Slashdot Mirror
Mandrake 9.2 RC1
RabidChipmunk writes "Mandrake 9.2RC1 is out. Go get it with bit-torrent and speed up my download. I like the idea that posting to Slashdot could actually speed up a download. It seems so wrong." If you're on a slow pipe, don't underestimate the throughput of the postal system. Mark Walker writes "Mandrake Linux 9.2 RC1 is appearing on mirrors as I type this. We're currently downloading it from Mandrake, for http://www.budgetlinuxcds.com."
Changelog is here: http://www3.mandrakelinux.com/en/92beta.php3
Corrections from beta1 include:
- Rpmdrake now functional
- Upgrade from former versions now fully handled
- New windows are now conveniently centered
Urpmi and rpmdrake still complain about missing key. This issue should be fixed in the next beta.
Improvements:
- First version of Netprofile, the new network profiles manager designed for users who connect to multiple networks. Feedback is highly requested for this newly introduced feature.
- Complete rewrite of userdrake (user management) in Gtk2
- New bootsplash (graphical boot) with graphical design not completed
- Improved localization
- New font support for Indian
- Enhanced drakTermServ (terminal server configurator).
New software versions:
- KDE 3.1.3
- GNOME 2.3.5
- Evolution 1.4.4
- Openldap 2.1.22
- kerberos5 1.3
When installing Mandrake, you can carve off a piece of an existing NTFS partition to use.
Link
I guess the "hurtling down the highway" part is where you get the bandwidth. A station wagon full of tapes sitting in the driveway is just storage space.
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
The ability to do that is all built-in to the BitTorrent protocol. You just need a client which doesn't suck.
On Windows, I use this. I'm sure you can find equivalent clients for other operating systems with a quick Google search.
...when it's masquerading as journalism.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
Mandrake develops many GUI administration tools under the DrakXtools. I personally haven't seen anything that matches them in any other distribution except SuSe, but Yast2 isn't free software like all the tools Mandrake has developed (they are under the GNU GPL).
All their documentation is also under the GNU FDL.
And lastly, distributions often contribute directly to projects so when you're paying to Mandrake, you're also paying the salaries of some developers working on the various major free software projects. I don't think Mandrake has any "big" names like Red Hat (Alan Cox) or Conectiva (Marcelo Tosati) for example but they do some important work just like all the other popular distributions.
As a casual linux user I like Mandrake. It supports everything on my laptop (including my Sony R505 - IEEE1394 DVD-ROM drive) right out of the box. It is great for anyone who is thinking of moving to Linux but does not know where to start (or have time dealing with compatibility issues that can pop-up). We all know it is bloated, but I don't have the time to work some of the other compatibility challenged distros.
For now I cannot go to linux all the way because of what I do for a living (anyone want to talk to Avid about porting XpressDV to linux), but I love it for all of my "office work" and emailing. I will give RC2 a try, and I support Mandrake as a company. To me they are they closest to "Linux on the Desktop". They support the latest packages and builds along with good hardware support. Last Friday I had over 300 SoBig.F viruses in my inbox before I got a chance to filter it out with my host's email server configurator (hosting service thing). I did not fear downloading them at all. I pop-ed them, then trashed them, while my co-worked was freaking out trying not to get infected... can't beat that with a stick, thanks Linux... Mandrake made this possible for me.
personally, I almost never burn a CD anymore for linux installers.....too much hassle. its much easier to me to create the network install floppy and pick a mirror(now a torrent-based install floppy would be uber-cool) the most complicated thing about this is writing down the server host name and the URL that contains the RPMs. once that's done, you begin the normal install process and you're only downloading exactly what you need in order to get a proper installation. creating the floppy is easy, just download the images/network.img (pcmcia.img for laptops) and use dd (winrawrite for windows) to create the boot floppy this is a very old practice, I know. but I'm mostly writing for those who don't. so conserve plastic/aluminum, bandwidth, and time and use the network install instead
Please keep in my that my ADHD keeps me a little scatter brained and I sometimes can't focus long enough to
Myth #243
AFAIK you don't end up with a million and one useless daemons starting a la RedHat or Mandrake (yes, they are bad for this.)
Reality
They don't make that much a difference and there aren't that many of them. Of the ones there are you can disable whatever you want simply from the commandline or from a nice gui. What makes distros "slow" is when you try to run Gnome or KDE on a older machine. These daemons only take a few megs and most of the time simply idle.
Red Hat running Blackbox or XFCE is a fast as Gentoo running Blackbox or XFCE. Carve that into your chest with a knife and then show every Gentoo you can find. We need to get the word out...
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch