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Mandriva 2007 RC1 Released
boklm writes "The first Mandriva 2007 release candidate (codename Mona) is out. The final version is due soon.
2007's new features include Gnome 2.16 with New 'Ia Ora' Mandriva Theme, parallel initscript (for faster boot), 3D desktop (with both AIGLX and Xgl to support more graphic cards). Installable Live-CDs including Gnome or KDE are available in different languages, and because it is a live-cd it is possible to try it without installing. Don't forget to report bugs if you find them, in order to get a solid final release."
There was a time, when Linux distros were measured by how close they were to in terms of functionality to MS Windows. Now they are inovating like crazy and this 3D desktop from Mandriva beats anything that will ship in Vista.
The article was just posted... you just made one of the fastest download and installation of a new linux OS on a Macbook Pro and run it long enough to make it hot.
A 'release candidate' is equivalent to a final release in all respects except name. It is a candidate for release. The development team believes that this build is as bug free and featured filled as it needs to be and is branded a release candidate. It is then sent over to testing (or to users as is more frequently the case) where it undergoes final testing. If it passes final testing, it is rebadged as RTM, but THE SAME BITS GO INTO AN RC AS TO AN RTM. This isn't a testing release or a beta release where you are expected to find and squash bugs. The bugs are expected to be worked out of the system or are so uninteresting as to not warrant further development time.
If you find a serious bug in an RC, someone, somewhere fucked up royally.
"I can't help but think that those still working on the free parts of Mandrake are wasting resources"
I can't help but think that those people would not work on some tools if there would be some other free tools that did the same job, the same way, so if there's a need for those tools than it's a good thing that somebody works on them, moreover, being free anyone can use them so is not really a waste.
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
While their video does show (some) of the things that the 3D desktop can do, it's actually *far* smoother in real life. Possibly they recorded it on a machine that was too slow to run the app and xvidcap at the same time.
Up to this point it's been a bit of a pain in the backside to set up but now distros are integrating it the next batch of releases should make it trivial.
Compiz and co are really slick and I find it rather amusing that everyeone *except* the world's biggest software company has managed to get their next generation desktop released prior to 2007.
Think of the Children; Sleep with your Sister
I would like to see how far Linux has come since Redhat 5.x (my last test-run) but I see that to use my dial-up modem beyond 16k I first need to get the US$20 driver for my chipset. The instructions to get it working are unnerving for a soft, indulged, undisciplined XP user like me. Thanks but no thanks.
I have a theory that every word in any language refers to some part of the human reproductive system in some other language. This of course works the other way around as well: 'cunt' probably means distribution in some language or other, so that's okay.
He started with "I'm really not trying to troll or flame" or something similar. That's the internet equivalent of "I'm just sayin'", which some people follow up rude or instulting comments under some illusion that it makes their statement less insulting or rude. Apparently, it works.
I dream of a better world... one in which chickens can cross roads without their motives being questioned.
Very true. I temporarily switched to Mandriva at 10.1 and found the configuration tools to be very nice, but I ended up switching back to Redhat (Fedora) after a few months. Fedora also has decent config tools (system-* are quite nice). Fedora pissed me off for the last time a few months ago, so I'm now an Ubuntu user. I was really supprised by the lack of decent config tools, and the networking scripts are quite bad. I ended up having to write my own.
Have they finally fixed the update proplem? When I was using it I kept having to manually change mirrors every few weeks as one would stop responding. That's what I like about yum, it automatically switches to a different mirror when one isn't reachable. With Ubuntu the listed servers are always up and fast.
I used to think that until 2.14, and I've used KDE as my desktop since '99. With the progress Gnome has finally made, it's going to take a lot to make me switch back to KDE. Give it another try.
Have you seen the defaults in Fedora or (even worse) RHEL? Mandriva is beautiful by comparison. So is Windows 95.
"It ain't a war against drugs.it's a war against personal freedom" --Bill Hicks
I don't think anybody claims that Gentoo is a newbie distro. However, in my experience if you are interested in really learning about Linux, I have to recommend Gentoo. The documentation is very good and beats the pants out of anything else including Ubuntu which I use now. Mandrake is terrible as far as documentation goes and it drove me crazy when I had to use it over the course of a summer. While Ubuntu forums is good for newbies, I find that most of the really interesting questions I ask get responses like "Hey, I have the same problem, let me know if you find a soln." I still take recourse to the Gentoo forums, although I use Ubuntu on my laptop and desktop.