Hello Every One

[Austin Acton]

On Fri, 2003-12-19 at 01:11, Stephen Oulton wrote:
> It runs very slow. When I click to start an application it takes about
> 30 seconds before the application starts to boot up.

That's just bizarre.  Linux should run as fast as, if not faster than
Windows.  Especially Mandrake, which is i586 optimized, which neither
RedHat nor Windows are.

> I have found that most of the applications that came with it will work.
> The ones that I would like to work don't. GT Catalog for one. I can read
> a CD with Konqueror and it reads it fine. When I go to scan the CD with
> GT Catalog it freezes the whole operating system. I can't even log out.
> The only thing that works is the reset button.

If you post a bug report to http://qa.mandrakesoft.com it may get fixed.
Keep in mind that this is not uncommon with Linux.  The flip-side of the
coin is that there are usually 2 or 3 apps available that do the same
thing, and one of them is bound to work.

> My system is a Pentium III, 733 megahertz, with 2 10 gigabyte drives. I
> don't think that is should run so slow.

Neither do I.  My 500 MHz PIII runs great.

> I would like to completely get away from windows but I can't seem to
> find a version of linux that will run all the peripherals. Even Mandrake
> won't run my fax modem.

If it's a winmoden, it's unlikely that any distro will run it
out-of-the-box.  The Powerpack edition of Mandrake comes with some
Winmodem drivers, but it is not free (as in beer).
Otherwise see:
http://www.linmodems.org/
http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html
http://www.danielrees.me.uk/ltmodem.html

> So far the only way I can use all of the functions on my computer is to
> use windows.

That's okay.  That's not uncommon.
If you contribute really helpful bug reports back to the community,
maybe Linux will meet all of your needs soon.

Austin

-- 
                                 Austin Acton
        Synthetic Organic Chemist, Teaching Assistant, Ph.D. Candidate
               Department of Chemistry, York University, Toronto
        MandrakeLinux Volunteer Developer, homepage: www.groundstate.ca

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