Keep Your System In Good Order

From PCLinuxOS Knowledgebase
Jump to navigation Jump to search

YOU ARE HERE :: Main Page >> HowTo >> Keey Your System In Good Order

  • Relevant to ALL editions of PCLinuxOS.

You've downloaded PCLinuxOS Livecd ISO, along with the md5sum file, and burned it to your USB Flash Drive or CD Rom.

All your hardware works, and you install.

Everything works sweetly and you want to keep it that way.

First, do a full update of the system. Open Synaptic, click Reload, Mark All Updates, Apply, Apply.

(If you get a question like this, "Some packages could not be retrieved" - "Continue ignoring these programs ?", 'NEVER EVER answer Yes!!! If you get this message answer NO and try again later. If the problem persists check the forum for information or post a topic asking for help).

Wait for the update to completely finish.

Now you can go to synaptic and install any applications that take your fancy.

Every few days open Synaptic, click Reload, Mark All Updates to see if there are any. If the Apply Tick remains inactive, there are none. (You can also install update-notifier if you wish to have an icon in the system tray to notify when updates are available)

Only ever have ONE repository mirror enabled1.. If the current mirror is sluggish, uncheck that and choose another. 'Click Reload afterwards to get the correct package lists from that mirror.

edit: after you've read the above, read about:


The Philosophy of PCLinuxOS

Many people ask the questions:

* Why are packages so late arriving in the repo?

* Why can't i install outside packages?

* Why must i always fully update?

PCLinuxOS is a 'meta' distro, or 'rolling release', that is, it is built in such a way that the user installs and then fully updates periodically over an indefinite period, so far as much as four years, rather than fully reinstalling from the next release as with most distros.

This means that a certain discipline is required of the user. The user must adhere to program of fully updating from time to time and never installing outside packages in order to preserve the stability, thus reliability, of the system.

Packages often appear much later in PCLinuxOS than in other distros because the development and packaging teams together comprise few people and all packages are rigorously tested by them and an additional group of testers before it is permitted to grace the repo.

The strict adherence to the principles of stability has gained for PCLinuxOS a reputation for quality and usability that the developers and users are proud of, knowing that the OS is reliable for an indefinite period.

If you haven't updated your system within the past 30 days then download a fresh ISO and install from the updated CD.

Updated ISOs can be downloaded from http://www.pclinuxos.com/?page_id=10


1. Because they are all mirrors of the one central repository and don't get updated at the same times. The mirrors are in different parts of the world and some are administered by volunteers who have to fit in maintenance with their jobs.

With more than one repo/mirror enabled, your packages list can become scrambled with incorrect entries, leading to mis-installation.

Retrieved from "https://pclosusers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Keep_Your_System_In_Good_Order&oldid=861"