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Mandriva Joins Ubuntu With a Linux For Netbooks
Slatterz writes "Linux publisher Mandriva has unveiled a version of its platform designed specifically for the new breed of mini laptops. Mandriva Mini features a fast boot-up, comprehensive connectivity support and multimedia codecs, and is adapted to work on key netbook platforms such as Intel's Atom. Mandriva previously offered a customised version of its 2008 Spring release for the Asus Eee PC, and was a distributor of Linux for Intel's Classmate PC initiative."
Your effete codecs and desktops are a drain on the minds of millions! Mental resources they could use to learn simple tools like Lisp and Haskell! Is time actually cubical in nature? Your 3D desktops and games and iTunes and shallow interfaces hide the true power, elegance and beauty of the command line! The One Dimensional Desktop, with infinite compactified dimensions hidden inside like string theory - intuitive and obvious! I wrote an Emacs macro that plays one of my Ogg Vorbis sound files any time I like! How is iTunes easier than that? What is the "4" in MPEG-4? 4 simultaneous 24 hour Days within only 1 rotation of 4 quadrant Earth! Educated evil and stupid! LINUX SHALL TRIUMPH! ... I'm sorry, I meant GNU/LINUX SHALL TRIUMPH! (Sorry, Richard. Sorry. Sorry.)
http://rocknerd.co.uk
will they sell when no one can print their family photos from one ?
The final frontier for OSes is netbooks and smartphones. Everyone has to go there if they want good growth. The smart phone war is a 4 way contest between Symbian, Windows Mobile, iPhone with only (hopefully) Linux based contest coming from (yet unreleased) Android.
So, as far as the OSes go the only open race is in the netbooks and it is good to see Linux distros coming good in this category.
I was exited when I saw the Eee-PC first. With a large install base of the same hardware base Asus could have built a new iPod revolution and break with the limitations of conventional operating systems because it was made-to-measure. But after a few month Asus blew it. At the CeBit they presented the Eee-PC with an unusable Windows XP configurations and a lot of extenions that did not or did not fully support Linux. Today there are hald a dozen Eee-PCs and I guess a hundret other netbooks with different screen sizes, hard drives, chipsets.
There really isn't much difference in a customized "netbook" distro, so we'll soon be seeing many more.
The minor list of customizations needed for a netbook (besides making sure everything just works, as on all laptops):
1) fast bootup. in order to reach a sub 30 second bootup you need only two things: a lighter kernel, and pruned system services (no crond, nfs, etc). /tmp and /var/log. firefox cache in tmpfs too.
2) optimizations for SSD. i.e., noatime in fstab for ext3/2, use of tmpfs for
3) lighter application and OS defaults. i.e.: XFCE instead of gnome, and abiword instead of openoffice.
btw - check out http://onelinux.org and #onelinux on freenode for an ubuntu-based distro tailored just for 'best' netbook currently available - the awesome Acer Aspire One.
so far no word when we'll be able to get this mini distro. guess they want to synch the release with 2008.1 in october?
Recent statistics show that there are 19 Mandriva users left. Approximately 200 of those netbooks will be sold so Mandriva usage is expected to increase by more than 1000%.
Way to go, Mandriva people!
Mandriva touted their Spring 08 release as being perfectly suited for the EEE. The only problem was that the partitioning step of the installation only provided journaling file systems; EXT2 was not an option, and with the limited number of write cycles with the SSD in some models, you want to avoid any unnecessary writes. I hope this new release allows EXT2!
Awesome, aside from Ubuntu the other distro I really like is Mandriva. I wonder if they are going to use LXDE as the desktop environment.
that seems to be the commercial Linux mantra :)
Most Linux users fell on the eee, and got their favourite distro on, in literally a matter of days. Once that had been pioneered, most were taking the stock distros off after a minute or so of looking at the monstorsity Asus had wrought.
The commercial distros really need to up their game, and start to get very pally with the manufacturers, that's is where the opportunity is for their business model.
Linux will always work though if you know what you are doing - so it is a matter of just watching the business drama or lack of it :)
Most of us just want the devices to be Linux compatible (drivers included), actually including a distro is worthless, but of course the MS tax is completely unpalatable.
Did you get the webcam to work with Mandriva, I'd like to find out. And if so, what model netbook are you using?
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Troll!?
Seriously?
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
with the limited number of write cycles with the SSD in some models, you want to avoid any unnecessary writes
I've heard this said often, but the only time I've seen any actual numbers crunched, the conclusion was that it wasn't worth worrying about:
With the Eee PC SSD, a typical user (6 hours/day, 10% write rate) will write for 36 minutes per day resulting in a useful lifespan of ~25 years in the worst assumed case [only 50% effective wear levelling, 100k writes to a sector before failure].
Besides, even if that wasn't the case, one of the things about the Eeepc is its moddability -- back up often (which you should be doing anyway), and then if/when the SSD drive goes, swap it for a new one. It'll also probably be a nice upgrade over the smallish original, given the speed that SSD drives are improving in capacity and speed.
What's purple and commutes? An Abelian grape.
worked OK on a netbook :)
On my eee, the screen darkens, and I think some flash tries to load but doesnt.
Great!
...to pay your $699 licesing fee you cock smoking teabaggers!
Yes I know they're not working on a joint system but did anyone else think of names a joint Unbuntu-Mandriva Linux might use?
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
A: "with the limited number of write cycles with the SSD in some models, you want to avoid any unnecessary writes"
B: "I've heard this said often, but the only time I've seen any actual numbers crunched, the conclusion was that it wasn't worth worrying about [eeeuser.com]:"
Me: Just to add my experience with flash memory here.
This may be different, but as far as I know, all flash memory is basically the same, so...
I have a Sony digital camera, it's 6 years old now, and my rough calculations tell me that it's life cycle was less than 64,000 cycles (Shoot image, download, delete) before the drive started failing.
Perhaps flash memory is more stable now, and these older memory sticks don't have the wear leveling algorithm, of some such, but that doesn't seem like too many cycles to me.
If it don't GO... chrome it. ~ Frank Banks
> I have a Sony digital camera, it's 6 years old now, and my rough calculations tell me that it's life cycle was less than 64,000 cycles (Shoot image, download, delete) before the drive started
>failing.
>Perhaps flash memory is more stable now, and these older memory sticks don't have the wear leveling algorithm, of some such, but that doesn't seem like too many cycles to me.
It's usually write cycles - reading doesn't count, so in your example it'll be just shoot and delete. And delete won't write to the card either, other than to an index of what file is there - it won't physically write zeros to every byte taken up by every image you delete. This is the main reason it's trivial to undelete files from most storage media.
64,000 writes is quite a low figure compared to other flash memory specs I've seen, but it should be years before it fails. I recently bought a 4 gig compact flash card for my camera for £20 (including postage). In 5 years time you probably won't even be able to buy cards that small, and they'll be cheap, so I'm not bothered if it fails around then.
the Gdium
It's not specified whether Mandriva Mini is being used, although is highly probable.
One interesting thing is the Longsoon MIPS processor, which probably contributes to the purported 4-hour battery life
"64,000 writes is quite a low figure compared to other flash memory specs I've seen, but it should be years before it fails."
Yes... it did take years, but 64k writes is tiny, so it seems like a potential problem to me.
And it happened to both of my SONY cards so it's not an isolated incident.
Perhaps my real world testing trumps lab testing, for real world results?
If it don't GO... chrome it. ~ Frank Banks
> And it happened to both of my SONY cards so it's not an isolated incident.
> Perhaps my real world testing trumps lab testing, for real world results?
I don't know the details of your card failing, but it might have failed for reasons other than too many writes to the same place. It's hard to imagine you've filled it up 64,000 times. It could have been static damage, or you stamped on it or something. It's not guaranteed to work for ever. A hard drive doesn't have a known limited number of writes but they don't go on forever either.