Let me sum up the review and give my penguin points to certain aspects of Linux-Mandrake.

1. Availability- 5 Penguins. You can get it off the internet, buy it with a magazine (that's where I got mine), order it from a retailer.
2. Ease of Install: 5 Penguins ( if 6 fit on the page, I'd give it 6) Everything is well explained, you get support in practically any language ( I hear Martian is in the works for those little green Linux users) , nice walk through of what you're doing and you won't get confused. Support for any level of user and for any computing endeavor.
3. Hardware detection - I'm going to have to chop a little penguin off here and give it 4 penguins. My sound card didn't get detected and it isn't a particularly strange one, just older. Everything else was fine though.
4. Post Install- I'll give this another 5 penguins. I didn't have a working sound card, and even though I knew how to get it working, I went to Mandrake's website and looked at their documentation. If you had the same problem as I had, you can find out how to solve it there. There's also good documentation on how to set up your computer for the internet (or to share a connection if it's networked). Mandrake installs new programs using the RPM system, which is a system where the programs are "packaged" into one file and when you install them, everything goes where they're supposed to go. If you like downloading new applications, you can use Mandrake configuration tools to install the new RPMs. It's easy. (I think GNOME's RPM installer's a bit easier though, and that's available too if you chose to install the GNOME applications)
5. Look and Feel - 5 penguins. You get the K Desktop Environment (KDE) by default, and that looks nice and works fine. We might also add a plug for the Konqueror web browser which works pretty well. You get TrueType fonts if you like them (or need them) and the possibility of hanging on to some of those Windows applications until you've migrated completely.

In conclusion and I as I stated at the beginning, if you're new to Linux and you're looking to try it (and then switch!) Mandrake is the Linux distribution for you. If you're somewhat accomplished with Linux, Mandrake is an ideal distribution to run on a second computer, particularly if that 'tweaking' routine is getting a bit tedious.

Overall- 5 penguins out of 5 for for Linux-Mandrake.

Enjoy!

Michael J. Jordan, considers himself a Linux "educator", who educates people on the benefits of using Linux. He can be reached at Michael.Jordan@Linux.org

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