Since this is my first blog post on Planet Mandriva, let me also say “Hi!” and introduce myself. I’m a 28 years old Free Software enthusiast from Bohinjska Bistrica, Slovenia. As far as Mandriva Linux goes… I’ve started using Mandrake with version 7.0, sometime around the year 2000. I began contributing to Mandriva Linux in 2003 by testing beta versions and reporting bugs. A few years later I also started helping translate it into Slovenian language and in 2008 I became the Slovenian translations coordinator. I’ve also tried to learn some packaging but didn’t have much time yet, maybe sometime later Besides this, I also contribute to two more Free Software projects: Thousand Parsec (a framework for creating space-empire-building 4X strategy games) and KDE. Additionally, I’m an active member of Linux Users Group of Slovenia (LUGOS).

Enough about me. Now let’s get back to making Mandriva Linux the best translated and localised distribution available.

As with previous releases I also did my fair share of beta testing and bug reporting this time. In addition this is also the first release where I have been the coordinator of Slovenian translation team. We did a great job and almost everything is translated. The only thing left are initscript messages (which are hidden most of the time).

Even during beta testing this release proved to be of very high quality. Looks like after some hiccups a year or two ago Mandriva have put their act together and the quality of releases is increasing every year now. They are also doing a great job with improving their relationship and interaction with community. If they continue in this direction they can soon be back at the top, although it will be hard since unfortunately there is not so much hype surrounding Mandriva as there is around some other very popular Linux distribution.

Tags: mandriva, linux, distributions, eee pc, eeepc, free software, open source, operating systems

I downloaded PowerPack DVDs two weeks ago, as I am a member of Mandriva Club where I was enrolled in Early Seeders program for BitTorrent sharing. First I upgraded my sister’s computer which was running Mandriva 2007. All went without a hitch and she is now enjoying the new Mandriva 2007 Spring. Later during the week I also installed the new version onto my laptop, where I have a special partition which I use for testing various Linux distributions. All works fine here too.

The only annoyance was the new Mandriva themed KDE start button. While it looks very nice it took up way to much valuable space in kicker (about 3 or 4 buttons long). This was quickly solved by following these instructions to switch back to default KDE K menu button.

In my opinion Mandriva Linux with the release of 2007 Spring remains one of the best Linux distributions for new Linux users (right next to Kubuntu). For more information about the new release check out:
Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring Release Announcement
Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring Release Tour (with screenshots)
Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring Release Notes

And of course, don’t forget to download Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring and check it out for yourself.

Another great thing is that Mandriva is back to 6 month release cycle. So work has already begun on the next version and Frederik Himpe has written about some of the features that might come with Mandriva Linux 2008.

Tags: mandriva, linux, spring, distributions, metisse, beryl, free software, open source, operating systems

You can read more in this press release:
Mandrakesoft Announces Name Change!