Comments on: Mandriva :-)

By: Conor

Conor — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:14:31 +0000

I would just like to take this opportunity to say that over the last few days I have learned to love Mandriva. It does everything for me that Windows failed to do.

By: Conor

Conor — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:47:05 +0000

I do think that it takes all the good user friendly and graphical aspects of windows. But at the same time I like the way that the other Linux features work. Such as the CLI and the no viruses part. I also like the way that everything is free and I agree with it from a political angle.

By: Link8r

Link8r — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:29:35 +0000

I’m not trying to be smart, its just a question I have since reading your post:

If you think Mandriva a lot like Windows and that that is a good thing – why not just use Windows?

I’ve used XP under Microsoft Licence for 3/4 years and I’ve never had to jump around with different OS installs….

By: mudCat

mudCat — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:47:48 +0000

For the most part, I agree. openSUSE’s package management is not quite as good as Ubuntu/PCLinuxOS, but it is getting better all the time. Unfortunately, this is the one area where Mandriva trails the other three. But, Mandriva’s configuration tools are the best. YaST is still very good, though. Like openSUSE’s package manager, YaST is rapidly making strides. I generally like openSUSE better for server-type functions.

By: LinuxLover

LinuxLover — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:04:50 +0000

I did want to add one thing to what Mudcat said about OpenSUSE… It’s the most professional looking distro there is. I don’t think their configuration tools are quite in the same league as Mandriva (and PCLinuxOS), but from boot to shutdown, it has a certain feel as if you just spent hundreds of dollars on a well put together retail product. The only problem is that I believe it still has broken multimedia apps by default, and you need to upgrade them from a 3rd party repository called Packman. Also, the YaST package manager will scare a new user to death when they approach a package that’s missing dependencies. Ubuntu and other distros using Apt + Synaptic are much more polite about it, and less intimidating.

Overall, I like PCLinuxOS best for the combination of Synaptic and Mandriva’s tools plus the rolling release nature of it and simplified repository. Mandriva ranks right up there, too, but the package manager and the fact its not a rolling release holds me back.

By: mudCat

mudCat — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:47:48 +0000

Mandrive – Latest releases are very impressive; great hardware detection; best configuration tools in Linux (any OS?); standard package management is not as good as other distributions

PCLinuxOS – Most of the features of Mandriva, plus rolling release, better package management than Mandriva; easy to customize/remaster; recommended

openSUSE – nice, stable; great configuration tools (particularly good for servers); my choice for free server option

Ubuntu – more packages available than for any other platform; good overall desktop; more challenging to configure some advanced settings (e.g., server/developer requirements)

Fedora – fairly vanilla distribution; usually stable, but lacks configuration tools found in most other distributions; for a long time, this was my favorite, until Mandriva improved quality, PCLOS and Ubuntu emerged, and SUSE was opened by Novell; although this is a good distribution, unlike others, it really does not especially stand out in any area (except similarity to/compatibilty with Red Hat Linux)

Mac OS – Runs only on special (generally expensive) hardware; legal encumbrances; Java shipped by Apple may produce unexpected results, from time to time; some F/OSS apps are not readily available (or lag in being available) for Mac; excellent GUI; most *nix commands available from the terminal

By: Lake-end

Lake-end — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:04:56 +0000

Opensuse 11 is quite similiar to Mandriva, if you feel like trying more stuff out, I would suggest trying that next.

By: Conor

Conor — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:43:18 +0000

Yeah i’ll get a live version of PClinuxOS 2009 when it comes out. I didn’t realise that Mandriva 2009 wasn’t a “rolling release”, that might turn out to be annoying when I want to upgrade.

I find mac easy to use, i’m aiming for the new 13″ mac book pro… its very expensive so it’ll be a while till I save the money! I’ll probarbly run Linux on it anyway, it’s just the brilliant reliable mac hardware i’m after!

But for the moment anyway i’m just looking for a stable OS. I don’t want to change it again if I don’t have to and apart from the upgrade feature I think that i’ve found that in Mandriva.

By: Kae Verens

Kae Verens — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 08:45:17 +0000

Interesting. I knew there must be more than just myself in Monaghan who used Linux (there is always more than one magazine in Eason, and I only buy every second month or so).

We’ll get your O2 working on Wednesday. I’ve managed it in Fedora and Ubuntu. It’s usually just the modem settings.

Bloody brilliant that you’re finding it easier than Windows. Mandriva has always been like that. I’m surprised it didn’t occur to me when setting up your system. I guess I just reached for what was available, and I always have some Fedora around.

btw: db connection error on the strats!

By: LinuxLover

LinuxLover — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 05:45:04 +0000

Where have you been? Mandriva has had all of this for a long time. You might want to check out the upcoming release of PCLinuxOS, too. It’s based on Mandriva, but is a little different. The current version is a little long in the tooth, but a new one is very close. PCLinuxOS uses Synaptic and Apt for package management and is a “rolling release”, where there’s no need to totally reinstall when new versions arrive. Other than that, it’s almost like Mandriva, with the brilliant Mandriva Control Center and all.