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Mandrake Discovery 9.2 or Full Version???


jkibbe
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Hi,

 

I'm somewhat new to Linux, and I'm looking to buy a version of Mandrake 9.2 for use on my Dell. It looks like I'll be buying and not downloading since the download version is lacking some components I'd like, especially Conexant Modem Drivers. I've been tinkering around with MandrakeMove, and I'm ready to move on now. Will Discovery 9.2 meet my newbie needs, or should I just go for the full version? Also, someone told me that Discovery is just the first 2 of the 3 full version install CD's. Is this true??? Is ther anywhere that one can download Discovery or the Full version? According to the below link they offer features that the standard download version doesn't...

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jason

 

http://www.mandrakesoft.com/products/92/comparison

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You are right the Discovery pack is only 2 CDs, not 3 like the Download and Powerpack editions. Even if you do buy the Discovery pack you can still get access to the contents of the third CD by adding one of the many ftp mirrors to urpmi.

 

Which pack to choose? That is a hard question! The Discovery pack is far a bit cheaper, but I probably still go for the PowerPack personnally. If you have a got a DVD drive get the DVD and save yourself the disk changing.

 

Did you know, all the commercial packages in the PowerPack are available to the poeple who subscirbe to the Club? I think.

Edited by mtweidmann
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Thanks for the advice.

 

I may go with the Discovery version just to keep things simple and since it's supposed to be more user-friendly.

 

The PowerPack DVD does sound pretty nice, too!

 

I just want to make sure that either version keeps me busy with games and multimedia apps. I've been using MandrakeMove and it only has a handful of decent games. Though I know that games is not a linux strong suit, I saw some nice ones that are bundled with SuSE. On the other hand, I Mandrake's business philosophy better...

 

I also like the idea of a printed manual. :)

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I'm not sure if the printed manual is so good. The book that used to come with SUSE was better than anything that Mandrake ever shipped with any version; really helping to learn how to use/work with linux.

 

On the other hand, I like Mandrake best for business practises, esp. their Golden Rules.

 

Mandrake (download edition) has loads of fun games, all decent ones that are GPL are there, and if they're not on the cds you can get them with urpmi. Note that on Mandrake Move they don't have enough space, don't compare that to any regular install (of any distro).

 

I don't think the discovery edition is really easier to use than the standard one though.

 

My advice: if you can download, get the 9.2 updated clubmember isos. If you want to spend money, you can always get a clubmembership (in which case I say: get it after you are happy with it, not if you are in need of help/fixes you may not get -due to unsupported hardware or so, and then switch to something else..).

If you cannot download, I'd recommend a powerpack above discovery, since with discovery you'll (potentially) be urpmi-ing quite a lot for extra stuff.

Dvd version does sound cool, but if you have enough harddisk space, you can put everything on your hd and install from there -- instructions on my website, configuration page...

 

In any case, welcome to this board, and enjoy linux.

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I thought about going the download route, but according to http://www.mandrakesoft.com/products/92/comparison, the download version is lacking some key plug-ins and drivers. I was hoping to have my modem get automatically recognized, rather than having to tinker around with it for a while. Either way, I'll be downloading or buying... :)

 

I understand the limitations of a live cd disto have actually enjoyed MandrakeMove immensely up to this point. I thought that I might just be content with it, but now I'm looking into carving up my wife's hard drive, and either putting 9.1 PPC or YDL 3.0 on my ibook!

 

BTW aRTee, I couldn't access your website this a.m. @ http://www.mandrake.tips.4.free.fr/. Will try again later...

 

(11002 - Host not found: This error indicates that the gateway could not find an authoritative DNS server for the Web site you are trying to access.)

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ARTee, I was able to access your site, only to find that I had been there in the recent past while conducting all of my linux distro research. How could I forget your wedding cake top!

 

It looks like easylinuxcds.com sells the first 3 9.2 PowerPack CD's for US$8.95, so money isn't an issue. Any idea what CD's 4-7 contain, since they aren't included due to "license issues"?

 

http://www.easylinuxcds.com/linux_systems/...ower_pack.shtml

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discs 4-7 hold all that is in 'contrib', you can install with urpmi; read more on the config page of my site -- there are some good sites with instructions and explanations for urpmi, I link to those on my link page.

 

Basically, don't worry if you don't have those 4 extra cd's. You can easily get the contents.

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Looks like I'll go ahead and pick up the first 3 CD's of PowerPack, then!

 

I appreciate all of your help! I've been pouring over the pages of your site and the urpmi how-to. I can't believe how easy it is to obtain new files and how much documentation is out there! Do you know if it is as easy on the PPC platform and if the files cross-compatible with the intel platform?

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