Choosing the Mandriva Linux edition that’s right for you

Mandriva Linux is available in several free and paid-for editions. This page explains the differences between the editions and provides some recommendations of which edition to choose. It is important to note that all the editions of Mandriva Linux are built from the same base, and all free / open source applications are available for all editions from the official Mandriva mirror sites (along with the most important proprietary drivers and firmware). For more on adding extra software to your Mandriva Linux installation, see Installing and removing software.

All Mandriva Linux editions are supported for twelve months (desktop packages) or eighteen months (core packages) for official updates from the product release date. The Mandriva Product Lifetime Policy describes the supported life for Mandriva software products.

Mandriva One

The One edition of Mandriva Linux is a Live CD. A Live CD is an operating system which boots and runs directly from CD, with no installation required, and without making any permanent change to the system on which it runs. Mandriva One, however, is a hybrid Live CD, meaning it also has an installer allowing it to be installed to the system’s hard disk, should the user so desire. This makes it the ideal edition of Mandriva Linux to try if you are not confident enough about Linux to be sure you want to install it permanently to your hard disk. You can boot Mandriva One in live mode to try it out. If you like it, you can install it to your hard disk. If not, you can simply remove the CD and reboot and your system will not be affected. The small size of Mandriva One also makes it ideal for users with slow or bandwidth limited Internet connections.

Mandriva One is a free download. It does contain all the proprietary drivers and firmware packages to improve hardware support, and some common proprietary packages like Java and the Flash plugin.

Sometimes, several single CD versions of Mandriva One are made available with a Mandriva Linux release. There are two main differentiating factors between the various versions: the desktop environment used and the languages supported. Some versions use the KDE desktop environment, some use the GNOME environment. As space makes it impossible to include all supported languages on a single CD, the languages supported by Mandriva Linux are spread across the various versions of One. You can remove the languages you don’t need from a One installation following the How to fine tune the locales of a One installation

The current release of Mandriva One is Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring One. The latest release of Mandriva One is always available from the official download site.

Mandriva Linux Free

The Free edition of Mandriva Linux is so named because it is ‘free’ in both senses: it costs nothing and it contains only free and open source software, as defined by the Free Software Foundation and Open Source Initiative. It contains a fully functional distribution with a range of applications aimed at typical desktop use. It must be installed to your hard disk prior to use. This is the ideal edition of Mandriva Linux to use if you wish to evaluate a comprehensive Mandriva Linux edition, or if you wish to use only free / open source software on your system.

This edition is made available with every Mandriva Linux release in x86-32 and x86-64 versions, on either three CDs or a single DVD.

There is also an alternative version of Free named mini, which is a very small edition. Both x86-32 and x86-64 versions of mini are contained within a single image. Installing the mini edition results in a very basic system. This is useful if you want to set up a machine with a small installation of Mandriva Linux for a specific purpose – for instance, a router machine, or a web server.

The current release of Mandriva Linux Free is Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring Free. The latest release of Mandriva Linux Free is always available from the official download site.

Mandriva Linux Powerpack

The Powerpack edition of Mandriva Linux is a commercial edition (this means it is available only via the Mandriva Store, or from an authorized reseller). It contains a range of applications aimed at typical desktop use, development work, or server use. It also contains all proprietary drivers, firmware packages and common proprietary browser plugins. As a commercial edition, Powerpack contains services (support, training) and additional commercial applications.

This edition is made available with every Mandriva Linux release in x86-32 and x86-64 versions, on a single DVD. The version available from the Mandriva Store is a single DVD containing both x86-32 and x86-64 versions. It is available as a slim-pack DVD only, or in a boxed edition with a manual. It is also available via a subscription service, allowing download access to the Powerpack edition for one year (two Mandriva Linux releases) for a flat annual rate.

The current release of Mandriva Linux Powerpack is Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring Powerpack. The latest release of Mandriva Linux Powerpack is always available from the Mandriva Store.

Legacy editions

Two other commercial editions of Mandriva Linux were available with Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring and earlier releases.

Mandriva Linux Discovery

The Discovery edition of Mandriva Linux was a commercial edition (this meant it was available only via the Mandriva Store, to Mandriva Club members, or from an authorized reseller). It was aimed at first-time or novice Linux users. It contained a range of applications aimed at typical desktop computer use, with a customized default package selection aimed at simplicity. It also included a theme designed to be welcoming to novice users, and used a default system menu layout tailored to novice users. Fundamentally, however, Discovery was built on the same base as every other Mandriva Linux edition, and as the user’s confidence grew, more advanced applications could be installed, and the novice-friendly default settings changed to the more powerful settings used by the other editions. As a commercial edition, Discovery contained proprietary software, including various proprietary drivers and firmware packages to improve hardware support, and some useful applications and browser plugins.

The last release of Mandriva Linux Discovery was Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring Discovery.

Mandriva Linux Powerpack+

The Powerpack+ edition of Mandriva Linux was a commercial edition (this meant it was available only via the Mandriva Store, to Mandriva Club members, or from an authorized reseller). It was aimed at advanced desktop users, software engineers, and small business server administrators. It contained a range of applications (wider than that included in any other edition) aimed at typical desktop use, software development, and server use. Powerpack+ was the ideal edition for demanding users or for server deployment.

The last release of Mandriva Linux Powerpack+ was Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring Powerpack+.

Other Mandriva products

These other Mandriva distributions are not strictly part of the Mandriva Linux product line.

Mandriva Corporate Desktop

Mandriva Corporate Desktop is a commercial distribution (this means it is available only via the Mandriva Store, to Mandriva Corporate Club members, or from an authorized reseller). The Mandriva Corporate Desktop differs from the consumer versions of Mandriva in that it is supported for updates for five years from the release. The Mandriva Corporate Desktop is designed for desktops and workstations for business desktops or users needing a desktop or workstation with updates for more than 12 months.

The Corporate Desktop product line has a slower release cycle than the Mandriva consumer editions and new versions are typically released every 18-24 months, with an emphasis on security and stability, which means Corporate Desktop will not have the latest versions of software.

The Mandriva Corporate Desktop product line is supported for five years for updates from the product release date. The Mandriva Product Lifetime Policy describes the supported life for Mandriva software products.

Mandriva Corporate Server

Mandriva Corporate Server is a commercial distribution (this means it is available only via the Mandriva Store, to Mandriva Corporate Club members, or from an authorized reseller). Mandriva Corporate Server differs from the consumer versions of Mandriva in that it is supported for updates for five years from the release. For Mandriva Corporate Server 4, updates and technical support are available to September 2011. For Mandriva Corporate Server 3 (CS3), updates are available to December 2009. Mandriva Corporate Server 4 (CS4) is designed for users running servers for critical business applications or servers that may be in place for longer than 12 months.

The Corporate Server product line includes tools and software unique to this business focused edition. Corporate Server 4 includes FIBRIC, a web based tool for installing software using a web interface, and the IBM WebSphere Application Server – Community Edition for a Java application server.

The Corporate Server product line has a slower release cycle than the Mandriva consumer editions and new versions are typically released every 18-24 months, with an emphasis on security and stability, which means Corporate Server will not have the latest versions of software. CS3 uses Mandrake Linux 10.0 as its core. CS4 uses Mandriva Linux 2006 as its core. Updated versions of CS4 are released every four to six months, which include support for newer hardware.

The Mandriva Corporate Server product line is supported for five years for updates from the product release date. The Mandriva Product Lifetime Policy describes the supported life for Mandriva software products.

IGGI

IGGI is a Mandriva distribution which is dedicated to High Performance Computing. Using IGGI you can quickly install a server and duplicate a system on several nodes using parallel transfers. You can have have your cluster ready to accept jobs in a couple of hours. With DrakCluster, you can manage the nodes using a GUI. IGGI also includes all the major open source tools and libraries for HPC.

More information about IGGI is available on this page.

Sumber : Mandriva