Mandrake or Red Hat?

[kastro68]

I'm planning on switching OS from Windows to Linux.

I would like to know which is better for a newbie, Mandrake or Redhat... KDE3 or gnome? I'll be using the system mainly for watching xvid videos, mp3/ogg music, net surfing and spreadsheets.

any help would be appreciated.

cheers.

[spankmeister7]

That's a dangerous question. People have a tendency to feverishly support one distro over the next for good reasons, but just as tenaciously support another for reasons of simple bias. I use three different systems at home - One using gentoo, one using RedHat 8.1 beta, and one using SuSE 8.1.

RedHat is often maligned for being too bloated with all of the additional and unneccesary packakes it comes with. Similarly, because of RedHat's status as the most commonly used distro it has a small tendency to play by its own rules - but I think both of these are crappy arguments because 1) It's still open source and you can SEE what has happened and why. 2) The bloat is only as bloated as what you've decided to install in the beginning. Example: I recently built up a qmail/apachce server for a friend using RedHat w/KDE and a few toys and the whole installation is about 550 megs. Good points to RedHat include massive package availability and very good support from RedHat themselves.

I found Mandrake to be something of a red herring. Sold for its incredibly simple installation and unified look and feel, Mandrake was often billed as the easiest distro for beginners. This is partially true. As long as you don't deviate much from really standard tools things are fine, but I find (much more so than redhat) that Mandrake's tendency to put beta software that may not be ready into production releases and goofy structure for various simple tasks made it in the end more difficult to use. If you want to use Mandrake, but sure to get the right version and ask around. Everyone is going to say, "Oh, Mandrake 8.1 was totally buggy but 8.2 rocked. YAdda yadda." Of course, your mileage may vary. I was super interested in Mandrake until I *had* to embark on projects like terminal services and sendmail that I found to be a nightmare to configure in Mandrake when it was much easier to do with Gentoo or Debian or RedHat. Of course, these are things that you wouldn't normally do with a "beginner" distro. I have friends that swear by Mandrake, but that number is dwindling.

If I were you I would take a good look at SuSE. SuSE has a wonderful tool - YaST2 - that makes hardware and software config much easier than other distros is one of SuSE's claims to fame. Where RedHat is focusing more and more on the server and especially enterprise server market they are focusing less on the desktop market - a place that SuSE is really coming in to be known in many circles as the best desktop user distro. I have several customers who swear by it. I have one machine using it now and I'm thoroughly impressed with it, as I am equally impressed with the fan base. Getting help with SuSE either on usenet or web resources has never been difficult.

My roommate, another Debian fanatic, will tell you that the best thing to do is to begin with Gentoo or Linux From Scratch because, over the course of a week of pulling your hair our and learning to swear like a a sailor - you'll understand the guts of linux much better and be much less confused in the long run instead of running a distro. I like the idea myself (and have done so), but I must tell you that that isn't always the best idea for beginners. If you're really interested in how an operating system works or if you're just really, really into computers that you should - at some time in your life - do this. But if you just have work to do then wait a year or two and install a more friendly disto in the meantime.

Gnome vs KDE? Yikes. That's a religious question these days. It's just like asking which is better - Hindu or Buddhism? To play it safe, especially for media applications - just install both or make sure you have the libraries for both installed. Most of the time you can run gnome apps in KDE and vice versa. I myself really dig nautilus under Gnome, but I almost always use KDE 3.1 on all of my boxes. That's not to say KDE is better, it just so happens that I took the Pepsi challenge for a few weeks with Gnome on my RedHat box and KDE 3.1 on my SuSE box and ended up liking the feel and ease of use of tools that I use with KDE. Really you're going to have to take the Pepsi challenge, too. I recommend that you install a distro with both as well as a smaller, faster windows manager / desktop like IceWM. You can choose between the three at startup and you can then decide for yourself.

** NOTE **
Anyone who reads this: don't flame me. This is all just opinion from a guy who spends all day in linux systems doing networking projects. Of course any disto fan is going to their THEIR disto is better. Just try to think outside of that framework for just a second.
** END NOTE **

As far as your wish to use media projects: If you use RedHat, the first thing you should after installation is to run up2date to get all the new updates for your system. Then go the XMMS.org website and get a package that enables mp3 encoding. YOu don't need to do this with SuSE or Mandrake. I would use XMMS as a sound player (its a clone-like being of winamp), and either Xine or MPlayer to play video. Xine is very customizable but can be a bear to install because of something called "dependency hell" that you'll soon learn to get used to. Mplayer, with the right additional packages, will play just about any media file you can think of.

Good luck... ask questions.

[SoulKlekta]

Well answered spankmeister7.

kastro68,fyi,I have been using mandrake since version 7.2 and am now on v9.0,I think 9.1Final is being released today and formally announced on or around the 20th.

Mandrake,imho is a good distro for newcomers to linux or for win32 converts and probably one of the easiest to install.On the other hand RedHat is also very good and the later releases seem to be much more user-friendly than some of the earlier versions such as RH v.5.x or the 6.x release.
This is only my experience remember,and just because I had a little difficulty with RedHat doesn't mean you will.

I have actually been considering giving RH another bash (no pun intended),maybe v8.1 as spankmeister7 is using.

[kastro68]

Thanks,

Especially SoulKlekta.

You have confirmed some of the things I have read. I decided to give Mandrake a try because it got a good review in APC ( a computer magazine). I already started downloading mandrake 9.1 beta. However, SoulKlekta said that "I think 9.1Final is being released today and formally announced on or around the 20th," I think I'll have to go look for SuSe instead and wait for Mandrake 9.1 final to be released.

I think I'll better stick to more user friendly Linux distros like SuSe or Mandrake until I get the hang of linux.

I tried Redhat 6.XXX once and found it pretty difficult to use... but at that time I had very little knowledge of linux, I have read up on linux since, that's why I decided to give it another try.


Thanks again.

PS: Does linux have a picture viewer similar to ACDSee? Can Gimp be used as a picture viewer? It would make reading manga more efficient.

[kastro68]

Just another quick question, I was wondering if it is possible to network two different Operating systems like windows and linux for say internet connection sharing or file sharing.


Cheers,

thanks in advance.

[spankmeister7]

RedHat has come a long, long way since 6.x. RedHat 8.0 is interesting in that its as easy or as difficult as you want it to be - but its a world away from 6.x. RedHat 8.1 will be out soon, and it uses KDE 3.1, which I really love. SuSE 8.2 is also due to arrive any day now and also includes Gnome 2.2 KDE 3.1. But for absolute beginners, I would recommend SuSE.

Networking can be done between operating systems. TCP/IP for internet is not OS-specific, despite how much M$ wants to change things around in the protocol stack. Really you're asking two questions:

1. Can you use the network neighborhood (aka, NetBIOS over TCP/IP) between Linux and Windows?

Absolutely. Linux uses (if you install it) a program called Samba (www.samba.org) to give it the capability of not only working in windows networking environments, but also serving as highly efficient windows servers - even domain controllers and advanced servers. There is a fantastic web-based tool used to configure Samba called Swat (Samba Web Admin Tool), or if you don't need advanced functions both RedHat 8.0 and SuSE 8.1 have very easy-to-use gui tools to 'share' linux directories and participate on windows networks.

2. Can you use Linux to serve as an internet gateway, or make linux use a Windows-based internet gateway, what M$ calls "Internet Connection Sharing?" I know that you can use Linux to serve as a gateway and is often used to do just this as its primary task. I've never connected a linux box to a Windows gateway, but it should probably work since your client linux box is probably seeking a natted DHCP address and gateway, but you never know what new ways M$ will hinder even simple services.

[SoulKlekta]

RedHat has come a long, long way since 6.x.

I hear that spankmeister7!,can I ask you what 'favour' of RedHat are you using?,I know it's RedHat 8.1 beta but I think I'm correct in saying there are different distros?

I've been looking at ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/os/Linux/distributions/redhat/ ,the CD1 in ISO format is called 'psyche-i386-disc1.iso' is this the release you have?(RH8.0 Psyche).

I see there is also another i386 version which consists of 4 or 5 discs the CD1 iso file is called 'phoebe-i386-disc1.iso',ie;(RH8.0 Phoebe).

I am curious as to the i386 folder they are in?,I use an AMD T-Bird 1400@1608Gb/Asus A7A266DDR/512Mb PC2100/GF4 Ti4200 128MbDDR so I usually need the i586 version(at least).
What's the situ here spankmeister9? ,if poss I feel I should try and install a i586-i686 release yes?

I don't want to d/l 3-5 discs only to find I have a release built for a lesser spec PC lol :o

[kastro68]

You have cleared up a lot of uncertainty I had about networking. I am seriously considering the the move to linux, but for the time being I think I'll try mandrake since I already downloaded a substantial proportion of 9.1 beta. I am too impatient to wait for 9.1 final.

I don't want to throw myself in the shallow end with SuSe just in case I grow too attached to it, I don't want to make life too easy. The other issue is that they didn't have Iso's on the SuSe download page, it mentioned something about needing to be installed over a network.

I recall seeing something called Samba on the RedHat download page. Now I know what it is used for, thanks.

I think i have pretty much everything I need to make the transition to linux. I just need to read up on which file system to use and the best way to partition a hard drive for linux.

Would you know if linux can run on NTFS? I can't remember clearly, but I think there was an option for NTFS the last time I installed RedHat, but I'm not certain.


Thanks again.

[spankmeister7]

Not really. NTFS can be read by linux if you recompile the kernel (in the filesystems section of make xconfig) but only READ_ONLY. Technically you can write to an NTFS partition also, but only if you want to screw up your data on that partition.

One popular option is to install Win2K on the first partition of the drive, and then have either a seperate drive or partitions for linux so you can dual-boot your system. Then have either another partition or drive formatted with FAT32 so you can exchange files, mail, documents, ogg/mp3, whatever between the two. I've seen many people do this so they can learn linux and slowly make it their primary OS as they slowly wean themselves off of windows as they find more tools to replace the ones they had in windows.

This is especially easy if you're using Mozilla and OpenOffice, because they work on both linux and windows, and you can share all the data without losing a heartbeat if the mail folders and documents are on the FAT32 partition.

[kastro68]

Thanks, I just read 160 pages of a linux pocket book 2003... the more I read the better linux started to sound.

It said that the Reiser file system was better than Ext2.

My question is: If I were to share an Mp3 file on a system running a Wind*ws OS, would a different system running linux be able to read the Mp3 file over the network [and vice versa] if I used a file system other than fat32?

To answer one of the questions I asked earlier, "GQView" is an image viewing application similar to ACDSee. Linux also has LICQ which is the linux version of ICQ.

[SoulKlekta]

Yes,as spankmeister7 said TCP/IP protocol isn't OS descriminative and you will be able to access an mp3 file,good example,on your win32 box across a network (or the other way around),and play it on one of Linux's many media players.

I would have the linux box as the firewall/gateway if you are planning ICS as the security levels on linux boxes make them ideal for such purposes.
If you are planning to have linux and win32 on the same pc though,follow spankmeister7's post above.
There are hundreds of well written Linux How-To's covering pretty much every problem or procedure ever witnessed on a linux box easily available on the web though.
spankmeister7 do you have any url's for some good How-To's on 2 OS linux dual-boot or linux networking to hand?

[SoulKlekta]

Sorry,I forgot to mention,a linux version of ICQ is called LICQ ,funnily enough ;)

[mtc]

Just thought I'd add my (late) 2c to this topic.

I agree that Mandrake 9.0 would have to be the easiest version of linux for people new to linux to start with, it's installation process is incredibly easy to use....in many ways even easier than windows :)

As far as networking and internet connection sharing go, Mandrake 9.0 has a lovely graphical utility for setting up internet connection sharing so that should't be a problem. It is also to set it up to use a shared connection on a windows box on your network (just put in the ip of the windows box in the gateway section when installing Mandrake, or in the networking settings later on).

The Linux Documentation Project has heaps of guides for setting up networking/SAMBA etc but they do tend to go about it the hard way (alhtough it won't hurt to learn) they can be found at http://www.tldp.org

Also the windows emulator Wine allows you to run a lot of windows applications under linux, for example Kazaa runs perfectly under linux, as do many other apps.

Good luck :)....and enjoy

[omol]

Originally posted by kastro68
It said that the Reiser file system was better than Ext2.

Yes, Reiserfs is better. Even ext3 is better than ext2. Both ext3 and Reiserfs are journalized filesystem that could ensure data integrety when encoutering a bad crash. ext2 is not. Both ext3 and Reiserfs could be configured to journal only metadata, and both come with the official kernel source. Performance wise, Reiserfs is a tad better probably due to their btree implementation. Very obvious when you have lots of small file on the filesystem, say, /var/spool/mail or /tmp. There is also xfs and jfs journalized filesystem that come with official kernel source, but I wouldn't count on them, NOT on my server.

My question is: If I were to share an Mp3 file on a system running a Wind*ws OS, would a different system running linux be able to read the Mp3 file over the network [and vice versa] if I used a file system other than fat32?

Filesystem type on remote machine basically does not have any effect in resource sharing over the network BUT there is a few rare exceptions. If your combination is only a Winbox + linux, I don't think you will hit any of them.

regards,
omol

[Stampede]

Well I see some recommending SuSE but I'd have to recommend STRONGLY against it. Maybe the distribution itself has improved since the 6.1 version I purchased way back when but I'm certain their customer service hasn't.

This is a company who makes compatibility claims on their website and in their documentation with hardware their distribution doesn't even work with. In my case I just purchased an Adaptec 29160N SCSI host controller for my computer. A couple months later SuSE had a new version of their distribution they claimed provided full support for this card and that it should install out of box. However it could never boot up to the drive after installation and kept giving kernel errors. It worked fine on my IDE hard drive so I knew it was an issue with compatibility with the SCSI card. Several calls to their installation support and several hours of fighting with it never did correct the situation and the SuSE representatives said there was nothing more they could do for me.

I'm pretty sure the driver wasn't correctly compiled into the kernel but I didn't know how to compile my own kernel and that was something evidently outside of what their support could help me with. I thought this was rediculous that they would claim full support for this hardware and claim to fully support the installation of their distribution but then not follow through with these promises and say "well sorry we can't pursue it any further". And they wouldn't even offer a refund either.

At least they didn't waste much of my time. Between the 5 tech support reps I spoke with they spent maybe 30 minutes with me total. Each one gave up pretty quickly without offering much help.

I switched to Red Hat which installed fine and never looked back since.

[spankmeister7]

Gee, I wouldn't recommend a three-year-old distro, either.

[SoulKlekta]

Well FYI,I have installed v9.1 from scratch as opposed to upgrading (I know I could have but didn't),anyway 9.1 installed without a hitch,recognised all my h/ware including the GF4 :rolleyes: and the whole installation process was completed in less than 1/2 an hour.

I can fully recomend Mandrake 9.1 Final to anyone.

[jggimi]

I installed SuSE 8.1 based on a 3rd party recommendation, and first tested before installing by booting their evaluation CD. This sample Linux system, on boot, discovered and had drivers for 1) my VIA chipset, 2) my ATI video card, 3) my BT878 video capture card, 4) my Linksys network card, 5) my Lexmark printer .. all of it hardware that Windows doesn't know (or care) about.

The network install went very smoothly, and the defaults gave me most everything I needed. Since the install, I've only added Mozilla (as I prefer it to the Konqueror browser), pure-ftp, and Samba and the associated LinNeighborhood (for Windows networking).

I can't talk to their support, since I'm a download-only user. But I've found most of my questions answered, in English, either in their support database or the mailing list archive searches. SuSE 8.2 has been announced and will be released mid-month, I expect to upgrade to be able to go from KDE 3.0 to 3.1; this release was also announced with GNOME 2.2.

[SoulKlekta]

jggimi if you don't mind me asking,what was the name format of the SuSe 8.1 distro you have?
ie;suse-sparc-7.3-CD1.iso (I know this example is for CD1 of v7.3 of the SuSe sparc release but you get my drift I hope?)

Basically,what were the names of the files you d/l'd should I want to d/l SuSe v8.1 myself?,an ftp address would be excellent :) .

I just liike experimenting with different distros on different boxes,such as the M/drake 9.1 Final I have dualbooting with XP Pro on this pc,I also have the 399Mb iso version of Peanut Linux v9.5 which is a complete OS on one CD.

I have an ancient P2-400 with 128Mb PC133 RAM & 30GbHD which at the moment is just another client on my small homenet being used to process Seti@Home WU's.This would probably be the pc I installed SuSe on to give it a looksee.

[jggimi]

I used the mirror at ftp://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/ftp.suse.com/i386 but as you're in Scotland, a closer one would be ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386 -- the 8.2 release will be available very soon, check at www.suse.com for more info and more mirrors. The links I've provided are the top level for Intel binaries; you'll find the "LiveEval" demo .iso files there, 8.1 is 661MB, and you'll find the install-boot .iso file also, which is only about 18MB.

Note: It was a little confusing getting the install boot started, as, while DHCP comes up, DNS does not, and you have to put the mirror's IP address into your install ftp url. The error message is less-than-obvious, and, after re-reading a README, I slapped my forehead and changed the command.

[SoulKlekta]

Cheers for the links jggimi ;) ,

I have had a look at ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/current/suse/i586/ and at http://www.mirror.ac.uk/sites/ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/ (which are identical btw).

What does the evaluation edition consist of if you don't mind me asking?,I know there are literally 100's of rpm's on these ftp servers but just how much is on the SuSE-8.1-LiveEval-i386.iso ?.

Is it a complete distro yes?

TBH,I've never used SuSe before and have always been told that it is the perfect 'first step' from windoze to linux.As I have usually always had either Mandrake or RedHat on one or other of my pc's I've never bothered with it but curiosity is getting the better of me now and I want to see if it's as user-friendly as everyone sez it is,maybe you have some views on that?

Since the install, I've only added Mozilla (as I prefer it to the Konqueror browser)

I use Mozilla as well for the same reason as yourself and I gave up on KDE and have been experimenting with others as I find KDE to be very slooooow!,an immediate increase in small things like no more sitting waiting on apps to open thru KDE anymore was noticed straight away.

Thanx again jggimi and I hope you Njoy your linux experience m8.

Regards,Andy

[jggimi]

If I recall, the eval is effectively the default end-user configuration: KDE and OpenOffice. YAST2 is used for configuration management.

If you boot the CD on a windows platform, it will create 3 files in the C:\ directory for saving status between reboots (FAT partitions, for NTFS it won't save status).

I can't tell you what packages are included, as at the moment I have no access to my Linux PC, nor to the eval cd-r.

[SoulKlekta]

Ok,thats cool.
I've just finished the SuSE-8.1-LiveEval-i386.iso d/l but haven't burnt it to cd-r yet.
Well,as you know,even if there is a lack of additional rpm's etc there are heaps on those ftp sites you mentioned.TBH,I don't expect there to be a whole lot on 1 cd.

It was initially a full distro I was after but this will gimme a taste of what to expect I suppose anyway.

I'll let you know what trials & tribulations I encounter when installing it,which will no doubt be on the aforementioned P2-400/128Mb,PC133,RAM/30GbHD.

[abatis]

Well I downloaded and installed RH 9.0 this morning. Right off the iso's it is vastly improved over RH8.0. First my NVIDIA MX card was supported right out of the box. Sound worked right away - no fooling around. Also the broken device manager for many in RH8 worked (python fixed?). Anyway so far smooth sailing. I did a complete new install to get rid of the garbage. I will start loading my video stuff tonight. Anyway just wanted to let folks know that RH9.0 looks to be an improvement over 8.0. I missed 7.3 the whole time I had RH8. Now I feel like Redhat is back on track.

[SoulKlekta]

Great stuff abatis and good to hear another happy linux user,it's all good for the cause ;).

Just out of curiosity,what kind of soundcard do you use?,the reason I ask is because the SB Live series have had problems with the surround not working in certain distros,Mandrake upto v8.2 (in my own experience anyway) being one of them!.
There is a fix available now,you never really noticed it until you played a DVD or played a game with 5.1/EAX enabled.

I haven't used RedHat since 7.1 :scared: ,it seems to be much more user-friendly now though huh?

[abatis]

I have the ASUS a7n8x deluxe.

"The A7N8X uses an onboard Realtek® ALC650 audio CODEC that lets you enjoy high-quality 6-channel audio without having to buy advanced sound cards."

from the site.

[SoulKlekta]

Ok,the one with nForce2 & KT400 chipset yes.

Did you know that it's 6-channel audio is the only 5.1 Dolby Digital Decoder on an onboard (O/B) sound chipset available today?,or at least it was when it was first churned out.

I know two people with the A7N8X,one runs an XP2400 and the other is an XP2700 I think?.
The one with the 2700 was complaining due to the lack of room around the cpu socket making the fitting of anything much bigger than a stock h/s/f no mean feat due to those three capacitors right next to the socket,have a look & you will see the ones I mean.

Very fast board though if coupled with the right choice of RAM and cpu.
And RH9.0 recognised your video/sound straight away yes?,that is good to know abatis,thanks for sharing that with us.It's always helpfull when you get feedback on which distro works/has probz with XYZ mobo/video/sound card etc.

[abatis]

On the ASUS A7n8X-d there is no KT400. the chipsets are Nvidia

North Bridge: NVIDIA® nForce2 SPP
South Bridge: NVIDIA® nForce2 MCP

I am running an AMD XP2700 with 2 X 512 Samsung 3200 ram.

It is pretty fast and will overclock fairly well running the 1002 uber bios.

One thing I did have to do was download the NVIDIA linux driver(I tarballed) for the onboard NVIDIA lan and install it. No big deal. The board has a second on board 3com lan that I haven't taken the time to get going yet.

Well now I am ready for the video stuff. We shall see.

For anyone interested here is a decent RH9 download site.
http://lame.lut.fi/linux/RedHat/9.0/en/iso/i386/

[kastro68]

shrike-i386-disc*.iso

Is this the correct file I am suppose to download for red hat 9.0? It it make a difference if I am using an intel or amd processor?

There is also an srpm files, what are they for?

@soulklekta
Did you download all 3 cds for mandrake 9.1 full? Is the linux kernel source on the third cd?

Because I only downloaded the first two cds for mandrake 9.1rc2 and had realised that the linux source files were not installed, which gave me heaps of trouble trying to compile some software.


Anyway, I'm going to give red hat 9.0 a try... does anyone know if it supports mp3 out of the box, not that it really matters though.

[abatis]

IF you want RH9 you should download all three of the Shrike ISO's. Don't worry anout the srpms or any of that yet. Just burn the iso and the install program will pick the correct files for your processor etc.

RH9 is a very nice linux version in my opinion.

[SoulKlekta]

Hi kastro68,
I thought you were gonna wait on Mandrake 9.1?.

Because I only downloaded the first two cds for mandrake 9.1rc2 and had realised that the linux source files were not installed, which gave me heaps of trouble trying to compile some software.

Tsk,Tsk!,apart from not having the complete set of files needed to successfully install,remember 9.1rc1 was a release candidate (v.1) so it's gonna contain a certain amount of bugs anyway never mind an incomplete installation,you want your wrist slapped! :D

Anyway,the filenames for the three RH v9.0 are shrike-i386-disc1.iso ,shrike-i386-disc2.iso & shrike-i386-disc3.iso.

Here is a small list of urls where you can d/l RH v9.0 ,

http://ftp.man.olsztyn.pl/pub/linux/distributions/redhat/

http://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/9/en/iso/i386/
http://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/9/en/iso/i386/MD5SUM
http://rpmfind.net/linux/redhat/9/en/iso/i386/
http://www.klid.dk/pub/redhat/linux/current/en/iso/i386/
http://ftp.crihan.fr/mirrors/ftp.redhat.com/redhat/linux/9/en/iso/i386/

The shrike-SRPMS-disc*.isos' you refer to are not for installing Red Hat,they contain extra RPM packages and in some cases updates and yes they do quite often contain newer versions of kernels.


Did you download all 3 cds for mandrake 9.1 full? Is the linux kernel source on the third cd?

The SRPMS isos' you don't require,well not unless you are into compliling your own source packeges ;)

Although you do require the three 'shrike' discs to install RH9.0 ,the first disc (CD1) contains all the important installation & system files (and the kernel whereas CD2 & CD3 contain RPMs including the RPM-GPG-KEY and discinfo etc in order to have the three disc installation process run smoothly.

I hope this has been of some help to you ,if you don't mind me asking ,why did you decide to change from Mandrake to Red Hat?

[TactX]

Originally posted by abatis
RH9 is a very nice linux version in my opinion.

I can second that. But I've got a lot more testing to do, to see if it can match my Debian-needs :D

[kastro68]

if you don't mind me asking ,why did you decide to change from Mandrake to Red Hat?


I kind of had a preview of what mandrake 9.1 Full would be like from using mdk9.1rc2, it worked nicely, only problem was that I did not know how to install the linux kernel source files... this is probably because I didn't download the 3rd cd for mdk9.1rc2 because I thought I didn't need it [I was wrong! When compiling tarballs, it kept searching for non-existent kernel headers]. Since it is probably too late to go back and get the third cd for mdk9.1rc2, I thought I might give Redhat 9.0 a try rather than download all 3 cds to mandrake 9.1 Full.

I am pretty confident using the terminals now. And since RH9.0 has kde3.1, I don't think there would be much difference between the two OSes. Although I probably would miss Drakconf and Mandrake Control centre.

If I were to download the three shrike isos, would I be able to compile tarballs? or do I need to download the srpms as well?

[kastro68]

@soulklekta

I have another question, could you get Openoffice.org to work with mandrake 9.1 full?

While using mdk9.1rc2, I was never able to get Openoffice.org to run. An openoffice.org taskbar would pop up for a while then disappear about 30secs later.

[jggimi]

Well, I can't talk to Mandrake or RH, but I can confirm that the standard end-user network install of SuSE included OpenOffice, and it worked fine. ;)

[lat3ralis]

Originally posted by kastro68
@soulklekta

I have another question, could you get Openoffice.org to work with mandrake 9.1 full?

While using mdk9.1rc2, I was never able to get Openoffice.org to run. An openoffice.org taskbar would pop up for a while then disappear about 30secs later.

I had the same problem with rc1, however OpenOffice now works fine for me in the final version of Mandrake 9.1.

Now I'll put my 2c in ...

Mandrake has been my distro of choice as of late. I hate the way Redhat have butchered KDE and the way they've turned their distro into "linux for dummies" by supressing decent tools for power users. From my experience, Redhat has always been missing some of the more obscure packages that I require. As you mentioned earlier, the drak tools are one of the many reasons why I would not stray from Mandrake.

My advice to people wishing to dabble in linux:

-If you are a new user, Redhat is probably the best distro for you
-If you are a more experienced user (but not a guru), Mandrake is for you
-if you are an expert and/or you favour stable software over developmental software, Debian is for you

I hope this helps people in their choice :D

lat3ralis

[SoulKlekta]

Originally posted by kastro68
I kind of had a preview of what mandrake 9.1 Full would be like from using mdk9.1rc2, it worked nicely, only problem was that I did not know how to install the linux kernel source files... this is probably because I didn't download the 3rd cd for mdk9.1rc2 because I thought I didn't need it [I was wrong! When compiling tarballs, it kept searching for non-existent kernel headers]. Since it is probably too late to go back and get the third cd for mdk9.1rc2, I thought I might give Redhat 9.0 a try rather than download all 3 cds to mandrake 9.1 Full.

Yes you got in one about the 3rd disc,although it's not essential for installation it is needed if you want to update the kernel or any 'extra' RPM's that aren't on CD2 (kinda makes sense huh :) )
<snip>

If I were to download the three shrike isos, would I be able to compile tarballs? or do I need to download the srpms as well?

I'm not sure what you mean kastro?,CD3 is full of RPM's not tarballs but it doesn't stop you using tarballs if d/l anything etc.You can use either although some people prefer one and others the latter.

I have another question, could you get Openoffice.org to work with mandrake 9.1 full?

While using mdk9.1rc2, I was never able to get Openoffice.org to run. An openoffice.org taskbar would pop up for a while then disappear about 30secs later.

I never tried rc1 I'm afraid so I can't comment on it but I know ,as lat3ralis has found too that there doesn't seem to be any problems,not yet anyway (SK touches wood ;) ).

I can understand your choice though,rather than d/l the third disc from a release candidate just go for the full set of a Final.I would no doubt done the same.
Btw,MDK 9.1rc1 will still be available to d/l,most *nux ftp servers hold a few versions back.You could probably d/l RH 6.2 still if you want a real nightmare! :) ,seriously though if you use Openoffice then you're not gonna want to go back to rc1 so IMHO you are probably better sticking with the distro you have installed if everything is running sweet.

I extracted all the extra SRPM's from the MDK 9.1 DVD kastro and would you believe there are 2282 of them weighing in at a hefty 1.84Gb!! :eek: ,the plan was to just put them on CD-R's,I just didn't foresee having to use 3! :D .

I hope RH9.0 is working out fine for you anyway,there are always 'teething troubles',as they say, with any new project nomatter what it is.

Just remember if you run into difficulties of any kind,the chances are someone ,somewhere is either having the exact same problem or has had and also linux is probably better documented on the net than any other operating system due to the nature of it's origins etc so the chances are you'll find what you need without too much trouble.
I should point out,that I included the various forums with the above,IMHO the peeps on the Doom9 forum are very helpfull.

I first used this board because I was having DVD/SVCD/VCD ripping probz and just sorta never left!.

[abatis]

Xine is working great under RH9 on my ASUS A7n8x-d motherboard with a AMD2700 cpu, Geforce4 vid card. My DVD devices are a samsung CD/RW-DVD player and a mashita LF-D310 dvd recorder.

One big recommend is to install APT. Apt-get solves all the dependency issues which for Xine=many. You can get apt at

http://shrike.freshrpms.net/rpm.html?id=393

APT takes a major linux pain out for supported packages.

Have a great day.

[TactX]

Just to add another apt repository for RH9:

Fedora (http://fedora.mplug.org/)

I hav not tried it yet, but I'm sure a debian user like me will like it :D

[blixi]

Just want to throw sth in ;)

Yes the third CD is needed to get the kernel-source. You do not need to download all again. If you have anough disk space and a fat dial up you can install from ftp or you can copy all rpms you have on hd and rsync main (the core distro == the three cd's and some additional packages) to your HD. Further I would add contrib to your package sources (a lot of additional packages) then you need plf (mplayer/divx/xine-plugins) and maybe some other sources.

Ah I better stop since you haveinstalled Redhat and I'm a mandrake adicted anyway ;)

Greets

Steffen

[petefol]

i'm thinking about trying suse linux and had a few questiongs. firstly, suse is free right? also i've used redhat and i could only figure out how to install either gnome or kde, but not both so how would i do that?

[jggimi]

Suse offers network installs (from their site or from mirrors) for free.

Two caveats: They don't put up their latest and greatest releases for several months, so that people will have some incentive to purchase CDs. Example: 8.2 was released in April, it is currently only available for purchase. 8.1 may be network installed for free.

No support services are available from their staff for download customers. The CD purchase includes installation support.For more information, visit www.suse.com or www.suse.de and click on the Downloads link.

[petefol]

i think i might just buy it, no money now but i should be getting a job soon so i guess i'll just wait a bit. also, what would you recommend for an aim client, ftp client, and something like photoshop?

[Joe999]

Originally posted by petefol
aim client, ftp client, and something like photoshop?

I've never used it, but I've heard people recomend gaim in the past for a chat program. I use gftp for ftp uploading and downloading. For photoshop, the gimp (http://www.gimp.org/) might be enough. It dosn't have all the features of photoshop, but I've found it to be more than enough for my needs. If you really need photoshop though, Crossover office (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/office/supported_applications.php?id=8) recently added official support. Using windows software in Linux is somewhat contraversial, but I figured I should at least mention the option. Crossover office does cost money as well, but I think a reasonable amount.

[jggimi]

If you're planning on purchasing SuSE in the future, be aware that if you have a broadband connection you can download a "Live Eval" bootable CD of version 8.2. This is a demonstration system only, not a complete Linux OS. Using it, you can check to see if all your hardware is recognized, and keep it around in the event you need a rescue CD.

As a SuSE download customer, I use SuSE 8.1. I've found their searchable online technical support (and the searchable mailing list archive) sufficient for my support needs. GNOME is available, but as it is the family PC, we use KDE for our GUI.

I use pure-ftpd as my ftp server of choice; as Joe mentioned, there are other choices.

On top of the base 8.1 system, I've installed Samba, an up to date Mozilla, pure-ftp, LinNeighborhood ... and that's about all I can remember at the moment.

[jggimi]

Petefol: SuSE 8.2 will be available for free network install (from their FTP site, and their mirrors) starting Monday, 12 May.

As far as I know, this is a faster migration from purchased packages to "free download" then they have done in the past.