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View Full Version : How is Mandriva?


villainy
April 12th, 2009, 08:44 PM
I've been itching to try it out, but currently like the way Ubuntu has treated me.

What's better/worse?
How does it work with KDE 4?
Is it worth it to switch and see?
How's the company behind it, community, etc.?

Also, what is the command to install an app?
Mehall
April 12th, 2009, 09:01 PM
mandriva has a great implementation of KDE. IMO, if your only experience of KDE ever is a Kubuntu version, you're missing out. KDE isn;t really somehting Canonical seem to implement well, again, imo.

I think mandriva might have yum? I'm not sure, I haven't spent much time on it installed, but I know plenty who have and love it.

One thing: The Live CD can often times be one of the slowest I have ever used, but once it's installed you get a lot of speed back.
Firestem4
April 12th, 2009, 09:09 PM
I tried out the Mandriva 2008 LiveCD. From what short time I spent with it. It is not bad at all. I have been itching to try it out again with a full install and not just a LiveCD.

Mandriva is .RPM based (Ubuntu is .deb[ian].
It uses the "yum" package manager as far as I am aware.
KDE implimentation is very good.

Mehall: Canonical does not produce Kubuntu. Kubuntu is an officially recognized distribution of Ubuntu, however it is Community Maintained. (and the latest upgrades of 8.10 are much better than before.)
villainy
April 12th, 2009, 09:16 PM
I just tried out the LiveCD and my wireless mouse didn't work, but my wireless keyboard did.

It seemed very good from what I saw though. I really like their version of KDE as well.

Wonder why my mouse didn't work when my keyboard did though? :(
Firestem4
April 12th, 2009, 09:19 PM
I just tried out the LiveCD and my wireless mouse didn't work, but my wireless keyboard did.

It seemed very good from what I saw though. I really like their version of KDE as well.

Wonder why my mouse didn't work when my keyboard did though? :(


In another irony. I loaded up a LiveCD of Chakra (Arch) and my Synaptics touchpad worked when I installed it. But i noticed the other day it does not work anymore!!! *cry*
villainy
April 12th, 2009, 09:28 PM
In another irony. I loaded up a LiveCD of Chakra (Arch) and my Synaptics touchpad worked when I installed it. But i noticed the other day it does not work anymore!!! *cry*

Yup, that's why I like Ubuntu.

I've tried Fedora, OpenSuse and now Mandriva and while all looked great, something didn't seem to work. Fedora, I couldn't connect to my network, OpenSuse, it booted, next reboot, my video didn't work and now Mandriva with my mouse not working.

While I'm sure I can easily fix these problems, Ubuntu hasn't given me any whatsoever. Everything worked right away.
cardinals_fan
April 12th, 2009, 10:02 PM
Mandriva is .RPM based (Ubuntu is .deb[ian].
It uses the "yum" package manager as far as I am aware.
Mandriva's package manager is called urpmi. Fedora uses yum.
SomeGuyDude
April 12th, 2009, 10:05 PM
Mandriva's pretty dang slick. I haven't tried it since 2007 when it exploded every time I logged out. Still, I say it's a very nice little distro.
SunnyRabbiera
April 12th, 2009, 10:07 PM
As for my own thoughts well Mandriva has its good points and bad points too.
Mandriva's biggest issue is updating even the most basic software, while Ubuntu and Opensuse have community repositories to keep things up to date Mandy doesnt have this.
Its really bad when you have to use an unstable repo just to get minor software updates.
Granted one can say the same about Ubuntu but I find the PPA's help keep things alive even when backports fail.
HermanAB
April 12th, 2009, 10:26 PM
Mandriva has the Penguin Liberation Front for the user supported packages:
http://plf.zarb.org/

That is where you can get all the restricted codecs for example.

It also has a very active 'Cooker', the user supported development forum:
http://forum.mandriva.com

I use Mandriva for work and Ubuntu for fun.
swoll1980
April 12th, 2009, 11:46 PM
I haven't been able to get it to boot on my machine in 18 months, not even in a vm. It hangs at a cursor blinking in the upper right hand corner right when X should start.
wolfen69
April 12th, 2009, 11:53 PM
i personally like mandriva. if ubuntu was not around, mandriva would be my first choice.
tbroderick
April 12th, 2009, 11:58 PM
I haven't been able to get it to boot on my machine in 18 months, not even in a vm. It hangs at a cursor blinking in the upper right hand corner right when X should start.

http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/2009.0_Errata#One_editions_fail_to_boot_to_a_graph ical_desktop_.28xorg.conf_not_created.29
swoll1980
April 13th, 2009, 12:11 AM
http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/2009.0_Errata#One_editions_fail_to_boot_to_a_graph ical_desktop_.28xorg.conf_not_created.29

Thanks, but I just figured it out. I just did alt+f4 logged in as root, and ran startx it got me to the live cd desktop. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier.