Put together your own distribution with PCLinuxOS

Rolling

At first glance, the current version of PCLinuxOS 12.2014 looks dated. In fact, the installation assistant with the 3.18.1 kernel and KDE SC 4.14.3 installs somewhat dated software.

However, because the PCLinuxOS distribution has been functioning for years according to the rolling release mechanism, you can update the system easily after the initial installation. Classic update cycles like those found in customary Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, and openSUSE are not required for PCLinuxOS.

The U.S. Mandriva derivative uses APT RPM together with Synaptic, for package administration. Synaptic is a graphics attachment found in the Software Center menu. Updating the installation is accomplished in three mouse clicks.

First, you need to click on the Reload button that sits at the top left in the Synaptic window in order to read in the package sources. Second, mark all of the packages that need updating by clicking on the Mark All Upgrades button. And, third, you can start the update by clicking on Apply (Figure 3).

Figure 3: You can update the system with just three mouse clicks.

The system will also automatically supplement the kernel firmware files needed for the operation of proprietary hardware components.

People Speak More Than One Language

Outside the United States, PCLinuxOS was a wallflower for a long time because the lack of support for local languages. Now, there is nothing to complain about with the localization feature.

To operate the derivative in a different language, you should install the addlocale package via Synaptic in PCLinuxOS MiniMe. Then, click in the start menu on the Software Center group and use root rights to activate the Localization Manager . You can then select the country settings you would like to install from the list of countries (Figure 4).

Figure 4: You can install packages for additional languages with just a few clicks.

Now the routine will download the necessary language files from the Internet and install them. The next step involves the assistant asking for the accompanying keyboard layout, which is available in various versions. In the last step, the assistant will ask for the time zone and then execute a warm start. After requesting modification of the folder name, the system begins to work entirely in the new language.