On Wed, 2003-11-12 at 07:44, stefmit wrote: > Hi, fellow MDK-ers. I may be repeating myself, but I am not as much of a MDK > "geek", as a network person trying to use (and paying for it!) the MDK > solution as underlying system for my network and security tools ... this as > an introduction (to point my "end-user" status, if you will, and how many > customers of MDK may perceive the issues) ;) > > I pre-ordered and just got the 9.2 package, and I already have some questions: > > 1. I have been reading on this list and its archives about tons of problems > with the new release. I have already run into one that some others may have > experienced (doing an online update screwed up afterwards all the menus I had > in KDE). > [Q] - is there a repository of all the known and still unpatched screw-ups, on > the MDK web site? And possibly workarounds?
http://bugs.mandrakelinux.com/ http://twiki.mdklinuxfaq.org > > 2. I have purchased the Pro-Pack (I think ?!? - it is the one with 9 CDs and a > workstation DVD), but without the manuals (of course, as I was the one having > gotten burned before with the purchase of their special "Definitive Manual" - > which was a piece of worthless paper, falling apart, also). The package and > invoice do not contain any product ID. > [Q] Having paid "something" ($139.95), I was expecting to be able to register > and get support for the <whatever_time_frame_30_days_?!?>, so I can get to > the main purpose of my install, i.e. trying new tools and recompiling my > stuff. But there is no product ID I could use. Am I wrong assuming that for > the commercial package one would expect some support to begin with? I am > willing and capable of looking and resolving issues on my own, but I have > some (I consider them decent) pre-requisites for things I pay for ... am I > totally off? I don't think so, but I'm not familiar with the product that you've purchased. I do think that there is a support offering associated with it, but I don't have any experience with it. You should certainly have a Mandrake Club membership as part of the purchase, IIRC. > > 3. I used to use easy urpmi's web site to build additional sources for > packages (eventually replacing even the need for CDs). I have tried a couple > of 9.2 ones, from the same http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/index.php I have > been using for 9.1, but almost all the variations I have tried had failed one > way or another (in the middle of updates, or not being able to contact sites > at all, etc.). I am still successful in using the 9.1 ones (with a minor > exception - it looks like my favorite French club-internet.fr source site is > not working anymore with curl, and I have to use wget ... as of a week and a > half ago). > [Q] Does anybody know if the 9.2 is still too "crude" to count on the easy > urpmi repositories of source sites? Are those still unstable for this new > release? > It's because the mirrors are slammed with the increased load. I've had problems across all of the Mandrake versions I use and have had to establish new sources on all five of my regular-use systems (five? jeeze, I need to get a life :-). One thing that seems to work well is using a mirror in another time zone, say three or four hours east. I guess geeks do their updating at the same times, but I've had good luck by switching to East Coast and European mirrors instead of my usual West Coast mirrors. > [Overall-Qs] Does this whole 9.2 look really embarrassingly unprofessionally > released to any of you? I have tried Suse/Novell 9.0, while awaiting for my > 9.2 MDK package, and I was quite impressed with it ... and the only reason of > not switching over being their lack of an urpmi-like tool (apt was not enough > for what I was trying to do). Are we seeing here a Merecedes vs. Renault > difference developing (I used to use both types of cars heavily, while in > Europe, and I have this strange feeling about distributions now, the same > way) ;)? > okay, that's bordering on troll :-) > I sure hope nobody blames the above on my lack of trying to resolve issues by > researching myself. It is more of a - perhaps unwarranted - little bit higher > than "figure it out yourself" expectation, from a commercial product. > I was pretty PO'd when I shelled out some $50 or so for RH 5.2 because it came with "support", then found out that it shipped with a ton of broken packages and "support" didn't include getting X to work. The lesson I took from that experience was this: Tech Support is an expensive thing. Good tech support people make a lot of money. If it's not obvious where that money is coming from (high license cost, separate support contract, &c), then there probably isn't any real vendor support, but rather access to a community. Since I have access to the community anyway and don't really need silkscreened labels on my install CDs, the only reason to purchase the product is to support the developers and keep more of the product coming. Mandrake Club is the perfect way to do that for me; I pay them, I get a couple of little perks, and I get my software. There's no needless inflated expectation :-) > I apologize for your time spent reading this, > Stef > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? > Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com -- Jack Coates Monkeynoodle: A Scientific Venture...
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
