Mandrake Linux 9.0 from MandrakeSoft has established a reputation for being one of the easiest to install and user-friendly Linux distribution (often called a distro) on the market. That reputation is well deserved, and the latest release continues to improve on what has been previously offered. Like SuSE 8.1, Mandrake 9.0 has excellent documentation, designed with the beginner in mind. allowing the inexperienced or potential Linux user to easily install a system. Read the article at ExtremeTech.
Review: Mandrake Linux 9.0
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
This review is completely superficial. Only the installation process is reviewed. What happen after the installation is barely discussed in the conclusion.
Eugenia’s review some time ago was a much better and deeper look at Mandrake 9.0.
I will have to agree that this article is just a write up/introduction of the OS, and not a real review.
ExtremeTech will host 4 more such Linux-related articles throughout this week, so I hope the next articles will be more in-depth.
Something seems amiss with this distribution, Suse and RH seem to be finding a new focus and yet Mandrake still seems as weird to deal with as it ever was. Installing nvidia drivers was a whole new experience in hair pulling. Finally after sorting through many howto’s and getting that damn kernel source installed, it worked. However I managed to bork the XF86 config file and that brought the party to an end…I felt like I had a better OOB experience with RH 8.0 since it had better configuration tools( or so it seemed at the time) and had a more polished setup. I think Mandrake could take a feather out of these other distro’s hats and try a new direction. I still applaud their efforts though and hope they keep up the good work.
That I mean is basically Redhat with KDE. Dump the GTK control centre and rewrite with QT/KDE. Mandrake 9.1 has to be extra special to keep the Mandrake fans together. Concentrate more on KDE (they’ve basically done nothing with Gnome2.0), make it really special. Redhat have done wonders for Gnome, and Mandrake can do the same with KDE if they put their mind to it.
Actually Eugenia, kde-look.org are having discussions on how the kmenu should look. Maybe you could put your two cents worth in and see how it goes. Links below.
http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=3613
http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=3577
http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=3568
http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=3583
>Actually Eugenia, kde-look.org are having discussions on how the kmenu should look
I know. I don’t like any of these suggestons there. Why? Because none of these “designers” are thinking out of the box. They only think within the boundaries of how to modify the KMenu, while what is needed is a redesign of the Kicker itself. I won’t talk more about it, I will let them figure out what needs to be done.
Installing nvidia drivers was a whole new experience in hair pulling. Finally after sorting through many howto’s and getting that damn kernel source installed, it worked.
Strange. I didn’t experience any problem. I just followed the instructions in the NVidia readme. I had never installed these drivers before.
That is one UGLY concept, I do hope that doesn’t become part of KDE. š It had lots of potential until they put a balloon around it.
I have experimented all versions of Mandrake from 8.0 through 9.0 and in this last version and here are my thoughs:
–Pros:
-Ease of use in both Gnome and KDE.
-Easy configuration in Control Center
-Installation
-Good manuals and documentation for the novice
–Cons:
-Still many buggy applications (Linuxconf, Mozilla, Konqueror and others; even KDE sometimes locks when trying to logon or Gnome causes a non clean reboot when trying to reboot the machine)
-Many applications (mostly server programs) still don’t have configuration wizards and one have to figure out wich configuration file the application is using (e.g. the DNS sincronization client ez-ipupdate). I guess this is because of the nature of UNIX. There is no such a thingg like the registry in UNIX.
-Some applications are really slow to load (I mean like more than 30 seconds to bring up the program window). I recall Mozilla and OpenOffice.org for being very slow to load.
Conclusion:
Despite some bugs and the time it takes to learn a new OS I recommend Mandrake 9.0.
P.S. I now only use windows to run a chess learning program.