On Fri, 10 Jan 2003 08:57:24 -0500 Sascha Noyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> According to distrowatch Mandrake 9.1 beta1 is out on some mirrors. This is NOT a support request for 9.0 -- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ it is a list of reasons I have been VERY unhappy with 9.0 (the product of cooker)... I've been a devoted Mandrake fan, advocate and supporter since 6.1; but if 9.1 is of similar "quality", I will have redo the distro evaluation that led me to Mandrake in the first place. If another distro won such a re-evaluation, it would take me and my users; but worse for Mandrake, my support and advocacy. That would be a real shame... Mandrake: you are free to ignore this of course; but as a retired person trying to prepare for re-entry into the business world, I will do it with what I then consider the "Best in Class" -- 9.0 is quickly causing Mdk to fall from that category IMO. I wish I had the time to test cooker; but here's a short list of 9.0 problems that has had me considering reverting back to 8.2 today (several of my systems are still happily on 8.2)... they are intended to be things that Mdk should make sure don't happen again in 9.1: New ThinkPad on which I installed 8.2 and several days later, used the new upgrade option (the one able to handle back to 8.1) to get to 9.0 0**. ISOs created for post-standard 700MB CDs (this is like trying to write 2MB on *any* 1.44 floppy drive ever manufactured) excommunicated all users who didn't own standards-extending writers. 1**. ohphone was not compiled properly -- this is *important* in that it is used to support *my* users who are scattered hundreds of miles away -- I've not had time to find the sources and rebuild -- besides, what about my other users...? Create another "SuperFOO" issues? No thanks! But, some s/w (ssh, ohphone,...) should not require being voted upon to get updates issued, since without them, user support becomes problematic or extra-cost. 2. after a few weeks on 9.0, the system became so unstable and flaky (many reboots required) that hardware problems were seriously considered as the cause. "fix" was to delete ~/.kde and reboot. 3a. remote support was initially complicated by unannounced shorewall default installation that did not consider ssh important, drove me nuts until I found it. 3b. shorewall complicated switching between LAN and modem access to 'net 4. installation of lisa and samba after I carefully requested NO Windows/Samba related s/w of any sort. 5. Installation of LinModem support was more troublesome than in 8.2 -- while not delivered in a Mandrake distro, at least ensuring that a new distro does not make installation of LinModem s/w more difficult is important to winning new users. 6. CD filesystem got confused (displaying "??????" for each filename and permission denied) requiring a reboot (there's that fscking word again) 7. Sound stopped working (lsof showed several apps accessing sound) -- rebooted to fix. 8. CUPS decided to start trying to connect to my gateway (LinkSys router) in order to print to the LOCAL printer causing >1minute delays in print starts -- application is hung until the job prints. Condidering reboot after sending this note. Each print job leaves a defunct xpp process too. 9. miscellaneous other nits ** My financial situation is different than other retirees because I get NO government checks (a heart attack prevented me from reaching the number of "points" required to qualify) and I live *only* on the equity I built up. Between the additional cost of a new CD-RW and the long distance bills which weren't there with a working ohphone, the money budgeted for the Club was eroded. This should not be a surprise; I stated this at the time of the 700MB CD issues and again to the Club people at Mdk who chose to ignore the very comments that were *requested as feedback* in the Club renewal memo I got. Note that Linux is touted as a no-reboot-required OS... I have had to reboot 9.0 so many times that it feels like I must have accidentally installed W9x... :^P The problem Mdk may be facing is that the cooker list is more geeky than it used to be and those "little issues" that are important to win new users and retain those users who are just trying to get things done (not become cooker testers) are being tossed aside or made short shrift of. For example, I have suggested that a new release should have a period of time after release where issues should be treated just like any other cooker problem -- this was ignored and any <new release> issue is bounced from the cooker list as a "support" issue. That's a sure way to give users the impression that Mdk has moved to a "dump a snapshot out the door and issue plea for contributions" model... not an image that evokes confidence. I don't want to belabor the point; but Mdk has embarked on a slippery slope with the release of 9.0 IMO. 9.1 will either restore or kill my enthusiasm for future Mdk releases... A suggestion (probably made previously by others): release interim cooker ISOs to get more coverage by thos of us who... -- ahh.. never mind, that would require an infrastructure and culture that wouldn't orphan 9.1cookerA like it does <current release>... and no, <x.y>beta[1-3] is not what I mean (that discussion will take us in orthogonal directions). I'm sure this will draw flames; but it is intended to shine a light on some issues which are dangerous, IMO, to the longterm health of Mandrake and Linux... That's my position today -- flames will be ignored. Hoping for a MUCH more useful, reliable and stable 9.1 Pierre (not sure if I'm happy or sad to see 9.1beta1 available at this time...)
