Installation was easy enough.  The live CD allows for potential users to samle the system before installing it, as well as checking hardware compatibility without modifying hard drive partitions.  I found out that my HIS Radeon x1600 PRO could not do hardware based OpenGL, even with ATI's proprietary drivers.  That is why I now run a video card with an NVIDIA GPU in it.  NVIDIA has been better about supporting Linux in general than ATI, though with the recent merger between AMD and ATI, the situation may hopefully improve.

The installation took less than twenty minutes.  I chose the language, time zone, keyboard layout, and partitioning setup.  I allowed the partition for Windows XP Home Edition to be resized to make room for Xubuntu.  For everyday use, it is almost perfect.  The word processor of choice is Abiword, which is very light weight and can support many formats, including Microsoft's Word.  OpenOffice.org's Writer is included, but why the library for the GTK look and feel was not included for OpenOffice, I don't know.  I had to add that as well as the rest of the OpenOffice suite myself.



Thunderbird: Unfortunately, Xubuntu falls down on its face concerning functionality between Firefox and Thunderbird.  When I click an e-mail link, I expect Thunderbird's composer window to open up automatically with the recipient's e-mail filled in.  I had to install the mozex plugin to get that set up, and that is not perfect either (composer window comes up, but the recipient's e-mail isn't filled in).  The whole point: I shouldn't have had to fiddle with any settings whatsoever.  It should have just worked off the bat.  Other than that, it is an excellent e-mail client.

The GIMP: It works pretty well for what I need, especially in taking screenshots.  It took some getting used to, but working with layers in images comes in handy, especially for this magazine.

GAIM: It can connect to Yahoo, AIM, and MSN services for instant messaging bliss.  Similar to Firefox, everything is tabbed, so each buddy is not its own window (unless you want it to be).  Work is currently underway to allow the microphone and webcam to be used.  Check out the GAIM project's website for more information.


Would I recommend this system for everyday use?  Not quite.  There are still some wrinkles to be worked out, but once they are, this system will be perfect for older hardware.  It will be a great way to save money when considering desktop computers for the office.  The file manager, Thunar is very light, but it could have been put in a better place other than the Applications > System menu.  For example, a shortcut right next to the one for Firefox would have been helpful for a lot of newbies.

Conclusion:

Unfortunately, I attempted to install VirtualBox, a virtualization product similar to vmware, Parallels, Qemu, and Virtual PC.  The problem came when the kernel module couldn't be compiled, and Synaptic kept throwing up an error, asking me to reinstall the product, which meant one thing: installation and removal from a graphical standpoint was locked out.  I had to manually download and install X-CD-Roast in order to burn a copy of PCLinuxOS .93 to a CD-R.  So unfortunately, I won't be using Xubuntu for production purposes.

For more experienced users who want something simple for everyday operations, this distribution is for you.  While it may take some tweaking on your part with installing a 3D driver for nVIDIA or ATI card (in some cases, the driver doesn't do 3D for those ATI cards) and causing Thunderbird to open a message composing window upon clicking an e-mail link on a website in Firefox, it is an excellent system.  Xfce is a great choice for those who wish to utilize their machine's true power (and those who run Windows XP and graphical environments with tons of eye candy often wonder where their CPU power went...).  Also, placing a shortcut to the appropriate file manager next to Firefox would be of great assistance to those using Xubuntu for the first time (see the red dot in the image below).


My rating: 3/5 (Note: Be careful when installing VirtualBox without pointing to the kernel source.  If you aren't, you'll break Synaptic and it won't allow you to add or remove packages.  Instead, consider compiling from source instead).  I had to change to a different Linux distribution in the middle of doing my work (thank goodness for backups).  I know that when I click a link in this distro for an e-mail address, my client will open up with the recipient's address filled in automatically.

Next issue: PCLinuxOS will be reviewed after extensive experimentation.