Reviews of Mandriva Linux

1. 
   DudeBoyz

   Reviewing 2009.1 Alpha (Dec 26, 2008)

   Buggy. Very buggy. Installation problems and interface problems abound.
2. 
   DudeBoyz

   Reviewing 2009.0 Final (Oct 10, 2008)

   I'm a bit confused by this release.
   
   It appears to contain KDE 4.1.2, which is the very latest and the one included with OpenSUSE Beta 2, but there seems to be a problem.
   
   There are changes to Panel Settings screens in OpenSUSE Beta 2 that do not seem to be in the final release of Mandrake 2009.
   
   I had thought that the changes to the Panel Settings was a part of KDE 4.1.2, so I expected them to appear in the final release of Mandrake 2009, yet they do not.
   
   In OpenSUSE Beta 2 with KDE 4.1.2 there are new slider graphics that are larger and easier to understand. They have also placed a Screen Edge control and a Height control on the panel editing area and added a More Settings button that contains the Panel Alignment and Visibility options. All of these changes in OpenSUSE Beta 2 with KDE 4.1.2 are good changes and increase usability, imo.
   
   But where are those additions and changes in Mandrake 2009 Final with KDE 4.1.2?
   
   I'm just not sure what is going on with this, and it is of some concern to me. KDE 4.x has a long, long way to go in order to even approach the usability and productivity of KDE 3.5.x, but the changes I observed in OpenSUSE Beta 2 are positive steps forward.
   
   I wish they were included in Mandrake 2009 Final, and am baffled as to why they are not.
   
   Mandrake still has a more full-featured default install than OpenSUSE and works great with VirtualBox 2.0.2 and GuestAdditions right out of the box. So, I do think it still deserves a rating of 4, but with a caveat in regards to the Panel Settings issue.
3. 
   sjc001

   Reviewing 2009.0 Final (Oct 9, 2008)

   How is it in regards to accelerated video drivers for an ATI HD 2600 Pro AGP 8X and something like Compiz-Fuzion?
4. 
   DudeBoyz

   Reviewing 2009.0 RC2 (Sep 26, 2008)

   Response to Twood: I do agree that Linux itself is more about stability. But remember, the GUI is just a process that runs on top of the OS. You can run and control just about everything you want at the command line.
   
   Killing the GUI (CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE) and restarting it (STARTX) is just as easy as opening and closing an application like OpenOffice.org Writer or FireFox 3.
   
   So when I'm referring to sluggish and ease of use issues, in my mind I'm only considering the GUI and perhaps the installation processes and performance and I'm not trying to denigrate the underlying Operating System.
   
   Mandriva makes its own install, and I'm pretty pleased with the speed of the RC2 install. But the KDE 4.x interface and support applications they load by default is something I feel comfortable criticizing.
   
   They may tweak / tune the KDE 4.x setup in a manner that is different than other distributions and may enable certain effects, applications and other processes differently as well.
   
   I can tell, for example, that there are different defaults in openSUSE 11.1 Beta than in Mandriva 2009 RC2. I like Mandriva's install better. It asks less questions, seems faster and installs more relevant support applications.
   
   In explanation, VirtualBox 2.0.2 Guest Additions loads with no sweat on Mandriva, but in openSUSE 11.1, I have to manually install some Kernel and GNU related options and go through a Kernel recompile in order to get VirtualBox 2.0.2 Guest Additions to successfully install.
   
   So while I do agree that the underlying foundation, the actual OS itself, needs to keep the focus on stability, I do think that it is fair to suggest that a particular distribution improve on their installation code and the settings and options for the GUI's they include to run on top of the core OS.
   
   Hope that clears it up. :)
   
   Mandriva 2009 RC2 Review Specifics
   
   As for the Mandriva 2009 RC2 version, it seems to be working well. I'm not noticing much in the way of improved performance yet, but I'm also not noticing any negative developments yet either.
   
   I still wish it included FLASH by default because it is such a universally available app and so many sites depend on it, but if you open up Firefox and choose Manual Install when prompted and then choose the .RPM FOR LINUX install, you can click the "Agree and install now" button, select to open it with the Software Installer, choose install and give your ROOT PASSWORD, the FLASH Plug-In install is much less annoying / painful to deal with.
   
   Knowing that particular sequence saves me a lot of hassle, but it wasn't provided to my by Mandriva and if Mandriva had included the FLASH Plug-In from the get-go, I would not have had to spend a bunch of time looking for that sequence.
   
   Plus, don't you think Adobe would be totally fine with Mandriva including that Plug-In by default? Certainly they would not object to it if Mandriva chose to have it pre-installed, would they?
   
   I'd go for a 3.5 if it was available. Perhaps the shipping version I'll feel more comfortable with a rating of 4.
   
   UPDATE: IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENT IN RC2
   
   There was a bug in RC1 that did not properly save the screen position in a VirtualBox 2.0.2 Virtual Machine with GuestAdditions installed.
   
   This bug has been corrected in this RC2 release, and accordingly, I feel comfortable changing the rating to a 4. It is an important improvement that was submitted to them as a bug only after RC1 was released.
   
   I hope there is a direct correlation between the bug report and the change in function. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that there is. Well done, Mandriva.
5. 
   Banquo

   Reviewing 2009.0 RC2 (Sep 25, 2008)

   I'm more a Fedora person as far as Linux goes but this is coming along nicely too. Looking forward to trying the final.

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