I recently tried to upgrade from Mandriva LE 2006 to 2007 (twice)and to Mandriva Spring 2007 and both installs were pretty bad. I purchased the source for the Free version from three different sources e.g Cheapbytes, etc. The 2007 graphics were crappy running KDE and because Mandriva apparently forget to include such packages as bind, dhcp,etc, I could no longer share my internet connection with my wife and daughter's computers, and no Samba sharing either. I tried the free version of Spring 2007 and the same problem so here I am, back to LE 2006. After the recent disaster with Spring 2007, I did a few google searches and discovered that not only had Mandriva "forgotten" to add the packages mentioned above as well as some other ones, to the FREE distribution, they had forgotten to add it to the distros that they sell to the public, the PowerPack ones. I wrote the Mandriva people and asked them when they plan on releasing a version which has everything in it, as LE 2006 did. Well I was ignored, and am wondering if any of you folks have any idea how safe it is to either download the latest version, or buy it online as a Powerpack.

Mandriva is sure doing a crappy job these days, destroying the reputation of what once was a pretty solid distro

What versions did you get because the Mandriva Free and Powerpack full cd/dvd editions tend to have most software that you need. Its the live versions that are missing a lot of packages (and thats because you can only pack so much into one cd).

Hello Reddazz

I brought the Free version of 2007 from Cheapbytes and OSDick.com, both came as with four cds, and the Spring version was just one cd,taken off of a mag. I figured that with four cds, I should have gotten everything. As I mentioned in my post, I was able to google my problems and discovered that Mandriva had released versions of their Powerpack distribution which were incomplete as described above. If you know of a source of Mandriva 2007 which is known to be the full distribution, available by download or online purchase of cd/dvd disks along with manuals, etc, please let me know.

Thanks for your response to my post

If you have a good internet connection, you can just setup the various main, contrib, updates and plf repos using the instructions from easyurpmi. My dvd copy of the Mandriva Free 2007.1 (2007 Spring) has bind, dhcp, samba etc, so try to get that version.

I agree with Reddazz, The 2007.1 spring dvd has 4.3Gb of data, more that you could fit on 4 cdroms.

My opinion, the smaller and the live distro is mainly for poeple to check-out the "new" mandriva release "bling".

And does not have everything for everybody, but most of what you need to test mandriva on your computer.

First Impressions, and all that.

Use urpmi to get the rest. PS. Smart package manager is cool too.

Regards, Glenn

I just did a little math. If you include main, main_backports, Main_updates, contrib, contrib_backports, contrib_updates, non-free, non-free_backports, non-free_updates, updates, plf_free, pfl_free_backports, plf_non_free, and plf_non_free_backports, the total size is some 20.4 GB. This may include some duplication since I count the updates directory as well as the main_updates and contrib_updates. There may also be some double versioning of packages, but you can try to sort out the updates from the updated packages if you want to (I don't). As a rough estimate, there may be about 2.2GB duplication (based on the fact that the Updates directory is 1.1GB), so the real size of Mandriva Linux 2007.1 (Spring) should fall in around 18.2 GB of data. Would you rather download what you need from the Internet, or store it on disk locally? I prefer getting my packages from the Internet myself.

My

Thanks for your responses, guys

My internet connection (light dsl, all I can afford right now) is pretty weak to download 4.3 gb of data. I might have to go to the mandriva store and buy one of the Powerpack distributions. My concern as originally mentioned is that I will run into the same problem there, as was indicated in some of the articles that I googled earlier.

Guess I'll just have to take a chance with a Powerpack purchase.

Thanks guys

You could try a mail list.

I be prepared to send you a copy the dvd (Mandriva 2007.1 free) for the postage, but it would take a long time to get to Toronto from Aus (OZ).

There must be someone near you, also check out the cd covers of Linux Magazine, Linuxuser Magazine, etc from your local news-agent/paper shop.

The dvd I have comes with nearly everything an average PC user may require.

You may need to download some packages from the PLF repo, like video codecs, But otherwise itś choc-a-block of software (as you know).

Hope that helps.

Cheers, Glenn

(edit) Sometimes Libraries, (Local, Municipal, Council, State or University)have a copy of the Magazine or High Bandwidth connections to a Mirror (perhaps on the same server) and burn it while your there. Just a thought. Glenn

Even if your DSL connection is 'weak', you should still be able to install Mandriva Linux 2007.1 (Spring) using the installer you have on hand now, then set up the Internet repositories for the Software Installer. You can follow the direction at Easy URPMI. Once you have set up the Internet Repositories, you can install any additional software packages you may want a bit at a time. The installation disk may not include all the software any one may want, but it is still available on the Mandriva ftp mirrors.

I would not recommend this to any one using a dial up connection, but a DSL connection (even a slow one) should still make it possible to install additional software if you do it a little at a time.

HTH,

Well I broke down and bought the Powerpack version of Mandriva 2007 spring. It had all the packages and the install went well except when I tried to setup internet sharing, the wizard came back saying that it could not find my nic. MCC hardware showed the NIC but somehow the internet sharing wizard could not. I had to go back one again to LE 2006, wasted my weekend too.

Just so pissed off

That's too bad, I'm sure you could have it configured pretty quickly.

Why not check out the networking section of LQ and ask some informed questions.

It works for most people, why not you?

Best of luck, Glenn