Amidst a deluge of recent Linux updates, you could be forgiven for overlooking the release of Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring. The latest in a long line of Mandriva distros, this features the usual upgrades to the component software together with a number of new features, such as direct support for the Asus Eee PC, synchronisation with Windows Mobile 5/6 and Blackberry and Nokia handhelds, and some nice enhancements to the multimedia software.

Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring can be downloaded from the Mandriva site in two formats. Both are available free of charge, although most users will go for Mandriva Linux One which comes as a bootable Live CD image complete with proprietary drivers for use with third party hardware. Burn this to disc and you can boot and run the software from CD without affecting the existing OS in any way. Then, when you're ready, you can opt to install to hard disk using the wizard provided.

The other option is confusingly called Mandriva Linux Free edition, the “free” referring to the fact that it's all open source with no proprietary drivers, plug-ins or other software. Additionally, for those prepared to part with some cash, there's also a PowerPack version (€49) that includes extra third party applications, and Mandriva Flash (€59), a ready-to-load implementation on a USB memory stick.

Hardware requirements are the same in all cases. Virtually any Intel or AMD x86 compatible processor can be used, with support for 64-bit and multi-core chips as standard. At least 512MB of RAM is recommended and most video cards are supported, although to take full advantage of the available 3D desktop effects you'll need something fairly recent from ATI or NVIDIA (you can find a full list of supported hardware on the Mandriva Web site).

Because minor updates are issued all the time, and installed for you if you want, the exact software you get may differ from the original release. However, the kernel is a 2.6.24 implementation and should remain unchanged, together with a KDE 2.5.9 desktop with a 4.0.03 implementation provided to try out if you want. Gnome 2.22 is also included for those more used to this environment.

Unfortunately Firefox 3.0 wasn't released until after this update so you'll start with a 2.xx implementation. But you do get the get the latest Thunderbird e-mail client and OpenOffice.org 2.4, plus a multimedia program called Elisa to browse photos, watch movies, listen to music and so on. You can also watch TV over the Internet using Miro, while the inclusion of Codeina makes it easy to get hold of the right media codecs. The sound infrastructure is now PulseAudio, which should be a lot easier to manage.

There's no server implementation and Mandriva's commercial products aren't at this release level yet. However, that won't deter the enthusiast and we had no major problems installing or using the Mandriva software on any of the desktops we tried.

Moreover, as with previous versions, we found it very easy to use. The networking and Windows integration options in particular are straightforward and there's even a new parental control feature to encourage home users to switch to Mandriva Linux. Other distros may offer more but Mandriva is a good place to start.

The latest Mandriva Linux distro includes the usual updates to the component parts plus a number of extras such as support for the Asus Eee PC and tools to synchronise data with Windows Mobile 5 and other handheld devices. Multimedia support is much improved in this release and parental controls added for home users. There's no server implementation but it's a good desktop for Linux learners.