Ground Control

Take the disk out and restart your computer, if all has gone well you should see this.

After a while, the machine will start booting and take you to this screen, this is where you setup the root password for the system, remember this.

Onc you've done it, click on next and you will then be taken to a screen to create the first login on the machine. Fill in all the details and click on next.

You will then be taken to the login screen, click on your name, not on root, enter the password you set for yourself and login.

We are now at our desktop, there's still a bit of work to do before the machine is completely useable and the first thing we have to do here is install all the latest updates. Due to a change in the locations of where the updates were located, we have to run some command line stuff at the moment, it's not that hard so don't worry.

Click on "More Applications", "Terminals" and then "Konsole"

This is what you should see, now either type the following line into the terminal session or if you are reading this on the machine with PCLinuxOS installed, highlight it and copy it and then paste it into the terminal screen and press enter.

apt-sources-update.sh -w -s http://distro.ibiblio.org/pclinuxos/synaptic/sources.list 

As long as you are online and if you can copy and paste the above command then you must be, you should see this.

The computer will then download the latest list of servers were updates can be found.

Leave this at it's default.

Then the computer will carry out some tests to see which is the fastest server for you.

Once it's completed, the fastest should be at the top, if it's got ibiblio in the url, then pick a different one and click on OK.

Once more click on OK.

Then click on Yes to install the new configuration file.

This is what you should now see, just make sure that only one repository is selected and click on OK.

Then go to the top left hand corner and click on "Reload"

This will update the list of available packages and updates.

Once it's completed, click on "Mark All Upgrades" and then "Apply" at the top followed by "Apply" on the pop up box, now it's time to go away and make a drink as this could take some time.

Once it's all done, you should see something like this, you can read through all the messages if it makes you happy, otherwise just click on close.

Go for "Yes" here, you can ignore the error messages in the background as most of these are to do with stuff that's just been updated and not running properly till you reboot.

And finally, let's go for a restart to load all the updated packages etc.

You may notice that the shutdown screen has now changed a bit.

And then the machine reboots and you notice that you have upgraded from PCLinuxOS 2010.12 to PCLinuxOS 2011.

The new login screen

The desktop loads.

You can pop a tick in the box and say yes to this

And you're in, but we're not finished yet as we now need to setup the locale and install an office package.

So now let's get on with configuring your computer with the settings for the area you live in, as I live in the UK, I'm going with those options. First off click on Localization Manager.

Enter your root password.

Not much chance of going wrong here, just click OK

"Yes" on this one,

Pick your country from the list and click OK at the bottom.

Once more, your computer goes off and does some stuff, click on "OK" at the bottom once it's finished.

You can either wait or click on OK, it doesn't matter and it doesn't go any quicker.

Once more an "OK" is required.

Followed by another one.

Then off it goes again downloading the revelant files for where you live, once it's all done, click on "Close" at the bottom.

You then have to configure your settings for your keyboard, click OK once you have finished.

Go for a "Yes" here.

Then an "OK"

And now you have to setup your timezone, once this is all done, you may find that the time is displayed incorrectly, don'y worry about this as it will correct itself once you reboot.

if it's not set to GMT, then don't say "Yes".

Once you have done all the time settings, click on "OK"

And then "OK" here, the computer will now reboot and use these settings.

Once you have restarted and have logged back in you just need to confirm all the settings are correct, you start by clicking "OK" here.

And a final "OK" and you are now sorted and ready to start installing some apps.

Now let's go and install an Office package and then we can add another repository to make some better games available, so first click on LibreOffice Manager.

Enter your root password.

Select the language you want and click on "Ok".

Then a "Yes"

Followed by this, once this has finished click on "Close".

Then a bit more downloading and installing.

An "OK" here.

More of this, once again, click on "Close" once it's all done.

And then on OK, that's it, LibreOffice is now installed on your machine and is ready to go.

But now, how about getting some games so we can have a bit of fun. Click on the Synaptic Package Manager icon on the task bar.

Enter your root password.

This should open up the package manager, once it has click on "Settings" and then "Repositories".

Then click on "New".

And now you need to enter the followin information into the boxes shown below.

URI: http://distro.ibiblio.org/pclinuxos/megagames/apt/
Distribution: pclinuxos/2010
Sections: megagames

This is how it should look once you've put the information in, once completed, click on "Ok".

And then "Close"

Then click on "Reload" at the top.

And you should now find some better games listed such as "Open Arena, Flight Gear and others. Go ahead and install some and have a bit of fun.