My impression so far with PCLinuxOS 2011.**!

[Kurdistan]

I have now run PCLinuxOS in almost 3 months and I really enjoy it so far. For a rolling release like PCLinuxOS it´s damn stable and polished distro. I had minor problem with PCLinuxOS in the beginning, but does have been solved. Maybe some of does minor problem was my newbie faults. Now when I have PCLinuxOS exactly the way I want it to be, it have been a blessing. No single glitch. Like all distros should act in my opinion.

What is PCLinuxOS strength according to me?
Extremely stable. Like a previous pointed out after fixing the minor problems I have had no single glitch.
Userfriendly. After installing PCLinuxOS main KDE edition you get almost every thing out of the box. If some codecs are missing it is easy to install. Type task-multimedia and install it from synaptic. In sweden does codecs that comes with task-multimedia is not forbidden.
My graphic card works out of the box. Correct resolution. Problem with desktop effects with kwin, but that is not PCLinuxOS fault.
I did not really need to mess up with plymouth to get a working boot splash. All distros that have this problem should learn from PCLinuxOS.
Sound worked out of the box. I am a pulseaudio fan, so after my second installation all worked well. No single problem with pulseaudio.
All my hardware was correctly detected even bluetooth and webcam. Only for my parents scanner/printer I did need to download  a .rpm package outside the repo.
Repositories. Maybe not the biggest amount of package compare to more well known distros out there like Debian. But almost all you need is in the repo and if something is missing it is easy to write request. New users do not need to handle PPA or anything that can turn a well working distro to a headache. I only personally miss two package, Bkchem and Xdrawchem.
Powerful. With PCLinuxOS Control Center (drake control center Mandrake/Mandriva) a user can do almost anything from there. Together with KDE control center (configure your desktop)  a user do not really need to learn a bunch of command lines. I was before not a fan of KDE, but with PCLinuxOS I have a great time of using it.
Rolling release. I do not need to care about release cycles any more. Only need to update my system to get the latest and greatest.
Good community. It feels like Texstar & Co are listening to the users. Very good! Really like the forum, can not exactly say the same thing about the irc channel or all users I have meet. But that’s normal I think.
Kernel aspect. First I did not really understand why a kernel update was not shown after 3 month of using PCLinuxOS. It turns out to be a security move from Texstar & Co. That is for me a really great  surprise. If a users have a working kernel that comes with  the installation he or she is not forced to kernel update. For does that have used Linux for a while knows that kernel update can mess up with example hibernate and suspend. But if a user wants the latest kernel it is in the repo and easy to install from synaptic. Latest kernel did not work well with my laptops hibernate/suspend so I changed back to 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs.
PCLinuxOS magazine. I love it. 
The list can be longer, but I think this is okey for now.

What can PCLinuxOS do better?
I was not really in to the installation process. Why during installation a user can not go back for example? He or she needs to abort the process and begin from start. Not the most user friendly installation process I have seen, but in the same time everything is easier then XP installation . I know the installation process works for some and not for others. So I respect does that likes the drake-install process.
Update-manager. This feature is missing and for a rolling release it would be great to have it by default. I know about update-notifier, but that’s not really what I want.  I hope soon this feature will be added.
Why can I user not choose language during livecd instead of the default English? It offers keyboard setup to language x (all other language then English). I understand that a user in livecd can choose language x from addlocale and then log out. Restart x and log in back again to have it in language x. That is not really user friendly. For newbie with no English at all, this would be really bad start. I understand PCLinuxOS policy that all should fit in to a cd, but this feature is more important then some preinstalled applications. My father with no English, would never have a clue how to install PclinuxOS. Maybe Magiea solution would work? Different iso image with (Europe 1,2 and so on).
Wiki needs to be more informative like the PCLinuxOS magazine is. So more love to the wiki would be great I think. In the same time, I understand that we don´t have the biggest amount of developer that can do all this things. PCLinuxOS does not have a rich dude or a company that can support the developer.
That’s all I have to say about what PCLinuxOS can do better in my view.

I have installed PCLinuxOS to people that are close to me and have recommended it to all I talk with.

Many thanks Texstar & Co for a great distro. Keep up the good work!

My personal grade to PCLinuxOS:
10/10

The grade I will give from a newbie view:
8.5-9/10.

[YouCanToo]

I have now run PCLinuxOS in almost 3 months and I really enjoy it so far. For a rolling release like PCLinuxOS it´s damn stable and polished distro. I had minor problem with PCLinuxOS in the beginning, but does have been solved. Maybe some of does minor problem was my newbie faults. Now when I have PCLinuxOS exactly the way I want it to be, it have been a blessing. No single glitch. Like all distros should act in my opinion.

What is PCLinuxOS strength according to me?
Extremely stable. Like a previous pointed out after fixing the minor problems I have had no single glitch.
Userfriendly. After installing PCLinuxOS main KDE edition you get almost every thing out of the box. If some codecs are missing it is easy to install. Type task-multimedia and install it from synaptic. In sweden does codecs that comes with task-multimedia is not forbidden.
My graphic card works out of the box. Correct resolution. Problem with desktop effects with kwin, but that is not PCLinuxOS fault.
I did not really need to mess up with plymouth to get a working boot splash. All distros that have this problem should learn from PCLinuxOS.
Sound worked out of the box. I am a pulseaudio fan, so after my second installation all worked well. No single problem with pulseaudio.
All my hardware was correctly detected even bluetooth and webcam. Only for my parents scanner/printer I did need to download  a .rpm package outside the repo.

Which printer was it. Perhaps you should visit our knowledge base at http://pclinuxoshelp.com.  If your printer doesn't work out of the box please add it to the hardware database. Let others know that it doesn't work or what it takes to getting it to work.

Repositories. Maybe not the biggest amount of package compare to more well known distros out there like Debian. But almost all you need is in the repo and if something is missing it is easy to write request. New users do not need to handle PPA or anything that can turn a well working distro to a headache. I only personally miss two package, Bkchem and Xdrawchem.

Make a request to have then added to the repositories.

Powerful. With PCLinuxOS Control Center (drake control center Mandrake/Mandriva) a user can do almost anything from there. Together with KDE control center (configure your desktop)  a user do not really need to learn a bunch of command lines. I was before not a fan of KDE, but with PCLinuxOS I have a great time of using it.
Rolling release. I do not need to care about release cycles any more. Only need to update my system to get the latest and greatest.
Good community. It feels like Texstar & Co are listening to the users. Very good! Really like the forum, can not exactly say the same thing about the irc channel or all users I have meet. But that’s normal I think.
Kernel aspect. First I did not really understand why a kernel update was not shown after 3 month of using PCLinuxOS. It turns out to be a security move from Texstar & Co. That is for me a really great  surprise. If a users have a working kernel that comes with  the installation he or she is not forced to kernel update. For does that have used Linux for a while knows that kernel update can mess up with example hibernate and suspend. But if a user wants the latest kernel it is in the repo and easy to install from synaptic. Latest kernel did not work well with my laptops hibernate/suspend so I changed back to 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs.
PCLinuxOS magazine. I love it. 
The list can be longer, but I think this is okey for now.

What can PCLinuxOS do better?
I was not really in to the installation process. Why during installation a user can not go back for example? He or she needs to abort the process and begin from start. Not the most user friendly installation process I have seen, but in the same time everything is easier then XP installation . I know the installation process works for some and not for others. So I respect does that likes the drake-install process.
Update-manager. This feature is missing and for a rolling release it would be great to have it by default. I know about update-notifier, but that’s not really what I want.  I hope soon this feature will be added.
Why can I user not choose language during livecd instead of the default English? It offers keyboard setup to language x (all other language then English). I understand that a user in livecd can choose language x from addlocale and then log out. Restart x and log in back again to have it in language x. That is not really user friendly. For newbie with no English at all, this would be really bad start. I understand PCLinuxOS policy that all should fit in to a cd, but this feature is more important then some preinstalled applications. My father with no English, would never have a clue how to install PclinuxOS. Maybe Magiea solution would work? Different iso image with (Europe 1,2 and so on).
Wiki needs to be more informative like the PCLinuxOS magazine is. So more love to the wiki would be great I think.

Since I maintain the wiki now, what are you suggesting that I should be doing?  There are a very few users that are helping in rebuilding it. We can use all the help we can get, are you willing to help?

In the same time, I understand that we don´t have the biggest amount of developer that can do all this things. PCLinuxOS does not have a rich dude or a company that can support the developer.
That’s all I have to say about what PCLinuxOS can do better in my view.

I have installed PCLinuxOS to people that are close to me and have recommended it to all I talk with.

Many thanks Texstar & Co for a great distro. Keep up the good work!

My personal grade to PCLinuxOS:
10/10

The grade I will give from a newbie view:
8.5-9/10.

Not to forget to mention, Welcome aboard!

[Neal ManBear]

PCLinuxOs does not split-off packages into many smaller packages to up the app count, as some do. This may keep the package count down, but it does not mean that we don't have a full list of available apps. We have around 14,000. Considering the size of our team, that is a large amount.

[Archie]

Excellent testimonial, Kurdistan.

As to why a user installing PCLinuxOS is unable to choose a language on installation ... the language packs do take up space and since the LiveCD is limited, the next best option, of course is how you've described it in your testimonial. As much as that is a great idea, it is impractical. A trade off would have to be made, and I for one would vote for useful apps rather than a Zulu language pack that I won't be using.

[OMSkates]

If you want to give Live CDs to friends & family you can do a MyLiveCD remaster of your current language install.  Will the installer then be presented in that selected language?

[Neal ManBear]

..... Will the installer then be presented in that selected language?

If there is no translation of your language available, you can create one. Go to Packagers section > Translation subsection of the forum. Check the sticky topic on translating. You can help.     

[Kurdistan]

YouCanToo/
“Which printer was it. Perhaps you should visit our knowledge base at http://pclinuxoshelp.com.  If your printer doesn't work out of the box please add it to the hardware database. Let others know that it doesn't work or what it takes to getting it to work”

Hey I have already made a package request for Brother DCP 7030. Because it was some thing to do with license the request could not be added to the Repo. But it works to download from there homepage a .rpm file. You can read my topic:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=94533.0

“Make a request to have then added to the repositories.”

Done that some time ago. It was my first request. I can do a new, if something is not correct. You can read here:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,94144.msg791782.html#msg791782

I know I only should make one topic per request. Maybe I should do a new request for the same package.

“Since I maintain the wiki now, what are you suggesting that I should be doing?  There are a very few users that are helping in rebuilding it. We can use all the help we can get, are you willing to help?”

Now I have not much spare time. But when I have more time, I can help out. Maybe some of my how-to can be put to the wiki. I will write coming days a howto for disable HDMI for does that wants it. Because I have got PM with request here in the forum.

“Not to forget to mention, Welcome aboard!”

Thanks my friend.

Neal/
“PCLinuxOs does not split-off packages into many smaller packages to up the app count, as some do. This may keep the package count down, but it does not mean that we don't have a full list of available apps. We have around 14,000. Considering the size of our team, that is a large amount.”

Like I mentioned PCLinuxOS have really good Repo and for a small team like PCLinuxOS it is wonderful achievement. Many packages in PCLinuxOS other distros needs go outside there own Repo. I know all this. Maybe I was not clear  enough.

Archie/
“Excellent testimonial, Kurdistan.

As to why a user installing PCLinuxOS is unable to choose a language on installation ... the language packs do take up space and since the LiveCD is limited, the next best option, of course is how you've described it in your testimonial. As much as that is a great idea, it is impractical. A trade off would have to be made, and I for one would vote for useful apps rather than a Zulu language pack that I won't be using.”

Thanks for your nice words. I write what I feel in a objective way. Many things with PCLinuxOS is wonderful, but some areas needs to be more polished according to me. I know that language packages takes up CD space. I did mention that in the topic, but it is a important features. It feels like PCLinuxOS is focusing on the English speaking people, but remember every one can not English around the world. Like I said Mageias solution for that is really good. Look:
http://www.mageia.org/en/downloads/

omskates/
“If you want to give Live CDs to friends & family you can do a MyLiveCD remaster of your current language install.  Will the installer then be presented in that selected language?”

I will read more about MyLiveCD and how to Remaster PCLinuxOS when I have more time. Right now much of my time goes to my University studies.

Thanks all of you for the replies you made.