Need help deciding on a distribution???
 

I'm downloading Mandrake 10.1 as I type this and am about to proceed with the ISO extraction to create installation disks. But before I do, can anyone tell me if this is a good distribution? I'd like to find something comparable to the Windows Vista Home OS. I normally use my computer to view photo's, watch videos, copy cd's, listen to music, surf the net, print photo's, and all-in-all....... just your basic everyday stuff. I might consider using it to keep up with buisness records as well. As you can probably tell, I am completely lost!!! Can someone recommend a suitable distribution that caters to my needs? Also, Can I get software for record keeping, inventory, and what not? And where?Thanks a bunch, in advance, guys/gals.

try ubuntu
http://ubuntu.com

Mandriva, Ubuntu and friends, Fedora, PCLinuxOS, .... I'm guessing you are already used to KDE (Mandrake 9.1). I'm personally not happy with KDE4 right now, so I'm using GNOME until they get it together. You should not have any problems doing anything you mentioned with any of those. Your hardware support may vary from one to the next. You may want to pay attention to the extent of the software repositories of each one and to how simple package installation is. Do you anticipate needing distribution-specific support? If so, does the distro have an active user community/forum/wiki? Are the default installation choices ones you would select yourself, or will you need to make extensive changes to installed packages? Visit each distro's web site and get a feel for who that distribution aims to please. Is it developers, average end users, systems administrators, artists, musicians, gamers, business users?

If you are already familiar with Mandrake, you may want to stick with Mandriva while you figure out what you want to do.

It's all a matter of opinion
take the distro quiz

http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/
http://polishlinux.org/choose/quiz/

and look here
http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

Also try as many as you fell comfortable trying.
Lots of live-cd out there.

Mandrake 10.1 is a little dated (2004), but as I recall it was okay
Vista is a lot more advanced then this version.

kernel 2.6.8
KDE 3.2
Gnome 2.6

if your hardware supports it try Mandravia One 2008.1 or Mandravia One 2009

You might want to read the following article to avoid any 'disappointment'.
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

A really good read!!! Thank you sycamorex. I have also downloaded the PCLinuxOS distribution. I suppose it might be best to cut my teeth on that before moving on. They have pretty active forum for the newbie. But let me make certain I understand something..... programs I may opt to run via PCLinuxOS will also run via Mandrake 10.1.......correct? Thanks for your time guys/gals!!!! Much appreciated!!

You should use binaries compiled for PCLinuxOS, but in general, the same programs you find in Mandrake will be found in PCLinuxOS. Hope that clears up any confusion.

There's a kernel of truth to that, hidden below a surface of not-quite-accurate-ness ;)

The binaries compiled for Distro A will work fine on Distro B. It's just that they will, in some cases, look for files where Distro A puts them which is not where Distro B puts them. So, with some work spent on finding the missing files and putting them in the right places, it's conceivable that the program will run.

But far more often than not, the all distributions package the same stuff; all the major functionalities (browser, mail client, file manager, image viewer, media player, editor, pdf viewer, etc.) will be available for any distro you choose [and probably you'll have access to _many_ different programs that perform each of these functions]. So, until you get a good hang of how Linux works, I say stick to the packages from your distro.

If you feel the temptation to grab a package from another distro, I would recommend first trying to just unpack the files in the package somewhere in your home directory and see if they can be made useful. In that way, you'll have one (and only one!) package management system that deals with everything outside your home directory. But if all else fails... ;)

I have tried Xandros which was very user friendly coming from winblows and then I started an installation frenzy wanting to try out as many distros as i could and after having tried at least 15 different distros I settled on Pclinuxos .......it just worked perfectly for me and I never had any trouble with anything......Better yet they now have pclinuxos Minime and Tinyme which allow you to install a basic system then you can use synaptic to install only the programs you want.

Good luck

I've tried many distros, and Mandrake 10.1 is actually the one that got me hooked on Linux. It was just so handy to use and configure. One of my other favorites was suse. Now I'm with Debian. I may change that, who knows? The point is try lots till you find one you can live with, then keep trying till you find one that is YOUR distro, rather than just another distro, where when someone asks what you run, you sort of puff up with pride and say, "Oh, I run ...".

Or maybe I just get a little too excited about it.

Mepis is a good Debian/Lenny based distro. Go to distrowatch and download version 8 beta6.

Mepis also has a great community forum.

All the newb distributions have been mentioned, and PCLinuxOS.. while I personally don't like it, is a good choice. Only other newbie distributions I might add, are OpenSuse and Linux Mint. I still think w/ the massive community support of the *buntus, they are the way to go w/ new users. IRC channels are packed at all times, day or night, and the forums at ubuntuforums.org are very very active. LinuxMint, is more or less Ubuntu with a customized GUI, so almost anything you find instructions for on Ubuntu, you'll be able to apply to Mint.

IGF

Mandrake 10.1 is a dinosaur? This means that
a) it is not supported anymore
b) you will have a hard time finding up-to-date-software
c) yoiu will have a hard time installing it on recent hardware

I fluctuate between OpenSuse and Fedora Core. Fedora is great, new package management works a treat. Have not used Suse since 10.

I have installed Mandrake 10.1, on a seperate machine, simply to feel things out. So far, I really like it!!! Soooo.... I downloaded all the ISO's for Mandrivia 2008.1 and have already burnt the discs and prepared them for installation. Only problem is, I can't get it to run on the "ol' standby" machine so as to check it out prior to installing it on my current machine. I am really anxious to see what this distro looks like. On my current machine, I have Windows XP installed. I would really like to set up a dual boot. However, I do not have the Windows disc to reinstall if something goes wrong. I need to know for sure that my current computer is compatible with this distro. Here's what I have:

ASUS P4V8X-X Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor
2 Gig of ram (one more gig on the way)
40 gig WD Hard Drive
5 gig Quantum Hard Drive
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Video Card (128 mb)



Is this sufficient to run the Mandriva 2008.1 Distro?



If so........

How can I set up a dual boot system? I'd like to install Mandriva 2008, if it will fit, on the 5 gig Quantum Hard Drive. If not possible, I need some assistance partitioning the 40 gig hard drive to accomodate both OS's. A 30 gig Windows partition and 10 gig Linux partition would be ok with me. I am just worried I'll render my Windows XP useless.