Mandriva 2010 Free.

[Abarbarian]

I going to run Mandriva 2010 Free 64 Bit as my main OS and below I will detail my trials and tribulations and triumphs.

Which version should I install ? Well I have already made up my mind but to help out other folk here is a link to a page detailing the differences in various flavours of Mandy.

http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Choosing_the_right_edition

So first decision made, 64 Bit Free, all I need to find an .iso that I can burn to disc. The main Mandriva site shows me the way to this page,

http://www2.mandriva.com/downloads/

Ah ha there is a link to the Free version and I can download it via the BIT TORRENT protocol, oh goody I can pretend to be a pirate. Yes I know that the torrent link is a legal one hosted by a reputable company offering a 100% free download but most people are still under the impression that torrents equal pirates.

It looks like the 32 Bit and 64 Bit versions come as a dvd 4.3 GB .iso which is not what I am after. There is just too much software included in those dvd's that I do not need and will never use. I'm after trying to install Mandy as light and slim as I can this time around. Trying the Dual Arch CD link takes me to here.

http://torrent.mandriva.com/public/2010.0/mandriva-linux-free-2010.0-dual.torrent

Looks like a dead end Noticing the highlighted "torrent.mandriva.com" link I give it a go and what do you know I end up after a couple of clicks here,

http://torrent.mandriva.com/public/2010.0/

Seems a strange way to direct folk to a download but I got there in the end. You can see the Dual Arch Free torrent and it is just a simple click to have it downloading by way of KTorrent.

I did all that last night and when I awoke this morning the download of 698 MB had finished. My slow connection meant I had to leave it running over night, for those of you with a fast connection it would not take every long to obtain this free OS. Now I am going to burn the .iso to disk with the K3b burning program. I'll also do a bit of tidying up of my drives and some essential backups and clean partitioning work and I'll be ready to try out this latest offering from Mandriva.

I really like Mandriva as an OS especially the KDE version probably because of the blue themed backgrounds as blue is my favourite colour. This will be my fourth version of Mandy and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be the best one yet.

The previous versions I have tried have all needed some quite radical tweaking to run nicely. Each version easier to install than the last and by that I do not mean the initial install as Mandy's initial install sequence is one of the best I have come across. Getting a system up and running configured for my personal preferences is what I should have said.

Here is a link to Distro Watch with a fairly decent basic article on the latest offering along with lots of information on othere GNU/Linux distros. You'll notice that there is no mention of a Dual Arch Free CD, guess it must have slipped under their radar. Good job we are on the ball here at PC Review

http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20091109#feature

I'll be back later

 

[Urmas]

"What you save is, later, like something found."

 

[Abarbarian]

A wise adventurer always double checks before starting a new adventure. Act in haste repent at leisure as they say.

Now do try to keep posts helpful as this is meant to be a helpful thread for users of Mandriva.

 

[Urmas]

Yes, Mother. Do you need help with Mandy, Mother?

 

[Abarbarian]

Yes, Mother. Do you need help with Mandy, Mother?

Sad to say Mandy is just one big,

Too despondent to tell the tale today.

 

[Abarbarian]

Well I have certainly had a tempestuous love affair with Mandy but it is coming to an end.

I was trying to run and install from the Dual-Arch cd's as I wanted to run a leaner os than the FREE or ONE versions so that may account for some of my glitches and niggles but certainly not all of them. So for anyone trying out the FREE or ONE versions of Mandriva I recon that a smoother ride will be had.

I see that a newer version of Mandriva is coming shortly, that will be the 2010 Spring release but I will not be trying it out. Hopefully they will have ironed out all the little niggles that have plagued the last release. Despite my grumblings I really like the distro and have found it a very nice os to work with. For the person who is new to GNU/Linux it would make a very good starter os.

A lot of my problems but certainly not all of them have been caused by the KDE desktop I decided to use. There were so many changes made to KDE that it was almost impossible to keep up with them and each update meant that something needed to be tweaked and altered. As an example, the Weather applet I have been using for several months without problem now refuses to connect to a weather supplier, why, who knows, and I am not wasting time trying to find out.Another example, I tried to install Blender, Phoronix Test Suite and several other programs from the Mandriva Control Center, hurray they are official RPM's, one click and they will install and work, except they don't, they download and the os tells me they are installed but will they fire up when you click on the icons, not a chance, why, I don't know and am past caring and will not waste me time trying to find out.

I would like to point out that I have been using Mandriva as my main desktop since the 2008 version only using Windows XP for gaming. So it can not be all bad. Indeed programs like K3b, DVD Styler, Dolphin, KTorrent, SMPlayer, Okular and several others have been easy to learn and use and given excellent results. An despite me muttering the KDE applets and some of the functions have provided an easy to use and very pretty custmisable workspace.

So as with all love affairs it is with regret that I am waving goodbye to Mandy.

I hope ARCH my new love will be a better replacement.