Installation:
Excellent choice of colors & graphics for the installation interface! I
found the installation quite enjoyable w/ them!
1. Some minor problems with understanding one of the options towards
the end (other than these, everything else was very explicit!):
a) Prompt after selecting packages, �Going to install 781 mbs. You can
choose to install more programs. Choose the size you want to install. (UH?
What does this mean?? Looks highly useful or needed tho�! But I have no
idea what this means. You need to specify proper nouns/names of �choose the
size you want to install�. Does this mean that if I choose a larger size,
it just gives me a larger partition? For free space??
b) I�ve got no idea which hda1/2/3 that the �/� install was installed
to. Do I need this to configure lilo? I just selected cancel at the prompt
and it looks like it wrote the data to the mbr of the drive. Or so it
looks. Didn�t know where my �/� install was to install lilo separately
since I have several other distros installed.
c) I have an ls120 for an �A:\>� drive! Suprisingly there is no hack
in this config program to simply select the /dev/hdd drive (my ls120)!
2. Desktop:
a) Glad to see the RPM simplified list! Now I can simply check the
rpm category! (lol) Including the Mandrake h/w configurer, but still needs
work in here.
b) Would like to see options for some Soundblaster Live support or an
option to configure your o/s properly at the install of mandrake so that all
the person has to do is install the sblive driver instead of recompiling the
kernel again. Soundblaster Live card is really mainstream these days and
the simplified drivers are out for basic sound! Here�s the url for the
code! http://opensource.creative.com/ <http://opensource.creative.com/>
c) Uh? No USB? This is kernel 2.2.14 and found nothing for usb? Not
even listed in any of the h/w configurations except within a pci probe list!
d) How about displaying the kernel version somewhere within the desktop
or the /System/Information?
e) No GeForce Support! ???!?! Ok Ok � it did configure my adapter card
to use the fb server! What more can I really ask for? Here�s a url to a
�patched� SVGA server that will work (successfully I might add!) with the
Nvidia Geforce Card:
http://perso.club-internet.fr/pousson/files/XF86_SVGA_GeForce.tar.gz
<http://perso.club-internet.fr/pousson/files/XF86_SVGA_GeForce.tar.gz> I
see that Mandrake may wait for the new Xfree tho�. Guess Geforce support
may have to wait. However, it did configure it properly for 16 bit 640x480
resolution! Did better than Xconfigurator (or the old version)!
3. Overall:
a) The main differnce that I see in Mandrake 6.0 and 7.0 is only with
the simplification of the installation process. It is a major improvement
within this area tho�.
b) Still am somewhat surprised that there is no usb options or
soundblaster drivers with the mandrake! Because the sblive drivers, users
may goto slackware or something if they have sblive drivers w/I their o/s!
FYI: The installation was a done on a "self built" or "custom
built"
computer. As such, the installation went primarly flawlessly.
winmail.dat
