Distrowatch was the first to notice that the second beta of Mandrake Linux 9.1 is hitting the mirrors. Unlike the first beta, this one comes on two CDs: an 645MB ISO and a 650MB ISO image. There is plenty of pre-release and beta software, including Kernel 2.4.21pre3, XFree86 4.2.99.4, KDE 3.1rc6 and Mozilla 1.3alpha, but it also comes with the brand new OpenOffice 1.0.2.
Mandrake Linux 9.1 Beta 2 Available
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Eugenia Loli
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Neat to see them going with absolute bleeding edge software.
I just checked out master.kde.org, and there’s an RC7 folder inside the unstable folder. It’s currently locked, but I guess it’s the final?
as someone who once dual-booted linux and windows for a couple years, in mid-2002 i fell back to using just windows for the sake of simplicity. i do tech work on windows based machines for eight hours a day at work, i really need a change of pace when i come home. i followed linux developments the entire time i was using just windows and now i am going to give linux another spin. i am also going to test out the redhat 8.1 beta and see how that is while waiting for the final releases. i hope to use either redhat 8.1 or mandrake 9.1 as my primary os and not even bother with a dual boot anymore.
Perhaps you should give Suse 8.1 a shot as well? It’s the first disto I’ve come across that I felt absolutely comfortable using. I really need to try mandrake – I’ve not used it since 8.2, and I loved it then, it’s just… I think the horror stories got to me. I tried Redhat too (8.0), and I thought it looked and felt great till I tried using it. I don’t know what it was, it just left a bad taste in my mouth that I can’t explain.
Just my two cents.
You’d better try Mandrake 9.0 or RedHat 8.0. Betas might diapoint you, they just don’t work that well.
Maybe debian stable too? There is something quite great about a linux distribution that you don’t have to worry about – it’ll work to put it simple.
mandrake is good for first timers, it’s how i started. eventually i moved off of mdk to redhat-8.0. if you’re going to “switch” someone i’d suggest it. in fact, i switched someone using winxp with > 1yr computer experience onto mandrake 9.0. and they love it!
I think the whole linux story is wrong. No consistency, unintuitive and geeky (admit it…yeah, yeah, not for the desktop, i see). Plague of distros coming out like ‘religion’ some centuries ago. I just wonder how and when Linux will feel final. I wonder when I can REALLY say that I TRULY love using it. So much uncertainty of this OS. This, i think, is one consequence of being free.
i’ve installed mandrake 9.0(dolphin) yesterday, its my first time trying mandrake, i used suse before that. Well, i would say , i really loved it and felt ready to switch to linux for the first time. Well, its not maybe as fast as my winme OS, but it looks more stable, secure… Even my conexant HSF winmodem and webcam detected and worked
Wish it was possinle to netmeeting (or a software using the same protocol for video sessions) than i would totally leave MS windows behind ..
have a nice day all
Hem… So the Mandrake beta would also include OpenOffice.org1.02? That sounds really weird to me, because, working as a volunteer for OOo, I can tell you this version hasn’t been released yet. Either there has been some mispell, either you might make a mistake with one of the Openoffice.org ‘s own beta, the 643C.
Besides I wish some good luck to Mandrake Soft that is going through hard times at the moment and I hope they will succed in the long run.
Wish it was possinle to netmeeting (or a software using the same protocol for video sessions)
http://www.gnomemeeting.org/
“…working as a volunteer for OOo, I can tell you this version hasn’t been released yet”
Ah, they just forgot to tell you, that’s normal:
http://ny1.mirror.openoffice.org/stable/1.0.2/
http://sf1.mirror.openoffice.org/stable/1.0.2/
All there, with sources and binaries for Intel, Solaris and even Windows 🙂
The usual answer: It’s released when it’s announced. There is no guaranty that these files are withdrawn/replaced before announcement.
can this version of XFree can used nvidia’s driver,
I have tried that XFree4.2.99.3 can’t use nvidia driver.
You probably ment “XFree4.2.99.3 can’t use nvidia RPM-packaged drivers”. If that’s the case, get the tarballs and install from source.
“The usual answer: It’s released when it’s announced. There is no guaranty that these files are withdrawn/replaced before announcement.”
That’s true. But it still doesn’t change the fact that OpenOffice 1.0.2 is out there and it has been included in the latest Mandrake beta. So there is no “mistake” as the original poster suggested.
it is still buggy and quite rough … but mandrake 9.1 is really going to shine.
“mandrake is good for first timers, it’s how i started. eventually i moved off of mdk to redhat-8.0”
So what do you find better in Redhat 8.0 that you could not find in Mdk 9.0?!?!?!?
You could have said “I moved off to LFS, Gentoo, Debian because I feel more in control” but RH8.0 … LOL!
The fact that a distro is easy to install/use for 1st timer does not make it a bad distro for veteran linux users.
When a distro comes out on 3+ CDs I bet you’ll find all the tools under the sun that 99.99% people (users/developers/sysadmins) need.
Multiple quarterly losses will do that to you. Best of luck Mandrake, but I think it’s over.
VB
Agreed. Ive tried them all and SuSE 8.1 is by far the best fit for me too. RH8 and MD9 are definately solid releases, but I have just had WAY too much of a positive experience with SuSE 8.1 over the others. Im really excited about these new upcoming releases though. Right now is Mandrake in the press with their latest bleeding edge. In truth SuSE, RH, Mandrake, and others all have new releases in the works with all the new toys…..keep them penguins marching
I moved to RH from MDK 8.2; For one thing, the look and feel of the desktop (aka integration). Let’s not start talking about the fonts.
i was just over at the forums where you can vote for the packages you want to be included in the next release. It seems like there i s going to be a big difference between this version and version 9. It looks like they are going to include some freeware applications which aren’t open source (eg yahoo messenger) i thought it was a little strange but eh…i’m no linux distro expert. i just use mandrake 9 when i get sick of windows xp, and want an “easy” platform to learn C programming
try this free IDE:
Dev-C++
just google it and you will get to the page…..
use version 4.0 as version 5 is in Beta and having troubles with the include files.
I tried Beta 1 last week and it’s the worse Mandrake beta I’ve ever tried on my work system, so I’m wondering whether I may as well just wait for the final.
I tried the beta 1 install about 5 times, eventually getting it to work, but alas it’s was totally fux0red when booting up – so I gave up on it.
Yeah yeah – I know I should report bugs etc., but these are so generic I’m sure Mandrake soft are aware of them.
I’m really hoping 9.1 is a better release than 9.0, which I found really dissapointing, I switched over to Redhat 8.0 instead – I’ve been meddling with Mandrake since 6.0
Mandrake 9.1 needs a Desktop as stunning as Redhat 8.0 with all of the great multimedia progs that Redhat 8.0 lacks on default install – then it’ll be a real winner.
Too bad SuSE developers didn’t take the time to do simple things like test java with mozilla or else they would find that it’s broken out of the box. Didn’t bother to find out that when they compiled mozilla with gcc 3.2 that it wouldn’t work with sun’s java, compiled with 2.9x.
Just goes to show you just how much they seem to care about the basic desktop user — who would be screwed trying to access java sites without java enabled.
I am amazed at the number of people that proclaim RedHat 8.0 to be superior simpy because it looks good. Eye candy != Quality. I am not syaing they didn’t make vast improvements, but by any other measure, it is just not ready for the desktop yet.
/g
Now a day, companies are so focus more on the look of their goods than the quality built into them. Remember the saying “Can’t judge the book by its cover.”
I’m on the fence between the two distros.
Redhat reasons
To begin with, looks has a lot to do with it. RedHat 8.0 simply looks nicer than Mandrake 9.0. The fonts in RH are enough by themselves to make me want to use it.
Secondly, Redhat is THE standard, like it or not, while Mandrake….. they might not make it till spring.
Finally, simplicity. While I like using just about every app available, my family doesn’t need to be bombarded with 30 different apps that do the same thing, while having NO clue as to what they do. RedHat trimmed the fat on the menus making it an easier sell to others for me.
Mandrake reasons:
1) MP3 support (easily added in Redhat)
2) Video playback (haven’t been able to get Xine to work on RH 8.0, though I haven’t tried to hard)
3) Relatively easy menu configuration with MenuDrake.
I’ve been VERY happy with RH 8.0, though I may give Mandrake 9.1 a go if they fix up those bloody fonts.
quote:
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I am amazed at the number of people that proclaim RedHat 8.0 to be superior simpy because it looks good. Eye candy != Quality. I am not syaing they didn’t make vast improvements, but by any other measure, it is just not ready for the desktop yet.
end quote
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Erm, yes it is !
I’ve been using RedHat at home and work a lot – I successfully connected RedHat 8.0 to the windows network here, hooked up to a windows printer and did 4 or 5 quotes in Open Office, which was just as easy as it would’ve been under windows itself.
The only issues I had was compatibility between open office and microsoft office, which is hardly the fault of RedHat.
At home, I watch DVD movies, surf the net, play quake3, edit quake3 in GTKradiant etc. etc.
I’d hardly call that ‘not ready for the desktop’
I switch back to windows to do stuff in photoshop, dreamweaver, fireworks etc.
I do admit one thing, however, a linux newbie would most definately need the assistance of a reasonably experienced linux user to get everything setup correctly, but that’s is hardly a bad thing – windows is EXACTLY the same when it comes to these things, which is why so many vendors sell PC’s with windows pre-installed.
RedHat performs better on my work and home systems than Mandrake 9.0 – the only small problems are getting hold of the ‘missing’ multimedia components, which is hardly difficult.
I’m hoping Mandrake 9.1 will be the killer desktop distribution for multimedia, as it is clear that Redhat is more geared to office use.
Let me know when RedHat finally fixes their menus editing problems or lack of menu editing I should say. Then maybe I’ll think of trying RH. Untill then MDK 9.0 + apt-get + urpmi = winnar 4 me !!
If only RedHat put urpmi into its distro, it would destroy mandrake..