mandrake noob wants to try something else

[Guest FenestraeNunquam]

debian was recomended to me by a the owner of a local computer networking company.

 

But some of the posts here (such as 83Mercedes' thread) make it sound like debian would be over my head.

 

The few months that I messed around with mandrake (8.1 and a little 9.0), well I learned a little, but I never did get good with installing software by rpm. Usually was too many errors - dependency this & that blah blah.

 

Most of the linux mags say that debian makes installing software easier.

I'm no windoze lover, but after 10 years of downloading exe files and double-clicking them and "presto" - software installed & working...

well, guess I'm dissapointed in the whole linux software installation process. I mean, if you have a working linux system, and you want to install some linux software, it shouldn't the big problem that it usually is...

[bvc]

I'm no windoze lover, but after 10 years of downloading exe files and double-clicking them and "presto" - software installed & working...

well, guess I'm dissapointed in the whole linux software installation process.

Join the club. :( Even with urpmi it can be a pain. I have 1 source for my debian which gives me a choice of thousands of apps that I'll never even think of using and that I've never heard of. In synaptic, the gui for apt-get, Highlight>Click Install>Click Proceed>Click Proceed again and that's it. It has never failed or given me an error, except when I had not updated the source and the file didn't exist anymore.

 

Install? Not that hard as long as you have your partitioning done already, and that may even be easy to do but I already made them with diskdrake. You will be asked a lot of questions that you may not know the answer to as far as options for apps. If you d/k just accept the defaut by hitting Enter.

 

I've done

-LFS=we won't go there

-Slackware=not too bad, but not what you're looking for.

-Libranet=(a tampered with Debian that's expensive just because it's a quick easy Install/setup) Had some issues with it....try Debian first.

-RedHat=A little harder that Mandrake

 

Got Gentoo on CD but haven't installed it yet :wink: Don't think you're looking for it either. Go Debian! :wink: Apt-get rocks!

 

I guess I should state that;

1. I haven't configured a printer....I rarely print.

2. I haven't configured my network....not going to on Deb..well, maybe someday. Using ML and RH for that (I'm learning :wink: )

3. I haven't configured my CD Writer..not going to and never have....it's one that is a pain and I don't have the patients....I use Win98/Easy CD Creator.

 

It's my fast N fun play station. Internet/ Forum, music, dvd's = BTW all work mplayer, ogle and xine :wink:

[edited for spelling]

[Guest FenestraeNunquam]

thanks bvc. Yeah, I'll probably stick to my win2k machine for burning CDs (I love Nero) and I'm wanting to get a DVD burner and DVD x-copy for my win2k machine also.

 

I'm too old now for screwing around with stuff just to try to make it work. I do like like linux for regular stuff, like staroffice, browsing the net, gnucash for finances, stuff like that. But burning CDs and stuff, well I'm used to dragging some mp3s to a Nero compilation and 5 minutes later I have a great CD... :D

 

Maybe I'll put debian on my other box along with mandrake just to see what its like.

 

Now if I could find a site to d/l mandrake 9.1 and debian without taking 10+ hours for one ISO... I have broadband and I don't think one ISO should take that long... :(

[liquidzoo]

But burning CDs and stuff, well I'm used to dragging some mp3s to a Nero compilation and 5 minutes later I have a great CD...  :D

K3B can do this, and it's super easy to configure. I used to use Nero all the time and it is very similar in the way it works.

 

Now if I could find a site to d/l mandrake 9.1 and debian without taking 10+ hours for one ISO... I have broadband and I don't think one ISO should take that long...   :(

Not sure how it would be in Texas (I'm in Utah) but I've always had great speed from the Mandrake mirrors in the Netherlands. Try ftp.eu.uu.net ftp.nl.uu.net or ftp.nluug.nl Always given me great speed and I get about 3 hours/ISO (not too bad)

[jlc]

I would agree, just give Debian a spin and see how you do, if you want to go slow, try something like Knoppix or here is a list of some more Debian based distro's.

 

http://www.desktop-linux.net/debian.htm

[Guest FenestraeNunquam]

K3B can do this, and it's super easy to configure.

 

Yeah, I was reading an article in the new Linux Format magazine about CD burning apps, and they said k3b was by far the best one. The ones I tried about a year ago, well I was disappointed.

 

I'll try k3b out after I install 9.1.

 

And I'll try one of the mirrors you mentioned. Thanks

[jlc]

You can also find a lot of mirrors at

 

www.linuxiso.org

[bvc]

consider

http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php...=7248&start=105

Yeah, that's exactly the thing that people don't realize... I don't recommend people to start using Linux and then toss them a Gentoo CD, or a Debian CD, or a Slackware CD. I tell them their best bet is Mandrake. That's where I started, and that's where many people started. The problem is that too many people forget their roots... I try not to. I've said it many times, and here I will repeat it again: if it weren't for Mandrake, I would never have known enough about Linux to get Debian installed and functional. Mandrake lets you learn - at your own pace - if you want to learn. That's what makes it so great, especially for beginners and people who just want to install their OS and use it. Debian is for people who want the benefits it offers at the expense of a lot more work and nothing there to guide you. That's why I can't stand the people who put down Mandrake, especially Debian users... Some of them claim that Mandrake is "not a version of Linux, but a version of Windows." These people are stupid and inconsiderate of others. What OS or distro you use doesn't determine who you are, who your friends are, or anything of any great importance... That said, don't use SuSE, Lindows, Xandros, or Lycoris.  :wink:

[Guest FenestraeNunquam]

after around 8 months or so of no linux, I re-installed my mandrake 9.0 power pack tonight. No problems. Chose the "expert" install (expert ? me ?) so I could choose to partition over my win98 partitions. Yes, I am finally rid of win98 :). Guess I'll screw around with mandrake for awhile as bvc recommends, and maybe later try something else like debian.

[bvc]

Guess I'll screw around with mandrake for awhile as bvc recommends

:unsure: where? :unsure: :huh: :?:

Go Debian! :wink: Apt-get rocks!

I just said consider what DOlson said, because I didn't want to be blamed for taking you down a neverending debian path of..."HHEHHEEEELLLLLPPPP!!!!!"..and frustration :lol:

[tuxxer]

K3B can do this, and it's super easy to configure.

 

Yeah, I was reading an article in the new Linux Format magazine about CD burning apps, and they said k3b was by far the best one. The ones I tried about a year ago, well I was disappointed.

 

I'll try k3b out after I install 9.1.

 

And I'll try one of the mirrors you mentioned. Thanks

 

I think that k3b looks good ,but from that same magazine , i loaded a slackware live onto the hard drive and then switched out the DVD for the CDRW.

 

x-cdroast is still the burning software for me , all I have to do is to make sure that the paths are sorted out ,and its a breeze.

 

Tux