Pixel Linux

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Last night I booted a computer with Pixel Linux:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/pixel-pc-mac/

Pixel Linux is the PC version of the distro that comes with a Raspberry Pi device. Currently you can only run it as Linux Live; you can’t install it on your hard drive.

I didn’t have much time to fiddle around with it, but here are my initial thoughts:

* It is FAST! It feels extremely lightweight. In fact, they state on the website that it is designed to run on very old computers, so that these old computers can still be used rather than disposed of. This is a huge plus, in my opinion.

* It is being actively developed by the same people who are developing Linux for the Raspberry Pi, a very popular device.

* It is more geeky than other distros I have tried. When you go to the Install Software section, there are literally thousands of items listed. So many, that it’s hard to sort through to get what you want. And many of these items have geeky names. If you are a geek, you will really love Pixel Linux for this reason. But if you are not a geek, you will be frustrated at all of the unintelligible clutter.

* The interface is very clean and uncluttered. Did I mention that it is FAST?

* I wanted the clock to be displayed in something other than 24-hour format. But when I went to the config screen, there were no instructions. And the format window had “%R” or something like that. I have no idea what %R means, nor what I should change it to. Other config options were hard to find.

* Pixel Linux feels very stable and bug-free.

Pixel Linux is a little bit too geeky for me. But the fact that it is very lightweight may make it a good candidate for running on my old eMachines computer. I bought a new flash drive yesterday; maybe this one will work for Linux Live (I’ve encountered three bad flash drives lately!) I’m sure I could get used to it with just a little effort.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Elly, HiFlyer

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Good info!

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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Elly, HiFlyer

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My old Windows 98 laptop, which I found in storage, is a Compaq Armada 4131T. It still works! It has a serial mouse (remember those?), 80 MB of RAM and a 4 GB hard drive! It has WordStar for Windows 2.0!

It has no CD drive and no USB ports, but it does have two PCMCIA slots. So I ordered this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/253680449949

It is a PCMCIA card which provides two USB2 ports. I paid $6.50 for the card, and shipping was free.

When I get the PCMCIA card, I’ll see if I can run Linux Live (Pixel Linux) off of my flash drive; and I’ll see if I can run a USB wifi adapter or a USB Ethernet adapter in the other USB port.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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I have been running Pixel Linux as Linux Live from a flash drive on my eMachines W5243 computer (old, 2 GB, AMD64).

On the positive side, it is FAST. And everything feels very solid. But there are a few issues:
1. Sometimes the system crashes, requiring a reboot.
2. Often my mouse will quit working. My keyboard still works in these cases.
3. So far I haven’t been able to access my shared drive. I can get to it, but when I click on it, it tells me that it can’t mount it because I don’t have permission. But I can’t find anywhere to put my login credentials.
4. I haven’t been able to find where to set the clock (it is apparently showing UCT time, not my correct time zone.)

If I could at least solve the crash problem and the mouse problem, I would really like Pixel Linux on this computer, because it is FAST and it has a really solid feel to it.

So far, there is no way to install and run it from the hard drive. I tried using the DD command to make the hard drive a bootable disk from an ISO. The only thing that command did was eliminate Elementary OS off of the hard drive!

I’ll likely keep running Pixel off of the flash drive; and I’ll try it in other computers, to see how it works in them.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

1 user thanked author for this post.

Elly

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