Linux.com

You do NOT have to pay for a subscription to Red Hat's services in order to use the update daemon--I downloaded the ISOs, installed the OS, and am entitled to a basic subscription to the Red Hat network--all free of charge. As far as the non-existent mp3 support everyone keeps knocking Red Hat for, I laugh at how frivolous Linux users sound complaining they have to download an rpm from xmms that's less than 1 meg and installs in seconds. Same goes for kernel support of ntfs, which is not natively provided by Red Hat but for which rpms exist that are small and easy to install (ntfs-linux). Purists may complain that it's the principle of the matter; I would say they're being petty, considering most Linux users expect to spend a certain amount of time setting up their systems. As far as MDK 9 goes, I installed it before Red Hat and was sorely disappointed. For starters, the installation scrambled my video card<nobr> <wbr></nobr>/monitor settings (just like 8.2 did), and when I finally did get X to work, none of the open office programs would launch. After much fiddling and reinstalling, I finally gave up. Mandrake seems to have a nasty habit of including a ridiculous amount of software that they haven't bothered to properly configure for their system, and that crashes upon launch. Quantity, not quality, I suppose. I for one am sold on Red Hat; the Blue Curve theme is delicious, the system is well-supported, and everything that should work does.

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