After following the thread of several of the Discussion Post I thought I
should post some of the differances between version 7.0 and 7.1( beta 3 ).
I installed 7.1 yesterday and have not had the chance to fully explore it
therefore the changes I am listing are the most obvious.
LILO is no more instead GRUB is used as the boot loader.( During
installation I was given no option in this. It was installed automaticly and
I was given no option to create a boot disk. If this will be true in the
final release or only applies to the Beta I do not know.)
The How To included with 7.1 are the same as in 7.0 so you can not use
them to implement any of the additional features of 7.1 .
Your computer USB controller is now automaticlly seen by Mandrake
allowing for the use of additionl USB devices such as modems and Zip
drives. Even then they only work with a direct computer connection not if
you use a USB hub.
Several programs/enhancements have been added:
DVD Player
ICQ clone
Quick Time and MP3 player
Win Amp clone
Ati TV Tuner/drivers
DOS and even a Windows imulator
more......
The included programs have nearly doubled as evidenced by the fact that
7.1 consisted of 2 ISO image files with a combined size of almost 1100MB
The increased number of programs has also increased the number of
duplicate type programs: multiple; text editors, chat programs, 4 CD burner
programs, image viewers, and others that did not jump right out at me.
Kppp has been changed to an Internet icon on the desktop though setting
it up is the same.
The biggest noticeable change is in KDE. All programs and options are now
available through its menu. You can completly fill your screen ten fold with
menu screen and still not have opened them all. You feel like a mouse in a
maze except that someone cheated and blocked all the corridors.Instead of
becoming easier to use KDE has become more complicated.
As I said I have been using 7.1 for 1 day and then only for a couple of
hours so I am not making any judgements as to its abilitites or to its
worrthiness as a successor to 7.0. Those observations can only be made after
using 7.1 for a significant ammount of time and becoming familiar with all
its nuances and inhancements.
I Will make this statement regarding it. If you install via ISO rather
than buying, and have never used Mandrake
before: 7.1 will be much more difficult to set up and use than 7.0 .
Charles
