and I'm at the KDE or GNOME page of setup and don't know which to pick.

Which one is recommended for a linux newbie who wants to learn?

Which has the most features? I don't really mind if one is a tad bit more complicated then the other if it is more powerful.

Thanks,
Bohh

Got room? Install both, and the other window managers in Other. Test them all and more, like Fluxbox.

KDE is best to use for a newbie, but install them all and have the choice each time you log in.

I've actually used KDE longer and more often than GNOME, so I am biased, but I also use qute a few other desktop and window managers. I find KDE easier to customize, but also much heavier in resource usage. Virtually all of the easy to use systems at least have KDE avaialbe, a few of them offer only KDE, so that says something right there.

That doesn't make GNOME difficult to use, it's pretty easy, too. Purists who stick to only GNU software tend to use GNOME. I will say that GNOME lends itself to the tweakers. Even so, since KDE is so easy to customize and so easy to use, I tend to recommend it to beginners.

It would be a good idea to try BOTH of them out and eventually make your own choice - you may not agree with my assessment. It turns out that I like XFCE better than either KDE or GNOME anyway, but you did not ask about that! :-)

thanks for the replies!

I was reading some more threads and I think I understood that programs are designed for a certain type of window manager (is that what gnome or kde is?)

If that's the case which one of the two have more programs availiable? Which has mozilla? I used that in windows and i liked it for a browser..

Also I'd like more opinions on KDE or gnome still

Thank you again,
Bohh

You can use an app in either, especially if you have both installed because you will definately have the dependancies for the app installed. You dont have to run the similarly designed WM to run the app.

How would I go about installing more then one? On this setup page it only lets me pick one from a drop down menu...

After I install more then one how do I choose which one I wish to boot into?

Thanks!

One? Are you just picking the default one? At the package selection stage you can pick all of them, or install them later.
Just pick KDE now as it's the Mdk default and easy to work with.

Yes, go ahead and take the default and start with KDE as your desktop. Mandrake offers several desktop and window managers, at least if you install everything that's available.

As far as Web browsers go, Mozilla is a good one, and it is available with Mandrake and most of the major distributions. Mozilla can handle Web browsing, Mail, News, and Chat, if you install all of the available components, so it is actually an Internet suite of services, not just a Web browser.

Well I did it. Posting this from linux right now.

It installed KDE 3.1 apparently, but it seems to take a lot longer to start up programs up then it used to take in Windows. I read that KDE is slower somewhere...

So I will try Gnome and a few others now.

But how do I install Gnome or something, and how do I tell my box to use it?


Thanks,
Bohh

Generally, the type of "setup box" you're talking about, isn't about what's installed... but which one your using.

So, if you see both GNOME and KDE, you can actually switch between them using that box (I use a "graphical login manager." ...GDM or the GNOME Desktop Manager to be more precise for my X-Windows login, that makes it possible for me to "choose on the fly which window manager I use... and yes GNOME and KDE are--or at least have as a part of them a window manager).

As has been said, test 'em (not just GNOME and KDE either, poke around with all you can), decide which you like, I have found that some KDE apps don't "like to run" on GNOME (maybe one more reason for running KDE, though, I hate being "over such a barrel..." one of my reasons for not generally using Windoze).