Mandrake(Mandriva), Fedora, or SuSE

You would probably be unhappy with SuSE. Although I use it as my primary desktop there are problems in the area of audio-video. These problems can be fixed but it is probably too much trouble for a new Linux user.

The main problem with the default SuSE installation is that it doesn't include the software to watch commercial DVD movies. This can be fixed by finding and installing the apt4rpm/apt4suse package, then replacing the SuSE installation of Xine with one that works.

In other respects Xine is good for playing mp3 files, music CDs, and other sound files. Before you give up on Red Hat Fedora you should try using Xine for your mp3 files. It is an X GUI application. I don't know if you are or aren't running an X desktop with your current setup.

As far as burning CDs and DVDs you can't beat the K3b software. This package runs in the KDE environment. If you want to burn a DVD all you need is the ISO file and a DVD burner. You just click on the Tools drop down menu, then click on DVD, then click on Burn, then choose the ISO file to burn onto the DVD. This has nothing to do with the Linux distribution. It is all about using KDE.

If you have KDE installed on your system you can run KDE applications even if you use a different window manager. I don't use the KDE window manager but the KDE applications work fine because the KDE software is installed. SuSE has done whatever is required to integrate these window systems so I don't know if there is any work required to get this configuration working the way that it does with SuSE.

Anyway, the problems that you are having may have less to do with Red Hat Fedora and more to do with the applications that you are using to achieve your goal. If you try the applications that I have mentioned using Fedora then you may be happy with the result. In any case you probably don't want to use SuSE.

I went through the GUI to configure the ALSA output driver in XMMS and set it to use the Audigy, but then it said something may be blocking the sound card. I shut down at that time and didn't get a chance to go back in to check. Most forums didn't have much to say in terms of the error I received, but hopefully the reboot will take care of my blockage. Thanks for all the info!

Out of the box the sound is muted in Fedora. Did you check this?

My SB Live works pretty well.

If you want to play MP3s, I suggest xmms (yum install xmms)

Burning DVDs is possible:
http://dvd.chevelless230.com/

If you want to rip and burn, you need to go grab software, but I'm pretty adverse to piracy, so I'm not going to point you to it.*

*I'm not saying YOU are a pirate, but a lurker or 5 may be. I hate to give out that information and have people ripping and burning....

I prefer Fedora for a number of reasons, but may I suggest you try Ubuntu, Gentoo, or Knoppix if you wish to have more of a workstation?

configured as an end user desktop.
it's fairly good at detecting and configuring most hardware during install.

the only item it had any trouble with is the on-board sis chipset soundcard.
( but then only one distro has gotten that right out of all of them. [ Vector linux, which has other issues* ] )

*Vector linux doesn't configure xfree correctly, you have to manually re-configure it after installation. it also doesn't like the [space] character in passwords, so you have to be carefull when picking a password. [ I actually use pass phrases, so the space character is an important part of it. )

Mandrake is driving me up the wall. There's a significant lack of manpages, it uses the RedHat-style FHS-noncompliant configuration layout, it uses flaky-edge software, and so on. About the only major plus to it is that its GUI configuration tool gets printer configuration "right", aside from the fact that those wacky French Linux guys have no qualms about using proprietary hardware support (which makes some things easier than they would otherwise be).

As far as I'm aware, though, Mandrake does use a slightly more LSB-compliant kernel than Fedora, which while not strictly speaking a plus, is at least not a minus (and promises better server support for standard config Squid and similar services).

In general, the major RPM-based distros (Fedora, RHEL, Mandr[ake|iva], and SuSE, primarily) are all pretty disdainful of the LSB and FHS, and they tend to eschew some of the more convenient shell tools in favor of distro-specific GUI tools that change from one release to the next.

At least they don't leave a library out of the distro as SuSE does. (libdvdcss)

I actually have a mandrake bootloader* with a multiboot, the only thing I did was edit the way it boots and change the default boot option.
mandrake listed every single bootable os all by itself.
( cause I knew to use a boot partition so all linux kernels are on same partition, and mandrake adds everything from there to the boot option listing )

* lilo since I prefer it.

One of the first things I do is get a "real" kernel after installing Fedora ;-)

What really drives me batty is that the RPM based distros (and I'm a fan, remember) can't keeps things as structured as the "real" distros. Every version something changes to the point that you have really dig down deep to see what is going on.

the from scratch is not really meant for admin tasks.

more for a learning tool.
using it to guarantee a 100% compliant system for use as development platform isn't stretching anything. no way as working admin station.

using a from scratch for a server is more work than needfull. use debian or slak instead. they have similiar install models ( minimalistic approach ) and do have more admin options for production machines.

the base from scratch is cli, with network enabled.
same as initial deb / slak install.
time used for from scratch, one full day
time used for deb / slak, about an hour.
adding a gui from scratch, with tools, another day.
in deb / slak, another hour.

the loss of tools like apt is the biggest drawback from the lfs idea, but it isn't a kill the concept for some people.
and I could get the apt sources and add it, if I choose to.
or rpm.

the benefit, besides compliance, of lfs for me is that if all workstations are blank systems, new people get to show their knowledge of linux and how well they can follow instructions.
all linux no windows, so it's a good way to weed out people who can't build their own system with the complete instruction set available in hard copy to work from.
( and boot cd with sane build environment )

I never actually recommend lfs for anyone new to linux, or as the distro for production machines.

My opinion is that Unix is the best solution for web servers.

Davis,
http://www.orangmortgage.co.uk

I'm actually planning to pick up a play system to use for a DFS install at some point in the near future (this year, maybe). It should be fun.

Expecting an hour to install X Window System components on Debian is actually really overstating the case. It takes me about ten minutes to get all the X stuff I need installed. Of course, I'm not running Gnome or KDE, else it might take an extra twenty or thirty minutes to get everything installed.

overstate the time than understate it.
so when someone new does try they are pleasantly suprised, not upset.
and a newbie will most likely install more than they need to, which takes longer. :)

On the other hand, overstating everything leaves some people wondering why Linux is so slow and difficult. Heh.

Needless to say, I'm disappointed in Borland. Couple this with the fact that the new Windows environment for the same tasks, Delphi, is reportedly buggy and flaky, and there's getting to be less and less of interest from Borland. In fact, Kylix and Delphi was about all of interest that was left.

jbuilder didn't take off as well as they thought it would.
after all, who needs a complete, system resource sucking, ide to make java apps? ;)

borland also killed their c++ builder, it's now an addon for delphi.

seems they are trying for bankruptcy.

builderx, the any os development tool, requires existing borland projects to get any development options for a project. it's not the cross platform ide they advertise it as.

then, they changed their installer to a java based install anywhere. unfortunately, it's so bloated that the installer seems to have locked up so you start it numerous times before you get any reaction from it.
( I have seen one person with the installer for jbuilder running 8 times simultaneously )

That doesn't sound good at all.

I use SUSE everyday as my primary desktop on 4 different computer systems. I have had occasional problems with the sound levels being set to 0 on first installations but never not installing a sound card.
I like the YaST set up tool and the YaST online update tool.
I use K3b for cd writing and DVD writing and find it much easier to use than Windows if you are doing anything other than burning plain CD-R. Windows has no support for some of the CD-RW and DVD functionality without 3rd party support which means paying for additional software or keeping up with another CD which came with your optical drive and if you switch optical drives you must install different software because the software is crippled to only work with the drive that it shipped with.
The out of the box multimedia experience is not because of a limitation of Linux (any distro) but a limitation of the licensing of those components such as mp3 or DVD playback. Some distros include products that have been licensed but of course those are not free. The best out of the box distro that I have used as far as multimedia is Technalign's TA-Fusion products. I have this installed in an Athlon 64 system and installation is smooth. They combine an open source Simply Mepis distribution with proprietary products and sell for $29 and up depending on the amount of stuff included. To do the samething in SUSE or Fedora you must install other components and agree that they are not illegal in your area.. which in the US they probably are.
However, I have been using SUSE for about 2 years as my primary desktop operating system and I am very happy and will never go back to Windows.
But the goal here isn't to bash Windows or Microsoft.. rather to let you know there is an alternative. It may require some different ways of looking at your system and different ways of obtaining some functionality. There will always be people who prefer one over the other. The world is big enough for all of us.

I installed the Mandrake that came with my Compaq(HP) desktop when I bought it and have been using it as a desktop PC. Works fine, sound card was detected, X config defaults fine as well. No complaints, but I really haven't touched Linux since the old Slackware.

Mandrake is easier to use than Fedora. I don't know about Suse, because I haven't tried it yet. Mandrake has some of its own software that makes it easy to configure your system.
The GUI interface to Add/Remove RPM programs is much better then Fedora's.
For beginners I recommend Mandrake. It feels more "polished" than Fedore and it's website has more to offer.

"[i]It should be available in any distribution if this is so[/i]"
Not necessarily. For one example, there's SuSE, which is distributed by a commercial organization. It could be argued that even the free versions of SuSE serve as advertising for paid versions, and are thus being distributed for commercial purposes. In general, any time an organization starts distributing something like that, legal ramifications might rear their ugly heads: thus, it's only individuals who can safely make such things available, and who can decide to include it in a distribution.

Of course, if you really want to have a distro with easy access to the DVD decryption library, use Debian and add the marillat repository to your sources.list file. A Google search for marillat should find it pretty quickly. I show a page with information about that repository as the first Google hit on a search for marillat.

I have been using Mandrake/Mandrive since version 7. They started to become acceptable at 9.2. I currently have Mandriva 2005SE installed and for the very first time everything just works. I have had to install Java, Realplayer, Flash and libdvdcss to get the internet and DVD playback working the way I use it. This is not so different from a vanilla install of Win XP.

I have used or installed at different times all of the following distros. Lycoris Desktop/LX,
Xandros v2.0 and 3.0, Arc, Linspire 4.5, FC3, Debian Sarge, Ubuntu, (Solaris, Free BSD 4.8, RH7.1 and Caldera Open Linux 1.3 were all experiments and SUSE 9.2 refused even to boot). Any of the above were OK but I was never successfull in getting all the necessary features to work.

Mandriva on the other hand was not especially difficult to configure, it works with my Windows network and recognised all my hardware including my TV card out of the box. I have two printers, a Samsung Laser and an old Apollo inkjet and they also worked first time and USB plug and play devices such as external drives and cameras also work corrcectly.

More importantly is what I don't have to do. E.g I haven't installed a raft of anti-spyware programs, virus scanners are for other peoples benefit when I send mail, defragging weekly is out the window (no pun intended) my browser doesn't disapppear under the onslaught of unwanted toolbars and the only maintenenace I do is to empty the waste bin once in awhile.

As far as burning DVD's goes all I do is put in a blank disc and K3B starts automatically. See www.k3b.org for further details. Mandriva has a usefull GUI on this app so don't worry to much about the command line.

I hope this helps and I hope you find a distro that suits you. I tried for 3 or 4 years before settling on Mandriva so if you dont find one that you like first time out keep on trying. Also remember that even if you don't like a release one time, later ones may be better.

I have installed most distros at one time or another, I like to try them all, just to see how different they are.
My advice to you is try Knoppix it should detect your sound card and most standard computer items i have tested it with and best of all running from a cd-rom, though I am suprised at fedora not detecting your sound card. Another thing, I really find no difference in fedora, SuSe, or mandrake.
If you really want to learn linux get an old computer (p3) and try a slackware version, you should have no issues with devices, it may take you some time to figure it out but with doing so you will have learned alot, I did without the help of books, courses or friends. it is anoying at first but the insight in to how a computer really works and the advantage of linux really becomes apparent. its pure freedom once learned.
Wish you the best of luck
eddie

Nautilus does have dvd support. Copying dvd movies on the other hand it doesn't have support for which i'm sure is what you mean. If you want it for a desktop purpose and don't want to do that much fiddling try ubuntu. Alternately you could just add livna (google livna if you don't know what it is) to your yum list of repositories in fedora and to get mp3 support get xmms (ie command: yum install xmms) and then google for the xmms mp3 plugin rpm for fc4. To get dvd playback then type yum install

I am completly new to *nix of any kind, but recently I installed PC Linux OS(a derivative of Mandriva I think) as a dual boot with WinXP.

To someone who has used Windows, PCLOS seems to be very user friendly, and the install is extremely simple.

The only problem I have with it is that I still cannot seem to setup a printer.

Other then that; excellent!

John

Try using Ubuntu; installs easily; Debian; auto updates; recognizes sound cards, video cards, etc. Excellent distro.

There are many distros that fit individuals needs. That is the great thing about linux. I have tried several distros of linux, however the easiest to install, administer and alot of apps that i can use is Mandrake. I've been using Mandrake for about 5 years and have nothing but good things to say about it. It is used on my server and an old laptop with no problems. I did try SUSE 10 on the laptop and had issues. Knoppix is another good distro that is easy to use, however some of the hardware compatibility is not up to par w/ Mandrake. I have successfully installed and used Mandrake on a 100 mhz machine and many others. Mandrake is the option I would choose.

I installed mandrake 8.0 on my wife's system to fix a problem with ntloader for her xp pro system, it recognised and powered the i815 chipset with no problem, yet their errata said they did have issues with it at that time.

her system, with ms bootloader in the mbr, would lose the hard drive from the bios, as soon as lilo was in the mbr it worked perfectly.