XPost: comp.sys.mac.advocacy, alt.os.linux.mandrake, comp.os.linux.advocacy   
   XPost: alt.os.linux.redhat   
   From: liam@NOSPAM.liamslider.com   
      
   On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 17:17:34 +0000, Lloyd Parsons wrote:   
      
   > In article , Liam   
   > Slider  wrote:   
   >   
   >> On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 15:51:06 +0000, Lloyd Parsons wrote:   
   >>   
   >> >   
   >> > I have some experience with Linux, mostly from old distos going back to   
   >> > the Slackware and creative labs cd days.  But the last distro that I   
   >> > loaded on my pc was Mandrake 9.   
   >>   
   >> Geeze, I *used* to run Mandrake 9. Before I ran SuSE 8.2 for the longest   
   >> time... Mandrake 9 was...well, a little broken in areas. To be expected   
   >> really on a .0 release I've found. Hardware detection was nice though. But   
   >> still, Mandrake 9 is seriously outdated to complain about. There have been   
   >> some *major* improvements since then.   
   >>   
   > I'm likely to never find that out as my pc is relegated to the back of   
   > a closet...   ;-)   
      
   Ah, too bad.   
      
   >   
   >> > I will admit that it was a nice   
   >> > improvement over the years, but still not up to OSX in many ways. Mostly   
   >> > ease of use and availability of commercial software.   
   >>   
   >> That's changed now, for the most part.  More commercial software avaliable   
   >> if you actually look for it. And ease of use has gone up dramatically.   
   >>   
   > For my use, OSX and almost just the apps that came with my G5, is   
   > plenty enough.   
      
   Same with me and the apps that come with Mandrake 10.1. I don't need much   
   to add on, and adding new software is pretty damn easy. Just a click away.   
      
   >   
   > I've added Office 2004 'cause I like Entourage for its handling of   
   > projects and tasks.  I'd use it for email, but that fragile, monolithic   
   > db that it uses just doesn't cut it.  And searches in it are horribly   
   > slow.   
      
   Yeah, I added abiword too, it was pretty simple to do though, just went to   
   "install software" and selected abiword and the plugins and everything   
   was installed automatically for me. It's fast, sleek, build in integration   
   of a bunch of useful services (like google, wikipedia, online   
   dictionaries, etc...).   
      
   I also added Totem (a movie player for GNOME) that's quite nice, works   
   great with my DVDs. And Rhythmbox (think iTunes for Linux).   
      
   >   
   > I've also updated my iLife to '05 and got iWork because Pages is very   
   > nice for my sales flyers and such and Keynote is just a snap to use for   
   > presentations.   
      
      
   I'm sure. If I wanted to do flyers and such I'd probably use Scribus...but   
   it's not a GNOME/GTK app. It is included with Mandrake though, and is very   
   highly recommended.   
      
   >   
   >   
   >> > I don't think that Linux will ever snag many mac users simply because   
   >> > it isn't as good on the mac as OSX is.   
   >>   
   >> I disagree.   
   >>   
   > I'm sure! ;-)   
   >   
   >> >  Nor do I think that current   
   >> > distros on pc are nearly as good as OSX for most things.   
   >>   
   >> You don't *know* current distros, last you knew was Mandrake 9. A whole   
   >> *version* ago. I may as well be complaining about Mac OS 9, and saying   
   >> that the Mac isn't ready.   
   >>   
   > Not a fair comparison.  OS9 and OSX only have one commonality and that   
   > is they were made by Apple.  Other than that, there is no similarity.   
      
   Let me run through the differences between Mandrake 9 and Mandrake 10.   
   mandrake 9 used an entirely different kernel, the 2.4 kernel, while   
   Mandrake 10 uses 2.6 instead. The difference is actually pretty damn   
   significant, there was a lot that was completely rewritten for that kernel   
   change.  The new kernel has many advanced features, and is much *faster*   
   than the old one too, leading to a faster, more advanced OS. Essentially,   
   a whole different Linux.   
      
   Next, we have the display system. Mandrake 9 used Xfree86, while Mandrake   
   10 uses X.org. This is again, a significant change to the very core of   
   GNU/Linux. This is no mere fork, X.org adds quite a few new features to   
   the display system, including support for a lot of OSX-style eye candy   
   that just wasn't supported before. And it's a bit faster in my opinion.   
      
   There have been *very* huge changes to the very *core* of Linux in the   
   time between Mandrake 9, and Mandrake 10. On top of that GNOME has gone   
   from a rather unstable 2.0, to a 2.9 release (although   
   Mandrake 10.1 uses 2.6) and is not too far off from 3.0, which will be   
   another *major* improvement in the DE. The distro makers have pushed   
   *hard* in this time to improve, take advantage of new features, increase   
   useability, and so forth. Development and improvement in Linux has   
   *vastly* outstripped development times with regards to other operating   
   systems. Being *that* far behind, you are *seriously* behind the times.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)