Mandrake 8.1, Try it out?

[Bain]

Hey, I've been using Windows my whole life, never even bothered to look into Linux however now that I'm starting to hear more and more about it I've really started to look into it.

Anyway, I got a few questions..

1.) Am I going to be able to use it if I install it since I've never operated anything else but Windows, I've heard it's much harder to work with.

2.) I've read alot about the installation and dual booting with Windows, is it tuff to do?

3.) Does Linux Mandrake have many advantages over Windows XP and if so what are they?

4.) I've heard you need a Windows Emulator to run Microsoft Products, how do these products run with an emulator?

Thanks for your help everyone as for I'm just now looking into Linux and I know *very* little to nothing on the topic.

Later,

Bain

[Wildcard]

I'm dual booting Windows 2000 and Mandrake 8.1 right now... since Win2k and WinXP I think the guide I found would help you out.

http://www.littlewhitedog.com/reviews_other_00011.asp

I would suggest you goto the Mandrake site to make sure your hardware is supported. As for advantages, its definately more secure and stable than Windows would be, but then again I dont have XP. You should try it out and see for yourself. As for Windows emulators I've heard of Lwin and VMware, havent really tried them since I'm dual booting. I've heard that VMware doesnt work under 8.1... Tell me how your Linux experience goes....

[configure Veteran]

1.) Am I going to be able to use it if I install it since I've never operated anything else but Windows, I've heard it's much harder to work with.

You're going to have a hard time. I suggest you get a book or something and study it along the way..

2.) I've read alot about the installation and dual booting with Windows, is it tuff to do?

No, I find it very easy with loadlin (which is included in most distro) Loadlin allow you to boot into Linux from command prompt. But you must have your kernel image (vmlinuz, or bzImage, it depends) in your FAT32 partition.

4.) I've heard you need a Windows Emulator to run Microsoft Products, how do these products run with an emulator?

You can use wine(WINdows Emulator) which is a freeware by the way :)

As for advantages, its definately more secure and stable than Windows

Can you prove it? Do you have any evidence regarding it?

VMware

VMware let you load Windows IN Linux, I've never use it, but I think there's a free version.

For all your Linux software needs: http://freshmeat.net

[mortensen]

I have "used" Linux Mandrake 8 and "I" found it to be awful. Yes, everyone should try it because different people like different things, but I was in the same situation as you where I'd heard good stuff about it... but knowing what "I" know now I'll not be using it again.

"Queen - Princes Of The Universe"

[willywonka69]

ive tryed linux Mandrake8.0 and i love it

[MulletRobZ]

Is there any significant changes in 8.1 from 8.0? Cause if there's not, then I'll stick to my kickass Linux-Mandrake 8.0! :)

[configure Veteran]

Prolly the software in the distribution changes, kernel changes, check the ChangeLog on their site..

[UndaC]

"Is there any significant changes in 8.1 from 8.0?"

new kernel and new xfree86 are the most apparent changes

new xfree is great for the radeon owners as it spells out the box compability with ATI cards

Linux is great but:

1. it has lack of application and games

2. is pretty tough to operate

3. this is the one "problem" that I really hate the most, there's no installers, I HATE IT!!! (well there are some primitive installers but they're not widely used and they are kinda crap)

this is also one of THE main reasons that people don't use Linux :dead: , when you can't even download and install a simple browser without having to plow through a readme and use a console/terminal people get kinda "scared"

Mandrake 8.1 has better out the box support than Windows XP on my rig

they install drivers for all the same stuff, BUT Mandrake also has drivers for my printer, XP doesn't

btw: hi all this is my first post here

you might know me from iexbeta, neowin or betanet, if so say hi :p

[configure Veteran]

What about package system? Debian Package System do a wonderful job, not to mention simple/fast package system from Slackware... :D

[MulletRobZ]

I checked the list of changes from Mandrake 8.0 to 8.1 and I decided to just not upgrade Mandrake, but to update The GIMP, KDE, and XMMS off their original sites. I'll probably not upgrade my Mandrake until version 8.2 or 9.0 are released. I find that the only things that are hard to operate in Linux are the terminal and using Tarballs (tar.gz) .

[UndaC]

but the terminal and tarballs are kinda important to say the least :p

[configure Veteran]

I like to compile from the source instead of install from package. When you do that, you can have more control of what you want to install in one set of software, ie. KDE. :)

The speed of install from packaging and compiling is totally different. That is because software are precompiled to work with such distro and was build into package, so all it ever do was extract 'em to where they belong :p

[MulletRobZ]

Very interesting, Configure! The problem is is that I don't have a friggin' clue on how to operate a compiler! And also, what compilers do you know of, configure? :)

[configure Veteran]

By defualt, most of Linux distro comes with GCC(compiler) and pre-selected. You should read the "INSTALL" document that were attached with every source file, it'll explain in detail on how to compile and install.

[MulletRobZ]

OK! I believe I got that installed! Thanks, configure! :)

[configure Veteran]

it hitted final...

download: http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/ftp.php3

new features: http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/81.php3

order: http://www.mandrakestore.com/