I had a copy of mandrake around 10 years ago, but have completely forgotten everything. I've just installed Ubuntu 13.10 on my laptop as it had windows XP and that software is end of life in April. Im using mainly to view the web. I will also use it to figure out how linux works, In the past I've worked for IBM as a test technician using AIX unix so i dono where that will help or not. I wait and see.....