Mandrake or Fedora?

[axp 0]

Hi,

 

Ive currently got Mandrake installed on my computer, but I also have a copy of Fedora. The reason I didnt install Fedora is because the installation process failed when it tries to start X windows(why does this happen?). So i would have had to install it in text mode. And as I am a newbie to Linux, i was not very confident about doing so. So I installed Mandrake 9.1 instead.

 

I was just wondering, because Fedora is newer than Mandrake 9.1, should i spend the time to install Fedora where currently Mandrake is? Actually, I'm quite happy with Mandrake as it is, i probably wont install Fedora...But whats the difference between them anyway?

 

Thanks

[Maillion 0]

Originally posted by axp:

Quote:

Hi,

 

Ive currently got Mandrake installed on my computer, but I also have a copy of Fedora. The reason I didnt install Fedora is because the installation process failed when it tries to start X windows(why does this happen?). So i would have had to install it in text mode. And as I am a newbie to Linux, i was not very confident about doing so. So I installed Mandrake 9.1 instead.

 

I was just wondering, because Fedora is newer than Mandrake 9.1, should i spend the time to install Fedora where currently Mandrake is? Actually, I'm quite happy with Mandrake as it is, i probably wont install Fedora...But whats the difference between them anyway?

 

Thanks

 

The failure is usually because X has no idea of what video system you have, or it thinks you video system is something it is not. There may be other problems, but that is what I see most often as the cause.

 

Both Mandrake and Fedora are based upon Red Hat, Mandrake has diverged from its ancestor a bit more than Fedora. Fedora hasn't existed quite as long as Mandrake has, I'd guess, because Fedora is what Red Hat has helped set up in the Oen Source arena as its own replacement when it decided to go fully commecial, into the 'enterprise' arena. I consider Mandrake to be more user friendly, and I have had little luck with either Red Hat or Fedora, perhaps because of my hardware, also. My Fedora installs also failed, but at different points, except for the first.

 

If I were you, and Mandrake 9.1 were running, I'd stick with it for a while, at least until you find out something better. I started with Mandrake myself, when my first attempts at Debian died on me. (I didn't know anythingabout Linux at the time, except how to get a command line directory listing).

 

I've since learned that it is easy to try out a distro. Do you want to try out Debian? then get Knoppix, Morpheus, or Gnoppix. Each of these is a 'LiveCD', which is designed to run entirely from a CD (with the help of a RAMdisk). They are all based upon Debian, and neither of the two I've tried have diverged a lot from their ancestor.

 

There are several others out there, based on other known distros. Mandrake has one, as well as SUSE and Slackware. There may be some I have forgotten, and there may be new ones since the last time I looked. These will allow you to try out other distros without messing around with your present operating system(s).

 

If you haven't already, try text-only mode, and try out the command line. You can do it in a terminal window, but it feels different if you have no GUI to click on at the border of the window. Mandrake, using either KDE or Gnome will give you all the graphic interface options you can ever use. Have fun! 8) 8)

[Dapper Dan 0]

I'm with maillion on this. Even though I use Fedora, and detest Mandrake 9.1 and 9.2, if it works for you then I would stick with it. I started with Mandrake too, and the interface is pretty easy to understand, plus you get a lot of great configuration tools. Once you've got a good idea of what Linux is about then try other distros at that time.

[axp 0]

Okay, thanks for your input. I think that I will stay with Mandrake for the moment. At the moment, i can not really do much in shell. I can basically only list files and search for files.

 

One thing though, in Mandrake 9.1, how do you make it so that my ethernat card has a static IP address? Because currently, it dynamically assigns itself one, but it takes a VERY long time!! How do i assign a static IP?

[Maillion 0]

Originally posted by axp:

Quote:

Okay, thanks for your input. I think that I will stay with Mandrake for the moment. At the moment, i can not really do much in shell. I can basically only list files and search for files.

 

One thing though, in Mandrake 9.1, how do you make it so that my ethernat card has a static IP address? Because currently, it dynamically assigns itself one, but it takes a VERY long time!! How do i assign a static IP?

 

Sorry, but your isp assigns your ip address, unless you have your own domain and server...

[SoulNothing 0]

use what works with you thus far try a dual boot if you want

 

im really into fedora its actually one of the few distros that will work on my computer