(1) Way back in April, I appended to an existing bug reporting the ldm_validate_partiion_table issue with removable USB devices (like flash card readers.) See here: https://qa.mandrakesoft.com/show_bug.cgi?id=930. Despite claims on that bug report, I tried numerous later kernels and never got it to work. Imagine my disappointment when I recently installed 9.2 and encountered the same problem. See here: https://qa.mandrakesoft.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1844.
(2) To connect to some Windows shares, I tried both LinNeighborhood and Gnomba. LinNeighborhood does a good job of finding resources, and mounting was as easy as a double-click. But when I selected a mounted resource and clicked the unmount button, LinNeighborhood crashed. This is repeatable. Gnomba, on the other hand, simply can't locate any resources. I finally figured out that by providing it an IP address range, it could then find resources. But obviously it should be able to do this in normal mode. I finally gave up and just did smbmount2 and smbumount from a command line. BTW, why can any user do smbmount, but only root do mount? Doesn't seem to make sense.
(3) I've been trying for a month to connect to a Microsoft VPN server at work. I gave up trying under 9.1, but decided to give it another go with 9.2. I finally got it going (by reading for hours and with the help of some people at work.) But for some reason I have to insmod mppe every time I restart the computer. I only had to insmod ppp_generic one time, so I don't know why mppe won't stick. But obviously a less experienced user would never figure out all this insmoding and other gyrations I had to go through to get this to work. And why won't Mandrake upgrade to PPP 2.4.2?
(4) I have to log onto over a dozen Unix servers at work, and use ssh via SecureCRT under Win2K. I realize Linux has ssh available in every terminal, but it's nice not to have to retype [EMAIL PROTECTED] every time, so I figured I'd give GTelnet a try. It remembers the user name and server via a drop down list, but it doesn't remember the protocol for each server, so you have to reselect the protocol every time. This is a usability irritant and would be easy to fix, but the product hasn't been updated in ages. I've given up on it and will just type "ssh [EMAIL PROTECTED]" inside gnome-terminal.
(5) While I was installing GTelnet, I figured I would install a bunch of other software I've been meaning to install, like Open Office. After it finished, my menus were completely hosed. Most applications were missing, including Configuration-Packaging. I started up MenuDrake, and it showed everything; it was in total disagreement with the real menus. Don't know how that could be, but all I did was do a Save without changing anything, and the menus were fixed (except I can't get the Office menu to show up for root no matter what I try, even though MenuDrake says its there.) Again, a "normal" end-user wouldn't know what to do if all his/her menus magically disappeared.
(6) I use Mozilla Thunderbird and Firebird for IMAP mail and web browsing, respectively. URLs don't work in Thunderbird; they show as URLs, but if you click them, nothing happens. This issue has been known for at least 6 months. Thunderbird in Windows works just fine.
(7) Open Office works okay, looks like the Windows version, but is glacial at loading. The Windows version loads much faster on the same hardware (dual boot.)
(8) Actually, the Windows GUI is much more responsive than Gnome under 9.2. I have old, slow hardware (dual Pentium 233 MMX), will be upgrading to dual Opteron soon. But dragging a window around, e.g., under Linux leaves trails for about 1/2 to 1 second. Under Windows, dragging is pretty smooth, and never leaves trails.
Lest I come off as a complainer, many things under Linux are done very well. rdesktop is really slick - looks great, faster than Remote Desktop under Windows. gCVS is a great first attempt, though it's missing some basics (like context menus) and hasn't been updated since v1.0 came out in January. gFtp is also well done. But unfortunately the fit and finish on many things is wanting, and those less zealous than the people on this list will find Linux as a desktop frequently exasperating.
--
Guy Rouillier
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
