Mandriva Linux Experience

My sister received a Mandriva 2008 Spring DVD as a part of a Linux workshop she had attended. She had some problem in her computer, So I suggested her to try the New Mandriva DVD. She could successfully install it , though she had no prior experience of installing Linux. Needless to say the installation procedure was user friendly.


I had never used Mandriva Linux, thus I was curious to see when I get back to home from Bangalore. When I saw that it was Wow! experience. The user interface was equivalent to Vista in terms of look & feel. From functionality wise it had more features than Vista. Most of the Linux disto (means a Linux distribution) I had used, had GNOME as the default Desktop. Where as Mandriva's default is KDE (it supports GNOME as well). Okay if you are new to Linux KDE and GNOME are two different Desktop Environment for Linux. KDE is graphical and heavy, whereas GNOME is simple and light.

The panel feature of KDE was really wonderful, you must try it. It allows you to have a very flexible desktop with all you need, its similar to Gadgets in Vista however much versatile than that. I was really impressed by the look & feel. "Oxygen" Theme and "Land of Peace" wallpaper combination was very pleasant.


One thing I didn't like was there was no straight forward way to access file system, Of course Dolphin file manager was present, However it was difficult to locate it through the Menu. Its in System → Tools → More → Dolpin File Manager. Once you are used to you can make a panel link on your desktop for Dolphin file Manager.


Another interesting thing is that, this distro tries to provide the maximum interoperability with windows, i.e you can import windows fonts seamlessly in Mandriva. From "Control Panel" -> "Install windows fonts". It automatically searches windows drives, installs all the fonts. Another good thing is that, all your windows drives get default mounted here, which is convenient for people who are new to Linux, of course this happens in Ubuntu as well however you will be required to enter the password to complete the operation. And there is a way to import your windows documents as well from Mandriva Control Panel.

One advantage is that the DVD contains almost all the required packages, thus even if you don't have internet connection you can install many of the packages. I could install KDevelep (C/C++ Development IDE)and VLC player successfully from the DVD. The best part is codec's are part of the default installation which means you can play most of the popular audio/video formats without any issues.

I was so impressed by the KDE and the Konsole ( Shell in KDE), I decided to install Mandriva in my Laptop ( DELL Inspiron 6400). Installed Mandriva One 2009 on my Laptop and it was working fine. Overall in my opinion this is a good Linux Distro with appealing GUI. Looks like a real competition to Windows in terms of look & feel. In fact it supports 3D desktop, I didn't experiment it, may be you can try it if you have a high end hardware. Hope you will like it. Give it a try and you won't regret it.