okay........with all this ranting & raving about the big 9.2 release, i wanna know this. is it worth it for ME to try to upgrade to it, or should i leave well enough alone? here's my situation.......

been using MDK9.1 since June of this year. i've learned lots during this time, but i still have lots to learn. i have a smooth running, tweaked to my liking 9.1 setup. i have gotten every update & security patch that MDK has put out. i have the latest versions of OpenOffice, Mozilla, Opera, KDE, Gnome, MPlayer, & other stuff that i'm sure i'm forgetting right now. i have absolutely no problems with my current MDK9.1 setup. so, what's 9.2 have to offer ME that would make upgrading beneficial to ME? other than the 2.6 kernel, which i can always get via other sources, would there be a reason for me to try 9.2?

a few things that i wouldn't want to happen or have to do.......

i DON'T want to do a fresh install. does the "upgrade" feature have the bugs worked out of it so that it's safe to use?

i DON'T want the chance of my current setup being hosed in any way, shape, or form.

i DON'T want to have to retweak everything i've done in these past 4 months.

i would like some performance (IE: speed) increase (faster boot time, faster program response times, etc.). is that something that 9.2 would give me?

basically, i love to tinker & tweak & play........to a point. i really don't have enough free time or knowledge (yet) to try to (or want to) redo what it's taken me all of this time to achieve. (yeah.....i'm a wimp, so sue me! )

any thoughts on the matter? i'll take any & all advice into consideration.

Chris

If you do decide to try 9.2, one idea is to do partition backups of your old system so that you can restore it if you decide to go back to it. www.partimage.org

I don't think you would be helped by upgrading right now. Most of the additional package sites are not at 9.2 yet. A lot of bugs are still in the final release, so expect lots of updates to the main packages in the next 1-2 months.

If you're already running newer versions of the major software tools (mozilla/ooffice, etc) the main advantage would be a kernel upgrade or easier 2.6 kernel testing.

If you like tweaking, but not re-tweaking, just leave the mandrake path and gradually run your own stuff. It's probably more stable and if not, you learn a lot more about how stuff works.

As for upgrading, it's mostly stable, but you need to add some kde packages (if you use kde) to fix some problems introduced by the splitting of the kde stuff into more rpms. (kdebase-konsole)

I haven't worked much with 9.2 yet, but I did a few installs/upgrades for testing purpose... I could change my opinion later ;-)

Cheers

Simon

There is a speed increase in Konqorer, if you use that o the net. The improvements in OO can be realized in 9.1. I have partitions in my system where I can tweak without ruining my current installation. If I were a gnome user, I might consider he upgrade, but I also know gnome users who have upgraded 9.1. The point is that thereis really no reason to wreak your system! I just do it for play and fun! I think that the gui boot stuff is really nice, and with rc2 my usb2.0 was configured. (At least it said it was! :wink: )

Windex upgrades are marketed. The reason is that many parts of your tweaked box are wreaked by the upgrade. You can tweak it back, in time. Because of marketing, everyone seems to accept it. Linux upgrades are no different. But, the customization of a linux box is really much highed than with windex. So, again, I do not upgrade because I think the next release will scramble my eggs for breakfast! I do it for the play.

Oh, I haven't heard about the actual upgrade path in the install. I don't have iso's yet, so I can't test it. But, my theory is the more customized programs you are running, including plf and texstar rpm's, the less likely an upgrade will work.

with what you guys are telling me, i'm thinking i'll be taking the safe route & sticking with 9.1 for a while. as long as i keep up to date with my fav programs & get new kernels as they come out, i should be fine. maybe some day i'll give it a go, but i don't feel like messing with a good thing right now. a reinstall would almost surely send me back to Window$ land for an undetermined amount of time, & i don't want to go there.

Chris

I don't think you should bother if you're only interested in the newer version of [enter your favorite app here]. Much more sensible to install/upgrade it. I find that, when you play around with it a long time, and found your perfect settings, got it all configured, you really don't want to do that all over again.

When you're comfortable, you don't want to leave that comfort.

Once people reach this point, the road back to Windoze suddenly seems really long and exhausting.


Darkelve

Sounds like your already running Mandrake 9.3
Can't wait to get that far with my newly installed 9.2 version. :wink:

leave well enough alone

For myself, I'm going to stick with Mandrake 9.1. When Mandrake ships with a stable 2.6 kernel, I'll upgrade. 9.1 has been solid for me.

Scoopy wrote:


yeah! i guess i might be, huh? :shock:

see, that's what i feel comfortable & happy doing right now, especially at my experience level combined with time constraints. i like to try out new software, upgrade this prog & that. that way, if i'm doing things one at a time & something goes fubar, i can pretty much track down what went wrong & with what. from what i'm hearing & understand, 9.2 COULD work for me as an upgrade. then again, there's a good chance that it would really screw things up for me. that being the case, i'll happily cruise along with my current version, learn as i can, upgrade individual packages as i see fit, & wait for another release. that, or until Mandrake catches up with MY current version!

Chris

kernel-2.6 is fun to get going on a 9.1. Other than that, leaving well enough alone is good. People have done it, but when I tried it was a disaster :roll: .

Well, it certainly feels that way 8)


Darkelve

[Edit: Here's a link to a screenshot: http://my.opera.com/forums/showthread.php?...25&pagenumber=7 ]

Some say "when it works, don't fix it"...

I have a scratch laptop which I upgraded to 9.2, but my "main" PC will stay with 9.1 for a while.

In Chriz situation, I think upgrading today does not worth the time it will require. 9.2 is still in its infancy, expect many updates in the near future. Remember you can get the new 2.4.22 kernel elsewhere if you really want to play with it for more speed, options and new stuff. That's what I did, at least. Same thing is true for other apps (OO, Mozilla, etc).

Concerning Mandrake software, I've not seen many improvements in Drakconf and so on. If you keep your 9.1 up to date, you'll have more time to play-study with individual new rpms, while leaving time to Mandrake to fix their 9.2 bugs.

And cannonfolder advice to make a backup is REALLY important (I should have done it when upgrading 8.1 to 9.1 :? )

I gotta say, I'm in the same boat,
I've got 9.1 up and running very well, with Gnome 2.4 (thanks Texstar), abi word, moz firebird, and much more, and am happy with how everything is working. But there's that little itch that says 9.2 may be better, faster and so on....
The same itch that makes one buy a bigger amp for the stereo, a new video card, seriously ponder a turbo charger for the family car 8) and on and on....

I am really torn, and have yet to take a solid lean one way or the other, than again the iso's are not available to non-club members yet, and I will have to make my decision when that happens.

Here's to indecision!

Capn

For my desktop, I think I will stay with mandrake 9.1 + Texstar packages that serves me for quite a while. Maybe if I have broadband (which in Indonesia can take years), I will go to whatever the newest version will be.

For my borrowed laptop, I definitely need Mandrake 9.2 since the improvements in kernel 2.4.22 will definitely help making the laptop as close as possible to windows in terms of usability (such as acpi, suspend, etc).

From the sounds of this thread:
http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php...8739&highlight=

maybe I don't want to upgrade just yet.....

Capn