Testimonial #1
There once was a boy that lived in Beirut, Lebanon, he wanted a computer for Christmas, and as always in a fairytale he couldn't afford it. One day he picked up a book about how computers were made, read it cover to cover, and said "hey if i buy the parts and assemble them myself it would be much cheaper". After cracking open his piggy bank he treated himself to some of the nicer hardware available then (1998). A Pentium MMX 200Mhz CPU, an Intel Chipset MB, a Voodoo card, 16Mb of Ram etc... Having set up his hardware he found himself without an OS and with little money, then the devil appeared and offered him a bootleg copy of Windows 95, the boy not knowing any better, lived in the ignorance that is proprietary software for the rest of childhood.
The boy grew up, and went to college to study economics and he still had never owned a genuine copy of Windows or any of the games he played or the software he used. Until, one day, while transferring at Charles De Gaulle international airport his Laptop running an pirated copy of Windows XP along with dozens of other pirated material gets flagged.
>>>>Fast Forwarding the full cavity search >>>>>
The angels appears, he says "hey, buddy, there is something called Linux try it", the angel had a Finnish accent...
And so began Jade's journey to find his significant other, the distro i will call mine...
I tried Ubuntu but it was too hot, i tried Mandriva but it was too cold and then i tried PCLinuxOS... and it was just right...
And as my tribute, I'm now writing my senior paper or as we call them in the French education system my "Memoire de Licence" on the competition between Linux and Windows in the various OS markets.
and as J. Scott Thayer said:
One OS to rule them all,
One OS to find them.
One OS to call them all,
And in salvation bind them.
- with apologies to Mr Tolkien
LeJade
Testimonial #2
In December 2006 the "other" OS decided to update my system with their own video driver and guess what?...it BSOD'd my system. After booting using VGA, I downloaded and installed "BigDaddy" and haven't looked back. EVERYTHING I was doing in the other OS was installed by default in PCLOS.
I very recently started using Minime 2008 on two very different machines, one a refurb Dell SX270, everything recognized and setup correctly, and a home-built AMD 64x2 5200+, Nvidia 7600 GT, 2Gig Crucial, 500 Gig Samsung HDD, 2-Samsung 20X DVD Burners, and my HP 1018 LaserJet, again all set up correctly (small firmware issue with printer, but resolved on my own), and running perfectly. Default video was correctly set on both machines. Last year I decided to 'donate' to receive a "PASS"; EVERYONE who uses this distro should do the same, you will NOT be sorry.
PCLOS is absolutely the most amazing distribution out there. You can be PRODUCTIVE immediately after the install is complete, no looking for peripheral driver CD's and the sometimes thrown away instructions needed for a proper Winxxxx's install. My twin sister was absolutely amazed this past Thanksgiving when we plugged her fairly new Olympus 7.1 digital cam into the "Big" box and it was immediately picked up....heavy sigh...she just can't seem to get over her addiction to that other OS(?).
I had been involved in computers for most of my adult life and had been 'stuck' using the other OS for professional reasons. Now that I am retired and living on a fixed income, I find it amusing (confusing) that more of us seniors are not looking at alternatives that won't bankrupt any retirement I (they) might have. Who wants to pony up to be a beta (alpha) tester for BG?
Texstar and the Ripper Gang do indeed need to be applauded for this effort--it is quite evident they love what they're doing,,,and PLEASE donate to the cause...I'll be renewing my PASS very soon.
oldgaman
Testimonial #3
Support Success
About seven or eight months ago, I installed PCLOS on the PCs of all my "supported group" - friends, relatives... you guys know. I left Windows as a dual boot for them, but asked them to boot into PCLOS whenever possible. All but one took to it like ducks to water.
The one who resisted called me a while back because she couldn't view some videos. Of course, she was trying to do it in Windows, and when I asked her to try it in PCLOS, it just worked. She switched, and asked me to set her PC up to boot into PCLOS by default. Rather than drive 20 miles, I showed her how to do it herself via phone - what a luxury.
Last night, I got a call from one of the "instant switchers". She couldn't get to her bank account, and had been having trouble for a while (she hates to ask for help, a notion I've tried for decades to get her to quit). It occurred to me that she probably hadn't updated since I installed it for her back in November, so I guided her through the Synaptic process. (I had shown her at the very beginning, but it takes a while for people to settle in, as we all know.) When it started, she told me the estimated time was 2 hours on her 6Mb connection! Yep, she had missed a lot...
This morning, this was in my email:
Quote
Thanks~~~ you're the BOMB! The update was successful and I was able to get into my bank!!! U the Man!! And just a phone call away for the best tech support a girl could ask for Smiley
Hehehe! Maybe she doesn't know, but I do: it's not me, it's PCLOS! Thanks to everyone who makes me look good!
ElCuervo
Testimonial #4
Happy User
I converted from Windows to PCLOS about half a year ago, and I've never regretted it.
At that time it came sort of forced: My HDD had died and taken the UDMA-controller with it. That meant either buying a new laptop, or using an external HDD - a less pricey option. XP wouldn't boot. It kept asking if I was sure I was still using the same computer. My boy-friend had been trying to get me interested into Linux for a while (he's a Mandriva aficionado), so in the end it was but a small step.
I had already decided to try out Mandriva when he showed me the live-cd for PCLOS. A single feature convinced me: the sub-menus in the start menu that lead to the apps. Instead of being intimidated by exotic abbreviations for programs I'd never heard of, I was gently led to what I wanted to do. And PCLOS kindly booted.
Of course, there was a bit of learning to do - and still is, but two weeks after I installed PCLOS I was certain I wouldn't want to get back to Window again. I mean ever. Windows is kind of a default option. Unless you care enough to get something else, that's what you're on. But what a change. Finally, my little box is more like a tool than a pet. It works.
I'm positively in love with the Synaptic upgrade tool. It's transparent. It's me who controls it. It doesn't slow down my computer at the most inconvenient times, or shut down the computer to install something when I'm in the middle of something. It even tells me what it will change.
Hardware detection? Wireless? No problem at all. And it's stable as a rock. The real change is that I stopped swearing at my computer. And that is definitely a change for the better. Wink
So kudos to texstar and the others who did all the hard work for the technical blondes like me.
Anne
P.S.: Now, my boy-friend is convinced, too. He likes it even better than Mandriva.