[plug] SuSE Linux

[Quintin Lette]

Comments below.

<snip>
> I've been using SuSE for years. I wasn't at the meeting last night (I was
> killing myself on the volleyball courts next door), but I can give some
> input on this.
</snip>

I have also been using SuSE since the release of 8.0 and am now using 8.1

>
> > Both everythinglinux.com.au and lsl.com.au are taking (pre-)orders
> > for the 8.2 "Professional upgrade"; for less than $120. The German
>
> Yes, it's relatively pricey, coming from Europe, and with a company with a
> business model which might have them survive for a while. You also pay for
> a really good and well maintained distribution. When it comes to
> engineering - cars or software - that Germanic attention to detail really
> makes their products stand out as top quality.
>

Agreed :)

> The best way to get it cheaply would be for a group of people at PLUG to
> chip in and buy it for the library, then make copies of the CDs as
> required. Not-for-profit redistribution is allowed.

I'd be in for that... :)) who, where, how much?? :))

>
> > OK, OK... If 8.1 (and 8.0) are anything to go by; their online
> > update "wizard" sucks dirty swamp water through a crinkled straw.
> > It's painfully slow. (There's a free, faster alternative "fou4s"
> > that I've been using for months now, at 4 different sites.)
>
> I've heard this, but never had a problem with it. Yast Online Update (YOU,
> as it's called) has always worked absolutely flawlessly for me. It even
> updated my glibc package automatically, something I'd very rarely let an
> automated process have a go at. I use the local iinet FTP server's SuSE
> mirror as the source, and it's plenty quick enough for me. No download
> costs either. :o)

I have a different issue with YOU (actually YAST2, but related) that is quite 
pesky, to the extent I'm considering moving back to debian on the desktop (i 
still use debian for all my server stuff and anything non-i386 anyway) which 
is, that on installing software from the distro, YAST will reinstall all the 
original dependancies over the updated ones. I found I was constantly moving 
back to KDE 3.0.3 when I had 3.0.5 installed.  I now update manually using 
rpm as I am so annoyed.  Also the Conflict errors can't be semi permanently 
suppressed, when installing 3rd party software (apart from creating your own 
rpm, that provides for the mismatched software, which sounds like too much 
effort).

Hopefully 8.2 has addressed these issues, but I will definately give it a 
go... if YAST still has those probs, then I guess I'll try apt4rpm and if 
that still doesn't work... good-ol debian will be on my desktop once again :)

Quintin