Ubuntu 9.10 or PCLinusOS Gnome

I am going to give linux a try as my primary OS while running windows XP and Windows 7 in VirtualBox in Linux host for testing software and playing with malware as well as trying out other linux distros.

Over a period of time, I have rapidly gone through so many distros like kubuntu, ubuntu, Sabayon, PCLinuxOS, DreamLinux, OpenSuse etc etc.

I have come down to two distros finally and have to choose one of them.

I really like Ubuntu 9.1 as it seems a very polished and professional type of OS. However I am also impressed with PCLinuxOS Gnome, mainly due to its speed and color scheme( yes! color scheme is imp to me). I have some questions in my mind:

1- Both are based upon Gnome, then why PCLinuxOS Gnome edition is significantly faster than Ubuntu? Thing seem to fly with mouse clicks on PCLinuxOS Gnome while on Ubuntu applications do take some time to launch. Infact the speed of PCLOS-Gnome has impressed me a lot and it seems to be the single most facter due to which I am leaning towards PCLOS-Gnome.

2- What about hardware compatibility? How do you compare both?

3- Which one is easier and more user friendly for a beginner like me?

4- Which distro has more choices for software?

Thanks for any help.

 

Hi aigle:

Right now, I favor karmic because my laptop seems to love the .31 kernel. I believe the default kernel for pclos is .26, with an option in synaptic for .27 (which I needed for wireless support). From what I understand, tex is working on the .31 kernel and it should be coming along soon (at least in the testing repos) I recently had a few problems with the pclos-gnome install when initially updating, but it has been reported as being fixed. As far as speed, they are both fast on my laptop, but Ubuntu runs compiz as default, whereas pclos-gnome does not. I'll also agree with you about the pclos look. I normally do not like dark themes, but that is a great looking distro.

 

If you are fine with a 32 bit OS, then by all means PCLOS is fine (there is no 64 bit PCLOS). If you need a 64 bit OS with better support, more users, and larger repositories, then Ubuntu is the way to go.

I am biased against PCLOS. While it is easy to use, I loathe its disorganized development model. Tex will sometimes leave for YEARS and no one will hear from him. Suddenly he pops back up and fires everyone who did his job in his absence. I don't care much for the way the guy does things.

 

Tex doesn't run PCLOS Gnome, and it did just fine while Tex was missing in action (and Tex wasn't gone for "years") It didn't suffer like the official PCLOS KDE did....

I've been on Ubuntu for over a year and all was fine till this 9.10 release (junk IMO). I seriously gave thought to giving up on Linux, that was untill I went back to PCLOS Gnome.

PCLOS is faster, has the much better control panel, better looking fonts, support out of the box for dial-up users (Ubuntu really sucks in the area), and PCLOS keeps the applications updated faster "(Ubuntu really sucks in the area)" also.....

Oh, and if PCLOS is missing software you can make a request, they're good at adding things for ya

PCLOS negative...no 64bit OS

 

Agreed. Good point.

It's amazing what different hardware specs will do. While I have always been satisfied with Ubuntu releases going back to 6.06, karmic is blowing me away.

 

I've started testing Ubuntu 9.10, noticed lots of issues with sound (PulseAudio).
Anyone else seen this yet? Will explore more, but it's really annoying ...
Mrk

 

There's always advantages in following the "mainstream" (in this case, Ubuntu) when you're using a niche OS like Linux. Google returns more helpful results when you're searching for support, there are software repos for more stuff, etc.

Speed-wise, yes, Ubuntu is slower. It has this reputation for being bloated compared to other distros, but it still runs fine for me on my hardware (AMD Turion X2 2.1GHz, 3GB). I wouldn't be worried about the default color scheme, it's fairly customizable with various themes.

Hardware-compatibility, both feel about equal to me, but I'd give Ubuntu the slight edge. It's a more popular distro used by more people, which I imagine would place more pressure on the devs to make sure their product works across a wider range of hardware. PCLOS has the advantage of coming with ndiswrapper by default though, so you're at least more or less guaranteed to have wireless working, and from that point onwards you can Google for the other missing bits (though you might not necessarily find them).

 

Have not yet installed, only Live CD and Vbox. You will need to install paman
package and the device chooser pkg. via Synaptic to get more options.
(Just type 'pulseaudio' as search term in Synaptic).

Edit:- One needs to enable 'universe' and maybe 'multiverse' in Software Sources.
Also paman will install the padevchooser - so only need to install paman package.
In my case 5.1 surround sound is fine in Vbox, but with live cd the front speakers are
not working. (I chose Analog surround 5.1 in the config.)
There seem to be a hell of a lot of problems with pulseaudio judging by the Ubuntu forum
posts. Pity.

 

Thanks all for so many responses. Very helpfull and interesting indeed. Seems it might not be an easy decision. My main needs are office docs, power point presentations, web surfing, web mail, a bit of messenger chat on yahoo and Virtual Box for VMs, so I am sure both distros will provide me enough software/ options etc. My laptop is Centrino ( Pentium M) 1.7 with 1.5 Giga Ram. Luckily my wireless works with all recent Ubuntu distros out of the box.

I have already installed both in VirtualBox along with some others. Seems I will actually install both of these on my laptop and will see for a while how it goes.

Oh I just remember few more things.

- Most important of these- how are Ubuntu and PCLOS-Gnome while dealing with printers? Any specific brand that will work better?

- Also I need to know for bluetooth and web cam support.

- PC Card reader support?

- And finally anyone has exoperience of runing anyone of these on a MacBook natively?

Thanks

 

Hi Mrk:

No issues with sound so far. Using mplayer, totem, banshee and rhythmbox. I actually find the sound with karmic better (and louder) than other distros I've had on this cheap laptop.

 

I think you should try to disable desktop effects on Ubuntu.

 

it does not seem to make a difference. PCLOS-Gnome is still super fast, i mean the launch of applications.

 

When choosing between these two I would pick Ubuntu 9.10 for sure. While PCLinuxOS is a nice piece of community effort it's got over being a 'toy' for me.

 

No sound issues on 2 machines, ones had Karmic on since the beta.
Though the netbook is having issues with brightness control. Annoying as did not occur in Januty or Intrepid.

 

Not any more. Ever since Jaunty, universe and multiverse are enabled out of the box.

 

Yes, Tex was indeed gone for over a year. Ask anyone who was packaging/developing during that time. I know because I was. But, I don't want to rehash that here.

 

It's nice to see that the truth got stretched back to size

BTW, I don't need to ask anyone about PCLinuxOS. I've been there since the golden Year's ("Year's" = 2 or more) with my $$$.

 

OK just installed Karmic 64 bit to sdb, and contrary to expectations, it chainloaded perfectly from Hardy 32 bit on sda. No warnings etc.
My 5.1 sound works perfectly as well. I needed to run Alsamixer in terminal and unmute and turn the volume up on one speaker that was previously muted
(I had no output from the front speakers).

Very pleased so far - now for the fun parts.

 

I just installed Mandriva 2010.0 Gnome and I'm impressed with the responsiveness. It feels so much faster than when I was running the prereleases of the major distro's...

 

Many things can affect performance. Default running apps, how well they are compiled and packaged, Kernel versions and drivers (for example Ubuntu 9.10 runs so much faster smoother than 9.04 for me due to the vastly improved intel GFX drivers). Can even go as far as optimised HDD settings, mount settings etc.

Cheers Nick.

 

Mandriva is a major distro. They were bought by Connectiva a number of years ago, so the distro is corporate backed.

 

@chronomatic
I assume you mean that MandrakeSoft bought Connectiva in 2005 and became Mandriva...
http://www.mandriva.com/enterprise/en/company/backgrounder

 

Aigle, last night I installed Mandriva on a laptop and I managed to install XFCE as opposed to Gnome.
I was so excited that I wanted to share it with you. Responsiveness is shocking. Firefox launches soo fast, it's open and ready to browse almost before you release the mouse button that clicked the icon!

 

that's nice to know. I really hate the slowness of ubuntu. Otherwise it's so nice.

 

By the way lxde is fast too but i don't like it's GUI in PCLOS. I am also waiting for lxde in dream linux.