Mageia 3 Beta 2 first impression

[linuxero]

Hi Mageians;

I've just burnt an i586 and an x86_64 live DVDs of Mageia 3 Beta 2 KDE just to give it a try..

1. 32bit version:

It could not get me into a graphic desktop on an HP laptop with dual core processor, Intel Graphics Chipset 945 express and a Broadcom WIFI with 2G of RAM. I just wanted to try it for the Broadcom since I read somewhere that testing for the free drivers is needed and it's the only machine I have with this card.

I didn't expect any problem with the Intel graphics, though! I tried to get into a terminal using CTRL+ALT+F2 through F6 but the laptop didn't respond.

So i tried to boot the DVD on an AMD machine with 8G RAM and an nVidia graphic adaptor. The result was a constant reboot everytime I tried to launch the live system..!

2. 64bit version:

Of course I couldn't boot the laptop with this because it has a 32bit processor, so I tried it on the AMD desktop. The boot process took some time, then I logged in the live system. The nVidia was working pretty good, even though initially it was configured for 1024x768 resolution; so I had to reconfigure the resolution in MCC. The WIFI I am using is an SMC card with ZD1211 firmware needed.

I should mention that I chose Arabic as a language so when I tried to configure the WIFI I had this strange problem;

After clicking on the net-applet icon I had three connections, the cable one, the SMC USB2.0 one and the WLAN0 one. So I chose the last one and the networks around where shown. However; unlike previous editions, my hidden network showed this time as \0x00\0x00\0x00\0x00\0x00\0x00\0x00 or something like that. I ignored this and tried to connect to it. It asked me for the encryption key but I couldn't key in the network name as it has been disabled showing those zeros. I gave it a shot but as I had expected, no way to connect. So I relaunched the net-applet; this time I could type in the network name, but no connection either..! At this point, I tried the MCC New Network Connection, I chose an unlisted network and went on with the configuration. Now I am writing from the live system.

So, The WIFI configuration should be reviewed, I doubt it could be to the fact that I am in an Arabic-language Desktop; but I won't make a guess.

The problem is now to check whether the 32bit version has a problem or is it the Intel driver..!

Thank you all,