PCLXDE

I love my PCLXDE , it runs like a breeze on my machine .

My PCLinuxOS KDE4 Minime Remaster

Here is a nice looking screenshot of my PCLinuxOS KDE4 Minime Remaster!

PCLinuxOS Supports Ext4 File System

There is this thread on PCLinuxOS Forum which talks about the Ext4 file system support on PCLinuxOS . I had a discussion about it with Neal . Neal has left a comment on this thread ( Reply #22 ) on September 22, 2009 which says that 2009.3 the next quarterly update CD will have ext4 support.  Here is an unofficial "how to" for getting Ext4 on PCLinuxOS currently.

1 : Install   the latest Kernel 2.6.27.31.tex5 and fully update your system from synaptic.

2: Format your root partition as Ext4 from the "drakelive-install" during installation and install PCLinuxOS to it.

3: To check and confirm that you have Ext4 on your root partition after installation use "mount" command in shell .

This can also be confirmed from PCC > Local Disks > Manage local partitions and click on the partition that you want to check. The file system type will be listed in the information pane along with size and mount point .

4: During next install if your root partition is formatted with Ext4 file system draklive-install will automatically pick and format it and get you Ext4 file system.

I tested it myself and it works flawlessly on my current PCLXDE installation. I recommend to give it a try and in case of on any issues report at the the thread  I already mentioned above.

Cheers!

How to make a "PCLiunuxOS KDE 4 Minime" ?

"MiniME" is a Live CD based on PCLinuxOS. It's called "MiniME" as it has a minimal set of packages to install and runs with the latest kernel and KDE as a desktop environment.It also comes with PCLinuxOS Control Center, the Synaptic Software Installer and xorg server.

With the PCLinuxOS draklive installer the installation is straight forward just like any PCLinuxOS installation.

PCLinuxOS MiniME 2009.1 was the last release of the Minime series from PCLinuxOS team which I have installed on my system and keep it updated regularly so it stays at the recent updated status always and I make remasters from that at regular intervals for me and my friends.

PCLinuxOS MiniME is what I always love to have handy for installation on any system .It is fast to install and build a system upon it according to my own needs.My purpose of making a KDE4 Minime is to have a fully functional and updated base system so I can install PCLinuxOS KDE4 anytime and distribute its copies too. Many of my friends have switched over to PCLInuxOS and many of the computers in our hospital now run PCLinuxOS.

Here are the few steps I followed to build this KDE Minime.

a) Installed fully updated PCLinuxOS Minime 2009.1 .

b) Replaced kde4 in place of kde in the repository line of synaptic .

c) After reload I installed " task-kde4-minimal "

This brought me to a nicely running KDE4 Minimal desktop.

d) As root deleted .kde older folder from home.

e) Changed looks of this Minime, Oxygen Icons theme is always very boring looking. I installed Glass Icon theme for which I placed a request on PCLinuxOS forum few weeks back,it really looks nice on my PCLinuxOS KDE4 Minime.

Minime is supposed to be of a minimal size to fit on a CD . The size of this Minime remastered ISO is over 630 mb and I don't know how to shrink it more. This remaster has just base packages so I am wondering what to do more to bring it to around 400 mb.

I have started a thread about this remaster on PCLinuxOS forum and I am hoping I will be getting more tips there soon.

My PCLinuxOS 2009.2 KDE3 Deskop

Here is a new screenshot of my fully updated PCLinuxOS 2009.2 KDE3 Desktop.

I am really loving this Best Desktop Linux Distribution for Home Users.

My Custom-made PCLinuxOS LXDE 2009.4

I like KDE as my sole working DE on PCLinuxOS but LXDE has always fascinated me. Neal has ultimately released the working LXDE Remaster of PCLinuxOS and I installed it as dual boot with my PCLinuxOS KDE4 .

It has no apparent issues,everything is running perfectly smooth because it has PCLinuxOS as backbone plus Neal has worked a lot on this LXDE remaster .

Graphics are purely LXDE oriented and that is a good addition. LXDE Control Center along with PCLinuxOS Control Center gives me full control to configure my system according to my computer`s hardware and desktop requirement.

Neal released a basic ISO upon which one can build a system according to one`s own requirements. I added some packages which me and my daughter share on this computer.

I am sure this LXDE version of PCLinuxOS is going to be yet another successful addition to already existing sister projects.

Thanks to Neal and Texstar for all his good and efforts.

MY PCLinuxOS LXDE Remaster

Me and Neal from PCLinuxOS are trying to make a working PCLinuxOS LXDE Remaster for those users who are not easy with KDE4 and apprehend KDE3 will be gone with time and for those with aging computers.

I had been doing remastering for quite some time on PCLinuxOS and recently when I expressed my interest at PCLinuxOS forum about LXDE Remaster Neal asked me to join him as he is also interested in making such a remaster.

We both are working on it bits by bits, things are quite good in shape and I hope soon Neal might release a test iso.

Here is a a scheenshot of my remaster,it is all set from my side, just one minor issue left which if I can`t fix then Neal will do it. I am going to upload my ISO to Neal soon and he will be doing the rest of testing.

I used PCLinuxOS Minime 2009.2 and Neal is using ZenMini 2009 as base for this remaster.

I hope it will be a nice addition to the PCLinuxOS family.

More reading about what is happening about this remaster can be found in these two threads on PCLinuxOS Forum and on MyPCLinuxOS Forum.

My PCLinuxOS KDE4 remaster Desktop

Finally I am posting a screenshot of my PCLinuxOS KDE4 remaster Desktop I just made from PCLinuxOS Minime 2009.

More details of how I made this remsater are to be put here soon.

PCLinuxOS going to get KDE4

I will not say much to avoid spreading rumors but what I came to know last night from Texstar on PCLinuxOS forums is that PCLinuxOS will be getting KDE4 packages as Tex said:

"KDE4 will be available before the end of June for PCLinuxOS."

How will this update be applied and what changes will be made to current stable PCLinuxOS before and after this update is still awaited.

Hope it will be a good change.

My PCLinuxOS 2009 "MiniMe"

I am not just a big fan of PCLinuxOS rather my computing life becomes difficult without it. Doing my routine home and office work on my computer is always a risky task on Windows and Linux is the best safe alternative for that. My daily Linux experimentation also compel me to have something as a backup and as a "rescuer". PCLinuxOS 2008 "MiniMe" is the best candidate for that and it is always lying on my desk and in my office bag to be handy.

PCLinuxOS 2008 "MiniMe" is quite an old release and it needed to be updated to current 2009 status and I was looking for some perfect way to do it. PCLinuxOS forums are always full of valuable information and there I found what I was looking for .

Texstar says it in his own words as:

How to do full update on clean install Minime 08 as of 5-23-09??


OK here's my steps from a clean install of minime 08 to full update:

1. Install the following:

GConf2
bootloader-utils
dbus
findutils
gtk+2.0
libcairo2
module-init-tools
which

2. Install the following:

kernel-2.6.26.8.tex3

3. Mark All and Click Apply.

I followed these steps and changed the looks of my PCLinuxOS 2009 "MiniMe" by adding a wallpaper of my choice and installing nuoveXT-aero icons and added Opera browser for me and made a new custom iso with "mklivecd" and everything is working perfectly on my PCLinuxOS 2009 "MiniMe". The size of the iso is not true minime as the updates made it bit bigger than actual minime but it is still the original basic minime with changed graphics and Opera added.

Happy home,Office and rescue with with my PCLinuxOS 2009 "MiniMe" is all ready and working great.

Hymera Open Not so easy and stable

My story about this new debian based distro goes like this :: although the DW Hymera page says it is multilingual including en but they installer is only italian and all you have to do during installation is to do a guess work plus the installer is not easy at all as compared to what Hymera people say, and after installation the system refuse to boot at all beyond GRUB:::something related to kernel???

I adopted a different method for installing Hymera:::grabbed a lenny netinstall cd:::installed base system and added hymera repo ( http://mirror.hymera.it/standard/ ) removing lenny official repos and installed full hymera system maintaing ext3 file system instead of ext4 and lenny kernel . You can see my Hymera installed system in these screenshots.

 
Now the repository from hymera has huge packages available but lots of packages are still missing and you have to re add lenny official repos to get a working system despite the warning from hymera team to use only their own repos. Also you have to set keyboard ley out from italian to en.

This distro has potential but needs lot of work and despite the adds given by hymera at DW this distro is not yet ready for its claimed potentials and I am sure not everybody would either think of or adopt an alternate method of installing this distro as I did.

To be honest and not too critical it doesn`t have something really exciting except some latest packages e.g Open Office which is again broken, ext4 file system and latest kernel which gives problem after installation .

The boot loader gets installed to mbr: I checked grub menu to confirm but something is wrong with the kernel that prevents system to boot at all and many has reported this issue on their forum.

Still wish best of luck to Hymera team .

How to install GRUB & set repositories for ALT Linux 4.1.1 Desktop

ALT Linux is a Russian Desktop Linux and Alexey "Ktirf" Rusakov is the Head of Systems development dept. ALT Linux Technology. He announced the availability of an updated release of ALT Linux "Desktop" edition, version 4.1.1 today on 15/01/2009.

This updated release of ALT Linux "Desktop" edition 4.1.1 also offers an English only install DVD with English as the default language so that those who want to install ALT Linux in English will not be choosing English from the cryptic Russian letters on boot menu by pressing F2.

The English only DVD of ALT Linux can be downloaded from the main ALT Linux Server.

There are two small issues I want to mention here regards ALT Linux Desktop which might be of interest to many.

1: How to install GRUB on ALT Linux

LILO is the default boot loader for ALT Linux and somehow ALT Linux team loves to stick with LILO despite the fact that most of the latest desktop distributions are switching over to GRUB than LILO e.g Vector Linux due to many reasons which is a separate topic. I personally like GRUB , thanks to "silicium" one of the development team member of ALT Linux Desktop who sent me this ALT Linux Wiki page for how to install GRUB on ALT Linux.

2: How to choose ALT Linux Repositories for Desktop Version.

ALT Linux Desktop should be set on Desktop/current repositories rather than on branch or Sisyphus which are equivalent to Debian "testing" & "sid" accordingly. I thanks "thresh" for clarifying this ALT Linux repositories setting to me. So you can enable these repositories on your ALT Linux Desktop 4.1.1 to if you want all the security updates/updated packages and stable softwares packages.


rpm [updates] ftp://updates.altlinux.org/4.1 i586 updates
rpm [updates] ftp://ftp.altlinux.org/pub/distributions/ALTLinux/4.1/branch i586 classic
rpm [updates] ftp://ftp.altlinux.org/pub/distributions/ALTLinux/4.1/branch noarch classic

I will add the recommendations of Alexey Rusakov the Head of Systems development dept. ALT Linux Technology regarding the repositories for ALT Linux Desktop 4.1.1 in his own words here which he sent me in an email regards the settings for repositories.

"Concerning repositories - try our new 'Update sources' module in ALT Linux SystemManagement Center, it is much more obvious than the list in Synaptic :)And yes, you'll be able to run Synaptic from it afterwards.Under the hood, it is rather simple anyway: we have branch/4.1 repo,that is a branch new distributions are built on; we have 4.1.1/Desktop,which is the repo of the vanilla Desktop distro, and 4.1/updates, thatis updates to Desktop. thresh was right, using 4.1/branch is not reallyrecommended, they may be some occasional instabilities there. Use4.1/updates instead, it is as stable as we can make it. "

"

I wish everybody happy home computing with the latest ALT Linux Desktop 4.1.1 !