I am very disappointed because of the fact that Debian tends to be STABLE rather than being EASY-CONFIGURABLE.
And I am thinking of switching to Mandriva, which uses the newest kernel, integrated ALSA sound drivers etc. (And yes, it's a pain to configure ALSA in Debian. I couldn't do it!!)
So should I switch?

How do you prefer configuring stuff? From the command line, or via a point & click GUI?

If your only bugbear is the kernel, just install the latest kernel in Debian. There's nothing stopping you. . .

NO.
Run alsa-conf to configure ALSA. Debian has the latest kernel, upgrade to testing or unstable if you want bleeding edge.

Here is the procedure to build alsa modules for debian. Upgrade your kernel.

1. Use apt-get to install the relevant alsa-source package. And alsa-utils.

2. Install the relevant kernel source package, and the package kernel-package.

3. Unpack the kernel source and alsa-modules in /usr/src.

4. Run "make-kpkg --config=menuconfig" configure in the kernel source directory.

5. Run make-kpkg kernel-image and make-kpkg modules-image.

6. This should build a pair of compatible kernel-image and alsa-modules package files which you can
install with dpkg.

7. Of course you need to edit your grub menu or lilo conf file and so on to run this kernel.

8. You can then configure alsa with alsa-conf alsa-base and so on.

Remember to set and save the mixer settings so that /etc/init.d/alsa script (which is part of
alsa-base) can restore these settings."
http://www.linuxgazette.com/node/883

Being a newbie, of course I'd like to configure everything using GUY instead of confuing .conf files!

(But I know what I lose: Debian is FREE! Mandrake / Mandriva is $$$ (U can still download some sort of 'Limited Edition' 4free!)).

How about a dual-boot?

(I already have 2 WinXP's and Debian booting.)

I must recognise I was shocked when I saw the Mandriva screenshots!

(How 'bleeding edge' can Debian be? KDE3? Xorg?)

PS I posted an ALSA issue in the Harsware forum. Plz help!

I have KDE3.4 and Gnome2.10 on my system.

Just add #KDE updates
deb http://pkg-kde.alioth.debian.org/kde-3.4.0/ ./
to your source.list for KDE3.4
Detailed info is available here:
The Debian KDE maintainers — Home page
http://pkg-kde.alioth.debian.org/docs/

Gnome2.10 is in experimental repository.
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ ../project/experimental main contrib non-free

I'm sure: "Yes". To know HOW IT'S BAD in comparison with Debian.
Happy bugs to you

Here's a thought, why not just try it and see if you like it rather than soliciting opinions here, which is just going to give you a lot of conflicting answers.

Picking a distro is a personal choice you have to make for yourself...
So just try it already.

I'm a "Mandriva Addict".

But I generally agree with the previous posters: If you like Debian, stay with it, and work out the problems. You'll learn more, and be happier in the long run.

If you really *want* to switch, you can certainly do worse than Mandriva. (And no Mandriva NOT == $$$. You can get a full, complete Mandriva system without paying a dime. Legally. From Mandriva. You just download the FREE (as in beer *and* as in speech) 3 CD set of the latest version, and then set up your urpmi sources to keep it up to date, and give you the full selection of packages. All it costs is internet connection fees and time.)

Such a poll usually causes a lot of flaming. Anyway if you like bleeding edge packages and want to stay with Debian, you could try Debian testing or unstable. If you really want to change, then Mandriva is a good option in my personal opinion.

You could always dualboot. That way you could see which you like better by running them both. The only way to really find out is to give it a try.

The important thing is which one works for YOU. At the very least I would upgrade to Sarge.

If you really want the most up to date packages, swich to debian sid or sarge (sid being more up to date) be editing the text file /etc/apt/sources.list (you have to be root to do so) and change everywhere that it says "woody" or "stable" to either "sid" or "sarge". Then, "run a apt-get update" and a "apt-get upgrade" and your packages should be much more up to date.

I guess I'll just try and dual boot.

And about that '== $$': The 'free' 3 CD-s are limited in features (that's what I've read)

The 3 CD's are not limited at all, they contain enough packages to satisfy most peoples needs. You can add more software using urpmi which is a tool similar to apt-get. The 3 cd version is free to download (has always been free and will always be free according to the information on the Mandriva website).

Do you have to become a member of their club to download software??
(It is not 4free, U know!)