VirtualBox

[Old-Polack]

PCLinuxOS release 2010 (PCLinuxOS) for i586

So am I using 2009 or 2010 ??
Seems unnecessarily confusing.

You have the 2010 release, up to the date of your last upgrade. The difference is that he main tool chain has been upgraded to the 2010 release. Without that, the application upgrades compiled since that upgrade would not run on your machine.

There are a lot of new features that texstar wanted to add to PCLinuxOS that would need to be installed in stages if the rolling upgrade model were to be followed. This would take multiple upgrades and a lot of time. By short cutting directly to the new features, bypassing the intermediate steps, the new 2010 ISO image being prepared could be produced much quicker than it would normally take, but the down side is that there are sizable gaps in the upgrade path that result in the new image needing to be installed by everyone. The overall outcome is that by doing a new installation, we all get the goodies about three months earlier than we otherwise would have, avoid problems like the 2009 "big upgrade" inflicted on so many, and texstar saves doing all that, now unnecessary, extra work.

Also, by making the new ISO image a fixed target rather than a moving one, everything can be tested more thoroughly, with everything syncing to each other withing a fully updated separate repository. We get a fresh start from that repo, and it's mirrors, once the ISO image is ready for release.

[edday]

I completely understand the desire to cut down on the workload by producing a single installable rather than worrying about how a "rolling" upgrade would affect individual users.  However, a new install from an iso will have its own mix of problems for the individual.  I know that I am not looking forward to creating a new partition and moving my home directory to it (since pclos didn't create one by default.)  Then having to reinstall all the programs that I use from the new repository.  I had hoped that the last "Big Upgrade" would have been the last such disturbance. 

Oh, well.  There is no such thing as "free" lunch and since I haven't paid much for the OS beyond access to the PASS, the less pain for those creating it may be the other end of the price curve.

By the Way, on topic:  I have installed all the PUEL versions of VirtualBox and they have all worked flawlessly, giving me access to USB resources such as my Creative mp3 player.  There is a pclos version on the VB website.

[davidwillis]

  There is a pclos version on the VB website.

Yes, but it is a 2007 version... I wonder how that will work with 2010?  Or should I use the version for all distributions (I used that on my lxde version and it worked great).

[Old-Polack]

  There is a pclos version on the VB website.

Yes, but it is a 2007 version... I wonder how that will work with 2010?  Or should I use the version for all distributions (I used that on my lxde version and it worked great).

It will work fine.

[davidwillis]

Thanks... that is good to know.