GrumpyGerbil

I don't really wanna pay for mandrake when there are others out there for free, are there any update programs i can use to install new programs without having to pay mandrake?

Does Yum or Apt do it for me? also are there pretty and easy to use frontends for these? like the mandrake update software just free

sether

i thought the update tool in mandrake was free - at least the updater for third-party software. for example, it'll update gaim via rpm with no problem. i think what you might be refering to is system updates, meaning updates to the actual base system, such as security, bugfixes, etc. for that, you'll just have to pay mandrake or wait till they release a new version.

i wouldn't be too concerned if you didn't update that though. not too much to worry about there unless you're running a really old version of it. in that case, download the newest version, burn it, and upgrade. that's essentially doing the same thing.

llamasmurf

Too update Mandrake you use urpmi

to setup urpmi with the correct source for your version goto:

http://easyurpmi.zarb.org/

or google: easy urpmi

follow the instructions to setup the 3 sources
main
update
contrib

then you simply:

# urpmi package

and it starts the download and install for you.

Hope this helps :P

SpItHash

After you do your easy urpmi changes,
you can use 'apt' (Debian based installation proccess)

You can install it like this: 'urpmi apt'

After installing it, you can use it to install/remove/update your packages and/or your distribution, with commands like:

'apt-get update' (this will fetch a package list to the box, so it will be able to know if there are new packages for upgrade)

'apt-get upgrade' (this will upgrade packages that need to be updated, IF there is a newer version available) NOTE: running 'apt-get update' is strongly recommended before doing any upgrades

'apt-get dist-upgrade' (This will attempt to fetch latest packages and install them. It's more like you do a <distribution update>)

If you want to use apt again for installing/removing packages, you can simply do:

'apt-get install packagename'
&
'apt-get remove packagename'

It's not bad if you google to find help about apt. Don't be lame

Using apt there is something you must know about where you want it get packages from.
In /etc/apt/ folder there is a file named 'sources.list' and by default, if you installed apt like this: 'urpmi apt' there is an uncommented line with the url that apt sould look for package list.
You can change it IF you want, to an other url (make sure its valid and that it works, because apt wont work at all if you add something invalid)

I made this post because people keep asking me in my help channel about this subject.

Enjoy linuxfreaks!