Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring Released

AdamWill writes "Mandriva is proud to announce the release of Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring. Download the hybrid live / install One or the purely free / open source software Free. Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring includes the latest software (KDE 3.5.6, GNOME 2.18, Firefox and Thunderbird 2.0) and several major new features: Metisse, the most innovative accelerated 3D desktop technology; open source telephony with WengoPhone; Google desktop applications including Picasa and Earth; updates and improvements to many of the Mandriva configuration tools, and the brand new drakvirt for configuring virtualization; significantly improved hardware support, including greatly improved graphics card detection and support for several common laptop memory card readers; and a brand new desktop theme. Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring is available in the full range of editions, including the freely downloadable One and Free, as well as the commercial Discovery, Powerpack and Powerpack+. For more information see the Spring product page and the Wiki page, where you can find download and installation instructions, the Release Tour, the Release Notes and the Errata."

Why announce this over the other distros?

[Anonymous Coward]

I got to admit that Linux is for nerds, I love it. But why is this more interesting then say Sabayon? Leave it to distrowatch, or tell me if some new distro is doing something newsworthy.

Re:adverts

[goombah99]

Let's write our own adds. Post below why you think Mandriva is good. What's its forte. What sets it apart. Why would I choose this distro? Be sure to post a soundbite too. for example "Ubuntu: it's the desktop linux for people who aren't experts". Or Debian "Steady and depandable, and an awesome package (manager)". etc.. Damn Small " Small and fast, in and out quickly".

Re:adverts

[MisterCookie]

Like Ubuntu's any better in not spamming adverts? Take a look at digg.com, if it has the word ubuntu in the title, it makes frontpage.

Re:adverts

[zippthorne]

Actually.. Mandrake used to be the "desktop linux for people who aren't experts." I remember buying my first copy of it in Best Buy about 7 years ago. Came with a good deal of documentation, and worked pretty well right outta the box. I think it was somewhat of a Red Hat fork at the time (it used RPM, and claimed to use DEB too IIRC, but I don't remember trying anything but RPM.) During the time when Red Hat was a bear to download (at my university connection, it would've taken me weeks to get the ISO) the next version of Mandrake was a quick 2-hour d/l away.

Anyway, I've always found Mandrake easy to configure (with their drake- graphical utilities). In some ways it was easier than Ubuntu. It certainly had a friendlier (though not easier) install process. Drakedisk was the most intuitive, stable, and asthetically pleasing graphical partition manager I've used. It was far better than Ubuntu's offering in that area.

The thing that Ubuntu did better than mandrake enough to make me switch though was package management. Mandrake had OK management, actually, good management for the pay-version, but the free version had to either hack something together to use their freely accessable but intended for-pay package servers or hunt down updates for every package manually.

Re:Metisse seems like a novelty.

[zsau]

Some of the effects they show in the demonstration videos are actually useful in contexts we're not used to. If you have a tabletop computer with a large screen and people are sitting around it, window rotation could be very practical. (One of the demo videos shows exactly that.)

Some of the weird tilting effects by themselves are completely useless, but if you start dragging text to copy it from a non-topmost window, a window partial obscuring it automatically tilts away so you can see what you're copying. This feels like it'd be one of those features that once you get used to it, it's indispensible. I only tried it for two or three days, so I can't really get

So yeah ... Metisse is both "look at what we can do!" and "these ideas of ours have practical application": A guided search. Beryl and Compiz both seem to be "look at what we can do!": If you shoot enough arrows, one will hit bullseye.

Re:Why?

[Chandon Seldon]

Mandriva is a legitimate zero cost commercially supported desktop Linux distribution. There is only one other distribution in that category: Ubuntu. Having a bunch of distros in the same niche would be redundant, but having two is a good thing. Mandriva is definatly one of the major players, and they have been for a very long time.

real productivity gain...

[Anonymous Coward]

Can only be attained when you know on which virtual desktop you want to go and go there in a fraction of a second using a keyboard shortcut. If you have to look at a pager then click on it, you're wasting time... I'm not criticizing the "oh shiny" pagers/3D desktops etc. but I'm simply saying that if productivity is a concern, then you better organize your virtual desktops in a way that makes sense for you, that you can remember easily, and to which you can switch in no time by using the keyboard (without looking at it of course, otherwise you're also wasting time and you'd be better to take touch-typing lessons).

Re:Why?

[dragonturtle69]

About 6 billion distributions would be nice, one for each person on Earth. Change the kernel, change the desktop environment, customize (not just the GUI or settings) your applications as you see fit, and add or remove whatever you wish from the stock distribution. That is why I truly enjoy using Linux. I know that there is some nit picking to be made about what is a "distribution", but I am sure everyone understands what I mean.

To illustrate what I mean:

I wish Mandriva well, and hope that they no longer make the same decisions that led to me formatting that partition. When JRE became a for cost plugin, I left. I have no problem paying for software, but don't charge me to use what someone else is providing for free. There were workarounds, but they left the browser and plugins outside the standard update path. Ubuntu is a nice distribution, along with Kbuntu and friends, but the lack of a root account felt very odd. Maybe I did not give it enough time. I know that, again, there are workarounds. But if I have to work around my OS, why am I using it? At work, its all about Windows. Workarounds make some sense there, since I am being paid. Speaking generally of all OS's, why would I pay for an OS for private use, then work to make it do what I wish, how I wish? Suse and Slackware are my current distributions, with Slackware taking me back to where I started with Linux, ZIPSlack. Knoppix, DSL, and Slax have all played a role with my bootable CD distribution needs. Each of these has strengths and weaknesses. Being able to choose is a strength of OSS and Linux, and why I promote them. If something doesn't work the way that you wish, change it or change your distribution.

Each change was mine to make. I controlled what happened on my PC's and how. If I felt a workaround was either too much work or would break something later, I moved to another that met my needs more closely. Limiting distributions would limit choice.

How many distributions? However many we decide to make!

Re:I'm sick of Linux

[Vintermann]

Perhaps you could try... oh, I don't know, Mandriva?

I use it, wouldn't switch to a mac for the world. They don't even have the keys where they should be!

Re:I'm sick of Linux

[WaZiX]

You've been using linux for 10 years and it took you hours to fix your xorg.conf?

How hard is it to add a couple of "widthxheight" in a text file? Or even easier: to run dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg so you can add them by just selecting the resolution (and giving your monitor refresh rates at the same time).

Oh, and by the way, if you had fired up an IRC client and connected to #ubuntu, it would have probably taken you 5 minutes tops.

Re:I'm sick of Linux

[advid.net]

I've been using Linux for ten years now also: from Linux Mandrake v5 (1998).

I'm still regularly frustrated by some problems that come again and again with each release, it is tiring, yes. But I'm not sick with it yet. Really good job have been done, some features are wonderful (drak-* and package management is 98% operational), uptime is good, custom adjustments unbeatable.

And as you said it "Linux is now really almost ready for the desktop, and world domination is just around the corner", so keep the faith and hope!