Every major distribution generates a lot of hype at launch, and the new Mandriva 2009 did not depart from the rule.

After completing the installation, I have used the new system for a few days and would like to share my first impressions.

Hardware

Every part of the EeeBox’s hardware, from the sound card to the memory card reader, is well recognized. The EeeBox atom-based architecture performs well under Mandriva 2009.
Wifi works out of the box. My EeeBox is in a room with a very low signal strength, on the shipped XP I kept loosing my connection. Mandriva 2009’s wifi drivers do work better, the connection is much more stable.The EeeBox’s Wifi adapter is listed as RaLink Device 0781.

The only issue I have encountered was with my display. The EeeBox is connected to a Samsung SyncMaster 2232BW via DVI. The OS is running two displays on my monitor at the same time. The first, an LVDS with a 1024×768 resolution, and a second one, a TMDS-1 at 1680×1050, which is my monitor’s resolution.
Quite easily, it is possible to disable the LVDS and have the maximum resolution, but it gets back to 1024×768 at every boot. I didn’t have much time to tweak the xorg.conf file.
A picture will describe the situation better.

3D effects, Matisse or Compiz Fusion, do work without problems when it comes to performances, but they were applied to the LVDS output. I’ll have to look further into the matter.

Software

Mandriva comes with a standard collection of open source applications. You will find many programs for a productive use, out of the box. Installing and removing programs is easy with the provided tools, and Mandriva’s repositories are hosting over 20000 packages.
The most important change in the Mandriva distribution is the desktop environment. It integrates KDE4.1, which carries significant and modern improvements, but also some bugs.
I’m not a big fan of widgets, but they are well built into KDE4.1 (and called plasmoids). You can find for example an RSS news ticker that could be useful if you are a news addict or a blogger.
Like its predecessors, Mandriva 2009 does not include proprietary codecs, so you won’t be able to play divx movies out of the box. However, you can add the PLF repositories (the easiest way is from easyurpmi.zarb.org). A red icon in the taskbar will inform you of system updates, new software, codecs or drivers’ availability. The update system is well designed, it will suggest the installation of the right drivers for your computer.

All in all, Mandriva 2009 does support the EeeBox’s hardware well, and is definitely worth a look. I would still prefer the 2008.1 version for its stability, while the 2009 version will certainly improve over time and software updates.