Most reviews start with something like “Distribution this, Mandriva that, user friendly edition, blah blah bleep boop” I don’t play that game.
Downloading the ISO of the Gnome desktop version of Mandriva 2008 is pretty boring. It’s just like any other download, so I didn’t take screenshots. I have an idea – how about a customizable Mandriva Download Theme for Firefox? That would make downloading Mandriva just as exciting as the actual installation! Brilliant.
I like the fact that Mandriva has two different desktop managers bundled completely separate and not calling it something new. It’s like the choice of Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/bleeepuntu without the extra brand dilution issue, plus I really don’t care for KDE, so we’ll take care of that right off the bat.
Burning the ISO to CD was just like downloading Mandriva. Booring! Ah well, enough on that – let’s have a gander at the file system. Oops! Someone forgot to update the README.pdf, it’s the old Spring 2007 release PDF file:
Load up Qemu and to get some tasty screenshots of the bootup process:
Nothing flashy here, what’s the rest of the installation like?
Finally, after pressing “Next” a total of 7 times and wasting a lot of time, we’re looking at the desktop. It’s alright, the background is sorta… meh. The DNA/humans theme does not do it for me.
We’re ready for what we came for – installing!
Wow, there’s no warning that you’ll delete everything, it goes straight to deleting and formatting!
Next, you wait and stare at products for 10 minutes. Hmmm… Is someone thinking like Microsoft?
Alright we’re finally done! Let’s get excited!
WHAT? Not even a “congratulations?” Lousy fscks!
Overall, installing Mandriva is a pleasant experience, and ultimately boring, compared to other distributions’ installers. Out of spite, I’m going to backup my /home directory and install Ubuntu 7.10 RC, because I just got The Orange Box (thanks for the early Birthday present!) and I want to get it running in Gutsy Gibbon.