Major new features

KDE 4.1

KDE has been updated to version 4.1 final. An initial implementation of the standard Mandriva widget theme, Ia Ora, for KDE 4 is also included. This still does not represent the final appearance of Mandriva Linux 2009, as the Ia Ora window manager theme and an overall visual theme (including desktop backgrounds and so on) have not yet been added, and other appearance details may still be changed. Translations are also not yet complete, so you may find some areas of the desktop are not translated into your language if you use a language other than English. This will be corrected prior to the final release. 4.1 is the version of KDE that will be included in the final Mandriva Linux 2009 release, so it is particularly important that you report any significant bugs in it to Mandriva so they can be fixed. KDE 3 is still available from the /contrib section.

GNOME 2.23.5

The latest development release of GNOME (working towards the stable 2.24 series, which will be used in Mandriva Linux 2009) is included. Please note that the Evolution mail client is somewhat buggy in handling IMAP accounts in this release.

Mozilla Firefox 3

The new version of Mozilla Firefox is now the default in this pre-release. As we are still in transition from Firefox 2 to Firefox 3, both versions are provided in this pre-release; version 2 is in the mozilla-firefox package, while version 3 is in the firefox3 package. This is a temporary measure during the transition.

Splashy replaces bootsplash

The Splashy system is now used for displaying a 'boot splash' (the graphical screen you see during the boot process), rather than the old bootsplash system. Splashy is a more modern and actively maintained system which does not require large amounts of code to be added to the kernel, as was the case with bootsplash. It also provides some new features that were not available in bootsplash. Please report any problems you notice with the boot image, as they are likely related to this change. Please note also that graphical rendering is not the final one. Splashy theme will be improved.

Synchronization support for Windows Mobile 2003 devices, tethering support for Windows Mobile 5+

This pre-release includes the new version 0.12 of the synce framework for supporting synchronization of Windows Mobile devices. With this update, support has been added for easy synchronization of Windows Mobile 2003 and earlier devices (previously, easy support was only available for Windows Mobile 5 and later devices). For instructions on synchronizing with Windows Mobile 2003 and earlier devices (and updated instructions for synchronizing with Windows Mobile 5 and later devices), see this page, but please note that unfortunately no synchronization is yet possible with KDE 4's PIM applications (kmail, kontact etc) as there is no KDE 4 opensync plugin available, so synchronization is only possible with GNOME and KDE 3. Kernel support has also been added for tethering using Windows Mobile 5 and later devices - that is, using them as a modem, so you can get an internet connection on your computer using the data connection available on your Windows Mobile phone / PDA. It should be possible to configure this by using the Mandriva Control Center's network configuration tool, but this has not yet been fully tested.