Submitted by “The first development ISO images of Mandriva Linux 2007 have been released for download and testing. At the time of writing only Mandriva One live CD images for the i586 and x86_64 architectures are available, but expect the usual full (4-CD) installation sets to appear on Mandriva mirrors in a day or two. The new release ships with kernel 2.6.16.20 and includes glibc 2.4, X.Org 7.1, KDE 3.5.3, GNOME 2.15, OpenOffice.org 2.0.2, Firefox 1.5.0.4 and many other open source software packages.” Screenshots.
Does anyone else find themselves cringing when they look at the kind of KDE UI displayed by kdetv in this screenshot
http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/688_or/37.png
or by kopete and konq in others, konq’s battery of uniform gloss blue buttons and generally cluttered appearance seem like a lesson in how not to do UI design.
One curiosity, it seems that Mandriva are putting their weight behind KDE here but only GTK based apps get their galaxy theme. It doesn’t seem that they’re done away with it on KDE as the horribly cheap and cheerful window decorations are still there, but the only part of the theme which was tollerable, and maybe slightly better than KDE’s default Qt theme, is missing.
Wow, i miss mandrake in a way, DrakConf, Diskdrake, lothar and the features that mandrake provided to make linux easy for novices, It’s nice to see DrakConf still alive and well in mandriva though.
KDE TV is actually one of the better designed TV apps IMO. You can customize and simplify it, channel list settings are joy to work with compared to alternatives. It’s one of those apps that’s worth running even if you dislike KDE.
Does modularised X 7.1 have any impact on anything like memory use – or do any improvments disappear in Eye-Candy ?
& Yes – the KDEtv screenshot looks ugly & “clumsy” IMO
But it is also due to the colours IMO .
SuSE KDE is with modifications fine for me .
Thin Keramik + KDE2 window deco + System colours =
IMO
Oh, come on, please !!
Mandriva Linux 2007 looks almost exactly as intensely boring and ugly as the Mandrake 9.1 from several years ago. How can they ship a DESKTOP version of an OS that is so ugly ?
The KDE menu’s are still far too narrow for easy mouse navigation.
Mandriva is fundamentally bankrupt when it comes to GUI and looks (and yes, this is a DESKTOP version OS) -> this is not a industrial-computer robot-terminal at assembly line number 9 in building 6
Come on… it is an alpha release. I think that the GUI will still get an overhaul of some kind. Remember, the first Fedora and Ubuntu test releases also shipped with the old theme. The innovation is currently under the hood, not some fancy icons and KDE themes.
Same $h1t different version/distro name. So when is there going to be some innovation in a linux distro with the gui? It seems that linux is in a constant state of trying to do everything windows does. There is no reason to use it, because it doesnt do anything windows doesnt.
Ooh, ooh, I love these ones!!
It’s really hard to argue that Desktop Linux hasn’t improved dramatically in the past <insert time-frame here>. However, you’re right that there hasn’t been any major innovation in UI design. Desktops are desktops, they have windows and menus and work with a mouse and keyboard. Linux desktops work a little different from Macs, and both of these work a little different from Windows. However, the vast majority of the design is identical, down to the OK/Cancel buttons. They all copy each other’s minor enhancements, and everybody is quick to point this out, as if implementing a new feature is useful only if it is a novel idea. The reason why all of the desktop are so damn similar and why no one is “innovating” is the same reason why no one is marketing a car that steers with a joystick.
Mostly, desktop users don’t want an innovative UI, instead they want an intuitive, consistent, and familiar UI. If the mandate is to gain market share from Windows on the desktop, then providing a Windows-like UI with otherwise compelling functionality is the proper response. Microsoft’s biggest competitor is its own previous releases, and they’re migrating market share to new releases using the same principles. Although they’re exempt from having to actually add new features due to their grasp on the major hardware vendors, they humor us anyway, with mixed results.
Why is this the goal? Personally, I could care less what people choose to run on their machines. However, I would like my computers to interop with everyone else’s, regardless of what software they or I choose to run. While it is completely possible for a market consisting soley of proprietary software vendors to maintain 100% interop, any isolated case of noncooperation (i.e. failure to fully document public interfaces) spoils the party. Microsoft has historically dragged its feet or flat-out refused to cooperate in the spirit of interoperability. Therefore in order to make computers universally interoperable we must work to replace Windows installations with some other OS that is committed to full interop with any reasonable system.
Linux is one of many OSs that fit this description, and it has been *modestly* successful at replacing Windows desktop installations so far. The best possible way to replace more Windows desktops is to make at least some flavors of the Linux desktop more similar to Windows but with some useful new features. Features like “it comes with thousands of vendor-supported applications at no additional cost” are likely to win new users, as long as the experience is otherwise similar to Windows.
So, back to your original point, Linux is in a constant state of trying to do everything Windows goes, and vice versa, and the same thing goes for Apple. They naturally all want to be able to do everything that their competitors can do. And any time they differentiate their product by adding features, the others must develop a response. If you claim that this makes Linux useless (i.e. “there is no reason to use it”), then you must also find Windows useless. It is better, I find, to be the optimist and say that both are useful. You see, I find Windows “useless” for the same exact reason that you find Linux “useless.” We both want the same things, and that’s the primary source of our disagreement <irony>.
Too bad your maxed out – I would give you another + vote! I would like to comment on your interop argument. So long as the market is ruled by Windows, interop is not needed with minor system. Sure, the token bone can be thrown to the dogs from time to time, but the moment the stranglehold is released into the public domain, the market edge is lost. This same philosophy applies to closed API, document/file formats, etc.
Excellent post butters.
Probably better to wait for the beta, very early releases of Mandrakd/Mandriva have never been known for stability.
As to the look, these have to be trolling comments surely? You don’t have to use KDE and if you do, you can make it look exactly how you want. In fact, if you really want it to look like OSX without doing it yourself, there is Bagheera.
For newer users, install Gnome, put the menu bar at the bottom, file manager in spatial browsing mode, the background to a plain soft dull color, and you have a minimalist and very functional desktop on which they can always find their files.
The great thing about Mandriva for this purpose is the configuration utilities. Anyone can use these.
I am disappointed by the comments in this thread.
Since when do Alpha releases focus on GUI santization and fixing eye candy issues? I though alpha releases where not even feature complete, let alone useful in a non-testing environment. I think it would be stupid to apply the level of polish that people in this thread are asking for at this stage of this development. Why polish something, that could in theory be axed in the beta release.
Great to see mandriva including all the latest software.
keep it up. VIVE LA FRANCE!
Why the hell are the screenshots in GIF? What’s worse, is that they hideously dithered
Why not use PNG or at least jpeg for this… Gif is so Web 1.0 
I agree it’s an alpha release and it’s rough around the edges. Personally I have absolutely no interest in bleeding edge since I work in a data center.
Give me the tried and true. Give me stability. To be honest, having the ability to turn off the GUI and get down to CLI is a blessing. Linux, BSD, Unix, and even the YDL on the Mac servers are good to go in this regard.
My little cheap-o Mandriva-based server at home hasn’t burped once since I installed it several years ago. It runs Oracle and a host of other memory intensive apps without fail. My wife’s WinStrip box got cracked last weekend and I had to rebuild it.
I believe when people do run a wm they customize it to their liking regardless of the provider or distributor.
Here I will briefly summarised the changes which are mostly under the hood :
Changelog : http://qa.mandriva.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/DistroChangelog
To sum up :
– kernel 2.6.16
– KDE 3.5.3 + Kopete 0.12
– Gnome 2.15
– Xorg 7.1
– Glibc 2.4
– OpenOffice.org 2.0.2 ( cd Gnome )
– rpm 4.4.6
– Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.4
– Amarok 1.4.1
– xmoto 0.1.16
– CUPS 1.2
– compiz + AIGLX support
– HAL 0.5.7 : since HAL 0.5, the way removable media are handle change ( there’s no longer modification of /etc/fstab with fstab-sync which was writing the corresponding entries ). So the KDE ship in this Alpha version can’t mount removable media ( USB keys, … ). However this is fixed in the cooker package with a patch backport from KDE 3.5.4 ( kdebase-3.5.3-8mdv2007.0 )
– XDG menu : debian menu system is no longer used ( except for desktop not supporting XDG menu ). As this is a transition phase, some menu layout may be broken ( especially as not all applications have been ported to XDG menu ).
For more information, please see : http://qa.mandriva.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/XDGMenuSystem and http://qa.mandriva.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/MenuMigrationToXDG
– new package extension : mdv2007.0 . mdk becomes mdv, and now the distro release for which the package is compiled appears in the extension.
Concerning Mandriva tools, there’s some improvements :
– Bluetooth and GPRS support in drakconnect ( for mobile phone )
– printerdrake : use new CUPS 1.2 SNMP TCCP/IP discovery method
-printerdrake : Fax support for HP multifunction devices
Release Notes are here : http://qa.mandriva.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/MandrivaLinux2007Frige
All updated under the hood.But nothing that really makes a difference to my opinion.
Why not a all in one snort-oinkmaster-apache-acidlab like working out of the box IDS integrated in drakconf?
Or lamp working right “Out of the box”.Perhaps with some nice looking widgets that display some info about current traffic.
It seems the version numbers increase and the packages are updated.Other than that nothing really shocking occurs.
You’re welcome to make suggestions on the wiki.
As a long time Mandriva/Mandrake user I should warn you all, that the Nvidia and Ati Proprietary drivers don’t currently work with the Cooker Snapshopt Xorg 7.1. So if your acustommed to all the eye candy, it won’t be availible for a while until Nvidia and Ati release a new driver. This is the one major problem that most people are experiencing with this release even though it’s been spelled out that this is the first 2007 Alpha rlease. Other than that, if you think Mandriva has moved away from using the latest and greatest software, you’ll be plesently surprised.
Nvidia drivers are working with Xorg 7.1 and kernel 2.6.16. You will however need to add the following line in the Device section of xorg.conf :
Option “RenderAccel” “false”
It’s ATI drivers ( fglrx ) which are not working.
[root@info1 ~]: # lsmod | grep nvidia
nvidia 4526516 12
agpgart 26000 2 nvidia,via_agp
i2c_core 16400 8 nvidia,w83627hf,eeprom,i2c_isa,i2c_viapro,bttv,i2c_algo_bit,tveeprom
[root@info1 ~]: # rpm -q xorg-x11 dkms-nvidia
xorg-x11-7.1.0-1mdv2007.0
dkms-nvidia-8762-3plf2007.0
[root@info1 ~]: # grep GLX /var/log/Xorg.0.log
(II) Loading extension GLX
(II) Loading extension NV-GLX
(II) Initializing extension GLX
ATI drivers are not working due to an ABI change in xorg 7.1
http://archives.mandrivalinux.com/cooker/2006-05/msg03321.php
I used Mandrake way back, and I’ve always hated how they pakaged RPMs. I’m using Fedora Core 5 now and its RPMs aren’t near as irritating to use as I remember MDKs from way back. Maybe it’s a lot better now, I hope so. But I like the shorter release cycles for my personal desktops.
I dunno what you are on about but IMO they are just fine and urpmi is one of the best package managers for RPM that i’ve used – i rate it higher than yum and yast and even novell’s new rug http://en.opensuse.org/Libzypp
Graphical details – looks & feel
What finally convinced me that Mandriva must be sailing out on the deep oceans of ignorance/incompetence for graphical details/looks & feel, is their product brochure for Mandriva Move: http://www.mandriva.com/en/content/download/10936/96721/file/move_E…
– a two page product brochure made in Quark – exported as PDF in high resolution 300 dpi, of course, we are on the web, with registration marks, of, course – and on 7.8 Mb, of course, – for two pages only !!!
Gawd ! A child could do better !
http://www.mandriva.com/en/individuals/products/move
If only Mandriva could pull them self’s togerher, Mandriva could become a decent Linux OS distro one would really like to use.