Mandrake & Other Distros

[jMon54]

I am new to Linux, been at it for about 6 months, like it lots. I am trying other flavors and am wondering What is the Deal with distros like Mandrake or Suse or Red Hat? I find it very hard to download their ISO images. With Knoppix 3.6, it was so easy! I downloaded Mandrake 3 different times, 3 CDs each. And I have yet to get past the first two minutes of the install program on two different computers. Has Knoppix spoiled me?

If only I could get Knoppix to see my wireless card... :cry:

[eon]

Perhaps you have already found a solution to your wireless woes,
but for whatever its worth I have seen posts here saying that kanotix
finds and sets up their wireless.

As far as other distros go the last review I read from LWN just supported
my impression about mandrake (buggy) although not all users experiance that.

If you want ease of use and a debian system xandros might suprise you.
I was suprised with the community release of xandros 2.0. It even recognized
my nvidia gpu and set up the driver (splash screen loaded on 1st boot)
Still, it, like so many of the big distros is a commercial venture, and their community
release has several unfortunate limitations.

[jjmac]

Hi jMon54

>>
What is the Deal with distros like Mandrake or Suse or Red Hat? I find it very hard to download their ISO images. With Knoppix 3.6, it was so easy! I downloaded Mandrake 3 different times, 3 CDs each. And I have yet to get past the first two minutes of the install program on two different computers.
>>

You haven't really given much there to comment on. Lots of people dload all those things quite regularly.

What actually happened ?. Tjere wasen't a major thunder storm on at the time by chance ?, was there :D

>>
Has Knoppix spoiled me?
>>

Probably (grin) :)




eon ...

>>
... like so many of the big distros is a commercial venture, and their community
release has several unfortunate limitations.
>>

There's the point, you get what you pay for, so to speak. It seems the main distros __use__ their community releases as a testing ground for the main product. But they have been a bit ___to___ lacks though, in some regards, over the last year. Even for a testing release, in my opinion.

Hope it dosen't become a directional trend in that regard. In that, MS should be allowed to remain "the holders of the mantle" for buggy OS releases, not Linux :)


jm