Having switched from a debian based system to Mandrake 10, I found that rpmdrake (Install Software / Remove Software) just wasn't cutting mustard. Slow, stupid and memory intensive. So I installed synaptic (urpmi synaptic) and I haven't used rpmdrake since. It is faster, combines upgrade/install/remove in one program, and keeps my system more up to date (probably because the ftp sources I am using are cooker, but I'm not entirely sure if they are.)

One question, though:

Most of the ftp sources that synaptic comes packaged with don't work for me. The two which do are fine; I'm just wondering if anyone knows of a good list of sources, preferably some which have plf software, etc, too. Also, how do I actually tell whether these are cooker, or not? (The most recent upgrade switched me from xfree86 to xorg...is that a cooker only thing?)

Your last question? Yes. You're cooking with the cooker.

I haven't configured sources for synaptic but I am sure its probably looking at the same places as urpmi does. Try configuring with sources found from the easyurpmi site. The mirrors work well, especially the French and German ones.

Does anyone have a comprehensive sources.list? So far I have:

# for cooker, various mirror

# Germany
rpm ftp://ftp.join.uni-muenster.de/pub/l...i586/Mandrake/ base/hdlist RPMS

rpm ftp://ftp.join.uni-muenster.de/pub/l...i586/Mandrake/ base/hdlist2 RPMS2

rpm ftp://ftp.join.uni-muenster.de/pub/l...i586/Mandrake/ base/hdlist3 RPMS3

# United States

rpm ftp://fr2.rpmfind.net/linux/Mandrake...oker/Mandrake/ /base/hdlist RPMS

rpm ftp://raven.cslab.vt.edu/pub/linux/m...oker/Mandrake/ /base/hdlist2 RPMS

As I mentioned in my last post, easyurpmi seems to have a good list and its a great configurator. Try the Mandrake mirror list. Its their distro, after all. Don't forget that Cooker is on the same mirrors.

The 9.2 documentation is not really out of date, as far as the concepts go. Nice place to find out stuff about Mandrake's special qualities.

Many of the urpmi repositories are unfortunately missing the base/hdlist.cz etc files, which are used for apt's configuration. (It'd be great if somebody would publish a repository standard/tool which satisfied both urpmi and apt.) The sources I have above are from the mandrake site; however I can't find much of the "good stuff", meaning rarities or things that would be covered under the PLF.

Use the Easyurpmi site. He's working hard to get a good list. That's the best you'll get, unless you pony up for mandrakeclub and get the "prefered" mirror list, I guess. The more complaints sent to the repository maintainers, the better chance that the mirrors will work.

You're absolutely right, as always. For some reason I was imagining that urpmi repositories couldn't play with apt. Seems as if as long as there is an hdlist.cz that you can point to, apt (and synaptic) can play.

I wouldn't go that far but I do try to offer advice on what I know and keep my trap shut (or admit I'm in the dark) when I don't know it.

I'll admit I've only played with apt on PCLinuxOS and have remained an urpmi user on Mandrake otherwise. I'd read about apt's use of the -nodeps flag a lot and decided that if a package wouldn't install, it wasn't ready for me. I gotta agree with the assessment of RPMDrake's sluggishness, but I still prefer it over other methods when I'm "shoping the candy store", as I use it through MCC (one root login only). I like having the descriptions beside the packages so I can see what the heck I have available to install, without going to a web page somewhere. Tee hee. I think Mandy's coming back to my box shortly. I have a 4G partition set aside for something, and its been over a month without...


" (The most recent upgrade switched me from xfree86 to xorg...is that a cooker only thing?)"

Nah, that's just a good thing!