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Mandrake Linux 9.1 (Bamboo) Is Available!

Not to load you up with Mandrake, but joestar writes "Mandrake Linux 9.1 (Bamboo) is now officially available at a number of FTP mirrors. This version appears to be a key release for MandrakeSoft and includes many new features such as a new simplified installation procedure, ZeroConf network support, Wi-Fi support, NTFS partition resizing and a brand-new... MandrakeGalaxy theme. It's very beautiful and the whole thing has apparently very few bugs, which is a good news. A full presentation is available at Mandrake's website, download is available from their FTP page as usual. As I see it, it's certainly the most important Mandrake release since version 7.0..." Update: 03/25 21:44 GMT by T : And if you like the distro, you can do both yourself and Mandrake a favor by ordering box sets straight from them, or joining Mandrake's Club.

59 of 505 comments (clear)

  1. Available? by Matey-O · · Score: 2, Funny

    'available' might be stretching things a bit.

    --
    "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
    1. Re:Available? by jdkincad · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, the French server I'm downloading things from seems to be surrendering a lot.

      --
      The great advantage of having a reputation for being stupid: People are less suspicious of you.
    2. Re:Available? by IdleTime · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yawwwwnnnnn....

      Mandrake is a great newbie distribution.
      I just read the review over at OSNews and one thing that bothers me a bit is that Mandrake seems to be just as bad as Windows wwhen it comes to loading all kinds of unecessary services. Eugenia said that the startup time was horrible due to all the services that gets started. I know it can be turned off, but how many people actually do that (except for you geeks, of course).

      Personally, I'll continue to enjoy my optimized Gentoo box, only running the services that I decide is necessary.

      Happy Linux'ing...

      --
      If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
  2. 3:25pm EST not available by edgarde · · Score: 2, Informative

    Release Candidate 2 is being served from most of these servers.

  3. As much as we all like freeloading by Neophytus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I would encourage you all to buy the CD Set to support continuing development of this distrobution. Mandrake have been having problems recently, and every purchase counts :)

    1. Re:As much as we all like freeloading by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The problem is, by the time the CD actually ships, Mandrake will be testing 9.2!

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    2. Re:As much as we all like freeloading by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Paid in full when they helped us fight the Brits to begin with. Ignorant parrot.

    3. Re:As much as we all like freeloading by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Considering the small number of people that actually voted for Bush when compared to total number of people in the country... I would consider it very stupid to blame *all* American citizens for the actions of the goof ball in office.

      Same goes for citizens of any other government. Last I checked... the French gov't didn't "take a vote" about the matter to see how the citizens felt... and, even if they did... It is unlikely everyone voted the same.

      So... stop being so stupid. You have absolutely no idea how Mandrake (the company) feels about the issue... and they (the company) don't represent the individual employees.

      My point being that very few people in this world have one bit of say what their "representatives" do or say in the large. You don't have a say, not if you are in the US... George has already said that he isn't taking a poll... he doesn't give a damn what you think or want.

      Any alignment between your wants and desires and his are pure fucking coincidence... and the sooner everyone realized that... the better.

      And while I'm on a roll...

      To all those "Americans" that have a problem with war protesters... It is a free country.

      Don't like it?

      Leave.

      Companies should be companies. Governments should be governments. And never the two should meet...

    4. Re:As much as we all like freeloading by Xerithane · · Score: 2, Insightful

      To all those "Americans" that have a problem with war protesters... It is a free country.

      You are right.

      It is a free country. I have a right to drive home from work without being stuck in a traffic jam because some assholes are blocking traffic because they believe their message is more important. I have a right to not worry about my car getting vandalized and spit on while I'm driving, because I happened to get stuck in your un-announced, infantile protests.

      You do not have a right to stop me on my travels, no more than I have a right to hit you in the face for it.

      If you want to protest, you do it right. You don't block traffic, you don't assault cops, you don't throw things at people and buildings.

      You are abusing what is the right of assembly, because what is happening is not peaceful assembly.

      How would you like it if everytime you got in your car a message played for something you don't agree with that you couldn't turn down or turn off. How is that right.

      Read my journal for more ranting about this subject, until then Fuck the protestors.

      --
      Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
  4. You're not Miguel de Icaza by Frothy+Walrus · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...and I know this because the real Miguel is two doors down from me, and I know his real Slashdot ID.

    --Nathaniel Friedman
    CEO, Ximian Inc.

  5. Another interesting link about Mandrake 9.1... by joestar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Duval was interviewed today at Tweakhound.com about this new release and other MandrakeSoft projects:
    http://www.tweakhound.com/mdk9/articles/mdk9_1inte rview.htm


    What do you see as Mandrake's advantage over other Linux distributions?

    Firstly Mandrake is certainly one of the most innovative Linux distribution. It also offers unique features such as supermount or the dynamic-device desktop. The hardware support is also one of the best available on the Linux distribution market so far. Internationalization is also a key-point because only 40% of our users speak English.

    Worth a read!

  6. Big friggin' whoop.... by Howard+Beale · · Score: 3, Funny

    it's not like it's a new release of Debian. Now THAT'S something to get excited about!

  7. ISO images by DavidLeblond · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I can't get to the servers. Does anyone know if they're still using the 700 mb ISOs? My ghetto CD burner chokes after about 670mb.

    1. Re:ISO images by bobibleyboo · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nope 9.1 is back to 650 mb cd images for this verry reason

  8. Few bugs... who could possibly say? by foolip · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ...the whole thing has apparently very few bugs, which is a good news.

    This is a really strange statement. How can you know that there are few bugs when it has just been released? Of course the people who made it wouldn't have released it if they knew there were a lot of bugs, but making the connection to few bugs is... well unfounded. For a system like Debian woody with a 2.2 kernel you can probably safely talk about very few bugs, since it's been out and about and tested for very long.

    1. Re:Few bugs... who could possibly say? by slux · · Score: 2, Informative

      Eh, 2.4 has been out a long time too but the kernel isn't the only piece of software that can be buggy in a distribution. Saying that there are few bugs is based on trying the release candidates and staying up to date with cooker before the release. In 9.1 most things really work and they do it well. That cannot be said for all Mandrake releases in the past. 9.0 had some issues for example, the worst of them being that supermount was broken. Having used all the release candidates and the final from cooker I can say that 9.1 has less bugs than 9.0 or 8.1 for example. I'd say it seems to be of the same high quality that 8.2 was. Definitely the best Mandrake release I've used.

    2. Re:Few bugs... who could possibly say? by Thing+1 · · Score: 3, Informative
      I just looked in BugZilla and doing a query on all the UNCONFIRMED, NEW, NEEDINFO, ASSIGNED, and REOPENED (ignoring the RESOLVED, VERIFIED and CLOSED bugs), there are 1459 bugs.

      Now, I haven't followed this closely so I don't know if that's a little or a lot. I do remember that one version of Windows (2000? XP?) had over 64K bugs when it was released, so compared to that it's an order of magnitude and a half better. But I don't know how bad each bug is in either case, either, so this isn't much of a comparison.

      (Btw, the total of the three I ignored is 1848, so about half the reported bugs have been fixed. Again, no data on the severity of the fixed vs. open bugs...)

      --
      I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
  9. -1 Troll is moderator abuse by EvilAlien · · Score: 2, Informative
    This is not a troll. Please try not to mod comments down due to jealousy or being asleep at the wheel.

    Mandrake put up a release notice on their site over 2.5 hours ago, and the mirrors list has been dynamically updated as access and load changed. The German mirror (ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de) is no longer listed and accepting connections, however I was able to pull the three disks down at about 360 kB/s average. ftp://linux.ups-tlse.fr/Mandrake/iso/ was also fairly rapid, but was overloaded before the Esslingen server was.

    There are currently no North American servers listed for the i586 ISOs, many still carry the RC images however.

    --
    perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
  10. I'm running it now by lpret · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I downloaded it all night, and now it's installed and very happy. This is perhaps the easiest version (much less distro) of Mandrake I've used. Some key things that jumped out at me:
    • Better auto-configuration at installation. It was able to detect everything perfectly -- down to model number. This is a definite change from 9.0 in which I had to configure my printer, scanner, and sound card.

    • !--Note, I read the earlier review at OSnews and our good friend Eugenia was discussing an issue in which it didn't detect the right sound card (it found the Audigy instead of emu10k), well, I have the same card as her, and it found it fine and it sounds great. --!
    • It's a much cleaner look. Blame it on the widgets, but it is a much better look and something that will definitely help it as it matures.
    • Better support for my GeForce4. I was unable to get any decent gameplay under 9.0, but in 9.1 it runs great, divx plays smooth, and I'm once again happy.
    • Easy installation. This is a non-issue for most of us, but I am now able to recommend my grandmother to install this on her own. It really is that simple.
    These are the first things I can think of, I've had it running for a total of 12 minutes (and I'm already back on slashdot!) so there may be some other issues I've yet to come across.
    --
    This is my digital signature. 10011011001
    1. Re:I'm running it now by Mr.+McGibby · · Score: 2, Funny

      maybe you should read your post. Sounds like you made quite a bit more of an effort than the parent. That's a lot of trouble to go through for a mandrake user.

      --
      Mad Software: Rantings on Developing So
  11. It's days like this... by MarvinMouse · · Score: 3, Funny

    That I am very glad I get that 20 minutes warning with my subscription.

    I got most of the download done before the slashdot crowd reduced by speed considerably.

    --
    ~ kjrose
  12. Re:NTFS partition resizing? by Cheesy+Fool · · Score: 2, Insightful
    --

    Hail to the king, baby!
  13. Not resizing NTFS, only FAT by davebarz · · Score: 3, Informative


    Actually, the Mandrake website says the new version supports "Re-sizing of Windows FAT partitions" but that NTFS support is strictly read-only, which sucks. You got my hopes up there for a while.

    1. Re:Not resizing NTFS, only FAT by nacs · · Score: 5, Informative

      Not true. For file access within Mandrake, NTFS support has always been read only as writing is currently experimental and dangerous.

      However, NTFS resizing is supported by Mandrake as the sourceforge NTFS team found a way to resize NTFS partitions safely.

      --
      "I filter at +6, and have yet to miss out on an important comment." (#822545)
    2. Re:Not resizing NTFS, only FAT by fobbman · · Score: 3, Informative

      If you would have followed the story link you would have seen it say, specifically, "NTFS partition resizing" under Technical Improvements.

  14. Huh? by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I thought they were going to limit the release to Mandrake Club subscribers to start with, and only make FTP access available much later. What happened to that idea?

  15. I2 Mirror by pirodude · · Score: 2, Informative

    Anyone on I2 can get them from here:
    http://mandrake.dsi.internet2.edu/

    I'm currently grabbing all 3 ISO's at 350k/sec.

  16. Ohhh pretty ZeroConf by ihatewinXP · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Im glad to see a linux distributor hyping the zeroconf protocol. It has always seemed to be a perfect match for me. here is an underlying protocol that when coupled with a _good_ gui install makes a very compelling product from an ease of use standpoint (let alone cost). Having Apple as a cheerleader will help as well, and already compaines like HP and TIVO are including zeroconf support. Imagine it, TIVO could work easier on a linux box than a comprable PC....Just a possibility. Another possibility that I hardly dare mention was a rumor that people (Apple) were working on local ZeroConf networks that offloaded intensive tasks to idle processors - Rendezvous/ZeroConf may a long (paradigm breaking) life ahead of it, its up to the imagination of the developers.

    --
    ---- The real Slashdot is still here. You just have to browse at -1 to read the comments.
  17. Re:mirrors beautiful mirrors by Rinikusu · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One of the things I rarely see on KazAa or eMule are linux .iso's. If anything, here's a perfect example of a potential legitimate usage for P2P.

    --
    If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
  18. Re:PLEASE BOYCOTT MANDRAKE by dolson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And to not purchase it, you are stabbing one of the major Linux distro makers in the back. Mandrake has absolutely NO control over the actions of the government, just as I have no control over my government. I voted for the Alliance party, but they didn't get in because of the other people in my country... Mandrake has nothing to do with politics, and to draw that relationship is very immature and stupid.

  19. Re:Fukt Gnome menus by fcrozat · · Score: 3, Informative

    We are not IGNORING GNOME menu layout..

    It simply doesn't fit our needs (and we have the same objections for KDE menu layout)..

    And if you don't like Mandrake menu layout, run menudrake and choose "Original menu style" in Menu Style dialog.. You'll have to create a new foot menu on your panel, due to limitation in gnome-panel..

  20. Re:No, fuck them! by rutledjw · · Score: 3, Interesting
    It's not whining, you jerk. It's supporting something that has value. _IF_ you value the work they are doing, buy the CDs! Because if you don't support them, Mandrake will go from a Chapter-11 type status to GONE.

    Then where will you be? Whining that RedHat doesn't offer free downloads. Sheeesh...

    I use Slackware and I support em! They don't even sell CDs, but I think they do good work and I want them to stay around, so... Otherwise, I'll end up whining that RedHat (Or SuSE, or whomever) doesn't offer free downloads any longer.

    It's not expensive and it's worthwhile.

    --

    Computer Science is Applied Philosophy
  21. Re:Fukt Gnome menus by matthewn · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you run MenuDrake, you can tell the system to use the standard Gnome menus. The change takes effect on next login.

  22. Re:A little history on Mandrake by Jimithing+DMB · · Score: 2, Funny

    No no no, isn't that "Freedom company?" Like "Fredom Fries" and "Freedom Toast?"

    I'll tell ya, we sure have some stupid congressmen in our country.

  23. kernel 2.4.21??? by nite_warrior · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I dunno if anybody else noticed that on the presnetation it states:

    Kernel 2.4.21

    but kernel.org has the latest stable version 2.4.20

    Is this just a typo or they have released a "stable" release using an untested kernel???

    1. Re:kernel 2.4.21??? by otis+wildflower · · Score: 2, Interesting

      AFAICR they're supporting _their_ patched version of 2.4.21, and will probably just provide the final 2.4.21 binary kernel rpms later on.

      Frankly, I don't mind at all, though only in the case of desktops. I run a 2.4.21pre5ac3 kernel on my 'production' workstation at work, in order to support adequately my NForce1 microatx asus board, and it's quite decent.

    2. Re:kernel 2.4.21??? by nite_warrior · · Score: 2, Interesting

      from the Kernel prepatch doc.

      Prepatches may be poorly tested, and may in fact not work at all.

      I don't think i could be a very good idea to realease something to the market based on something like this. If u r a particular user, with a particular need, and take the risk to try it out and get it to work is perfect, but think of how many people who get MDK to try out linux could get this one and run into problem, probably they will not like that at all and just stick to their old OS.

      Guess that's why I like deb :)

    3. Re:kernel 2.4.21??? by javahacker · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This isn't a straight download of the 2.4.21 preX. Mandrake has tested it extensively. No commercial distribution ever ships with a stock kernel, so they all do their own testing.

      I would probably mark you down as a troll if I had moderation points today. Someone help me out.

    4. Re:kernel 2.4.21??? by alexandre · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There is a big difference for me between feature-bleeding-edge-patch and stability-bleeding-edge-patch ... As someone said they have tested it and probably tweaked it too!

  24. no more hell... it's the greatest thing by illegalien · · Score: 4, Informative

    The greatest thing about Mandrake 9.X is that it completely eliminates dependency issues... rpms are easy to install for those that don't wish to compile from source.

    I've been running a cooker version of 9.X for many months and even that is surprisingly stable.

    This is the kind of OS package worth paying for!

    1. Re:no more hell... it's the greatest thing by deno · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Let me see...

      Yes, *I* do think that RPMs save you from dependency problems. On the last count I wasn't exactly a total newbie. :-)

      Funny thing is that (in my experience) it is exactly the newbies who complain about dependency problems with RPMs. this is how the story (usually) goes:

      A: This damn thing doesn't work!!!!
      B: Which damn thing?
      A: urpmi! It's all broken!
      B: Could you please elaborate this a bit?
      A: It wan't install packages!!!
      B: Eer... Which packages, if I may ask?

      SCENARIO 1:

      A: grmkn-0.01-alpha.tyr.gz
      B: We are sorry, but urpmi is made for installing .rpm packages, not tarballs. Also, please note that alpha releases aren't exactly the stuff that newbies shoudl use...
      A: HOW DEAR YOU !!! I have used windows for 10 years, and know all shartcuts by heart, and now you tell me I'm a newbie! Take your broken software and stuff it... (etc.)

      SCENARIO 2:

      A: grmkn-0.01-alpha.i386.rpm
      B: This does not look like a mandrake rpm package. This does not mean that it wil not work on Mandrake system, but the source from which you are getting it probably doesn't have the info needed for urpmi/rpmdrake to work properly. That is, you have to download it, and define a local rpm source.You'll also need to download all the files it depends on, too. In the worst case (i.e. if it requires some libraries, and the lib-rpms are badly built) this will not work at all.
      A: AARGH!!! This rpm stuff is all broken, I knew it! Take your broken software and stuff it... (etc.)

      SCENARIO 3:

      A: grmkn-0.01-alpha.i586.mdk.rpm
      B: This is a cooker RPM.
      A: I know, but I really want to install it.
      B: What is exactly the problem?
      A: Well, when I try to install it with urpmi/rpmdrake, it tells me that it will download 50 other packages. I don't want all this!!
      B: I am sorry, but the package you asked for requires the latest KDE to work properly, and KDE is rather big...
      A: AARGH!!! This rpm stuff is all broken, I knew it! Take your broken software and stuff it... (etc.)

  25. Re:Better Yet by Ponty · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does it take advantage of Intel Pentium III technology for that?

  26. Re:boycotting national Linux versions... by testerus · · Score: 3, Informative

    according to Jean-Michel Dault:

    • Some facts you might want to know:
      • The Mandrake Linux boxes sold in the stores in the USA are not a French product, but an american-made product, since the boxes, CDs and manuals are manufactured by Pearson/Macmillan right in the US.
      • MandrakeSoft has developers all around the globe. The security updates are made by a Canadian, the I18N leader is in Belgium, the Documentation team has people in Quebec and Argentina, our kernel guy is in Spain, our LSB and DrakXterm guy is in Ohio... and I am Quebecois ;-)
  27. Re:PLEASE BOYCOTT MANDRAKE by Ponty · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can we use it if we call it Freedom Linux?

    Now where did I put my French Coke? I'd like to finish enjoying my French hamburger.

  28. When you download ISOs, remember the cost... by repoleved · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I remember that one of my friends once offered the services of his ISP to provide free downloads. The next month he received a very large bill. Remember when you download these "free" ISOs that there is a cost for the ftp sites that provide the ISOs for free to everyone. It can actually get to be very very expensive to provide free ISOs ($7-10 per download). Also, remember that there were costs in testing and developing the distribution, and that whenever you download an ISO for free you are taking advantage of the resources that were put towards the quality distribution that you will experience.

    Mandrake is a fine company that really really needs our support right now. Whether you can help by lending them some of your time to fix bugs, or by providing software to make their distribution better, or (like most non-developers) by purchasing their distribution, I strongly encourage everyone who uses Mandrake to do their part.

    (I use Slackware, but bought a copy of Mandrake for my brother a while ago because he uses Mandrake.)

    An easy and cheap way that you can reduce your impact on ftp sites and also help to share the costs of distribution is to download the ISO from a P2P network (just check the md5sum against the official one from the ftp site when you're done), and/or set yourself up as a P2P mirror so that a few people can download the ISO from you. This is the best use of P2P that I can think of (much better than providing illegal copies of copyrighted music or movies). Another way you can help is to burn some CDs for your windows-using friends so they can try it out! :)

  29. Re:PLEASE BOYCOTT MANDRAKE by be-fan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Mandrake is a French product. To purchase it means to stand up for the international diplomacy, national sovereignty, and the rule of law.

    --
    A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
  30. Re:No, fuck them! by ebbomega · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You're right. Drake doesn't offer anything to paying people at all.

    Except for, well... professional support that's not all condescending if you don't copy-paste lsmod and lspci in all your questions... and non-slashdotted servers with which you can download the files so it doesn't grind to a halt like the one I'm downloading off of (I think I broke 4 kB/s... Woohoo!)

    Nope. Nothing useful at all.

    Or, heh... you know... maybe people could choose to support a company because they're not all proprietary and demand that you pay for their product, thus making people that want to use it for free criminals... But no, that would be stupid and naieve. I mean, think of all the pr0n sites you could visit with that whole $40/year.

    People like you are why I feel ashamed of the world today.

    --
    Karma: Non-Heinous
  31. I support Linux by IWantMoreSpamPlease · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I only wish it wouls support me. I've purchased ~10 distros, dating back to SuSE 6.1, RedHat 6.3, Mandrake 7.1, 8.0, 8.2, just to name a few.

    Everytime I run into trouble I get the same response: "RTFM"

    Well I *did* RTFM and the FM didn't help, this is why I was posting to your Linux forum!

    I have yet to see an install of the aforementioned distros install successfully (and by that I mean see all my hardware) on any machine I care to throw at it. BeOS however (and MS, but that goes without saying) sees the hardware just fine.

    I want to like Linux, I really do, but all I ever see from them is copying/playing catchup to MS.

    Maybe this distro will be a different experience for me, but I kind of doubt it.

    --
    So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
  32. fixed by buchanmilne · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'd like to know why Mandrake is behind in an area that is *very* important to the desktop user.

    Make that "was" instead of "is". And it was only Redhat that was ahead (really), the proprietary distros (Lindows etc) apparently just licensed the Apple patent, which shouldn't bother you if you are not in the US, since you could just get a better freetype from the PLF.

    But that is no longer the case, fonts on 9.1 rock, although it might have been nice to be able to include freetype2.1.4 ...

  33. Are there any BitTorrent Mirrors? by billstewart · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Has anybody who's succeeded in downloading this thing set it up for BitTorrent, the P2P thing that's designed for applications like this? (Also, did anybody do this for the recent Knoppix? I saw one for version N-2 or whatever.) It's really the right choice for flash-crowd release slashdottings (and Mandrake and RedHat etc. ought to go hire Bram to help them :-)

    If you're not familiar with BitTorrent, it takes a large file (typically CD-size) chunks it up into ~1MB pieces, and client/peers who want the file either get chunks from the server or get pointed to other clients who already have them, and after receiving chunks correctly, make them available for other client/peers to download. The server keeps track of who's got what, manages its outgoing rates to something it can handle, and does some optimization to make sure all the chunks are getting handed out widely and efficiently, and either the client or server (I don't remember which, probably the server) does some anti-leech scheduling so that clients basically end up receiving at about the rate they're letting other people download from them if there's demand.

    One big difference between BitTorrent and the eDonkey/Kazaa/etc. P2P systems is that it's designed on a per-file basis - anybody who wants to export a given file can be a server for that file, and the client/peer process only exports files that it's actively connected to (either still downloading or being friendly and letting other people download after it's done), rather than exporting everything in your file-sharing directory.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  34. Re:PLEASE BOYCOTT MANDRAKE by be-fan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    By absolutely refusing to budge on your position and to say "I will not even read their proposal?" That is your idea of diplomacy?
    >>>>>>>>>
    No, by respecting the UN and allowing the process to work.

    By selling outlawed weapons to an evil dictator?
    >>>>>>>>>>
    What country do you think propped up dictators (included Saddam) all through the Cold War? Hint: it wasn't France. Who do you think trained the people who would eventually become the Taliban? Again, not France. It was the US.

    By interceding(sic) in the Ivory Coast when no one asked them to? I don't recall UN approval of that action. Where is the diplomacy there?
    >>>>>>>
    France sent peacekeeping troops to the Ivory coast because there are a whole bunch of French citizens living there.

    Look, the point isn't whether France is great (it isn't, every country pretty much sucks donkey balls) or whether you even agree with what France's stance on the war is. The point is whether you can relate to their decision in a mature way without doing stupid stuff like renaming fast food.

    --
    A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
  35. Madness!!! by LittleLebowskiUrbanA · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wait a minute... Things aren't right here. I thought the formula was fail miserably, give up, pout, and sue someone. Not(gasp)suck it up, improve your product so that even Her Pickiness, Eugenia likes it and keep giving back to the community. This makes no sense at all. Good job Mandrake.

  36. BitTorrent Mirror by Sits · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have briefly set up the following with lots of help from the folks on #bittorrent (thanks!):

    Mandrake 9.1 Bittorrent link. If you are behind a NAT or a stateful firewall then the link will not work until a few people whose machines accept incomming connections start downloading from it. Clicking the link will not automatically work but it can easily be fed to the Bittorrent command line tools.

  37. BitTorrent -- everyone helps everyone! by Jamuraa · · Score: 3, Informative

    BitTorrent Link of Mandrake 9.1 <-- You need BitTorrent to click here.

    Download BitTorrent Here or `apt-get install bittorrent` on debian, and I think there is a port for it for you FreeBSD people.

    Anyone who wants to get this file, should try using BitTorrent to get it. It is a file swarming application that helps everyone get the file by uploading pieces of the file you have already downloaded. It should transfer faster, and the best part is, everyone gets the file faster than the Mandrake FTP site, which I am sure has limited bandwidth.

    Props to the other people mentioning BitTorrent.

    --
    You can't see this if you have sigs turned off.
  38. the point is by deno · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There are only two choices:

    1) A company that sticks to the values of Open Source/Free Software movement, and then has to remind the users from time to time that development costs.
    2) A company that does not stick to these values, and try to turn Linux into proprietary system by putting its proprietary licenses on key parts of the system, and such.

    The point is that companies of the second groop inherently have less interest in keeping the prices low and quality high than those of the first group... You just got rid of Microsoft BECAUSE they were the company of the second type, and now you are begging for a Linux-clone thereof? Does not make sense to me.

    Mandrake is in the first group, and that's a Good Thing For You (TM), because it assures that you really OWN your software, and that the company can never become a big bad monopolist that does not care about your (customers) needs.

    As for the MandrakeClub, it happens to be a very nice service that's worth the money you pay for it. IMHO, the 'Club' model is the future of free software financing, at least as far as SoHO and home users are concerned. All the other models I've seen so far are either:

    Service offers targeting big companies

    or:

    Based on the idea that free software must be wrapped in proprietary license in order to sell it the classical way.

    1. Re:the point is by deno · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Let me see:

      "Service": MandrakeClub is a service. I fully agree with you that this is the future.
      "Boxes": This is indeed a dying model. Sure, tehre will always be a place for a few boxes, but this is not where one can expect the big growth.
      "Hardware": This is for "big guys". Forget it for now.

      So far so good. And now to more interesting part:

      "We don't need the company on our back": Yes. I am quite sure that you are perfectly ready to do all the work on distro development on your own and without asking anythign in return. Get a life - building a distro costs, and SOMEONE has to pay for it. (Yes, even Debian has a funding, even though it's not centralised but shared between the companies that have a vested interest in it. That's why Debian is such a good server, and bad desktop - the folks who pay for the development want to have good server distro...)

      "Artificially induced success": now, that's a nice neologism! Every success is "artificial", because in order to be succesfull you need to persuade the people to buy your product, or get the money elsewhere.

  39. Re:BOYCOTT FRANCE by 10Ghz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You mean because France doesn't do everything US wants them to do, they should be boycotted? And how exactly is France putting US soldiers at risk?

    This may come as a shock to you, but the World is not US's playground where everyone must do whatever US wants them to do.

    --
    Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
  40. Contrib problems by Wolf+nipple+chips · · Score: 2, Informative

    I have to point out that I ran into several problems with the RPMS2 (aka Contrib) dir on all the mirrors I tried : libgcrypt*.rpm have wrong md5 sums and the synthesis file contain incorrect version info on the dillo package (0.7.1.2-1 instead of 0.7.0-1) which prevents urpmi from working properly.

    --
    Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
  41. Re:BOYCOTT FRANCE by iainl · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, I know, offtopic...

    I'd really just love to know how

    (a) the _French_ Government put US soldiers lives in danger, when all they have done is attempt to stop the _US_ Government sticking them in a position where they are getting shot at, and

    (b) why this means you should boycott Mandrake; its not a Government owned distro is it?

    After all, if anyone is going to whinge about people's lives being put in danger it would be me (as a Brit) boycotting the US as its your President who has got British troops in the firing line (and done a rather better job of killing them than the Iraqis, while we mention it). I'm not doing so, however, as I fail to see how it would be Redhat's fault.

    --
    "I Know You Are But What Am I?"