Despite the last-minute problems discovered last week which resulted in a 1-week delay, Mandriva 2011 beta2 should finally be hitting the mirrors in some hours. Make sure to check the devel/iso/2011 directory on your favorite mirror for the latest .iso images.

As with previous beta release, the images are provided for i586 and x86_64 architectures, and are able to work in both live mode, and can be used for the installation.

For this release, most of the UI and desktop-related features should be integrated, including new login manager functionality, stack folders integration into the environment, new welcome and launcher application, new panel and overall desktop look-and-feel (some details and screenshots could be found on Eugeni’s blog here and here, and also (in russian) here ). It also features new default theme and artwork.

I’d also like to mention that most of those changes were developed by our friends from ROSA Labs, and to thank them once again for their hard work!

Besides the UI and KDE changes, Mandriva 2011 beta2 features LibreOffice 3.3.0, and comes with the latest kernel 2.6.38.3, systemd 24, gcc 4.6.0, besides smaller package versions updates.

Another notable difference is the integration of Anssi Hannula’s reimplementation of kms and graphical drivers interaction (announced initially here and described in details here.

As for the next steps, as previously announced, in few days Mandriva 2011 version will be branched for final stabilization and final packages inclusion, and Mandriva Cooker development will continue as rolling release.

So, thats it for now. Stay tuned for further mdvnews!

Edit: torrents available at torrent.mandriva