> Mandrake 9.0 has GNOME 2 on it, which is cool, and it still has > development tools that I can learn on. Aside from the bad taste > that RPMS leave in peoples' mouths, is Mandrake really THAT bad? I > need more of the basics to understand this stuff. Need to spend > more time in the CLI, and Mandrake can let me do that when I want, > yet give me a functional GUI when I want it.
As a former Mandrake user, I would say no it isn't that bad. But, like you, I hate the whole RPM way of dealing with installing programs, so I found Debian to be a perfect match. However, maybe you could try apt-rpm while you're using Mandrake? http://apt-rpm.tuxfamily.org/ It says it's for RedHat, but I've heard of Mandrake users being successful with it. It could make things more bearable for you until you either (a) get a new sound card or (b) figure out how to make your current one work. > I can't help but feel like a bastard, though. I want Debian, Slack, > or Gentoo to work for me, but need to break myself in or I won't > even survive the install. Question: Why are you picking the more advanced distro's automatically? There is no reason to feel bad. You have to get a fundamental knowledge base (as well as have the right hardware.) Do you want them to work for bragging rights or something? Mandrake/RedHat/SuSE *are* user friendly (more so than any of the 3 distro's you listed) but that doesn't mean they're for complete idiots. Take your time ;) Erinn -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
