Linux @ CompUSA

[nooyawkah]

Re the packaged versions of Redhat 7.3 and Mandrake 8.2
Are they worth the money. Do they provide support, good/better software, etc. than free downloads or inexpensive disks available in many places?

[ScurrilousPrune]

Your links aren't working, but a while back I got Mandrake 7.2 for about $30 retail and my boxed version came with a manual, boot disk, installation cd plus 3 other cds full of extra software, including StarOffice Suite 5.2 as well as basic programs such as GIMP, Blender, GNU Cash, and also a Linux Library of four ebooks from Que and Sams! Sams books cost about $50.00 in stores. It also has free Tech Support. ISOs and downloadable versions don't come with any documentation and I wouldn't recommend them unless you have no other choice. You'll need a good internet connection with the time to download them. Anyways, you can always buy any version of Mandrake from like 7.x and up and run the updater to update to the latest stable version as soon as its set up on your pc. I would definitely get a retail boxed version of a good supported Distro (Mandrake or Redhat) and then if you want to try other just download them. However my secondary choice if you don't have money would be to download the ISOs from a site like http://www.linuxiso.org.

[TMAN]

Thats not nessarily true. I downloaded my mandrake 8.2 and slackware 7.0 (using my schools T1). They come with heavy documentation and are basically the same thing but with an added requirement of patience. My mandrake came with everything except star office which I don't miss at all. I mean I did get KOffice, openoffice, and some other thing which haven't had time to try out. Support for linux CANNOT be beat in any way or form. You can e-mail the creators and ACTUALLY expect one back! And in a timely manner! There are hundreds of forums and places to go for support not to mention the internal support already standard with most distros. In my opinion, buying the cd's would be a last resort if you don't have access to a good internet connection or a lot of patience. Also, ISO's are not the only option. You can download each package separately which is less of a strain on your connection but may be more annoying. You would need to know what you're doing of course- it's not for newbies (generally). Build your own linux good site if you want to make your own personal distro.