For example, you must look inside the /mnt directory to examine your Windows drives in the file manager (Konquerer in the case of KDE, Nautilus in the case of GNOME), which is not easy to figure out it's also hard to know where to look in order to launch newly installed programs. Mandrake's help screens work well, but novices will still have trouble navigating the OS. If they aren't pretty enough by default, you can also control the anti-aliasing of your system's fonts to improve things even more. Although the screen display still doesn't come close to a Windows XP screen with the ClearType font smoothing option turned on, especially on notebooks, Mandrake has given us the first truly readable Linux fonts out of the box. Once you have this OS up and running, you'll immediately notice its highly readable fonts. Mandrake 9.1 runs all of its desktop environments atop XFree86 4.3.0, the most recent version available of Linux's common X Window GUI system.
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You can then easily switch from one to the other, and if you choose to install any other window managers, you can select them at login. Mandrake ships with all the standard Linux desktop environments (KDE, GNOME, ICEwm, Enlightenment, WindowMaker and so on), installing both KDE 3.1 (with some slightly more useful icon groupings) and GNOME 2.2 by default - a nice touch. The default is automatic partitioning, which worked smoothly in our tests. You can also use the built-in partitioning utility to manually choose the size of your partition, or you can tell Mandrake to get rid of all existing operating systems (which wipes out Windows and anything else) and take over the whole system.
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Like SuSE 8.1, Mandrake 9.1 offers an automatic partitioning option that makes use of free space on your hard drive to install the necessary Linux partitions and carry on with the installation. The same easy setup applies to the partitioning process, too.
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Overall, setup runs smoothly, and although the help text is not as extensive as Red Hat's, installation is more suited to Linux newbies, thanks to the series of relatively simple wizards.
For example, the setup asks for a username or an email address of a security administrator, but doesn't explain what the request is for - most users can safely ignore it. Mandrake Linux 9.1 provides a graphical installation process and throws out only a few stumbling blocks. Not long ago, Linux installations brought fear and trepidation to the uninitiated, but thankfully that's no longer the case. Mandrake Linux 9.1 doesn't resoundingly trump Red Hat or SuSE, but if you're looking for easy reading and support for NTFS partitioning, give this one a try. It's also brimming with bundled aplpications and can now automatically partition a Windows NTFS drive - something Red Hat and SuSE can't do. Mandrake offers fully readable word processing documents, spreadsheets and Web pages, as well as granular font control.
Believe it or not, Mandrake's fonts make all the difference. How? Mandrake Linux 9.1's relatively easy installation process isn't the reason - after all, easy graphical installs have become the norm for recent Linux distributions, such as Red Hat Linux 8.0 and SuSE Linux 8.1. With version 9.1 of its Linux distribution, MandrakeSoft has come as close as anyone to making Linux truly competitive with Windows. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay.
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