Hi all,

For the last 3 days I have been playing with Mandrake 2005LE 64bit and I'm not sure this is the best distribution for my use as there are still a few issues with the 64bit support.

I tried running the 32bit edition but there I was unable to get my Wifi card working.

So now I'm left with a dilema.

The good thing about Linux is that you can test out as many distro's a you like to find the one that fits you best, but my Internet provider isn't ok with that (Download limit )

So now I need some expert advice on which distro to try next.

I have searched for reviews on people running linux on the same machine as mine but didn't really find any.

These are my specs and what I would like to do.

Specs:

Acer Ferrari 3200Lmi Notebook
AMD64 2800+
Ati Radeon 9700 Pro
Broadcom 4306 Wireless build in
768MB Ram
60GB Internal disk + 250GB External

What I would like to run:

KDE 3.4
OpenOffice
CrossOver Office
VMWare5 (bought it already)
Cedega 4.3.2 + Point2Play (bought it already)
DVD Editing and Burning (I have NeroLinux through my windows Nero serial)

I was ready to go out and buy Mandrake/Mandriva if I liked it but the problems I had are stopping me, so please people tell me what would suit me best.

Thanks for the help


EDIT: I don't run any windows, only through VMWare, I only need it for Admin purposes in my consultant work.

"there are still a few issues with the 64bit support"

What are your issues with the 64 bit support?

--------------------------
Steve Stites

The compatibility with programs compiled for 32bit support.

As an example, Point2play and Kmoney, have been compileded for 32bit and can't handle the fact that some libraries are stores under /lib64 instead of /lib.

I'm sure there are workarounds and that soon those programs will come out in X64 format but for now I have the feeling that I'm better off with 32bit.

I'm downloading Kubuntu to give it a try as Acer will be distributing this with their machines, we'll see...

i suppose your knowledge on how to user Linux is a big factor.
how confident do you think you are in using Linux, the graphical X11 frontend and the terminals?

Here is a quiz to help you decide what you need in Linux:
http://eedok.voidofmind.com/linux/chooser.html

A good place to see reviews and get ideas is: DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. http://distrowatch.com/

I'm not an expert in Linux, far from, otherwise I would set up a Debian or Gentoo system from 0, but I start to know my way around and I'm not scared of compiling a Kernel or having to format and start all over.

Whether I need Linux or not ? Nah, I think I could live without, but I can live without windows also, so if I need to choose in that case I go the Linux way.

To be honest I would feel more confident with a Gentoo or Debian that I build myself but I don't trust myself yet for building a stable and funtional system.

So I rely a bit on your opinions to determine what distro I will be using.

Tonight I will be installing Kubuntu 5.04 32bit, being Debian based it looks promising, and it's score in DistroWatch ain't the bad

I did the quiz CraigEvil mentioned:

here's how the distributions in the database match up to your choices:
Distro name Match %
Ubuntu 8/11: 72%
Mandriva 10/11: 90%
Fedora 10/11: 90%
MEPIS 9/11: 81%
SuSe 10/11: 90%
Debian 9/11: 81%
Knoppix 10/11: 90%
Gentoo 6/11: 54%
Slackware 8/11: 72%
Damn Small 7/11: 63%
Arch 6/11: 54%
Vector 7/11: 63%
Beatrix 8/11: 72%
Ark 10/11: 90%
LFS 4/11: 36%
EvilEntity 5/11: 45%

Based on these results we recommend you to try(if you haven't tried it yet):
Mandriva


Well........

fedro rocks

informative ....

Have a look here ...
Slackware is a good start. No need to compile while installation, but need to configure - excellent for most newbies.
Mandrake is for lazy Guru only, who can correct its various errors, but somehow don't want to configure it... at all

I'm set for the moment, the guys from mandriva pointed me to a new kernel wich solved all my issues.

Mandriva 2005LE is running just great now, everything I used to do under Windows works, it works even better

Left some fine tuning to do, but these are only minor glitches, I'll open a new thread for that .