Re: I don't want more choice... I just want nicer things

"Howard J. Rogers" <howardjr2000_at_yahoo.com.au> wrote in message news:3f6bdbf5$0$6527$afc38c87_at_news.optusnet.com.au...

> And then Mandrake 9.1 pops up. It detects wireless cards that RH9 just spits
> at. It looks good. It doesn't complain about my French classical CD
> collection (mmmm... maybe it should've). It works... OK, I'm converted.
> Call me a Mandrake-boy!!

Nice, ain't it?

> Then I have to seek psychiatric counselling, because I like gnome, and
> Mandrake prefers KDE. If I go KDE, am I missing out on something? If I go
> gnome, I *know* I'm missing out on something.

Hehehe! Install gnome (which is compatible with most Oracle installs) and load the KDE application compatibility layer (which should be an option once you select gnome as your default). IME, I prefer gnome. KDE is a bit of a resource hog, at least in my systems.

> Call me paranoid, but I know
> whatever side I'm on, the other side are watching. Do I go mozilla,
> konqueror, opera, galeon, or what?

Aye. Free choice is frightening after a few years of M$ indoctrination... Go whichever way you like at the moment. That's the whole idea. ;)

BTW, here is some advice after some very nasty experiences: do yourself a favour and get a cable router with a firewall. Configure it to lock up EVERYTHING www.grc.com can find open. If you need advice with any particular port that insists on remaining open, drop me a line: been there, done that.

THEN you can start playing with Linux distros and setting up your systems. The LAST thing you need is a hacker coming in while you're playing "install this, run that" and settling your system.

No, Linux is NOT safer than Windows UNTIL you sort out the firewall software. Which WILL take a while if you're playing with Oracle.

So, cut the losses: get an external router with firewall (Netgear and Dlink have quite a few around the A$300 mark) and start living. This rates right up there with SAME in results!

> knew where you came in relation to God and Bill. Thou shalt have no other
> choices but Me. OK... slightly Leninistic, but at least one knew where you
> stood, even if it was only at the foot of Mount Sinaii.

LOL!
> (And a workable replacement for Frontpage would be
> nice: I have a new website to construct, after all!).

One comes with Mandrake. Can't remember the name, but it's good. "Spider" or something?

> Can someone please advise me: what distro, and what apps? Because I'm fed up
> making the choices for myself.

Hmmmm, that's kinda hard to say. IMO, stick with Suse.

I spent some time with Mandrake and ended up going back to Suse. Red Hat is not worth it as a desktop OS, they are too focused on the server side to bother with little old us.

Lindows is nice until you actually have to do anything, at which point you have to pay as much as anywhere else. Mandrake is excellent, but doesn't give a toss which database you're running, nor are they interested in it.

Narh, for me it's Suse: may not have all the latest bells and whistles, but it damn works good, has an excellent support site and problem database and comes with 6 (eight!) CD's worth of freeware (strange how the M$ spell checker doesn't like this one?) to try!

<rant mode>
About bleeding time Oracle became a little less dependent of which glibc version one is running in Linux! It's not like it's a new concept: not be version dependent? Hellloooooo????? </rant mode>

-- 
Cheers
Nuno Souto
wizofoz2k_at_yahoo.com.au.nospam