Cassini is the name of the first beta release of the upcoming Mandriva Linux 2008, announced yesterday by the Mandriva team: "The first beta of Mandriva Linux 2008, codenamed Cassini, is now available. This beta is available only as a three CD Free edition (containing no non-free software or drivers) for the x86-32 architecture, with a traditional installer. Future betas will be available in One live / install CD hybrid editions with proprietary drivers, and in x86-64 versions."

Highlights of Mandriva Linux 2008 include:

￭ GNOME 2.20
￭ Ekiga 3.0 with a plugin framework for audio and video codecs, a revised interface, and SIP presence support
￭ Evolution 2.12, with better spam filtering and Microsoft Exchange support
￭ KDE 3.5.7
￭ KDE 4 preview
￭ XFCE 4.4.1
￭ Kernel 2.6.22 that features the 'tickless' technology which will save battery power on laptops
￭ Compiz Fusion
￭ X.org 7.3 with the new XrandR 1.2 framework which vastly improves support for multiple displays, also displaying hotplugging on supported drivers
￭ OpenOffice.org 2.2 comes with improved text rendering, improved PDF exporting and enhanced compatibility with Excel spreadsheets
￭ GCC 4.2
￭ Complete XDG menu migration
￭ Windows documents and settings migration tool
￭ WPA-EAP support
￭ Hybrid suspend mode
￭ RandR 1.2 applet for KDE
￭ AppArmor
￭ Modular IDE drivers

You can read a more detailed overview about the features that Mandriva Linux 2008 will bring, here. Mandriva Linux 2008 will also improve and add support for many hardware devices, such as:

￭ NVIDIA Geforce 8400, 8500 and 8600 series graphics cards
￭ Intel 4965AGN wireless chipsets
￭ Intel Santa Rosa drive controllers
￭ ATI SB700 chipset motherboards
￭ Many newer onboard sound devices using the High Definition Audio codec, particularly on motherboards using Intel chipsets
￭ Wacom Graphire and Intuos tablet input devices
￭ Realtek 8187 USB and ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B USB wireless controllers

Mandriva Linux 2008 release schedule:

￭ Beta 1 - From August 6th to August 16th 2007
￭ Beta 2 - From August 17th to August 31st 2007
￭ RC 1 - From September 1st to September 17th 2007
￭ RC 2 - From September 18th to September 25th 2007
￭ Official Release - Thursday September 27th 2007

You can download Mandriva Linux 2008 Beta 1 now from Softpedia.