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Mandriva Linux 2009 Released
Adam Williamson writes "Mandriva has today released Mandriva Linux 2009, the new major release of the popular distribution. 2009 is a bold release which brings the new KDE 4 as the default desktop, along with a re-designed installer and Mandriva Control Center and many other new features. Other significant updates include GNOME 2.24, OpenOffice.org 3, Mozilla Firefox 3, and kernel 2.6.27. Key features include new graphical in-line upgrade capability, netbook compatibility, class-leading hardware support, and further improved support for working with mobile devices. For more details, see the Release Tour and the Release Notes. Get it at the download page, or go straight to the torrent list."
It includes a kernel that hasn't been released yet?
Wow!
I touch computers in naughty places
I had Mandrake installed some time back, and was happy with the package manager they had at the time since it finally dealt with some of the dependency hell issues that Red Hat suffered from. But at some point a software update and server migration went funny (on their end), and the package manager couldn't find the right site to update itself, and since I couldn't be bothered to dig into the internals to fix it (some of us use Linux to do other things :) and a reinstall looked like the easiest course, I opted to jump ship and tried out Ubuntu instead. But I'm curious to see what's happened in the intervening years.
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Really, I love KDE 4.x. The work they have done is magnificent and a great achievement. I cannot, however, use it (at the moment) day-to-day. At least Mandrake has waited for a while before including it (KDE 4). At the end of the day though how is it helping Linux? Supposing I was a new Linux user (I'm not, been using it since 1994 and Yggdrasil) I would have to assess Linux on it's "interface". Say I am interested: I will grab the latest "linux version" and install it. I will be presented with KDE4. As an average user, would I judge linux, overall, on the interface. Most LIKELY I WOULD. Distro's have to be current, yeah. But if we want to make linux attractive to joe six pack, we have to start deciding WHAT goes into a standard distro. Including unfinished stuff (IMO) is a show stopper.
This comment is not meant to detract from the great work the KDE people have done for 4.x. They are building a GREAT system and I admire their work.
I gave a spin to 2009-RC2 and I found it very lacking in many aspects, including general theme, while KDE4 implementation of the mandriva theme was mostly there small details (but important ones) like desktop icons where left out, if you look at the 2009 errata outstanding issues where not handled, like multimedia keyboard support on KDE4, it reasonably works on 2008.1 why should it stop working in 2009?, passing the blame to kmilo is no way to handle it (they would be better of with KDE3 for now).
I like the few new improvements, boot time is fast, intel wifi works better now, new kpowersave is nice, I can finely set the monitor brightness if supported, however, the damm thing won't suspend when closing the laptop lid.
I think is a good release for a new KDE4 migration, I think I will give the final release a spin but most probably I will stay with 2008.1 which is way more usable today than 2009, just think it.
C-x C-c
Each distro includes OpenOffice.org, Gnome, KDE, etc. I can get Gnome 2.24 by upgrading packages within my existing distro. openSUSE 11.1 and Fedora 9 will ship with it. So what actually sets this apart? I haven't used Mandriva since it was Mandrake, and I'm curious.
I hear they got a great "Control Panel" that rivals Yast. What is it like? What unique features does the distro have?
Wouldn't that be the pertinent information to have?
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But does it run on Ubuntu?
There is no x86-64 One. Really, for most workloads, you may as well run i586 on x86-64 systems. If you really want a native edition, install x86-64 Free.
Until they got merged into Mandrake, Conectiva was the best distro, IMHO. They had RPM with Apt, the best of both worlds. After the acquisition, they opted to drop that feature, keeping the vastly inferior Mandrake package management. Sorry, guys, I wento to Ubuntu, and never looked back.
The main thing I miss now is the Conectiva keyboard mapping. There are some subtle but significant differences in the way US-style keyboards handle accented characters, and Conectiva had the smartest setup (easiest to use, less keystrokes needed).
My major concern is going to be Pulse Audio. When 2008.1 came out, I migrated from 2008.0. I found out there were patches made to SDL that broke compatibility with many Linux games. It took weeks of "digging them out." to solve the problems. Now sound works the way it should. I'm frightened that it will mean more digging up bad patches in SDL to stop annoying crackling effects in games.
Also, not every computer I own has a "nice" Nvidia FX5200. A few of them have older Sis, Matrox, Intel, and my Cooker Box which has one of the 2009.0 release candidates on it has a Voodoo 3. The Voodoo 3 card crashes when DRI is enabled. Not due to a proprietary driver, but due to some older cards development falling by the wayside.
Once upon a time this would have been big news on Slashdot. Now there is only about 45 comments. Mandrake/Mandriva really lost their mojo when they decided to go commercial.
Well, I downloaded the CD and am now in the process of installing it. On the CD, it ran very quickly, especially for a live CD. The usual Folder View slowness in KDE4 that I've experienced in every other distro just did not exist in Mandriva. I'm assuming they used a later nVidia driver. A nice touch. I can already tell I'll like it much better than SuSE.
SSC
I'm on Gentoo, how do you think I feel?
About a Mandriva release? Apathetic?
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace