quoting Cody Harris's missive of Sunday 08 June 2003 02:10 pm: <snip>
> It took 4 hours to install MDK 8.1, and 60 mins for Windoze. That must have included the time required to figure out what the hell all of those packages were in the "individual package selection" type install, then deciding which ones you wanted. Granted it is a *really long* list but.... This box is only a Pentium 3 500 MHz and it did _not_ take that long to do a *network* install of 9.1 from a network.img floppy. (This entails downloading and installing from a mirror. No CDs involved) From scratch! On a totally new unformatted hard drive. :-) That took just over an hour over my cable modem. Minimal install, just internet and multi-media workstation, and then added packages after (Open Office, games, xscreensavers, Texstars KDE packages, a few others); maybe another 30 to 40 minutes. What were you doing for the other (roughly) 3 hours? Installing Windows in your sleep? <g> > My friends all have Windoze. They send me windoze programs and we play > Windoze games and run Windoze stuff. > -Cody Harris It almost sounds as though Windows may be right for you, and that's OK Cody. But please don't dismiss GNU/Linux in general; and Mandrake in particular, just because it's different and doesn't do things the "Windows Way©." Two major points in relating a Mandrake (or almost any other GNU/Linux, but especially Mandrake) install to a Windows install: 1.) In Mandrake if the hardware in the box or attached to it is supported at all it installs, and is ready for use, when you first boot to user space. Printers and scanners or ZIP drives and flash readers will need some configuration probably, but not much else. Usually. Unless the user screwed something up at the summary screen. We all know who we are, don't we? :-) In Windows you have to be certain you have all of the drivers for everything in the box or attached to it before you start or you're hooped. I've had to chase down drivers for network cards, modems, printers, scanners, video, ad nauseum, for every Windows install I've ever been forced to help anyone with. This usually happens due to the standard "My machine came with Windows preinstalled" computer that the person bought needing "Reinstall Windows every 90 days (at least) whether you think it's needed or not" maintenance. It usually is. Then the operating system will whine about the drivers or refuse to load them. "Cause they ain't "signed." Which is a joke since the signatures are wide open and any cracker can fake them. Don't forget genuflections to the "Gods of Redmond" and "Saints Steve B. and Craig M." Or is the requirement a virgin sacrifice this year? I can never recall. How many times will you have to reboot to "register" the drivers and (maybe) make things work? System restore? HAH! 2.) After installing Mandrake you still own the box. You have the option to connect to a network or the internet or not, decide whether to send any information to the distributor of the operating system. You _have control_ of everything that goes in or out of what you paid for. Can reboot as many times as your equipment will without running into the "limited functionality" warnings. You don't have to ask the "owner's" permission to listen to music, read a document, surf the 'net, watch a video..... After installing Windows..... Can you say Frisbee®? ;-) Regards; Charlie -- Edmonton,AB,Canada Registered user 244963 at http://counter.li.org Mandrake 9.1 Bamboo (cooked) 16:23:54 up 26 days, 8:27, 3 users, load average: 0.20, 0.13, 0.11 Krogt, n. (chemical symbol: Kr): The metallic silver coating found on fast-food game cards. -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
