Hi all,

Thanks to advice from the nice people at the Linux Format forum, I have just migrated from Windows ME to Mandrake 9 (no preference for any particular distro except I got MDK9 and Gentoo free with a magazine and Gentoo gave me the fear when I tried to install it!).

Have got NTL USB cable modem working but now need to know what's a decent file sharing app to run with Linux - I used WinMX in the old days but have no idea what the most popular app is with you guys.

What's the best browser/e-mail software etc? Piece of string question I know but all thoughts appreciated.

Also, I have no idea about Linux file systems, how to install stuff etc. so I'd really appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction and tell me how to get it working!

Cheers all,
The Luddite.

Ok, this is a quick answer, but hopefully helpful.

I run Mandrake 9.1 at home, so I can tell you what works for me...

For P2P file sharing, I have yet to find a very good searching client, however BitTorrent works very well for downloading files once you have the torrent to download from.

As for browser, I use Opera, and have found that it works great. I am using version 7.11.

For an e-mail client I use the KDE default KMail and I have not had a problem with it, it does everything I need an e-mail client to do.

As for software installations/management, you're in the right place. Mandrake comes with RPMDrake, which you can get to from the Mandrake Control Center. It uses the Red Hat Package Management (RPM) system to install and manage software. The RPM system will automatically check for any dependency problems during installs or uninstalls and let you know what you are missing (for an install) or what you will break (for an uninstall).

To install new software all you need to do is download the *.RPM file for the software and double click on it in Konqueror.

To remove the software you have to open Mandrake Control Center, and select the Software option (IIRC). Then you should have 4 icons, one to install software, one to remove software, one to update software (checks for updates on a mirror) and one to set update sources. Choose the remove option and select what you want to uninstall from the list. Couldn't be easier...

Here are two places where you can find new RPMs:

http://www.rpmfind.net/
http://rpms.mandrakeclub.com/

Good Luck!

Try using mldonkey for P2P:
http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/mldonkey/

It rocks It lets you download files from 8 or 9 networks. It's like Kazza & Bittorrent & Gnutella & DC & a few others that don't come to mind right now all rolled into one. You'll have to change the settings because the default ones are quite limiting and it'll seem very slow with them, but that's simple because once you get over the install it has a nice GUI. There are also very nice alternative GUIs for it, and you can even download without starting the GUI or.. with ncurses from console.

Browsers I recommend Mozilla. It's free as opposed to Opera which shows an ugly large banner. Mozilla also has a really nice mail client.
www.mozilla.org

For a standalone mail client I'd recommend Evolution.
http://www.ximian.com/products/evolution/


It has preety much every feature that Outlook has.. except for the viruses

And in case you need an office suite, which you might, I'd use openoffice.

www.openoffice.org

Hi. Have a look here > http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/
(a table of Win software and Linux alternatives)

Hope it helps!

Marvellous - thanks guys!

Being a long time mldonkey user I saw myself forced to switch to the dark side and use the official client for overnet.Works a lot better for me.

you could try Mozilla Firebird browser - it rocks!! it's free, has 100s of extensions (plugins) etc...
and for mail client Mozilla Thunderbird - though it's still in testing process...
p2p - i'm using eDonkey, but i don't like it very much - it seems really hard to find a file with a decent download speed (i have dsl, so i'd prefer something like 100-200 kb/s...for dial-up users is cool)

Try overnet.The edonkey net is killed by modded emules.

thanx IsNoGood (it's that fellow from the comics, right? he's the greatest ), i'll try overnet...

I am even worse