
Mandrake Linux commercial (1999) [video] - jordigh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3szC4TGgFkc
======
zlatan_todoric
Although never user nor developer of Mandrake (Debian dude here) I really
appreciated their effort and work, they really did some astonishing in those
days, I just really think they didn't have the luck to hit it in right time.
They were really innovative and really tried to make user experience great
even before PCLinuxOS, Ubuntu, Mint, openSUSE and others tried that.

While Mageia is there, they seem to have hard time to innovate and keep the
pace, but I am still glad they are here.

------
colindean
Fifteen-year-old me bought this circa 2001! There was a boxed product called
"Linux for Windows" or something like that. It simply resized the Windows
partition, installed Mandrake, and installed Grub or LILO (can't remember). I
installed it on an old Dell Pentium 2 machine I had because I was scared that
it would mess up the Windows ME partition on my Compaq P3 800.

It wasn't the first time I'd used Linux -- that was Trustix over ssh -- but it
was the first graphical distribution I'd tried. Earlier that summer, I'd
(painstakingly over a 33 kbps connnection) downloaded Phatlinux, an early live
CD distro. I couldn't run it on my Compaq for some reason, but I did get it to
work on my aunt's computer. Phatlinux gave me a reason to investigate more and
Mandrake let me do it. I think I used Mandrake on that machine until I
discovered Red Hat in college (ca. 2003) and I switched to Ubuntu shortly
after its first release in 2004.

------
finid
Mandrake, which became Mandriva Linux, is history, but it lives on through
ROSA Linux, Mageia and OpenMandriva.

See [http://linuxbsdos.com/category/rosa-
desktop;](http://linuxbsdos.com/category/rosa-desktop;)
[http://linuxbsdos.com/category/mageia;](http://linuxbsdos.com/category/mageia;)
and
[http://linuxbsdos.com/category/openmandriva](http://linuxbsdos.com/category/openmandriva)

Mandrake Linux was the third distro I used, after Red Hat and Linux PowerPC
2000. Btw, I still have my 2-set Mandrake Linux 8.1 CD.

~~~
ZenoArrow
> "it lives on through ROSA Linux, Mageia and OpenMandriva."

... and PCLinuxOS:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCLinuxOS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCLinuxOS)

[http://www.pclinuxos.com/](http://www.pclinuxos.com/)

~~~
finid
> ... and PCLinuxOS

No, PCLinuxOS used to be based on Mandrake/Mandriva, but not any more.

~~~
ZenoArrow
The same could be said for the rest of the distros listed. For example, ROSA
Linux is now 'Independent' according to DistroWatch:

[http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=rosa](http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=rosa)

~~~
finid
> ROSA Linux is now 'Independent' according to DistroWatch

ROSA Linux and those I listed became "independent" because Mandriva went bust.
PCLinuxOS forged it's own part while Mandriva was still active.

~~~
finid
That was supposed to be PATH, not "part".

------
ajdlinux
Linux-Mandrake 7.2 was my first distribution. 14 years later, I'm now working
full time in open source, and while I've been on the Debian side of the fence
for a while now, I'm still using KDE!

So thanks, Mandrake developers!

------
jhwhite
Mandrake was my first Linux distro that I installed in 1999. I remember some
friends warning me against Linux at all saying the install would fry my entire
computer.

I forged ahead and have ran Linux systems off and on from then until now.

------
spystath
Mandrake got me into Linux some 12 years ago and it was an excellent effort in
general. Quite accessible to the new user and lots of documentation. I have
also used briefly Mandriva back in the day before moving to Ubuntu. I believe
Mageia is their successor of sorts.

------
andrewclunn
Anybody else decide to go to:

[http://www.placeforlinux.com/](http://www.placeforlinux.com/)

after watching this?

~~~
rijoja
I was tempted :)

------
jordigh
Boy, what a world that was. When everyone took for granted that Linux was a
business and there were several competing commercial Linux distributors. How
the world has changed.

------
rijoja
I had completely forgotten about Mandrake. But when I tested it way back I
recall it seemed quite polished. Why was it that they disappeared?

~~~
Keyframe
They didn't disappear, they changed name to Mandriva. Can't talk about other
people, but I remember when it went about in popularity people that used linux
already mostly deemed it as too windows-like for their taste. Me included.
Windows people didn't like lack of applications they used and games. So it was
in that weird limbo between two worlds where neither wanted to use it.
Probably the greatest mistake was that they marketed it towards home/desktop
users. Game somewhat changed with SUSE, at about the same time, that pushed
their distro to corporate environments (and was helped by a fact that Linux
himself used it quite often). Only a couple of years later (5-7) would we see
Ubuntu and a bit larger array of desktop users applications which were around.

~~~
rijoja
Hm you're right about that. Also wasn't there a lot of people that thought qt
wasn't open source enough. From what I recall there where some opposition
against KDE for this reason. Shame really because it was quite neat.

~~~
Keyframe
Some opposition is how I would not describe almost a crusade against it :) QT
got quite more liberal later.

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fit2rule
Didn't Yggdrasil do one of these, too? I seem to remember there were other
distro TV ads, maybe it was the SLS guys ..

