[Pi rules]

I am probably going to install SUSE Linux 10.0 (after they finally finish downloading. I'm only 63 MB on CD #1. I'll probably end up installing next weekend because I'm too busy to download all the CDs this weekend.
Does anybody have an tips for installing it, or any opinions, because I don't want to download something that big for nothing. How newbie-friendly is it? I have some experience with Ubuntu, but that's it.

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I first started with SuSe 9.3, it was easy to setup, put the disks in and run them.

now for the bad news
unlike Ubuntu where you have free support coming out your ears, including an IRC chatroom, SuSe makes you pay for support, an doesn't have live support via IRC.

I dropped SuSe after 48 hours and went to Ubuntu because it had some issues with my hardware, specifically my cd drives. it would open them whenever it wanted to, it was like my machine was haunted.

thats the extent of help I can give on SuSe, Now I'm a Ubuntu fanatic

Edited by Efwis, 22 October 2005 - 06:07 PM.

[Dragon]

I first started with SuSe 9.3, it was easy to setup, put the disks in and run them.

now for the bad news
unlike Ubuntu where you have free support coming out your ears, including an IRC chatroom, SuSe makes you pay for support, an doesn't have live support via IRC.

I dropped SuSe after 48 hours and went to Ubuntu because it had some issues with my hardware, specifically my cd drives. it would open them whenever it wanted to, it was like my machine was haunted.

thats the extent of help I can give on SuSe, Now I'm a Ubuntu fanatic

Edited by Efwis, 22 October 2005 - 06:07 PM.

[Pi rules]

I just returned from work after burning all the SUSE CDs (5 total). SUSE better work well after I wasted several hours downloading and some CD-Rs. I also have Ubuntu. It seems like a great OS, although I had some problems with it that nobody at the Ubuntu forum could figure out (first sound, although I eventually fixed it, then a CD mounting error, then a question about my mouse, all with no replies, except one member who had the same sound card and was wondering if I found a solution).

Now I'm running into a partition dilemma. I have an 80 GB HDD with a corrupt XP (can still access most of my old files), after it became corrupt I purchased a 120 GB HDD to save the files to. I partitioned 110 GB for XP and 10 GB for the Ubuntu partitions.

About how much space would you recommend for SUSE (including swap and everything else) and can the installer shrink the existing Windows partition on my 80 GB HDD, or should I just use Partition Magic to do it?
Also, should I use the Ubuntu swap partition, or just use make a new one.

PS: Thanks for your opinion on SUSE!

Edited by Pi rules, 22 October 2005 - 09:43 PM.

[Dragon]

I know when I used SuSe I had it installed on the same 5gig hdd that I currently have Ubuntu on. Since you are using a much larger hdd I would recommend, just for the fun of it, you use around 10-15 gig total. Thats more then enough.

Most of the information on the other 4 disks from Suse would be the optional programs like you would get from the Ubuntu repos,


SUSE Linux 10.0
Hardware Requirements

SUSE Linux supports most PC hardware components. The following requirements should be met to ensure smooth operation of SUSE Linux 10.0:

• Processor: Intel: Pentium 1-4 or Xeon; AMD: Duron, Athlon, Athlon XP, Athlon MP, Athlon 64, Sempron or Opteron
  
• Main memory: At least 256 MB; 512 MB recommended
  
• Hard disk: At least 500 MB for minimal system; 2.5 GB recommended for standard system
  
• Sound and graphics cards: Supports most modern sound and graphics cards

jsut so you know, every linux distro has its own problems, for example on my old mobo i had sound on Suse but no sound on Ubuntu, come to find out it was dealing with the support for the chipset.

dealing with partition sizing, the Suse installer should help you with that.

Suse will overwrite the Ubuntu swap so that it can use it.unless you want both of them, then you need to make a seperate swap partition.

Edited by Efwis, 23 October 2005 - 06:45 AM.

[Pi rules]

Thanks a ton for the help!

I had sound problems with Ubuntu as well; I just played around with Alsamixer and fixed it.

I think I'll install it later this morning (morning for me at least). I'll post back with the results. I think I'll shrink the corrupted XP partition and just make a new swap partition for it, because the other one is on my primary HDD.

Edit: I just thought of one more question...
Will it reinstall GRUB on my primary MBR, or should I tell it not to install it and just modify my other one with Ubuntu?

Edit 2: Ignore the previous edit. I just installed it (erasing the Ubuntu partition, I found out that it couldn't shrink existing partitions) and everything went fine until I got to the desktop when I couldn't read anything and the graphics were horrific. I played with some settings (not very easily, I'm used to Gnome, but I chose KDE) mostly blind, and then I restarted, and it was OK! SUSE seems to be a very good OS so far!
PS: I ordered some Ubuntu CDs, so when they come, I'll just install 5.10 on my second HDD.

Also, I noticed that I can at least see files on my 2 NTFS partitions, but I read that modifying them on some distros can corrupt the partition, does anybody know if is this true?

Edited by Pi rules, 23 October 2005 - 11:49 AM.

[Dragon]

Also, I noticed that I can at least see files on my 2 NTFS partitions, but I read that modifying them on some distros can corrupt the partition, does anybody know if is this true?

in one word:

YES.

writing to a ntfs partition can corrupt the files so that they are not useable in Windows. I tried that when I was on Suse and I had to delete the entire program I was working on and had to re-install it.

HTH

[Pi rules]

Thanks! I believe that the default is opening it in read-only, but I'll be careful.
That's everything I can think of for now.