Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 24

Thread: Is Mandrake Linux 9 good for a Newbi?

  1. #11
    Originally posted here by Fred Brown
    WOW!!!! Great feed back. Thanks to all. Any words of wisdom?
    -RTFM
    -Back up yr data
    -And, Don't be afarid to make mistakes

  2. #12
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    21
    Be sure not to mess with /etc/fstab. I learned that the hard way.

  3. #13
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Posts
    2

    Re: Is Mandrake Linux 9 good for a Newbi?

    Mandrake is definatly a good nix distro. Comes with cool built in stuff and install is simple. In fact, I prefer some features in Mandrake over Redhat like automatic mounting of windows drives (cool for shareing MP3s between the two OSs). but if you game youll still want windows wasting some hard drive space. good luck with Mandrake and if you need help i recomend checking out the yahoo linux chat, lots of good people who will help. But openBSD is still the coolest!
    H()()KT

  4. #14
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Posts
    180
    Hey, does anybody have a 'Promotion code' for Mandrake 9 by any chance?
    cybnut

  5. #15
    I too use mandrake 9, and i havent looked back. I have a box set up with just mandrake 9 and another with it partiitoned with windows 2000. I keep windows because i am a die hard gamer.

    What i want to ask is it very secure? I haven't really heard much about any major security issues and i wanted to ask the community what they knew....

  6. #16
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Posts
    450
    muppet, what security level have you set Mandrake at and what services are you running ? It can be as secure as you want and likewise as open as you like, its all up to you. There have been a fair few security/bug updates for software since Mandrake 9 was released.

    Mandrake comes with 5 default security settings, 0 = "hello crackers" through to 5 = "paranoid". Level 3 is OK if you are not running any servers like httpd (web server) and just using the machine as a standalone - you can change the level of security on the commandline by issuing, as root, the command, msec -o log=stderr 3 (for level 3). Change the number to the level you want but I wouldn't suggest a machine connected to the internet go below 3.

    I suggest you take a look at msec - http://www.mandrakesecure.net/en/docs/msec.php for an indepth explanation - its pretty straight forward.

    Also disable any services you are not going to use - this can be sorted through the Control Center.

    I would also subscribe to the Mandrake Security Advisory List from the Mandrake site and receive email alerts when packages require updating. You can use the GUI (Software Manager) to update the software but I prefer to use a small script and rsync from the commandline to get the updates. As people will tell you, keeping your distro updated is very important.

  7. #17
    I was talking about any sort of root exploits or things that would effect it. E.g. microsoft xp's giant gaping hole in XP of the UPnP remote root exploit. Not that anydistro of linux would be as badly made as windows
    At the moment its set to 4, because i am running a apache webserver out of it.

  8. #18
    It's a gas!
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    699
    Before you go and start installing, it would be best to make sure that you know how to partition your hard drive.

    Heres a couple of good tutorials for getting your hard drive ready for the install.

    http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/Insta...on_System.html
    http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/Insta...ing_fdisk.html

    Hope this helps!

    Cheers

    r3b00+

  9. #19
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Posts
    450
    sorry muppet - didn't mean to sound patronising - I apologise.

  10. #20
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Posts
    180
    Hi,
    I went and got SuSe 8.1 Pro. From what I read it sounded pretty good for Newbis. Thanks for the insights IchNiSan, and JockVSJock, I will RTFM,[had to look that up] so it will not be FUBAR[you know what that one means?]. Thanks to everybody for all the insight. I'm new to this sight and I'm having a great time.
    cybnut

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •