[Mageia-discuss] First impressions

[Wolfgang Bornath]

Downloaded 64-bit DVD ISO from
ftp://ftp.mandrivauser.de/mirrors/Mageia/iso/cauldron/ : check.
compared md5sum: check
burned with k3b : check
(will keep this for nostalgic reasons, for same reasons I still have
an original 5.3 Mandrake Linux cd)

Hardware: laptop Samsung R530, Intel i3, 4G RAM, 320GB harddisk,
nVidia GT218 GeForce 310M

Normal remarks are listed as they come, negative remarks (not working
or other) are listed with a double star

 - beautiful boot splash.
 - very fast system boot to the first installation screen
 - set language/keyboard to German

** license text is in English, a German version was available, maybe
it was copyrighted to Mandriva?

 - installer recognized the existing Mandriva 2010.2 and asked if I
want to upgrade (which I don't, I want my Mageia fresh!)
 - partitioning was as expected easy as a pie with diskdrake

 - selected custom desktop environment
 - selected KDE in the group selection
 - selected individual package selection
 - - KDE 4.6.0 is available, office suite is missing, some other apps
... this was expected, so no cardiac arrest here.
 - - surprising: java plugin for Firefox is included!

Altogether I selected 1325 packages for installation. Installation of
the packages took  11 minutes until the password settings came up.

Summary of settings:
 - bootloader setting recognized w7 and Mandriva 2010.2
**  soundcard setting is listed twice in the summary
**  no proprietary driver on the DVD - this was expected, no cardiac
arrest here.

**** BIG PROBLEM: no driver for the Wifi chip (system recognizes the
AR9285 Atheros), so no wireless internet connection unless you use a
cable for eth connection. Same problem as with the Free Edition of
Mandriva: you can't use it if you have no cable connection to your
router.

After finishing the installation the system does a clean
shutdown/reboot (ejecting the DVD automatically)

Reboot

Again, system bootup is very fast (not checked with a stopwatch, only
a feeling of speed!)

System uses a default KDE splash, the desktop comes up very fast. AND I LOVE IT!
The desktop background is totally black, no picture, no color (don't
be pedantic about black being a color or not).

Small things:
** - the menue does not display all installed apps
 - - (example: whole KDE games package is installed but only one game
is showing)

** no sound in Amarok and Kscd
- - videos are playing in Dragon Player but no sound
- - system sounds not playing

That's all I could test without internet connection.

Conclusion:
As for a "not-for-use" Alpha it is a very good one!

Thx to all devels and all the other never-to-be-mentioned people who
helped giving Mageia such a good start!

Good job, folks!