As some of you may know from reading my review on the USB TV Tuner card I did that I have purchased Mandriva Power Pack 2009. So I figured I would do a review of the Power Pack. I have been using the power pack for about a week now which doesn’t make me an expert on the subject but after going through the install process a few times and having worked with the Tech. Support I feel in good position to write a review of the product. As a personal note I do not often make habit of purchasing Linux distributions.

Installation computer is a HP Compaq nc6220 Laptop with 1.5Gb memory, 60Gb Hard drive, Intel 1.7Ghz M CPU, Intel Wireless b/g Wlan card, 10/100/1000 Broadcom NIC, HP Blue tooth Modula, CD-R/DVD, and Multi-media card reader. I have ran *buntu(Ubuntu, Kbuntu, Xubuntu, Gobuntu, LinuxMCE, Mythbuntu, nUbuntu, and Ubuntulite), Gentoo, Fedora 8/9, Suse 11, and Mandriva Linux 2008. With varying degrees of hardware support Ubuntu and Suse 11 having had the best hardware support.

Let me start off with a review of the install process. The Mandriva installer is a very simple process my first time around I used all the defaults and had my system up and running with all hardware working and very little tweaking required. I quickly found that the default partitioning gave me a 40Gb /home, a 8Gb /, and the rest was a Swap. I tried to use Gparted live to resize the partitions but that failed to work out. So a quick reload and custom partitioning and I Had a fully working system.

Post installation setup and configuration. Using Mandriva’s tools it was only a matter of a few mouse clicks to add Software repositories and in seconds all my updates were done and I had installed some of my favorite software. Was able to enable 3d desktop effects, desktop search, customized my active firewall, and personalize my hot-keys. The provided tools are very simple to use and although I have the advantage of being a IT professional, that being said I think even a novice would be able to find the tools useful and easy to figure out.

Part of the Mandriva 2009 Power Pack package is the three months of support that comes with the software. I have a HD TV tuner device that is made by Pinnacle it’s the 880e PCTV Pro Stick, a USB HD TV tuner that comes with a mini remote. Now I have read on-line where people have been able to get this device to work with mythbuntu, Fedora, and one report of it working in Suse, however I have never been able to get the device to work! So the first thing I did once getting my system up and running? Yep, started a support ticket to see if the Support staff at Mandriva could lend a hand. Well the final out come is that they have not tested that device on their system yet, but they were able to help point me in some good directions to look into. The response time was by far better then I had originally thought it would be from a web based support system. Not only was the responses quick but they were friendly well spoken easy to follow directions and although in the end my problem was not resolved the support I received was leaps and bonds above that which I have gotten when ever I have worked with Microsoft partner support. I have had access to Microsoft Partner Support in both small business levels and Extremely large Enterprise levels. The professionalism, friendliness, and knowledge of the Mandriva support staff is 2nd to none!

In closing, if you or someone you know is looking to make the move to Linux and wants a distribution that just works out of the box, then Mandriva 2009 Power pack is for you! With support for DVD playback, MP3s, and other close media formats, cedega for playing windows video games, OpenOffice.org 3 with support for MS Office formated files, and tools for using and running just about any software or hardware device. All wrapped up with Professional Support that can get you up and running even if you are a complete novice. I give Mandriva 2009 Power Pack 5 out 5 Penguins!