure Windows, I knew how to tweak the slightest bit of performance

Yeah

[weierstrass]

for me, ubuntu is a little like Mandrake used to be - supposedly easy, but this only holds as long as you don't have anything tricky to do in your installation. If you do need to repartition, install weird drivers, etc, you're better off with a distro that's not aimed so squarely at new users. (And let's face, no one about to install Linux for the first time is really that clueless about what a computer, OS is and how they work..)

Some tips

[ancientt]

You seem willing to read and that puts you in an elite group all by itself. Welcome to the Linux world.

As long as you're reading, while I haven't tried PCLinux OS, I have some tips for you:

• Widows fonts and codecs: you can get both, but the legality is a different question that may vary by where you live or from what country you get your downloads. You'll find that there are different methods for different distributions, opensuse (which I'm using at the moment) works as described here: http://forums.sus [suselinuxsupport.de]

Re:

[Spy der Mann]

Thanks a lot, man! I really appreciate your help. Really, I feel like moving to a new house. It feels uncomfortable at times, and I miss some of the things I used to have (like custom smileys, Winamp...), but i need to face the fact that I'm not on Windows anymore, and that freedom comes sometimes with a price.

There's something I haven't managed to fix. Shift keypad shows me numbers (even with numlock off). How do I fix that?