Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 11th Oct 2007 22:25 UTC
Earlier this week, Mandriva released Mandriva Linux 2008.0, the latest version of their flagship Linux distribution. Mandriva was so kind as to provide me with a copy of Mandriva Linux 2008.0 PowerPack, the commercial version. Back when it was named Mandrake, it was my first ever Linux distribution (I bought a Linux magazine), so I have always had a special place for Mandriva. Read on for a review.
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RE: Multimedia is a plus in Mandriva
by nutshell42 on Fri 12th Oct 2007 17:15
in reply to "Multimedia is a plus in Mandriva"
Member since:2006-01-12
or more mouse clicks (Suse requires the uninstallation of their crippled kaffeine, amarok and xine and the installation of packman's kaffeine, amarok and libxine).
Actually that's not true for OS10.3. I clicked on a mp3, kaffeine launched, told me it lacked codecs and gave me a link. When you click on it it takes you to a help page with one of SuSE's meta-package links (does anyone else use them? They're great), that then was busy for about 20mins installing uncrippled media players, java, flash and all the other stuff.
It's really great.
Unfortunately SuSE's still dooooooog slooooowwwww compared to other distros. So back to PCLinuxOS
Compare that to my Mandrake experience:
1. Download page needs JS, I hate those pages.
2. After activating it and selecting the first download link I get a 404
3. The third works but stalls half way through.
4. You Fail.
Edited 2007-10-12 17:17
RE[2]: Multimedia is a plus in Mandriva
by AdamW on Fri 12th Oct 2007 18:50
in reply to "RE: Multimedia is a plus in Mandriva"
Member since:2005-07-06
I just tested the download page. The first link in the list is to the Austrian server, http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/pub/linux/Mandrakelinux/official/iso/2008.0 . I checked, and this download worked correctly.
The FTP / HTTP mirrors are under heavy load at the moment. It's a better idea to use the BitTorrent downloads, which are linked right there on the downloads page.
RE[2]: Multimedia is a plus in Mandriva
by porcel on Fri 12th Oct 2007 20:33
in reply to "RE: Multimedia is a plus in Mandriva"
Member since:2006-01-28
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:04 UTC
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:01 UTC
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 17:52 UTC
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 22:23 UTC
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. We’ll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that it’s usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:38 UTC
"The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:30 UTC, submitted by JRepin
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 22:06 UTC
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:45 UTC
"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 15:53 UTC
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 22:43 UTC
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.More News »
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I think a big selling issue for Mandriva is that they have paid-for codecs so that all your multimedia needs are covered out of the box.
Of course, this can be done in other distributions with a few mouse clicks (Ubuntu) or more mouse clicks (Suse requires the uninstallation of their crippled kaffeine, amarok and xine and the installation of packman's kaffeine, amarok and libxine).
But in the ease of use department for a new user, having codecs work out of the box is miles ahead in importance than the fact that they use the best application for the task, irrespective of which toolkit was used to write it.
In fact, most windows users are very much used to having all kinds of applications use all kinds of layout, widgets and toolkits, so I doubt that that is a major issue for them.
Overall, this was a good review, although I would have liked to hear a bit more about stability, responsiveness of the system and urpmi, which I hear has been improved even further in this release.