Mandrake Linux 9.0 Beta 1

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Posted by michael on Tuesday July 23, 2002 @05:20AM from the keep-both-pieces-when-it-breaks dept.

leviramsey writes "MandrakeSoft has released the first beta of the next version of its distribution. It features XFree86 4.2, KDE 3.0, GNOME 2.0, and is compiled with gcc-3.1, which (alas) makes it incompatible with a fair amount of commercial software."

9 of 475 comments (clear)

A Mandrake fan cries... by mikehunt · 2002-07-23 05:26 · Score: 2, Funny

Just as I am about to go on holiday without a single computer in sight, Mandrake release a new beta.

How can they do this to me?!!!
1. Re:A Mandrake fan cries... by ShavenYak · 2002-07-23 05:52 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Hey, don't worry about it. Thanks to the /. effect, you wouldn't be able to download it until you got back anyway.
  
  --
  
  Hey kids, there's only 5 days left 'til Yak Shaving Day!
This is good stuff by mblase · 2002-07-23 05:37 · Score: 2, Funny

Okay, let me be clear from the beginning: I'm not a Linux user. I've only got so much computer hardware, and most of it is old Macintoshes with puny hard drives. I now have Mac OS X on my newest machine, and if I ever get the urge to start tinkering with UNIX goodies that's where I'll begin.

So I don't own, or use, Linux. But I've resolved to make Mandrake my distro when and if I decide to give it a try.

Not just because Mandrake's got a nearly-current PPC distro to go with their Intel-compatible ones, although that was what got their name to me in the first place. It's because they're packed with features, lots of options, both GNOME and K desktops, and an easy installation. If I were to put a Linux machine in front of my wife or daughter, it would be this one.

And now they've got v9.0 coming out the door. Nice. I know that you can't do everything with Linux that you can with a current Mac or PC; everyone knows that. But it looks like Mandrake covers all the essential bases -- internet, office, customizability, multimedia. I could give a family member this distro and they'd be able to do just about everything they needed.

If there's any Linux that's ready for the consumers, it's this one. Mandrake deserves to be known as the hardest-working distro development company as far as sheer user-friendliness is concerned. I'm glad it's free, but they're clearly worth the money.
1. Re:This is good stuff by Arandir · 2002-07-23 05:55 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Let me get this straight: you don't use Linux, let alone Mandrake, yet you're spouting off on the benefits of Mandrake...
  
  Your stated benefits for Mandrake also apply to several other distros. Did you just not get the time to read the back of their boxes as well? Mandrake might be the best Linux distro for you. But there is no way you can tell until you actually have some experience under your belt.
  
  --
  A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
2. Re:This is good stuff by disappear · 2002-07-23 05:57 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  So I don't own, or use, Linux. But I've resolved to make Mandrake my distro when and if I decide to give it a try.
  Translation: I don't have the slightest idea what I'm talking about. But I've made some decisions.
  they're packed with features, lots of options, both GNOME and K desktops, and an easy installation
  Translation: I can read the website, and this is what it says.
  The fact is, any mainstream general-purpose Linux distribution has both GNOME and KDE, tons of features, and tons of options. While Mandrake's installer is nice, it's not worlds ahead of anybody else's anymore. (OK, it's ahead of Debian's in terms of user-friendliness, but what isn't?) Heck, even the Red Hat's installer is friendly these days.
  
  Nice. I know that you can't do everything with Linux that you can with a current Mac or PC; everyone knows that.
  Translation: I'm a troll. Don't take me seriously.
Re:Where's the love? by ajakk · 2002-07-23 05:37 · Score: 3, Funny

I bet you are one of these people who complain when duplicate stories are posted saying, "The least they could do is run a search on /." Amazingly, when I ran a search for "debian", the first thing I found was the announcement that Woody went gold. There were only 490 comments on the article.

--
Come play Heroes of Might and Magic Mini online.
Re:java by mosch · 2002-07-23 06:02 · Score: 4, Funny

nice link, jackass. FYI, moderators, the link is designed to crash IE.
Re:java by pmz · 2002-07-23 06:27 · Score: 2, Funny

Well, since I am actually a department store mannequin, I see some retarded browsers, who faithfully listen to salesmen, and some not-so-retarded browsers, who reflexively say "I'm just looking". Anyway, I'm glad that they put me near the PC sales rack, so I can post to Slashdot when no one is looking ;)

--
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Re:mirrors by *xpenguin* · 2002-07-23 07:49 · Score: 2, Funny

If you have links in your post, you'll get modded up, even if they're broken or incorrect.