Like I said above, the 3 CD set is free and so is the software in all of Mandrakes urpmi repositories (with thousands of packages available). Club members pay a premium because they get more cd's which include commercial software, preconfigured drivers etc. They also get access to the isos before they are released to the general public.

What do you mean by 'preconfigured drivers'?
Does that mean I won't be able to setup my GeForce, or what?!

Why not try Ubuntu first? You'll still be using Debian but the Ubuntu install does configure a lot more stuff automagically. If you do not like Ubuntu you could always try Mandriva...or you install both and find out what you like best.

Sure you can set up your GeForce. It just won't be done automatically for you. (Although there *is* a default open-source driver that is installed.) I use an ATI Radeon card, and it is easy enough to configure. From what I've read here, the nvidea cards aren't hard, either. But it is *not* simple "point-and-click" -- you have to understand your system a little.

And when I said Free (as in beer) I meant Free (as in beer)! When you go to the Mandriva downloads webpage, there are two buttons, one saying "I am already a Club Member", and another saying "I Plan on Becoming Member Soon" (or something like that). Just select the one that says you are not currently a member. Voila! Access to the free 3-CD download version!

exit3219, for you:
ReiserFS, ReiserFS - Rammstein
(actually "Reise, reise", but who cares)
[sorry for off-top]

If you don't pay you will get a distro like any other and you will have the exact same amount of trouble to install your GeForce (Not that I have a GeForce).

If you pay, you will receive support, so Mandriva would help you set up your GeForce.

Why not? Go ahead and switch to either from the other. It doesn't hurt to try out any distro. If you don't like it, you can always go back. It's doubtful that either of them will be going away in the next few weeks.

Good luck with your experimenting...

If I managed to install my GeForce in Debian, you think I'll have trouble w/ Mandriva?
I'll be OK.
(Although I already said that I'll try Mandriva out, this fun discussion goes on. )

Is there any way that I rename the thread's title?

(I'm sorry I misspelled 'swithc'... )

Only mods can do that so you could ask one of them to correct the error for you.

So how do I ask them? Like this:

Hey, moderators, please correct 'swithc' to 'switch' in my forum's name!!!

I guess not.

You could send them an email or private message using the buttons on the forum. If you go the LQ forums page, you will see a list of users browsing the site, the ones highlighted in bold are moderators, so clicking on their names will enable you to send them a private message or email them.

Hell, men, I must become a $Contributing Member$ to send a Private Message. I just sent an e-mail to a mod. We'll see what happens.

Guess what, they actually renamed my thread. Thanks, guys!

I am currently downloading MandrakeLinux Limited Edition 2005 (aka LE2005 or 10.2). We'll see what happens. I hope it will help me understand Linux better, and one day, I'm sure I'll return to Debian (100%, because I don't even wipe it out, I'm gonna setup a multi-boot.)

Once you'll see a change in the 'Distro' field in my member info, you'll know I installed Mandriva.

Wish me luck!