SAMLinux is a Live CD that is based on PCLinuxOS and compatible with the current PCLinuxOS repository packages. SAM Linux 2009 was just released and is the first release without team leader Nico Reuter. The latest version includes changes like the Linux 2.6.26.8 kernel,  XFCE 4.6.1, Mozilla Firefox 3.5.1, Opera 9.64, GIMP 2.6.6, Pidgin 2.5.8, VLC Media Player 1.0.0, improved WLAN hardware support and support for the MSI Wind Netbook architecture. The popular Thunderbird email was recently dropped from the 2009 version of SAM Linux. Thunderbird was replaces by the email functionality in the Opera web browser. Another big change is the plan to base SAM Linux on another Linux distribution besides PCLinuxOS. The distro that will future versions of SAM will be based on have not yet been identified.

This lightweight distro runs the XFCE desktop environment which means its quick and simple. SAM 2009 takes this simplicity and accents it with a green graphical display that matches through the boot, login, desktop, and menu.

The desktop includes a great icon dock with about 10 icons in it by default. The dock icons are nicely sized, crisp and clear and are magnified upon mouseover.

To activate the menu just click on the SAM menu icon on the left side of the bottom panel

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PC/OS is a Linux desktop and server distribution based on the popular lightweight version of Ubuntu known as Xubuntu. Like Xubuntu PC/OS uses the XFCE desktop environment and is an extremely fast distribution for your desktop or laptop. PC/OS is built to work right out of the box with all the multimedia codecs you need paired with a simple interface and pleasant menu to help keep everything in place.

This newest release of PC/OS was PC/OS 2009.3. This release has solved many hardware fixes brought on by the previous release and includes security updates as the PC/OS Maintenance Pack 3 has been applied. Application changes included in the PC/OS 2009.3 release include OpenOffice.org 3.1, Pidgin 2.5.8, Firefox 3.0.12, Mozilla Thunderbird , and many more updates. Past versions of PC/OS have included different editions but this time around during the 2009.3 release PC/OS features two versions, PC/OS OpenWorkstation and PC/OS WebStation.

The most attractive thing about PC/OS for me is the speed. I noticed a significant speed difference while comparing the Live DVD and the installed system to other distros. Another thing I like about PC/OS is that it has quite a few bells and whistles included plus it keeps them in an organized.  This well rounded Linux distribution makes a great choices for newbies or advanced users.  Buy PC/OS

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