Mandriva Linux 2005 Special Edition

I'm a self-taught person when it comes to computers and there are still things i dont know about however its always worth trying something new. Right now I've got my sights set on dual-booting XP Home and "Mandriva Linux 2005 Special Edition". But I've got some questions first:
How does mandriva vary from its counterparts? Is it generally considered to be a user-friendly OS? How common is it? Why does Linux consist of all these different OSs? I know its b/c its open source and they're variations of the same kernel, but why?

 

Mandriva is considered a user friendly distro, until Ubuntu it was one of the most recommended distros for newcomers to linux. You'll find the 2005 SE is getting a little long in the tooth, I'd consider something fresher if you're planning on running on a notebook. I believe there's a 2006 edition available, and would also suggest you have a look at Ubuntu, SuSE and Xandros.

As to why there are so many versions, you've answered your own question. Because the kernel, development tools (compilers etc.), desktop GUIs and such are all free software, anyone is free to start their own distrobution if the currently available ones don't meet their specific needs. As a result, there are over 200 distros currently listed at Distro Watch, although all but the most popular hold a minuscle share of the linux market. There are also specialist distros for audio production, video, Java, etc., as well as a large number of "live CDs" which allow you to try linux without installing to you hard disk.

 

I already tried dual-booting XP Home with Mandriva and it worked. Trouble is, I'm having trouble with the general layout; for example, I didn't know how to set up a dial-up connection! Does Linux expect you to enter some command in the Command Console? How do you commonly work with Linux?

Also, if u dont like the word processor that comes with Linux, can you use XP's Office instead, so you dont have to switch OS?

 

Hmm, I'm not too sure on setting up a dialup connection under Mandriva, my machine only needs ethernet. This is the downside of having so many distros... a lot of them implement their own configuration tools or methodologies, so there's no "standard" way of doing things.

Which word processor are you referring to? There are quite a few written for linux, the most popular being openoffice, which is pretty good although not the fastest on old hardware. Technically you can get Office XP running under linux using Wine or Crossover Office. Wine can be tricky to set up and Crossover Office isn't free (as in beer) software, you'll need to purchase it.

 

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but: where in God's name are the drive icons to be found? I know about \home representing C:\ for users; I feel like I'm missing some critical information that will alleviate my problems w/ using and navigating Mandriva!

 

Linux (and unix in general) doesn't really have the concept of drive icons as such (C:, D:, etc). Instead all of your partitions are represented as a unified tree under / (the root directory), with each drive and/or partition mounted on an arbitrary directory.

Non-linux partitions, like those for Windows, and CD/DVDs should be automatically mounted and an icon should appear on your desktop... you will normally find these partitions in the filesystem under /mnt.

 

One last question: how do you get lilo to not show up on your screen every time you boot up? I'll be leaning on Windows for a while before I'm independent with Mandriva (which I now understand is another name for the Mandrake distribution). It waits for 10sec, giving me "windows" or "linux" and I would like to get rid of this menu.

Also; how do I make sure that Mandriva will support my specific hardware components (Atheros wireless card, ATI Radeon 9000, sound card)? I've come to understand that ATI offers poor support for Linux . Its a shame they're missing out on a big market.

 

Oh yea, will Mandriva not work on these specifications?

http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?lg=en&section=1&group=223&product=3150

 

IIRC, Madriva has a configuration utility for LILO... Otherwise (as root) modify the file /etc/lilo.conf and look for the following:-

Code:

prompt

Remove this line and the menu won't come up UNLESS you hold shift at bootup.

Code:

timeout = 1000

This determines the timeout in tenths of a second, you may want to drop this back to say, 300 (3 seconds).

Code:

default = linux

Change this to windows

Then, run the command /sbin/lilo as root to update the MBR and you're done.

There are linux drivers available at Atheros' website ( link). IIRC, radeon cards prior to the 9200 series are supported by the radeon driver as supplied with Mandriva's X server. As for your sound card, as long as you're running ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) you should be fine... support for all but the latest soundcards is good under ALSA.

Yes, you're correct... Mandriva == Mandrake. The name changed a while back when they merged with a Brazilian distro called Connectiva.

 

Thanks alot for your patience. A general question: why doesn't Linux follow Window's traditional drive icons (CD, HDD, etc)?

I'm also experiencing trouble with administration; it keeps asking me for the root password whenever I want to access the Control Centre, as if I'm logged in as a guest or something. But the install was clean!

 

Because linux is based on unix, which predates Windows by 20 years.

Seriously though, the way drives/partitions are handled under *nix makes a lot of sense, especially back in the days when multi gigabyte drives were undreamed of. If a user (*nix is inherently multi-user of course) knows his files are in /home/whatever, he doesn't need to worry what disk it's on, or even where that disk may currently be. In the event of a failure, an administrator could mount a remote backup in it's place and noone would notice. Remote file shares, external devices (CD/DVD etc) all look the same to the user, and more importantly to applications... this makes writing applications easier and the resulting product more flexible.

During the installation, you would have been asked to supply a root password AND to set up a general user account for day to day use. This is a Good Thing(tm), since the root user (or superuser) can read or modify anything on the machine... it's like the Administrator account in Windows. As root, a runaway application (or virus, trojan etc) or even a carelessly typed command could easily trash your entire system. Running as a normal user 99% of the time reduces the risks of you (or others) damaging your system.