Mandrake vs. Suse? 1

[metsfan421]

If you were new to Linux and wanted to purchase a new Linux distro, would you go with Mandrake or Suse? I mainly want to browse the web, listen to music, learn the different Linux commands and other OS intricacies, but I want to be able to do it easily, and without many problems with drivers, ect. My computer is about a year old so I would hope most of the drivers are out there for the hardware in my Gateway. Your opinions are appreciated.

Thanks,

Eddie

 

[flugh]

I'll toss out a Mandrake vote here. The basis for this:
[ul]
[li]I've used Mandrake a good bit since back at version 6. It's pretty nice, desktop shapes up great out of the box, things just work without a lot of hassle.[/li]
[li]I tried a Suse Live CD to get a feel for it. Didn't want to run, screamed and kicked it a bunch, still didn't boot. Threw the CD in the trash.[/li]
[/ul]
I've heard too many great things about Suse to really believe my experience is the norm. Just a bad set of circumstances. But still, I will always turn to Mandrake first if I want run either of the two.

But when I sober up, I'll regain my senses and install Debian over any other inferior Linux distribution I may have accidentally installed during my drunken stupor ;-)

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JBR

 

[bfks3230]

SuSE has good manuals. But it installs with a lot of stuff you may not need. I was trying to set up a Sendmail box, for example, and got stuck with all this multimedia stuff that I didn't need.

I've definitely become a Debian fan, too. But the install can be tricky the first time. It also takes a long time for software to get into Debian "stable." Most Debian fans tell me just about anything in "testing" works fine.

Overall, Linux in general benefits greatly from this competition. All the distributions take good ideas from each other.

 

[LawnBoy]

I'll put in a vote for SuSE. It does load a lot of stuff, though. As a stone-cold newbie, SuSE 9.0 installed all my hardware first time. It even auto-mounts USB memory sticks.

 

[TonyGroves]

I'm a newcomer to Linux, by accident.

I built myself a new PC a few months ago, and tried to install W*****s 2000 on it, but the stupid thing kept crashing, in different ways and at different stages of the install. Assuming it was something to do with hardware, I increased the power supply, upped the cooling system, checked I had all the latest drivers; still no joy, constant crashes/hangs/reboots/you-name-it. So I gave up for a while.

Then I visited a local computer trade show and was handed a set of SuSE 8.2 CD's, so I decided it would do no harm to at least see what Linux crashes look like. So I started installing it - a couple of clicks later it set about doing its work, and to my amazement it did the whole job almost on its own with not a murmur of complaint. Then when I started playing with it, I found that all the usual application software had been installed and was ready for use - office stuff, web browsing, e-mail, games, multimedia, etc.

And now, after a couple of weeks of severe provocation, it still hasn't crashed.

So, for this Linux learner, it's thumbs up for Suse.

 

[mattjurado]

Funny thing Tony mentions, all of our webservers are old computers that would no longer install Windows. Throw SuSE on them, and they work just fine.

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[jurgen36]

Suse would be the best. I had for a test only, Mandrake 9.2, Red Hat 10, Debian and Suse 9.1 installed as a multy boot on seperate drives. The only distro which identified all my hardware was Suse. The other distros had problems with the hardware, mainly USB2, and with my Sata Raid 0 drives. Using YAST you can easily remove unwanted programs and also fully automatic upgrade everything. I hope this helps. Incidently I normally use Sun Solaris unix. Regards

Jurgen

 

[onrdbandit]

Howdy,

A few weeks back, I got an interest in Suse and downloaded the live disk. Flugh knows the end of that story, but now its not even usable as a coaster.

I essentially gave up on Suse, but it sounds like it deserves a second glance... Working on building a machine now, and I definately plan to multi-boot w/ Suse in there somewhere. Maybe I can find redemption...

onrdbandit

If we are only animals, how do we decide what is right and what is wrong?

 

[LegoPiMaster]

What about RPM availability? I have mandrake and all it's RPMs have .mdk tacked on to the end, and im not sure if you can use ones that don't. When I use rpmfind, sometimes it gets what i want in exclusively in Suse RPMS and sometimes only Mandrake. Which are generally more available (or is one better in some areas ...), and are they compatible?


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echo `fortune fortunes`$'\b in bed.'
Your lover will never wish to leave you in bed.

 

[nogg123]

I have used mandrake since 6.0 and it has always been good at
picking up hardware. havn't tried suse.
if you just want to play til you get used to it, try a knoppix live cd. just download the iso, burn to a cd and boot from it. knoppix has probably the best detection in the world!