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Re: [LUG] Mandrake 10.1 Install

 
FWIW

As a complete newbie I installed Debian without any trouble (on an old desktop), I had problems with X-config, but the basic setup in stable was easy (thanks to http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2016). Once I had that moving to Sarge was bliss.

My major problem at the moment is trying to get samba working so I can link it to my win98 machine. The problem here is trying to understand windows networking...... (I can ping each machine but sometimes my win98 sees my debian but mostly not, if the blasted thing would be consistent it would help...)

and yes, while the manuals, help pages, google are very helpful I find these in most cases very heavy going because I do not have the assumed knowledge. One of the best things about this board is the help in knowing *where* to look.

For example: I installed cron-apt but finally removed it after rereading the "help" and not understanding what I had to do to get it working. But yes, it looks good, its what I want but at the moment I do not understand the language, and in terms of priority for me the key is getting samba as I then get ensure any data I generate on debian is backed up.

Mandrake just does this for no apparent reason, it's one of mdk's many
flaws which ensure I continue to use Gentoo.


Well I did consider putting Debian on here, seeing as I was reinstalling
anyway, but two (OK Grant.. a few ;) ) things stopped me:

0.5. Haven't burned the ISO to a CD yet.. Oops.

1.  Dumb thing.  I didn't know if the /home of one distribution would be
compatible with another.  Logic and gut instinct say of course they are
(likening this to the "My Documents" folder in Windows.... upgrading to
another version of Windows doesn't kill the ability to read it), but
without
it being a cast iron certainty, I didn't want to risk losing user data.

2.  Mandrake's install is easy.  By now I do feel I should be making more
headway into other distros to customise the system to a stripped down
installation - stripped down in the sense of installing *only* what I want
and nothing else- even though Mandrake's package choices do give me that
to
a certain degree.  I feel another distro such as Debian or Gentoo would
give
me that, but I'm balancing that against loss of productivity on the PC
while
I struggle to configure a new distro.  So the big question is: How
difficult
ARE other distros to configure compared to Mandrake?  I'm not afraid of
command lines, or config files *provided* the instructions in the
installation are clear cut and I don't end up with a half-installed system
wondering what to do next.  I can edit fstab, XFConfig-4 and various other
files with a *fair* degree of confidence now, but flying blind is not fun
:)
SuSe's Yast looks similar to Mandrake, would that be a fair comparison?
Debian's network install.... I'm on a 1.5Gb cablemodem so speed of
connecion
is not an issue for a network install.  The issue is how difficult the
package choices and configuration process is/are.  Oh and one other issue
with Debian.. I can never remember which release is best and what the
names
are.  I know Sarge is one, and Woody, but which is which, testing stable
or
what?

3.  Which to pick?  I know this will get a huge response ;)  I'm torn
between Fedora, SuSe, Gentoo and Debian.  I've downloaded (I think)
network
installation ISOs for Debian and Suse.  With the experience I just had
with
the Mandrake install I'm worried that they might not find my onboard LAN
and
would fail to download any packages to install.

4.  64 bit.  The laptop is a 64bit Athlon and I'd like to try out
something
on that.  Linuxiso.org is a bit thin on the ground for 64 bit Athlon
distros
(2 if memory serves me).

Any and all input gratefully received :)

Kind regards,

Julian

PS Neil, I resisted the temptation to boot into Windows and send a mail
this
morning when MDK died and just counted to 20 instead ;)



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