PCLinuxOS, often shortened to PCLOS, is a rolling release Linux distribution for x86-64 computers, with KDE Plasma, MATE, and XFCE as its default user interfaces.

In an interview, Texstar said he started PCLinuxOS "to provide an outlet for [his] crazy desire to package source code without having to deal with egos, arrogance, and politics.

Working closely with the Live CD Project, Texstar has since developed that fork independently into a full-fledged distribution.

[4][5] Remasters of PCLinuxOS, featuring the Xfce (Phoenix), LXDE (PCLinuxOS-LXDE), and Gnome (PCLinuxOS-Gnome) desktops were also made available.

If there is enough memory on the machine, and an active network connection, the Live CD can update packages.

PCLinuxOS is also designed to be easy to remaster after installation, creating one's personalized Live CD, using the mylivecd tool.

PCLinuxOS maintains its software repository, available via the Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) and its Synaptic front-end, completely replacing Mandriva's urpmi.

This means that an installation could be continuously updated to the latest versions of packages, hence sometimes forgoing the need to re-install the entire distribution upon each successive release.

[21] As a result, 32-bit ISOs of the distribution, official 32-bit package updates, and forum support became unavailable.

While this doesn't prevent unofficial support, following the announcement only 64-bit ISO images and package updates are available through the official webpage and channels.

"Big Daddy", on the other hand, comes with many programs pre-installed, including, but not limited to multimedia codecs and office software.