I'm a long time linux user and developer. So I believed the hype behind Ubuntu and decided to install Gustsy on a brand new laptop this week, only to be extremely disappointed by the poor configuration tools. After I spent over a day trying to get everything setup and working as I wanted it, I finally gave up. The wireless network was still refusing to work as it kept forgetting settings and just refused to work at all unless I used DHCP.

Instead I tried Mandriva 2008, newly released this very day. From inserting the CD to having everything working correctly, the desktop and programs setup (email etc), took a little over an hour and 30 minutes.

The only real difference between Ubuntu and Mandriva is the installation and configuration tools/wizards. However those tools make all the difference. Unlike Ubuntu, Mandriva picked the right drivers for the graphics from the start and the networking wizard had the wireless running in 30 seconds. The default packages chosen by Mandriva made more sense with less clutter installed than Ubuntu. The look and feel of the desktop is also closer to that of Windows, which is good since the laptop is going to be used by a first time Linux user.

Overall I'm far more impressed by Mandriva than Ubuntu's offering. This is what all Linux distributions should be aiming to replicate if they want to be accepted by both linux newbies and long time users.

a beta Ubuntu against a release Mandriva. What do you expect?

So the final release will contain all the setup and configuration applications that ubuntu is currently lacking? My colleagues working on Ubuntu or for Canonical say otherwise.

I'm trying my best to be fair to Ubuntu, but tonight I related my experiences to some of the Ubuntu team whom I work with on a regular basis. They weren't too surprised and admit that there are weaknesses. Of course improvements are planned and will eventually make it into future releases, but at this moment, side by side, Mandriva is easier to install and configure than Ubuntu. I felt this was a point worth making, especially if I can improve the linux experience for just one person.

I for one wish there wasn't a disparity of this nature between distributions, choice is fine but ultimately having so many distributions damages Linux. The world of open source is plagued by egos which drives developers to create multiple projects aiming to do the same things. Rather than working together as larger and more effective teams, we divide the labour force and waste our efforts.

The community occasionally see this as a battle, they ally themselves with one project and are prepared to battle to the death. This just makes things worse because the developers are not at war and never have been. More often than not, if you put us in a room together with plenty of beer, we're the best of friends. We only want the best for linux and would rather cooperate than work against each other, we just need to get past the pride.

2008 is shaping up to be a great release for Mandriva. I'm a long time Mandriva user but have had recent experience of other distros recently and I'm continually reminded of why I stay loyal to this distro. It's well put together and has good config tools. Nothing is perfect and Mandriva 2008 will no doubt prove to have some niggles along with every other OS on the market, but the people behind it are friendly and knowledgeable and will provide updates and fixes fairly rapidly if needed. Keep on rocking Mandriva :)

And just to keep it relevant: It's Paris Hilton's Linux Distro of Choice.... (not sure that's a good thing..... :p)

Well I compared the previous Mandriva and the previous Ubuntu RELEASES when they came out and had the same conclusion. If you have some other facts from a comparison why not mention them rather than just dissing someone elses fairly written comparison defining what they found to be a noticeable difference

"Mandriva Linux 2008 has a new base system built on version 2.6.22.9 of the Linux kernel, which adds some features such as fair scheduling support (distributes CPU usage amongst users)."

The new scheduler is the "Completely Fair Scheduler" which has generated quite a bit of excitement recent weeks. This seems to be a good summary: http://kerneltrap.org/node/8059

Mandriva has always had some very nice config tools and always looked and felt very nice. I started using it back on Mandrake 7 and was amazed to find things in the powerpack like a live CD that ran great and lots of commercial apps like vmware included. I used it up until 10.2 where the bugginess and instability got to an all time high. I tried Ubuntu 6.06 (dapper) and have been with Ubuntu through the releases ever since.

The biggest problem Mandriva still have is that its based on Red Hat. The Debian base is too good to not use (mostly apt, but also the packages themselves) and the amount of time Mandriva has spent still on Red Hat style and RPMs has lost their market share in the community.

Still I'll give it a try maybe in a VM. This being an open-source community then anything that Mandriva does well gets adopted by other distros including Ubuntu (such as Gutsys new printer admin tool) and we all benefit. Having an ego about your distro of choice is like arguing whether red is better than blue.

But its still perfectly ok to hate Windows users for causing my PACS mail server to have to work harder than it should by sifting through all the spam their infected botnet machines send to me.

Even though Linux had been around the DVD size for a while, I still cant get the image out of my head that Linux suppose to be small and compact, even Vista with all the unneeded crap and its giant footprint dont come near this size.

I'm glad to see a new Mandriva release. Having been using Mandriva since it was Mandrake 8.<something>, I have come to really like the the setup and configuration tools they have. It is very easy to setup the system exactly the way you want it. Ubuntu is good, but not quite as good. (I think Ubuntu still is a better experience then Redhat.)

What I am really interested to see in the new Mandriva release it what happens after installation. My present experience tells me that Ubuntu has a much better upgrade-to-the-latest-release system. In Mandriva, even up through 2007, upgrading to a the latest release is not something easily done, and many of the people commenting on it suggest a fresh install. (That's why I still run Mandrake 10.1 on my personal machine, and haven't upgraded.) My wife and kids both run Ubuntu.

- John

I quite liked KUbuntu Gutsy beta, apart from the networking GUI. This seems to be a common complaint and there seems to be reluctance to fix it. All the bits and pieces seem to be there under the hood, but who wants to configure a text file theses days?

Ive also found its not very helpful when things arn't as it expects - I havent spotted anywhere in the documentation that tells you that you need to be connected to the internet to do updates, for example. When you try to update/install extras without a connection, it doesn't give a very useful message. This could really stump someone who wasnt used to the Ubuntu way of doing things.

Having said that, I think that they got the balance right between not including propriety / non-oss software by default, but allowing users to easily add these afterwards.

Its also easier to install than Windows XP is. One CD, and you have an OS and an office suite ready to go (but no Firefox on KUbuntu unless you install it from the repository). If they sorted the documentation / website so a user could actually find useful information, it'd be really good.

I've been a long time Mandriva user so I am completely biased however. The Mandriva configuration tools and the entire distro feels more rounded compared with Ubuntu, however this is my PERSONAL PREFERENCE.

Rather than the OS community continually bitching about different distros, Why not admit they all have differences and in the end are fairly similar, get over it, find that YOU like and get on with it.

Colin Guthrie posted:

"And just to keep it relevant: It's Paris Hilton's Linux Distro of Choice.... (not sure that's a good thing..... :p)"

Or, perhaps, "It's Britney Mandriva Linux, bitch!"

Oh, well, "Cher and Cher alike," I always say.

Gettin' me coat...

Does Vista have a complete office suite included? webservers, mailservers, choice of desktop "engines", choice of database servers, choice of programming language support, choice of browsers, choice of choice?

Of course not.

Add on to Vista a Vista Office package, IIS, Exchange, SQL Server, and all the other stuff you get for free in a Linux distro and see if it is as smal (and you still only have a choice of one each time). Oh and add on a mortgage to pay for it all.

Oh and of course Red is better than blue, any day.

I am always constantly impressed by the fact even in a discussion about different 2 linux distros linux users still manage to whinge about Windows.

.. to say nothing about the *hundreds* of little programs, skin managers, desktops, small document handlers, graphical viewers, camera managers, TV card software, bluetooth managers, LAN managers,etc, etc....

and note you can do a basic install, and install the rest later, but why not use those GB's for something to do while you are 'having a break' ?? :D

just fucking use windows you sad twats. while you are compiling version 2.6.72.41.5 of the kernel and jacking off over -funroll-all-loops and gcc optimisations i shall be out with my REAL LIFE FRIENDS and having a good time knowing that my computer works without me having to pray and type in thousands of obscure commands written by filthy neckbearded losers who have never in their lives seen a real woman.

eat shit and die.

wtf? really? Can you honesty go home with the peace of mind that Linux users do...knowing a job isn't going to fail for no reason, like things seem to do on Windows? Knowing that your machine is due for a reboot soon because it's best uptime has been 4 weeks?

Oh! I have been e-wounded by Mr. Anonymous because of my choice in operating system!

*yawn* At least you could have put more thought into that sad excuse for an apparent troll. Try again when you start growing hair on that e-chest of yours.

Oh I am supposed to believe that people commenting on this site have lives because they use a certain simple minded but costly operating system listen to me no one here has a real life thats a given if you have one your not reading this and you don't care trolling has to be done within the bounds of what is believable or it's merely being belligerent.

Is it so bad you have to argue with yourself??? it looks like we have hakzord by ten year olds again..

as sheldon says.... :D

http://www.sheldoncomics.com/archive/071010.html

The difference between the Mandriva DVD and the Vista DVD is that after you install Mandriva you have all the tools you need to work including office suites, networking tools, graphics programs etc.

With Vista you get very little and you begin the follow up install of anti-virus software, third party antispyware (do you trust Windows Defender), office software and so on and so on. Also you will then struggle to find the remaining drivers if you are installing on older or self built machinery. You will notice also that the review mentions that it included proprietary Nvidia and ATI drivers for graphics. This is not the case with Vista yet and a visit to these web-sites is also required by Vista users.

Also on the Mandriva DVD will be thousands of extra programs which you can choose to install or not. Very little extra on the Vista disc.

I have no position on either OS. I just thought the comparison in disc size needed some clarification.

Anonymous Coward is correct. Linx will eventually roll down hill and died f community remain egomaniac attitude duplicate all those works and ignore the fact that Microsoft is moving in become a better OS. Loose sands will never succeed become real strong structure, ans will be the future of Linux, it's a shame. Arrogant will do harm more than good.