[plug] mandrake-linux

[Brock Woolf]

On 12/01/2005, at 9:39 PM, Michael Collard wrote:

> On Wed, 2005-01-12 at 21:25 +0800, Brock Woolf wrote:
>> On 12/01/2005, at 9:08 PM, WolfBite wrote:
>>
>>> hi mary,
>>>    The BEST mandrakes versions as far as i'm concerned
>>> was most befor 10/10.1.
>>
>> In some ways I would agree, but 10.0 has many improvements over the 
>> old
>> version of Mandrake
>> I must say I did like version 9, though it is still old now.
>>
>>> But if you would like to try it, check the newsagents
>>> for LINUX FORMAT 60 (current) comes with Mandrake 10.1
>>> and EASY instructions to follow (in mag :)
>>
>> Again, having already gone through a compete install of 10.1 and using
>> it for a week only to find
>> that it couldn't do the job, and doing a complete rehaul of my server
>> back to 10.0 I could not reccomend
>> highly enough that you do not use 10.1. It is an unstable release. 
>> Even
>> though according to Mandrake's release
>> format it is supposed to be stable.
>
> Bare in mind that this is only your opinion (you've already voiced it),
> and don't forget, its linux, so version numbers from distributions mean
> little cause the system can easily be changed. I run a custom x86_64
> 10.1 system with no trouble since I've ironed out most of the problems.
> Simply though, 10.1 with updates is just as good if not better than
> 10.0.

Yes, I am well aware that I have already voiced my opinion (I was the 
one who wrote it)
However, for Mary's sake since she stated she was new to Linux, my 
"persistance"
may just solve a lot of problems for her.
Do not take this the wrong way, I am not saying you are stupid for 
using 10.1, because you
seem to know how to install updates on Mandrake.
Mary however probably doesn't.
So rather than explain to Mary what URPMI is and give her the locations 
for the update mirrors,
(which is more downloading) I would rather make a sound recommendation 
that is based on my own experience
with Mandrake and help her to eliminate the smallest of problems.

Don't try and make it harder for her. Use your memory and remember what 
it was like when you
didn't know what "su" did, or even Alt-F4 for that matter.
Would you rather have someone recommend to you that you use Windows 
Millenium Edition
after you said you were a Windows newbie. But then someone else.... 
"Me" came along
and recommended that even though Windows ME was a newer operating 
system and "YOU" had no problems
with it that Windows 2000 was a much more stable and easier solution to 
use compared to ME.
...... think about it.

Bottom line, Mandrake 10.1 is fine, although with all the bugs in it, 
and considering that when things in Linux don't work you
don't get any error messages, Mary may not know that the system is the 
fault and not her.
Let's make it easier for a newbie, and like I said before, unless Mary 
has a Centrino laptop and needs out of the box WiFi support,
there is no real advantage to counter the flaws present in the system.

If Mary cannot figure whether she has done something wrong, or the 
system is just not working, then the frustration and
loss of time she experiences may result in her not using ANY version of 
Mandrake, neither 10.0 nor 10.1...little lone Linux at all.

- Brock