PCQLinux is distributed with the PCQuest Magazine ..a leading PC magazine in India
PCQLinux is distributed along with the magazine once every year - PCQLInux came out this year with the March 2004 issue.
I would recommend every Linux out there to get hold of it and give it a good look
I have been a Redhat Linux user for over three years now.. but since RedHat stopped making RedHat Linux, Fedora took over
Fedora is supported by RedHat till now and is available for free download at https://fedora.redhat.com
PCQLinux is based on Fedora Core 1
I did use Fedora Core.. but the problems with it are
1) Some software is stil buggy ..
2) It does not have the latest software ( no KDE 3.2 , no kernel 2.6 etc..)
3) Its a distribution which is pre-packaged based on what they thought will be more useful to us
Fedora Core 2, the next version, of Fedora, is delayed ( This review was writter on 26/03/2004)
Now let me tell you the advantage of using PCQLinux 2004
1) Based of Fedora 1, but has all stable packages
2) Has all the latest stable packages like Kernel 2.6.22, KDE 3.2 JDK 1.4.2, kernel NTFS pathes (yes we can now read and write to NTFS filesystems within linux )
3) Has all the software required for home users like gmplayer( for playing all kinds of movies , including DVDs)
it also has xmms (a winamp clone) . blender (for animation) , games etc
4) For power users it comes with mail, ftp, www, file , print , nfs and telnet servers, and alll those with the latest stable versions
5) It has buit-in support for indian languages so you can type text and use your desktop in the language of your choice!
This feature makes it very useful beacuse not all Indians can read and write english. It will also help in the computer literacy of people living in villages, where English is the greatest barrirer preventing computer literacy
6) PCQLinux includes features requested by linux users. almost allthe features requested by users was included in it . they interacted with the developers at https://pcquest.com/content/linuxfourm and got the features they wanted .. isnt that great? PCQLinux can be called a democratic Linux
7) PCQLinux is also customized for your personal needs . for eg the type of installations are
Personal Desktop ( For home users)
Developer Workstation (For programmers - Linux has supported for almost all the languges and has many good IDE's too)
Multimedia Workstation (For Multimedia, graphic and animation developers)
SysAdmin Workstation (For network administrators)
Gatway server (If you want to make the machine a gateway to the internet)
Departmental server ( If you want to make the machine a file/print server for a departmental Lan. It will also interoperate with windows)
Experimental ( For all those people who take joy in pushing their systems to the limit - and end screwing it up)
8) PCQLinux has a great support forum at https://pcquest.com/content/linuxfourm. They offer real good support for it and is a real help for newbies and experts alike
9) It can really work well with windows
if you are on a Lan then with samba (it is included by default) will make your pc appear as a windows PC on your lan and you can share files ,print documents etc with it!
With WineX, you can have your favourite windows prgrams run linux without actually having windows on your pc
OpenOffice ( counterpart of MS Office in linux) can read and wirte into all kinds of MS Office files .. so you can get PowerPoint presentation , read it in OpenOffice Impress ( counterpart of MS PowerPoint in linux) edit it to your heart's content and save it back. You can then give this to a person using MS Office and when he opens the presentation, he won't even know you edited it in Impress!! the same is true for word and excel as well
-10) real nice prroductivity apps
I will list you some popular applicaitons in windows and their counterparts in linux
most of the applications are available in almost every distribution of linux and not just PCQLinux
-- Email -> evolution email is far superior to MS Outlook Express
-- web browser --> Mozilla firefox is the best in the business and the fastest browser on the planet
-- text editing --> KWrite is better than notepad or wordpad and the text looks pretty on linux. In fact because of a good font rendering technology in linux, the same text will appear neater and prettier on linux
-- IDE --> Kdevelop can handle 17 different languages .. and is far better than Visual Studio
Anjuta is and IDE developed in India which handles languages and libraries KDevelop doesnt handle
-- server configuraton --> the redhat control panel (it is present in PCQLinux too) is much much better than Microsoft Management Console (MMC) that is present in Win 200 and win xp
-- clustering ---> openmosix is a very good clustering software and highly configurable too (the nearest competitor is MS windows 2000 Advanced server, which will burn your pocket unless you are -- ahem -- Bill Gates)
And all the above mentioned software is free, incfact everything included in PCQLinux can be legallydistributed for FREE!
I could go on and on, but then you would go and burn Microsoft's offices !!
PCQLinux is availabel (with the magazine) for Rs. 125 ( 1 us$ = about 45Rs. )
so go ahead and buy it, give to your friends and let them use it too
Why pay for buggy and costly software from Microsoft when you can have it for free?
and the source code for it along with it too?
