Suse Linux 9.1 Professional Edition

The new kernel and KDE 3.2 are welcomed advancements. My SUSE 9.1 machine simply flys! OpenOffice 1.1.1 is great too. It does everything the MS Ofice does- it can even read MS Office files. I don't miss the Windoows world one bit... as a matter of fact, now that I don't have to worry about virus attacks or spyware anymore... I can surf the Internet pretty much carefree. It's a wonderful feeling indeed.


Best SuSE Yet!!!!   May 8, 2004
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

As a 10 yr LinuX user (Slackware, RedHat, Mandrake, Debian, RHEL, SuSE, etc...) I can definately say the latest version of SuSE roX!!! Don't let any of the negative reviews discourage you. You will get a ton of excellant software that will make you productive right away and not add to the overhead of your computing environment. If you consider the costs of putting together a WindoZe box ($250+ for WindoZe itself, $450+ for Office (to write letters, type email, maybe do a presentation), $80+ for Virus software so you can read your email, $100+ for firewall software to connect to the Internet to get your email)) it adds up to quite a bit, and that is not considering hardware. All of the above software is INCLUDED with SuSE (or any other freely downloadable version of LinuX). And, while true that there is a bit of a learning curve, it is not as difficult as you may think. As each new version of Linux is released it is getting easier to install and use. Why do you think Micro$oft is so scared, they know their time is about up. They are so afraid that they are cutting deals to 3rd world countries to sell their wares for 1/10th what we are still forced to pay. And with each version of WindoZe that comes out, you need to upgrade your hardware just to run it decently. And security is an after thought with them, that is until another worm hits the net and you hear Micro$oft blame everyone except themselves for their sub-standard code. LinuX will also have security issues, but not even to the extent that M$ will lead you to believe. Once a issue is discovered with LinuX, a patch is immediately available. With M$, they will deny issues for monthes before releasing any patch, then blame everyone for not installing that patch when a new vulnerability brings down corporate networks everywhere. So do yourself a favor and give SuSE a try.


Pay no attention to the MS kiss up (1st post)   May 8, 2004
Layton Baker (CA United States)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Linux a tried and true OS that is more stable and more flexible than Windows. Linux isn't for everyone but if you decide Linux is for you or want to give it a try...SuSE is very easy to use. Installing packages on SuSE 9.1 is as easy as using MS's Windows Update and you have complete control over your operating system.

As Linux distro's go SuSE is very user friendly and comes some great software for playing music & videos (might have to a little tweaking due to DMCA laws to get your free DVD codec(s) but that easy -- lots's of HOWTO's available for just this thing), burning CD's and DVD's, email, chat, word processing, finances, photo editing, games, web surfing, scientific programming, look at star maps, etc. This list goes on and on.

Using SuSE linux is no more difficult than using Tivo or your VCR (probably even less so these days) and really less complicated than other highly technical tasks that you every day (like drive a car).

If you are interested in Linux, then give SuSE 9.1 a try. If your not too interested in server applications or some programming, scientific apps then you might to consider Suse 9.1 personal which is about $30.


Those With Very New PC's Please Download the LiveCD First   May 10, 2004
C. Touchet (Dallas, TX)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Head to suse's website suse dot com and goto downloads and get their 9.1 live cd. This will not install the software but at least verify (In most cases) that it will work for you. If you're using a USB keyboard turn off "Legacy USB Support" first or your keyboards will not work properly. For those saying they're getting kernel panic's and their windows partitions are wiped is probably becuase you tried to resize your windows partition which is alwasy dangerous. Use partition magic and not Suse's repartitioner. If you install to seperate HD then you'll be fine and suse will automatically detect the windows partition and put it in the boot loader so you can choose windows or linux at boot. AMD64 Version is about 30-50% faster. And screams on dual opteron machines!


An unbiased review   May 27, 2004
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Most of these reviews I see here are very suspicious. Either 5 stars and you love it or 1 star and you hate it worse than the plague. Maybe Amazon can post your IP addresses again, and all will become clear.

I have downloaded the LiveEval disk from SUSE, and have installed 9.1 on no less than 3 completely different systems from the same CD... they are:

My home-built work system -
abit IC7MB, 3.0 Ghz P4 w/ Hyperthreading, Seagate SATA HD, 2 EIDE HD's, CD/DVD reader, CD/DVD Writer, HP scanner, Sony monitor, USB mouse and keyboard, 3COM NIC, ATI Radeon 9800.

My wife's Gateway

My Compaq at work

Each and every install performed flawlessly. I had no problems with any of the included software, and every piece of hardware on all systems was found and configured correctly with the following exceptions:

Sound cards were not always recognized. However, after telling Yast to re-probe the hardware (one time) everything worked correctly. Also, still working on finding video drivers from ATI, however, you can download them free on ATI's web site.

I was very pleased with the installer, KDE interface, the software included, and the overall experience of all of the installs.

some more tips:
1) Like other reviewers here have said over and over again, do your homework BEFORE you try installing this. Make sure your hardware is supported, or if it's not, decide if this is something you would be willing to live with while running Linux.

2) Download and install the Live Eval disk from www.Suse.com - while this will not give you a 100% complete picture of how your system will function, it will give you enough information upon which you can base an informed decision. Remember: the live eval is free (and will not change your hard drive whatsoever). Your time/frustration/windows partitions are not free.

3) If at all possible, DON'T INSTALL LINUX IN THE SAME PARTITION AS WINDOWS!! If you like it enough, go out and buy a cheap 20GB hard drive, or at the very least create an empty FAT32 partiion on your hard drive before you attempt an install Linux.