I’ve always wanted to like PCLinuxOS. Lots of people are happily using it, so why have I had problems? The release of a new installation disk (the repository is rolling-release) has encouraged me to try it again. This time, I used the KDE version rather than the Xfce one (although I hate KDE), since that’s their flagship disk and so should be the best.

The disk is now a DVD rather than a CD. The start-up screen offers a live session, installation, or disk check. If you choose to check the disk, it will go to a live session afterwards, so if you need a different language, select it first. The installer is their own: simple to use, but with no instructions provided. When I first wrote this review, I complained about the lack of documentation, but I then discovered pclinuxoshelp.com which solves the problem. The user is created at first boot. I understand that encryption is available is you create a /home partition, but I didn’t have the opportunity to test that.

PCLOS is less bloated than many KDE distros, so it started quite quickly on my rather slow computer and would run in 640MB. The programs installed were a much better selection than last time and included Gimp, Inkscape, Firefox, Thunderbird, Skype, Koppete instant messaging, Choqok micro-blogger, LibreOffice, Kmymoney, Clementine, and VLC. Everything I launched from the CLI ran without a single warning. Codecs were installed and working.

A Flash plugin is provided, but it’s the version that doesn’t work with 32-bit AMD chips. I can’t blame them for that, since the problem isn’t well known. Sound devices can be configured in two different places, but neither tool works; to enable my USB speakers I had to create ~/.asoundrc.

New software is available using Synaptic, but they still haven’t got the labeling right. For example, Gnucash and Homebank showed up under finance and accounts, but Grisbi and Moneymanager only under accounts, and Kmymoney only under finance. Imagination and perseverance are obviously needed!

It seems the secret of PCLOS is the same as that of OpenSUSE: stick to KDE. The forum seems good — it solved my problems with subpixel smoothing and keyboard shortcuts, where the KDE help was useless — and these’s a monthly magazine. If you like KDE, it’s a good choice.