Sounds like you made the same mistake I did: you played mix-and-match 
with the RPM's.  You also used an outdated distro, tried to use GUI 
configuration tools, and did not take a consistent approach to system 
updated and modifications.

All of which I've been through too, and it's a great way to learn, but 
it's not RedHat's fault.

Several of the config utils that they included, along with everybody 
else, weren't (some still aren't) ready for prime time.  Linuxconf has 
pretty much been run out of town on a rail, and you don't see it any 
more.

Finding RPM's and dependencies is a bear - that's why I've given up on 
Mandrake, and it's GUI RPM managers don't work worth a darn; they can't 
ever find the dependencies, etc.

RedHat's up2date, on the other hand, works like a charm - PROVIDED THE 
PACKAGE AND VERSION YOU WANT ARE AVAILABLE ON REDHAT'S SITE.  Which 
means that they are a good platform if you want stability and good 
support.  I've found them ideal for the webserver I manage remotely, 
and I've even subscribed to the up2date service for my own home system 

($60/yr, you get priority access to the ftp servers. Well worth it if 
you're serious about supporting RedHat.)

Debian and SuSE are also well developed, experienced distros that have 
been around for a while, and if you can run them at all you can 
probably figure out the differences between a RedHat howto and what to 
do on one of them.

However, if you want GUI configuration tools, go with Windows.  They 
have the better ones, and arguably the only complete ones.  If you're 
going to run Linux seriously, learn the SysV Config system and stick 
with it.

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