cheaper Mandrake upgrade?

[dhml at comcast.net (David Hummel)]

On Wed, Dec 08, 2004 at 12:22:34PM -0500, David Backeberg wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 8 Dec 2004, Seth Gordon wrote:
> 
> >A year or so ago, when my wife bought a new Dell laptop and wanted it
> >defenestrated, I bought a copy of Mandrake Linux 9.2.  I don't feel
> >like I got a terribly good "value add" for the money--in particular,
> >the fancy friendly auto-configurator didn't recognize our wireless
> >Ethernet card--but maybe time has blurred my memory of all the
> >headaches I had installing Debian on my own laptop.
> >
> >Anyway, my last attempt to upgrade or install RPMs didn't work and
> >actually led to some of the menus in the Gnome application launcher
> >being corrupted. I assume this is because the latest official version
> >is 10.1, and even the unofficial mirrors have stopped tracking 9.2.
> >
> >An official copy of "Mandrakelinux 10.1 Powerpack" costs $85, and a
> >subscription to their update service is $20 per year.  If I get the
> >CDs from CheapBytes for $9, am I going to miss anything important?
>
> Can you tell us exactly which Dell model this was? Did it have the
> Centrino wireless stuff, or is it older than that?
> 
> How is your wife when it comes to linux knowledge? If she's like my
> wife, she enjoys the games, and she's learning more and more
> command-line stuff all the time. Would she be willing to give Debian a
> try? I got my wife hooked on Gentoo with the emerge tool, so maybe
> she'll like apt?

If you like Gnome, want to escape RPM hell, and are looking for a
relatively painless way to install Debian, I strongly recommend:

  http://www.ubuntulinux.com/

Many of you have already heard of this I'm sure, but it's basically
Debian sarge/sid with a tweaked (more simplified) Debian installer and
improved hardware detection, among other things.

Experienced Debian folks may not see the point, but it's great for
people who simply want to try Debian and need a fully functional Gnome
desktop with a minimum of hassle.

-David