Mandrake or RedHat?

[R4NG3R]

As most of you know i want to tryout linux, i don't have enough guts to partition my dual hard drive computer, but i went to the mandrake site and found that installing mandrake looked much easier then RedHat. So my question(s) is/are:

1. Which OS is easier to install with Windows 2000 or XP, RedHat or Mandrake?
2. Which has an easier - less complex GUI?
2. Which is more reliable?
3. Whats the best Linux OS you've seen, easiest Install, Reliable, or just plain better? (any linux os.)

Thanks!
R4NG3R

[twistedcranium]

IMHO, I feel that there are no real answers to these questions. Most groups and lists that I am on, when the question of Mandrake vs. Red Hat was brought up....the arguments NEVER seemed to lean to one being better than the other.

I would like to recommend that as soon as possible though you pick one of them and start your linux journey. And for a few months stick with that one, learn it, and then when comfy with linux in general, then you can start tinkering with the specifics of one distribution over another.

((and btw, to keep consistent with the terminology that most people use: Red Hat and Mandrake linuxes are different distributions of the 'same OS'. The OS is linux, and the distros are Red Hat and Mandrake (as well as others, SuSE, Gentoo, etc).....so call them distros. ) :)

[R4NG3R]

ok thanks, i downloaded Paragon Partition Manager Demo and i am partitioning my disk, and i was wondering how many MB Linux will need?

[twistedcranium]

Originally posted by R4NG3R
ok thanks, i downloaded Paragon Partition Manager Demo and i am partitioning my disk, and i was wondering how many MB Linux will need?

How much can you spare?

Typical comfort level for recent linux distros... 2-6GB. If you do a lean install, you might get it in under 2GB, but typical is somewhere in the 2-3GB range. So I would recommend giving it as much as you can spare. If you have a whole drive set aside just for it....give it the whole thing.

[R4NG3R]

ok, i have it at 8.676gigs, and right now i am at the point where its not formatted, and i am formatting. i need to know:

Volume Name:

and

System Type:
(choices for System Type)

FAT32
HPFS
Ext2FS
Ext3FS
NTFS
L-Swap
L-Swap2
FeisFs


I'm using Paragon Parition Manager Demo to do the partitioning.

[twistedcranium]

Originally posted by R4NG3R
ok, i have it at 8.676gigs, and right now i am at the point where its not formatted, and i am formatting. i need to know:

Volume Name:

***volume name really doesn't matter, but let's call it something that you'll recognize to make it easier to spot, call it 'LINUXPART'

and

System Type:
(choices for System Type)

FAT32
HPFS
Ext2FS
***chose ext2fs
Ext3FS
NTFS
L-Swap
L-Swap2
FeisFs


I'm using Paragon Parition Manager Demo to do the partitioning.

[MishY]

Never used Mandrake, but have used RH7.2 and 7.3 as both internet servers, lan servers, lan gaming servers, and email servers.

Both by reputation are good. From a security perspective (if you're intended use is as a server) both require a lot of tweaking, and hardening.

I recommend, in the abscence of a good iptables book, Bastille firewall.

Which apart from being a good firewall, is an excellent hardening script which will do a lot of the securing work for you.

Download here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/bastille-linux

Also big props for snort as an IDS: http://www.snort.org/

[R4NG3R]

ok i'll look into it, but if i get a firewall would that not let people connect go my gaming servers or webservers?

[twistedcranium]

Originally posted by R4NG3R
ok i'll look into it, but if i get a firewall would that not let people connect go my gaming servers or webservers?

Not really, you can open ports for such things....you just need to read a bunch on the details of how to do it in the firewall you choose to use.

[R4NG3R]

oh ok cool!

Okay, now i have partitioned and formatted my linux hard drive...whats the next step? i have decided to go with RedHat. next?

[twistedcranium]

Originally posted by R4NG3R
oh ok cool!

Okay, now i have partitioned and formatted my linux hard drive...whats the next step? i have decided to go with RedHat. next?

Have you read the other materials suggested and the posts by PostCode? PostCode has detailed the Red Hat install process there very well.

[R4NG3R]

ok, thanks!

[twistedcranium]

Originally posted by twistedcranium
Have you read the other materials suggested and the posts by PostCode? PostCode has detailed the Red Hat install process there very well.

I should have linked to the thread...here it is:

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17969&perpage=15&pagenumber=2

[R4NG3R]

dude, i took out the Windows Hard Drive put in the linux formatted one and i put redhat 9 disk 1 in and it said.

Attempting to boot from CD-ROM.
Attempting to boot from Floopy.
Attempting to boot from Hard Drive (C:)

and right when it hit hard drive it said.

Non-System Disk. Replace the disk and press any key.


so i took out redhat and hit a key and the same error came up.???

[smurfy]

Your system failed to recognise the Red Hat CD as bootable.
It got to the last item in the boot list (the Hard drive) and still didn't find any boot instructions (none on hard drive as it is cleanly formatted).

How did you burn the CDs?
Copying the ISOs onto CD-R does not work.

[R4NG3R]

i downloaded the files to my desktop, the burned them from my desktop to my CD-R. btw, that error comes up even when there is no disk in the cd-rom.

[smurfy]

There's your problem.
An ISO on a CD=Rom is not bootable. It's just a copy of the file that you downloaded.

What software do you use for your burning so we can give you instructions how to make the ISO files into a bootable CD set.
(i.e. Nero, NTI, Roxio/Adaptec).

The error will appear because none of your boot devices hold bootable code (nothing or data CD-R in CD-Rom, nothing in floppy, blank disk in Hard Drive).

[R4NG3R]

okay, i've got Nero and i'm getting my files from.

http://www.linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=7

[PostCode]

When you burn with Nero you need to step through the wizard. When you get the point of the wizard where is asks what type of CD you want to make, i.e., Data CD, Music CD or Other CD formats, select Other CD formats. Now, select Create a CD from an image file. Locate the image, which would be the .iso file you downloaded, then burn it.

[R4NG3R]

And that's all i need to install redhat? btw, thanks for the reply, i appreciate it!