MozillaQuest the on-line computer magazine

29 October, 2004

Office and Productivity Software

SCO IP, SCO v Linux, & Caldera v IBM

Now Available for Mandrakeclub Members

Mandrake Linux 10.1 Official

Based on 2.6.8 Linux kernel

Mike Angelo -- 29 October 2004 (C)

To learn why Linux is so much a better choice than is Microsoft Windows, please see our article Gaël Duval Tells Why Mandrake Linux Is Better Than MS Windows

To learn how to run MS Windows-based software and accessories in GNU-Linux, please see our article Crossover Office 2.1 Runs MS Windows Software on GNU-Linux Systems

Office on the Linux Desktop

OpenOffice 1.1 -- A Complete Office/Productivity Software Suite for GNU-Linux, FreeBSD, MAC, MS-Windows, Unix, and more

Creating a Simple Newsletter with OpenOffice/StarOffice Writer - a free word processor

Creating a Simple Contact or Personal Information Manager with OpenOffice/StarOffice Calc - a free spreadsheet

Creating a Personal or Company Budget with OpenOffice/StarOffice Calc - Part 1: Basics

Gimp Note: Gimp 2.0 is a great improvement over Gimp 1.2.x. MozillaQuest Magazine recommends that you upgrade to Gimp 2.0. It comes with Mandrake 10.1.

For more about Gimp 2.0, please see our articles The GIMP 2.0 for Microsoft Windows - First Look and The GIMP 2.0 Released - a free photograph and digital-image editing program.

The Gimp 1.3.x developer versions were a good preview of Gimp 2.0. We have an overview of the Gimp article and three Gimp tutorials based on Gimp 1.3. These Gimp articles should give you a pretty good feel of the Gimp 2.0.

How to Use GIMP for Photo and Image Editing:

#1: Basic Photo editing, cropping , scaling, brightness, and contrast

#2: Intro to layers, text and patterns

#3: Framing Photos and Images

MandrakeSoft co-founder Gaël Duval has announced the release of 32-bit Mandrake Linux 10.1 Official. 64-Bit Mandrake Linux 10.1 might be ready as early as next week. The Community edition of Mandrake Linux 10.1 was released on 16 September 2004.

In his 10.1 Official announcement, Gaël Duval noted that:

Mandrakelinux 10.1 Official is now available and provides improved hardware support, extended mobility and a better user experience.

New 10.1 Official packs can be ordered now . . . and will hit retail soon (prices start at $49.90 USD / 44.90 EUR).

Mandrakeclub Members can download both 10.1 Download Edition and the Full commercial products as CD or DVD ISOs, depending on their Membership level.

According to the Mandrake 10.1 press release,

Mandrakelinux was designed, from the start, with the goal of turning Linux into something that would appeal to the largest possible number of people.

And to us, appeal to the largest possible number of people is for the most part tantamount to saying migration from Microsoft Windows to Linux.

Mandrake has been doing more than its fair share of making Linux suitable for converting Microsoft Windows users to Linux for some time now. Mandrake 9.x already was a Linux distribution that out of the box was very suitable for migrating from Microsoft Windows to GNU-Linux.

Moreover, Mandrake's Gaël Duval has been a great and enthusiastic evangelist for the GNU-Linux operating system.

In the Mandrake 10.1 Community edition press release, MandrakeSoft CEO François Bancilhon stated,

The wonderful thing about Linux is how fast and how regularly it keeps on improving, while other systems stagnate or even regress. We pride ourselves on being one of the forces behind that. This new release shows how far Mandrakesoft's continued commitment to an open development process can bring our products.

We have not tried Mandrake 10.1 Official yet. However as mentioned above, Mandrake 9.x already was a Linux distribution that out of the box was very suitable for migrating from Microsoft Windows to Linux.

Additionally, we have been using the 32-bit Mandrake 10.0 PowerPack+ on our Pogo Linux Altura64 Workstation for an applications-testing and hardware-testing platform for several months now. And, along with our Mandrake 9.0 installation running on a 1-GHz Pentium 3 (P3), we also have been using 32-bit Mandrake 10.0 PowerPack+ running on the Pogo Altura64 for many day-to-day productivity, Internet, and multimedia tasks too.

The Pogo Linux Altura64 Workstation is built around the AMD Athlon64 64-bit processor. It runs both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.

Looking over the information about Mandrake 10.1 and adding that to our hands-on experiences with Mandrake 9.x and 10.0, Mandrake 10.1 Official ought to be a product that will help to promote the migration of MS Windows users to GNU-Linux. Please see our article Gaël Duval Tells Why Mandrake Linux Is Better Than MS Windows.

Perhaps the most important change might be in the X Window system from XFree86 4.3 in Mandrake 10.0 to Xorg 6.7.0 in Mandrake 10.1. The X Window system is what is used to provide graphical display for the grapical components, including keyboard and mouse functionality, of the GNU-Linux operating system such as the GNOME and KDE desktops.

According to the Mandrake Linux 10.1 Web pages and the 10.1 Official press release, Mandrake 10.1 includes:

Linux Kernel 2.6.8
Xorg 6.7.0 (Mandrake10.0 uses XFree86 4.3, thus a major change from Xfree86 to Xorg.)
Glibc 2.3.3 with Native POSIX Threads Library (NPTL) support
GCC 3.4.1
Apache 2.0.50
Samba 3.0.7-2mdk
MySQL 4.0.20-3mdk
ProFTPD 1.2.10-1mdk
Postfix 2.1.4-2mdk
OpenSSH 3.9p1-3mdk
KDE 3.2.3 and 3.3
GNOME 2.6
IceWM 1.2.15-0.pre3.1mdk
OpenOffice.org 1.1.3
KOffice 1.3.3 [Only in DVD and Power Packs]
Gnumeric 1.2.13
Mozilla 1.7.2
The GIMP 2.0.4
XMMS 1.2.10-10mdk
LinNeighborhood 0.6.5-6mdk

A word of caution, if you are using a pre-Pentium level system you are out of luck. According to a note on the Mandrake Linux 10.0 features Web page, "Mandrakelinux 10.0 is optimized for Pentium and higher processors (and compatibles), and therefore does not run on earlier x86 processors." The Mandrake 10.1 supported-hardware Web page says that an x586-class or above processor is required. This includes Intel Pentium I/II/III/IV/Celeron, AMD K6/II/III, AMD Duron, AMD Athlon/XP/MP.

There is another caution that should be made here too. The Mandrake Linux Community editions are more in the nature of public preview releases of the upcoming Official editions. So now you should install or upgrade to Mandrake 10.1 Official to take advantage of all the tweaks since Mandrake 10.1 Community was released.

The Community editions appear to serve several nice ends. For example, they give experienced Mandrake fans and users the opportunity to grab an early release of the latest Mandrake OS package.

Also, they help to provide a more steady stream of income for MandrakeSoft too. Sales of Community editions provide new-release income before the final Official versions become available. Moreover, the Community editions are made available for downloading at no charge to Mandrake Club members, thus encouraging people to buy Mandrake Club memberships.

Because the Community editions are previews of the upcoming Official versions of Mandrake Linux distributions, they provide for large-scale, community-based quality assurance testing. Thus most bugs and problems that slip through the cracks during the beta and release candidate stages are detected and solved before release of the corresponding Official editions of Mandrake Linux.

And therein lies the caution. In essence the Community editions have not yet been as comprehensively polished as are the corresponding finished, Official, editions.

In the Mandrake 10.1 Official edition press release, MandrakeSoft CEO François Bancilhon addresses the role of the Communiy editions program:

Our new release scheme is starting to show its full potential" . . . "10.1 Community was quite a successful product - many people use it, and the feedback they gave us really helped us polish 10.1 Official. This [Mandrake 10.1 Official] release will be one of quality and continuity in innovation - better parts and a better whole.

According to the press release, Mandrake Linux 10.1 retail boxes currently are available for pre-ordering in three editions:

Discovery is a very good way to get started in Linux: it is simple, lean, and well documented. It includes a user manual, and one month of support for EUR 44.90 / $49.5

PowerPack is a Linux OS for advanced desktop use. It is incredibly complete (6 CDs, thousands of applications) and fit for multiple uses (development, multimedia, etc.). It includes two months of support and two manuals are included (EUR 79.90/$84.90)

PowerPack+ lets users set up small and home networks quickly and simply. It has all the desktop capabilities of PowerPack, plus advanced server features. PowerPack+ features a full groupware solution. It includes three months of support, five phone support incidents and two manuals (EUR 199.90/ $229.90).

Mandrake Linux 10.1 is available for downloading now by Mandrakeclub members.

For more detail about the nuts and bolts of Mandrake Linux 10.1 Official, please check the Mandrake Linux 10.1 Official features Web page.