When I started off in Linux, I used Mandriva. Considering the large mess that is Kubuntu Jaunty, I've been thinking of switching.

The reason I went from Mandriva to the Ubuntu family in the first place is because there was a lot of applications that were deb only. Now I'm using (and loving) KDE apps, theres no real concern for me to do that.

I use YouTube quite a lot, and some gtk+ apps and the 180 series Nvidea driver, how hard would it be to get them on Mandriva?

-Dante

Dante Ashton wrote:I use YouTube quite a lot, and some gtk+ apps and the 180 series Nvidea driver, how hard would it be to get them on Mandriva?

I would be VERY surprised if it's hard. As far as gtk and/or Gnome apps, the 2009 Spring edition comes in both KDE and Gnome flavors so both gtk, gnome, qt, and kde apps are covered from start (gtk+ may or may not be installed by default if you download the KDE iso but that wouldn't be a problem since they would be available from the online repos).

From what I can gather from their website, both flash and nvidia drivers are included in the "Mandriva One" edition. I'm not sure what the difference between "One" and "Powerpack" is, except that "Powerpack" comes on DVD and contains more software on-disc and costs money. Still, both seems to include what you want from the start.

You can always download the "One" iso-image and try.

Edited to add: as far as nvidia goes, I would use the 185.x series rather than 180.x. In my experience, the 185.x series works better with KDE than the 180.x series.

So it's easy to get the drivers, then?


I've just attempted to get Mandriva working through the LiveCD (no luck)

Kryten, how is OpenSUSE?

openSuse works fine for me and I think it's kde4 friendly - in that things are backported and kde4.3beta is available and updated in a timely manner as well as kde4.4alpha and 4.2

Hint you definitely want the Packman repo for multimedia programs

Dante Ashton wrote:Kryten, how is OpenSUSE?

I've never had any major problems with it, and it lets you be as close to the bleeding edge as you want to be. They keep repos for all current KDE versions - as of now, 4.2, 4.3RC2, and the first version of 4.4. The same applies to Gnome, OpenOffice, and Firefox to mention just a few of the major components of a desktop computer.

That being said, it's not perfect. If you use the factory or unstable repos (AKA development snapshots) you get quite large updates (mine is around 400 megs a time but I have quite a lot of extras installed) to download on a semi-regular basis.

Secondly, there are some default-packages installed that I think should not be installed by default (for example, gstreamer instead of xine on a KDE-system).

Thirdly, and maybe most important for those coming from a Debian/(K)Ubuntu background: the repos can be quite confusing at first. They were for me at least when I switched from Kubuntu. Some software I was used to finding easily didn't seem to be there, but was easily installable once I had added a few repos. The default repos don't have as much in them as the Kubunto ones, and they are more well, finely tuned than Kubuntus as well. For example, there are repos whose only purpose is to provide network monitoring tools, web servers, multimedia programs, and so on in contrast to Kubuntus main, universe, restricted, and multiverse. That exists for Kubuntu too as well but usually in a non-official repo somewhere.

Point one would be a problem on any distro with a more-or-less experimental repo (i.e. kubuntus ppa-repo for 4.3) so not exclusive to Suse. The second can be fixed easily once you know what you want or not. The third is a matter of what you're used to, so neither is necessarily a problem.

Then again, I have seen no distro apart from Suse that provides such a great tool as YaST. As far as I'm concerned, that's what every other system management tool wants to be when it grows up

Kryten2X4B wrote:That being said, it's not perfect. If you use the factory or unstable repos (AKA development snapshots) you get quite large updates (mine is around 400 megs a time but I have quite a lot of extras installed) to download on a semi-regular basis.

True, though updates from the update repo does use delta rpm's and at some point others are supposed to also - which will be great for those of us with slower connections

Dante Ashton wrote:So it's easy to get the drivers, then?


I've just attempted to get Mandriva working through the LiveCD (no luck)

Kryten, how is OpenSUSE?

The driver are on the Mandriva LiveCD at all. Which version did you use?
As you don't exactly told us what happens here are just some tips (if you want to try it).

- Did you activate the Desktop Effects? Try it without them.

- You can try to change to the textmode with CTRL+ALT+F1, log in as root and run 'drakx11'. This will give you the option to configure your graphic-card. You will be asked if you want to use the proprietary driver. After that use the "Test" Button. If everything went fine you could restart your X-Server (not the hole machine) and everything should be fine.
- if not, you can choose an other driver (decline the question for the proprietary driver or use Xorg|vesa)

One of this tips will work.

This settings will remain after the installation.

Regards,
TeaAge

google01103 wrote:

Kryten2X4B wrote:That being said, it's not perfect. If you use the factory or unstable repos (AKA development snapshots) you get quite large updates (mine is around 400 megs a time but I have quite a lot of extras installed) to download on a semi-regular basis.

True, though updates from the update repo does use delta rpm's and at some point others are supposed to also - which will be great for those of us with slower connections

Sooner rather than later I hope While my connection only takes about half an hour to download 400 megs I'd still appreciate a bigger use of delta-rpms.

One thing I forgot to mention though...

OpenSUSE at one point (maybe still is, dunno) was infamous for it's rather slow package management system. In fact, that was the main reason I didn't get to appreciate the distro until 11.0. On my system at least (and maybe due to my inexperience at the time) the 10.x series was incredibly slow to resolve dependencies which the Debian equivalent was not.

Now I'd say zypper and apt-get are at least on equal terms as far as speed goes, so if anyone is reluctant to use OpenSUSE for that reason I'd say you'd be in for a pleasant surprise if you use it for a while.

Well. I tried both.

Mandriva was the first distro I tried. I cannot say it really took back to me;

1. System couldnt download half the files I had on my Backup HD.
2. Tools switch from being idiot-proof to intelligence-straining.
3. Damn kernel in it (not sure what one it is?) was able to read my battery meter, a big +1 there.
4. Drivers were avaible for my system, downloaded from the Package Mangager and installed...but apparently not activated.
5. Multiple menus allowing me the same actions, so some confusion.
6. Long bootup time, not good for a laptop.
7. Given a prompt at bootup asking if I want the normal Mandriva or the safe-mode. Annoying when I'd like to call it instead.


OpenSUSE: I had quite a lot of trouble with it, but because of one single problem...as soon as the LiveCD booted, there was trouble; most noteably, my screen brightness went to 0. There were things on the screen, but it was like the backlight had been turned right down. This persisted (even on the bios and boot menus) until I booted into a Kubuntu LiveUSB system, where it promptly corrected itself. (Seemed to mess with the BIOS settings, or something, never seen anything like it)

So yes, Kubuntu sucks. Mandriva is a big change. Kubuntu 9.10 alpha-3 is being burnt to disk. Let's hope it performs well...