With the 9.2 release coming up I've given some thought on joining the happy MandrakeClub. Not just because that would give me fast access to the new version and the forums, but also just for supporting the fine effort.

I remember when I first decided to give linux a try, it was when Suse 7.2 was new. Then I had this naive idea, that if I paid money for the distro, I would get all this friendly support and get all of my devices to work perfectly. Just like in windows.
Since then, I've been through a multitude of distros. A few of them I liked, few just didn't work properly, none were outright bad.
I've found myself always coming back to Redhat9. Why?
It just works. Sure, there's a LOT of stuff that's a bit stupid, doesn't work or requires too much of my attention to function. But frankly, it's just like windows. I can live with the slow boot or the non-functional up2date because the rest of the system just stays up and does what I want. But in the end, it all comes down just to one thing:
Apt-rpm.
I really like debian and it's philosophy, but with the unstable having only xfree 4.2.0... it's just stupid. Gentoo's portage is absolutely amazing, but I'm against compiling everything, it's too time consuming to be smart.
So there we have apt-rpm and wonderful freshrpms.net. Sure, the selection is slim, but it gives me all the programs I need.
Xmule and mPlayer.
Again, it all comes down to something small: These two, rest I can handle. Xine's GUI is god-awful. ed2k network is the one I use. Simple.

SO, getting back on topic.
I tried installing the 9.2 release candidate, but the installer refused to copy the kernel.rpm package so that was plenty of fun.
I trust mandrake to deliver a working fuill release, so that's not the problem. And I trust that the release will have at least mplayer and a reasonably up-to-date mozilla / firebird / thunderbird.
But what about xmule?

Trust me, this is not what I meant to ask.
<ontopic>
I have one piece of hardware that has refused to work in ANY distro I've tried.
Lucent Orinoco WLAN in a ... *gasp* PCI-PCMCIA bridge. (yes, I have a desktop machine and a wlan-ISP)
The problem is the bridge. It's manufactured by some EVIL company and refuses to work under any other operating system that win98.
So. My internet connection is shared through a win98se machine.
It would be really really nice to get than one undisciplined piece of hardware in this one machine.
I could go buy o bridge that's made by Texas Instruments, as it has been proved to work, I've seen it with my own eyes. But that's a bad option.
Also important for me is my Wacom Graphire2 board. It has to work.
</ontopic>

Also, I don't own a credit card.. How can I pay the joining fee?
Yeah, I could lend one from a friend, but is there not another option?

There is an option to pay by cheque.

Only this week I finally decided to join. I had considered it for a while, but the 9.2 release options finally made me do it. I'm glad that I have, because although I have bought a few boxed sets in the past, a fair amount of the money I spent didn't go to Mandrake. Joining the club does send them money directly. I use Mandrake more than any other Distro, and I don't want them to go under.

Um, seems that the cheque-option is only available in USA and Canada.
What is it with you weird americans? I've never, ever seen a cheque that wasn't a gift certificate.

Can someone clarify what a VAT intra-EU Code is?
As France and Finland are both EU states, does this mean I can avoid some evil taxes?