For Linux users: Mandrive Linux 2005 Rulez!!!

Artemio,

Yes Linux rulez! but...still using Xp pro on my desktop pc as some software i use (adobe premiere for example) is not available on linux.

I'm running on our home network 'suse 9.0' with samba (after using Red Hat 9.0) on an old IBM P III 2CPU with 2x9Gb SCSI for OS and 2x200 Gb for data with somekind of softwareraid with the rpm package 'mirrordir'. Works great!
With putty on XP and suse's 'yast'configuration tool it's becoming very simple to configure without graphical use.

Will try mandriva 2005 LE (sounds new to me). I hope it supports reiserfs...

Joeri

SuSE 9.0 is quite an old distro, I'd really suggest you upgrade it, at least to SuSE 9.3. I think 9.0 still features kernel 2.4.x, but 2.6.x is so much faster.

Basically, many people including one friend of mine had many trouble with SuSE. Latest distros are made while SuSE is owned and controlled by Novell. And they do it American way, which means they obey the dumb license stuff for different stuff, resulting in inability to read many DVDs and total inability to play mp3s! And getting this to work is much harder than on the same-limited Fedora for example.

So, I'd really suggest you try out Madriva 2005 LE. The great thing is that you can really easily upgrade it to a newer version when it's available and not loose even a single bit of your configuration. Mandriva is easy to install and configure (basically it does most of the for you), includes proprietary drivers and software (on silver club edition), plays mp3s and DVDs out of the box... It's just a great distro. It's more stable than previous releases, it works fast and smooth.


A.

am i right, i may download this distro and burn a CD's?
and does it requires me to be "a member of club" or something?

Peace,

Well, the club version has two extra CDs with some useful commercial stuff like NVidia and ATI drivers that work out of the box, plus other software like Acrobat Reader etc. Basically, you have to pay $100 to become a silver member and download those CDs. But our global Ukrainian Linux distro shop has downloaded the club version and sells it like a usual distro - it is not illegal, it's that Mandrake has to be paid for that download, but then you can distribute the CDs as the components of the distro itself is composed of freely downloadable software.

So I have this 6 CD set here which I got for 46 UAH (= 9 USD). Awesome distro, the best I ever used - no extra work was required to make it work like I want.


A.

Hi Artemio,

I've been really curious about Linux for a while. Well, actually I've been curious about what I read and listen about it 'cause my personal experiece = 0 on this one. Due the fact that I really hate beeing stuck to MS products (specially those constant Update things) I would love to try something new whenever I'll get the time. I would apreciate if you could point me some good places (sites) where to start learning, using and, maybe, downloading Linux softs.

Regards


...just could not afford the 8!

I'm running Mandrake 8, have been for 5 years. As a file server!

Seriously, my day job is maintaining windows machines and networks, been doing pc work for as long as the pc's been out. Used to run windows at home.

Setup the linux fileserver 5 years ago, running samba for my windows boxes.

Three years ago, I'd been trying to use linux as a desktop, but it's just too much work. Installing a new app can turn into an hour project as you find and install all the dependency packages, system maintenance becomes a chore. I want to use my computer for productive work, not spend such a large time working 'on' my computer. So I looked at OSX and Mac.

Sold my PC's and bought an eMac and an iBook laptop. Never looked back. For three years now, I've been able to use my computers for productive things and, aside from the occasional and completely painless system upgrade, never had to do any maintenence. It just works.

I still have the linux fileserver, never have touched it since setting it up. The only time it's been rebooted is when I have a power outtage once or twice a year. Well, except for the change in server protocol.

I don't run samba any more. Since I don't have windows boxes, and I do have a wireless access point, I wanted to use something a drive by windows hack couldn't see. So I stopped samba on the server and exported my shares with NFS. Setup mount points for the shares on the macs and no hassles. I have three directories on my macs that are actually shares on the server and transparently available to any programs.

OSX is the best, most intuitive, and most reliable OS I've ever used. I get the feeling that this is how home computing should be, a utopian digital experience. It just works, as expected, no weirdness or crashes ro headaches.

Q.

Hi Quixx

I see your point. I've also consider the Mac option but, for me, aside the price you also have a major drawback - you're stucked to Mac hardware. So I get stucked on both ends - MS soft / Mac Hardware


...just could not afford the 8!

fixthemix:

Okay, I will try to gather some links to useful introductory articles and then post them here. There are not really any principal differences in the user interfaces, but the difference in the way the system is organised is pretty big. I'll do my best to get you started.

Quixx:

Yes, Mac is great. In fact, there are many common things with Linux. Basically, Mac has a FreeBSD kernel, combined with the same stuff Linux has such as shell, compilers, X11 etc. but also Mac has it's own desktop which is really neat. However, getting a Mac really gets you stuck with certain hardware which I do not regret.

I find Linux the best desktop solution. It can run on virtually any hardware. I have a 733 MHz celeron box with 384 Mb RAM and 16 MB video card (though last year I got a new CDRW drive and a 80 GB 7200 RPM HDD). And what amazes me is that when I upgrade to the next version of my distro and hence all software, it doesn't run any slower, but faster, because Linux as whole is created by so many people in the world and it is tested with much more hardware than you'd imagine.

To all:

I started using Linux in 2002 and in 2003 I switched to it completely. I was using win 98 and then Me from 2001 to 2002, and it was becoming unusable every 1-1.5 months or so... that was simply ridiculous. Gosh, some people even pay for this! Crazy fools!

The first distro I used was Red Hat 7.2, followed by 7.3. Then I tried 8.0, but it was a huge disappointment. I decided to try something else out, and installed Mandrake 8.2 I think. I found it very nice, but I started using Mandrake from 9.0 and ever since I am a Mandrake user - 9.1, 9.2, 10.0, 10.1 and now 10.2 (Mandriva 2005).

Mandrake is now very easy to upgrade. It includes the vast majority of software as well as development packages that you need. I only need to install about 10-15 special packages - mostly audio/musical stuff. And since it includes all development stuff and almost never happen to need to download any dependencies. Now Mandriva 2005 comes on 6 CDs and includes even more than anyone would ever need, this is just great. Some distros come on 1 or 2 CDs, but I will never suggest them unless you have a great network connection to get the rest you need.

There are all apps you'd need for daily work, and you will always read virtually any file from any OS from any filesystem type. What I really love is that open source software always supports most if not all file, filesystem formats and devices that exist in the world. This means you can open files created on Win and Mac (with a few exceptions for closed formats). Nor Windows neither Mac can deliver you this, at least this easily and right off the box.

Yes, getting back to the Linux theme, from the very start when I had RH 7.2, of course, I had to do most administration tasks from command line. I found it really great as I learnt Bash (shell language) which now helps me write scripts for my daily routines. For example, for my TweakBook, I have scripts to update audio demos, create PDF out of PostScript, zip and put this all on the site, then modify the site page to display changed file sizes etc.

I also want to say that I never thought I'll be any sort of a programmer. All I knew was some school-level Pascal and a bit of Flash ActionScript. But then I learnt Perl, followed by PHP and a bit of C. Now I use PHP everywhere. Linux is very easy to get started with programming, as every major distro just has about language environments and compilers for over 20 languages. Plus of course you get the best docs right off the box.

At last but not least I am now part of several Linux projects, mostly KDE (desktop) and Hydrogen (groove box). KDE now ships with default system sounds I made. Hydrogen features my drum sounds and patterns, plus I am the one behind the web site and forum.

Okay, too much written. One day I hope to put my thoughts about "living" with Linux into some document.


Artemio.

This last weekend, I completely trashed Window$ XP from my laptop. I got real tired of trying to keep all of my machines updated with the latest and greatest "critical" security updates, virus definition files, etc. I put Fedora Core 3 on it for now. I still have Window$ XP on my desktop machine, since I have amassed a huge library of software for that environment (paid for it all too. What a Smuck I am!).

I'll take a look at Mandrive Linux, since I am not overly impressed with Fedora as it has crashed on me a few times already. The crashes were probably somewhat self-inflicted but irritating none-the-less.

I have tried Linux several times in the past, but always in a dual boot mode. This is the first time I totally removed my Window$ version off the machine though. I really had to think about it before I did it. I am pretty sure I won't regret it as soon as I find a distro I'm happy with.

My stuff: http://dhsw.home.comcast.net

Hi Artemio

Thanks. I'll be waiting for those links.
You say : "There are all apps you'd need for daily work, and you will always read virtually any file from any OS from any filesystem type."

I understand what you mean buy "apps for daily work" but since work also includes music, is there music apps similar to Sonar or Cubase for Linux or can I use these in Linux ?

Sorry for the stupid question but as I said I'm a Linux zero.


...just could not afford the 8!

Bruiser:

Hey, I am glad to hear this! As I said, Linux has changed a lot in the last three years, mainly because some many great apps have been developed. I'd really suggest you Mandriva 2005, it is much better than FC (even most reviewers say so).

But, make sure to get the 6 CD set, not 4 CD. You will miss drivers and extra software that will save you hours of time. If you cannot find a low-cost (non-boxed) 6 CD set, I can burn and send it to you for just the cost of the CDs and postal service.

Fix:

Yes, there is a nice sequencer called Rosegarden. It is considered as an analogue of Cubase. It is a very versatile app, with unlimited tracks, graphical editing, piano-roll/matrix editor, notation editor, audio tracks etc.

As of daily apps, I meant office suite, CD ripping/burning, vector/raster graphical editors, browsers and e-mail clients, instant messengers etc. They're all here right out of the box. BTW this is another thing I love about Linux and good distros - no need to waste hours and days to install the software you need. In around one hour of install, you get 1000+ packages ready to use - most of them are system base and development packages (so you can install other software from source code) but there are 250+ graphical apps usually installed (actually more than 750 I think if you select all, but noone needs that).

All:

Once again I say that Mandriva is great, just give it a try. Feel free to ask me any questions, I'll be glad to help.

BTW, here are the googled links for low-cost 6 CD set:

http://linuxcentral.com/catalog/index.php3?prod_code=L000-406
http://pctech101.com/products.php?cat=222

mmmmhhh,
In that case I've got a request for you Art. I'll send you an email.


...just could not afford the 8!

Send it in, Fix