14 DAY TRIAL // Copernic is the codename given to the first release candidate of the upcoming Mandriva Linux 2008, announced yesterday by the Mandriva team: "The first release candidate of Mandriva Linux 2008, codenamed Copernic, is now available. This release candidate is available as a three CD or one DVD Free edition (containing no non-free software or drivers) for the x86-32 and x86-64 architectures, with a traditional installer, and as a mini-CD edition for both x86-32 and x86-64 architectures."
What's new in Mandriva Linux 2008 RC1:
Draknetcenter
It is a network configuration and monitoring tool for Mandriva systems and it's now included in this first release candidate. At this point it can be started only from the command-line or the run dialog, as it is still in development and is not the final design.
New menu structure
A new menu structure, based on Frederik Himpe's ideas, has been implemented in this version and it tries to reduce the amount of nesting in the menus. From now on, all the applications are split into category groups and each category group displays applications that belong to the current desktop environment in the top level and applications that belong to other desktop environments in a sub level. Moreover, commonly used applications across desktop environments will always appear in the top level.
Kernel changes
The kernel packages have been renamed because of the inclusion of the kernel-tmb spec file. Therefore, the old kernel is now known as kernel-desktop, the old kernel-enterprise is now known as kernel-server and the old kernel-legacy is now known as kernel-desktop586. Moreover, a kernel-laptop package has been implemented in this release candidate, which contains some nice customizations for laptops in terms of reducing power usage.
The Mandriva development team urges you to:
￭ Report any problems with ATI Radeon X1xx series graphics adapters, as the new avivo driver has been made default in this release. ￭ Check that all your hardware is supported. ￭ Report any missing or unwanted software.
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
Mandriva Linux 2008 release schedule:
￭ Beta 1 - 6th August 2007 ￭ Beta 2 - 25th August 2007 ￭ RC 1 - 5th September 2007 ￭ RC 2 - From September 18th to September 25th 2007 ￭ Official Release - Thursday September 27th 2007
You can download Mandriva Linux 2008 RC1 now from Softpedia.