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  #1  
Old May 8th, 2009, 10:08 PM
Total Noob Total Noob is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 578
Beware Mandriva's New Distribution

Advice to all concerned:

Use extreme discretion in choosing and upgrading Mandriva One to the latest version.

One does not have a good record with me. My experience started with the downloaded image of the install disk for Mandriva One that does not come with everything it needs to be complete, such as a way to configure your printer. The complete set of useful install files now exceed the size of a CD, but the Mandriva people didn't mention that fact on their site or indicate that a full version downloadable to a DVD would be the correct choice. Presumably later versions will have that problem and it will probably be worse. You will absolutely need a broadband connection to add the half gigabyte or so needed to complete the installation if that is how they do things over there, and you have to know more than what Mandriva says about its own stuff to install successfully.

Then upgrading was hazardous to the point of deadly. I was prompted to upgrade to this year's verson with no explanation of the benefits, and then the installation failed for me and gave no explanation. After many retries with no positive result, and with the Star Menu disabled, I tried forced rebooting, and that failed, computer could not load kde. Click OK on that error notice, and it meanders to the same error notice. So now the old version that I worked plenty of hours to get up and running is gone too, and I have no idea if my data is recoverable.

By contrast, the recent Ubuntu upgrade went reasonably smoothly, though it did take many hours to accomplish while my computer was unavailable for other purposes.

FWIW, for a noob, Ubuntu would seem to be the most comprehensive and problem free of the Linux distros I tried (about a dozen of them).
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  #2  
Old May 8th, 2009, 11:00 PM
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jtdoom jtdoom is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2001
O/S: Windows 8 Pro
Location: Belgium, East Flanders
Posts: 5,990
Hi,
I've seen a non linux (packaged files way under 3.8 Gb) distro not fit on single layer DVD after slipstreaming the extracted files, after I attempted to reseal and repackage to DVD. (There are tricks in torito and tricks beyond and around torito. But, when I searched for a clue, they did not explain it on the site I downloaded from. (The ISO itself worked, BUT, after unwrap, it had to be slimmed down and the layout of the content revealed the double/multiple content. The method to make two files shared by a link/routine is documented, and the "subrosa" method to have exact same files linked over and over to in file allocation(s) without file control error is what is seldom discussed.)

For LInux, this is, in my view, not done.
A CDRW or CDR costs a lot MORE than a DVDR/RW per Mb, nowadays.
Over here, tax hell called Belgium, dual layer recordable is triple taxed.
ALL writable media pays for the music and movie industry, while most of my burns are backups of OLD data and legit MSDN downloads.
(I have a helluvalot of data, and external hard disks are so much faster... but some stuff begs for CD or DVD format.)
- - -

Hmmm, part 2.
Broadband is not available to everywhere, but DVD is.
Why should a distro try to make five bucks on a CD and 20 on a DVD?
In fact, do they try do that? It may very well be they offer DVD distro mailer fairly cheap, without the printed book.
(About printed manual; IF they offer to send it, the shipping of manual is steep, and the manual itself is very costly because the printing cost for small number publications is horribly expensive. The writing of the manual already was "Labour Time", but the printing of that manual costs a lot more labour and a helluvalot more resources.)

In your case, CD was incomplete.

DVD is cheap, manual is on DVD, why did they not do that?
in general; Data transmission, cheaper on issuer, more costly on reciever.
(a comment; Our company has strict rules to print, and print from thumbstick is blocked... They caught one too many printing manuals from the "wild ouside", they caught too many printing stuff "already in printed and accessable libraries", too...)
(otoh, the paperless office does NOT yet exist. )
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