PCLINUX OS 2010 - Beta 1

The new beta for PCLINUX OS 2010 is now out.  I downloaded the ISO image and burned a DVD (next time I will burn a CD so that all the machines at home can use it).  The prior versions had a problem with my Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, but, this time the machine booted up without a problem.  I am running off the live CD and it seems to be rock solid at this time even though it is a beta version. 

I launched Firefox and went over to Runescape to see how it works.  The Java runtime was not installed by default, but, after adding it via Synaptic the site loaded and I could run the game without a problem.  I have not really tried the HD mode as I don't know if the video card driver from ATI is loaded.  Using safe mode runs and I don't have any lagg issues. 

I will be trying this out for the week and if I don't encounter any problems I will be backing up the three desktops and install this.  I prefer using this distro as it is fairly solid and it is easier to support the machines with one distro rather than with the two I am running now (Mandriva is on the Dell as that works).

I launced the scanner software (XSANE) without any problems and it auto-detected the scanner.  I didn't load DIGIKAM, but, it is on the list of programs that can be installed.  Like all other distros it has a problem with my TV card, but, that is not a major issue for me as I very rarely watch TV while on the machine.

Updating my machine

For the last couple of months I have been looking at the various distros that are out there and how they work on my machine here.  The one I really wanted updated was PCLINUXOS so that all of the machines at home run with the same distro.  The 2009.2 version still won't boot on my machine so I had to look elsewhere.  My current distro was Mint 5.

Mandriva just came out with their latest and I downloaded and burned the ISO and gave it a shot.  It looks very nice visually and it detected most of my hardware without a problem.  The only two things were my palm pilot and the TV card which it didn't detect (like every other distro so far).  I then downloaded Mint 7 KDE and gave it a shot.  It was as visually appealing to me as Mandriva and had the same issues with the palm pilot and TV card.  The area it was ahead was that Java was installed automatically (I have to install that on Mandriva) and the ATI card driver was there for me.  I opted to keep with Mint so far and I upgraded to version 7.

One of the bonuses of this is now I have two more CDs that I can then pass out to friends and family when they have more problems with windows. 

It will take a bit of time to get used to KDE 4, but, so far it has not caused me any problems.  Firefox with Java still plays Runescape in HD mode without a problem.  Digikam works fine along with Thunderbird and XSANE.

When I get some time I will try to dig and see if I can get the palm pilot to work.  I thought I saw something about 'VISOR'.  If that doesn't work I really want to get my TV card to work.  I have a lot of home videos I would like to hook up to the input and make into MPG files and have them transferred to DVD for the family.

Update 2009/11/08:

I have moved off of Mint over to Mandriva.  I have been using Mint for a day and I have noticed a few things that make it a bit less usable for me.

1. Runescape log in flickers wildy and it cannot be stopped unless I take HD mode off.
2. The shutdown function at times (about 50%) does not work and the system locks.
3. I cannot access system services to manually define what I want to run.  This is a critical one for me as I want complete control over what is running.  Mandriva allows me to do this.

The first two items may be something that I did when I configured the system, but, so far Mandriva is not doing those things and I will use that for now.

In Mandriva it didn't auto-detect my printer (SAMSUNG ML-2010), but, after going to WWW.SAMSUNG.COM I found the driver, downloaded it and installed.  It wasn't as smooth as Mint, but, it worked and I now have a printer.

Linux Mint V6

Since I upgraded to the new box I have been running Linux Mint as PCLINUXOS has a problem with the SATA drive. I downloaded the latest version (V6) and was playing with it for a while. It is much like V5 and works without a problem.

Both versions have a problem with my Palm Pilot and TV, but, the scanner and browsers work without a problem. Playing Runescape (Java based game) works as before. All of the other pieces of software appears to work and the hardware ran without causing any glitches.

I may upgrade my machine later, but, the current version works without a problem and I am really hoping that PCLINUXOS does come out with a version that at least recognizes my TV card.

PCLinux V0.93a and XSANE

It looks like I may have spoke too soon about XSANE. I did a reboot of the system and when I launched XSANE it wanted to run in root mode. I remember that in V0.92 that when I had the same problem I deleted all of the sane modules and re-installed and it worked so I figured I would try the same for V0.93a.

I launched the PCLINUXOS Control Center and clicked on the System Icon. I then picked the add/update/delete packages option (Synaptic). I then did a search on SANE in 'Names and descriptions'. When it came back I deleted the following packages:

• libsane1
• sane-backends
• sane-frontends
• saned
• xsane

After that was finished I then re-installed all of the packages. When I ran XSANE it then did not bring up the warning about running in root.