Suse Linux 9.0 Professional Edition

1) I use an optical 2 button 1 wheel Microsoft Intellimouse
via a USB adapter to PS/2 connection. The mouse would
intermittently work. Everytime I move the pointer away
from the lower right portion of the screen, the pointer
would snap back. I tried various mouse drivers, but the
mouse would only work when I used it strictly as a USB
mouse, but don't want to be forced to use up my only USB
port.

The mouse has no problems in Windows or Redhat.

2) Upon installation the auto detected video board seemed to
only allow for 800x600 PX resolution.

Yast seemed to not allow me to successfully select any
other resolution. The alternate control panel (I think
it was called SA) allowed me to set it to 1280x1024 PX.

Why is Yast so dysfunctional in this aspect? I never
had this problem with Windows or Redhat.

3) The install did not detect the presence of my IOmega USB
Zip250 drive. Both Windows and Redhat (Redhat 7.1 even)
was able to.

4) The install did not detect my HP Scanner (can't remember
the model), but it's only 2 years old. It is connected
to my PC via a parallel port and cable.

The scanner works perfectly in Windows.

5) Also, KWord seemed to crash every other minute. It's
only a word processor!

I couldn't imagine trying to run anything even more
taxing on the machine if a mere word processor seems
to fail.

At present I am extremely UNHAPPY with SuSE Linux 9.0 and will
probably return it and try Redhat 9.0. My Redhat 7.1 ran better
than SuSE 9.0. Redhat is still nowhere near as easy to use or
is as functional as MS Windows, but it seems to work infinitely
better than SuSE.

I was trying to escape from Microsoft and go completely
to Linux, but Windows seems to run circles around every version
of Linux I have tried, and in almost every way. At least Redhat
marginally worked. SuSE was a dog!

Linux seems to be like public television while Windows is like
cable or Satellite TV. No comparison. I guess you get what
you pay for.


Linux: A real operating system after crappy years of Windows   January 16, 2004
Mark Bench, after 30+ years of computing (USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

Before the IBM PC (late 70's) there were multi-user operating systems (e.g. MP/M & MP/M-II) running on 16-bit processors. The first OS for the PC (PC DOS, created by Microsoft) was a dirty copy of a downgraded CP/M (a single-user OS). To this day, and well after so many years, and many versions of MS DOS (including the "pseudo-windows" versions of MS DOS, called by them "Windows 95" and "Windows 98"), Microsoft still doesn't have a true multi-user operating system.

Linux (and Unix) OS's are taking computing to the next level since the days of Digital Research (CP/M & MP/M). IBM, and Microsoft (an application software company, not an OS development company at the time) started, in my opinion, the greatest disservice of all times to computer consumers, when they launched the IBM PC in 1981: a behind-the-times computer running a crappy Microsoft OS on an 8-bit microprocessor (8088). And this is not because of the computer, but because of the outdated operating system that Microsoft created. Windows is a widely used OS; that doesn't mean it's better.

Linux is by far a superior operating system: a true multi-user, multi-program OS, more powerful than any Windows version will ever be (there are many Linux servers out in the real world competing head to head with Microsoft, and guess what? Linux is winning!). SuSE has done a fine job putting Linux SuSE 9.0 together, a very good package, bundled with tools, utilities, several world-class applications, and highly automated installation services (easy too!)

I made a full blown installation onto an old 4GB hard drive, and it took less than 2GB, including most of the applications that came in the package. The only problem I found was with a Brother MFC-6800 printer (designed to work with Windows), but I easily found a Linux driver in a dedicated website.

All those who don't have a clue what a good operating system is because the only thing they know is Windows, should stay with Windows (and pay more, of course). If you don't understand Linux, you won't be able to see the differences, and worse, the incredible advantages of Linux.

"Working with MS Windows is like crawling... working with Linux is like flying!"


Suse finally gets it right...and gets sold to Novell!   November 8, 2003
G. Maxwell (Pennsylvania)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Suse finally gets it right. My install went perfectly with only minor adjustments needed (what distro doesn't need a tweak here and there?)

The graphics look as good as ever and this version has some of the slickest packages around--some even the other distros don't have.

And with the recent buy-out of Suse by Novell, it should only get better with age.

If you are looking for an alternative to the OS from Redmond, Suse has finally put together a formidable product that allows you to do all of the things you do in Windows--and more. All at an affordable price.

No license fees...no hassles...ease of use...what are you waiting for?


Well...   November 15, 2003
Emma R. (New York)
5 out of 41 found this review helpful

Well with all the noise around linux, I thought I would give this a try. Needless to say, I wound up having to re-install Windows. It takes hours of configuration to get the functionality of this product. Not only that, you are using command line syntax, eek!

I have had the best luck with Windows XP Professional...


Great Product!   November 16, 2003
Oscar Ferrer (Atlanta, GA USA)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

This is great, all my hardware was detected without problems, installation was as easy or more than a windows installation, it is loaded with all kind of software to do anything you'd like to do, the interface is very clean and YaST is just great. I used to be a Red Hat user for about 2 years, also tried Mandrake for a while and have installed some other distros, but this is by far one of the best linux distributions I've ever seen. I don't know why some people on the reviews say it's hard to install/use, it really isn't and works absolutely great. I'll be a SUSE user from now on :) and probably will be staying with it for a long time. Would recommend to anybody.