2006 - is it worth it?
 

Running LE 2005 with no problems and a nice clean setup. Is is worth upgrading/fresh installing to 2006, what are the pros and cons? Any must have new features, annoying bugs, better performance etc? The comments of those who have already tried their hands on 2006 would be most appreciated.

I am using Mandriva 2006 on my desktop. Like you, I was using Mandriva 2005 LE. The only big plus I notice is that we get the new KDE 3.4.2 and the semi-recent version of GNOME (I don't use GNOME).

It does boot a little faster, but it's not a big deal. Other than that, all the same programs and applications are all still there. Nothing too exciting.

If everything is working fine for you in Mandriva 2005LE, I would say just stick with it. Mandriva 2006 practically looks and feels the same as Mandriva 2005LE. Oh yeah, and Mandriva 2006 does get rid of the "stoned" penguin bootup splash screen. ;)

Thanks for your feedback.

So what's all that fuss about merging Connectiva and Lycoris technologies into Mandriva? You'd think there would be some nice new programmes coming out of that.

What about Kat? Is it nice?

I don't notice anything that shows the successful merge of Connectiva and Lycoris technologies. It feels and acts exactly like Mandriva 2005LE.

I also have not used Kat or had any need to use it.

The Smart package manager is the only fruit I've seen of the "merger" and that's still not the default (urpmi is). Maybe MDV2007 will have all the nice new technology.

So, really, not much to look out for, is there? Other than reduced boot time, smart, and Kat and some bug fixes? I'd better stick to LE05 then.

Stick to it. It cant detect my video card properly, or my screen size properly, which leaves me with a scrolling desktop, and its very annoying. Stick with LE2005

i advise you change to SUSE 9.3 or 10.0;
i have been using mandrake since version 9.0 till now, and now i think SUSE is much better.

TigerLinux, would you care to elucidate why you decided to switch distrobutions?

Hey! I resemble that remark. :scratch:

u use it, then u know WHY?

I think Suse 10 and Mandriva 2006 are both excellent distros and its all going to be down to personal choice or whatever works best on an individuals system.

LOL one of the funniest things I've read on here.

Like Reddazz mentioned, Mandriva and SUSE are both good distros and it really is a personal preference. I personally like SUSE a little more. Just something about the look and feel of it is much better. But, down to the internal stuff, they work both great. Never had a hardware or network detection problem on either one. Plus OpenSUSE comes out without have to wait for club members to get it first.

In the past, the greatest problem I have had with using non-mandrake distributions (SUSE 8.0 being an example) was that I could never get my NVIDIA graphics card working correctly during the install, or after the installation for that matter.

Has SUSE improved in this regard?

I have a Nvidia 6600GT and it works fine, although i did have to upgrade my Nvidia drivers and redo the xorg configuration.

next time your graphics is messed up after installing, set it to VESA mode and then troubleshoot from there.