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Mandrake 9.2 Initial Review 403

Posted by michael from the fast-food dept.
joestar writes "Mandrake Linux 9.2 was released yesterday, and a first review is already available at ofb.biz! It focuses on the new desktop-oriented Mandrake 9.2 flavor, the Discovery, a 2-CD office/multimedia product for beginners which comes without any server capability. It seems that a new competitor to Windows is born, and according to Tim Butler, 'Another key to making a distribution novice friendly is insuring that everything works out of the box, and Mandrake Linux 9.2 succeeds there.(...) To the best of my knowledge the only other distribution presently including the Radeon drivers from ATI is Lindows.' Waiting for reviews of 'real' Mandrake 9.2 products (PowerPack, Corporate Server...), this review is nevertheless quite comprehensive and very interesting reading, and this new Mandrake Discovery thing should do well with the public, at least as an office desktop affordable solution in corporations."
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Mandrake 9.2 Initial Review More

Mandrake 9.2 Initial Review

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  • Discovery. (Score:3, Informative)

    by ideatrack ( 702667 ) on Thursday October 16, 2003 @09:45AM (#7229220)
    I like the look of this Discovery package, if it lives up to it's promise.

    The main thing putting most everyday users off Linux (arguably the people who need it most, just look at the reaaction to Blaster) is how to learn it. XP is dayglo and simple, that's why people use it.

    If Discovery is attractive, easy, and comes with a nice little introduction to get started, that's got to be a good thing.

    • Re:Discovery. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by garett_spencley ( 193892 ) on Thursday October 16, 2003 @10:16AM (#7229557) Journal
      XP is the "latest greatest", and it's down right stable compared to 9x/ME.

      Simplicity has nothing to do with anything. XP really isn't that simple to use, at least compared to MacOS, yet Windows still has the majority of the market share.

      There a few reasons people use Windows:

      1) It came with their computer.
      2) They have no reason to change.
      3) Everything imaginable, just, plain, works.

      I'll elaborate on point #3. Devices, apps, games etc. You can walk in to any Staples or Best Buy and pick up any piece of software or any printer, digital camera, mp3 player etc. bring it home, plug it in, insert the cd-rom and presto! it just works.

      Even if Linux is a million times faster and a million times more stable and has a replacement application for every common windows app if you take away that one little piece of convenience you may as well forget it.

      KDE and Gnome are very windows-like and any person who's been using a Windows computer for more than a year will pick up how to use those two desktops with very little effort. I'm even reminded of a recent article published here on /. about a non-biased study which claimed that KDE is pretty much just as easy to use as XP.

      Yet why change? What's the problem exactly that Linux is supposedly able to fix? Stability? I'm running XP right now and I've had more hardware issues than software.

      The only thing I can really think of that Linux offers over XP, for non-tech users, is security and the ammount of free (as in cash, not beer) software that's available for it.

      I work professionally as a UNIX admin right now. I deal mainly with Linux boxes, though we have some Solaris. I used to use Linux exclusively on my desktop, and to this day I wouldn't dream of using a non *nix OS at work. I can think of millions of advantages that Linux has over windows for coders, web developers, sysadmins and anyone who's really techie and likes to hack at their computer. .. but for people who just want to check their e-mail, surf the web, look at pictures of their grand children, listen to mp3s etc. I can't really think of any reason to justify them switching to Linux. No matter how easy it is to use.

      Now don't get me wrong. There are hidden costs to using Windows, such as MS licensing, the MS tax etc. Considering that I do look forward to the day when Linux is installed on every new desktop PC being pushed out of Future Shop and when every single device will work on Linux out of the box, ditto for games and apps. But until then I just can't see recommending Linux to anyone but my techie friends.

      - Garett
      • XP really isn't that simple to use, at least compared to MacOS, yet Windows still has the majority of the market share.

        Slashbots LOVE to say Windows isn't easy to use, and then they never explain why.

        Sorry, it really is easy to use.
        • Well it's easy to use until something goes wrong. But if the registry gets corrupted or some strange hardware problem crops up there is no way to fix it.
          My wife's laptop's modem stopped workng for no good reason. My guess is the configuration became corrupted). I tried reinstalling the driver, restoring to earlier points etc. Nothing helped. I narrowed it down to a registry problem. The problem is I can't edit binary very well. If it was linux I could modify a text file and it would probaby work again.
          • Well it's easy to use until something goes wrong. But if the registry gets corrupted or some strange hardware problem crops up there is no way to fix it.

            Is it possible that you're so blinded by your hatred for Microsoft that you willingly accept the problems that Linux has as if they don't exist? And that you seek out every flaw, major or minor, with Windows and blow it up as big as possible so you can feel better about your decision to use Linux when you know full well it does have issues that are ever
      • Considering that I do look forward to the day when Linux is installed on every new desktop PC

        This isn't a troll... I promise... just an honest question I'm curious about. Wouldn't this create another monoculture? I mean, its pretty obvious the pitfalls and dangers involved with monocultures... this too would be the same, just different flavor... right?

        What I'd like to see is a more diverse OS field... where no one OS dominates. Yeah interoperability would be a concern, but less skewed distribution of Wi

        • Re:Discovery. (Score:2, Interesting)

          by NamShubCMX ( 595740 )
          The main difference, I think, is that you are in control of your OS. If you want, you can change any part of the source you don't like, re-compile, and there you go, features you needed.

          Of course, this isn't simple like that, but still, it is *possible*

          This means that the "monoculture" doesn't really exist. Everyone can change configuration, default apps etc as they please, because they're in power of their system. I often read that having many choices (many kernels, many WM/DE, many apps that do the sa

      • You can walk in to any Staples or Best Buy and pick up any piece of software or any printer, digital camera, mp3 player etc. bring it home, plug it in, insert the cd-rom and presto! it just works... ... 60% of the time.

        DLL Hell and a no-name audio card with a auto-configured IRQ conflict will make bald men even balder, young women turn into Pug-faced hags, and kids turn inside out spilling their Speghetti-o's all over dad's new desk.

        Windows actually doens't work very well at all even on OEM computers fro

        • DLL Hell and a no-name audio card with a auto-configured IRQ conflict will make bald men even balder, young women turn into Pug-faced hags, and kids turn inside out spilling their Speghetti-o's all over dad's new desk.

          True, but my experiences with Linux have shortened my life by at least ten years. And before you say "oh you're just some n00b that picked up RedHat", let me say I've been using Linux nearly exclusively on my work desktop for three years. Two of my three machines at home also have some di

          • What Linux are you running? I've been using Mandrake 9.1 ever since Microsoft Service Pack 4 ate my Windows 2000 install (STOP ERROR), and my digicam on USB works fine, and I can watch movies with xine and play MP3s quite nicely.

            Of course, I have a pretty new MSI ULTRA board, so maybe that has something to do with it.

            (I really want to go to Gentoo, but it works, so why fiddle.)

            Also, how easy is it to upgrade from 9.1 to 9.2?

            • What Linux are you running?

              RedHat 8 at work, Mandrake 9.2b1 and Mandrake 9.1 at home. I'm sure my digicam _might_ work, but why mess with a good thing (OS X and iPhoto)? Like I said, I've played around with xine and mPlayer with no success. But it's also not been so critical for me to be able to watch video at work (and at home I've got the Mac).

              Also, how easy is it to upgrade from 9.1 to 9.2?

              I did an upgrade to 9.2b1 pretty easily, so it shouldn't be a problem.

        • Re:Discovery. (Score:3, Insightful)

          by blixel ( 158224 )
          DLL Hell and a no-name audio card with a auto-configured IRQ conflict will make bald men even balder, young women turn into Pug-faced hags, and kids turn inside out spilling their Speghetti-o's all over dad's new desk.

          Are you trying to be funny? Or are you just stupid?

          Nothing you mentioned is valid. And even if it was, how is it any worse than buying hardware for Linux?

          Research the product you want to buy to make sure it "works" with Linux. 2 or 3 weeks later when you find hardware that "works" (mean

          • Re:Discovery. (Score:3, Insightful)

            by swv3752 ( 187722 )
            I had the exact opposite problem. HP printer connected through USB. In Mandrake (some aold version from over a year ago), it took a couple of clicks in PrinterDrake to install. No fuss, no mess, as easy it one could imagine. One could hardly ask for a more pleasurable experience that does not involve alcohol, drugs, and/or sex.

            Now in Windows, I made the horrible mistake of leaving the printer connected. Most hardware on most OS's, you connect the hardware then instal drivers. But some idiotic HP engin

          • Re:Discovery. (Score:3, Interesting)

            by Archie Steel ( 539670 )
            Which piece of hardware gave you so much trouble? I'm curious, because in my 2 years of using Linux I've never had any problem using any piece of hardware. I installed Mandrake Linux, it detected all of my hardware on the first pass - even connected itself to the Internet for security updates once I put it the gateway's IP.

            Hardware compatibility is a shrinking problem. 99% of computer hardware now works with Linux distros out of the box (with the notorious exception of Winmodems). The only additional ste
      • A lot of good points there. Most Linux people would probably be suprised to know the number of PC users who would base their entire hardware/OS/software purchase on the basis of "Will it run my copy of "101 Shareware Games for Windows" that I got for $4.96 at Wal-Mart last year?" Do you know how many people out there are running Windows ME, simply because they purchased a new PC at the wrong time?

        Now, as for free software for Windows, my entire PC is based on free software, except for WindowsXP and Photo
      • but for people who just want to check their e-mail, surf the web, look at pictures of their grand children, listen to mp3s etc. I can't really think of any reason to justify them switching to Linux. No matter how easy it is to use.

        My neighbor was using XP up until last week. At that time, their daughter came over and asked me to fix it (kinda low as I do not do windows). After looking at it and seeing how things were going (all sorts of problems, seem to have several spyware on it and extra ports were op
      • No it doesn't... Go get a Aviator 900Mhz wireless device, or a D-Link DMP-90 and plug that into your shiny Windows XP. What about NVidia drivers? How about mother-board specific sound drivers?

        I have HAD it with people telling me that "driver support is better with Windows". It isn't. Linux supports more devices out of the box. Linux supports more architectures out of the box.

        If I here that piece of revisionist crap one more time, I'll have to strangle the perp. Windows may be good for something, but it su

      • ...You can walk in to any Staples or Best Buy and pick up any piece of software or any printer, digital camera, mp3 player etc. bring it home, plug it in, insert the cd-rom and presto! it just works...

        Well, almost. Just the other day I was working on an XP machine where the video just wouldn't work right (the customer bought the card at best buy). Finally I check the web and lo and behold, it isn't listed as compatible according to the M$ website. No wonder it didn't work (and yes, I did try to make

      • Even if Linux is a million times faster and a million times more stable and has a replacement application for every common windows app if you take away that one little piece of convenience you may as well forget it.

        I understand your point, but I think its wrong. I think there's a critical point at which if Linux distro's could achieve performance and stability that far out pased their Windows counter-point they would take the market. Not that its going to happen, just for the sake of arguement.

        I think
      • Like you said, most people just want to pick up email and surf the web and do a few other simple tasks. After paying Microsoft 90 bucks + for that I would have to agree that it would be hard to justify "switching" from an OS that is already on your PC. Well except that with Microsoft you have the constant worry of being hacked.

        However that aside it is worth considering Linux on a new box. Linux handles ALL of the tasks most users want to do. The problem is that Microsoft has in the past and probably st
      • I live far, far away from all my family members, and the majority of my family is running Linux. Why? Because the computers I gave to them had linux (Mandrake) on them.

        If you are using Linux on your desktop, think about becoming your family's Admin. I used to hate going over to my parent's house and being sat in front of the computer and told to fix it (boot into safe mode, delete temp file, scan disk, defrag disk, dread coming to visit a couple months later), so I bought them a new Linux computer ($200).
  • I assume most if not all of this will be available for download (via GPL) correct? Granted, with a few more advertisements and all... but even if you pay for it you get those right?

    • The ISO's are not available for downloading yet, unless you're part of the Mandrake Club, but they should be available by the end of the October according to Mandrake's download page.

      They will probably missing some proprietary drivers though. You can download most of them elsewhere, but if you want them to be part of the distribution, you'll need to buy it.

      • Sounds like we need hot 0-day Warez for Mandrake ISOs! If someone posts a link (bittorrent), I'll supply the 31337 NO_CD_CRACK I've just whipped up..... :D
    • Is there an installation option in the downloadable version to install and configure like this Discovery release?

      I can see how the default "task-based menus" could be very useful for newbies.

  • Laptop (Score:2, Interesting)

    by darkmeridian ( 119044 )
    Mandrake seems to be the best Linux OS for newbies and laptop users. On my Dell Latitude D800, Mandrake 9.1 worked perfectly. The new release betters support, but Mandrake isn't just a newbie release but also for laptop users.
    • Precisely. Atleast you run a dell. I run a no name laptop, made by a small Taiwanese company. Redhat and Suse have trouble with configuring the graphics card, even though its a Radeon derivate but with Mandrake, everything runs smooth as butter :-) Not to mention urpmi rocks, and supermount is really cool too. And to top it all, there is the community. I am a club memeber and no other company lets you have so much say in the final distro as mandrake does. It almost functions like a democracy. You vote for R
    • I love mandrake too, but it is NOT perfect. The way it tries to update your fstab when inserting a flash disk pcmcia card, for example, sucked up all of the resources on my computer, forcing a reboot.

      Another issue is the long list of file permissions that get changed in the /dev directories when a normal user logs in first on console. Probably not an issue with fast drives / cpu, but agonizing on hardware that isn't even all that old. I was able to fix this problem, but it took a lot of research to fig

    • Re:Laptop (Score:3, Informative)

      by Dan-DAFC ( 545776 )
      I like Mandrake but on my newish Toshiba Satellite laptop it doesn't install properly, ACPI issues I believe. I had to choose the alternative kernel to install 9.1 then use a rescue CD from an older version to boot it and build my own patched kernel, more effort than I would have liked.

      I tried 9.2 RC2 and the problems were the same so, unless somebody knows otherwise, I doubt the final version will work either.

    • Re:Laptop (Score:3, Insightful)

      by arcanumas ( 646807 )
      Mandrake seems to be the best Linux OS for newbies and laptop users.

      I don't understand this. Why should we say that Mandrake is for newbiew. Do you mean that it is not good for someone experienced in Linux? If it works out of the box then it MUST be evil is that it?
      There are some iritating things about Mandrake, yes (automounter anyone?) but i can not say that it is made for stupid users and does not allow the knowledgable user to do his work. I can install a Mandrake distro and have it running perfec

      • I definitely agree with you.

        I think people equate "newbie distro" with "crippled" or "unsuitable for the power user". I think a newbie distro can still be useful to somebody who knows what he's doing.

        I'm a Solaris admin by day, and by night, I don't want to have to WORRY about it. Sure, I -could- invest the time in getting some crufty complex distro running, but I don't want to. I'm not obsessive-compulsive about programs on the system I won't ever use, so I let Mandrake install them. If I need someth
    • Hey!

      Gentoo is great on laptops too!

      It only took me three days to get PCMCIA working, two more to get the kernel patched so my fan works, and 36 hours to compile OpenOffice!

      --

      Just kidding, it was rough the first time around, but I'm that much smarter now; I knew what I was getting into.

  • Download the ISOs now, for free (Score:4, Informative)

    by bconway ( 63464 ) on Thursday October 16, 2003 @09:49AM (#7229275) Homepage
    Torrents of the GPL ISOs are availabe at http://suprnova.org/ [suprnova.org]. Search the front page for "Mandrake" and you'll find them (their location has changed a few times, so I won't post direct links).

    The more people that jump on, the faster it'll be, so spread the word. These are the download editions and legal under the GPL, of course. You can check the md5sums against those posted in the earlier Slashdot article comments.
    • "These are the download editions and legal under the GPL, of course."

      I love how you all bitch and complain about EULA's and locked down programs, but when a company that behaves closest to your ideals tries to get more people to support it financially as it struggles to break even, you can't event wait 3 freaken days to freeload?

      Sorry guys, but what you think is insightful is really shortsighted and self-destructive.

      -1 flamebait/offtopic (poster made me think about my actions)
      • Free software is a different game than commercial software. You have to know going in, as Mandrake does (or should), that when you play with open source licenses you will have a large number of freebies. Microsoft has them too - they overlook a lot of pirating so that people use their stuff and get the word out.

        Mandrake released their ISOs under the GPL. Because of that, there's no such thing as "short sighted and self-destructive." You're very plainly wrong about this - and everyone, including Mandrak

        • ...Microsoft has them too - they overlook a lot of pirating so that people use their stuff and get the word out...

          I agree. In many ways, pirating is actually M$'s best friend. Lots of people I've offered OpenOffice too, say "No, I just borrow my friend's copy of M$ Office." If M$ could come up with a way to prevent pirating of MS Office 97 and up, OpenOffice's market share would shoot through the roof. And it looks M$ is trying to stop home pirating with manditory activation. Feels funny to say it,

        • Ok (Score:2)

          by Idou ( 572394 ) *
          I guess Mandrake will just have to implement some kind of copyright that changes over time. Host a bittorent of their installer and configuration tools before such a such a date and be guilty of copyright infringement. Wait until after the date (like a whole freaking WEEK after the release to members), no problem.

          Sorry, but a lot of ideals depend on moderation and balance. For instance, I believe a woman should have control over her own body, so I consider myself pro-choice. However, if I hear about someon
          • I don't see what you're complaining about. Mandrake offers it to paying customers first to minimize the bandwidth drain on their servers, and maximize the bandwidth available for new releases to paying customers.

            Hosting said files off of their servers in no way impedes that goal, and still allows paying customers to get their stuff at top bandwidth rates.

            Why exactly are you complaining? It's free software, it's meant to be given away. It isn't free for a limited time, and it isn't going to self-destruc
            • Mandrake used bittorrent this time, so the club members were supplying their own bandwidth.

              Mandrake released first to club members to reinforce the value of the membership. As a club member I support this since it also means a certain number of people will decide to join the club just to download early (100 or so people did become members for that reason, only to be disappointed that they could have waited a day to get the download for free). More members means a better distro and a better member site.

              You
      • Well, I'm sure most of us aren't responsible for this. There are some shmucks. The problem would be if Mandrake decided not to continue with prereleases for members because of some short sighted a$$holes. Or the power pack. I thought this was a great idea, but circumventing it might not be a good thing.

    • Re:Download the ISOs now, for free (Score:4, Insightful)

      by slux ( 632202 ) on Thursday October 16, 2003 @11:48AM (#7230535)
      The idea of releasing the isos two weeks early to the club members was to give some kind of a benefit to those who've actually bothered to support the development of the Mandrake GNU/Linux distribution.

      They could've gone the other way like SuSe and many others (Lindows, Xandros and so on) - make a small insignificant bit of their distribution non-free and let no-one download the isos, but they wanted to try something that would keep the whole distribution free, right according to the GNU philosophy.

      They decided to trust that their club members would hold off distributing the isos just for the short time of two weeks. In my mind that would've been the decent thing to do. Limit the leeching a bit for a very limited time period and create a little incentive for actually giving something to the company that has done all the work.

      Moderators, could you not mod this down?

      • Not to mention that chipping in to the club is cheap. I pitched in something like $50 a year ago, and I don't even use Mandrake. I did at one point, because I was trying out different distros, but I went with Gentoo.

        I'll still chip in money when I can, mostly because I see Mandrake as being the learner's edition, and that the ease of use & install that they promote may help evangelize the Linux desktop. I would for Suse too, but I disagree with their distribution method... They have an ftp with the

    • Well, at least it's a reason to put someone on the foe list, finally. I am of course nonplused by his reasoning. Eight grade. Freebsd troll?
    • To all the people whining about people "stabbing Mandrake in the back". Get a clue already. Mandrake is free to do what they want with their commercial versions with proprietary addons. They simply legally and ethically can't do the same with the GPL vesion. Don't want to listen to me? Fine. Let's see what Mandrake themselves has to say on their 9.2 features page.

      "Mandrake Linux 9.2 is a "100% Free Software" product. This means that everyone is granted the right to access the sources, modify and redistribu

  • VMWare included? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by DaneelGiskard ( 222145 ) on Thursday October 16, 2003 @09:51AM (#7229288) Homepage
    From their Features Page:
    http://www.mandrakesoft.com/products/92/dis covery

    8. Compatibility: run MS-Windows and Mandrake Linux on the same computer

    And next to that they show a screenshot of Windows XP running in a Window through VMWare.

    If I wouldn't know better (a VMWare license costs around 300 bucks) I would assume that this is included in the Discovery Distribution (which costs 39 bucks) and I would be pretty pi**ed ...

    But other than that it looks interesting :)
    • I was just thinking that... have they made a deal with the company to include some form of special addition with the Discovery edition?
      • IIRC, Mandrakesoft did make a deal with VmWare to provide a trial version of the software to club members. What I am not sure though is f it is included in the distro. I would rather doubt that. Maybe Wine is included?
        • Nope... the screenshot definately featured a copy of VMWare running Windows XP (in French... I always enjoy seeing operating systems running in other langauages.)
    • I think there are VMWare clones which run under Linux and which are free or cheap. (I certainly know there are remote desktop packages of various kinds.)


      If they're merely running a freebie clone running under Linux, they're fine. That's also true, but maybe a little manipulative, if they've a time-limited demo version of the "real" VMWare running on Linux.

    • And next to that they show a screenshot of Windows XP running in a Window through VMWare.

      If VMWare allows this distro as a 'supported' host, this is great news. One of my issues with VMWare on Linux is you even look funny at a kernel, it is not supported. Looks like they just added RH9 to the list. Bout time...

      • If VMWare allows this distro as a 'supported' host, this is great news. One of my issues with VMWare on Linux is you even look funny at a kernel, it is not supported. Looks like they just added RH9 to the list. Bout time...

        Have you even tried installing on a different distro? I've tried under RH8, RH9 (both supported), Gentoo, Debian Stable, and Debian Unstable (none of those supported), and I have never had a single problem. Just install and compile/configure the kernel modules. Switch kernels? No p

    • I haven't used VMWare for ages so this probably doesn't apply anymore , but to use it indefinately at no cost all you had to do was
      download a 30 day evaluation copy then when the license ran out , just reset your system clock to an appropriate date before you start it up
      and then reset it back once it had booted. Wrap that up in a shell script and you're sorted. Ok that can cause probs for a few apps but in general I never had any issues and I
      used a 30 day trial version of vmware for 2 years quite happi
      • Yes, the problem with doing this is that it's illegal. If you have a 30-day trail license for something, then you can use it for 30 days to try it out. After that you must stop using it, or buy the full version. That's like saying `You can get computers cheaply by just stealing them from your local computer shop, instead of buying them'*. If you like a piece of software then either pay for it, write your own version, or persuade someone else to write a free version. If, like RMS, you don't think that
        • Bad analogy.

          Setting the clock date to get by actually buying the product is similar to getting goods at a big store (with no restocking fee) and returning them right before the return expiration date.

          An example of this is buying batteries, using them till they die and then returning them "cause they're bad".

          Either way, both is ethically wrong to do and perhaps illegal. It's just "not right".

      • DMCA ALERT!! (Score:2, Funny)

        by Stevyn ( 691306 )
        you just told people how to circumvent something having to do with a computer! That's in violation of the DMCA. VMware's stock (I know they're private, humor?) just went down .004% and cost them millions which you must pay back.
    • I'm sure the "running Windows and Mandrake" thing means the installer conveniently sets up dual-booting (which it does), but your point is well-taken. If I remember properly, Mandrake offers Win4Lin to Mandrake Club users at a discount. I've run VMware successfully under Mandrake 9.1, also. It's a great program.
    • Clickable http://www.mandrakesoft.com/products/92/discovery [mandrakesoft.com]

      *Gleep*

      Posted logged in so it will be seen, give me no mods
    • Ok... Just checked... VMWare is included in the PowerPack. Which is $69 US dollars. Discovery Distribution doesn't appear to offer VMWare.

  • Article Text (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 16, 2003 @09:54AM (#7229327)

    FIRST LOOK: Mandrake Linux 9.2 Discovery Edition
    By Timothy R. Butler [mailto]
    Editor-in-Chief, Open for Business
    October 14, 2003, 12:45:03 EDT

    It's official. By the time you read this, Mandrake Linux 9.2 will be available to Mandrake Club members around the world. Mandrake Linux 9.2 marks the first release from the "big 3" distributors in about six months. If you're wondering whether you should rush out and install it, read on for our first look at a distribution from the Fall 2003 distribution release cycle.

    For the purposes of this brief preview of Mandrake Linux 9.2, we tested a copy of the new "Discovery Edition" provided to us by MandrakeSoft. The Discovery Edition replaced the "Standard Edition" offered in previous releases, but it isn't just a fancy new name - it's a desktop focused distribution intended especially for novices (although, we feel more advanced users may be pleased with the simplicity of the Discovery Edition as well).

    First there is the installation. Now, if you've installed any of the major GNU/Linux distributions in recent times, you know that most are quite simple to install as is, and Mandrake Linux is no exception. Discovery Edition takes a page out of the LindowsOS and Windows XP installers, however, and makes the existing Mandrake installer even simpler by removing package selection. While many additional packages are included for installation later, should they be needed, Discovery Edition focuses on installing what the average user needs without making them sift through tons of unfamiliar programs.

    Once booted, Discovery Edition includes another quickly apparent simplification - task based menus. While Mandrake usually includes task-based menus as an option in Menudrake, they wisely chose to make it the default in this edition, thus freeing the user to worry about what they want to do rather than how they want to do it. I found the menu layout very intuitive, making it a snap to find the programs I wanted for various tasks. The standard menus were also available as a submenu for those wanting a specific tool for the job.

    Another key to making a distribution novice friendly is insuring that everything works out of the box, and Mandrake Linux 9.2 succeeds there. When the system was booted for the first time, we were surprised and delighted to find ATI's official FireGL driver for the Radeon 9700 video card was already installed. To the best of my knowledge the only other distribution presently including the Radeon drivers from ATI is Lindows.

    Other hardware that has been problematic also was installed. Our Hewlett-Packard PSC 2210's photo card reader was automatically mounted and unmounted (with a convenient icon on the desktop) - making it as easy to access the compact flash card that we inserted as it was to access a CD. This puts Mandrake Linux further in the lead as far as Hewlett-Packard multifunction devices are concerned, since we are unaware of any other current distribution that even properly detects the PSC 2210, much less properly configures the photo card reader.

    The only issue we had with the hardware was actually a non-issue - the master, speaker and PCM volume controls on the soundcard were muted. Admittedly I should have caught it, but I overlooked the PCM volume control in my haste. It would have been nice if the friendlier aumix had been preinstalled along with kmix (which gets absolutely obnoxiously large when used with a SoundBlaster Live), but if this is the worst we have to complain about, it isn't much.

    Also included was the newly released OpenOffice.org 1.1, which just barely made the release cycle. With this release's much speedier startup times, using the suite is much more pleasant than before. OpenOffice's many new features perfectly complement the Discovery Edition's improvements in usability to make the distribution perfect for a Windows replacement on an office desktop with no fuss at all.

    We were esp

  • You should always make php-scripts die if the db fails:


    Warning: mysql_num_rows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/uninet/public_html/open/includes/sql_layer. p hp on line 235 Warning: mysql_num_rows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/uninet/public_html/open/includes/sql_layer.p hp on line 235 Warning: mysql_free_result(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/uninet/public_html/open/includes/sql_layer.p hp on
  • Warning: mysql_select_db(): Too many connections in /home/uninet/public_html/open/includes/sql_layer. p hp on line 78

    Warning: mysql_select_db(): A link to the server could not be established in /home/uninet/public_html/open/includes/sql_layer.p hp on line 78

    Warning: mysql_fetch_row(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/uninet/public_html/open/includes/sql_layer.p hp on line 283

    Mandrake has, by far, always been my favorite distro. Its setup has always been rather painless (

  • Time to change domains... (Score:5, Funny)

    by johnthorensen ( 539527 ) on Thursday October 16, 2003 @10:04AM (#7229428)
    ...to www.cfb.biz

    5.274 minutes after being posted to slashdot, ofb.biz is now Closed for Business :)

    -JT

  • Mixed blessing (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Lane.exe ( 672783 ) on Thursday October 16, 2003 @10:15AM (#7229546) Homepage
    I've always said that Mandrake would be the distro to cause MS users to seriously consider switching. I started my Linux oddysey on Mandrake (hell, I still use it!) and fully believe that it offers the widest spectrum of a Linux experience.

    The average user can get it working right out of the box (or download). That's something you can't say for most Linux installs -- or even some Windows installs. The hardware support is phenomenal.

    And the ease of use doesn't have to detract from its power -- Mandrake gives you plenty of choices, from a fully-loaded, app-laden KDE or Gnome interface to light, fast WMs like Fluxbox. And best of all, it's Linux, pure and simple, so that all our favorite apps are still there.

    I originally switched away from Mandrake because of the poor package management they used to have, but the implementation of urpmi in 9.1 convinced me to scrap my Debian install for Mandrake. Package management is a breeze once you get your sources configured. It's still not as developed as apt, but at least it doesn't break things the way apt is wont to.

    Mandrake is Linux's best hope for widespread adoption.

  • Secure! (Score:3, Funny)

    by supabeast! ( 84658 ) on Thursday October 16, 2003 @10:18AM (#7229580)
    "...which comes without any server capability."

    No daemons listening, no remote overflows! Yummies!
    • Not even sshd?

      (or how about chrond/atd/sgifam or those other desktop daemons?)

      How about programs that make the assumption that either port25 or /sbin/sendmail will be there for crash reporting?
      • How about programs that make the assumption that either port25 or /sbin/sendmail will be there for crash reporting?

        Crash reporting? Hello, McFly? This is LINUX we are talking about. Right?
      • "Not even sshd?"
        "How about programs that make the assumption that either port25 or /sbin/sendmail will be there for crash reporting?"

        This is for desktop-only Linux newbies. They don't need ssh, and when programs crash, you can be pretty sure that they'll notice, and not need a report.
  • If you insert the Mandrake 9.2 CD into your computer while in windows, the autorun program comes up and in the title bar it is labled Mandrake Linux 9.1

    Seems easy enough to catch, but i guess no testers used windows ;)

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday October 16, 2003 @10:41AM (#7229849)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Do you think that Microsoft would sooner give up server OS sales or desktop OS sales?

      Consumer desktop or business workstation? If you mean consumer, then yes, they'd rather give that up and keep their business customers without any question. Corporate sales are where the most money is.
  • I don't know where this dude has been, but several other (debian based) distros have been including Radeon Drivers for a while. Libranet & Xandros Linux.
  • Can these 3 CDs be used to program? (does it include gcc and all? and ssh server etc...?)

    • Re:Development? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Apostata ( 390629 )
      Generally, yes. The Power Pack includes some Java authoring tools et al, but the vanilla 3-CD download comes with gcc KDevelop and other standard goodies (and sshd).
  • Another key to making a distribution novice friendly is insuring that everything works out of the box, and Mandrake Linux 9.2 succeeds there.

    ...unless you have an ATI All-in-Wonder, which isn't set up to allow xawtv et al. to work. Is there any distribution that will do this? (Maybe not, though I'd love to hear of any that do; KNOPPIX, which is famed for its hardware detection, doesn't.)

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