null Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 (edited) As a long-time FC user, a few months ago I thought I would give mandriva a try. After a couple months on mandriva (DVD powerpack install) I have have many more problems than I had with FC. I just read thru the entire ubuntu vs mandriva thread over in Everything Linux, so I know a little of what to expect. Brief recap of probs with mandriva 2006: first install (kde) worked fine for about a week, than nothing worked right. Found out had to "urpme kat". Then did a reinstall with gnome instead, worked fine for a month or so, but programs are starting ok, but sometimes freezing or not responding after a couple minutes. I was pretty dissapointed in the distro. I wanted to try out some distros not named FC... ha. Wanted to see how some distros worked where more stuff worked out of the box - like mp3, multimedia, 3D drivers and stuff like that. Got tired of always fixing that stuff in FC. Now have tried mandriva, but did not like it. Want to try ubuntu. Will my prior FC experience help me with ubuntu ? After a ubuntu install, what stuff will NOT work? I know mp3 support will have to be installed. What else - like nvidia drivers, dvd playback, multimedia stuff on the web, and all that. Will nothing multimedia-related work at all (just like after a FC install...)? Is kubuntu the SAME as ubuntu (but with kde instead of gnome)? When's the next ubuntu release coming out? thanks for any info oh yeah: another reason for trying out mandriva was for the increased help on this board. However, I found out that the best help I ever got on this board has come in the Other Linux Distros forum. Funny, but true. I may still have one or two mandriva threads out there in Hardware or Software, or somewhere with still -0- replies. Not that I'm complaining...! Edited January 12, 2006 by null Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 Kubuntu is Ubuntu, only with KDE as default desktop. K/Ubuntu does not ship with full multimedia support either. You should take a look at this wiki, it will answer most of your questions. http://easylinux.info/wiki/Ubuntu Your Fedora knowledge will help you in some areas in other areas it is next to useless as K/Ubuntu is a Debian fork. So: slightly different layout, slightly different scripts, totally different installer (very slow compared to Mandriva or Fedora but it works...), no root account by default, completely different package manager. Testing a distro is more worth than a hundred words, so burn the iso (it's only one cd) and play around with it for some weeks. Then you will know if you might like the distro or not. If you need more help, we are still here to help you (many of ustested, use or used K/Ubuntu). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted January 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 I assume my /home stuff will all be ok after installing kubuntu over mandriva (without formatting /home)? When I installed mandriva the first time (over FC4, did not format /home) some /home files would not open - mostly openoffice files. On the mandriva reinstall, I formatted /home then restored all the backed up files to it, and then they opened fine. Don't know why they would not open at first. Had same user name, same password, etc. I will try out kubuntu as you say, the best way is to actually try it. Just curious, who are the ubuntu gurus on this board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted January 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 I was checking out the ubuntu website, and browsing thru some screenshots of the install screens (from the 5.04 release). I'm wondering about the partitioning section. It is not as nice (ie graphical) as the FC installer or the mandriva installer. When installing FC or mandriva, you easily see what you are formatting or not formatting. The ubuntu installer looks a little more cryptic. In other words, I don't want to format /home, but I'm not sure how it will show up when I get to the partitioning part of the install. Will it show it as the /home partition, or will it say something like hdb...or ? I can't tell from the install screenshots - the example screens are for the Erase Entire Disk option. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 It asks before formatting everything. Simply take your time and read everything and you will be fine. Search automatix on the Ubuntu forums and install it to get most of what is missing for legal reasons. It also activates and forces a password for the root account a big problem in Ubuntu is they install a root kit in the form of sudo which means the user can even set the root password. I keep meaning to write a cgi script that does this :D ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 When you get to the partitioning stage, do a manual partitioning. It ain't very complicated. The partitioner will ask you if you want to format the partition you just selected or if you want to use the existing partition. Choose to use the partition but don't forget to set the correct mountpoint (e.g. /home), as ubuntu tends to mount all partitions in the /mnt folder if you don't specify the location of the partition. BTW. Artifcial Intelligence, bvc, me and some others use ubuntu (I use it only on one of my lappys). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 Why all this complaining about Mandriva 2006? It's the best distro there is. It's rock stable (look at my uptime), it looks great, there are tons of packages for it, it supports all of my hardware. I have it running as a HTPC, game machine (well only xmame), webbrowser, mail etcetc all on one computer. It automatically updates, software installation is so easy every one can run the latest and greatest apps. Really if you have problems with it its much more likely that the source of these problems is not Mandriva. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polemicz Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 As someone who has played with Ubuntu and Kubuntu I always end up staying with Mandriva. 2006 has been very solid for me and its configuration tools are superior to anything on Ubuntu/Kubuntu. If you do decide to put up Ubuntu/Kubuntu beware that the default uid for users differs from Mandriva's, so your /home will belong to someone other than the first user you set up in the new system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 As someone who has played with Ubuntu and Kubuntu I always end up staying with Mandriva. 2006 has been very solid for me and its configuration tools are superior to anything on Ubuntu/Kubuntu. If you do decide to put up Ubuntu/Kubuntu beware that the default uid for users differs from Mandriva's, so your /home will belong to someone other than the first user you set up in the new system. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Really I find that the real config tools don't even work in Mandrake and you are stuck with the MCC whereas Ubuntu lets you use all the non-distro specific ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted January 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 (edited) I'm not really complaining about mandriva. I admit I had some problems (and still have some). Most of my linux experience (a few years alternating between a win2k box and a RH9 box-then FC1,2,3,4) is with the FC distros. So I want to broaden my experience by trying some of the other popular distros - like mandriva & ubuntu. I mostly like mandriva, I still use it daily, and I'm posting this reply with my mandriva box right now. However, things like grip & ripperx ripping at 1x to 1.5x, and then even freezing (not responding) after ripping a few songs - I don't like problems like that. I can't completley rip 1 CD cuz it freezes a few minutes into it. Now, all my experience with the FC distros - after installing grip it worked great forever more - ripped at between 4x and 10x usually. Never any freezes or anything like that. I have not been "monkeying around" with my mandriva box. It is just a DVD powerpack install. All I did was set up the easy-urpmi sources and install a few things. So I don't see how I could have screwed anything up to cause these problems. also, when I use one of the urpm commands, now I get some error messages about the DVD sources... I posted a queston about that very thing last week (in Software I think), but I think it still has 0 replies, so therefore, I want to return to the Other Linux Distros forum - where help is always plentiful. I am not complaining - this has always been my favorite linux board and probably always will be. I'm d/l the ubuntu DVD right now, its halfway done. I'll give the live CD a try tonight, then maybe install it permanently if I like it. Can you do anything with a live CD? I mean, for example, since the ubuntu live CD will be in my only DVD drive, will I be able to try out ripping and burning a CD under live ubuntu....? Edited January 7, 2006 by null Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 (edited) Having some experience with Mandriva, you may give PCLInuxOS a try. It's very much Mandriva-style, but more "bleeding edge" and generally with very good quality packages (better than the average Mandriva stuff). Administration is done via MCC, same as Mandriva (that's good for most, and bad for a few, including myself...). Edited January 7, 2006 by scarecrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 grip problem: you probably have paranoia and extra paranoia enabled. Disable that and try again. http://linuxcommand.org/man_pages/cdparanoia1.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted January 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 yeah, the first thing I tried way back was to disable extra paranoia. I did not disable paranoia also. OK, I'll try disabling the Paranoia and see what happens. However, I don't think that will affect the freezing problem after a couple of tracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted January 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 I'm using the ubuntu live DVD now. Working good. How do you access your existing /home files when you temporarily boot with a live CD? Or maybe it can't be done due to security purposes...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtriley98 Posted January 8, 2006 Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 If you like ubuntu on the live dvd, I'd suggest if you install ubuntu go with the breezy edition and then download easy breezy to install flash, mp3, and other packages that don't come with install cd. Easy breezy works with the breezy edition of kubuntu, but I seem to remember that it wasn't as smooth an operation. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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