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I have used both, mandrake since 8.1 and (tried) redhat versions 7.3 and 8, and so far I have definately leaned towards mandrake.
Not just because it is prettier and easier to configure (some might say Windows like, wich aint true, as we all know), but its atmosphere.
Heck, even console (init 3) feels nicer with mandrake!
I also has experienced Mandrake is more reliable than RedHat, as I don't run servers or host emails, just do image editing, play games, surf interenet and write some stuff, like C++ programs. I have found Mandrake better for that too.
Secondly, I really hated the "same look of KDE & Gnome" in RH8, it was quite confusing.
And most of programs didn't even run on redhat out-the-box, dunno why, I did all the disk checks and stuff, plus it didn't show any signs it was attempting to drive them, so you have to listen your harddisk.
Redhat actually WAS better in one thing at 7.3: netsurfing and audio CD, it just seems both are slowed quite a bit in 8.0, unlike mandrake wich seems to have more speed since 8.2.
Please, feel free to post your comments and thoughts!
not another one... IMHO these are just boring. there are plenty of comparisons around, do we really need yet another versus thread? (note that i've not closed it though...)
Last edited by acid_kewpie; 10-29-2002 at 05:41 PM.
IMO, you should install what you like and try everything until you're comfortable with something. Does it really matter whether you install RedHAt of Caldera? Underneath it all they are the same thing, and if you were dedicated enough, you could turn anything into anything else! Personally I am a Slackware and Mandrake person (in that order ), but I have had agreeable experiences with most others. In all, does it really matter?
I would like to have a thread like this open, but rather call it a distro compare thread, rather than speaking only of the above 2. Everyone can come here and give their comments on whatever distro they use(d) and likes and dislikes with it. It would be a good thread to have for that.
As for what's better between RH and Mandy, well everyone knows it Mandy of course (just kidding )
Good point, MasterC. There are also many of these around, but since new versions of distros, and indeed new distros in their entirety are always coming out, perhaps that would be a good move.
I do use Mandy 9.0, Slackware 8.0 (not been bothered ot update yet) and I'm trying to put Smoothwall onto a third machine.
Mandy 9.0 Good points:
It's Mandy! They've gone up to a recentish version of KDE, and have thus updated Qt. They have Gnome 2, and thus have GTK2. It's easy to use, and if you want, you can have pretty much everything you want done for you. If, however, you want to learn about things a bit more, you can do stuff by hand, and it doesn't start to cry. It's very flexible in this manner. It also has damn good hardware recognition, so if you're not exactly sure what your machine has, it is likely to pick it up for you anyway. Oh, and I like the fact that the menus in all WMs/DEs have the same entries in the same places.
Bad points:
They seem to have upgraded to a nasty version of SawFish and it has lost some of its original and endearing functionality. It always starts lots of things on boot that you are not likely to need, so unless you know otherwise, you'll have lots of things slowing it down, and lots of potential holes and problems. They've split up the default RPM installer into two sections - the installer and the uninstaller - whereas it used to be one, and it was much easier to navigate stuff. I can understand why they've done it, because unless you were vigilent about whether you were on the install or uninstall page, you could quite have easily removed stuff from your system be accident!
When I can be bothered, I'll post some more on the other distros that I have used in the past, but for now, I'll leave you with the above mad rantings.
It's kind of like saying strawberry ice cream is better than chocolate. While I personally I prefer vanilla (Slackware), I very much like strawberry and chocolate, too.
Hmmm - gotta make a quick trip to the fridge now...
So far I only have experience with RH 7.2. I'm going to get RH8.0 from the one of my computer teachers at school (the linux teacher no less), but as far as I know, everyone has their own likes and dislikes. there is no better or worse distro.. it all depends on what you want. Maybe you want to do everything by hand... or maybe you want alot of things to be done for you so you don't have to think about it. I'm still definately a newb, but I'm hooked. I would like to learn everything I can about it, and try out different distros. In my opinion, it's all good. (except M$, hehe)
LOL. Did I say I >wanted< to do everything by hand? I was just saying some people might. I like messing with stuff and configuring things myself to a certain degree... but even I'm not that patient.
Originally posted by adas I have used both, mandrake since 8.1 and (tried) redhat versions 7.3 and 8, and so far I have definately leaned towards mandrake.
Not just because it is prettier and easier to configure (some might say Windows like, wich aint true, as we all know), but its atmosphere.
Heck, even console (init 3) feels nicer with mandrake!
I also has experienced Mandrake is more reliable than RedHat, as I don't run servers or host emails, just do image editing, play games, surf interenet and write some stuff, like C++ programs. I have found Mandrake better for that too.
Secondly, I really hated the "same look of KDE & Gnome" in RH8, it was quite confusing.
And most of programs didn't even run on redhat out-the-box, dunno why, I did all the disk checks and stuff, plus it didn't show any signs it was attempting to drive them, so you have to listen your harddisk.
Redhat actually WAS better in one thing at 7.3: netsurfing and audio CD, it just seems both are slowed quite a bit in 8.0, unlike mandrake wich seems to have more speed since 8.2.
Please, feel free to post your comments and thoughts!
I just read your post........ and just about everything you mentioned, only reversed...... is wht I dumped Mandrake and went to Red Hat. 1/2 of my programs never even worked in Mandrake, everything works for me in Red Hat ....and the OS itself is just much cleaner and more professional looking.
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