Mandrake 9.2b1 Released, 2.6 Test Kernel in Cooker

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Mandrake 9.2b1 Released, 2.6 Test Kernel in Cooker

Posted by timothy on Saturday August 2, 2003 @02:24AM from the making-things-easy dept.

DCowern writes "Mandrake today announced 9.2 beta 1 of their distribution. More interestingly, Mandrake has included a test version of kernel 2.6 in cooker (their development version). It's dated 27 July so it should be on all the cooker mirrors in the RPM2 directory by now. If you can't find it on your favorite mirror, it's definitely on ftp.sunet.se." Better yet, Bruha points to BitTorrent files for the 1st 2nd, and 3rd ISOs, and a link to the Mandrake 9.2 wiki, writing "Note that the beta1 installation uses the same kernel as 9.1 did, so if you had problems installing 9.1, you may want to wait for beta2 (which will use an updated kernel)."

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Sweet... by GameGod0 · 2003-08-02 02:27 · Score: 4, Interesting

Will this be the first major distro running the 2.6 kernel?
1. Re:Sweet... by Arker · 2003-08-02 04:23 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  Funny thing is, I'm no compiler guy, but even I know that a lot of the optimisation code is inefficient. Notice that Debian came out the best in that little test? And Debian sticks with i386 code. As does most of the commercial software. And Intel and AMD optimise their processors to run that commercial i386 code as fast as possible. Doh!
  
  It wasn't a fair comparison since they were using different video drivers, of course, and also because 'identical machines' never are. To be fair you really have to run the same tests with the same drivers, and swap the installs around to each machine as well, so you can see just how unidentical they really are.
  
  The really interesting thing to do would be to test various compiler settings with gentoo on those machines first. Try 386, 486, 586, 686, try -O2, see what works and what doesn't. Then compare the other distros to Gentoo with the best settings.
  
  At any rate, it's not the processor optimisation flags that are the important part of compiling from source - you're not likely to see really dramatic results from them alone, even if you do take the time to experiment and find the best set for your architecture. Much more important are the configure scripts for individual applications. Leaving out KDE and/or Gnome support, for example, can seriously trim a program up without losing anything if you don't use KDE or Gnome.
  
  --
  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
2. Re:Sweet... by Slime-dogg · 2003-08-02 06:10 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Gentoo's had the source available in portage since test 1 was released. It works too.
  
  The only problem is that you need to use the open nvidia drivers, since the old drivers are not compatible. Who knows when Nvidia will release a version for this kernel. :sigh:
  
  --
  You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
3. Re:Sweet... by Bryce · 2003-08-02 06:14 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  OSDL has been doing heavy duty testing of the kernel 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6 on 1, 2, 4, and 8
  processor systems, for the past 2 years. See
  its Kernel
  Testing website and tools. The particular tool
  that does this is the Scalable Test Platform.
  
  Bryce
What, 16 alternative WMs too few? by buchanmilne · 2003-08-02 03:11 · Score: 5, Interesting

OTOH, the only thing I dislike about mandrake is that they force KDE down your throat like it's the next best thing after bread and butter, I really wish they would include mode optinons at install like wm2, ion, openbox, icewm, but also install the qt and gtk libs in the background so you could run gnome/kde applications.

$ cat /etc/mandrake-release
Mandrake Linux release 9.2 (Cooker) for i586
$ urpmq --sources enlightenment windowmaker blackbox xfce olvwm waimea AfterStep amiwm evilwm fluxbox fvwm fvwm2 ion ion-metadome pwm ratpoison rox-session swm
ftp://ftp.cae.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/ Mandr ake/RPMS/enlightenment-0.16.5-13mdk.i586.rpm
ftp: //ftp.cae.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS/WindowMaker-0.80.2-4mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://f tp.cae.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS/blackbox-0.65.0-1mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp. cae.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS/xfce-3.8.18-1mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp.cae. co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/swm-1.2.5-3mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp.cae.c o.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/fvwm2-2.4.16-2mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp.ca e.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/amiwm-0.20.48-6mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp.c ae.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/waimea-0.4.0-3mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp.ca e.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/olvwm-4.4-14mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp.cae. co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/AfterStep-1.8.11-3mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ft p.cae.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/ratpoison-1.2.2-2mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp .cae.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/fluxbox-0.9.4-2mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp.c ae.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/pwm-1.0-11mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp.cae.co .za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/ion-metadome-20020605-3mdk.i586.rpm
ftp ://ftp.cae.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/evilwm-0.99.14-1mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp. cae.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/fvwm-1.24r-23mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp.cae .co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/ion-20030627-3mdk.i586.rpm
ftp://ftp.ca e.co.za/pub/mandrake/cooker/i586/Mandr ake/RPMS2/rox-session-0.1.20-1mdk.i586.rpm

(this is our internal mirror, find your own)

Is that enough? (oh, there's still qvwm in PLF, since it looks too similar to some other desktop we know).

Mandrake has never forced a desktop on anyone, and all you need to enjoy the Mandrake configuration tools is gtk+2 and perl.

Sure, not all the window managers are in the main distro, but without contrib, you're missing half of the distro anyway!
Huh? by ErikZ · 2003-08-02 03:22 · Score: 4, Interesting

I thought Mandrake needed millions of dollars in donations or it was going out of business? What happened?

--
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
1. Re:Huh? by buchanmilne · 2003-08-02 04:50 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I switched my attention from Mandrake to Red Hat when I read that Mandrake was doomed.
  
  Isn't that like kicking people when they're down? Here I was buying stuff from them (since I do generate spare income using Mandrake), and contributing to the distro, when I should instead have dumped and run for a distro that doesn't pay attention to the features *I* want?
  
  Now it looks like Mandrake is back on track
  
  They weren't ever off-track ... they have just had to cut down on cash-sapping activities, like expo-attendance etc
  
  or are they releasing work that had already been done and this is going to be the last we hear?
  
  Well, since they went into bankruptcy protection, they released 9.1, which was a pretty good release. And since 9.1, they have been making serious changes to allow greater community participation, to the extent that community contributors who know their stuff have commit rights into the main distro (although more recognition for the community work on maintaining the ports to alpha, hammer, sparc and ppc would be nice). But they have done a lot of work on GUI cleanups in the config tools etc, added more features in urpmi, and of course updated to the latest packages.
  
  And they are still innovating more than Redhat ever did (unless the only thing you use linux for is an Oracle cluster - in which case you're probably better off with SuSE anyway ...).
  
  Now, imagine what they could do if they had enough resources to employ more hackers?
Re:The Mandrake Boycott (IMPORTANT!) by coats · 2003-08-02 03:54 · Score: 4, Interesting

The simple fact is that no true partiot would use Linux at all. In these hard times we must rally around our companies, our economy, and our president... What are you saying? Oh no, there's other country outside USA...

One of the most profound students of "what is different about America was the Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville. I*n his book Democracy in America describing what makes American culture distinctive, he said that the inclination of Americans to form informal, community-based non-government, non-corporate associations in order to do the projects the community needs. Volunteer fireman associations are but one common example.
And now the Internet has expanded the notion of community past walking-distance geographic boundaries, has expanded those needed community projects to include Linux, Apache, and the like, and has exported the whole volunteer community association idea to the world.
The sad thing is that now big government and corporatism -- and collusion between the two -- are destroying that uniquely American practice of volunteer community associations at home!

--
"My opinions are my own, and I've got *lots* of them!"
Torrents by Bruha · 2003-08-02 04:06 · Score: 2, Interesting

Those torrents I pointed out are from mandrake themselves.. They're running the tracker appareently.. I have not looked but I bet BT is installed in 9.2b.

Now I'm curious what bandwidth savings Mandrakesoft made with using Bt to distribute the files!
Re:The Mandrake Boycott (IMPORTANT!) by WindBourne · 2003-08-02 05:14 · Score: 2, Interesting

I am a fool, but...
Now that I have your attention, I would like to discuss the larger issue of Linux in general. It is time for us, fellow patriots, to look at our situation in the world on a global scale. Microsoft is an American company. Bill Gates started with nothing and built an empire. What is the problem here?
Bill Gates father is a high-end corporate attorney. Bill grew up in a house that would be the == of somebody makeing > 7 figures today. In fact, Bill's father funded much of the early work. That is the fact.
There are many american enterprises that are failing due to MS's tactics.

We should be supporting American enterprise, not undermining it. The simple fact is that no true partiot would use Linux at all. In these hard times we must rally around our companies, our economy, and our president.
And the www.whitehouse.gov runs what? The software that is sold to the CIA/NSA/Home Seucrity requires what? Say the word; Linux. Even the DOD is now moving to Linux as their base.
I agree about the economy. As such, our companies that have to move forward, but can not spend money wastefully, have all moved to Linux and are getting profits. Google, Amazon, Walmart, and Lowes are either running Linux or are moving to it (quietly).
I find it ironic that you are pushing MS when the net is horribly slow due to something aimed straight at its black heart. Likewise, the fact that Ridge had to issue a national security alert yesterday about it.
And this disregards the fact that MS IIS systems account for less than 25% of web servers and yet have nearly 100% of the credit card thefts (normally American CC's; These could be used by terrorist to further blow us up).

If we let the 'Linux Community' have their way, we will all be at the mercy of the Germans making KDE, or the Japanese with their desktop. Do you plan to learn Japanese in the near future? You may have to, if we don't start poneying up to the bar and laying it down for our cause...
hummm.... free enterprise sounds like a good cause. If they are better, well.....

I hate the fact that I even took a second to answer back, but man, oh man...

--
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Re:9.2 will default to a 2.4 kernel by buchanmilne · 2003-08-02 23:36 · Score: 2, Interesting

But in my opinion, Mandrake 9.1 was such a dramatic change from 9.0 that it should have been called Mandrake 10.

Well, some people complained that it was too similar to 9.0, and that it should have been called 9.0.1!

RedHat seemed to have got away with it.

Well, they broke binary compatability with their premature inclusion of NPTL.