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Mandrake 8.1 Beta1 (Raklet) Released
keegnotrub writes: "Mandrake just dumped 8.1 Beta on their servers. Along with updated software (KDE 2.2, kernel 2.4.8, etc) they have reworked their control center to include many new features." Word to the wise: there are some reactions to this beta -- as well as a list of known bugs and fixes -- at mandrakeforum.com. What I'd like to know is if a Wacom Intuos USB tablet will work out-of-the-box on 8.1, since I just bought a refurbed one ;)
ARGH!!!...if you check out the Mandrake site they have a link of their homepage showing how 8.1 is alot like windows XP. Is it a good thing that a Microsoft OS and a Linux OS have so much in common?
Best of all, Mandrake truly does have a great setup procedure. For example, name one other distro in which you can easily setup ReiserFS, JFS, ext3, and ext2 filesystems during the installation. And afterwards, you have such tools as the Software Update utility, which is a decent way to keep up with security updates. And don't forget the custom user, printer, and other management utilities.
I know many people call Mandrake a newbie distro, but who said that having an easy to use distro is a bad thing? Plus, even though it's "easy to use", I can still setup and configure it however I want. Mandrake seems to be getting better and better, and I wouldn't be suprised to see it take over as the Desktop distro for both newbies and experts alike.
Remember, with devfs /dev/hdxx don't exist until the defsd program is run. Setting up linux to boot from /dev/hda1 will cause it to fail because /dev/hda1 doesn't exist. Also, you can download and run MAKEDEV without any problems to convert to non devfsd. I have yet to see a single device that doesn't work (Not that they are not out there mind you..) ReiserFS has no problems what so ever with devfs as long as you select the right partition (not /dev/hdxx!) its usually /dev/discs/disc0/part0 or something like that (I am at work so I can not verify). the /dev/hda1 link is acually created by the devfsd. =) Read the devfs how-to before starting and you usually have no problems whatsoever.
New Mandrake releases are like nose-candy for newbies. I've been hooked for a while now. I love Slack, and Debian is where its at. But I still love to get my hands on the latest ML releases just to see what new things they put in the distro. But it makes ya lazy, everything(generally) works right out of the box.(Some might consider that a feature;) Mandrake Forum seems to be turning into a little community. Kudos particularly to Deno for that site. There's lots of nuggets to ferret out of that site if you have problems.
Drop me a line at:
Key ID: 0x54D1D809
Once the few bugs get worked out - The whole Mandrake 8.1 sytem is really a Windows desktop replacement. I'm really excited to wipe out a secratary's Windows computer, replace it with Mandrake and watch what happens. My hunch is, after explaining to her that the Start button is now a "K" - and MS.Word is now called KWord, then she will turn to me and say "OK." And proceed to work as if nothing has happened. After a few hours , I bet she'll say :
"Wow, this new version of Windows sure has a lot of cool card games, Thanks!"
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
I suspect MandrakeForum is using the Mandrake PostgreSQL RPMs. They're built with a (default) 32 connection limit.
/home/www/mandrakeforum.com/html/mainfile.php on line 24
Warning: Too many connections in
Unable to select database
- James
That's the developers decision. The vast majority of people who use Mandrake aren't developers. They have no intention of making any code modifications. Probably never will look at source.
Freedom is about letting developers decide how they want to license their works in a way in which everyone can use them. And if developers don't care if someone like Microsoft uses their work without compensation, then let them.
Keeping their work from the world is merely because you as a developer wouldn't want to give up that right is silly. I can understand you not wanting to work on that code. But nobody is forcing you to make any changes.
So frankly this whole BSD license is bad has nothing to do with freedom but everything with RMS not liking anything he didn't invent.
It's never really worked, and it doesn't work with half of the drivers currently out there
Then that's the fault of the drivers. What is broken is not being able to consistently address hot pluggable hardware, and almost every other Unix has a DevFS-like system (at least Solaris, OSX, and FreebSD IIRC) they seem to have a fairly proven track record or working in a real world environment.
1. RMS talks about Free Software, not Open Source
2. ESR talks about Open Source.
3. 98% of the packages included with Red Hat are Open Source. Netscape 4 (the main non Open Source one) won't be included in the next release. Pine is still there, IIRC.
4. Mandrake was derives from Red Hat (2 words). Not Red Hat from Mandrake. Tho it harly matters, Mandrake's now quite distinct from Red Hat.
5. Free Software has a specific meaning. Freedom is an english world which also a well defined meaning and which is not exclusively to do with Free Softare. People use the BSD license precisely because is allows large corporattions (and small corporations, and small proprietary limited companies) the freedom to use the software as they see fit.
And no, I don't use BSD or particularly like the BSD license. But they're my own personal opinions and I present them as such, not as `facts'.
I can't believe this got modded-up, it's an out and out troll, but I feel the obligation to respond.
>Well, the BSD licence forces you to release your
>code to the likes of microsoft who can take it,
>and use it for whatever they like, without
>merging the changes back.
Umm, no. The BSD license doesn't force you to do much of anything. You take the code, do whatever the hell you like with it - modify, sell, relicense to your heart's content, etc. and release whatever you please. If that means making changes, forking, and re-releasing under the GPL, so be it. Or taking and releasing in binary format. Whatever, so long as you maintain the copyright notice.
It gets me off to see GPL bigots talk about the GPL being more free than than the BSD license. Nope, it ain't - and I release my code under the GPL. Things start out in a state of freedom - one that allows total freedom of action or motion and by applying restrictions, suprise suprise, you move into a state of less freedom.
Whether that freedom is viewed in a positive or negative context, is irrelevant. By your argument, by making drugs illegal, we end up with a society that has "freedom from drugs" (ignore your stand on the War on Drugs here) or some such tripe. It may be a more desirable societal condition, but when you apply rules, you don't have 'more' freedom. It's just a moniker used by politicians to remove opposition by it look like rights are being expanded when in reality absolute freedom is being impinged on.
FWIW, most people who release code under the BSD license are quite aware what the freedom of the license implies. It may suprise a bigot like you, but sometimes people want to allow others to take and modify code without restriction. Some of them are even pleased if their code is useful to a corporation like Microsoft. The BSD license tends to maximize code use, the GPL code return.
For some reason FSF people seem to feel a need to make everything free and force it on everyone, willing or not. I don't agree with this, code is the property of the author, and it's up to him/her to decide what sorts of use and license should be allowed - BSD, GPL, or proprietary. Personally, I hate proprietary software and use vary little of it. I don't support proprietary software (outside of games) with my dollars, but I sure as hell don't campaign to put commercial software houses out of business. The right to my discretion as to how I license my code is a far more important right than how I choose to exercise it. Now respect the damn software authors choice.
I have learned over the years that quality components make ALL the difference in the Wintel hardware world.
This is EXACTLY correct, and very important. Often cheaper components are being sold cheaply because they are somehow incompatible.
Save yourself grief. Buy the best hardware. Buy Intel motherboards with Intel processors, for example. The easy install with Mandrake 8.0 (two comments above) was with an Iwill motherboard and a Pentium 200 processor. At the time the system was bought, these were conservative choices for hardware.
I own a small computer dealership, and could have chosen any hardware on which to test Mandrake, but I wanted to see if the reports were correct. Is Linux fast on less powerful machines? It is.
The big hardware manufacturers want new software to be slow, because that causes customers to buy more expensive machines. Linux doesn't have this conflict of interest. It runs fast everywhere.
Good-quality hardware helps you avoid problems caused by a BIOS or OS programmer not coding for your particular hardware.
Once a friend bought a sound card for $12 from Fry's, back when sound cards were expensive. After several hours, we decided we would never be able to get it to work. That was the most expensive sound card I've ever touched.
Bush's education improvements were