OK really stupid question here but please bear with me as I am new to Linux.

I have installed Mandrake 10 and have noticed that this is about 2 years old (am I correct) and that Mandrake has changed its name to Mandriva.

So, do I need to upgrade to the latest Mandriva distribution to get all the latest security patches etc? I see the Linux Kernal can be upgraded but how do I get the latest etc.

I was hoping that Mandrake 10 would automatically go to a website and get latest version etc but I see that www.mandrakesoft.com no longer points to a Linux provider.

Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Craig

Mandrake 10 is no longer supported so you should install a newer version. Either install Mandriva One which is a live CD or 2006 but update immediately because 2006 had a lot of showstopper bugs which are fixed since. Oh and don't forget to uninstall Kat immediately too.

You can point your sources to the latest tree and use urpmi to upgrade the system on-line. However, you will need to "fix" some problems and with a 2 year old distro, many items may need to be uninstalled and then reinstalled. It is not a simple thing to do, and plan on working with it to make it work. First, I change the sources. Then, I uninstall all x and gui stuff. I then upgrade the system. Then install the new gui stuff, including xorg. If you like playing with your computer, this will provide several hours of fun. Otherwise, do as dexter said and get a new version.

Right, then looks like I am not out of the woods yet!

Thanks for the posts I might as well download the CD then and go from there. Bit of a shame its not a simple upgrade path. Oh well might as well get started.

Craig

Most of the security issues are to do with the kernel, and you can upgrade it without all the rest.

The problem with upgrading the whole thing is glibc. every thing depends on it and nothing much works without it.

So if you urpmi a current source but leave out glibc (in the urpmi skip list, I usually have kde, kernel glibc and xorg listed in there so as not to break my system, minor updates not upgrade.) it should be ok.

But as the ppl above said, you'd be quicker and safer to get a whole distro.

BTW, kat seems to work for me, You just have to leave it(can take all day) to catalog everything into it's database

And your searches will be swift.

Otherwise as Ixthusdan said, your in for some "fun"

(edit) Here, ftp://ftp.planetmirror.com/pub/mandr.../main_updates/


you can find a kernel and kernel-sources ver 2.6.12. If you have a standard PC with only one processor and less than a gig of ram I'd go for this one, ftp://ftp.planetmirror.com/pub/mandr...-1mdk.i586.rpm

A nice rule of thumb, go for even numbers.

There are newer versions available but you start getting into cooker/developement territory.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,

I am installing on a dual processer computer so to avoid any troubles (since I'm pretty new to Linux) I have decided to download the latest version itself instead.

I figured there might be dependent items so thought it would be a lot easier to start again.

Cheers,

Craig

also, when your looking for the kernel version to download, ones with 'smp' are what you want, for dual CPU support.