Hi all;

I'm a noob and have only played with mandriva 2006 and knoppix. About 10 days ago I installed the 2006 and updated everything and set up the desktop and the applications that I wanted. I'm interested in installing the 2007 to take advantage of the 3d desktop along with other improvements. Can I install 2007 over 2006 so I don't loose the changes I made??

If not, is it possible to install 2007 cleanly but keep the same partitions so at least with email, firefox and my documents that I don't loose everything?? I know this one is probably pretty simple...

Also I'm looking around but for any of you that had 2006 and have now tried 2007 was it worth it to your or if you had to do it over would you just keep 2006??

Thanks...

I had Mandriva 2006.0 then installed Mandriva 2007.0. I think the newer version is miles ahead. It runs faster, my processor runs about 10° to 15° cooler, more things just simply work for me, and the system seems more fault tolerant, or is more stable than previous versions. From what I have seen on this forum, my experience is not universal. Others have had issues. When you make the move from 2006.0 to 2007.0 I suggest you install 2007.0 rather than upgrade if possible. If you have a separate /home partition, and do not format it when you do the install your user directories and original data therein will remain in tact. If you have any original data or graphics residing in any other partition, copy it to your home partition for safe keeping.

To answer the root question, yes I believe installing Mandriva 2007.0 is well worth the effort.

I also went from 2006 to 2007. I tried an upgrade first, I had some problems getting it to automatically start the graphic desktop as a user. Otherwise it seemed fine. In the end I installed over the top, but retained my usr partitions etc.

I am happy with 2007. I would try upgrading if you want to retain all your setup.(There are reasons mine probably didn't work as it should).

Ok...

Thanks for the input. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with this OS. After I first installed and then did the urpmi auto update some packages were installed that wiped out my "X". I did a reinstall. When it happened again after and update I figured out it was my Nvidia drivers and found out how to fix it using XFdrake and downloading the drivers from there...so no reinstall.

I did find out with the reinstall the first time that my homefolders and basic desktop settings were retained because I didn't repartition the disk. So...I think I will try a simple upgrade and if that doesn't work a fresh install but keep my home partition especially.

Question...I did read in a review that the command line has almost disappeared in 2007. I have found in the couple of weeks that I have had the system that the command line is a valuable tool. I've used that for urpmi more often then the built in software manager. Has anyone found that the lack of a command line (I guess it's well hidden) has been a hinderance?? I first learned on Dos and don't see the command line as a throwback as much as a nostalgia kick...

I don't think the command line will disappear for a while, and wasn't aware of any changes in that respect.

I would guess that the comments maybe refers to the need to use the command line less, as in Mandriva lots of things can be done using a graphical interface. Which I prefer, and one of the reasons I use this distribution.

I agree with everything ernie says,

I had Mandriva 2006.0 then installed Mandriva 2007.0. I think the newer version is miles ahead. It runs faster, my processor runs about 10° to 15° cooler, more things just simply work for me, and the system seems more fault tolerant, or is more stable than previous versions. From what I have seen on this forum, my experience is not universal. Others have had issues. When you make the move from 2006.0 to 2007.0 I suggest you install 2007.0 rather than upgrade if possible. If you have a separate /home partition, and do not format it when you do the install your user directories and original data therein will remain in tact. If you have any original data or graphics residing in any other partition, copy it to your home partition for safe keeping.
I burned a copy of my Mandriva 2006 /home/ directory and installed it on top of the
Mandriva 2007 /home/ directory. 2007 has been more fun setting up than 2006. 99.9% of most things work. I was told by others on this forum you should .tar zip the old 2006 directory and unpack the files without permissions when you install to the Mandriva 2007.
BTW, I'm an old DOS command line junkie and I love having to use the CLI on occasions, it takes me back and makes me use my brain.
Scott

Good site for command line stuff

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/..._commands_list

As far as I can see, the command line has not been hidden in Mandriva 2007.0. <CTRL>+<ALT>+<F1-6> will still switch to a console, and you can still install the kdebase-konsole package or any of more than a dozen terminal emulator packages for use in X. As Mandriva continues to improve the GUI system maintenance utilities, the need to go to a terminal decreases, but I find that I can often get a job done faster and easier from a command line than from a GUI utility (and this is coming from a GUI kind of guy) .

I started with (then) Mandrake 6.1 for several reasons.

1). Things just worked.

2). There was help available in the newbie mailing list for what did not work.

3). Mandriva had GUI wrappers or replacements for Linux system management and configuration tools which worked well and were easy to use. Across the versions, the breadth and depth of these tools has increased exponentially.

While I can foresee a time when there may be no need to use the command line, I can not foresee a time when it will no longer be available. I write bash scripts to customize my system, and I use the command line to test my code. When a user logs in on my system, I get an audible message telling all users who logged in. I get an audible time report each fifteen minutes. I have a script (not developed by me) to look up words in the dictionary which is useful when checking spelling. If the spelling is wrong, I get a fuzzy search list of similar words. Much of what we do in Linux is done with bash scripts, from system start to shutdown. With no command line, or command interpreter, Linux would not be Linux but something far less.

OK, enough with the soap box

Ernie

I burned the cd iso and booted up 2007 and then I just used the icon on the desktop to install the new OS. Keeping the same partitions was the key and the new OS is up and running and I didn't loose anything. I didn't see the Lindvd app but I guess that's only with the paid version. The command line app is in the menu tree so I clicked on the command bar and put a button back on the taskbar like it was in 2006.

One pleasant surprise is my DVB card is working with this O.S. In 2006 it found the card and the drivers but no matter what I did I wasn't able to get kaffeine or any other app to recognize the card. I had to urpmi kaffeine because it wasn't in the standard package but when that set up it found the card and I'm up and running on that end. (I think it had to do something with the front end)

It does seem to run just a bit quicker than the 2006 version. Now I'll have to update all the packages and go from there. Are there any advantages to the paid version over the free one?? I'm already set up of course with plf free and non-free. This OS is a keeper and was easier to migrate away from windows then what I thought it would be.