PCLinuxOS

PCLinuxOS, often shortened to PCLOS, is a rolling release Linux distribution for x86-64 computers, with KDE Plasma, MATE, and XFCE as its default user interfaces. It is a primarily FOSS operating system for personal computers aimed at ease of use. The precursor to PCLinuxOS was a set of RPM packages created to improve successive versions of Mandrake Linux (later Mandriva Linux). These packages were created by Bill Reynolds, a packager better known as "Texstar". From 2000 to 2003, Texstar maintained his repository of RPM packages in parallel with the PCLinuxOnline site. In an interview, Texstar said he started PCLinuxOS "to provide an outlet for [his] crazy desire to package source code without having to deal with egos, arrogance, and politics." In October 2003, Texstar created a fork of Mandrake Linux 9.2. Working closely with the Live CD Project, Texstar has since developed that fork independently into a full-fledged distribution. The initial releases were successively numbered as "previews": p5, p7, p8, up to p81a, then p9, p91, p92, and p93. Although it retains a similar "look and feel" to Mandriva Linux, PCLinuxOS has diverged significantly. The code was officially forked from Mandrake 9.2 into an independent project in 2003. After three years of continuous development, the developers took advantage of further development in (the renamed) Mandriva late in 2006 for PCLinuxOS 2007. In the releases before 2007, it was normally necessary to perform a re-installation. For 2007, PCLinuxOS used a one-time source code snapshot from Mandriva to produce a new independent code base (no longer a fork of Mandriva). This implied a shift to a more modern code, which required a complete reinstallation of this version. The new version featured a new look and built-in 3D effects. A new logo was also designed for the new version and was incorporated into the boot screen. A new login screen was designed, entitled "Dark". The final/official PCLinuxOS 2007 version was released on May 21, 2007. The last version of the 2009 Live CD, PCLinuxOS 2009.