The Mandriva Linux 2009.1 has been released a while ago, and I have noticed a certain search volume for our previous installation guide, so here’s a due update.

Creating the live usb pendrive

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy way with this Mandriva iteration and unetbootin, the process remains the same as in our live usb creation guide. The only difference is at the fourth step, where you will have to use this kit instead.
The Mandriva installer is very easy to use, with a powerful disk partitioner.

Complete hardware support

Mandriva Linux 2009.1 support the Eeebox’s hardware perfectly. The little issues I had with my 22″ monitor are gone, and everything works out of the box (including Wifi).
Booting the OS with KDE4 takes a little bit over a minute. The only bugs I’ve noticed so far are in Dolphin. Some security policy prevents from mounting NTFS partitions as a standard user.

The new desktop’s looks

KDE 4.2 looks stable enough with this release. On the software side, there aren’t significant changes. The Open Office 3.0.1 suite is provided.

Mandriva 2009.1 is a pleasant and stable distribution. I will problably use it in a triple boot setup, with another popular Gnome based distribution.