Rate Mandriva 2007

[mystified]

Well I had to use cups to configure printing because doing it through mcc didn't work. And my printer is well supported. I guess Mandriva will last on the laptop now that I've got what I need working.

[Leo]

I've given up on 2007 and gone back to 2006.

 

It looks nice but completely screwed up my sound, I tried buggering about with alsa but it wasn't having any of it and quite frankly I can't be arsed to fix it (Mandriva obviously couldn't be arsed to get it right in the first place).

 

This is the first release that has made me feel like this (although I have only been using it since 9.0), I will probably wait for 2007.1 and see how that goes.

 

Leo

[Robert P]

Not a problem here, although installation was screwy for me, but after that I think 2007 is a great distro.

 

I am still a newbie though and have not experienced wireless stuff and Video cards and Sounds Card problems, cause I use integrated stuff. But I like 2007.

[AussieJohn]

Apart from the earlier install problem (covered in other posts and in Mandriva errata now), I only had a problem with zip but that has now been fixed.

Everything else seems to be AOK.

 

I note that Mandriva has already been giving hints for quite some time, that it is planning a possible 2007.1 version, or whatever, because I have noted that for some time when you open MCC the Header refers to 2007.0. I don't ever remember seeing that after the original install.

 

Cheers. John.

[Gowator]

I ticked "could be installed but has serious problems that need to be fixed yet."

I'm sure I could get it to work with some time and hacking BUT "I just didn't see why I would want to... (that in itself is sad) ... the thing is if I wanted a mess/hack about distro I would be using arch or gentoo so I had near zero patience for Mandriva ... so I was lazy about getting it to work but let me explain why (or not if your not ready for a gowatorial rant) or skip to the bottom...

 

I can only equate this to Suse.... I didn't really want to use it but tried it a year or so ago... and pretty much everything worked... (OK except Xine but that's another story) .. this is what I expect from Mandriva.

 

I hate to put it in a Windows perspective but .... its like this... some distro's are lots of fun but you spend too long playing about and tweaking to do any work.

 

there are a couple of very wise comments/observations I remember from this board...

One was a long time ago when Ix advised me sometimes a reinstall might not be the best technical way but we all have lives/families/pets who want to see us occaisionally ... :D and its true... sometiomes you just want the blasted thing to WORK...

 

You know sometimes you just need to write that letter to the insurers/bank/utility company and PRINT the blasted thing not spend an hour getting the network working or printer to print...

 

The second wise thing sticks in my mind (Im sure there are many more these two come to mind now) was Arctic when he switched to Gnome...

For me he actually gave the best arguament EVER ... if anyone ever reads it properly then it would end KDE/Gnome wars forever... what he said was KDE was so customisable so easily that he spent countless wasted hours playing with it.

 

Much as I'm a big KDE fan I have to acknoweledge this ... (you won't see my desktop in the show off thread cos its the default more or less kanotix desktop) ... but I have to say he has a damned good point...

 

So this brings me to Mandriva... what do I expect...?

It a paid for distro... (OK I tried the DL edition but posts here lead me to beleive this was not the issue) so I expect the blasted thing to just worki! Suse can do it and I dislike Suse for other philosophical reasons NOT because it doesn't work!

 

Ignoring the fact I use gtk-gnutella/gaim etc. which *need* frequent updates because of protocols etc. I could stick in a kanotix CD and all my network cards (including wifi) and printers will work...

If I don't want to upgrade and install my own stuff (i.e I just want the basic office productivity) but just wait for the next CD and keep my home seperate then it will keep working until I decide to try the latest CD...

 

I'm sure its not the only one but its the one I experienced...and its FREE and a handful of developers (pre-sidux split) ... that is it satisfied my basic needs and replaces Windows completely (except

OCR) ...

 

I don't expect this from Gentoo or arch but then they don't pretend it... so I class Mandriva in the everything basic should work category. Measuring it up against Suse it fails badly...

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non gowatorial readers start again here

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But to me the bottom line is illustrated by Mysties experience (and lawson)... inconsistency over what works and what doesn't from release to release.

This is my #1 technical gripe with Mandriva.

 

They seem completely unable to get one but of hardware consistently working across releases and for each fixed chipset etc. another one seems to break. (Im not talking new ones just ones that worked before)

 

This really pisses me because its a paid distro... and this shows a shirking of that responsibility. Moreover I BUY hardware to be linux compatible... I haven't used Windows in YEARS... so when I go out and BUY hardware and it works (perhaps by trying the download version) I expect that being happy I could buy the next powerpack release and everything that worked in the previous one should work...

 

For all my rants about Mandriva philosophy IF this was the case I would strongly consider Mandriva as my boring but stead distro... I can't see it being my only distro but I would pay-up for a distro that was always there for me... when I have an urgent letter to print etc.

 

Its my opinion Mandriva presume their users will use Windows to perform this function?

[michaelcole]

I would say that their QA is not good enough based on that.

 

It could be that SUSE has more resources to throw at the problems to start with.

 

What they need is to have lots of computers with different hardware to test the install procedures.

 

But without a large budget that is hard.

Catch 22 have to sell a lot to have the budget but it needs to work to sell a lot.

 

They need to do a freeze on each of the Hardware related files and double and triple check, the next problem is Bios each computer has a bios and many are faulty and users dont upgrade the bios. So a single base mother board could have 10 different configurations just on the base bios then on top of that people sometimes set some of the bios options which then cause problems.

 

Also remember it is not just Them with the bugs it is the projects that have the bugs and they just catch the wrong end of it

[Gowator]

I would say that their QA is not good enough based on that.

 

It could be that SUSE has more resources to throw at the problems to start with.

 

What they need is to have lots of computers with different hardware to test the install procedures.

 

But without a large budget that is hard.

Catch 22 have to sell a lot to have the budget but it needs to work to sell a lot.

 

They need to do a freeze on each of the Hardware related files and double and triple check, the next problem is Bios each computer has a bios and many are faulty and users dont upgrade the bios. So a single base mother board could have 10 different configurations just on the base bios then on top of that people sometimes set some of the bios options which then cause problems.

 

Also remember it is not just Them with the bugs it is the projects that have the bugs and they just catch the wrong end of it

Yes all true and I agree, I can't fault the logic :D

but I also think Mandriva simply lack a consistent direction .....

Suse probably have more dev's and resources, true but then Mandriva need to be less ambitious....

People will put up with application problems because you can always use something else... even if its only for 50% and another app for another 50% but being unable to boot is a show stopper....

 

An example is the inclusion of the 3D desktop.... (by default as well) ... if Mandriva had focussed on improving consistency NOT adding a pretty but useless (well uneeded) feature they could have ironed out real show stoppers .. same goes for upgrading the interface and wizards... just concentrate on fixing the ones which exist before adding new functionality...

 

I agree they don't have the resources but I don't think they (overall) seem to recognise this....so they are constantly going in 10 directions at once. The result is breaking parts that previously worked and this itself looses REPEAT customers (Im one) and this then becomes its own catch-22.

 

and users dont upgrade the bios

Yes true BUT they could fix this by communication! If they published the bios versions and were honest that they hadn't tested others so milage may vary then people wouldn't be dissapointed.... BUT the real irony is that sometimes the fix in one release it to upgrade the BIOS... and then in the next release this bios doesn't work ...

 

Again "consistency" and "transparent communication" would solve this....

 

Going back to Suse... I ordered my 9.1 (I think) on the web... got an immediate eMail for queries and tracking number (its not rocket science) and then update emails on the processing/shipping until 3 days later it arrived.

Ripping open the box I was even more impressed ....

CD and DVD versions of 64bit and 32bit... (Oh and a big thick manual :D)

The price was LESS than a single media (CD OR DVD) Powerpack for 32bit OR 64 bit... I got 4 times the software in effect ... (The point being this cost Suse an extra $5 perhaps since commercial duplication is REALLY cheap but it impressed the hell outa me)

 

Mandriva.. you can't even email ....!!! so the user consumer experience and professionalism were completely different! (deliberate strike out)

[Guest marietechie]

As a real newbie to Linux, Mandriva is pretty easy to use. However, it has problems booting up. I am hoping that I will get that solved or will move onto a new distro.

 

Most of the open source programs I use on Windows are in the Mandriva One KDE release. I wish it came with Firefox 2.0 but, for the most part, I only have to install maybe three programs. It is not easy trying to install new programs, however, and I keep getting confused about how to use the control center to do it...and whether or not I need a command line.

 

I am still searching for clear documentation for someone who knows next-to-nothing about linux (me). The forums are helpful, but it is disappointing to see that Mandriva does not install help files that a newbie could use right from the start. (Seems you've got to download them all.) If Mandriva could at least install the documentation for the basics, that would help the newbie in the long run.

Edited February 2, 2007 by marietechie

[dexter11]

Help files are not installed only in the One editions because they take a lot of space. If you'd use the ususal CD\DVD installation you'd get your help files by default.

[aRTee]

I had no problems on my wife's pc, on my pc and on my new laptop. My old laptop had some sound setup issues - unlike before where it just worked.

 

Note that my new laptop is Linux certified by Novell (came preinstalled with Suse, no MS Win) and all my desktop hardware is Linux certified by me.

And it just works.

 

Not that I didn't have to figure things out, like how my laptop wireless works etc.

 

But on the whole, I've been quite happy with Mandriva 2007 - I'm just not around much anymore since I'm a parent now (well, since about 6 months).... hence my late reply to this thread...