PCLinuxOS Minime 09.1 on my Thinkpad T61 July 9, 2009
Posted by rm42 in Computers, Linux.10 comments
For the last few months my Thinkpad has been, and still is, the host of several wonderful Linux distributions, all of them based on the new KDE 4 desktop environment. So, today, in mid summer 2009, is there still a reason to run a KDE 3 desktop? Well, if it wasn’t for PCLinuxOS I would have to say no. But this little distro can really hold its own against any of the large commercially supported distributions around. I am going to divide this review in three parts, “The Good”, “The Bad”, and “The Ugly”. 
The Good
PCLinuxOS has some very unique features that make it a standout among Linux distributions. Perhaps the most important reason that keeps me coming back to PCLinuxOS is the fact that, once installed, you just have to keep applying updates and it stays current for years. For example, I installed PCLinuxOS on my home machine in early 2007 and down to today I have not had to reinstall it again. Today it has the latest and greatest software that is available on the recently released 2009 batch.
While we are on the subject of updates, I think it is important to mention that PClinuxOS now has a new “Update Notifier” that helps for remembering to stay up to date.
PCLinuxOS Updates Notifier
When one clicks on the Update Notifier icon on the tool bar, a small window appears with options for updating the system.
Update Notifier Options
I particularly like that, when updates are available, it offers the option of using aptget for installing them. When selecting this option, aptget opens in a terminal, prompts for the root password, and shows you all the available options for you to accept. This is very fast, and yet it shows all the details of what is being done. If you want to read a little more about why I like PCLinuxOS in general, take a look at my review of PCLinuxOS 2008.
But what about Minime 2009.1 specifically? Minime is a very streamed down variant of PCLinuxOS. It is meant for those that are familiar with Linux and want a bare bones installation of Linux to build up from. That is why the ISO image is only about 300 Megabytes. If what you prefer is to have all the basic applications already on the default installation don’t use the Minime. Download the 2009.2 ISO image instead. Having said that, bringing Minime up to snuff with all that you may need or like is really not that hard and you end up with a very slick, very slim system. That is why I chose to use it myself and so far everything, and I mean everything, has performed superbly on this laptop.
The bad
Some unsuspecting users may be horrified about just how bare bones Minime is. I mean, out of the box, not even wireless works. But, really, that is exactly the point of Minime. You add what you need to the working base. Let me tell you what I did to bring my installation to where I like it. First of all, to get wireless working you will need to install the proper firmware for your wireless card. That is right, you will need to have a wired connection to start with. In my case, it was simply a matter of plugging in the network cable, opening Synaptic, and installing the ipw3945-ucode package (since my laptop has the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 card). After that wireless has worked perfectly.
From there it is just a matter of installing whatever applications you desire. I personally installed Firefox, The Gimp, Amarok, wine, Kuickshow, etc., without any trouble. On the desktop there is a folder called Utilities. In it there is a special script available for installing OpenOffice with your desired language pack, although you can install the English version from Synaptic if you prefer. For further recommendations see the “General and ThinkPad T61 Specific Recommendations” section of my 2008 review. I can’t think of anything else that would be a stumper, except for the fact that it doesn’t seem to have support for the ext4 file system. You see, it is not really that bad after all.
The Ugly
There had to be a negative. I guess it is a matter of taste, but I personally do not like the icon set that comes installed by default.
Default Icon Set
What I don’t like about it is that the default icon used for folders does not have any contrast and looks washed out. For example, look at the “Downloads” folder on the picture above. So, to fix that I went to Synaptic and installed the kde-icons-crystaldiamonds package. I also installed the Liberation fonts while I was at it. To apply them I went to the KDE Control Center -> Appearance -> Icons and chose the Crystal Diamonds theme. Under fonts I changed all the fonts for the Liberation Sans. And that was it.
CrystalDiamond Icon Set
Now I have a beautiful, very fast, very mature and stable Linux installation to enjoy and do my work. The result is so nice that I am debating on whether I will want to install the KDE 4 packages that are supposed to be arriving to the repository soon. I will have to think about that. In the mean time, PCLinuxOS Minime is working great and looking very nice on my machine, and it most likely can do the same on yours. Why not give it a try?
