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What Can Mandriva Linux 2006 Mean for Home Users? 278

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the just-get-their-feet-wet dept.
sitor writes "What can Mandriva Linux 2006 mean for home users? is an article giving an extensive explanation about the pro's and con's of using a linux distribution such as Mandriva Linux 2006. It was written with people in mind that are in doubt whether linux might be something for them or not. It aims to inform them in a neutral way, understandable to newbies. Next time you have someone asking you questions about Linux not knowing whether they should try, you can just direct them to this article."
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What Can Mandriva Linux 2006 Mean for Home Users? More

What Can Mandriva Linux 2006 Mean for Home Users?

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  • Next time you have someone asking you questions about Linux not knowing whether they should try, you can just direct them to this article."

    With all respect to Mandriva, I'd much rather just point them to ubuntu [ubuntu.com]

    (I feel I should make an OS X reference, but I just can't be bothered)
    • I used Mandriva for 5 years, few months ago I moved to Ubuntu and I am not going back. Quality is important to me. I don't wan't to waste time trying to fight the system.
    • And if you need reasons to back that up, just read the 'What could be improved' section on the last page of that article. It talks about show-stopping bugs that are enabled by default if you download the wrong version. It also talks about some of the most common linux features (ability to write to FAT partitions) that are disabled and you have to compile from source to change it.

      They claim they are just trying not to run afoul of USA law, but what they've really done is trash their own distribution. (At
      • A lot of linux distros do stuff like this though... I use fedora (although if I'd have had perfect knowledge at the start I might have chosen Ubuntu) and in that you can't read/write NTFS, you can't play mp3, you can't play comercial dvds... why don't they just say on the site that they are opperating under Russia (or a country with even less regulations about copywrite) law and then have done with it, making a really good, usable out of the box distro
        • A lot of linux distros do stuff like this though... I use fedora (although if I'd have had perfect knowledge at the start I might have chosen Ubuntu) and in that you can't read/write NTFS, you can't play mp3, you can't play comercial dvds... why don't they just say on the site that they are opperating under Russia (or a country with even less regulations about copywrite) law and then have done with it, making a really good, usable out of the box distro

          That would be SimplyMEPIS. Seriously, it's Ubuntu with all the propietary stuff.

          I personally don't care, becaue i don't think it's hard at all to enable MP3s, DVDs, etc. Just a couple checks of EasyUbuntu, or some copy&paste from the Ubuntu wiki and you're all set.
        • Because they don't live in Russia and they have to obey the laws where they live, unfortunately.

          A better solution would be to have the package/installer maintainer live in Sweden. Make it his responsibility that things got packaged like that and then stop worrying about it.

          I don't so much disagree with abiding by their local laws (since they usually are mine, too) but you can't claim to have a home user solution and not have it do basic things like write FAT and play DVDs out of the box. Those are basic f

        • Re:With all respect to Mandriva.... (Score:5, Interesting)

          by ajs318 ( 655362 ) <sd_resp2@@@earthshod...co...uk> on Monday May 08, 2006 @06:13AM (#15284041)
          The problem is that Fedora is distributed from the USA, which allows stupid things to be patented. In Europe and Britain, the MP3 patents are null and void; and it is quite OK to distribute MP3 playback and recording software in those places. {As an aside, if they ever do allow software patents in the UK or Europe, all the illegally-granted patents won't automatically come into force: patent holders will have to reapply for them, and may not get them on the grounds of prior art or obviety.} Likewise in Europe and Britain, if you own a DVD then you are legally entitled to do whatever is necessary to watch it on your own equipment.
      • "It also talks about some of the most common linux features (ability to write to FAT partitions) that are disabled and you have to compile from source to change it."

        FUD.

        Where does it say you have to recompile anything to write to FAT? Anywhere near the bit that says "TIP: You can change this rather easy in the MCC in the partition management module. You go into expert mode (watch it!) and select umask=0."?
        • My appologies. I apparently skipped over his tip there. At any rate, why is that disabled by default? That doesn't sound like an 'expert' user thing to me.

          • Re:With all respect to Mandriva.... (Score:4, Informative)

            by Proud like a god ( 656928 ) on Monday May 08, 2006 @08:35AM (#15284424) Homepage
            As stated below, it's a feature of the selected security level. Access to non-linux filesystems is restricted to root in Standard security mode (there's 1 lower level and 2 higher levels iirc).

            The change in MCC isn't even a text edit, there's a check box with the label umask=0 and a description "Give write access to ordinary users". It doesn't get easier than that.
          • I think it's more of a security thing rather than a patent thing. This happens in Mandriva when you set your security level too high (although it warns you). Basically since there is no permission system in FAT, it's very insecure from a linux point of view to have a directory that's readable,writeable, and executable by everyone. That's why writing is disabled.
          • the problem is theres no usable security data on any filesystem other than one thats designed to fit with your operating systems security model. So granting access to users is something that must be decided by the OS at mount time.

            windows takes the approach of "fat volumes are wide open to all users (a pretty major security hole really)" linux takes the opposite approach of "you can't write a non-native filesystem unless root lets you".

      • "It also talks about some of the most common linux features (ability to write to FAT partitions) that are disabled and you have to compile from source to change it."

        funny, editing a configuration file is compiling from source? since when?
        I thought it was using a text editor to alter the contents of a file..like opening a word .doc file in ms word and changing the contents.

        actually, it's easier than that, change the default security setting to the next lower level and the access is granted..this can be done
      • Compile from source to write to FAT partitions?

        Since fucking when?

        I do that DAILY! ALL my Windows partitions are FAT32! I save images, Web pages...

        What the fuck is this on about?

        And I haven't seen one show-stopping bug in Mandriva 2006 (other than their braindead menu editor, which sucks.) The only one they mention in the article is is Kat, which I haven't tried yet.

        Oh, I see what they're talking about now - they're bitching that the /etc/fstab is set up for read-only on vfat by default.

        Oh, big fucking deal
    • For me ubuntu has one big problem, it only comes on one disk. I live in South Africa and most people still use dial-up, so I try to avoid downloading packages. When you get mandriva you get 5 discs, or 1 dvd full of software. Granted there is a dvd for ubuntu, but most I know have only ever used the single ubuntu disc. When I introduce them to mandriva they normally thank me cause mp3 and videos work aswell. (Note: I don't use mandriva, but it was the first distro i used)
    • Wow, really?

      I just rebuilt my SO's system and built a new one for myself (64-bit AMD yummy!)... I ran her through Ubuntu, Mandriva and Fedora Core 5. She did the installs on her system, she did the configuration and she did the post install tweaking. Considering that she's was doing all this under protest (such a luddite), with little knowledge of computers and nearly 0 knowledge of linux (except how to use firefox on the old system). At the end of the day, she chose Mandriva.

      In the end, I found that 64-bit

  • What can it mean? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It means no driver support, half-finished software, archaic text mode apps from the 1970s, a bloated buggy 2.6 kernel, definitely no games, and the idea that you're supporting a filthy French company.
    • It also means that no matter what it's called today, the name will change again. Just when you get used to something, it changes....for no good reason really.
    • RE:"and the idea that you're supporting a filthy French company."

      reminds me of another company that resides on the northwest coast of the USA

    • "...and the idea that you're supporting a filthy French company."

      I know, those damned French!

      Did you know, the French flag used to be made WITHOUT the red and blue panels?

  • Nice idea but... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by wirah ( 707347 ) on Monday May 08, 2006 @05:57AM (#15284019) Homepage Journal
    That article is rubbish. Ubuntu is obviously the choice for first-time switchers, and is the most polished and accessible distribution for newbies and gurus alike. The article doesn't seem to have much of a grasp of the concepts of Linux, or say who would switch and why, and what they'd encounter. And as for paying for mandriva so that you can play DVDs. What the hell? Who wrote this crap? Sorry, nice idea, but better articles have been written before. I think a windows->linux wiki written by past, present, and future switchers would be a much more interesting idea.

    • Re:Nice idea but... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by s31523 ( 926314 )
      Ubuntu is obviously the choice for first-time switchers
      Probably not, considering a noob would probably be like, "What is this Linux thing? I heard of it before, but what does it do again?"

      I guess I gotta ask, have you tried Mandriva? It is actually a good choice Distro for noob's, although I use Ubuntu myself on most of my machines, I still kick the tires on other Distros on other "test" machines. I just don't want to get that Windows elitist attitude about my choice OS being the "best", when there m
    • Ubuntu is obviously the choice for first-time switchers, and is the most polished and accessible distribution for newbies and gurus alike.

      Uhhhh, no it's not, not to say that Ubuntu isn't good, but Novell's SuSE Linux is the most polished and accessible distribution. Everything "Just Works" (tm) in Novell SuSE and they aren't all upitty about including binary only modules / plugins. As a bonus, you won't get laughed out of a meeting (or even better fired) for throwing the name Novell around like you will
    • As far as "the best Linux distribution" for a first-time switcher, Ubuntu is as good as any other Linux distro.... as far as there is an experienced Linux user helping thorugh the first hour or two. In my case, I recommend Mandriva because is what I use.

      You use Ubuntu, so Ubuntu is the best for you and your "first-time switcher friends", that's cool with me.

      But for me, Mandriva is the best for me and for my "first-time switcher friends", as it is what I use.

      Mandriva is very good for newbies and gurus alike:

  • next time (Score:4, Funny)

    by illtron ( 722358 ) on Monday May 08, 2006 @05:58AM (#15284022) Homepage Journal
    Next time you have someone asking you questions about Linux not knowing whether they should try, you can just direct them to this article."

    Oh, if only I could get back the time I've spent explaining Linux to neighbors and grandmothers! I've thrown away my life! I'll never get those preciouos 43 seconds back!

  • Mandriva 2006 at home (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Nuffsaid ( 855987 ) on Monday May 08, 2006 @06:11AM (#15284035)
    Linux Mandriva 2006 _is_ my home PC main operating system, i.e. the one that gets booted by default. That said, if this is one of the supposedly most "desktop friendly" distributions, i can't be very optimistic. For starters, 3D acceleration does not work. It's an ATI card, ok, but you can't dismiss what nearly half PCs use just by saying "buy supported hardware". You can blame ATI more than Mandriva, but it's a fact that the same hardware under SuSe worked with ATI drivers (other minor things didn't work, like booting reliably and not freezing). Then there's the myriad of little (and not so little) annoyances, like the KDE Control Center becoming suddenly empty. What would you say about Windows if the Control Panel icons randomly disappeared for no apparent reason? And how do you explain to your non-geek (but not illiterate) relatives that in order to download and install software it's not sufficient for the site to say "RPM - for Linux", but it must be pulled "automagically" from some repository holding just the right kind of RPM for the specific Mandriva release? IMHO, these are the kind of things that keep lots of people from using Linux on their home PCs, where things either "just work" or they are not worth fiddling in order to make them work.
    • Let's make one thing clear: Installing software from a single repository using a single UI is both simpler and more secure than doing it with a hundred different UIs from a hundred different web sites. The windows way of installing software is the opposite of "It Just Works" -- people are just used to going through all the hoops that particular installer requires (which is fine, they can keep using what works for them).

      Explaining the concept of package management to intelligent non-geeks is not difficul

    • Re:Mandriva 2006 at home (Score:5, Funny)

      by iogan ( 943605 ) on Monday May 08, 2006 @06:35AM (#15284073) Homepage
      "What would you say about Windows if the Control Panel icons randomly disappeared for no apparent reason?"

      I'd say "NOT AGAIN!!"

    • Re:Mandriva 2006 at home (Score:3, Informative)

      by jozi ( 908206 )
      [...]these are the kind of things that keep lots of people from using Linux on their home PCs, where things either "just work" or they are not worth fiddling in order to make them work

      I am not very interested in playing around with computers or operating systems. I think the computer is a wonderful invention just as I think the car is a wonderful invention. I use a computer and I use a car but I am not really interested in how they work or why things doesn't work, I just want them to work, like you said
      • It sounds like you need a mac. WIndows never "just works". You pretty much have to rebuild it every six months too.

        I have a mac, and I have a linux box, I am forced to use windows at work. FOr me mac vs linux is 50/50 for some things I prefer linux, for other I prefer the mac. I would never in a thousand years buy windows or use it for personal use. It's just too much hassle and work. Every day it does something to annoy the crap out of me.

        It's been my experience that people who like windows just don't know
        • It's been my experience that people who like windows just don't know any better.

          What a lovely generalisation you've made there. Would you like to explain this comment to someone who's used god knows how many Linux distros and FreeBSD, but has chosen Windows because he can't be fucked to go fixing it every few days? How about telling me if "just don't know any better" is, as I suspect, code for "are complete retards because they don't use my favourite operating system"?
        • WIndows never "just works". You pretty much have to rebuild it every six months too.

          I really wonder what some people do to their systems. I've had my current Windows laptop for a couple of years now. I install and uninstall all manner of stuff on a regular basis, and as yet I've never had to rebuild it.

          I've also got both a Mac and a Linux box (Fedora Core 4). I've never had to rebuild any of these either, although I do occasionally have to reconfigure the main menu bar on the Linux box when it seems to for

    • Mandriva isn't the easiest Linux distro, anymore at least. Other distros like Ubuntu and SimplyMEPIS and PCLinuxOS have surpassed it in that regard. Mepis comes with all the proprietary stuff, and Ubuntu just requires a simple download of EasyUbuntu (no installing, just extracting) to get all the proprietary stuff going.

      Using a package manager connected to repositories is certainly different from Windows, but it's not harder. If anything, it's easier, because you don't have to hunt around the internet
    • Mandriva doesn't have something like synaptic or YAST? How odd.
      • Of course it does. Everyone has a pretty admin GUI nowadays. Madrake even had one of the first ones (was kind of kludgy at the time). I suppose it's more polished nowadays. I haven't used that distro in ages.
      • Yes it does.

        It is called urpmi [mandriva.com].

        For Debian users:

        urpmi is apt
        rpm is dkpg
        rpmdrake is synaptic

        Urpmi comes both in command-line [utexas.edu] and GUI front-end [google.com]. Urpmi also comes with a "WindowsUpdate-like" tool called MandrivaUpdate [mandrakehelp.com].

        There is even an online urpmi configurator tool [zarb.org], where you can even select the program sources "forbidden" in the USA, as they contain pre-packaged programs and modules that will allow you to watch DVDs, have 3D acceleration with ATI and nVidia cards, and a whole bunch of programs that its legali
    • I am increasingly of the opinion that Linux SHOULDN'T be a desktop OS. To overcome the inherent problem that the people who decide what to fix aren't standard users, you pretty much need to pay a large staff to act in a consistent way. I run Ubuntu, and my friend wanted to give it a try. We installed it (a dapper beta, admittedly) on a free partition, and the first thing he saw of the desktop were two icons representing his windows drives. Getting to his documents was the first step in switching, so he
      • How much time do you spend setting up a new computer that is preinstalled with Windows? You will need to spend sometime setting up any new install. To change some stupid Windows defaults, you need to change regkeys sometimes. In Mandriva, with its better GUI tools, one can do most every configuration through point and click if one wants.

        The thing is, once you have it setup, it just works. The only time I need to reinstall is when a hard drive needs to be replaced.

  • What Can Grammar Lessons Mean for /. Users? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08, 2006 @06:17AM (#15284052)
    Next time you have someone asking you questions about Linux not knowing whether they should try, you can just direct them to this article.

    My eyes! My eyes are bleeding!

  • screenshots and i18n (Score:2, Interesting)

    by sankyuu ( 847178 )
    Taking a look at the screenshots on page 4 [coulier.org], i noticed that some apps (KDE?) are in Dutch, while others (Mandriva-specific?) are in English. Looks like i18n isn't finished yet, unless they mixed shots from different language installations (which i very much doubt).

    Incidentally, the reason I left Mandrake 4 years ago for Fedora (core 2, i think) was that Fedora had better Japanese language support. I also didn't like MenuDrake.. too inflexible, iirc.

  • Too early for Monday (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tacocat ( 527354 ) <tallison1&twmi,rr,com> on Monday May 08, 2006 @06:30AM (#15284065)

    Oh God!! I was't really prepared to wade through a flame war over distros this morning. What a bunch of freaking zealots! You distro fanatics make me want to puke.

    I started on Slackware because someone said it's a good distro to use if you want to learn what's really going on. I stand by that statement today. If you want to learn Linux then don't use some mamby-pamby cute distro. If you want to be a user of Linux then use whatever most resembles whatever floats your boat. Some might argue it's best to use something that looks most like Windows. Some wouldn't.

    I ran into an intersting discussion in the real world this week that I thought pertinent. The conclusion goes as follows:

    • If you want a great GUI, use Mac OS-X as there is nothing even close to it.
    • If you want a simplified server then you can choose from RedHat, SuSE, or a dozen others.
    • If you want a highly customizable server then you can choose from the less pretty distros of Debian, Slackware, Gentoo where changes are tightly controlled and lightly managed by the package manager.
    • If you want to have a workstation (any OS) that is both a simplified interface and ultimately customizable then you won't find it.

    From a practical point: most *nix servers that are not Linux based (HP/Sun/IBM) have little in the way of cute interface management tools. On these heavy lift platforms the configuration tool of choice seems to be vi more than a GUI. I don't think anyone has been able to surpass this customization and I'm not certain that it is a requirement that they do. If you don't understand the workings of the applications then a GUI interface will only permit you to do damage.

    It's very likely that my proposed list of distro's will create a lot of controversy, but first consider where you sit on the spectrum between ultimate customization of the machine and "I'll take what I get" user.

    • It's very likely that my proposed list of distro's will create a lot of controversy, but first consider where you sit on the spectrum between ultimate customization of the machine and "I'll take what I get" user.

      Unfortunately, "I'll take what I can get" is the mantra for Linux on the desktop.

      I use Linux almost exclusively on the desktop (I clock about 3 hours/6 months on my Win2k partition), but there's a good number of things I have had to learn to do without.

      Before you flame, consider these common (or inc

      • Unfortunately, "I'll take what I can get" is the mantra for Linux on the desktop.

        Isn't it rather the mantra for desktops in general? As in:
        "Why did you get Windows"
        "well that's all that came with the computer"
        or
        "that's the only system that'll run this app I need"

        In my case I don't mind that much having 40Gigs set aside for a Windows partition on one of my disks so that I can play games. I wouldn't do anything else while I'm playing anyway so it doesn't really matter that I'm in an unfriendly environment (

      • Strange because my Saitek Cybork Gold USB joystick works just fine. There are hardly any games I use it with anymore, but that is because I don't play flight sims, and there hasn't been any good space combat games lately.

        I used I think DVD Author, or maybe QDVD, something like that and it worked fine. Acidrip works great to rip DVDs.
    • "Oh God!! I was't really prepared to wade through a flame war over distros this morning."

      Then don't.
    • Well, in Nuku'alofa, Tonga [wikipedia.org]. [grin]

  • Mandrake (Score:2, Informative)

    by NVP_Radical_Dreamer ( 925080 )
    I used to use "Mandrake" back in the day when Wal*Mart sold it. I was about 15 at the time (23 now) and loved it other than the fact that I had a winmodem and it didnt work for me to connect to the internet. I toggled back and forth with it as each release came out thinking each new release was a step in the right direction.

    Then someone showed me ubuntu and I havent looked back, it does everything I've always wanted from a distro right out of the box with no tweaking necessary, at least in my case. I may

  • How long will Mandriva be around? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by FishandChips ( 695645 ) on Monday May 08, 2006 @07:01AM (#15284131) Journal
    No disrespect to Mandriva, but their "model" doesn't sound that appealing. OpenSuSE will give you pretty well the same for free (fast downloads, too) while even the official version of SuSE with extra packages on the DVD is quite a lot cheaper than the Mandriva offerings. I hate to say it, but if I had to choose a distro that was losing out as the Linux competition hots up, it is Mandriva. That doesn't mean it isn't extremely good, just that its future looks dubious to say the least. The name changes, their financial situation and news of trouble at the top doesn't help either.
    • I used to like Mandrake a lot a while back and installed it quite a bit for corporate desktop use.
      Nowadays though it's gotten fairly expensive both for domestic and small business users and I can't really understand what market they're after.

      Nowadays, especially with newcomers like Ubuntu on the scene which have done much better on the "easy access" front, I'm not sure the future looks too bright for Mandriva. They'd have to either outperform Ubuntu or to recenter their efforts on the corporate market where

  • I got a better idea (Score:3, Informative)

    by N8F8 ( 4562 ) on Monday May 08, 2006 @07:10AM (#15284152)
    http://www.phildev.net/linux/apt-quickref.html [phildev.net] Below is a quick reference to cover some of the most commonly needed apt uses.

    Download and install package:
    apt-get install package

    Update apt's list of available packages:
    apt-get update

    Upgrade all installed packages with upgrades available:
    apt-get upgrade

    Upgrade to new distro, or in general upgrade anything available for update including core system packages:
    apt-get dist-upgrade

    Uninstall package:
    apt-get remove package

    Uninstall package, and its config files, and don't leave it in the database as 'uninstalled':
    apt-get --purge remove package

    Search for a package like pattern:
    apt-cache search pattern

    Get information on installed package:
    dpkg -s package

    Find which installed package file belongs to:
    dpkg -S inetd.conf

    List which files are in package:
    apt-file list package

    Find out what packages provide file:
    apt-file search file

    Run a command (such as ./configure or make) and have all necessary packages installed as needed:
    auto-apt run command

    Unless specified, the package in reference doesn't have to be already installed for these to work... but the database needs to be updated. You can update the appropriate database via:
    apt-get update
    or
    auto-apt update
    or
    apt-file update
    • Users, even hard-core Linux geeks, don't always know the name of the software they want to install - let alone the package which contains it (I'm looking at you, KDE).

      apt-get "That game with the spaceship, where you shoot stuff"
      Even if the user had the nouse to type that at the command line, I doubt it'd work as they'd expect. ;)
    • TKS, if I could I'd moderate that to (+10, Informative).

      I used to have Conectiva, the "iva" part of Mandriva. They had a very interesting system, apt-rpm, combining apt with rpm packages. After Madrake took over Conectiva, they stopped updating Conectiva 10 and switched to Mandriva instead. As a consequence, I switched to (K)Ubuntu. Conectiva was a great distro, but Mandriva is clearly inferior. I think it's a nearly unanimous opinion that Ubuntu is the best distro for people who don't want to get too deepl

    • The above post is offtopic. Madriva is using urpmi and rpm, not apt and dpkg.

      Download and install package:
      urpmi package
      Update urpmi's list of available packages:
      urpmi.update -a

      Upgrade all installed packages with upgrades available:
      urpmi --auto-select --update

      Upgrade to new distro, or in general upgrade anything available for update including core system packages:
      urpmi --auto-select

      Uninstall package:
      urpme package

      Search for a package like pattern:
      urpmq pattern

      Get information on ins
  • I'd much rather a good solid Slackware-style distribution (preferably my own, of course, but there are other good ones, too). From what I've seen, they tend to be a hell of a lot faster, easier to configure – imagine a world without those horrible RPM's! – and probably a bit more secure as well. So far I've got everyone in my family hooked on my distribution, which is saying quite a bit actually since most of them were fighting tooth and nail just to keep Internet Explorer for a while...
  • Why would an average PC user make the effort to change over to Linux?

    Unfortunately, the average PC user running Windows Whatever doesn't even know what Linux is.

    As user friendly as distros like Ubuntu and Mandriva are, I personally have not seen many people "making the switch". I am not the type who goes out and attempts to "convert the masses", but most people do know that I use Linux at home regularly.

    The only person who has approached me for help with Linux is a fellow programmer who is learning we

    • They know Windows is insecure by default, but don't want to have to jump through hoops to chat on AIM, or post on MySpace

      You must be using a bad distro if you are jumping through hoops to do web surfing or instant messaging. Firefox and gaim solve those problems nicely. Ubuntu, SuSE, and Mandriva are not that hard to set up.
      I think people are also looking at the time spent learning and setting up as a problem. But the time is a lot less than the constant clean up of windoz. Why you don't help get a few peop

    • I largely agree. Linux seems to resemble Windows more and more with every release, and not all of us think that's a good thing.

      That said, my mother is currently using a ten year-old machine with a malware-ridden copy of Windows 95, and I've offered to upgrade everything. All she does with it is email, web, a few games (like solitaire), and occasionally edit a church newsletter with an ancient version of MS Word.

      So she's visiting the other day, and I show her what I can do with Linux (I run Fedora with Gnome

  • There are solutions to this (e.g. the installation of MS Office on Mandriva Linux with the aid of Crossover Office), but then you loose some of the advantages of Mandriva Linus (price, a bit of security,...).

    Everyone has their internet spelling nazi pet peeve, this one is mine. Drives me crazy because many otherwise intelligent people seem incapable of spelling lose.

    ~Rebecca
  • That anyone using an Nvidia graphics card can't use it. The shipped X server on the DVD ISOs, and probably the CDs as well, is broken for NVidia cards and just shows a corrupted display. You have to do a text mode update, or use VESA while you do a graphical one, for it to work properly.
    • reminds me of installing just about any other operating system. Even the big players in the OS market are rather lousy at detecting and installing proper video drivers.
      • Funny, because when I installed Windows or, hell, Ubuntu, Fedora, FreeBSD and Debian on the same box, they all worked fine, giving me a full range of resolutions and refresh rates. Mandriva was the only broken one.
  • I tried Mandriva 2006 Free... on my dad's laptop. He needed to hook-up to our wireless and couldn't figure it out how with their shitty GUI tools. Needless to say, considering the guy is a nuclear physicist, neither could I.

    Oh sure I can bring it up /by hand/ using iwconfig and dhclient. But their crappy redhat-derived network up scripts (which aren't documented ANYWHERE, unlikes Debian's/Ubuntu's) and broken-ish KDE tools (both of them - the one in the "control panel" and the dock) don't seem to understand

    • Re:Yeah (Score:3, Insightful)

      by s31523 ( 926314 )
      I can't blame just Mandriva, Wireless networking moved too fast for the Linux Distros and all of them seem to be "klunky" when it comes to Wi-Fi, but things are catching up.
      Try downloading the latest Network Manager [gnome.org], which seems to be a lot better (I am gonna try this tonight)

  • On my new centrino notebook, everything worked. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gukin ( 14148 ) on Monday May 08, 2006 @08:33AM (#15284415)
    Six months ago, I bought a Toshbia tecra S2 (it had a wicked 6600 Go video card!) and before I even booted M$, I installed Mandriva 2006 December edition (I'm a club member) Here's my experiences:

    1. Boot it up, resize the NTFS partition; windows still booted afterwards.
    2. Install the usual stuff.
    3. Observe that the wireless NIC, the wired NIC, the video, the sound AND the modem all work under mdv2006.

    No hassles, no "recompiling the kernel", no endless searches on line; install and go.

    Yeah I can just boot-n-go with M$ but I happen to like Linux, I don't like windows.

    If someone had the same laptop with a dead HDD, they didn't have recovery media and they didn't want to spend $150 on a new OS, mandriva would at least get their laptop functional.
  • I'm not a big poster but read slashdot daily. I had to post about my weekend with ubuntu... Let me first start by saying that I am a linux newbie. I'm a windows admin beginning to dable with ubuntu. I've been comfortable using Ubuntu as the default on my home laptop for about a month now. Over the weekend I decided to get the wireless card working, I had tried breifly before without success and decided to give it a real go. To make a long story short...I've read every how-to/wiki/forum on how to get wirele
    • I would agree that Wi-Fi on Linux has some issues, but as I mentioned in a previous post, the latest Network Manager [gnome.org] should help out.

      My Wireless experience with Ubuntu was a bit challenging, but only because of WPA. The hardware support is there for Intel PRO Wireless, and some others, but it is spotty. The new Network Manager should help with this as well (I'll let you know, I am installing tonight). As for any other Wireless hot-spot that is open, my Linux machine connects right away.

      I would equate

  • The article is a bit like Linux (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tverbeek ( 457094 ) on Monday May 08, 2006 @09:11AM (#15284617) Homepage
    (I realize this comment is off-topic from all the pubescent distro advocacy, but...)

    This article is actually a good introduction to Linux, though perhaps not in the way it was intended. As a competent, grammatically correct translation from another language into English, but by someone who is not a native speaker of English, it has a certain awkwardness to it, requires that the reader take a little more time to figure out what it's saying, and leaves the reader with a feeling of discomfort about just how well-polished this Linux stuff really is. If someone is put off by that, then they probably shouldn't try Linux; if they're not, it might be a good move for them.

    Understand: I'm not criticising the translator; his English is far better than any second language of mine, and better than a lot of translated-into-English I've read over the years. Just an observation.

  • How about a big fat load of NOTHING. The average home user is not adventurous enough to be curious. The average home user knows little about how the PC runs using Windows. In fact that average home user when faced with a PC that has some Linux distro on it with KDE or GNOME will ask you, "What version of Windows is that"? Or... "Is that a Mac"? The average user (thanks to MS's huge marketing and PR budget) has no idea that there is an alternative to the OS, let alone nearly all of their applications.
  • "Next time you have someone asking you questions about Linux not knowing whether they should try, you can just direct them to this article."
    The people that will maybe someday ask me that question, are probably the ones that don't speak english very well :-( Just my luck...

  • What Can Mandriva Linux 2006 Mean for Home Users? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Frankie70 ( 803801 ) on Monday May 08, 2006 @10:06AM (#15284882)
    As Elaine Benes once said "Absolootely nuttin".
  • I installed PCLinuxOS.p92 for ATI8500+ and got curious as to how it would compare with Mandriva 2006, so I installed it too.

    IMO, PCLinuxOS has better eye candy and is cleaner than Mandriva.

    I also liked the fact that after I added a certain single app ALL video files, including the CNN videos, ran faultlessly. Every 3D app (foobilliard, csmash, crace, tuxracer, etc.) worked faultlessly. In my opinion, PCLinuxOS would make a perfect distro for Windows refugees.

    But, I returned to MEPIS and installed MEPIS-6.
  • This is a purely religious argument. For every reply here where someone has stated "[distribution] runs great on my laptop, but Mandriva turned it in to a brick", I can say "Mandriva worked perfectly on my laptop right out of the box, but [distribution] turned it in to a brick".

    Everyone's Darling Linux Distribution of the Month, otherwise known as Ubuntu, can't even get through the early stages of installation. Gentoo won't either. Suse will install, but it will never boot again. Slackware installs, wil
  • the article is about Mandriva 2006 Powerpack, which is not freely for download, but a low cost commercial edition :

    http://store.mandriva.com/product_info.php?product s_id=288 [mandriva.com]
    this is a double DVD edition : 32-bit and 64-bit for EUR 54,=

    Robert

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