Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Pinguy OS - Distro Review

My favourite type of distros are Ubuntu based. For some time now I have been making a case for why you should be using Linux Mint. Even though I think Mint is fantastic, I still make it a point to try other distributions. I made a pit stop at Zorin 3 for a short while and even though it had many wonderful qualities it didn't quite knock Linux Mint out of my top spot.

I have now found my new favourite distro and it goes by the name of Pinguy OS. Pinguy OS started off as an Ubuntu 10.04 Minimal CD that was customized like no other to include a fantastic range of default applications, Gnome applets, Firefox addons, and theme.


The default software include -

Accessories:
Graphics:
Internet:
Office:
Sound & Video:
System Tools:
Other:Pinguy OS includes all five of the reasons I listed for using Linux Mint.

Including the Mint Menu...
















and even Mint Update Manager.



















Just like Mint, Pinguy OS includes all the multimedia codecs you will ever need, Adobe Flash, and Sun Java. In fact the only negative thing I have to say about Pinguy's default software selection is that having Wine-Doors and Play On Linux both installed feels a little bit redundant. The default theme of the operating system largely resembles OSX (including a global menu bar at the top of the screen). There are two docky bars by default, one located at the bottom of the screen which houses your applications


and another down the left side of the screen which displays your main folders as well as any removable media. The Firefox that ships with Pinguy is heavily customized to include a fantastic selection of addons that add an array of features to the browser (and Firefox on Pinguy feels much "snappier" than it does on Mint/Ubuntu).

One last feature I would like to note about Pinguy that I wish other distros would start adding is that the i686 (32bit) auto detects your system memory and if it sees more than 3 gigs of RAM it downloads and installs a PAE kernel for you. Meaning if you have more than 3 gigs of RAM on your system it will all accessible to you right away. The Pinguy installer also uses the internet to auto detect and setup your timezone and keyboard layout for you.


Next time you are looking to install Ubuntu on your own, or anyone else's system, you should seriously consider using Pinguy instead - if you do odds are you will be pleasantly surprised.

~Jeff Hoogland

26 comments:

  1. Absolutely agree with you.

    I like very much Ubuntu spins, too. I like OSX-like visual style and desing (though I do NOT like Mac OS and Apple's politics).

    I'm the coordinator of the Bulgarian translators of Ubuntu and as such I cannot afford to use an OS which is "anything else" more than Ubuntu. This spin suits me perfectly.

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  2. Thanks for taking the time review Pinguy OS, I really appreciate it.

    ~Antoni Norman

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  3. for the french user : Pour installer la langue française c'est par ici http://www.webdevonlinux.fr/2010/07/installation-de-pinguy-os-en-francais/

    car il manque quelques fichiers.

    Cdt Stéphane

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  4. Hmmm... may be tempted to give this one a try!

    With all the goodness that comes preloaded I'm surprised K3B isn't in there. Pinguy is strictly adhering to only gnome/gtk software.

    Could you tell us where you got the system monitor screenlet you are sporting on the right side of the desktop? Is that part of Pinguy?

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  5. @Gotit That system monitor on the right side is Conky and yes it is included in Pinguy by default.

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  6. What is the font that's used in the menubar?

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  7. does it come with ndiswrapper? Because my internet wifi card only works with ndiswrapper (so it's easy to get working if that's already installed and ready to go)

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  8. There's now a Facebook page.
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pinguy-OS/139771989377056

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  9. Running on VM Vbox. Very interesting. Still working on it. Updated good, haven't got web cam to work yet. Gonna do full install on Vista machine. Any way, good work. See ya on facebook.

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  10. I noticed serious lag on my system with this, using docky and firefox.

    I had serious cpu drain. I removed docky, and switched to chrome, and it felt better.

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  11. Ahh yes - Pinguy is not the most resource friendly distro in the world using 2 docky bars (they are sleek though!). So thing might not be the best choice for older systems/Netbooks. Most modern systems it should run fine on though.

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  12. Awesome review - thanks.

    I tried Pinguy OS and so far like it the best of any of the Unbuntu remixes.

    I am using Pinguy OS in a VM but it may soon become my base OS.

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  13. There's now a new version that fixes all the bugs with it's own new website.
    http://pinguy-os.sourceforge.net/

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  14. wow kostumisasi yang keren suka sekali nih, ijin mengunduh ya. salam

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  15. hello,

    interresting !, considering myself to upgrade to 10.04 from 9.04, it's a very easy way to have a fully working station without headache :)

    so downloading now :)

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  16. It looks nice. I will give it a try and another one that has E17 as well is Sabayon. I normally do not like one OS built on top of another OS and built on top of another one. What I mean is that I hate items built on top of Ubuntu which is already built on top of Debian. I like that Mint has a version that runs on top of Debian which I like that idea better.

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  17. I like the looks of it. I normally hate items being built on top of Ubuntu. The reason for this is that Ubuntu is already built on top of Debian so I like items built on top of Debian instead of being built on top of Ubuntu. I will give this a try though as I do like Enlightement. I also like the look of the Sabayon distribution.

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  18. Hi very nice review m8, I've been using Linux Mint for a while now, but going to give Pinguy os a go ...

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  19. I am going to use the Pinguy Os as my default OS................................ I am loving it !!!!

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  20. I'm using the 64-bit version on my desktop, and I (mostly) like it. Even with a new (DX11), but low-end graphics card, everything is pretty snappy.

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  21. This build is epic once you figure out not to encrypt disk by default in X64 version. Thank you for a great review.

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  22. A friend of mine told me about it. The review is gr8, gonna give it a try

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  23. As i was a bit tired of Ubuntu, i decided to give Pinguy a shot. Have been using it for a week, it's great and it is now my main distro. Thanks for the review!

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