Steve Scrimpshire Posted June 1, 2005 Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 This is not really meant to be a complete review...just things that stuck out to me. Overall, I'd say the installer has become even more newbie-fied, which I would say is a good thing. Installation: - No 'expert' option anymore - Installer still installs lilo by default - Now installs/uses ugly mdkkdm + Option to copy installation sources to HD + When I select the 'development' section of pkgs, actual useful things actually get installed. + Detected my builtin orinoco wireless for the first time...didn't give me the option to configure it till the end, but this is the first time I haven't had to jump through hoops to get it to see it. Use: - Default dm is slow and sometimes seems to not be responding - No acpi in 'append' line of lilo.conf anymore + urpmi sources already set up with both the DVD and HD copy of DVD and used the HD copy first. Just my thoughts. I think we're getting somewhere overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniewicz Posted June 1, 2005 Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 I found the fonts to be crisper in 10.2 (in comparison with 10.1) Desktop icon spacing (align to grid) gives space between icons! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted June 1, 2005 Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 + good feel and use - ugly penguin. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Adriano1 Posted June 1, 2005 Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 I wonder who created the wallpaper for 9.2 and why was he fired abruptly and given to the crocodiles. I mean, I guess, seeing the newer wallpapers. I liked that wallpaper. Nothing since has come close to it in 'drake (not the default ones at least). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamw Posted June 1, 2005 Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 Not sure what you mean by 'no acpi in append= line' - I think it should be either acpi=ht or nothing by default, which disables ACPI (acpi=ht turns on just enough for hyperthreading to work), and it's been this way for a while. We enabled ACPI by default once (think it was 9.0 or 9.2) and it was an unmitigated disaster, way too many machines don't work right with ACPI turned on. Thanks for the thoughts :) (there's been some heavy work on grub in Cooker lately, I'm getting the idea maybe there'll be a switch for 2006...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scrimpshire Posted June 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 Well, before, it added acpi=ht in there....now it doesn't. As for lilo/grub, I prefer lilo, so it's no big deal for me, but the choice of bootloaders has been missing for awhile...you can change it at the summary screen, but I'm sure it would be nice for some to get the choice at the beginning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted June 2, 2005 Report Share Posted June 2, 2005 as far as the bootloader, you have to keep in mind that if you want the install to be newbie friendly you don't want to present them with the choice at the start...they'll be confused if they feel they have to make a decision about something that makes no sense to them. With it at the end, it gives advanced users a chance to change it before it's all said and done, while regular users can feel comfortable knowing that something has been chosen for them. basically it's a user interface design deal - give the user as few choices as is necessary to get the job done, but allow advanced users to change things if they want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crundle Posted June 2, 2005 Report Share Posted June 2, 2005 I'm a newbie to linux in general, and found the installation of 10.2 to be easy. the only hassle i really had was getting ndiswrapper to find and work with my belkin card, which it did once I mucked around a bit. making linux easier for newbies will get more people to try it in the first place, which can't be a bad thing. I much prefer using mandrake now to XP, at least I can see what mandrake is doing, whereas XP just does things by itself, and lets me do things as an aside. just my thoughts crundle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Posted June 2, 2005 Report Share Posted June 2, 2005 I liked the installer (it has become even simpler and it looks nice too) getting a working system from fresh install was also easy. However menu problems and usb device (graphics tablet/mouse) have really pissed me off. This is the first release that has made me want to try something else (I never bothered with 9.2 so it didn't bother me). It is a shame really becasuse I agree with everything that has been said above, the look and feel are much improved (and it was pretty good to start with) I even quite like the starry-eyed tux but these little irritations ruin the experience. Leo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted June 27, 2005 Report Share Posted June 27, 2005 However menu problems and usb device (graphics tablet/mouse) have really pissed me off can this be expanded on a little...? I was getting ready to install LE2005, but first I am browsing all the posts here, about people's opinions about it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainer Posted June 27, 2005 Report Share Posted June 27, 2005 (edited) I've just done a 562 mb Custom install of LE2005 and have found it to be very snappy indeed. Basically centred around ICEWM, Firefox, Eterm, MCC, XChat, NEdit, VIM and very little else - most of the services disabled - raised security level to Higher (I don't need GUI access out of my home directory). Excellent, fast, secure, desktop - Mandriva's not bloated at all if you do it right - now somebody mention that to the FUD bafoons on OSNEWS :) Edited June 27, 2005 by Rainer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted June 27, 2005 Report Share Posted June 27, 2005 However menu problems and usb device (graphics tablet/mouse) have really pissed me off can this be expanded on a little...? I was getting ready to install LE2005, but first I am browsing all the posts here, about people's opinions about it... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> afaik, some wireless mouses and graphic tablets (like wacom) do not work with le2005, so if you use those, it is perhaps a better decision to wait for 2006 or use 10.1 in the meanwhile. about the menu, i only read about some problems that came up when people tried to customize their menus. although i haven't experienced any problems yet, so it is hard to tell if this is really a general problem or rather an individual problem (= what i am suggesting). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted June 27, 2005 Report Share Posted June 27, 2005 Excellent, fast, secure, desktop - Mandriva's not bloated at all if you do it right - now somebody mention that to the FUD bafoons on OSNEWS :) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> i agree with you. a custom install can make mandriva a lean, fast and really cool distro. but distrowatch and osnews somehow hate mandriva. dunno why... :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonMage Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Bloat is well, depends on what you install really. I found that most of the times, you only need 1 cd for installation by forgoing manual, multiple language, development packages, and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Wacom tablets do work with le2005. They just don't work right. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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