Linux-Mandrake Complete 7.0

Win 98 has already crashed on me 3 times in 3 weeks. Linux-Mandrake 7 has not. I must say though, that I tried about 5 other Linux distros that would not recognize some hardware components, including Linux-Mandrake 6.5.

Linux-Mandrake 7 is the first Linux distro that recognized all the hardware on 2 computers.

This latest version is much improved and offers a lot. Lacking computing experience, I -at least initially- feel that connecting to the Internet and program installation in Linux needs to be further simplified.

Nevertheless, I feel Linux has great potential and I may make it my standard OS. It is flexible, powerful, cheap and stable (initial experience). I urge all Linux vendors to further simplify Linux and voice the need for more apps.

And to those that are afraid of Linux, I'll say fear no more. By year's end, predictably, most Linux distros, should have advanced to the point of being accessible to M$ Windows users.

A Linux newbie (2-15-2001).


New Kid on the Block? (relatively) But fairly solid.   May 6, 2000
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

Having used Linux for several years-- I tend to feel that regardless of the distribution I'm using that I'm knowledgeable enough to get things set up. That being said, I do recommend Mandrake Linux, especially for people getting started out, as it takes *most* if not all of the pain out of Linux installation and configuration. (Note that I'm referring specifically to the most RECENT Mandrake releases and not some of the earlier ones.) I think Drax (the Mandrake graphical configuration tool) is a pleasant environment and the installation routine compares *very* favorably with some other distributions (Take S.u.S.E.'s YaST for instance and YaST2 which is supposedly improved --which seems to be stepping backwards rather than forwards in recent S.u.S.E. releases).

Mandrake comes with a wealth of the latest applications and the latest desktop (Gnome and KDE) and window managers (Raster and Mandrake's "Enlightenment" seems to be the vogue these days), kernel, libraries etc. And after using Redhat, S.u.S.E., and Slakware (what I began with) I was very impressed with the sheer ease of installing Mandrake and the smoothness of the implementation in comparison to something like S.u.S.E, for instance. (Don't get me wrong-- there are many good distributions and S.u.S.E. isn't bad I just feel that they have been slipping lately and my comments aren't so much aimed at the veteran user but at people looking for advice who are just starting out.)

To hardcore users-- that know Linux and have used it before, it becomes an issue more of taste and detail. But to the beginning Linux user, I would recommend Mandrake because it makes life easy with initial installation because of its ability to autodetect hardware and has included features and programs that will make life easier for people exploring a platform transition or alternative. (The use of "Supermount" to automount partitions at boot time is a nice touch -- vs "mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /Windows" etc. and tools like "sndconfig" (derived from Mandrake's "RedHat" origins) which in many cases will autodetect the sound card without requiring you to worry about rebuilding kernels or understanding modules right off to get your card going)

So far the main knock I've heard against Mandrake is that the manual leaves much to be desired-- so beginners might want to invest in a respectable text outside of the core distribution as a "just in case'-- something like Matt Welsh's "Running Linux" (the most recent version) would be a good choice.


Mandrake-Linux 7.0   March 10, 2000
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

I am new to the linux world, but I've been using Windows for several years now and consider myself well versed in computing functions. I decided to give Linux a try. I first tried Caldera which worked fine but I found out about Mandrake by reading reviews in a magazine. Mandrake 7.0 was definitely easy to install. It detected my laptop components except the pcmcia slot. Partitioning with their Drak program was also very easy. Upon installation the first question asks if you want pcmcia support (or something like that) I answered yes and the installation froze. I rebooted and then answered no to this question and the installation proceeded fine. It even detected my printer. I wanted mandrake for the supermount feature and for it's auto detect feature. For those of you that don't know you have to mount your floppy and cdrom drives in order for linux to read them. You also have to unmount to release the media. When your loading disk after disk this can get tiring. The supermount feature would be a welcomed change. I didn't get to experience the features of mandrake because the program froze on me as it was decompressing. I reported my problems to Mandrake and tech support did respond to my dilemma within 24 hours. I haven't gotten past this glitch yet though. I may have to revert back to Caldera. If your curious go to Mandrake's site because they have great screenshots of the installation process and screenshots of the various desktop managers, kde, gnome, windowmaker, etc.


A very solid distribution   April 27, 2000
Jon H. Hamlin (Jacksonville, FL USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Mandrake 7.0 was the first Linux distribution to recognize all of my hardware right out of the box. I've used all of the major distributions -- Mandrake since 6.0. Mandrake has really grown up in 7.0 and is no longer just "RedHat with features". I recommend this to anyone from a user new to Linux to an experience Linux user.


Mandrake Linux 7.0   April 10, 2000
John (Louisiana)
3 out of 8 found this review helpful

I am only using a pre-release of Linux Mandrake 7.0, but I have only had problems partitioning a FAT-16 partition in the partitioning program. When I first began using Linux, I used Mandrake Linux 6.0, this is a big improvement. I recomend this version of Linux to any and everyone.