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What's new in Linux-Mandrake 7.1 (Helium) ?

Hardware

• Video cards based on the i810 chipset are now supported
• Wheel mouses are now fully functionnal with most applications (Netscape, GNOME, KDE, etc.)
• Better powersaving support for Laptop computers
• Enhanced USB support for modems, printers, ZIP drives
• Now supporting ATA 66 (UDMA 66) interface

Desktop environment

• All Helix Code GNOME improvements incorporated
  take a brief look at the new GNOME desktop
• Enhanced default settings for GNOME & KDE environments
• Now shipping with Sawmill, a new window manager
• Modified Qt library (foundation of KDE applications) supporting Chinese
• New menu system. Menus now look the same under all graphical environments and updates automatically when new packages are installed.
  view demo
• Along with menus, system organization benefits from reordered packages in coherent groups, usable by most package-management tools, including RpmDrake.

Mandrake specific tools

• DrakBoot allows for easy graphical configuration of boot loader (lilo and grub)
• Drakfloppy, a new graphical boot-floppy generation tool.
• PrinterDrake (printer configuration) now supports more printer types and options.
• DrakX now fully handles multiple-CD installation.
• WinCDboot : autorun when CDROM is inserted under windows and gives choice between Linux 4 windows (Linux4Win), installation and complete instalation
• DrakX user interface has been improved to ease installation :
  User can now choose an icon representing his/her user under Linux-Mandrake,
  more powerfull packages selection options, etc.
• Installation can now detect high resolution video modes and use them during install
• Urpmi, the text-mode rpm tool now handles local rpm installation.
  read Urpmi man page
• If Windows is present on the computer, DrakFont gives the user access to his Windows fonts under Linux.
  see DrakeFont demo
• The installation CDROM is now usable in rescue mode.
• RPMFind
  read RPMF man page

New software

• Grub is now supported as the default bootloader, suppressing the 1024-cylinder limit.
• Now includes brand new XFree 4.0 servers, with new modular architecture.
  
• For professional environments, now shipping ReiserFS, a new journalized file system.
• GnuCash, personal finance manager, now included.
• And many more to be discovered...