Mandriva Linux Tweak:-10 things to do to make a better experience than Ubuntu..

We all know, that, tweaking is art and it always give us more experience in aspect of Operating System.. Since Microsoft or other private OS doesnt allow much customization, Gnu/Linux offers endless possibilities in customization.

here, we go how to make a Mandriva installation into a tweaked customized polished way.

I suppose you installed a Mandriva-Free DVD or Mandriva-Live distro..so first thing you have to do is get internet which is so easy if you use a LAN connection.( use Mandriva Control Center). then we have to install so many extra softwares and packages.In order to do those, try these steps

Enable all repositories:– for a default Mandriva installation, only the Main and Contrib repos will be enabled. So if you installed from a DVD, the DVD must the medium of repo. So add more repos. Mandriva provide third party, non-free repos as PLF(Penguin Liberation Front) repos. To enable those, just visit,
http://easyurpmi.zarb.org/ and select you distro version,
then click “add PLF repos” . This will help you to save the PLt) repos. Either open with Package Installer(which is default) or add from the terminal. thats done..Now we need to add one more excellent Mandriva respo, named MIB(Mandriva International Backports). Its well packed, multimedia rich package stellar. In order to add those

visit:-http://mib.pianetalinux.org/mib/ or visit here :- http://urpmi.mandriva.ru/

and click add “MIB medias”. update all of your repos from the software central and let it download the XMZ files.Once its done, its done , we are ready to fly with Mandriva.

Enable mutlimedia/third party plugin:– To enjoy the maximum user experiencing, we should have extra plugins. here are the things you have to do.
–install gstreamer-ugly
–install smplayer with all of its dependency
–install VLC player with all of its dependency
–install XBMC(XboxMediaCentre), a must have media player and more…
–install real-codecs
–install win32-codecs
–install libdvdcss codecs
–install gxine with all of its dependencies.
–install MKV supporting tools and also FLASH player plugin

Now we are set about the media file plugins and codecs. Our Mandriva box can play any type of media file now. now we can install some media players. Since we have installed VLC,SMPLAYER etc, so we can look for audio side now.
–install AmaroK, its the best of its kind, very much kool user-interfaced and powerful library management etc.
–install Banshee Music player, if you use GNOME and u dnt need to install AmaroK’s KDE huge dependencies, then use this
–Rhythmbox , just another powerful mediaplayer
Now , we need some another multimedia tools, not for playing but for handling, like, editing, composting , making changes etc.. now

–install Openshot, its a wonderful movie editor with powerful options
–avidemux, another great movie editor
–soundconverter, a converter tool to convert you audio files into various formats. this can be used to convert youtube videos into audio.
–MKVMERGE, Matroska is the newest media container and its very exciting. so you can convert ur videos into this format
ok, then, we have done here.

Internet/communication:– yeah , whats the point without Internet. here we go for the usual ways..

–FireFox, yes the default web broswer with awesome features and powerful addons.
–Chrome, its the second one, killing IE so fast on that place.
–Opera, you will be needed for a third one, trust me.
and for those dudes/dudees who love to be socialize all the time, you can try install FLOCK webbroswer, it has integrated all leading social networking sites as twitter, facebook etc. You wouldnt miss the online life for a sec.:)

now, we need some communication tools, yes the chat!. yahoo,msn, gmail and those.. The best feature of linux is its really powerful. well, instead of using all those chat IM separately, we have one stop solution , its called PIDGIN.
you can create all those IMS for yahoo, MSN, google talk, jabber, AIM etc into this. and use as the way as you use the original. Same thing you can done by using EMPATHY.(GTALK voice/video users must keep this). So here one more note, Neither Pidgin nor empathy support yahoo webcam service, what shall those Yahoo ardent video chatter do?? There goes , again the magic of Linux, Gyachi. Install gyachi from mandriva repos and hoora, you r on for yahoo video chats.
Now, the mighty Skype, yes its int he repo, just find it and install it, It supports voice/video everything..!! and if you use any SIP services, go for Ekiga softphone, its great

Now , we go for some tools like torrents, FTP , newsletter.etc.
–install, VUZE, the mighty one in the area but also try with bittorrent,qtorrent and ktorrent. For gnome users, run for Transmission, the default for gnome.:)
–install Filezilla, yes if you use any File server things
–Thunderbird, its way better that Evolution, the best outlook alternative in the industry.

System tools:- now , lets look for some system tools to handle our mandriva box better.
–install bleachbit, it bleaches ur system, removes unwanted, unused files and chunks, heard abt Ubuntu’s Janitor, this kid is better that that.
–install K3B, yes brasero is there by default, but I prefer K3B over it, you experience it.
–install Gparted, you must need this, if you are a medium user.
–PlayOnlinux, your life savior , if you are serious game player. coz its the main reason , people still use Windows , coz they cannot leave their fav games. but here you can play on Linux Also.PlayOnLinux is a wine based stack which comes with lots utilities, like Games and few windows only programs.
–install VirtualBox, its the best one available, if you know what is visualization ..

thats all enough..

Development:– If you use Mandriva box for some development usage, you can have so many options. Apart from default packages, you can try these too.
–install bluegriffon, yes, there are bluefish and kompozer but this one is also good, give it a try.

Themes/artwork:- yes, we need our system eye-candy and glazing right?? yeah.. lets see what to do.there are lots themes available in mandriva repo. try any of them, some recommendations are
gnome-bisigi theme, mac4Lin theme. I personally use mac4Lin aqua.same as install gnome login themse, gdm-theme-extra and some other themes..

its really cool. go and install more backgropunds and wallpapers from the repos. One good spot for awesome lInux wallpapers, are–
http://bestdesignoptions.com/?p=9658
http://www.fullfondos.com/en/linux1.htm
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/linux/articles/77556.aspx
http://www.junauza.com/2008/02/25-coolest-linux-wallpapers.html

and some work around,
..put the task bar top side of the screen
.. keep the menu bar/notification area bottom side of the area
–take properties of the panel and use background as in solid color and change the value, you can see, ur panel will be transparent.. its cool….
just restart now and log-in , now you Mandriva Box is awesome.. and its way better than Ubuntu!!