Slashdot Mirror


Mandrake, SuSE Ready New Releases

Anthony Boyd writes: "At pclinuxonline.com, they are running an uncomfirmed story that Mandrake 8.2 will be released on March 18th. And of course, SuSE Linux 8.0 is going to be released in mid-April. Features for SuSE appear to include KDE 3.0 and a whole lot of games. Features for Mandrake appear to be a super small install and, well, stability. Sounds great to me."

18 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. wow by nomadic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At pclinuxonline.com, they are running an uncomfirmed story that Mandrake 8.2 will be released on March 18th.

    Glad slashdot got the scoop before the Washington Post or the New York Times.

    I'm trying to be funny sarcastic, not mean sarcastic, so nobody get too upset.

    I can see announcing new releases, though I think slashdot goes overboard on that, but announcing RUMORS of a possible release? I mean, you'd think people were waiting for the new mandrake like it was a necessary transplant organ...

    1. Re:wow by Anthony+Boyd · · Score: 4, Informative
      I can see announcing new releases, though I think slashdot goes overboard on that, but announcing RUMORS of a possible release?

      Well, after I submitted the story, I kept hunting around for more info, and found what is probably the origin of the Mandrake 8.2 rumor: a mailing list post by someone at Mandrake. I'm not on the mailing list, but I did find a Usenet discussion about it at Google. I guess the rumor probably has some validity, so Slashdot's probably right on the money at this point. Although, to be honest, I kinda hope it isn't released on Monday -- that Usenet discussion and a few others I've read make it clear that while this release is solid, it's getting rushed out the door, probably because of money issues.

      Hey Mandrake, if you really need money coming in, take pre-orders and spend an extra week to kill off a few extra bugs. I'll buy it & take a charge to my card now, but just deliver on the stability rumor. I'll pay for stability.

  2. Fast and Easy... by guamman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The best feature about Mandrake 8.1 is that it took about half the time to install as Windows 2000 and was probably the easiest install for linux. This may not seem like much for computer geeks (the slashdot crowd), but it is vital for getting linux on more personal desktops. If linux is ever going to survive in its current form, it needs to be a viable competitor with Microsoft. I can only hope that Mandrake 8.2 continues the trend of the other Mandrakes before it.

    1. Re:Fast and Easy... by mir · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I have tried all of Mandrake 8.2 beta and they look pretty good, and extremely easy to install. A couple of days after the ssh bug was found the patched version was included in RC1 and I expect a zlib-bug free version for the official 8.2. This itself makes it a good reason to upgrade (along with the fact that it detected my wireless card nearly-flawlessly on my laptop).

      --
      Look, that's why there's rules, understand? So that you think before you break 'em. (Terry Pratchett)
    2. Re:Fast and Easy... by krogoth · · Score: 3, Funny

      Wrong. Mandrake making an easier installer won't save Linux (but then that's only because it's not in trouble in the first place). It doesn't need to compete with Microsoft; it only needs to attract enough developers to continue advancing, and I see no sign that Microsoft, or even the 10 biggest commercial distributions disapearing (I doubt anything could destroy Debian, any more than anything could destroy Linux) would prevent that.

      --

      They that quote Benjamin Franklin on liberty and safety deserve neither.
    3. Re:Fast and Easy... by extrasolar · · Score: 3, Funny
      If linux is ever going to survive in its current form, it needs to be a viable competitor with Microsoft.

      You almost sound serious about that statement. Mandrake Inc may not survive but they've given power of the software to you and anyone else who uses it by distributing and writing Free Software*. The Operating System is Free. It has no choice but to survive.

      * My regards to the former users of BeOS, may he rest in peace

  3. Re:Speaking of games... by JPriest · · Score: 4, Informative

    Mandrake has a Gaming Edition for about 70$ + S&H that comes with the sims and a 90 day subscribtion to Transgaming I'd buy it but I'm waiting on 8.2. There is also a version of Counter Strike ported to linux.

    --
    Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
  4. Re:Why now? by xcomputer_man · · Score: 3, Informative

    There is a reason why MandrakeSoft chose not to wait for KDE 3 and GNOME 2: stability. One of the primary reasons why Mandrake 8.2 is being released is to provide a more mature, refined and stable distribution than its immediate predecessors. And I'll say it does pretty well at that. Bleeding edge software like KDE 3 and GNOME 2 that will most certainly have a couple of significant bugs at their initial release will wait until the next major version number change, most likely (perhaps you want to wait for Mandrake 9.0 instead).

  5. Re:Mandrake makes less money that way by aminorex · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In the near-term, yes. But if the distributors
    don't see demand for the boxes, they won't put
    them on the shelves. If they aren't on the shelves,
    Mandrake loses potential new customers.

    On the other hand, if retail sales aren't doing the
    trick now, why should they ever? If they can't
    we're all better off with a pledge-drive model just
    like PBS.

    --
    -I like my women like I like my tea: green-
  6. Re:Why now? by LinuxGeek8 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A lot of applications that run on kde2 are not yet ported to kde3. It is nice to have a newer release of kde, but the major improvements are maybe just a better khtml and kjs, and maybe it is a bit faster.
    But you want to run your applications too.

    I believe you cannot run kde2 and kde3 apps at the same time. Here it complained that dcopserver was already running, and after killing kde2 processes kde3 apps woud start.

    But if you want kde3, you have to wait for the final release of kde3. It will then be packaged for Mandrake 8.2 and I believe also for 8.0 and 8.1, and it will be available as a download.

    For Gnome2; I do not know much about it, but it might still be a release for developers. And most gnome developers will run gnome from cvs I assume. Most gnome apps run fine on Gnome 1.4

    --
    Well, don't worry about that. We can get you back before you leave. (Dr. Who)
  7. Mandrake 8.2 release date confirmed... by LiteForce · · Score: 4, Informative
    Provided there are no showstoppers!

    List: mandrake-cooker
    Subject: [Cooker] 8.2
    From: Warly <warly@mandrakesoft.com>
    Date: 2002-03-15 18:07:56
    [Download message RAW]

    I am in the process of building the final 8.2 isos.

    These isos will be tested this week-end, and released on Monday if OK.

    As a consequence if you find some free minutes this week-end and test all the uploads that have been done today, and report any regression, that would be quite a great help.

    --
    Warly

    The original can be found here.

    --
    "Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wuntime ewwors!" - Elmer Fudd
  8. PPC, Alpha, [346]86 versions of Mandrake 8.2 by leonbrooks · · Score: 4, Informative
    I hope they aren't also claiming that the PowerPC release is ready... I tried it recently, and while promising, it has some show-stopper bugs.

    It's not. It went into beta some weeks after the x86 version. I guess they're planning an 8.2-for-Alpha as well, since there is currently an Alpha Cooker around.

    If you want a version `optimised' for 386, 486, P3, P4 or Athlon, one of the things Mandrake carefully checked during this Cooker cycle was that Athlon optimisations worked properly, when selected. There is also a new package, rpm-rebuild, which will rebuild the entire distribution from source in one go.

    They also timed the release rather well, fielding and dealing with the PHP, OpenSSH and zlib bugs in the 11th hour. It should be one of their best releases, BoC I'm no prophet: only time will tell.

    --
    Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
  9. Chalk and cheese by leonbrooks · · Score: 3, Insightful
    SuSE seems happier on a more proprietary road, and some things like their X drivers occasionally shine for this approach. Mandrake is - as far as is reasonably possible - totally GPLed, and their whole spirit is different. You couldn't mix the two and get an enviable result.

    I believe you could mix Mandrake and Debian (urpmi, at heart, doesn't care whether it's based on RPM or PKG), or SuSE and Caldera (for a distro that knows Novell and displays well), and get a much better outcome.

    --
    Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
    1. Re:Chalk and cheese by Elbereth · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Mandrake is leaning more and more towards proprietary software. Just look at their "donation" situation. When you go to download the latest Mandrake, the two choices are

      I have already donated
      I promise to donate

      There is no "No thanks, I choose not to donate" link. In effect, you are making a promise to Mandrake that you will donate.

      I myself was a little annoyed by this.

      When was the last time Mandrake donated money to me for writing software, finding bugs, or solving technical problems for their users? Never. But I'm supposed to donate to them, because a for-profit company is faultering? I think not.

      The whole nature of a company is to make profit. If they can not do that, then perhaps they need to think twice about starting business ventures.

      I'd rather donate to a Linux programmer like Linus Torvalds or Alan Cox than to a for-profit corporation.

    2. Re:Chalk and cheese by rseuhs · · Score: 3, Interesting
      SuSE seems happier on a more proprietary road, and some things like their X drivers occasionally shine for this approach.

      Huh?

      SuSE never released any proprietary X drivers.

      The only thing SuSE develops that is not under the GPL is YaST and SaX, configuartion tools. Those are put under the YaST license which is identical to the GPL with the exception that you are not allowed to sell it for money (giving away is OK, modifying is OK, source-code is available, installing on one gazillion machines is OK)

  10. Competitor, schmetitor by leonbrooks · · Score: 4, Interesting
    If linux is ever going to survive in its current form, it needs to be a viable competitor with Microsoft.

    1. no matter what you do, Linux will not survive in it's current form, and that's a good thing. Linux is a living, growing beastie. It has no current form, at least not for more than a week.

    2. Linux doesn't need or want to compete with Microsoft, certainly not head on. If you focus on beating your competitors, the best you can possibly do is slightly better than them, and who wants to aim so low?

    3. What Linux wants to do is its own thing, and do it so well that Microsoft will die of natural causes. IRL, Linux doesn't care about Microsoft all that much. Linux will continue press on without publicity, without major funding, without lawyers, without distributors as such. That's how Linux was born, that's how Linux will live, and when its turn comes, that's how Linux will die.

    --
    Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
  11. Re:Pensacola by bero-rh · · Score: 3, Informative

    No. Pensacola has nothing whatsoever to do with the next release of Red Hat Linux.
    It's a beta of the enterprise edition of Red Hat Linux 7.2, tuned for high-end hardware and high load.
    It's not what you typically want on your home box.

    As for the next version, a beta will be released when it's ready. We don't preannounce releases.

    --
    This message is provided under the terms outlined at http://www.bero.org/terms.html
  12. Re:Red Hat beta - Pensacola by bero-rh · · Score: 4, Informative

    Please note that Pensacola is NOT a beta of the upcoming release of Red Hat Linux. It's a beta of the Red Hat Linux 7.2-based Enterprise product, tuned for high-end hardware and high load. It's not what you want to try on your home box and won't install on anything smaller than an i686.

    A beta of the upcoming release of Red Hat Linux will be released when it's ready (we don't preannounce releases).

    --
    This message is provided under the terms outlined at http://www.bero.org/terms.html