with ubunty, dual boot did happen, but it crashed

Mint, did not install on dual boot at all..... no error message, no message at all rather, it just did not install....... I even left it on overnight twice, wont move

Mint I tried before Mandriva, and was trying to get it install on dual boot....... it wont just install on dual boot on my machine, and I was very worried about font system, and than I found Mandriva, problem solved and Mint went out of window!!

Mint was a choice of Linux, but that was before I came to know about Mandriva...... two things went against it

1. I does not come with most of the softwares I want to use...... you need to download them as and when needed

2. It does not support Windows fonts....... getting into searching fonts, comparing them, finalizing them and getting you machine ready with proper choice of fonts on it is a big bitch for any serious designer....... I enjoyed the flexibility given by Mandriva to use windows fonts (TTF) by right clicking and installing them

There is not other distro that offers this flexibility, you can well understand importance of issue if I maintain the library of 2500 fonts and increasing the collection when I find a good font!!

one of my friend is into trying new distro's, he faced crashing problem with ubuntu...... others he liked, but in his words "other distro's are good cars, but Mandriva is Porsche!!"

Stating personal experience, My requirement was that distro should be stable and usable like windows.....

Tried Ubuntu: Hated the GUI, and it for into habit of crashing!!......... hardly get to use it, the installer came almost naked and without any softwares (from company or third party), it was a pain

Than I tried Mint: I loved its GUI from screen shots I had seen on google, but it won't get installed on my Comp, somehow

(One major issue I has was fonts, because I am Graphic Designer into serious corporate communication...... I am fussy about fonts and wanted to use most of fonts I had collected over years!!)

Than I came across "Mandriva", a very stable system...... uses TTF fonts as it is, before shifting to Linux I had already found out about gimp, inkscape and scribus, tried and loved them over my Adobe CS........ so, for me it will be Mandriva, there are some cons that I can think of..... but, mostly as I am a new user of it and they will go away as time passes by

There is one other Linux I would have loved to try, PCLinux Gnome...... but, its gone out of business!!

Have tried bubuntu before, its not for me.... thanks anyway

saying so as a serious designer into corporate communication

I will rather lean towards Mint or PCLinux (gnome version of it is out of business, unfortunately)

I had desire to get out/stop using Windows and I hated working on it everyday I worked for more than a decade........ My option to go for was Mac which is might expensive!!......

I tried ubuntu, Hated it for used interface plus it got into habit of crashing on my machine

Tried Mint, but could not get it to start working on my machine

(my work has been on Adobe-CS, and I cannot do without a system where I can open my old files...... came to know of inkscape, gimp and scribus and tried them on my windows OS, liked them (specially, inkscape and scribus what a great softwares!!)

Last I came to know of Mandriva, tried installing on dual boot first and failed miserably........ but, I was pissed with my Windows enough to take a plunge into unknown, so backed up my entire data and installed Mandriva as solo system...... it was not easy by any means, had to format my HD trice because of trial and error of learning period that I was in!!

But I managed and I am very happy with it, just wondering if there is any other linux distro that might be handy (equally, if not better) for me......... two features that i like in Mandriva and are of help will be option to use windows fonts as they are, most of classic fonts as available!! and its Gnome interface and these two options I think I cannot do without!!

based on this, is there a distro that I can try??....... heard of PCLinux-Gnome but they have stopped supporting it!!