Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris Archive

The past few years have been a roller coaster ride for Paris-based Mandrakesoft, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2003, emerged in March 2004 with a nine-month plan to repay its creditors, thanks in part to the company's first profitable quarter in the Q4 2003. Read the interview here. Elsewhere, a new version of the Mandrakelinux live CD, "Move", has been released.

Lycoris is a great distribution if you've never used Linux before. However, it focuses on the familiar, preferring commercial applications to lesser-known free alternatives. Lycoris offers an easy introduction to Linux, but the limited range of software included means the distribution is probably best suited to first-time users, says PCWorld.au.

Today, MandrakeSoft announced the immediate availability of Mandrake Linux 10.1 Community Edition. As usual, Mandrake is making this release available first to club members and those who wish to purchase media, and following a few weeks later, a general release. Mandrake 10.1 features KDE 3.2.3, Gnome 2.6, and Linux 2.6.8.1.

Lycoris, today announced that it has commenced shipping Desktop/LX 1.4 to customers after a brief delay in the original release schedule. It is available in Personal, Deluxe and PowerPak editions.

Purchasing decisions today are "based upon business metrics -- not how good the technology is," says Dan Kusnetzky of IDC. "If the business decision maker is unaware of a company or its products, the products won't be considered. If the products aren't considered, they certainly won't be selected." So, if Mandrakelinux is so user-friendly and powerful, why is it not a household word -- even compared to other Linux flavors? In a word: marketing. There is a widespread, if not universally shared, perception that Mandrakesoft's marketing efforts are far less sophisticated then its technical attributes.

DistroWatch reports that a new development version of Mandrakelinux 10.1, PPC edition, is now available. Highlights: Linux kernel 2.6.8rc2; NPTL support; X11R6.7.0, GNOME 2.6, KDE 3.2.3, etc.

When Lycoris released a new version of its popular Linux operating system, Desktop/LX 1.4, this week, it also debuted a new application integration infrastructure, nicknamed AI2 (A-I-squared).

The long awaited Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 has been officially released. Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 is available in two editions - Desktop (US$40) and Deluxe (US$50).

Mandrakelinux 10.1 beta 1 has been synchronizing to mirrors and includes many new packages. There is also a Mandrakelinux 10.1 beta 1 screenshot slideshow.

The Mandrake Linux-preinstalled MandrakeSoft PC is being offered in partnership with the Group Carrefour, big retailer in Europe, and is available in France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Monaco, and Belgium, with possible expansion to the rest of Europe.

I know that a lot of people have posted reviews on Mandrake, SuSE, Fedora, etc. but here is mine. I downloaded the first 3 Mandrake CDs from LinuxISO and then burned them to a CD while in Windows to get to work. I had a Windows XP installation on my 100GB hard drive, but I only have it on 30GB because Windows acts up so much.

Has is really been a year? How the time flew by... In July 2003 I took a gamble that's paid off like I never imagined it would. In early 2003, I came across Lycoris and Desktop/LX.

DaveFancella.com posted a mixed review of Mandrake Linux 10.

MandrakeSoft recently emerged from the bankruptcy protection it sought last year. To find out what happened and why MandrakeSoft is enjoying success, NewsForge caught up with MandrakeSoft CEO François Bancilhon, and Mandrakelinux co-founders Jacques Le Marois and Gaël Duval.