In the first part of this series, Andrew D. Balsa looked at Mandrake Linux 9.1 and its initial beta release. Despite quite a few critical bugs, he was impressed with the progress and most charmed by the new KDE 3.1. When Mandrake released the second beta, he rushed to do another installation and these are his experiences, together with some impressive new screenshots.
Review of Mandrake Linux 9.1 Beta 2
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
The article was a good read, and Mandrake 9.1 looks to be on-track to be another great desktop distro. I can’t wait to install it on my Linux workstation and Linux notebook.
It’s nice to see people still find KSnapshot useful. Only minor updates this time, but you should find some changes like the improved handling of windows that are displaying tooltips etc. a bonus.
Rich.
This looks very impressive! I am drooling over the tabs in Konq. The only concern I have is that I hope they pick a consistent theme for their final release. It’s strange to look at a http://www.distrowatch.com/images/screenshots/mandrake-konquerortab… and see some applications with flat buttons (like Konq and Noaton), while others (like KsCD and the control module) with bulbous buttons. Whether you like RedHat’s Bluecurve theme or not, you have to admit that it does make everything “feel” consistent. I hope Mandrake follows suit.
My experiences with Mandrake 9.1 Beta 1 were excellent,
alot of the things i found annoying in 9.0 were absent or almost non existant.. however in 9.1 Beta 2 the install itself was rendered unusable at points, selecting your own packages, left you with no continue or back buttons, similar experiences within the installer itself, possibly early beta 2 iso’s uploaded to the mirror server by mistake? other than that the only other problem i had was going back to 2 cd’s, my feeling was that all essential software and default options be left for the first cd, whereas extended options not in the initial default settings use CD2, or some form thereof…
oh well, just my oppinions
~J
Cause it’ll be the last distribution that Mandrake ever ships.
Actually they probably won’t even ship it. I understand people that were kind enough to support Mandrake and preorder Mandrake 9.0 may still be waiting for their package to arrive. Yeah that’s a problem.
Yeah this’ll probably be the end of it for the Mandrake peoples.
This beta 2 is still not for Linux beginners, it still has a few annoying bugs (but no show-stoppers) and quirks, and some essential packages are still missing
Well, duh. It’s a beta, after all.
This beta 2 is still not for Linux beginners, it still has a few annoying bugs (but no show-stoppers) and quirks, and some essential packages are still missing
Well, duh. It’s a beta, after all.
Network won’t work on asus a7s333 (probably apic error). Hopefully there was a -linus version of kernel which worked ok. And I couldn’t find fontconfig-devel package from those CD’s.
Avery thing is consistant, it is simply to different kind of buttons:
flat : toolbar
round: push button
now what’s that “Get support!” all about? 😀
Companies can buy support (you pay so much for so many incidents over a period of time).
Individuals and companies can join the Mandrake Club. Corporate members have several advantages.
I think it´s a good idea to offer Linux users a variety of choices of levels of support, while at the same time keeping the distribution basically Free (as in freedom, not as in beer).
I’ve tried and tried to like this KDE theme there is SOOOO much potential, but what’s up with the BULGES in the buttons? They look STUPID! 🙁 This theme would be top notch if the buttons, etc were rounded properly IE, look closely at the save snapshot button. Maybe it’s just the shadow, but DAMN.
Note the lack of any theme at all in GIMP, so close yet no better than any other KDE centric distro. WAAH THEY BROKE GTK! (kidding) Maybe this one will actually install.
Mandrake is not a KDE centric distro. They have said it and now I’m saying it.
I was a supporter of Mandrake Club since they first opened. This year I renewed again as a “Silver” member. They charged my credit card and downgraded my membership to “Alumni.” After numerous emails to the US and EU service departments over a month’s time guess what? I have to dispute the charge with my credit card company, I didn’t get a reply or my account fixed. Mandrakeclub wants users, but it seems to me that we are just shunned away.