What do you see in a specific linux distribution (mandrake)?

[Azeroth]

I've seen a lot of people talk aboout mandrake when they mention linux, why? i mean what's makes mandrake better than other's? what makes you like a distro more than other? what makes pick one an stay with it?

as you can see im new in the linux culture.

 

[littleprince]

well, lots of distributions are based differently... debian based, or whatever...

some use different kernels, and each distro usualy has its own kernel "enhancements"...

they usualy come with different things, since theres "TONS OF free software"...

i like mandrake, because of its ease of use, and easy to install...
it also has a lot of utilities that are exclusive to mandrake...

but basicaly most well do...

 

[SUOrangeman]

Mandrake is optimized for newer hardware. For instance, notice that RedHat *typically* comes as an i386 distribution while Mandrake comes as an i586. Mandrake has handled ATA66 out of the box since 7.1, I think and now takes ATA100 in the 8.0 betas. Difference may be minimal you say, but having a little bit of forward thinking can reap huge benefits.

-SUO, time to bleed on the edge

 

[Damaged]

<< Mandrake is optimized for newer hardware. For instance, notice that RedHat *typically* comes as an i386 distribution while Mandrake comes as an i586 >>



To be more specific here, it's not optimized for all newer hardware, it's binaries are compiled using the pgcc compiler which takes advantage of those extensions in pentium and pentium like processors. So it's optimized for the new generation of x86 cpus. The biggest difference performance wise that I see with Mandrake over some other distros is that X seems a bit snappier than in other distros. Other than that I think the performance is somewhat neglible.

Also, Mandrake seems to develop support for newer devices quicker than some other distros...for better or for worse. Certainly one of the nicest, if not THE nicest installer of any distro. Heck, it's nice period nice in respect to any OS.

 

[mcveigh]

I use it because it was the most newbie friendly to me, and I still use it because of the great configuration tools that come standard with it.

I can't wait for 8.0 to come out. it just went to beta so I'm hoping for two months

 

[nexus9]

Damaged - I've used gcc, but what's pgcc? Parallel gcc or something?

-Nexus9

 

[Shudder]

You'll notice mostly with distros is the installer. Getting you from point A(nothing) to point b(linux) can be a pain if it's something beyond your skill level.

Mandrake is really good for people just getting into Linux, and it does offer the best hardware support IMO.

 

[DeeK]

pgcc = Pentium GCC. It's a compiler that's built to create code that's better optimized for Pentium and higher machines. However, it does have the side effect of not being the most reliable compiler on the planet (don't even THINK of compiling a kernel with pgcc). I personally don't think it's worth it in most circumstances. I compared LAME compiled with pgcc 2.95.3 and gcc 2.95.2 both with -march=i686, and the pgcc-created binary was only a couple of percent faster. If that's all the difference there is with an app that takes as much CPU time as it can take, then you won't see any difference at all with normal stuff.