> I was VERY impressed with the install process. I chose "Advanced" mode > installation, but the bottom line is that everything was autodetected > (except for the fact that my mouse has a wheel, for some strange > reason). This even includes a USB HP scanner! Very impressive. The only > problem I found was that sane integration with GIMP was only installed > after I clicked on the "Scanner" configuration icon for the first time. > Since it installed both packages seperately, I don't really understand > why that wouldn't install the integrating package, but so be it.
It really depends on which HP USB scanner you have. The 3300C and 3400C are partially working with a fixed resolution. The driver is still being worked at. > I never got a chance to see whether it detected and auto-installed SCSI > emulation for my CD-R, as it is an ancient SCSI device, and does not > require SCSI emulation. It did detect both CD-R and DVD, though. I was > slightly missing a player capable of playing DVDs out of the box, but > such are life. Umm, xine? http://xine.sf.net > The switch back to the RPM system is a bit traumatic for me. I MISS > APT-GET!!!!! I managed to find a tool that will let me install a package > by name if it's on the Mandrake CDs, and that's fine as far as it gets. > The only tool, so far, I needed that did not come on the Mandrake CD is > something called "CVSUP". I was mightly suprised to find it didn't have > any form of binary package on the web site or elsewhere. It was only > distributable as binary FILES, or as source (MODULA-2, yuch). This only > causes me to apretiate Debian that much more, as the process there > involved a simple "apt-get install cvsup". I had to install Mandrake to > apretiate just how much work the Debian team put into their supplied > packages. You miss apt-get??? man, have you heard of apt4rpm by any chance? http://apt4rpm.sf.net will help you, you know ;) > I also didn't like the fact that it turned on autologin. Maybe it's > becase I only defined one user during install. In any case, the install > didn't ask me about doing so, and I had to look quite a bit in order to > turn that off. That's no way to behave. At least it wasn't a root > autologin, like some other distributions do. In your KDE in control center you can disable it or with Mandrake control center. > On the down side, it is not exactly not my cup of tea. As an advanced > user, some of the things there a slightly annoying. It configured a FW > with three options "standard", "server", and "ultra secure". From the > help, it would appear that "Ultra secure" means the machine is > unworkable. I would rather have a more detailed explanation of what each > of these modes mean. As I have said before, I miss apt. I know I can > install apt over Mandrake, but the real power in Debian is not apt > itself, but the packages available through it. See my remarks above. As for firewall, I would suggest to disable mandrake's and roll your own. > In short - while I won't be reformatting intentionally anytime soon (the > same Debian installation lasted on my computer for several months, and > was only installed because of a new computer), I don't think I will > install Mandrake the next time around. Debian, with all it's > disatvantages, is still my distribution of choice for Linux savy users. I have been using debian for few weeks. I missed all the tools that you do need to install later after first installation. Feel free to build KDE binaries after install and see how many packages you need to apt-get ;) > Now, the questions: > 1. KDE 3 supports Hebrew. In KDE 2, however, I had the choice of > defining the codepage to support Hebrew, while the user interface was > english. I cannot seem to locate that option any more. It seems that the > only way I'll be able to get Hebrew characters is if the user interface > is Hebrew as well. Is that really the case? Am I missing something? for typing? KDE 3 and QT 3 are full unicode. Just define your keyboard to hebrew and type away. You can also set locale and hebrew translation of KDE from the kcontrol. > 2. The package maintaner software for Mandrake has an option of using an > external site for updates. Is there a repository that contains the CD > files as well (in case I don't want to CDs handy, and I have a fast > internet connection)? Is there a place where I can find extra packages > not shipped on the CDs? I think Tzafrir can answer that. I didn't play back long with mandrake (yes, I admit, I switched back to Red Hat 7.3). Thanks, Hetz ================================================================To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
