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Review: PCLinuxOS 2026.05
Quoting: DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. —
After a few days with PCLinuxOS I'm still not sure how I feel about the distribution. It does some things really well, managing to be light on resources and efficient in a lot of ways, and it mostly stays out of my way. On the other hand, I found myself missing some modern conveniences, such as the option to search for tools in the application menu and I missed having update notifications. Some elements of the distribution worked really well, including most of the configuration tools and applications. But there were occasional problems, both with local applications and cloud services.
My main concern with PCLinuxOS was with the moments where quality control appears to have let bugs slip through the cracks. Having Control Centre modules fail because they cannot install needed services, having both editions fail to boot (Plasma from the live session and Xfce once it was installed) certainly took me by surprise, especially since the Xfce edition ran smoothly from the live medium.
Ultimately, the conservative rolling approach is something which could work for me, but it isn't a style that I think would appeal to many other people. It's too varied in its style for new users, probably too conservative for many experienced or experimental users who want something cutting-edge. I like the "run what works" style and efficient desktop, I feel almost more at home with a distribution that inherits some of its style from 25 years ago. However, I suspect not many Linux users who have joined the community in the past 15 years will share that sense of familiarity and may be put off by the classic style and occasional bugs.