by Diggle

Created on: September 15, 2009   Last Updated: September 17, 2009

Mandriva Linux is a distribution released by a French company of the same name. Mandriva is based on Red-Hat Linux and comes in both desktop and server editions. For desktop users, Mandriva offers: Mandriva Linux One a live CD which can also be used to install Mandriva. The CD includes common proprietary multimedia codecs, graphics drivers and Adobe Flash to ensure a smooth experience for new users. Both Gnome and KDE CDs are available. Mandriva One has everything that the average user is likely to need, including Gimp (graphics suite), Open Office, Amarok (audio player), Totem movie player and Firefox. Mandriva Linux Free Mandriva with purely open source software and no proprietary drivers or codecs etc.

Mandriva Free is aimed at free software enthusiasts and is likely to be a little more difficult for newcomers to Linux to use. Note that free in this case means the freedom to see and amend the source code of the software rather than a statement of the cost. Both the Mandriva Free and Mandriva Linux One are available for download without charge. Mandriva PowerPack this is the commercial version of Mandriva for which there is a small price. The Powerpack bundles some commercial applications on top of the software in Mandriva One. The Powerpack edition comes with technical support. Mandriva Flash a mobile version which can be installed from a USB key. Who is Mandriva suitable for? Madriva is a polished distribution which has a long history of performing as a robust operating system. Although not one of the more well known Linux distributions, it is well maintained and suitable as a general purpose Linux system. For those not comfortable with using a terminal, Mandriva has a unique Control Center from which it is possible to do most system and network administration tasks. The Control Center is well put together and covers all the scenarios a desktop user is likely to face. Community support is also available for those who do not want to pay for the Powerpack version.

Mandriva is therefore a reasonable choice for new Linux users. System requirements The current edition of Mandriva requires a minimum of 512 MB memory to run. To turn on all the graphical special effects in KDE or Gnome, 1 GB is necessary. To install Mandra to hard disk, 6 GB of disk space is recommended, although it is possible to install a lightweight version in about 2 GB. If you have a 3D capable graphic card Mandriva will take advantage of it (the One edition includes NVIDIA's and ATI's drivers). It also has out of the box support for Intel, SiS, Matrox, VIA and many other graphics cards too. The Mandriva community can offer advice about whether a particular piece of hardware is supported.

To find out more about Mandriva go to: www.mandriva.com

Learn more about this author, Diggle.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.