Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring Release Notes

Changes and Updates for the Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring release.

Introduction

   This page contains important information the Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring
   release, also known as Mandriva Linux 2007.1.

   The following topics are covered:
     * General information about new features and major changes
     * Changes to the Mandriva installer and upgrade instructions for
       Mandriva 2007 users
     * Changes to supported hardware and drivers
     * Changes regarding software packages
     * Other technical information for experienced users

   This document may be updated. The latest version of these release notes
   is available at
   http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Releases/Mandriva/2007.1/Notes

   Please also refer to
   http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Releases/Mandriva/2007.1/Errata - the Errata for
   the 2007 Spring release.  The  Errata page  contains  information on known bugs
   and problems in the release and instructions on fixing, avoiding or working
   around them.



General information about new features and major changes

   Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring includes the following versions of the major
   distribution components: kernel 2.6.17, X.org 7.2, KDE 3.5.6, GNOME
   2.18.0, Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.3, OpenOffice.org 2.1. Other major new
   features are the introduction of the Beryl 3D-accelerated desktop and
   the advanced Metisse window manager, and migration to the pm-utils
   suspend / hibernate framework.

   Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring is available in several different editions:
     * the "One" edition is an installable live CD integrating the latest
       proprietary drivers, available free of charge
     * the "Free" edition is a pure free / open source software edition,
       without any of the non-free packages bundled with other editions;
       it is also available as a free download
     * the "Discovery", "Powerpack" & "Powerpack+" editions, for beginner
       users, power users and SOHO users respectively, include support,
       services, a wider range of packages, and many third-party
       proprietary applications like Flash, Scilab or 03 Spaces.

   For more information on the various editions, see Choosing the
   Mandriva Linux edition that's right for you.

   Additional information is also available online:
     * List of Compatible/Certified Computers and The detailed
       Mandriva Hardware Database
     * The Mandriva Club
     * The Mandriva User Forums
     * The Mandriva Wiki
     * or at the main Mandriva site



Changes to the Mandriva installer

Floppy disk install images dropped

   The old floppy disk install images - (cdrom.img, network.img,
   pcmcia.img) - have been discontinued. You must use the CD image
   boot.iso, the USB drive image all.img, or directly use
   isolinux/alt0 (using tftp for example). For more information on
   ways to install Mandriva Linux, please see
   http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Docs/Installing_Mandriva_Linux.

Printer configuration moved to post-install

   Configuration of printers is no longer performed during installation.
   You will be able to configure your printers (both local and network)
   once installation is complete.




Changes to supported hardware and drivers

Supported hardware

   In addition to the improved graphics card support discussed above,
   support for other devices has been added or improved. Notable changes
   include support for:
     * All JMicron IDE controllers
     * SiS 966 / 968 SATA controllers
     * Intel ICH9 SATA controllers
     * Many common laptop SD card readers
     * Attansic L1 ethernet controller (used on several Asus motherboards)
     * UVC-compliant USB video devices (particularly, many webcams)
     * Ralink RT2571W/RT2671-based wireless network devices
     * Many more monitors

Alternative kernels

   For stability purposes, Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring uses the same kernel
   series as Mandriva Linux 2007: 2.6.17. Support for some hardware has
   been backported from later kernel versions; however, there are still
   some pieces of hardware that are supported by later kernels but not by
   the official Mandriva kernel (for instance, some integrated sound and
   wireless chipsets). If you have a piece of hardware that you believe
   may be supported by a later kernel, you may try one of the alternative
   kernels available in Mandriva Linux.

   Three alternative kernels are available in the contrib section:
   kernel-tmb, kernel-linus and kernel-multimedia. In most cases, the
   best alternative kernel to use is kernel-tmb. To install it, follow
   the instructions on
   http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Docs/Basic_tasks/Installing_and_removing_software
   to configure Internet package repositories, and then use the
   Mandriva software installation tools to install the appropriate
   kernel-tmb -latest package: in most cases this will be
   kernel-tmb-desktop-latest (for single processor / single core
   systems) or kernel-tmb-desktop-smp-latest (for multiple processor /
   multiple core systems). This will automatically install the most
   recent version, and will ensure the package is kept up to date in
   future. If your system requires drivers to be compiled from source,
   either manually or via DKMS, you should install the matching -devel
   package: for instance, kernel-tmb-desktop-devel-latest.

   After installation, you may reboot your system, and you will see the
   new kernel on the boot menu.

   These alternative kernels are not officially supported by Mandriva.
   They may be unstable or may not support all the features that are
   supported by the official kernel. In particular, kernel-linus is a
   completely unpatched kernel built directly from the official kernel.org
   source code, and is consequently missing many useful additional drivers
   and patches contained in the other packages.

Optional support for writing to NTFS drives

   The ntfs-3g system for accessing NTFS-formatted drives is available in
   Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring. Unlike the methods previously used (and
   still used by default) for accessing NTFS-formatted drives, ntfs-3g has
   support for writing as well as reading. Please note that, while ntfs-3g
   has been in development for some time and has been used by many testers
   with great success, we at Mandriva have not extensively tested it and
   cannot absolutely guarantee its safety. We would recommend you do not
   use ntfs-3g with vital data and keep a backup of any important data
   stored on a drive you use with ntfs-3g.

   ntfs-3g is available in the contrib section of the Mandriva Linux
   2007 Spring repositories. To install it, you must have your system
   configured to be able to install packages from Internet
   repositories.  For information on achieving this, please see
   http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Docs/Basic_tasks/Installing_and_removing_software. You
   must install the ntfs-3g and dkms-fuse packages.

   To enable ntfs-3g support for removable drives under GNOME, follow
   these steps:
     * Run the Configuration Editor application (under System /
       Configuration / GNOME / Advanced on the menus)
     * Open the system folder
     * Open the storage folder
     * Open the default options folder
     * Click on the ntfs folder
     * In the right hand pane, double click fstype_override and type
       ntfs-3g into the entry box
     * Close the Configuration Editor application

   Alternatively, you may run the command gconftool-2 --set --type=string
   /system/storage/default_options/ntfs/fstype_override ntfs-3g, which
   will achieve the same effect.

   Enabling ntfs-3g support for system (non-removable) drives is a
   more advanced operation and is covered on
   http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Releases/Mandriva/2007.1/NTFS_writing. It
   is not currently possible to use ntfs-3g for removable drives in
   KDE.




Changes regarding software packages

Mandriva Tools package split

   The drakxtools package was split into drak3d, drakxtools,
   drakbackup, draktermserv, drakx-net, drakx-kbd-mouse-x11 and
   printerdrake.

New MandrivaUpdate interface

   A new, simplified MandrivaUpdate is included in Mandriva Linux 2007
   Spring. Users who preferred the Mandriva Linux 2007 system where
   updating was handled by rpmdrake can still use this method: the
   rpmdrake filters for available updates have been preserved.

drakroam no longer needs administrator rights

   The drakroam utility for switching between, and configuring, wireless
   networks no longer requires administrator rights; regular users can
   access it. This helps organizations who wish to provide users with
   wireless access without giving them root access.

Graphics card list cleaned up

   The list of graphics cards used by the installer and by the graphics
   configuration utility (drakx11) has been radically cleaned up for this
   release. The major changes are:

Old cards and chipsets

   Most of the card-specific entries have been removed. This mostly
   affects cards that are several years old. Entries have been combined
   into generic entries covering all cards that use the same driver with
   the same option, usually named (Chipset)-based cards (for example,
   Trident-based cards). The only card-specific entries that have been
   preserved are those for cards which require special options. This
   change does not involve any loss of functionality: please do not worry
   if the specifically-named entry for your card has been removed in this
   release, it is still as well supported as it was before. In almost all
   cases, driver auto-detection will be correct: if your card is detected
   under one of the generic chipset-based entries, that means it uses that
   chipset, and the correct driver will be used. You do not need to adjust
   the detection or set the driver manually. If your card is not
   auto-detected and not listed by name, you must find out what chipset it
   uses. This information will probably be available from the manual for
   the graphics card.

NVIDIA cards and chipsets

   The entries for NVIDIA cards have been reduced to the smallest amount
   necessary to ensure that the correct driver is chosen for the card. 99%
   of NVIDIA-based cards will be correctly auto-detected and the correct
   driver will be configured. Do not worry that the exact name, series or
   chipset of your card is not displayed, this does not mean support is in
   any way less than it could be. In the unlikely event that your card is
   not auto-detected, select the correct entry for your card based on the
   NVIDIA chipset it uses: for instance, if your card uses the GeForce
   6600, you would choose the GeForce FX - GeForce 7950 entry, as the
   GeForce 6600 came after the FX but before the 7950. If you have a
   Quadro card and it is not auto-detected, you must know or find out
   which GeForce generation it corresponds to.

ATI cards and chipsets

   The entries for ATI Radeon cards, which were previously named according
   to the driver used, have been renamed to match the scheme used by other
   drivers. They are now named according to the range of chipsets the
   entry covers (for instance, ATI Radeon (fglrx) has become ATI Radeon
   9500 - X850). 99% of ATI-based cards will be correctly auto-detected
   and the correct driver will be configured. Do not worry that the exact
   name, series or chipset of your card is not displayed, this does not
   mean support is in any way less than it could be. In the unlikely event
   that your card is not auto-detected, select the correct entry for your
   card based on the ATI chipset it uses: for instance, if your card uses
   the Radeon 9200, you would choose the Radeon 9250 and earlier entry, as
   the Radeon 9200 came before the Radeon 9250. If you have a FireGL card
   and it is not auto-detected, you must know or find out which Radeon
   generation it corresponds to.

Intel cards and chipsets

   The entries for Intel chips have been reduced to the smallest amount
   necessary to ensure that the correct driver is chosen for the card. 99%
   of Intel chips will be correctly auto-detected and the correct driver
   will be configured. Do not worry that the exact chipset name is not
   displayed, this does not mean support is in any way less than it could
   be. In the unlikely event that your chipset is not auto-detected,
   select the correct entry for your chipset: for instance, if you have an
   i915, you would choose the Intel 830 - 965 entry, as the i915 came
   after the i830.



Other technical information for experienced users

KDE

New KDE system menu button: how to remove it

   Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring introduces a new, Mandriva-branded system
   menu button for KDE (the button at bottom left of the screen which
   opens the system menus). Some users find it to be too large. Also, some
   users who prefer to use a larger panel find it does not look very good
   with a larger panel size. If you would like to remove it, edit the
   ~/.kde/share/config/kickerrc and make the following change: in the
   [KMenu] section change the value of KMenuIcon to kmenu. To apply the
   new icon immediately restart kicker by running dcop kicker kicker
   restart.

   This will only make the change for your user. To make the change for
   all users, you must edit the system-wide configuration file. For
   instructions on editing system configuration files, please see
   http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Docs/Basic_tasks/Editing_configuration_files.
   The file can be found in one of the following locations:

/var/lib/mandriva/kde-profiles/free/share/config/kickerrc
/var/lib/mandriva/kde-profiles/one/share/config/kickerrc
/var/lib/mandriva/kde-profiles/discovery/share/config/kickerrc
/var/lib/mandriva/kde-profiles/powerpack/share/config/kickerrc
/var/lib/mandriva/kde-profiles/powerpackplus/share/config/kickerrc

   The location depends on the edition of Mandriva Linux you are using.
   Make the same change to this file as was recommended earlier.

   To change the button, you can make a custom image and save it as
   ~/.kde/share/icons/customicon.png and use KMenuIcon=customicon.png in
   the kickerrc file.

   kickerrc allows this kind of entries:

   Sample of options:
[KMenu]

KMenuButtonRotate=true

KMenuButtonScale=true

KMenuIcon=mdv_kmenu

ShowText=false

TextRelativeXPos=0

TextRelativeYPos=0

TextFont=DejaVu Sans Mono,6,-1,5,50,0,0,0,0,0

TextColor=#FFFFFF

UseSidePixmap=true

     * Explaining the options
          + KMenuButtonRotate Rotates bitmap if you put the kicker bar in
            vertical
          + KMenuButtonScale Scale button to fit kicker. If false, they
            will use standard bitmap size ( which can be any type )
          + KMenuIcon Name of the bitmap icon ( HINT: To return original
            K, just change for kmenu )
          + ShowText Show text ( what else could it be ? ;-)
          + TextRelativeXPos Relatve position in percent from X axis
          + TextRelativeYPos Relatve position in percent from Y axis
          + TextFont Font used on text ( if you add a huge font, the
            system will recalculate size up to be visible over button )
          + TextColor Color of text
          + UseSidePixmap Enable to see the pixmap on sidebar

   Due to lack of time, the kicker kcontrol dialog did not include these
   options yet, so for now it is necessary to change these by hand.

New KDE theme: how to go back to official KDE theme

   In Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring, a new look for KDE has been set up.
   Mandriva's theme is stored in /var/lib/mandriva/kde-profiles/. To
   revert back to the official KDE theme, you must configure KDE to use
   the theme in /usr. To do this, you must edit /etc/kderc to include this
   line:
prefixes=/usr

   See http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Docs/Basic_tasks/Editing_configuration_files
   for instructions on editing system configuration files. You can
   then log out and back in, and you will have a full default KDE
   theme.

   As a more user oriented way of doing this, you can go to to kcontrol >
   option System Administration > option Mandriva KDE Profile Chooser and
   remove all entries ( in Administratior Mode ). This will make the
   standard kde config come back. Remember that this allows you to create
   you own custom profiles, you just need to copy one of the trees on
   /var/lib/mandriva/kde-profiles and add your entry in kderc,
   just following the same scheme.

Experimental new Intel graphics driver

   Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring includes an optional experimental
   version of the driver for Intel graphics chips with some
   interesting new capabilities. The default driver is still the
   stable, tested version.  For information on how to manually install
   and test the unsupported, experimental version of the driver,
   please see
   http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Releases/Mandriva/2007.1/Experimental_Intel_driver.
