On Mon, 2004-11-15 at 01:18, David Feldman wrote: > Despite the strong recommendations I've received for Mandrake as a good > novice-friendly distro, I've been unable even to get it to install. I'm > working with 10.1 Discovery on CD, on a Dell Dimension 2400 with a > 2.6GHz P4 and a Samsung SyncMaster 900NF monitor. So far I've > encountered the following problems: > > - The installer never starts in graphical mode. If I specify low-res > graphical mode that works. > - The installer never recognizes my USB devices (keyboards and mice). > - The installer doesn't automatically set up the X environment, so I > get an error message and have to go in and do that manually. > - The installer sometimes hangs entirely. Most recently it did this > after user account setup. > > - When I have completed install successfully, the system won't boot: It > hangs at Mounting USB Filesystem. If I hit control-C at that point it > proceeds but hangs again a little later, and can't be un-hung. > > I'm still searching for that perfect distro to recommend, but this > isn't an experience I would want to impose on a novice user. While it's > possible I have an unusual configuration, one key thing in an distro > for novices has to be excellent hardware support out of the box. Am I > missing something obvious here that would solve my problems? > > --Dave
...and the same can go both ways; I repair/reconfig/support all kinds of MS Windows machines - in home and corporate environments - I can't begin to tell you how many times I've experienced the exact same thing - but with MS Windows (all versions). I can't stress enough about knowing your hardware prior to booting up a GNU/linux distribution - and at least having enough familiarity with the devices connected to the machine so you can MAKE proper judgements and have your installation go accordingly. Jumping in head first without testing the water is ALWAYS a bad idea - and true opinions cannot be rendered from such an experience. Just for rote, I have better luck installing MDK on machines (all types, all configurations) than I do with MS Windows (Win98 thru WinXP) and a higher percentage of success with the MDK installs (oh, and I forgot to mention all the RH servers I have to deal with in my biz as well). BTW, if you really want to see if your machine is "happy" with GNU/linux, try downloading the Knoppix live CD and booting with that; it will either work or it won't work - and generally you can get an idea about how to configure or setup your sysetm in accordance to it (and even copy some of the configurations from Knoppix to make your "other" distro work properly). -- stephen kuhn mobile: 0410-728-389 illawarra and regional new south wales ----------------------------------------------- GNU/Linux/OpenSource Solutions and Alternatives 100% Microsoft Free and no viruses Registered Linux User # 267497 Windows: Where do you want to go today? MacOS: Where do you want to be tomorrow? Linux: Are you coming or what? ----------------------------------------------- "I heard one time you single-handedly defeated a hoard of rampaging of somethings in the something something system." -Fry
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