The latest version PCLinuxOS MATE has arrived rather fortuitously

Apr 15, 2014 19:01 GMT  ·  By

PCLinuxOS MATE 2014.04, a free Linux and MATE-based operating system for desktops or laptops, has been released and is now available for download.

PCLinuxOS devs have kept themselves very busy and managed to upgrade all of their distributions. It's mostly about updates for the various included packages, but there are also some new features.

Now that the support period for Windows XP has been officially terminated by Microsoft (unless you have paid a ridiculous amount of money to keep it going), people look at Linux as a platform that can absorb some of the users that really want to give up on Windows.

Some propositions have been made, like Lubuntu, Linux Mint based on MATE, or even Zorin OS, but there are a number of other operating systems out there capable of providing Windows XP users with a similar experience. It may not be exactly the same with the OS provided by Microsoft, but PCLinuxOS MATE 2014.04 gets really close, especially because it follows the same desktop paradigm.

“The MATE Desktop: a popular, multi-platform desktop environment for your computer. MATE’s focus is ease of use, stability, and provides all the common tools computer users expect from a modern computing environment.”

“This release contains all of the standard Mate applications plus the latest versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, Skype, Pidgin, Great Little Radio Player, VLC, Clementine, Vokoscreen Recorder and more! 12,000 additional programs available from our Synaptic Software Manager after installation to your computer,” reads the official announcement.

As you can clearly see, the distribution is packed with very familiar applications that work and behave exactly as they would on Windows XP. In fact, most of the main applications that users find on the Windows platform can also be found in PCLinuxOS MATE 2014.04 and other Linux OSes.

The distribution is also based on Linux kernel 3.12.16, which is actually a long-term support version and updates will be provided for quite some time, and the latest version of MATE1.8.x. Users will also find the NVIDIA and AMD proprietary drivers installed by default, the LibreOffice suite, comprehensive wireless support, improved multimedia support, and much more.

The hardware system requirements are also quite low, which could be very helpful if you are running away from Windows XP. You will need a fairly new Intel or AMD processor, 512 MB of RAM, 3 GB of HDD space, and an NVIDIA, ATI, or Intel GPU that supports 3D.

More details about this Linux distribution can be found in the official changelog. You can download PCLinuxOS MATE 2014.04 right now from Softpedia.