I'm a linux newbie and i just wanted to say/ask few things about the impression it gave me.
mdk 9.1 has an extremly easy install procedure, and new apps install (only if they're on installation cd-roms). any downloaded program requires use of command line (wich is not so user-frinedly)...i don't care much because i like command line, but still...
drivers are linux's weakest point - 80% of threads are dealing driver installation problems...i'm loosing patience with my intel 8x0 AC'97 onboard (asus p4pe) card...there where suggestions, but untill now nothing worked - i realize it's one of the worst options for sound card (even under windows i need to install 3 different drivers - it's crazy, i know). ok, so i'll buy a new sound card, a sb 128 or something like that...but how do i know it won't give me trouble?"one can only hope..."
than there's "kde's spirit" that keeps "changing" things - for example, i've checked 'white cursor' option after wich kde told me i have to restart it in order to change cursor..i did it and had the white cursor, BUT on next reboot my cursor was "back in black"...why is that?must be that The Spirit likes it black more...
logout thing(not just my problem, i've seen threads about it). why does it go to standby (or whatever it is - monitor shut down, have to do hard reboot) everytime i click on logout 'user' button?!?tried to change it in control center, but KDE's spirit decided it's better his way...so i'm using command line (reboot or halt) to exit...great...
i'm not a computer newbie (since c-64; win 3.1,95,98se) and i can read english, but it seems kde control center is just a pretty little useless window...or am i doing something incredibly wrong?
reinstall. oh i've reinstalled it 2 times not counting all those failed installs (one time i even did most-newbie-typical install, but it freezed after summary window...)...why is that? never had a failed install with windows...
i really wanted to use linux, i like using command line and kde looks realy cool, but i'm loosing my patience...why can't it just WORK?!?
any suggestions? am i doing something wrong or is it linux? (spiritual) help needed...
thanx everyone
p.s. linuxquestions.org is the best thing about linux! (really!)

The people that make the hardware provide the drivers or info for building them for it. It is unfortunate that most of them are only trying to support windows. This makes it tough to develop drivers for Linux, the best thing to do is to check and see what works well before you go out and buy something.

Most hardware is supported, however as you have found some needs work to get it going.

The thing is that there is so much more possible with linux. Give it some time.

There is nothing wrong with using both Linux and Windows. Linux is not Windows, and you should not try to make it like windows.

thanx for support david,
i'll leave it on my computer, that's for sure...and loosing patience till i'm ready to use debian/slackware/LFS...i'm LFS type of person, just have to wait a year or so to learn linux properly...
i'm on windows during the day, and on linux at night (it's my "dark side" )...i've configure my sound card by putting cd into my discman - it works, i have a sound (i HAVE to buy new soundcard it's making me mad!!)
but why can't i have white cursor and decent font quality in firebird toolbar?!?am i asking too much?
btw, if i can ask without opening new thread, how do i remove soft link? i made thunderbird soft link(badly, because tb was installed as root, so it worked for root, but...), but reinstalled it since and now can't use 'thunderbird' in command line...
thanx

Nechos - have you tried using any of the alternatives to KDE? I'm not terribly familiar with Mandrake, but to my knowledge, most distros come with several versions of common things (editors, browsers, graphics tools, etc) and you may already have other options available to you right now. My point is just that if KDE is causing you trouble, maybe using something like GNOME would be more to your liking. -- J.W.

you could be right J.W., but i really like kde style.. but i could give gnome a chance - performance is more important than looks...
thanx

Check out this site for alternatives to KDE:

http://www.plig.org/xwinman/

Chris

Forget KDE and Gnome. They're too heavyweight. Use IceWM, and download Rox Filer to take care of the desktop and to provide a file manager. It's a great combo.

You are using AlsaSound for the sound?

I've never had failed installs - do you have any USB devices? I had a USB cdburner that did cause me some boot lockups. Try unplugging all of your USB devices while installing and then add them one by one once you're up and running.

There's only one piece of software that I keep win98 on my PC for...as soon as I find a decent port it's goodbye windoze. Persist - it's worth it!

to remove a link just delete it with

rm -i filename

be careful this command is powerful

Just as a frame of reference...

I've been using linux for just over 1 year. At one point I had RH 7.3, RH 8.0, Slack 8.1, and SuSE 8.0 on one machine at the same time trying to get each to look and act like the other in an effort to learn how things work and which distro worked best for me.

It wasn't untill about 2 months ago the every thing started to click for me. You really have to let the windows way of thinking leave and let the linux/unix way take over. This can take some time for some people (like me ). Be patient. Linux is just another tool to allow you to use the parts that make up what you call your computer. I've found it to be a better way... you may not. No big deal. The point is that with linux, there is an alternative. The importance of this cannot be measured. Whether or not you like it is irrelevant, so long as it exists. Competion is always win/win for the consumer.

You ought to give WindowMaker a try. I started playing around with it a over a year ago. When I got fed up with KDE and GNOME crashing, I took the plunge. It's been twelve months, and I think WindowMaker rules. It loads fast, it's very customizeable, stable, and, best of all, it looks nothing like Windoze. There are loads of themes available for it. Give it a try. I did, and I'm hooked. Check it out: http://windowmaker.org

For mandrake, you can download thigns from the net and install them using the gui tools once you set up urpmi properly. look here:
http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/urpmiweb.php

mandrake maintains a hardware compatibility database that I suggest you check out before shelling out on a new piece of hardware:
http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/hardware.php3

I haven't had all the problems you have with kde but I agree that a lot of things could be made better (it blows my mind that for konqueror, konsole and the like you actually have to explicitly tell it to save the settings after settings things up under configure - the menu laout in kontrol center is one of the worst thigns I've seen, etc....) but as the others suggest, you might find other desktops more congenial

thanx guys, it's really this site that makes me hang on to linux...if it wasn't for the sound problem i would use mdk much more than windows...(i can't stand the silence...!) - so sound blaster 128 (supported by EVERYONE) is the first thing to be done...
as for WM's, i'm not really sure what to do...maybe gnome isn't so "ugly" after all...and maybe i could customize IceWM to give it some decency (it's too 'industrial' for me - i'll use console if i need that, desktop has to be 'good-looking'...).anyway, i'll give'em a try...
i was considering installing some other distro - i've just downloaded gentoo iso. can i install it as a third os without having problems? (probably not...) will i have to use gentoo's lilo or reinstall mdk's?can i have all this partitions (now i have c:\, d:\, /, /home and swap; planning to make 3 more for gentoo...)?i have 40gb of hd (free space is not a problem...)
thanx again guys(and those couple of girls), you're the greatest!