Mandriva 2010.0: Faster and More Stable
The new Mandriva 2010.0 has been ready for download since yesterday. After a month's delay, the French distributor has released the current version, code-named Adelie, for free. Some important changes were made.
Most of the changes to the Mandriva release are on the project wiki. Immediately noticeable are the visuals: it now uses Plymouth software for bootsplash. The wallpaper designs were created as the result of a competition. Mandriva 2010.0 boots markedly faster and integrates a complete Moblin environment so that it can run well on netbooks. It also includes Sugar, the desktop created for the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program. Users surf using Firefox 3.5 and create text and calculations with OpenOffice.org 3.1.1. Mandriva is based on X.org 7.4 and the Intel graphics chips should perform better thanks to DRI2 and UXA architecture.
The desktop environments are KDE 4.3 and GNOME 2.28. Data can migrate from KDE 3 to KDE 4 and integration with the Nepomuk semantic desktop was taken a step further. Activities can be tied to virtual desktops. KDE 4.3 includes Amarok 2.2, Digikam 1.0 beta5 and Skrooge, which replaces (and can import data from) the unstable Kmymoney2. Phonon integration with PulseAudio is also now tighter.
The GNOME environment now allows webcam sessions and live streaming. Tomboy notes are also synchronizable with the Snowy web service. The Pitivi video editor was updated to 0.13.0, and Empathy replaces Pidgin as the default and supports audio-visual chats.
The Elisa multimedia center was renamed Moovida and "includes a brand new graphical user interface." Other changes include the Phoronix test suite with which users can benchmark their Linux system. Guest systems run best on the Mandriva-supported Virtual Box 3.0.8, which also supports OpenGL. The included Wine 1.1.32 Windows runtime environment has performance improvements and better DirectX 10 support. Developers also improved Bluetooth device support and the GNOME power manager now services laptops with multiple batteries.
Mandriva downloads are installable as 32-bit and 64-bit versions from DVD. A dual-arch CD contains a minimal system installable over the web, while the One edition is a LiveCD with KDE or GNOME as the desktop.
Comments
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
Lovin' 2010.0