A great experience! I installed from the live disk and had a working system going in no time flat. This must be about the easiest way to get a Debian-stable system onto your machine, ideal for people who use Linux as a work horse and prefer rugged dependability over bleeding edge hype. Better still, the Point Linux gurus smooth over some of Debian's extreme orthodoxy and install some goodies like Firefox and Thunderbird.
The whole system feels well thought out and it's extremely easy to use. Full marks to the Point Linux designers!
A few minor niggles: the Mate desktop feels like a bit of a timewarp to me. It's fine with older "almost square" monitors but with wide-screen models the two horizontal taskbars do eat noticeably into the useable desktop space. Lots of people love still Mate though and anyway, a desktop is just a way to get at your apps. I suppose I could get used to it although for the moment I still prefer the more modern LXDE.
I didn't like the boot splash screen much but then I hate all boot splash screens! Why do Distro producers keep throwing them in? They are an unnecessary obstacle, they keep you from following the boot process and make it just that bit more difficult to pinpoint problems during boot-up. Luckily boot splash screens are easily got rid of!
The Point Linux forums seem a bit quiet. But then there is such a wealth of help and information in the Debian Wikis and forums, maybe that's where many Point Linux users go for their help. Maybe we could all go and liven things up a bit here.
Am I going to recommend Point Linux? Most definitely! Will I stay with it? Certainly, at least for a while
