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Mandriva Linux 2006 Beta Underway

Posted by Zonk on from the new-way-to-play dept.

linuxbeta writes "Distrowatch is reporting that 'The beta testing process for Mandriva Linux 2006 is now officially underway. All the new features, which are not yet all included in this first beta version, will appear in the next test versions. You will see changes in the network management, especially WiFi, in security, on the desktop with the new versions of KDE, GNOME, new version of the kernel, GCC....'. Screenshots are available."

9 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. Ask Slashdot: Ubuntu vs. Mandriva by goldspider · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Figured this would be as on-topic as anywhere...

    I'm thinkin of dropping Linux on a somewhat outdated computer I have lying around. It's a Celeron 533 w/ 256MB of RAM.

    Which user-friendly distribution would be more friendly to that kind of hardware? And God help anyone that says Gentoo..

    --
    "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
    1. Re:Ask Slashdot: Ubuntu vs. Mandriva by rbochan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The laptop I'm typing this on is a Dell Latitude CP 233/128 cirica 1997 running Debian Unstable (Sid). It's also running KDE 3.4.1 - not by any means quickly, but the machine's rock solid other than the crappy pcmcia NIC I have.
      I'm running Sid because of the later KDE packages than Sarge (Stable) has. This latest version of KDE is considerably better on the overhead than the 3.3.x versions, imo, especially if you minimize the eye candy you use. I could certainly be running a [sic] 'lesser' window manager likde Icewm, blackbox, or even XFCE, but my main desktop machine runs KDE and I like to be able to use those same apps when mobile. Since this laptop is what I've got to use for work, it's got KDE 3.4.1.

      I have zero complaints about usability. Things take a bit longer to start up than on my P-III 800 at home, but it's nothing I can't deal with. The only thing that pains me to start is OpenOffice - I like to have a good book nearby if I fire that up, or take that opportunity to hit the bathroom.

      I did try Ubuntu on this machine, but I wasn't satisified with their package contents in their repo's. And yes, I know I can mix in Debian's, but I prefer to stay supported when I can. I personally haven't seen an advantage in using Ubuntu, but I'm sure others (w)could argue with me about that until we're blue in the face. Ubuntu uses a bit of a modified Debian Installer, so if you can install Ubuntu, you can install Debian.

      I can't say anything about Mandriva as I've not gone near them since a support fiasco way back with Mandrake 8.2. I haven't trusted them since then, and its likely I won't again.

      --
      ...Rob
      The American Dream isn't an SUV and a house in the suburbs; it's Don't Tread On Me.
    2. Re:Ask Slashdot: Ubuntu vs. Mandriva by Penguinshit · · Score: 2, Interesting


      I loaded Ubuntu on a machine here at work (it's our "electronic receptionist") because the machine wouldn't be heavily used and I could afford to horse around. I found the installation and configuration to be brainless and painless. I had the system up and running in two days, complete with the "receptionist" program (Apache running a local version of our Corporate website with a big "Please Sign In" on the front page).

      The thing is an old PII-400 with 256mb RAM and it's solid as hell. If the machine goes down, BIOS reboots as soon as power is applied. Using the desktop manager I set the "guest" user to login automagically and fire up the brower set to the internal home page. It took me longer to configure the IPTables script than it did to configure Ubuntu once I got it all loaded.

      Given this, I'd recommend Ubuntu for a beginner.

      --

      I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...

  2. I probably won't bother with it. Too bad. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Mandrake 9.1 was the first Linux that I could use without 'issues'. I replaced all my Windows boxes (except one) with it and haven't needed to use a Windows box for more than a few hours since.

    I liked Mandrake enough that I laid out the money for Power Pack 10.0. The trouble is that installing software has become such a nusance that I'm slowly switching to Debian based distros. I try to use urpmi and it asks for a cd. I insert the cd and urpmi refuses to believe that it's the right one. I try to ./configure, make, make install and I get messages that I am missing a library. The library is there and is installed correctly.

    I haven't given up without a fight but apt-get works so much better for me.

  3. Re:why even bother posting screen shots by lphuberdeau · · Score: 4, Interesting

    KDE 3.4 has a lot of visual improvements. But from what I saw in the screenshots, the distribution is nothing more than Gnome and KDE with all their respective logos replaced by a yellow star. They should have placed the focus on their custom management applications and such. Looking at all those KDE screenshots is a waste of time once you've seen them before.

    (I really like KDE, I use it every day)

    --
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    PHP Queb
  4. One of the Most Underrated Distros Out There by Anti-Trend · · Score: 1, Interesting
    Mandriva (formerly Mandrake Linux) is one of the most underrated Linux distros I know of. Mandrakesoft did get off to a bumpy start, and early versions of the distro had their caveats. But the company is well in the black now, and the URPMI tool is equivilent to or (dare I say it) superior to apt. It runs well on the desktop or the server, has a myriad of useful GUI tools along with the standard set of GNU admin tools, and a *huge* repository of contributed software available. Also, unlike Red Hat or Fedora Core it's compiled out-of-the-box for i586, so it's substantially faster than either. Best of all, Mandrakesoft has made a covenant with the community to always have a 100% open-source version that is actually backed by Mandrakesoft (as opposed to Fedora), to maintain the spirit of the GPL. The mid-sized corp I work for has mostly Mandriva on our servers, and we have about 99.9% uptime, including the time our infrastructure was down due to our recent move. All in all Mandriva is a good representative of GNU/Linux in general. I am exited to see what the fruits of the Mandrake/Connectiva merger have in store for us.

    -AT

    --
    Working in a DevOps shop is like playing in a band made up entirely of keytarists.
  5. Re:filesystems by moranar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You mean I've been using something else for four years? I mean, my partitions have been reiserfs since I can remember, all the way from at least 'drake 9.2. And it hasn't changed with the latest release: you can choose between ext2, ext3, reiserfs, at the very least. Maybe you were thinking of Fedora?

    --
    "I think it would be a good idea!"
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  6. Re:entire conversation: by aywwts4 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    -A Test-

    I personally like windows, it does what I need, and it isn't an OS on training wheels or a system for the programmers by the programmers. I spend the vast majority of my time being productive on my computer instead of maintaining it; and with some basic knowledge and tweaking (Tweak UI, some new drivers and some Regedits) a windows box runs very sweetly. The blue screen of death jokes are quite a dead horse, I have experienced a blue screen on three occasions since XP came out and that includes all five of my boxes. Once was because of a beta sound driver, another was because I tried to put in a video card for 98 only; and the other was a poorly made video game. Other than that most application crashes and gentle and no information is lost, The application that crashes most often (and even that isn't frequently) is Firefox; (its probably because of the extensions I have installed) I can't remember a time that I lost what I was typing or the work I was doing. I do my professional video and graphics work on a windows box, and I play and relax on a windows box; I have been a windows user since I tried an as yet unreleased on my grandfather's computer at Compaq. And to those that say windows has stopped progressing, go back and try 3.1.1 try 95; and try to say nothing has happened.

    Windows gets its bad name from users who don't know to put up a firewall and current AV software; who willingly install Kazza or Hotbar or whatever Trojan horse of the day. And from poor software written for windows, doing what poor software does best. Crash.

    Sure it has security problems, But with proper precautions taken I have never experienced them.

    -A Test-

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  7. Re:Honest question... by i_should_be_working · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Most distros just use the default Gnome or KDE theme. Through laziness or maybe they think it actually is the best default. I don't know.

    Most people theme theirs though. It doesn't matter to me what the theme is that comes wih a distro; I'm going to change it. Some distros probably realize that we do this and don't bother putting an effort into the looks.

    A few distros look different, like Blag. Hmm, that's not very pretty. Maybe that's why distros should stick to the KDE and Gnome default themes.