Although the latest version of Mandrake 8.1 is available for download the company is having trouble manufacturing the product and getting it to market as quickly as they wanted. Co-workers recently installed 8.1 and the new product looks promising.
The Scoop
An article on Yahoo stated the new 8.1 CD’s were suppose to be shipped by the end of September, however since the company moved production to the US they recently notified customers of a delay.
8.1 Installation Notes
The biggest complaint we had in the office after installing 8.1 was “I still can’t print!”. Printing under Linux is no simple task setting up but it is a must for businesses. We have a new Lexmark E210 laser printer in the office and although Lexmark states the printer is supported by Red Hat and Mandrake after 30 minutes we still couldn’t print. Before you start flaming allow me to explain.
One, the driver they include is basically for Red Hat although they include a CUPS driver for Mandrake. Two, although they include a driver for Mandrake the instructions given are basically worthless. Why is it that manufacturers think they can put out a driver for Linux and give a few lines in a README file and call it support? Lexmark, if you are listening, either support the hardware with full driver support or stop your bad marketing tactics to get Linux users to buy your products.
Ok enough ranting about printing as I think you see the point. In a nutshell, the install is nicer, cleaner, and gosh darn it people like it!