Should I focus on Red hat or Mandrake 10.0 official?

I am entirely new to Linux. I posted an earlier topic on which Linux version to commence my learning. Someone recommended Mandrake 10.0. Unfortunately, I am having trouble installing Mandrake.Here is that old thread

Should I try a different version of Linux? Should I instead base my learning on the Red hat version? If so, is Red hat free? Where can I obtain a free Red hat download? Is there a specific Red hat version?

Thanks,

redhat is fedora today.

Kanotix is told to be easily installed.

Originally posted by Stefan Wagner:
redhat is fedora today.

Kanotix is told to be easily installed.

Which is free and better to learn?

You can D/L all RedHat releases up to 9 for free from redhat.com or any of a number of mirror sites. Same with Fedora. Fedora is what would have otherwise been RedHat 10 & 11 if they hadn't decided to go Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). You can D/L RHEL source code and roll your own (or get a pre-packaged system free from places like whitebox, but to get the "eal" RHEL, you have to buy it from Red Hat.

Mandrake is based on the same principles as RedHat/Fedora, but target more for home use, whereas Red Hat was targeted for business use.

For just playing around, suit yourself. If you're looking for a job, go with Fedora or RHEL. Red Hat 9 and earlier have passed end-of-life.

Jesse,I was too recieving the same error when I was trying to install Mandrake 10 and Mandrake Official 10."I can't recover from this" is the same error I was getting.Insert CD 2 first and then try.It might work.
I was finally successful with Mandrake Official 10.But X server was not working.If you have laptop,then X Server is going to give you a problem.Keep your monitor/graphics controller info ready before installing Mandrake.I tried with diffrent resolutions and monitor settings but didn't work.I reinstalled Mandrake.It took me 30 minutes and X server running.
Regards

Originally posted by Jesse Torres:

Which is free and better to learn?

mandrake is 'easier' to learn.UI is great and documentation is free and easy to read.Red Hat is fine for advanced users.

Originally posted by Arjun Shastry:
Jesse,I was too recieving the same error when I was trying to install Mandrake 10 and Mandrake Official 10."I can't recover from this" is the same error I was getting.Insert CD 2 first and then try.It might work.
I was finally successful with Mandrake Official 10.But X server was not working.If you have laptop,then X Server is going to give you a problem.Keep your monitor/graphics controller info ready before installing Mandrake.I tried with diffrent resolutions and monitor settings but didn't work.I reinstalled Mandrake.It took me 30 minutes and X server running.
Regards

I tried putting in CD 2 first. It still didn't work. Should I first partition the HD. I have a Dell Laptop Inspiron 8200 40GG HD Win XP Pro. Should this HD be partitioned before even attempting installation?

Also I don't know how to use the Md5 susms tool. What steps should I take after downloading image files?

Thanks very much,

I partitioned 20 GB into two 10 GB each.on C: Windows XP and then started Mandrake installation.I purchased CDs from one LUG man.I didn not recieve Checksum error.

Originally posted by Arjun Shastry:
I partitioned 20 GB into two 10 GB each.on C: Windows XP and then started Mandrake installation.I purchased CDs from one LUG man.I didn not recieve Checksum error.

Is it a requirement to first partition the hard drive? Also is there a free partitioning tool?

Thanks
[ October 06, 2004: Message edited by: Jesse Torres ]

Personally, i prefer Red Hat8/9 over Mandrake 9 (don't know much about 10 yet). I was always tempted to use Mandrake because of their nice looking screenshot in mandrakesoft.com website. .. ..... to make story short. Mandrake 9 has plenty missing files require for third part tools such as Ksim, firefox etc. I am currently running Red Hat 9 (Not Fedora) with latest patches/updates and everything seems stable. So far so good. To me, both Red hat and Mandrake are equally easy to learn. Red Hat has Gnome and KDE and I think Mandrake only has KDE ?

Originally posted by Kay Liew:
Personally, i prefer Red Hat8/9 over Mandrake 9 (don't know much about 10 yet). I was always tempted to use Mandrake because of their nice looking screenshot in mandrakesoft.com website. .. ..... to make story short. Mandrake 9 has plenty missing files require for third part tools such as Ksim, firefox etc. I am currently running Red Hat 9 (Not Fedora) with latest patches/updates and everything seems stable. So far so good. To me, both Red hat and Mandrake are equally easy to learn. Red Hat has Gnome and KDE and I think Mandrake only has KDE ?

Is Red Hat free? From a employment perspective, should I focus on learning Mandrake or Red Hat? If Red Hat is the answer, can I start with Fedora, since it's Red Hat based?

Thanks,

Originally posted by Kay Liew:
Red Hat has Gnome and KDE and I think Mandrake only has KDE ?

I think Mandrake comes with KDE, Gnome & IceWM.

Yes,Mandrake Official 10 has kde and gnome.I m not sure about last one.One thing I like about Mandrake is startup time is very less unlike Fedora which I found comparitively slow.

Try SuSE ( http://www.suse.com ). It is stable and clean. Easy to install and configure well.

Fedora (Red Hat's community edition) and Mandrake are too unstable and buggy.

If you are really a beginner than you should try Knoppix ( http://www.knoppix.org ). Using Knoppix, you dont need to install. Just pop in the CD and it runs.