Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris Archive

The announcement is not out and about yet, but you can download the 3-CD beta 2 of the upcoming Mandrake Linux 9.0. Happy bug hunting.

"With great excitiment, Lycoris releases a new and incredible update to its flagship desktop operating system, Desktop/LX. Desktop/LX now includes a powerful new Control Center, Desktop Sharing, Iris (Internet Rapid Installer for Software) and much more." Read more for the rest of the press release.

From DistroWatch: "The first beta of the brand new Mandrake 9.0 release has hit the mirrors. Get the three CD images here: MandrakeLinux-9.0beta1-CD1.i586.iso (700MB), MandrakeLinux-9.0beta1-CD2.i586.iso (700MB) and MandrakeLinux-9.0beta1-CD3.i586.iso (498MB) (if these URLs don't work, try here). The version increase from 8 to 9 has been justified by a jump to KDE 3.x, Gnome 2 and GCC 3." Update: It seems that Mandrake Software does well these days. Thanks goes to Michael Matthews for the pointer.

"Would you give your grandmother a PC with Linux as its main OS? The developers of a Linux startup, Lycoris, have been trying to make the answer a more likely "yes" with their Linux package." Read the review at OnLamp. On a related note, Update 2 of Lycoris Build 44 should be available in 1-2 weeks.

"To meet the growing demand for low-cost and fully-featured personal computers, MandrakeSoft and Microtel Computer Systems will be offering PCs preloaded with Mandrake Linux at Walmart.com. Prices start at $389." Read the press release and browse the aisles of Mandrake/MicroTel/Wal-Mart PCs.

"MandrakeSoft would gain nothing by joining United Linux, and doing so would damage our reputation. Joining United Linux could destroy many of the features that have made Mandrake Linux so widely popular, such as our "easy to install, easy to use" approach. It should be noted that several recent polls indicate that the four United Linux companies currently rank lower than Mandrake Linux in market share." Read the rest of the MandrakeSoft's position on UnitedLinux.

More thumbnails and fullsize images of the new Control Panel are up under the Sneak Peek section. Have look at this great addition to Lycoris Desktop/LX before you get the new version coming out on June 17th. Our Take: Lycoris is shaping up as indeed a great desktop system! Only problem I got with these screenshots is that either Freetype or the particular font used is not up to par. The font rendering quality is truly bad, and I have noticed such problems only under Lycoris.

I keep reading review after review after review of the current crop of linux distributions. And everytime I'm annoyed at the end. I'm not annoyed by the style, or the comments, but more at the way they always end far too soon? One of the latest reviews of Lycoris is a prime example. What is this a review of? It's a review of the installation, and a quick insight into some of the packages found. To compare, it's like reviewing the opening cinematic sequence of game. You need to review the way the game plays as well! And people need to start reviewing how the distributions function over a period of time greater than a day or two. So here's my Mandrake 8.x experience.

The Lycoris Development Team is hard at work finishing Desktop/LX Update 2, a very exciting enhancement to the popular desktop operating system. Included, is a new Desktop/LX Control Center that makes it easier to accomplish configuration tasks in a simple, plain language way (screenshot). A new Desktop/LX Software Wizard allows you to install software from local media or right from the Internet using Iris, the Internet Rapid Installer for Software (IRIS). Lycoris also put work into the Desktop/LX Installer and some cosmetic changes are readily apparent (screenshot). "Fry's Electronics will be carrying Desktop/LX on the west coast. More to follow for sure. We are hard at work finishing Update 2 and dealing with our explosive growth." Jason Spisak of Lycoris told OSNews.

"As Mandrake never ported version 8.1 of their Linux distribution to the PPC platform, the latest available version till now was Mandrake PPC 8.0. While the latter certainly was a nice distribution, yet it started being really outdated and even had trouble installing on recent Apple hardware. So many people certainly wonder now whether Mandrake PPC 8.2 has been worth waiting for so long. Well, without giving anything away yet, it WAS worth waiting." Read the rest of the review at iMacLinux. Update: TheRegister also has a review, but they do not seem very happy about Mandrake 8.2 for x86.

It appears that Linux-Mandrake believes it has not angered customers as reported on many IT related web sites. According to this page, the folks at Mandrake explain how the OEM agreement they signed with Sun forced their decision (to make SO6 available only to Club members), justify the change in their membership benefits, and thank the community for their continued support of open-source R&D.

"In a long awaited move, a beta version of the 8.2/PPC has joined the i586 version of the upcoming Mandrake Linux 8.2 distribution. This beta has a bit different schedule from the i586 version, but it should be roughly equivalent to beta2, with a few bug-fixes, and some PPC-specific features." Read about the new PPC features at Linux Mandrake. In related PPC news, Yellow Dog Linux 2.2 is now available for purchase.

Many companies tried to create a truly easy-to-use Linux distribution, but as they say in Greece "they reached the well, but weren't able to drink water". Corel, Mandrake, Lindows, Xandros, Stormix and many other distros tried or are still trying to bring Linux closer to Windows' ease of use and the millions of the desktop-oriented users. One of the new distributions that has many people impressed so far, is Lycoris (formerly known as 'Redmond Linux'). OSNews tested the latest Lycoris Desktop/LX and here is what we experienced.

"Even though all of us here at MandrakeSoft are excited about the upcoming release, we've also been distracted by financial concerns. Despite continuous good reviews in the press; despite having millions of users throughout the world; despite producing an award-winning Linux distribution that is a solid competitor to both UNIX and Window$, the Mandrake Linux distribution's short-term future is in jeopardy due to a simple factor: money." Read the rest of the article at Mandrake's own web site. IMNSHO Commentary: After the comically tragic news about the end of Loki Games which apparently did not pay some employees since end of 2000 and "a single employee is listed in creditor filings as being owed almost $350,000 in unpaid salary and in expenses the company incurred using the employee's credit card" and many other Linux companies in the past, now is Mandrake's turn to have money trouble. Except Red Hat Linux (who are specifically targetting servers and the Enterprise market instead of desktop users), none of the "desktop" Linux-oriented companies makes real money or even survived the... GPL (you can argue as much as you want about that - be my guest).