Mandriva Linux 2007

One of the biggest problems most people have with installing Linux is the fact that you really do need to partition your drives for a real Linux experience. The Mandriva Linux installation process even makes this easy by giving you a unique, graphical view of your hard drive and its partitions. You can click on a section of the drive to see how it is partitioned, and then change the sizing of the partitions to suit your needs.

Mandriva Linux also helps you set up the security level, something not often seen in a Linux distribution.

Although originally billed as "Red Hat with bug-fixes," Mandriva Linux has now become its own distribution with several utilities, including the installation programs that are unique to Mandriva Linux.

When comparing the installation process of both of these distributions, you will find that almost nothing is the same, from the graphical installer to the partitioning program to the X configuration program. This approach obviously has both its ups and its downs.

Creating your own suite of utilities to configure and maintain a major distribution instead of tweaking someone else's is, of course, a daunting task, and Mandriva Linux should be recognized for doing so.

Another useful feature of Mandriva Linux that you won't find on other distributions involves an update program, one that allows you to download newer software packages from a graphical utility on your desktop and have them install automatically. Thus, when the next new "dot" release of Netscape comes out, you can have the RPM installed without much trouble.

If you use the Mandriva Linux Update program, you'll find that, in theory, it is a good idea. But in practice, it can give you trouble.

Overall, Mandriva Linux is an excellent distribution, and it generally stands out from the massive crowd of Linux distributions.

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