Posted by: Administrator
on December 26, 2003 08:30 AM
Can't comment on Fedora, but yesterday I did my first ever Linux install on Toshiba 5205-s503 laptop. I've tried SUSE 9.0, Mandrake 9.2, and Red Hat 9.0.
Both SUSE 9.0 and Mandrake 9.2 failed to install. Period. SUSE installation started OK, then in the middle of installation, just when it's started probing for USB, I've lost my mouse (touchpad) and at that point on I could no longer interact with installation procedure (it doesn't provide for decent keyboard based navigation). Tried several times, with the same result.
Mandrake 9.2 zipped through fine, then on boot, hanged up on 'checking for new hardware' step, also pretty consistently.
I've ended up installing Red Hat 9.0 (still available for download at my university), and that worked just fine, even if it didn't pick up PCMCIA and apparently didn't install USB 2.0, and didn't provide NTFS module either -- those are small things, the key is just to get the whole bloody thing up and runing. Neither SUSE nor Mandrake could accomplish it.
I think the state of Linux is such that having highly polished installation procedures like SUSE or Mandrake, with minimum of human interaction is simply dangerous. It either works it doesn't work at all. Red Hat installation procedure is clumsy, old-fashioned, blah blah blah, but it did install and came up, and ultimately this is what counts. If neither SUSE nor Mandrake installed on my machine, their value for me is NIL. Red Hat came up, and I'm sure Fedora wouldn't have any problems either (but I'm going to hold on and use 9.0 during the next semester, and then I hope Fedora with 2.6 will be available).
(also tried Knoppix. This bloody thing came up before I had a chance to blink. But at this point I still stick with Red Hat)
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my 2 cents on SUSE 9.0
Posted by: Administrator on December 26, 2003 08:30 AMBoth SUSE 9.0 and Mandrake 9.2 failed to install. Period. SUSE installation started OK, then in the middle of installation, just when it's started probing for USB, I've lost my mouse (touchpad) and at that point on I could no longer interact with installation procedure (it doesn't provide for decent keyboard based navigation). Tried several times, with the same result.
Mandrake 9.2 zipped through fine, then on boot, hanged up on 'checking for new hardware' step, also pretty consistently.
I've ended up installing Red Hat 9.0 (still available for download at my university), and that worked just fine, even if it didn't pick up PCMCIA and apparently didn't install USB 2.0, and didn't provide NTFS module either -- those are small things, the key is just to get the whole bloody thing up and runing. Neither SUSE nor Mandrake could accomplish it.
I think the state of Linux is such that having highly polished installation procedures like SUSE or Mandrake, with minimum of human interaction is simply dangerous. It either works it doesn't work at all. Red Hat installation procedure is clumsy, old-fashioned, blah blah blah, but it did install and came up, and ultimately this is what counts. If neither SUSE nor Mandrake installed on my machine, their value for me is NIL. Red Hat came up, and I'm sure Fedora wouldn't have any problems either (but I'm going to hold on and use 9.0 during the next semester, and then I hope Fedora with 2.6 will be available).
(also tried Knoppix. This bloody thing came up before I had a chance to blink. But at this point I still stick with Red Hat)
Cheers.
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