[CS-FSLUG] Linux distributions

[Vincent Danen]

* Nathan T. <celerate at gmail.com> [2006-11-29 22:32:17 -0700]:

Hi, Nathan,  This is my first post on the list (so hello to everyone
else, just signed up an hour ago...), so bear with me.

> It's been a while since I've used Linux, I haven't used AL since I  
> got that Microsoft wireless laser mouse 6000 of mine which it  
> wouldn't support. I tried Kubuntu recently but the networking was  
> broken, it wouldn't mount my password protected network share no  
> matter how hard I tried.
> 
> I doubt I'll be going back near SUSE because I don't like the mess  
> they're getting into with Microsoft and I've never been really  
> impressed with YaST's hunger for system resources. I considered  
> Mandriva but I'd need to be completely reoriented because they seem  
> to have moved away from urpmi, and as many of you may remember I  

I'm not sure what you mean here.  Mandriva hasn't moved away from urpmi
(what are we using *instead of* urpmi, might I ask?).  urpmi is still
the primary CLI package installer, and rpmdrake has been redesigned so
that is a bit different, true.  It still comes with some other managers
(I believe smart might be in main, and apt-rpm is in contribs).

> don't like Fedora much because they neglect KDE and there's a lot of  
> effort required to fix that.
> 
> I was hoping that someone could take the time to reintroduce me to a  
> distribution, probably Mandriva. I would like to find one that uses  
> KDE, has most of the C++ developer tools including Qt Designer and Qt  
> Assistant, preferably has a commercial package that includes the  
> latest flash player, proper mp3 support working all through KDE, and  
> the proprietary NVidia drivers.

Mandriva has all of this.  I'm not sure if the proprietary nvidia
drivers are a free download or if you need to be a Club member... I'm
suspecting free because we made an "updates/non-free" update repository
not too long ago and from my understanding, nvidia driver updates are
supposed to land in there one of these days.  Everything else you're
asking for Mandriva has (as do most other distros).

> I'd be more likely to re-approach Linux now that I've seen flash  
> working well on the latest Kubuntu. It looked like all the timing  
> issues were fixed and the sound was once again synced with the video.  
> Perhaps some of you might recommend that I wait for the latest  
> upcoming version? Or perhaps someone could tell me about the Mandriva  
> Club and payment options?

Ummm... not too sure what the cost and payment options are for Club, but
I'm sure you can find out on the Club website:
http://club.mandriva.com/.  I don't believe it's overly expensive,
but I never really go there and have never had to pay for it (oh,
sorry, I should have indicated that I work for Mandriva so my opinions
might be construed as biased but they really aren't).

> I look forward to some replies, I've got an empty computer here ready  
> and waiting for an OS.

I'd recommend Mandriva.  Like you, I find SUSE a little bloated for my
tastes (although the whole Novell/MS deal hasn't really bothered me
much, I dislike SUSE for purely technical reasons).  Ubuntu is ok (never
tried Kubuntu since I'm not too fond of KDE (I prefer GNOME)), and I
actually use it on my little Toshiba Libretto because Mandriva 2006
couldn't make the wireless and SD reader work, and while those things
worked in Mandriva 2007 for some reason X is borked on it now.  =(

Fedora I've never really cared for either.

Anyways, hopefully that helps a bit.

-- 
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