Hi all!
I've just installed mandrake 10.1 on my system as I am fed up with my WinXP, and have a few questions.
1. When installing I got the error "Error installing package libgimp2.0_0-2.0.4-1mdk.i586" it then asks "Go on?". Yes/No I choose 'no', and I am then returned to the Package group selection screen when I click next and the install continues. With mandrake installed, everything seems to work ok. I did d/load the CD 1 from a different linux website than CD's 2 and 3, if that matters. is this anything worth worrying about?

2. KDE 3.3, is it a required d/load? I have 3.2 with my d/load. When i first installed mandrake, i unselected the option to install CD 4, KDE 3.3 cause I only d/loaded 3 cd's.

3. Kontact vs. Evolution? I see Kontact is maybe a bit more colourful and feature packed, but is one better? I'd would primarily only use it for email, as i'm not as interested in the calenders and such, but maybe as time goes on... I'm more interested in security than anything else.

3a. In Kontact, on the summary page, where you have the option for the 'weather service', and idea how to get it to display the temperature in Celsius instead?

4. (last one) Is there any software that converts excel and word files to the file formats that the spreadsheet/wordprocessors use that comes with mandrake 10.1? I haven't tried yet, but can the mandrake software read. the ***.xls and ***.doc files?

Thanks to any in advance!

1. It sounds to me like you had a bad spot on your install cd. Did you run the media check before intallations? The install cd's should be the same no matter where you got them as long as its the same version.

2. KDE 3.3 isn't required as far as I know but it's nice. If there is a dependency it will let you know.

3. Can't help you here but good luck.

4. I am pretty sure openoffice read .doc's and .xls's

When installing I got the error "Error installing package libgimp2.0_0-2.0.4-1mdk.i586" it then asks "Go on?". Yes/No I choose 'no', and I am then returned to the Package group selection screen when I click next and the install continues. With mandrake installed, everything seems to work ok. I did d/load the CD 1 from a different linux website than CD's 2 and 3, if that matters. is this anything worth worrying about?
If it's running okay, then the answer is "not right now." As far as I know, libgimp is used by an image-editing program...

KDE 3.3, is it a required d/load? I have 3.2 with my d/load. When i first installed mandrake, i unselected the option to install CD 4, KDE 3.3 cause I only d/loaded 3 cd's.
Well, do download that fourth CD, but the answer to your question is "no." KDE is a desktop shell, one of several that you may choose from at-will. When you're fiddling with the screen and clicking icons to start things, you're interacting with a shell, probably Gnome. Omitting KDE simply means that you can't try that one out yet.

Kontact vs. Evolution? I see Kontact is maybe a bit more colourful and feature packed, but is one better? I'd would primarily only use it for email, as i'm not as interested in the calenders and such, but maybe as time goes on... I'm more interested in security than anything else.
Kontact is part of the KDE package, and as you have seen, many parts of KDE work just fine even when KDE itself isn't there. But the important thing to get used to right-now is that, in this world, you may choose! I would encourage you to simply try things out, and see what you prefer.

In Kontact, on the summary page, where you have the option for the 'weather service', and idea how to get it to display the temperature in Celsius instead?
There are preferences somewhere... but probably not in Kontact itself. As with Windows, you'll find a global control-panel of some kind that lets you choose "locale" preferences such as these. ("Where the world is .. this machine.")

(last one) Is there any software that converts excel and word files to the file formats that the spreadsheet/wordprocessors use that comes with mandrake 10.1? I haven't tried yet, but can the mandrake software read. the ***.xls and ***.doc files?
There were quite a few other word-processors, such as AbiWord, in the Linux world before OpenOffice pretty-much came in and mopped up. Current versions of OpenOffice can read, and write, both Microsoft-Word .doc files and Microsoft-Excel .xls files quite completely.

Hope this helps, and welcome to Linux!

Take it slow and fool around a lot. You are coming from an OS that gave you no choices to an OS that is "an abundance of riches." It takes a lot of getting used to.

Thanks for the responses!
I re-burnt CD #1, and re-installed mandrake, with no more error.
I played with the office software and see that Openoffice supports my excel files.

As for your quote: "Notez Vous: Make very sure that you are using a non-root user-id at all times!"

I'm not sure what a non-root user-id is. How would I know?

when you installed mandrake it asked you for a uaser name and password and aalso asked you for a root password. some things (alot) of things you do in terminal you will need to be root user to do. for termial things if you type "su" than enter it will ask for your root password type it in and press enter again than you should see a # instead of a $ the # is root and the $ is normal user.non root user is the one you log into mandrake with when it prompts for name and password. any thing you run that needs root user to use it will prompt you for your root password type it in and click ok "root" is like the admin for windows.

Oh. I only entered a user name, and no other passwords, (since i am the only one to use my PC) when I installed mandrake.
Should i re-install, and enter a password and root password, or can i do this with mandrake installed?

No need to reinstall. You can set passwords for users (including root) from the command line using the passwd command. Alternatively Mandrake has a nice GUI to let you manage users and their passwords etc.:
http://doc.mandrivalinux.com/Mandriv...userdrake.html