DISCLAIMER: This is NOT intended to be negative about Mandrake 9.0 and please don't flame me. I am just frustrated that some of the problems which I saw during the Beta phase were not resolved.
Mandrake 9.0 is great, no question. Although I try other distros to stay on top of things - I am most comfortable with Mandrake and their ways. I really like 9.0 - but I am a bit disappointed about two issues. I have been a frequent contributer to this list for quite some time - and I have repeatedly reported several "irritating" issues I have (more with notebook stuff) - I guess you can call them bugs, but not everybody will come across these problems - and experienced Linux users can find workarounds (except for the ATI Radeon problem) Specifically, I have TWO different notebooks - an older Gateway 9150XL with a Xircom RealPort 10/100 PC-Card and a CS46XX sound chipset. The other notebook is relatively new - a Compaq Evo N600c with an ATI Radeon M6 graphic chipset. My problems are as follows (even with the FINAL Mandrake 9.0): On the Gateway - the sound configuration after initial install sometimes is screwy and echos several times - and most boot ups it works well, but every once and a while it loads the wrong modules (OSS) instead of the Alsa stuff. More annoying is with the Xircom Realport card - which I reported many times before during the development process - During install it works fine, but after install it only initializes in HALF-DUPLEX mode. Under RedHat 8.0 , SuSE 8.0, and Winblows products on the very same machine I don't have these issues. Now for the the Compaq Evo N600c - and the ATI Radeon M6 - which I also reported a few times on this list. When 9.0 is installed on this notebook - the graphics work fine! But if I change to a console (Ctrl-Alt-F1) and then back to the X session (Ctrl-Alt-F7) the X locks up (as well as the keyboard!) and the system becomes unusable (and YES I tried the ALT-SysRQ-R magic keys without success). Even SSHing into the notebook and killing the X (init 3 for example) doesn't help. I just tried RedHat 8.0 on the same Compaq notebook and it works without a flaw with the Radeon Mobility M6 chipset. Also the font aliasing under Redhat is consistent throughout and looks very nice. I have to admit, when I use Redhat or SuSE - I don't feel at "home" - because I like Mandrake's offering better as a WHOLE. But because the ATI Radeon problem I have - I can't use Mandrake's latest and greatest on this particular notebook I wish some of these things were caught during the Cooker phase and I hope and pray they will be quickly resolved. The devil is truly in the details! I understand the enormous challenges of creating a solid, bug free distribution - but these kind of little details shouldn't slip through. I am still and remain a dedicated user (and hope to contribute to the next round of Cooker) I thank you all for your time. R.Fox
