Tryst with Linux and other Alternatives

I finally gave up… I couldn’t get Linux Mint to download… even after 6 attempts! Now, all traces of Mint have gone.

And instead, I decided to try Mandriva One on my Lenovo, partly because I was itching to do a Linux install tonight. And shocker of shockers… it worked on my Lenovo just fine. I guess there’s a compatibility issue with my Desktop (which is actually where I need it… but then, at least my CD was not a waste).

So right now, I’m writing this post from the orange themed Mandriva One installed on my Lenovo. It’s working ok… so let me get down to some impressions.

Firstly the install was surprisingly painless (considering how much I struggled with this on my desktop).

It also allowed me to set up 3D, which is something I wanted to try. And it actually worked. I guess it has recognised my ATI graphics card… and is working pretty ok. The graphics are quite jumpy… and I can see with more use, the 3D effects would get irritating (along with the orange theme), but for now I’m enjoying an alive computer (see screenshot for one 3D effect captured).

I was surprised (even shocked) to discover that my Windows partitions were NOT recognised by default. And, when I tried to get it done, it only recognised my FAT partitions (and that also as READ ONLY!!!) and not my NTFS partitions. And don’t tell me that I expect too much, even Ubuntu does it! (so what’s SuSE and Mandriva’s problem???) Come on! It’s not supposed to be so difficult! Is it?

Anyway, I am liking this distro… but was also surprised not to find any games installed by default. Why?

The one thing making me uncomfortable about Mandriva One is the lack of Windows partition recognition. Even FAT is read only!

Then, I’m finding it difficult to set up more than one virtual desktop. I did all the settings correctly, but I still have only one virtual desktop enabled. I want more, but no idea how to keep the settings.

Another problem with this distro (and of course almost every Linux distro I have used) is the font rendition. The working font is still too small, and the graphics font is too big. KDE is terrible when it comes to desktop look (currently). It’s icons are too big… and the text on the internet is too small. Plus the scary help menu that takes up 40% of the screen! Almost makes GNOME look like eye-candy! :)

I still need to do a lot more tests on Mandriva One. Most importantly, I want to see whether Mandriva One connects on my Office Windows Network (Currently I’m working from home)… and of course I hope it allows me to print.

The only thing making me uncomfortable is the lack of Windows partition recognition by default. That’s one of the things that made me escape from openSUSE. I hope Mandriva doesn’t share that fate.