Suse Linux 9.0 Professional Edition

Yes, it is quite possible to lose your Windows partition when installing Linux, but to do this, you have to simply either NOT read the directions or not realize what the software is asking you to do. Windows will happily remove other OSs from your hard drive without even telling you, or will simply refuse to install, OR will install and render other OSs un-bootable.

As for Linux not having hardware support... well, this is somewhat misleading. Not every manufacturer has drivers for Linux, but almost every piece of add-on hardware imaginable is supported or will be supported. As for Linux not having software "on the shelf" at the store... what in the world are you looking for? SuSE comes with *thousands* of packages included. I will admit that if you are a game player, Windows is the platform of choice now, but other than that, you can get just about anything you need ALREADY IN THE BOX. Sheesh.

I have used SuSE since the early days and I absolutely love it. It installs with minimal effort and can run on machines that Windows would have trouble even booting on. It comes with tons of great software and has excellent documentation.

Try it for yourself! if you are like me, your Windows box will be relegated to the role of being for game-playing only.


Best Linux Distro   November 25, 2003
Girish V (Vancouver, BC)
I would like to start off by saying that after using Mandrake & Redhat for a little over 2 years (which i haven't used continuously but have installed it and messed around and now am a pro at installing) i finally got my hands on Suse Linux 9.0. I have wanted to try suse for a while but since they didn't have free distro it was hard finding ISO images. Just a week ago i installed it and let me tell you HONESTLY this is the best LINUX I HAVE EVER SEEN. The installation process is just amazing. Works flawlessly. Before i go further my advice to any newbies out there is DON'T EXPECT ur LINUX box to work as a WINDOWS box. I would recommend Linux to any person out there who wants to learn diff OS's for education purposes or fun purpose but don't expect to install linux and expect to play Need For Speed. You can however install it to just improve yourself in programming or Networking with other OS's and upgrade your skills since Linux is gaining a lot of rep and esp now that Suse has been bought out by Novell and its no surprise anymore to why Novell decided to go with Suse and not Redhat or anybody else. Linux right now is getting better better and better but still it has way to go. The appearance is just amazing you could say that its close to being somewhat Longhorn would look like. Extensible drivers and lil changes in how programs are named and all might make it more appealing and better for the Newbies. NTFS write permissions would be real good. My sound card worked fine everything was detected, Suse updated without any problems after install. One feature i liked was the ability to change resolution i would have liked if you were able to change the Hz too. Overall if you wanna spend money to buy linux BUY SUSE. Amazing Amazing Amazing distro that's all i gotta say.


A software user   January 2, 2004
Wen-Jung Pao (USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

IMHO, this is a very good Linux distribution among those I have ever used.

The system I used to install SuSE Linux 9 Pro is a two-year old IBM ThinkPad T23 (P-III 1.0 GHz, HD 30 GB, Mem 512 MB, MS Windows 2000 Pro preinstalled ...). I have to admit that I did not succeed in the first attempt, either the mouse (ext. USB MS Intelli/Optical Wheel mouse) or the keyboard did not work correctly. In my second attempt, everything went smoothly, and I could work under both SuSE Linux and Win2000 with the GRUB boot manager. All within an hour in the configuration and installation processes. I did not read the manuals at all, the GUI installation interface is very intuitive. Good work by SuSE!!!

In the past I have used, from the first day installing Linux on an Intel x486 box, Slackware Linux, Caldera OpenLinux (now SCO!?), TurboLinux, RedHat Linux (6.x - 9), Mandrake Linux, and SuSE Linux. Caldera's OpenLinux 2.4 (eDesktop) was once my favarite. RedHat is OK, but it abandoned further release after RedHat Linux 9; you have to find "Fedora" for help.
Currently and in the near future, I will rely on SuSE and Slackware for Open Source Linux applications development and Desktop/Laptop uses. If you like more user-friendly installation, configuration and future support , choose SuSE; for a clean and fast Linux, choose Slackware (now in v9.1).
Enjoy!!!


one step closer to user friendly   January 3, 2004
This is my 2nd attempt at installing a linux installation previously I tried SUSE 8.2 Pro and well it drove me nuts I just couldnt get it integrated into a windows network everything i wanted to do was incredibly difficult.

I would rank my abilty slightly higher than the average windows user. Most windows problems i can solve but I am very inexperienced with linux.

For my installation I chose to do so via ftp download. I downloaded the bootcd.iso from suse. This is not an easy way to install suse. I had to use an 8.2 disk to format my hard drive.
Suse could make life a lot easier by including more on the boot cd image (about 20 meg).
I had to find a compatible network card driver (google) once that was done i had to setup a server to download from having your own lan makes life so much easier as you can have a 2nd machine resolving issues. ping is handy to find the x.x.x.x address of an ftp server with broadband its just a question of waiting for the download.
I setup with a graphical desktop but without office.
Most people will want to integrate suse into a windows network and this is where a major improvement has taken place on the desktop is local network its just like network nieghborhood in windows.
The Samba client will find your windows workgroup effortlessly To make suse visable to windows machines you need samba server select it through yast and it will download and install add your network name and its visable to your windows machines.

Realvnc is a free client and server which you can install on almost any operating system with the server running on your windows or mac ect pc. The server exports your desktop to any client machine and gives full remote access.

support for this is built into suse9.0 you can connect with system/remoteaccess/desktopsharing put the ip address of your windows machine and give it the password and there is your windows desktop sat in a window on your linux box with everything on it ready to run :)

you can also configure do the reverse and put the suse desktop on your windows machine.

suse9.0 also has online update which you can use to update the packages on your system and install more packages when needed practically pain free.

If you have a broadband connection then living with suse9.0 is not the nightmare it used to be compared with 8.2.
This pc dual boots suse9.0 and windows Me but it is likely to run suse more than windows. I wouldnt recommend doing the install by ftp download though it is a lot easier and quicker with a cd installation set.

If you are a reasonably experienced computer user then this distribution will allow you to gently ease yourself into the linux community. Rename konquerer internet explorer and i think
even a novice could start using suse9.0 with little additional help. with its install on demand features everything is there when you need it.

It still has the problem that too much gets installed by default
I would prefer a system stripped down to what i use.

all in all a very good effort this is a linux i can use.

I do network support for an internet cafe and I would be tempted to run it on some of the pc's there however I need to have the connectivity with the many messenger clients out there I also find users uncomfortable with staroffice and gimp mostly due to the "unusual" file dialogues if these issues can be addressed then I could use suse within the cafe.


a great and powerful... vacuum   January 5, 2004
Ken Gremillion (Mississippi)
What can I tell you, I too wanted to break away from MS operating systems and the corporate control that comes with it, so I sprang for a copy of SuSE Linux since it was rated higher than the rest in a recent PC Magazine - all sexed up, looked great on paper, so I bought it. I left 10 gigs for the installation which was flawless and I was quite impressed with the GUI and desktop, very pretty, so far so good. Then, i noticed that although my Ethernet card had been recognized I wasn't connected to the Internet. So, I went to YAST (the configuration tool) and set about inputting network information, etcetera, etcetera; still no connection; more reading, booting back to windows to look for help (on the Internet), making pages of notes, configuring, pinging, configuring, to no avail. No problem, I thought - and picked up the phone to call tech support. In one word - Rude. "We only offer help on installation issues." Helloooooo??? What could be a more fundamental part of installation than connecting to the Internet? So, I sent a letter to the support people in Germany. My lightening fast response about 10 days later was that they didn't do Internet, and that if I wanted help with configuring it it would cost me $39 per hour. Folks, I uninstalled and reinstalled three times - wasted two weeks trying to geek myself up to the task but then I decided to do a FIXMBR to get rid of the Linux Grub booter and then erased and reformatted the two Linux partitions as FAT32. Going back to windows2000 after that hassle was like coming home for Thanksgiving after a long absence!!! How nice to see "Starting Windows" on my screen now! Believe me folks; you don't know what you've got till it's gone!