h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Apparition, I'm curious to know more about Mandrake. Has anybody used it that you know of and then gone back to Windows for any reason?

What non-proprietary software can and can't you run on it? For example, I have special multimedia, graphics and games packages that probably don't offer Linux drivers.

How do you install the drivers necessary for your motherboard and graphics card and so on, or do you have to download more specifically for Linux?

(Remember I am relatively new to Linux, but very interested in getting away from the instabilities and the cost issues of using Microsoft).

1) Interface design is generally pretty good. A few lousy choices (clippy, far too many popups in WinXP) spoil things a bit. Too simple in places (compare windows toolbar to the gnome panel).

2) Hardware compatability is pretty good. Problems are a rarity. You may think it's bad, but try a lesser supported OS like Linux sometime...

3) Office is alright. Some mistakes (macro viruses, anyone?). Generally does what you want it to do in a reasonably straightforward way. Could certainly be done better; it tries to offer both simplicity and lots of features at once and doesn't quite succeed at either. Definitely too expensive; see Californian anti-trust suite.

4) Again, too expensive. The Californian anti-trust suite has succeeded in getting some of the price back for Californians.

5) Nope, mostly because of their business practices and various limitations of the software. I won't give them money if I can possibly help it.

I currently have Windows 98 (bought), XP (free student copy), Redhat 7.2 and RedHat 8... I use RedHat 7.2 as my main OS... so I guess I get to answer the second set

1) I use RedHat 7.2. Hardware was a bit tricky to set up and I ended up buying a new webcam. Works much, much better than Windows did in many ways. I would recommend a more recent version to anyone who's a computer geek or has a computer geek to set it up for them. Compatability in terms of internet/networking has been good. (I set up a RedHat machine as a print server and connection sharer in place of a windows machine).

2) I do ... in fact I partition to have four.

General Microsoft questions:

1) Bad. They've recently agreed to a $23 million settlement for forcing vendors to ship PCs with only windows; that's all well and good, but it doesn't change the fact that they've used illegal tactics to corner and keep the market. I'm not sure a fine can ever fix that... maybe a few tens of billions of dollars would make them take notice...

2) If you buy one, Microsoft loses quite a bit of money. They're selling them at a large loss to try and take over the market... need I say more?

Other thoughts... as you can tell, I'm not a fan ... the software is by and large alright, but could be so much better. Their business tactics are despicable, and they've done a lot of damage to innovation and almost completely killed competition on the desktop.

And just so you know I'm not a complete anti-Microsoft nut: if a family asks me 'what operating system should we get for our PC?', I'll say Windows XP. I might not like it, but it's still the best choice for the average home user. (I guess I could recommend a mac, though )

Okay, I'll try this piece by piece.

"Apparition, I'm curious to know more about Mandrake. Has anybody used it that you know of and then gone back to Windows for any reason?"

Me, I have due to lack of hard drive space but now I have a bigger hard drive. Of people I know who've used it. Hard drive space has always been the reason but that's not really a concern for most people anymore.

"What non-proprietary software can and can't you run on it? For example, I have special multimedia, graphics and games packages that probably don't offer Linux drivers."

Here's the tough part. Most games available for windows don't have a linux version. There are projects where people are "porting" games to linux and the game engines the ID software use (quake etc) run natively under linux and you only have to download a new UI drom their site. What I do is dual boot and run games under windows and wait for the gaming software houses to realise that things such as 3D games run better under linux.

Linux has a wide variaty of Multimedia software. 'The Gimp' come by default and is described as "photoshop with the $1,000 price tag". MM is not really my area but it may help to know that the movie shrek was done on linux.

The latest New Zealand PC World came with open office for windows and linux, which can write PDF files NZ PC World is up to part 4 of a linux step by step using mandrake (previous point release). Check out http://www.pcworld.co.nz

"How do you install the drivers necessary for your motherboard and graphics card and so on, or do you have to download more specifically for Linux?"

As I mentioned before I downloaded the latest Nvidia drivers for mine but didn't actually need any drivers. The reason for this is how new the OS is. The most recent version was compiled March this year.
The only thing that doesn't work is my scanner and that's because it is an old paralell port scanner (there's a big story behind the paralell port which ends with there being no standard for scanners). The next release will probably support it bacause the project the writes scanner drivers was working on the series with my model number in it, the last I looked.

"(Remember I am relatively new to Linux, but very interested in getting away from the instabilities and the cost issues of using Microsoft)."

I'm not one to plug M$ but if you have to use one of their OSs, windows 2000 is the best thing they've done and most stable.

Hope that helped.

I think you mean without the $1,000 price tag, Apparition

I'm not really a big fan of The Gimp's interface, but there's no doubt the power is there... not a bad one to learn to use. Also fun in the multimedia department is Cinelerra (movie editing):

http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3

And blender (3D modelling and animation):

http://www.blender3d.com/

I believe there's some decent audio mixing software out there too... (all free)...

I guess the best advice re: trying Linux is... it's free, no real reason not to ...

"I think you mean without the $1,000 price tag, Apparition"
ah yeah tanks, I missed that one

"I guess the best advice re: trying Linux is... it's free, no real reason not to ..." when someone using something as archaic as red hat 7 then you gotta take notice

... well... been using it for eighteen months, it's now completely customized and generally bent to my every whim... it's going to be a lot of work upgrading, although I do plan to do that soon if at all possible ... planning on going the gentoo route, currently.

I'm going to wimp out and buy a new hard disk, though ... four operating systems spread over two disks is not something I feel up to messing with at the moment, heh.

well, ya know. Mandrake can "update" over most redhat based OSs. You know you wanna control pannel. You know you want live update and software drake etc

Thank you very much for your advice. I still have a few queries though; just basic things:

When you upgrade, for example from Mandrake 9.1 to 9.2 when it comes out, do you have to pay the full price again? Or is it available to download free?

How do the Linux office suites compare to Microsoft Office? Do they have as much functionality, and how compatible are the Microsoft Office file types with Linux?

Has your Linux system ever crashed?

Thanks again. I'm seriously considering changing over to Linux - I just wish I'd had the choice when the computer was bought in the first place.

Hmm, I can field some of those

You can download any version of Linux for free, near enough. All you actually pay for is tech support and other conveniences (better servers, live update servers, that kinda thing). I have yet to actually pay for Linux, but then I'm a penniless student...

OpenOffice is the major 'Office-alike' office suite... compatability is pretty good, functionality is pretty good. Hmm. But don't take my word for it, there's a Windows version too:

http://www.openoffice.org/

Yes, I'm afraid my system has crashed... I leave it running 24/7, and I've had maybe five or six crashes over the last year... doesn't seem to make any difference whether I'm using it or not, so it could well be a hardware thing. It's never bothered me enough to actually persuade me to track down the problem...

Ah, something you might find interesting :

http://www.knoppix.net/

Download, burn to CD, boot... and you have a complete Linux system without ever having to touch your hard disk ... I've never used it, but I've heard good things...

(ah, just to clarify, I mention Knoppix because it's a particularly low-investment way of experimenting with Linux)

good fielding

Yes, you don't pay fo linux, but you can. For mandrake there is a 3 disk free set. You can buy sets with big shiny printed manuals and non open source and non free software bundled. The biggest pay-for version of Mandrake come on 9 CDs or one DVD. I'm a pennyless support tech so I've never paid for linux either.

It's not recomended to upgrade any operating system. When you install your system you make a partition called /home where all your files and settings are kept and when you install a new version you choose install instead of upgrade. It solves a lot of problems and I do it for windows too.

Thank you again! I will be buying Mandrake as soon as I can. I assume with the free downloadable version there is a lot more configuration to do.

No more configuration in the download version but also no telephone support or big shiney manual.

Thank you very much. I am now posting to this conversation using Mozilla, on Mandrake Linux 9.1 PowerPack. I think it's brilliant! This computer uses a shared ADSL internet connection, and I thought it would take a while to configure it. I was pleasantly surprised when I found I was able to browse the web from the very first boot-up with no configuration at all.

It detected the printer perfectly; however I did have a problem with the on-board sound at first, which is now fixed. I am using the KDE and getting along with it fine.

The amount of software is impressive and it will take a long time for me to get round to using it all. I installed the Gimp with the package manager and it looks good. There is an issue with RealPlayer though. On the BBC there is live video and audio content that requires a RealPlayer plugin, but on the package manager it says it can't install that plugin because the signature is invalid.

Overall though, I think that it was certainly worth the migration and I will be recommending this OS to others.

another happy mandrake user

for realplayer either download from the site or try http://plugins.netsape.com and take a look there

Cool

I've just moved to Gentoo, myself... definitely not recommended for first-time use, but good if you're into Linux

yes but does it come with tux racer?

Personally I haven't installed Tux Racer yet. Is it good? I like Celestia, the 3D planetarium, and Kalzium the periodic table program. I was also pleased about when I tried my digital camera with Mandrake; it worked perfectly and I can browse the CF card just like a floppy disk almost.

Firstly, if you are a Microsoft Windows user:
1) What do you think of its interface design? By this I mean the concept of the desktop, start menu, directory browsing, taskbars, dialogue boxes and windows (those that pop up and contain programs). Is it all helpful or just crash-provoking? What do you like about these interface features, what do you dislike, and what could be improved?

Pretty ambivalent. It does the job, doesn't crash too often, so I don't complain.

2) What do you think about compatibility issues with Microsoft? I think many people (including myself) have had a bad experience in upgrading to Windows XP because so much of their hardware and software has instantly become incompatible. Personally there are still some drivers I can't find on the web.

I have had trouble with games purcghased when I had ME not working now I have XP, even if I run in compatability mode.

3) What do you think about the Microsoft Office Suite? Do you think the programs have numerous uses and a wide range of tools and features, but does this compromise on performance? Is the Office Suite over-priced, bearing in mind that the full Developer's Suite is about £750?

Only Microsoft Office I've got came free, and I only tend to use Word and Excel. I certainly wouldn't fork out hundreds of pounds on it though.

4) Is Microsoft Windows itself over-priced?

Don't know. I have no idea of the value of various copmponents, or the price of rival Operating systems.

5) This is a big question, but a necessary one in such a survey: Overall, are you a satisfied Microsoft customer?

Overall, yes. Few exceptions, but generaslly fine.


Thirdly, general Microsoft questions:
1) What do you think about the way Microsoft has been allowed to dominate the Operating System industry (about 90% of computer users have Windows)?

Has it been "allowed" to dominate, or has it just suceeded. If you're suggesting Microsoft should be limited, I'm not sure I agree.

2) What do you think about the Xbox?

Only played on one once. Seemed alright.

Tux racer is a good 3d game where you race a penguin down a hill of snow and ice with jumps ect. A great time waster

Mandrake is good with USB devices. Where I am, a lot of people have USB keyring drives.