I’ve been reading Yet Another Linux Blog for some time now as the writer (’Devnet’) has been submitting various distributions of Linux to a test. He’s used his wife (who has no Linux experience) as a judge to find out which distribution is the best distribution for a brand-new user to work with.

Devnet had his wife try out the following distributions (from having to install them to having to remove them - the whole experience):

• Mandrake 10.1 Community
• SimplyMEPIS 3.3
• PCLinuxOS .81a
• Fedora Core 4
• Ubuntu 5.04 “Hoary”

I won’t mention how each of them performed individually except to say that there were two very big surprises. When Devnet tested Ubuntu it was found to be rather difficult for a newcomer to start off with. This generated a lot of (undeserved) negative feedback toward the project and the people involved from a rather excited Ubuntu community.

And the huge surprise was the success of the little-known PCLinuxOS. I’d never used it until it appeared in this project and was found to be the most new-user- friendly Linux distro. Granted, PCLinuxOS will not meet the needs of every Linux user - but that wasn’t the point of the experiment. According to Mrs. Devnet: “I need to do simple AND it’s easy on the eyes. It serves my purpose, bottom line.”

A big thanks from Distro Jockey to Yet Another Linux Blog for running this test. Linux is steadily approaching desktop-readiness for the real world - this will help the Linux community to know exactly what needs to be worked on to get us all the way.

The new hit thing for a Linux distro is to release a LiveCD so users can try out their release without any risk to their system. It’s useful not only for testing a new distro but also for a myriad of hardware testing, computer repair, portability, gaming, and security purposes.

NewsForge has an article on how PCLinuxOS will let you make your own LiveCD. This is an excellent way to get your Linux configuration - just how you need it - on a CD to share with others, use as a backup, or just play around with.

The Linux Live Gaming Project is an excellent example of a super-useful LiveCD. You simply boot the computer and you’re ready for a LAN party. With PCLinuxOS you can make your own and maybe even share your creation with the rest of us. (note: please share with the rest of us).