My SuSE Linux 8.0 Came today

[gnomez]

Time to erase my Windows XP partition!  I'll let you all know what I think of it after I've used it a bit.  It comes with KDE 3.0 too, so I don't even have to download it!

[Master of Reality]

sweet

[gnomez]

I'm posting this from SuSE right now    
So far it appears to be the killer Linux distribution and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a great Microsoft alternative.  Konqueror 3.0 is sweet and renders pages much better than the previous version.  KDE 3.0 is faster and cleaner too.  For those who say "Linux is hard to install" the cure for that is to have them watch someone install SuSE Linux 8.  It involved hitting the "next" button about two times and it autodetected all of my hardware pefectly.  It didn't even need to reboot the system after installation!!  I've had it on my computer for about 10 minutes but I'll be back with more information soon.    

[Interscope]

A friend of me is installing it as we speak. He says windows already is good enuff for him(Allthough he hates Microsoft, but he did get WinXP burned, so I guess the price wasn't a problem) But he's installing SuSE to "expand his borders", I hope that his borders will stay expanded.

[hoojchoons]

I got my copy of SuSE Linux 8.0 Professional today. I've installed it in almost 30 minutes and right now I've got KDE 3.0 running on my desktop. I'm telling you guys, it must be the easiest to install Linux distro out there, even easier than Mandrake which I've used in the past. There's absolutely no excuse now for Winbloze  fans not to try Linux! Absolutely great distro on all aspects!!

[gnomez]

I just used the automated program "fetchmsttfonts" to download all the web fonts from M$.  Font support is MUCH improved from previous versions of kde.. everything looks great.  The only "problem" i've had so far is my USB mouse's wheel wasnt functioning.  However, all I had to do was add Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" to the mouse device section of the XF86Config file.  I can't state how much Linux has improved since I last used it.  It's like.. how to explain.. It's quickly becomeing what UNIX on the desktop (Mac OS X) is for Apple.  Now let's see some developers (Adobe, game developers, etc.) pitch in!

[kinky]

im running on SuSE 8.0 right now... this is FANTASTIC! ... and i loved 7.3 .. but they have done a good job on this... i was showing some friends stuff, and they barely know what a computer is.. and they want to load it on their machines instead of windows

[gnomez]

It's great that it is actually less bloated than previously.  My machine doesn't go into swap all the time like with Red Hat 7.2.  This is definitely the distribution to wow newbies with. My brother, however, will says he will never use Linux because he says all these lies about how Windows XP is so great and he can't play his MMRPGS like Dark Age of Camelot and all that nonsense.

PS All my friends use the *#@(*ing msn messenger.  Does SuSE come with a client that will let me talk to them?

[ April 26, 2002: Message edited by: Garden GNOME ]

[Calum]

right. does it support the SiS630 graphics card out of the box? and the SiS 630 modem? i heard red hat 7.2 did this, but i have yet to verify that. If SuSe does, it may be worth me spending the money, if not, then pfehh!

[gnomez]

I don't know if it supports that hardware, Calum, but since it is a newer distribution I think it would have better hardware support than RedHat 7.2.  It detected everything on my computer except the usb scanner (which it detected but unfortunately there are no drivers for it)  I just put the scanner on my brother's windows XP machine and he gave me the digital camera (which works in linux) to put on my machine.

Anyway, there are many reasons to get this new distribution if your hardware is supported.  If it helps, on the box it says "SuSE Linux is suitable for all common PC hardware components.  A detailed list is available at http://cdb.suse.de/ " The stability, speed, etc. is great and after messing with the xftconfig file the fonts look better in konqueror than they do in Windows XP.  There are a few bugs but nothing serious so far, and it hasn't driven me crazy like XP did with its stupid wizards trying to set up my network.  (Can you imagine, XP being harder to set up a network in than Linux?)
Konqueror has become a really good web browser and it "messes up" web pages much less than before.  I still keep Mozilla around for said pages, but Mozilla is slower and doesn't have AA font support in Linux. (to my knowledge)
Kmail is fine but I use Evolution since it is so much like Outlook, which I am used to.
StarOffice (5.2, bleh!) came with it but I'm going to download openoffice because it is newer and has AA font support.
So far it has worked great on this computer (700 Mhz Athlon /w 128 MB RAM and GeForce 256)  I hope it works as well on my new computer (Athlon XP 2100+ /w Geforce 4)  But since nVidia seems to be so dedicated to Linux I think there won't be a problem.  They already have the SuSE 8.0 packages on their web site as I speak!

[ April 27, 2002: Message edited by: Garden GNOME ]

[iancom]

I'm just downloading RedHat 7.3 beta, "Skipjack," which should have much more hardware support and suchlike than 7.2. It only has KDE 3 RC1 by default at the moment, I believe, but by the time it's released it should have all the final versions on (and in fact it should be trivial for me to update it to KDE3 final anyway).

I shall report my findings soon...!

[gnomez]

Yes, Red Hat 7.3 (when it comes out) should be quite good also, especially for those who want free iso images. (SuSE Linux is free but not in iso form; you have to download from their ftp site and it doesn't include some commercial software)  Red hat has always been the most compatible Linux distribution since it is the most popular.

[hoojchoons]

Well, Calum I don't know about your modem, but the SiS630 is supported under XFree86 3.3.6 by the XF86_SVGA server with the sis driver (accelerated support that is). Under XFree86 4.2.0 things are still a bit tricky since the driver's code is new and has a few problems. You can find both XFree86 versions under every new distro (same goes for SuSE Linux 8.0).  

[Calum]

top cool, now i just have to find somebody with a cable connection who can be arsed to do me a copy!!  

[gnomez]

quote: All my friends use the *#@(*ing msn messenger. Does SuSE come with a client that will let me talk to them?

I found a program called KMerlin that is an MSN Messenger client, and it is very good.  It has all the standard features except there are no file transfers but that isnt so bad.