I've installed mandrake 9.1. I've found that I have to do a lot more setup then the webpage leads you to believe.

Im looking for some input on which disto i should use. I have listed below what I would like to see in my ideal distro (preconfigured, or easy to configure). Items with a * are items i can live without.

Thanks!!

Murray

Hardware:
Radeon 3D support
Logitech wireless keyboard multimedia keyboard and wheelmouse support
Kodak digital camera LS420 support
*MS Sidewinder Joystick support

Software:
a great Web Browser complete with quicktime/other video/flash/mpeg support/ pop up blocker
Kick ass media player (DVD support, XVID, DIVX, VCD, SVCD support, *real media support)
OpenOffice
aMSN
VPN and remote desktop support (so i can connect to my box at work)
gimp
ximian evolution
Lots of doucumentation
cd burning software with gui
great irc client
*p2p file sharing client
*maybe one day a web server

I'm not sure what hardware Mandrake supports but, generally speaking, if Mandrake is too much trouble for you, I'm afraid any distro will be unless there happens to be a *perfect* marriage of hardware and preconfigured hardware support. Mandrake's one of the easier ones. Maybe Knoppix live-CD and install to HD? *shrug*

If Mandrake is too much setup for you then you might be better off staying with Windows; Mandrake is about as easy as it gets.

Come to think of it, you might give Lindows 4.0 a try.

http://www.lindows.com/

thanks guys,

im not talking about easy or hard here. I just want a good base to start with. Yes, mandrake is easy to set up and use, but compiling any program in it is a biotch compared to, say slackware.

Well, use Slackware then.

I only installed Mandrake very briefly, but I have heard compiling on it sucks.

i guess i will just have to try them all and find the one that works for me

Hello Murray_linux,

If you want it the easy way, try SUSE. I tried RH, Knoppix, Debian, Slack but in the end the install of Suse had less troubles then any other OS. It recognizes almost everything, has a lot off additional software. I used 8.0 and 8.2. I just bought the 9.0 Pro .

If you don't want all the software it has for you, select manual.

It has one drawback: If you install it with an other LINUX os, you have to put this OS manually in the Grub menu after the installation. This is not a very big issue, but you should be prepared (rescue Disk ).

The best is to try things out. RH looks cool and very organized. Suse installs everything it has if you don't stop it and so on....

In the end the kernels are equal and can be adapted to your purpose.....

CB

Well not be be a jerk but isn't that kind of obvious? A distro that's "right for you" is a personal choice. I'm not your brother or best friend, I know next to nothing about you, so its very hard to choose for you.

Luckily you have a few things on your side:

- you can try the many many great distros available for very very little cost (its not like you're dishing out 100$ every time)

- you have the search function to look through these great forums full of great posts (many many MANY people have asked the same thing you did...some got a lot of advice, some posted their conclusions...its REALLY worth browsing)

Ultimately, Linux is linux, the distro might vary but at the lowest level, its linux...so once you find a distro that makes you comfortable...you're golden.