Mandrva 2009.0

[MyWorld]

I have to say I'm impressed, short and sweet.

It has been quite a while since I tried a distro like this (non-rolling distro) and almost everything went flawlessly.

The install was amazingly easy, updating the current software was just a breeze, and setting up most of the hardware painless.

Add the non-free repositories/mirrors and you have the complete Mandriva 2009.0 with no set-backs.

My only gripe, as always, once you start down the "the wizard knows best" path there is very little you can do in terms of self configuring your system.

Take the wireless for example. I could not get WPA security to play nice with dracconnect, in short, dracconnect is broken in regards to WPA (something I would be very worried about if I was a dev pushing this for the corporate environment).
As soon as you make changes in the usual files and try and connect, the "wizard of Mandirva" erases your settings and leave you a little frustrated.
Luckily wifi-radar seems to be working with WPA.

What super impressed me was an app I found for WINE, wine-doors. A gui front end for WINE that really makes installing MS/windows apps as easy as pointing it to the installer.
I got MS Works 6.0 installed in double quick time (do not ask why MS Works), no hassles and no problems, Works being notorious for being one of the most difficult apps to install via WINE.

SUPER IMPRESSED!

I'm going to throw a few arb hardware at it, printers, cellphones and what-not to see what happens, so far very good indeed!

 

[wezhira]

It is truly awesome i just have one problem with it it does not come with wvdial or kppp so can't use my phone as a modem can't use huawei e220 either wtf were they thinking winedoors is truly amazing i used it in pclinuxos

 

[MyWorld]

I'm struggling a bit atm to get WPA authentication, and I discovered that Mandriva does not have a very well maintained wiki, docs, etc.

Will see how it goes.

 

[stickytoffee]

Have you tried Ubuntu 8.10 yet? How does this compare?

 

[Slobber]

@myworld: Where did you download yours from? The copy I got off the IS mirror seemed pokey poked. Very keen to try it, as so far all Mandriva I have sene rawks!.

 

[web]

Have you tried Ubuntu 8.10 yet? How does this compare?

Yes its like going backwards when you use Ubuntu 8.10 compared to Mandriva 2009

 

[stickytoffee]

Yes its like going backwards when you use Ubuntu 8.10 compared to Mandriva 2009

Really? I was waiting for Ubuntu 9.04 to be released to try a new Linux... Currently using Gentoo, but like to try out the new versions of various other flavours... Might give this a go this weekend

 

[web]

Really? I was waiting for Ubuntu 9.04 to be released to try a new Linux... Currently using Gentoo, but like to try out the new versions of various other flavours... Might give this a go this weekend

Like everything it's a personal opinion, I have been using Mandriva or Opensuse for ages when they were Mandrake and just plain SuSe. Yes ubuntu's forums are bigger and better but thats about it in my humble opinion.

 

[Chris_H]

Like everything it's a personal opinion, I have been using Mandriva or Opensuse for ages when they were Mandrake and just plain SuSe. Yes ubuntu's forums are bigger and better but thats about it in my humble opinion.

I tried Mandriva 09 but it would not work with my wireless network card so I installed Ubuntu 8.10 and everything worked a-ok... my Intel graphics are just a tad slow though but at least there are forums where people helped... most of the Mandriva forums I've searched to get my wireless working was full of "don't waste our time noob" type of people that never had a good word to say to anyone looking for help and that put me off beeeeeeeg time

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Also had a shufty at Mandriva and Ubuntu - and Ubuntu worked for me as it was able to pick up my LG KS360 phone correctly the first time round. Mandriva did not even detect it.

Also, I had intermittent solid freezes with Mandriva - with Ubuntu there wasn't such problems.

 

[MyWorld]

Regarding Ubuntu, read my signature...

If you still don't get it, I hate Gnome, and what's that, Ubuntu ships Gnome default???


I do not fancy Ubuntu, just don't know why, but I don't. The last Ubuntu I tested was 6.something.

Mandriva is good, not Gentoo, but good. I got everything up and running, the wireless is just a bit flaky, after every reboot I have to tweak the settings in WiFi-radar till is works.

The only thing that can be a bit overwhelming is the lack of wizard less support. Mandriva love their wizards!

 

[wezhira]

i'm a die hard opensuse user mandriva being my secondary distro but i got so disappointed from 2008 when they stopped shipping with wvdial kppp etc wtf are the people at mandriva thinking. they assumed that everyone has a broadband connection . i dislike ubuntu dislike gnome too but i can use fedora with all its issues
i find ubuntu boring sure everything may work but they joy of getting it too work has gone
i'm waiting patiently for pclinuxos 2009 2007 was awesome

 

[Kloon]

If you still don't get it, I hate Gnome, and what's that, Ubuntu ships Gnome default???

Well then try Kubuntu, it ships KDE default.

 

[MyWorld]

I forgot to answer the download question. I downloaded from IS, no problems here, but at over 4Gb it is usually a shocker to the system since you only use a fraction of the downloaded ISO.

Would love for them to only ship a basic install CD and the option to install everything else of the net.

Everything in Mandriva is set, so my wife is happy, so am I!

 

[Tux]

What I like about mandriva. Picked up my Windows mobile phone with a minimum of fuss, unlike ubuntu or opensuse...

 

[Slobber]

Soz to hear about your LG Librarian. Mandriva picked up my HTC and charges it and also allows me to use it as a 3G modem. Was quite suprised, as with XP I needed to install all sorts of *****.

 

[web]

I forgot to answer the download question. I downloaded from IS, no problems here, but at over 4Gb it is usually a shocker to the system since you only use a fraction of the downloaded ISO.

Would love for them to only ship a basic install CD and the option to install everything else of the net.

Everything in Mandriva is set, so my wife is happy, so am I!

There is a basic install cd, unfourtanetly its a live CD so there are a few pakages missing.

 

[Slobber]

@myworld: Thanks for the download info. I decided to waste another 4GB on IS, but this time it wasnt a waste. 2009 is now running. What was a bit disappointing is that when I tried to upgrade from 2008.1, it went pearshaped. So this comes to you from a fresh install. But liking the KDE4 (no thanks gnome fanboi's I dont want to here how wonderful gnome is) so far.

Thanks again!