Linux Again

So I'm very close to getting Mandriva 2009, installed on my laptop on Monday, configured back to the way I'm used to.

Only half a dozen or so minor sticking points left to overcome. Mmmmm, actually I shut down anacron, so that's one sticking point less.

Every time I log out, I have to wait a good 30 seconds before the login screen comes back up. Every time I log in, my preferred background comes up for a second before a wallpaper I never selected jumps in and takes over. I have no idea how or why that wallpaper steals the show; it's easy enough to restore the status quo ante, but that's an additional manual step, and the interloper wallpaper returns the next time I log in. I dunno, for the time being I've given up, and learned to love the unwanted wallpaper.

But that's Mandrake/Mandriva for you. Most of the time it works very nicely, but with every release there's a handful of minor hangups that will make you tear your hair out. Still, overall it works nicely, it's slick, it simplifies your job when you want, and gets out of your way when you want to remove the training wheels. Which I guess is why I've stuck with this distro for going on six years now.