Ladislav Bodnar writes “Mandrake Linux 9.1, a GNU/Linux distribution in the making, is currently under intensive development. This review is an attempt to compare its first beta to Mandrake Linux 9.0, which I have been using for several months. What are the main improvements? The major difference as I can see between the two releases is that MandrakeSoft has updated practically all the packages in 9.0. In the process they have solved a number of small but annoying bugs that plagued 9.0, while keeping the qualities that users have come to appreciate in their various releases: ease of installation, speed and usability.” Read the review at DistroWatch
Review: Mandrake Linux 9.1 Beta 1
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while keeping the qualities that users have come to appreciate in their various releases: ease of installation, speed and usability.
Is that a eufemism for “they still don’t innovate anymore”?
BTW, Mandrake 9.0 was the first distribution to ship with KDE 3.0 and gcc 3.2.
Mandrake 9.1 is likely to be the first distribution to ship with KDE 3.1 and XFree86 4.3.
The early Mandrake distributions distinguished themselves from RedHat by supporting KDE and 586 processors.
What more do you want? Mandrake has always innovated as a GNU/Linux distribution.
Incorrect. Gentoo was the first distribution to ship with GCC 3.2. Also the KDE3.1 alphas have been avaible in Gentoo since forever, you just have to unmask the packages.
It would be the first with KDE 3.1 if they beat Phoebe in releasing it.
What more do you want?
Some *newer* innovation, maybe? A business model that actually brings in profit?
I tend to only use it to pull over bits that aren’t included in Yoper these days.
It still works great, and it’s really nice to have in case I majorly f*ck up my Yoper install, but it just isn’t as warm and fuzzy to me as Yoper is.
Conversely, Yoper’s only in RC3 status right now, and thus everything I want isn’t available specifically for Yoper yet. It’s nice to be able to try elements of Mandrake, and then if they don’t work, just delete without losing anything in either OS.
Maybe 9.1 will make me give Mandrake a little more time, but I doubt it. Yoper’s really nice!
The installation could be alot better for example.. It hasn’t been changed significantly since 8.0. At the time it was the best, but for some reason they just stopped making it easier, faster and more attractive.
Really? Does Gentoo have any *stable* release using GCC 3.2?
Really? Does Gentoo have any *stable* release using GCC 3.2?
Does Mandrake have any *stable* release? 🙂
the creation of the drake apps and esspecialy disk drake was an inovation…..to bad they have stalled since 7.2 and have done no inovations since then.
Using KDE is innovative? Even though I’m a KDE user I think using Gnome as default desktop would be more innovative since that one is very rare nowadays besides RedHat and Ximian. Additional features could be innovative, but that’s something only Apple seem to be capable of as of late (again).
Datschge… How would using Gnome as a default be innovative? Just because something is different from the majority doesn’t make it ‘innovtive’.
Chris
In agreement with several other comments posted above, Mandrake has lost its innovation for being a ‘Desktop distro’ since 8.0; This is gradually slipping to Redhat. Puhleeze, at least the could change the look of the installer. The fonts are too big in the screenshots. Redhat 8 does a much better job. The final-most and worst problem with Mandrake is unstable apps, most likely due to their quick release schedule on this distro.
I can only wish them luck in staying alive.
> to{sic} bad they have stalled since 7.2 and have done no inovations{sic} since then
At the risk of getting flamed here, my honest opinion is that the world is not ready to see anything innovative out of a “desktop” Linux distribution until all the basics are there. When I can plug in my digital camera and have it detect and install drivers, when I can hit my hotsync button on my PDA cradle and have it sync without a problem, when I can have all my NTFS drives mounted as at least read only without needing to recompile the kernel (yes, I know Mandrake is one of the few that actually does this), when I can have a clipboard that works across all applications and handles all forms of text/images/objects, and when a myriad of other things get up to par then I will finally be ready to see some innovation on the Linux desktop.
Don’t get me wrong… I love my Linux install. But my wife sure won’t until it does what her Win98 box does. Sigh.
“I will finally be ready to see some innovation on the Linux desktop.”
Well contrary to that belief their is and always has been innnovation going on with the linux desktop. It may just not the be the innovation your looking for, aka a Windows clone. Also everything done on linux isn’t a ripoff of windows or OS X, that one gets really old. The thing is, Linux isn’t a general purpose home OS. When talking about Linux use at home, its really for those willing to put in the time learn how to use it. Sure the goal for the past few years has been making it look pretty, but really that is a side issue. Linux is for technical users only. Even then people forget you didn’t learn how to use Windows overnight. In fact most windows users I know only know the bare essentials. If they had started out with Linux years ago I’m sure that would be the case as well. They would still be blissfully clicking the one or two icons they know just like in Windows.
All the time I see people who decide to dual boot with XP and then do things like bitch about this and that not working like in Windows. Well you know what? Linux isn’t windows. If you want all the functionality and features of Windows, use Windows not Linux. Sure the journalists,if you can call them that, love to pit Linux against Windows, but really what’s the point? It only leads to people actually thinking Linux is somehow a dropin replacement for windows, which it isn’t.
I personally use and love Linux as a desktop, but I also 1) have put in the time to learn how to use it 2)buy hardware that I know supports linux well 3) am not trying to recreate Windows on my PC. If your not willing to do all of the above don’t bother with Linux. Stick with your Windows install. You’ll be a lot happier and those of us who use Linux won’t have to listen to all of the bitching about how Linux isn’t as good as Windows.
If you waiting for the perfect Linux release to come along that shows up Windows or OS X, don’t bother, its not coming and never will be.
Oh BTW, you can get rid of that ugly Grub bootloader by booting of the windows XP cdrom and then running Fixboot and Fixmbr from the recovery console. No charge for that one.
Please stop telling me a hundred times that you can’t read NTFS properly in linux. For example, the ntfs rpm for Redhat 8.0 is here : http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/info/redhat.html , with full and easy instructions (no compiling crap). Please think before posting.
I absolutely understand what you’re saying about the comparison to Windows or Mac OSX. Linux is not either of those, nor should it attempt to merely clone them just so that it will be accepted as an alternative. However, if we’re talking about Linux on the “desktop” (which I only was due to Mandrake being categorized as more of a desktop linux), what else can home users compare it to but Windows and MacOS? There are things that desktop users expect to be able to do on their computer.
Now maybe you think Linux has no place on the desktop. By your quote about “those of us who use Linux won’t have to listen to all of the bitching about how Linux isn’t as good as Windows” I assume that your attitude is one that’s somewhere between a ‘use-what-works’ and a ‘linux-is-only-for-the-133t-d00d’. However, I see the potential for everyone to be able to use Linux on their computer. And I definitely see that distros like Mandrake have concentrated a lot of effort towards innovation. My only gripe is that I think the emphasis needs to be *less* on innovating (for now) until some more of the functionality is in place. It makes no sense to spend too much time polishing the chrome when the doors aren’t on the car. Unless, of course, you only see Linux as a dune-buggy OS (in keeping with my analogy).
> Please stop telling me a hundred times that you can’t read
> NTFS properly in linux. For example, the ntfs rpm for Redhat
> 8.0 is here : http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/info/redhat.html, with full
> and easy instructions (no compiling crap). Please think
> before posting.
No, no. You’ve got it wrong. In order to be “easy” for someone other than you and I, the rpm sould have been here: http://www.redhat.com. The easy thing would be to have that placed nice and properly in the ISO image.
lol @ Matt
I agree, for it to be easy for someone like my mother it would have to be in the ISO. But then, she is one of those windows users that only clicks those couple of icons she knows. Linux won’t be a desktop for the masses until it does everything windows does. Not to say it has to do it all the same way, it just has to get it all done. The average computer user will not even stand having to go get drivers for a lot of stuff.
Also, I have used Mandrake since 7.1. It was very innovative then. Now however, it is not. Redhat I’ve used since 5.2, comparing current distros it is more innovative than Mandrake.
Posted from Mozilla in XP.
Cause my spare parts are not up and running yet.
(hint: I am sick of dual booting, and as soon as I get them going I’ll have Linux on the better machine)
moo
It is for probably for legal issues that Redhat does not ship NTFS.
By the way, why don’t you ask that Windows XP ship with a driver for ext2 and ext3? Microsoft does not have to be afraid of any legal issue about it!!
> It is for probably for legal issues that Redhat does not ship NTFS
> why don’t you ask that Windows XP ship with a driver for ext2 and ext3
Excellent point. Windows has always existed as if it’s the only thing out there. Case in point, Windows has never been able to read Mac floppies, but Macs read Windows floppies. It’s probably a survival thing as much as it is a convenience.
So what is your point? Redhat isn’t marketing itself as a Joe-user distro; Xandros is, and they even have the ability to resize partitions, and its on their cd.
It still doesn’t play pool on Yahoo!!! Even Mandrake can’t pull off that trick. Linux can’t pool on Yahoo. PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!