I have tried Mandrake:
Easy to install
Lots of RPM available
Couldn't figure out how to put applications in the main KDE menu
Didn't have Firefox as default browser nor thunderbird as default mail

Moved on to try debian a few days ago:
Installation sucked. I had to go back and reformat and reinstall from the start 3 times because at first I mest up the boot menu so I never got to see debian. Second I didn't know to push space to select a desktop environment install so I had nothing but command prompt. And third is installed now but no firefox or thunderbird.
Tried to install asterisk (want to mess with phone networks) but needed like 4 dependency libraries which I installed but then asterisk gave me an error and so i said let's try another distro maybe which will make things easier.


What I have on CD right now:
Debian 3.1
Mandrake 10.1
SuSe 10.0
Gentoo 2005.1

First of all, I'm a total beginner. I know how to find libraries and install them. I know how to navigate through a mix of shell and gui... At one point I used to have a Counter-Strike server on Mandrake but that was a long time ago and my Linux is rusty.

What I'm looking for is: Easy to install... or even moderate install. I want to install everything so I won't have dependency issues later. I want to make future installations as quick as possible. Also, looking to have FireFox and Thunderbird on the KDE menu. Would be a plus if GAIM was on also. I am using an older NVIDIA GeForce2 card so I would like up to date OpenGL drivers if possible... or easy to install. I'm running an ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe board (don't laught at the vid card and mobo combination... I don't have money for a better card) with a 64 bit Athlon. Anyway I mention the motherboard because I also want sound drivers. Debian didn't have them So, I have no sound.

As I mention above, I have a few distros on CD's but the last thing I want to do is spend a whole week trying all of them just to find that maybe the last I try is the best, or worse, the first I tried in which case I have to install all then come back to that first one.

Any input would be helpful. Thanks a lot.


EDIT:
Sorry to post the same question which has been answered so many times. I would mainly use this distro for internet browsing, some movie watching and music listening, some downloads, and maybe even a few java games here and there. Also, a little for some MIPS coding and some C because I'm taking a class which uses these two. Essentially however I am trying to find a good distro to run Asterisk on so I can set up a coold PBX system with forwarding, voicemails, menus, and stuff like that. But that's the professionaly side of the distro and once installed it wouldn't be modified that much. The relaxation side like music and movies always takes a beating.

if you have mandrake, go with it and stick with it, it really is quite newbie friendly. Sounds like you gave up too soon. pick one and stick with it... (suse is good too)

However, try this quiz to find a distro that is good for you:
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

titanium_geek

So, I took the quiz. First one was Lycoris but it's not free. Second was Ubuntu, third Kubuntu, fourth Mandriva, then Mepis, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Slackware. I have heard some good praises about Ubuntu, but I never see any rpm's anywhere dedicated to it. I guess my major issue with Mandrake was that I never figured out the whole adding apps to the menu with the default icons (i.e. firefox) However, i did manage to install Wine, then IE, then Photoshop 7, and MS Office XP. Not to mention, I had Counter-Strike Source running although not full screen. Still hadn't gotten that advanced. I hear SuSe 10 is comparable to Mandriva... Should I give SuSe a go then? There are a few rpm's for SuSe which hopefully will install a menu item for me I'm close to obsesive compulsive about organization.

PS: Thanks for the quick reply

rpm's aren't universal. (ubuntu uses debian packages)

Umm.... is that ALL? that was the issue with Mandriva?

Ok: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search

ummm... (darn, I don't remember, it's been a while since I used mandriva) menudrake is the tool you need to use. you can set icons really easily. you need to edit the root menu and the other menu.

titanium_geek

The other bad thing was kernel recompilation. I had a bummer time doing that. But I would have a hard time doing that no matter of the distribution. Oh, and there were issues with divx movies I coulnd't watch, and streaming audio... Anyway, I still have Mandrake 10.0 installed somewhere on a spare drive. It's my last resort In case nothing is easier I still have that to go back to and it's all pre-installed with a bunch of software. I guess I'll go take a look at ubuntu also.

You've been of great help Thanks a lot.

oh yeah- ubuntu ships free CD's anywhere in the world. I like that. (free shipping too!) google for "ubuntu shippit"

titanium_geek

Man you were good to go on your Debian install. You just need to install Firefox and Thunderbird using the super cool "apt" tool
. It would have been that easy

The new Mandriva 2006 is fantastic, give it a go. Not that many updates over 2005 but is great for beginners.

I did not know about the apt tool... I haven't yet made any changes to the system. I'm going to try that tool and see how it goes. As a rule and I guess that's why it's so hard to choose a distro for me, I try to find one that supports all my hardware... in this case debian doesn't have audio drivers...

Still, I will give it a few more shots.


As for the new mandriva 2006, where can i download it? It's only out if you pay for it I think right now?

Personally out of that lot I would recommend using Suse 10 or though I think for you, you should use Xandros 3.0

Heh, Gentoo isn't the easiest distro for a newbie.

Go ahead and install SuSE 10.0. It's a polished distro that has an easy install, is RPM based (which you seem most familiar with), and YAST is a pretty good tool for maintaining your system.

I went with SuSe 10.0. It was awesome. Easy install, easy configs... I had even gotten the mp3 and dvd functions to work. Now I switched vid cards and I can't get my KDE back cause I don't know what to do That's in another thread though. Thanks for helping me pick a distro. SuSe has a great menu and good software combination.

you at a commandline? type startx and see what happens...

I did init 3 then one more command to reconfigure the card and then did init 5 and that did the trick