So, this is the final release candidate, and pretty much this will be almost the same as the final release.. To read this review, read first NEWS: Mandriva 2008.1 RC1 Released because I don't want to write half the same stuff again, and I'll only note some stuff I didn't said in the RC 1 review, and point some new stuff found in RC 2.

First of all, here is the release announcement:

The sixth pre-release of Mandriva Linux 2008.1 is here. This pre-release includes support for easy synchronization of Windows Mobile 5+, Blackberry and Nokia devices, the Codeina multimedia codec installation system, support for Radeon HD 3xxx series graphics cards, more improvements to the Mandriva software installation tools, the finalized 2008 Spring theme, a new metapackage for easily installing a complete LAMP setup, and KDE 4.0.2.

Here the Live CD (with KDE) is being tested and written about. Here are some screenshots:


The screens show that most of the artwork is the same as in RC1, which is great. As in 2008.0 and in 2008.1 RC 1, an in almost every release before, you are asked to choose language, keyboard layout, time zone etc. Also it did recognized my display size, my graphics card (nVidia) and loaded the drivers. It also asked whether to use compiz-fusion, metisse or none of them. Now, i chose to use compiz, and it went with no glitches. OK, so let's what's different.

The first change (an eye-candy one) is the new colors in the wallaper.. It's not blue on both sides (left and right) but on the right an orange blend can be seen.
This is what was all about, it uses an XML file with several wallapers/color schemes (the orange one, a greenish one, and a blueish one), instead one wallaper. Something in the style of Fedora Infinity (Fedora 8 Wallpaper).


When it comes to multimedia, I saw a new item in the KDE menu, and that was Codeina. Codeina is meant for buying codecs (as I understood) that are missing from your OS, if you want them (legally at least). But, when the application was launched, I got this screen:


Now (the time of writing of this article) is March the 26th. So, Codeina/The Fluendo (Web) Shop has 5 days to launch ;).

Now I'm going to mention some nice things that are included in Mandriva.. One of them is KRandR.


It's used for changing monitor resolution and refresh rate with no fuss. Another thing, which I really, and I would like to see similar implementations in other distros is the 'Network and Internet Configuration'.


Which is the easiest way to set up your connection, with minimum knowledge. When all the steps are finished, you will get a notification.

Hoping to see a nice PowerPack DVD in the Final relase, and I also hope that some of my local magazines will give it with their issues :) :)

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So, after all the Alpha and Beta releases, here is the final one. For download go here. There are a lot of new features in this release, as well as the newest in the GNOME desktop and applications. Before commenting and posting screenshots, here is the official release announcement:

Foresight Linux 2.0 has been released. New in version 2.0: a new tar-based installer that should install in less than 10 minutes, including formatting a 200 GB hard drive; PackageKit to help users update their system and add and remove software; Syslinux, a new bootloader to replace GRUB; GNOME-Do to quickly search for many items present in a GNOME desktop environment (applications, Evolution contacts, Firefox bookmarks, files, artists and albums in Rhythmbox, Pidgin buddies, etc.) and perform commonly used actions on those items. Users should also find it much easier to use binary video card drivers from NVIDIA and ATI than in Foresight 1.x. Transmission is also included as the default Bittorrent application.

It comes in two choices, x86, and 64bit one. The DVDs are install only, there is no Live Session available. When the media is booted, the following screen appears:


Yeah, the boot loader is not GRUB, nor LILO. It's SysLinux, and as the creators state, it's supposed to replace GRUB.


The installer is Anaconda (made by Red Hat, and used in Fedora also), the installation is really about 10 mins, as stated in the release announcement. Thanks to the new tar-based installer. Now, after the installation, the greenish theme will welcome you.


The theme is little different than in Foresight 1.4, the previous one was green-to-yellow somehow. A large selection of wallpapers is offered also.

Now, when it comes to applications, PackageKit is here to manage adding and removing packages, as well as updating the whole system. Also, GNOME 2.22 was included with all of its packages. When it comes to GNOME 2.22 here is their release announcement:

Addition of Cheese, a tool for taking photos from webcams and Remote Desktop Viewer; basic window compositing support in Metacity; introduction of GVFS; improved playback support for DVDs and Youtube, MythTV support in Totem; internationalised clock applet; Google Calendar support and message tagging in Evolution; improvements in Evince, Tomboy, Sound Juicer and Calculator.

Cheese is a nice funny application, and it can take and save photos or clips from your webcam.


Only one package was missing, and that was GIMP. But, the developer/s of Foresight said that GIMP was removed due to they wanted to shrink the whole media from a DVD to a single CD. Besides GIMP, everything else was here, all the Office needed packages, all the games that are included in GNOME project, even Transmission was included, as the default torrent client. Firefox was also here, as the default web browser. And if you want to search for an item in the GNOME desktop enviroment (applications, Evolution contacts, Firefox bookmarks, files, artists and albums in Rhythmbox, Pidgin buddies... ) GNOME-Do in there for you. Brasero is the CD/DVD burning solution, and Banshee was also included, which is a nice audio media player. Popular media codecs were lacking, and proprietary video drivers, which is understandable why.

There was one thing that i really liked, and that is the Foresight Linux User Guide. Just click System, and click on the icon which launches the guide.


For everything lacking, here is explained how to get to it. Meaning popular media codecs, video card drivers, getting compiz, Conary and PackageKit are explained, and so on... A great introduction for newbies, which will solve a lot of their problems :)

Only one weird thing happened to me. When i started the OS, and the first time it booted, there was no sound. The icon showed that it was muted. I launched the sound mixer, and all the channels were OK. Then i figured, PulseAudio. I started the PulseAudio volume control, and there, the mute button was ticked. So I unticked it, and Banshee was playing with no fuss.


Nevertheless PulseAudio is well integrated and the sound is great, with no glitches. One great thing about it is that you can control the volume of separate applications, or even mute a separate application/stream.

Overall, the installation went great, the user experience was great, PackageKit is easy to use, the User Guide is a great plus, all GNOMEish apps (except GIMP) are included... So, if there is someone who wants a different and fresh GNOME based desktop, Foresight is one of the best choices.

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The latest edition of Mint, in KDE flavor, in it's Community Edition... The download links are available, as well as the release notes. Here is the announcement:

Linux Mint 4.0 KDE released. Daryna KDE is nearly as 'minty' as the main edition now. The packages are (safely) up to date and the kernel is the Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon kernel 2.6.22. Mint applications: mintInstall, mintwifi, mintUpdate, mintAssistant, mintUpload. Minted versions of Firefox, Sunbird. Changes since the beta release: fixed the HAL USB NTFS problem; changed some Compiz default settings to make it more KDEish and fix a known bug; added a Linux Mint user agent to Konqueror and pre-added some sites to use the Mint user agent. This helps people know Linux Mint is out and about.

When the DVD (yes this one comes on a DVD, and is 1GB) is booted, the following screens appears:


In the Main edition everything was greenish, but here everything is blueish, which gives a better feel. When booting, tree options are given, to boot the DVD in 'normal' and safe mode, and to boot the HDD (meaning to skip the DVD). The bootsplash is simple, infact, all of the artwork is simple, but it's nicer. The default window decoration is 'Domino' and the default window border is 'Crystal'. That is a very nice combination indeed. So, lets install the Mint.


A lots of languages are available in which the installer is localized:


Now find yourself in the world ;)


Is asks for keyboard layout, and if manual partition setup is selected, this nice screen will appear. One thing I don't know, is this installer the same as in Ubuntu, or is it ported in QT? Nevertheless it does it job as it should.


When the installation finishes, you can remain in the Live Session, or restart and take a look at the newly installed Linux distro.


MINT features KDE 3.5.8, and Linux kernel 2.6.22. These are not the newest packages, but are pretty stable, which is more important. Homebrew Mint packages are: mintInstall, mintWiFi, mintUpdate, mintAssistant, and mintUpload. Ohter highlights in the default applications are: Internet: Firefox, KFTPGrabber, KGet, Kopete, Krdc, Krfb, KTorrent, Thunderbird, and so on... Graphics: digiKam, GIMP, Gwenview, Hugin panorama creator, Inkscape, KPdf, Scribus... Multimedia: AmaroK, K3b, k9copy, Kaffeine, KAudioCreator, KMix, KsCD and MPlayer.


MPlayer and Kaffeine are here for video playback, and AmaroK is for all of the audio filetypes. Almost all multimedia formats are playable. So, next, in Office: HPLIP Fax Utility and Fax address book, KArm, KMyMoney, KNotes, the whole OpenOffice.org suite, and an Online Dictionary.


OpenOffice.org in the latest stable version, 2.3. And, now, lets continue, in Settings: Compiz, Enable KWin, Emerald Theme Manager, mintInstall, Ndiswrapper, and so on... in System: Adept, Envy, HPLIP Toolbox, kbluetooth, KCron, Keep, KInfoCenter, Konsole, Kpackage, kpowersafe and so on... in Utilities: Ark, Filelight, KArm, Katapult, Kate, KJobViewer, Skim and lots more.... I also liked that Java was preinstalled here, and I'm glad to see that Envy is still here, to take care of installing nVidia drivers without fuss.

Mint Offers a healthy package selection, and for the average desktop user, everything is given. The packages are not the newest/beta/rc but are the latest stable ones, which is also a big plus. Another thing that I liked is that the Filelight was associated in the file browser.


So, on whichever folder you like, right-click it, and open it in Filelight, to have it analyzed. To sum up, this is a really nice Community Edition, and if you are in search of a new desktop replacement for your Linux PC, give this one a try, it wont dissapint you. But if you want commercial support, try the Main edition. Imagine Kubuntu, with everything it misses included, well, Mint 4.0 KDE CE it the answer.

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It was March the first, and Mandriva 2008.1 RC 1 was released.. Several download options are given, mandriva...dvd-i586.iso (X86 DVD, 3,882MB, MD5), mandriva...dvd-x86_64.iso (64Bit DVD, 3,894MB, MD5), mandriva...GNOME-int-cdrom-i586.iso (X86 "One" GNOME CD, 700MB, MD5), mandriva...KDE-int-cdrom-i586.iso (X86 "One" KDE CD, 696MB, MD5).

Here, the Live KDE CD "One" is being tested. I couldn't find nowhere whether KDE 3.5.9 or KDE 4.0.1 is found on the CD. On the DVD, it's noted that both are given. Is that so hard to write it somewhere? So, now I'm gonna clear it for those who are interested, in the Live CD, KDE 3.5.9 in given. AND what I noticed first, was the beautiful new artwork.


The new artwork is really better than the one found in 2008.0 (it's 'techy' and clear), first thing I did when I installed 2008.0 was getting new themes and screens (didn't liked the one with the small vector people, maybe they wanted to make it look 'for the people' who knows..). So, after booting, the new bootsplash looks like this,


As 2008.0 and the releases before, you are asked to choose language, keyboard layout, time zone etc. Also it did recognized my display size, my graphics card (nVidia) and loaded the drivers during booting. It also asked whether to use compiz-fusion, metisse or none of them. I chose none of them, cause I'm not for the eye candy and bling bling, functionality and performance are more important for me.


The theme is not much changed, it is still "La Ora", but I kinda like it. The "Menu" button is very similar to the one found in 2008.0 but it's nicer. The default menu and app browser is not KickOff, but it's the old one, the default kde 3.5 menu. It woild be nice if KickOff finds it's way here in the final release. The overall look and feel is very similar to the one in 2008.0.


Pulse Audio is integrated, and I didn't had any problems playing mp3's and hearing the system sounds.


When it comes to packages, the default package selection seems the same, but with lots of updates. OpenOffice.org is included with the latest pre-release, 2.4. In the Final version of 2008.1 the final version of OpenOffice.org 2.4 will be included.


Gimp is in 2.4.4 version, and Firefox is in 2.0.0.12 and it's (still) the default web browser. As in 2008.0, Flash plugin is included, and I didn't had problems playing clips from YouTube (this seems to be a thing everybody checks when talking about a new release).


Movies in varuous codecs are playable, Kaffeine is still the default movie player, and in my opinion the best one for KDE. I think that Mandirva supports more media formats by default than OS X supports. I tried movies in DivX, Xvid, x264, 3gp... everything was playable.

What I really liked in this release (and in 2008.0) is that the system is reliable and stable. I hope that the final release of 2008.1 will also be like that.


The kernel included is 2.6.24.2 by the way. The Mandriva Control Center, and the KDE Control Panel haven't changed, and they still do their job as they should ;). NOW, what i really liked in this release, and It wasn't included in the previous KDE releases, is that the removable media has an icon in the 'tray' (the floppy, the USB, etc). So, when you plug your USB, a new icon will appear and you can easily click safely remove (only click on the icon, and click on the label). The other (old skool) way to do this, is to go to the 'Storage Media' folder, do a left click on the desired USB, and then to select the label. This is a nice touch for all newbies, and it makes it easier for everyone.

Only one thing I miss, and that is Wine. Some distros like Ubuntu have Wine in their default package selection, and it would be nice to see it in here also.

To give some stats in the end, KDE 3.5.9, KDE 4.0.1, and GNOME (with new default applications like Transmission, Brasero, and HomeBank) are given in RC1. And, to sum up, this release is a nice upgrade from 2008.0 and if the Mandriva developers stay on the track they found themselves with 2008.0, the final release of 2008.1 will be something what lot's of people look for.

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As the new release of Ubuntu (8.04) coming i decided to give it a try, and made a simple HOWTO for those people who never installed Ubuntu. So, let's start.

Step 1: Insert the Disk, and select Install Ubuntu.


Step 2: Only wait a minute ;)


Step 3: Here click Forward, to start with the installation process.


Step 4: Select Your desired language, and then click Forward.


Step 5: Select Your location, and then click Forward.


Step 6: Select the Keyboard Layout, and then click Forward.


Step 7: Guided partition is recommended for first-time users, so leave it, and click Forward.


Step 8: Here input Name, Surname, Username and Password, and click Forward.


Step 9: Here a simple overview will be shown, if some of the settings aren't as desired, you can click Back, if the settings are OK, then click Install, and let the installer do it's job ;)


Step 10: The installing starts...


...and this procedure will finish in about 20 min, then the PC restarts, and you have your Ubuntu installed. Download links for Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 5: Download: hardy-desktop-i386.iso, hardy-desktop-amd64.iso.

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