Ther version that you got is a demo version. In order to use the Software Gallery, you do need to purchase the full product and get a registration ID code. So, the demo works, minus the benefit of the Software Gallery.
 
Have you considered other flavors of Linux that do not have this requirement?

:x
Hi Hannibal, Yes I bought Linux/Mandrake9.1 a while ago but the boot loader screwed up my computer & I couldnt load up windows as I have two harddrives with two systems...
Is there any free Linux software that you'd suggest? & Where would I get it?
 
Thanks,
Rob...

Depends on your system, hardware and current experience with Linux. Post some specs on your system and what you want to do as main tasks, Multimedia, gaming...
 
What version of windows are you using? Yes, this can make a difference.
 
If you have access to a cd burner, take a look at Distrowatch.
 
If you don't have ready access to a cd burner, many distros can be purchased cheap at various sites, such as Linux Central.
 
Or, you can try a cd based version of Linux, such as Mepis or Knoppix (runs soley from a cd) to get comfortable with Linux and see how your hardware reacts to Linux.
 
You should have no difficulty with the newer distros setting up a dual boot system, but based on what hardware you have now may make a difference on what distro to choose. We can help guide you through this, depending in what distro that you choose.

I have an Asus AV78X Motherboard, 512MB ram, Athlon XP 2600 CPU,20 GB HDD, Onboard 5.1 6 Channel soround sound, Nvidia Gforce FX TV Video card. I have all the latest features. Windows XP Professional. I use this system for wicked gaming, multimedia of all sorts & I'm at tafe doing the IT Cert 3 course so I do Access & Data bases, that kind of stuff too.
 
The other HDD is 4.3 GB which I want to use for a reliable Linux system. If I had Mandrake 10 I'd use it but the Mandrake/Linux 9.1 I have screws up.
 
Yes I have access to a burner here at tafe & can use if when I want. I'd also like to dual boot these systems properly. Which Distro is best for gaming, graphics & music with an easy process of installing programs? As you can probably tell I'm a newbie when it comes to Linux...
 
Your help is much apreatiated, Lead the way...
Thankyou Hannabal.
Kindest Regards,
ROB BLAKE

I'm back from my 2 week break off tafe, isn't anyone willing to help me???

hey id be willing to help first how do you connect to the net ethernet network what sort of thing dial up that way we can figure that out
 
gaming your either going to be using cedga or just booting up xp cedga emulates the direct x feature but is a bit slower
 
for music and graphics linux usually comes preloaded with apps to cover that
 
your nvidia card should be covered
 
real quick i couldnt find info on your board but by chance does it have a nforce2 chipset
 
but yeah sure there should be plenty help here

Is this an A7V8X or A7V8X-X? Yes it does make a difference!
 
The A7V6X has a BroadCom 1000 LAN, and the A7V8X-X has a Realtek PHY 100/10. There are other differences that will affect your choice of a distro.

yo danleff were you sorta making a angry point at me, because i didnt mean to say as that it doesnt thats why i asked also how he connects to the net if this could be clarified that would be great

Not at all!
 
The point was that there are two versions of this board, with two different nic cards onboard. One should work out of the box and the other requires some effort, from what I have read. One has sata capability (which may be an issue and needs to be turned off in the bios, if sata is enabled). They are two essentually different boards (same chipset), in terms of onboard hardware (nic and sound) with a minor name difference.

i knew you were
i was just joking round though
 
thanks for the explanation on the board issue though

It's just an A7V8X with all that fancy crap (BroadCom 1000 LAN), it's got sata but i dont use it... I will be using my girlfriends optus broadband cable, I like all the lastest gaming, first player shootin games, you know the stuff, lol...
Have I left anything out... Thanks guys...

all right im new to the gigabit lan hopefully danleff can help with hardware and ill shoot my opinion on the distro as well because im still sorta a noob as well anyway
 
heres some links to gaming on linux
 
Article on cedega and ease of use or lack of it(not saying cedegas bad)
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1628452,00.asp
 
Cedegas site
Cedega isnt free though it costs a subscription
http://www.transgaming.com/
 
all right though ill try and look around some

My advice, forget the BroadCom 1000 lan and get an inexpensive NIC card, such as a realtek or a linksys. They are cheap and work out of the box, very well. Then when you get into it, you can play with the BroadCom. There are drivers that BroadCom lists for Linux, but I have no idea how they work or in what distros.
 
Are you using a router or cable modem only connected to the computer via usb?
 
 
Any modern version of Linux will work well if the connection to the net is set up properly. They will work well, as long as you have a router and no USB connection to the system using the cable modem. Since you are using your girlfiend's connection, I assume you will be using a router.
 
So, you would want a router connected as follows;
 
Router connected to the cable modem with the primary cat 5 connection.
 
The system (NIC card) connected to the router on a secondary connection. The router allows multiple systems to be connected to the router, of course.
 
I have a variety of NIC cards in my system that work well. They are either linksys cards or realtek based, using RoadRunner.
 
Gaming is another issue. I don't do it, but Dapper Dan will have some good suggestions.
 
 

The only games I really play with Cedega are Half-Life, it's mods and Team Fortress which work just as well under Linux as in Windows. There is no difference as far as I can tell. In fact, I get far better pings playing Team Fortress under Linux than ever got with Windows on the same box!
 
I also play Trespasser which works well in software mode, and Starcraft, which runs pretty well, although slightly laggy.
 
If you play Windows games in Linux, you must accept right off that some games will work almost perfectly, and some will not work at all, and there is everything in between.
 
I've seen posters over at Transgaming actually get angry because there favorite game will not work perfectly under Linux! This of course is an unreasonable expectation. There are enough games that work almost perfectly under Linux using Cedega, that any reasonable gamer should be satisfied with.
 
For a complete list of what works and what doesn't, go to Trangaming's web site and check out this list...