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I am still a Linux newbie but have been using mandriva since it was called Mandrake. I installed 2009/used KDE and deleted the install as it was bug ridden and went to Granular. Tried 2009.1 and decided to stay with it again

Mandrake Linux was the first really easy to use distribution that took advantage of the availability of KDE (back when it was new), and created easy distributions that more people could use. There may have been others, and there certainly are today, but we can thank Mandrake for that.

Today, Mandriva carries forward that tradition, and they have been groundbreaking in more areas. They are the first commercial Linux vendor to offer their system on a portable USB stick. They continue to be a leader in easy to use systems, and they always have the latest software available.

The one trade-off you make when choosing Mandriva is that you get cutting edge software, but sometimes you can get a cut from it and bleed, and you may need a stitch or two (an update after the release) to fix software defects. If you don't terribly mind risking occasionally defective applications for a system that is reasonably fast, very attractive, full of the very latest software, yet easy to install and set up - especially the Flash version (on USB), then this is a distribution well worth getting.

You can also find Mandriva in Power Pack and Mandriva One editions. The former contains free and commercial software; One contains only the free consumer software. With these two lines and the Flash edition, there are always three good versions to choose from.

If you REALLY enjoy bleeding edge software and like to test it and report defects, then I highly recommend getting the Mandriva Cooker software - and run a perpetually changing rolling release, which always contains daily build software. VERY volatile, but most things work, and it is a VERY COOL way to get the latest software, but you must have a tolerance for software defects, a willingness to report them and help improve the final product. This is your way to help free software, even if you aren't a programmer, and I recommend it.

As far as the main release goes, the Spring Edition was one of the best releases we have seen from Mandriva in quite some time; go snag a copy and try it out!

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Now that KDE 4 has fixed up some problems, it is a joy to use. I run samba, print and NFS servers. Very stable. Do a clean install. I have had problems upgrading.

I have used this product since last 3 months. Every thing is OK except wireless networking.

tnx tnxxxxxx

I have used Mandriva 2009.1 Free at work and Mandriva 2009.1 PowerPack at home. This edition is stable whereas I have noticed that Mandriva 2010.0 is not so refined from the initial release.

Mandriva uses the latest Linux kernels for the initial release so keeps up with the times. These kernels are then patched during it's lifetime.

KDE4 is used in this release and Mandriva have done a good job with it although there are weak areas such as plasma panel sometimes failing to start or crashing. However, this might be KDE4 rather than Mandriva.

Mandriva maintain good rpm repositories and generally any package can be obtained from there.