Mandriva 2008

B

bgast1

Prince
Joined
Mar 26, 2006
Messages
450
I just downloaded, burned the ISO, and ran the live disc of Mandriva 2008 one. Worked like a charm right off the bat. It found my external hard drive. It found my video card, and Compiz worked perfectly with the live CD.

I wonder though. What comes in the Power Pack that would make we want to pay for it that I couldn't get from easyUrpmi? Cedega? I bet you still have to get a subscription. Wine is free.

I always thought that the best thing about Linux is, is that it is free? I've never paid a nickel for any other distro, and the verdict is still out whether I am going to install this a give it a whirl. Depends on a lot of things like support, for someone who still considers himself a newbie.
 
The PowerPack edition includes some commercial/proprietary stuff. (Yeah, it includes the Cedega trial version -- if you want the full version, you still have to go to Transgaming and buy it.)

Basically, the free edition, plus the EasyURPMI repositories, gives you everything in PowerPack, except the commercial/proprietary stuff. Which aren't that big a deal, IMHO.

(Edit: And the *big* thing about Linux is that it is free as in FREEDOM. Free as in beer is just a nice side effect. ;))
 
Padma said:
(Edit: And the *big* thing about Linux is that it is free as in FREEDOM. Free as in beer is just a nice side effect. ;))
Click to expand...

So far, I don't see a huge difference over PCLOS, but one guy over at the Mandriva site said there is more software available than PCLOS.

I am wondering if everything will work just as well if I install it as the live CD? Got the cube going and all. Really that is no big deal, but at least it tells me my video card is working correctly.
 
Yeah, Mandriva has a much bigger package management staff. So they can package much more software. Then again, PCLOS packages at least the most common and/or requested programs. And if you have a specific program you need packaged specifically for PCLOS, it is easy to request it, and they usually will oblige, often within hours.
 
Padma said:
Yeah, Mandriva has a much bigger package management staff. So they can package much more software. Then again, PCLOS packages at least the most common and/or requested programs. And if you have a specific program you need packaged specifically for PCLOS, it is easy to request it, and they usually will oblige, often within hours.
Click to expand...

I just read your blog about PCLOS and goodbye Mandriva. Good stuff there, and I like my PCLOS installation a lot. Even though I want to learn Linux inside out, I have been mostly a user. But I am a lot further along now, than when I first started. I will probably never use too many of the packages in my daily usage, and I mostly just listen to music and watch DVD's on my computer. Still, Linux doesn't support X-Fi cards.

I have been considering buying a new sound card, but heck, at our age we don't hear as well as we used to anyway.:lol:

This belongs in another thread, but I am curious about something. Over at the PCLOS forum, I mentioned that my X-Fi sound card wasn't supported and he pointed me over to the ALSA website and said that probably with a little be of tweaking I might still be able to get it to work. Is this true? That if if you know what you are doing, you can get just about any hardware to work, or do you actually need a driver from Creative?
 
bgast1 said:
Still, Linux doesn't support X-Fi cards.

I have been considering buying a new sound card, but heck, at our age we don't hear as well as we used to anyway.:lol:

This belongs in another thread, but I am curious about something. Over at the PCLOS forum, I mentioned that my X-Fi sound card wasn't supported and he pointed me over to the ALSA website and said that probably with a little be of tweaking I might still be able to get it to work. Is this true? That if if you know what you are doing, you can get just about any hardware to work, or do you actually need a driver from Creative?
Click to expand...

I'd have to say the guy has no idea what he's talking about. Short of reverse engineering the thing yourself (which will take a MASSIVE amount of time).

Creative has been saying they will release a linux X-Fi driver, but it's been several months since that announcement. They did release a beta 64-bit driver, but from my understanding it barely even works.
 
Everyone I talked to said the X-fi cards weren't supported. It sure would be nice to see them supported. In the meantime does anyone know of any cards out there thay are supported and might be comparable sound wise to the X-fi cards? And an approximate price.
 
For those interested, I received an interesting post over at the Mandriva forums:

s for the Powerpack, the added value is commercial stuff. Specifically, for 2008, that means Cedega (you get a code to activate Cedega and get updates for a short time; yes, if you want updates after that you have to pay Transgaming, but if not, Cedega will continue to work indefinitely, it just won't be updated), LinDVD (a licensed DVD player), and Fluendo's gstreamer codecs for restricted media formats. You also get a nice shiny box (if you bought the boxed version), a nice shiny manual (ditto) and the soft warm fuzzy feeling that comes with keeping me and RJ in bananas. Smile
_________________
Adam Williamson | Editor, Mandriva Community Newsletter | Mandriva Club Monkey | PR Monkey | Mandriva Bugmaster | Packager | General dogsbody | awilliamson A T mandriva D 0 T com
awilliamson
Site Admin, Mandriva


Joined: 30 Mar 2
Click to expand...

Can anyone tell me how folks who develop software for the opensource community make money? My understanding of the 'free' is not free in terms of cost, or price but 'free' in terms of freedom to do what you want with your OS.
 
When using Linux (I've always reverted to windows for this) to download, say I buy the Powerpak, I would use something like K-Torrent to download the ISO to my desktop, and then use a some package (I've never even burned a CD or DVD in Linux yet) to burn it. I would assume that the ISO for Powerpak would probably come on a DVD.
 
Padma said:
Yeah, when I've downloaded Powerpack, it was available as either 6 CDs, or a single DVD. (This was a year or so ago.)

(And use K3B to burn them to disk. ;))
Click to expand...

That's the Powerpak installation that had you switch to PCLOS and never look back?:lol:

I'm still debating whether I want to spend the $69.00. When I know right off the bat that my sound card isn't supported. Also, I would get 3 months of the e-training, but I think I could get whatever I need with google and the regular forums. Also, unfortunately I am dual booting as well. It's a lot easier to play my games in Windows. I downloaded the KDE games package. I like the way solitaire plays in this package much much better than Windows.
 
GVBN said:
M-Audio Revolution 5.1. About $80
Click to expand...

Comparable to the lowest and cheapest X-Fi (XtremeMusic), but not to the others. Also.. as a point of interest. If you own X-Fi Xtreme Music it isn't *actually* an X-Fi. It has the old Sound Blaster chipsets and not the X-Fi chipsets. So it's possible to get the XtremeMusic working using the Blaster drivers.
 
My comments & question:
1. Why do we need new sound cards? I don't think I have cared about the sound card since the Sound Blaster Live!. I also purchased an Audigy because that was supposed to lower the CPU usage for processing sound.
2. Why not Freespire? That has all the codecs and plug-ins needed and is based off of Ubuntu/Kubuntu.
3. I will have to read Padma's blog but I don't have the time right now - as it is I am 2 minutes late getting to bed. Cya! :)

PS: Downloading PCLinuxOS 2007 Final and PCLOS Gnome 2.21.2.
 
Strider said:
Comparable to the lowest and cheapest X-Fi (XtremeMusic), but not to the others. Also.. as a point of interest. If you own X-Fi Xtreme Music it isn't *actually* an X-Fi. It has the old Sound Blaster chipsets and not the X-Fi chipsets. So it's possible to get the Xtremegamer working using the Blaster drivers.
Click to expand...

:confused: The Sound Blaster X-FI Extreme Gamer is the old chipset? The Extreme Gamer is the card I have. Perhaps it might be worth trying out the Blaster drivers. When I bought the card it wasn't the cheapest. If I remember correctly the Extreme Entertainment card was the least expensive.

I am concerned about sound cards because I am particular about my sound, (that being said. at 56 years old, it might not make that much difference anyway). I try to get the best equipment that I can to listen to my music. Would a better set of headphones or speakers make up the difference without buying a new sound card? Right now I listen through Bose In Ear phones. They sound almost as good as the Tri-port headphones which I broke.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
The three eras: Thoughts about the world after the atomic bomb
2 3
Replies
56
Views
3K
Uberfrog
Uberfrog
P
I made a great big map
Replies
1
Views
330
itix
I
99-percent-sure
[1.1.0] Possible open borders bug
Replies
0
Views
294
99-percent-sure
99-percent-sure
A
Tool for visualizing scenario tech trees
Replies
3
Views
432
Blake00
Blake00
O
Amphitheater and Academy Buildings in Exploration
Replies
3
Views
455
Chefofrats
Chefofrats
Back
Top Bottom