I run Mandriva 2006 on a Compaq Presario 1200 successfully. With the KDE installation nearly everything you need is installed except OpenOffice.org 2.0. You currently have to be a club member to download it from their urpmi mirror (or you could install it yourself). I imagine the next version of Mandriva will include 2.0 as the default. The wireless support is completely different in 2006 (and actually works!). I run an older netgear card using ndiswrapper and Mandriva accepts it with no problem. They also use kat for desktop searching and have an integrated firewall. I highly recommend it for laptop use. Mandriva does tend to stay a little behind everyone else on software versions. The idea is to stay below the bleeding edge to avoid issues. If you are a club member you have access to a lot of software that you don't get with the default installation. I haven't had a single problem with the laptop and I use it for word processing (while in class), e-mail, internet, etc... Your mileage may vary but I highly recommend it.
On 3/10/06, Tarus Balog <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Okay, this topic is a little long, so let me apologize in advance. > > My 12" Powerbook turned 3 last month, and it's time to think about a > new laptop. The Intel Powerbooks are too new for me (if I get one of > those I'll probably wait until this summer or if possible after the > Developer's Conference in August) although the one we have in the > office is screaming fast. > > While I love my Powerbook, I am getting a little nervous about the > direction that Apple is taking with respect to DRM. I used to have an > Alfa Romeo, and when a saw one in a movie I rented (they still sell > them in Europe) I want to send the picture to a friend to figure out > the model. So I placed the DVD in my Mac, paused on the frame with > car, and tried to take a screenshot. > > A dialog popped up saying that I couldn't do that. > > What? I can understand taking steps to protect against ripping an > entire DVD, but a picture from it? Get real. I brought up VLC and > took the picture anyway, but it did tarnish the love affair I was > having with my laptop (no comments from the peanut gallery, please). > > Next, Mac hardware is just so darn expensive. Even the switch to > Intel won't do much for that, and it looks like AMD is taking names > in the speed department in any case. We bought an AMD64 powered > Shuttle for demoes that is crazy fast. > > Finally, the Linux desktop, quite frankly, has gotten much, much > better in the last three years. I usually run Debian on my servers > and have little interaction with a graphical desktop, but I find it > easier to use CentOS on 64-bit machines, and when I am using KDE on > those systems I have been pleasantly surprised at how nice it is. > > So - before I buy my next Mac I was thinking about playing with using > Linux as a desktop again. > > On to the questions: > > 1) What should I look at in terms of a nice, clean, powerful desktop? > I like KDE. Is there a distro out there that is stable enough to use > in a mission critical application (i.e. my desktop) that is current > enough to contain lots of cool, bright, shiny things? I think Debian > is out since I don't want to run sid. CentOS? Ubuntu? I doubt anyone > has duplicated the usefulness of Exposé, but one can hope. > > 2) Recommended apps? I believe I will have to have CodeWeavers just > because my job requires access to Office and I'd like access to > iTunes, but others: > > Office: OpenOffice, KOffice? > iTunes: xmms? > Photoshop: Gimp > Mail: Thunderbird > Browser: Firefox > Widgets: ? > Calendar: ? > Address Book: ? > Adium: ? > iPhoto: Gallery? > iMovie: ? > iDVD: ? > > 3) Connectivity: How is the current support for wireless (I love the > "Location" feature of OSX) and bluetooth? iSync? > > I make my living with open source software and I truly believe in it. > I think that the community has done a great job of porting standard > Linux apps to OSX and creating new open source offerings for the > platform. But there is something in the back of my mind that keeps > nagging me that Apple may be turning evil, and now would be a good > time to figure out if there are some alternatives. I may have grown > too comfortable with my Mac "just working" but it is worth a shot. > > Thanks for any suggestions. > > -T > > ----- > > Tarus Balog > The OpenNMS Group, Inc. > Main : +1 919 545 2553 Fax: +1 503-961-7746 > Direct: +1 919 647 4749 Skype: tarusb > Key Fingerprint: 8945 8521 9771 FEC9 5481 512B FECA 11D2 FD82 B45C > > -- > TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug > TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ > TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/ > -- TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
