[KLUG Members] Distro Change

[Robert Roye]

-----Original Message-----
From: members-bounces at kalamazoolinux.org
[mailto:members-bounces at kalamazoolinux.org] On Behalf Of Andy Eidson
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2004 1:14 PM
To: KLUG
Subject: [KLUG Members] Distro Change

Ok.. I am currently in process of setting up a full
time Linux workstation. I have been using Fedora Core
1 the whole time in my testing because that was the
newest version I had burned to CD. In searching the
past threads I noticed a lot of KLUG members have
seemed to migrate away from "Redhat/BSWare" to SUSE.
Is this because Fedora has just been to unstable for
users or that SUSE just offers "more" in some way? I
am in the process of downloading the Fedora Core 3
Test DVD ISO and trying that.. but was wondering why
the switch to SUSE?
_________________________________

I've tried Red Hat a few times, but was never comfortable with the "feel" of
it even though it seems to work well. I moved to Mandrake and was extremely
happy for a while, but then I looked at SuSE 9.0 on a friend's machine. I
went out and bought the Pro box the next day. I got Novell's free set of
DVDs when they were giving them out and am currently waiting for the Pro box
set to arrive from being ordered.

I am extremely impressed with what Novell is doing with SuSE and like the
fact that they intend to market it more. I see nothing wrong with getting
more people into Linux. I work in a small computer shop and we are promoting
Linux using SuSE. I've even called Novell a few times with a question or
problem and am very impressed with the way they handle supporting their
product, even the free version I called about that clearly states they will
not support it.

Graphically, it is the most beautiful distro I've seen and MUCH better on
the eyes than Windows XP. It rivals Mac OS X in beauty and ease of use. I
try to look at an OS from the viewpoint of a non-geek and SuSE/Novell 9.1
scores very high. We all like using the command line and graphical things
are just fluff, but to the general public it is much more than fluff. Most
people know nothing of using a command line in any OS, so the distros need
to keep that in mind when they design it. YaST is one of the easiest admin
packages that has hit the market short of System Preferences in OS X.

I loathe Microsoft with a deep and abiding passion. I'm seeing an OS in SuSE
9.1 that I can market to my customers that I feel they can use as a very
viable alternative to Windows. Everything about it is getting better. One of
the things I like the most is being able to install nVidia drivers and
activate 3D support simply by doing an online update and checking a box.

It also has very very good hardware support. I've installed it on our
bargain boxes with onboard everything and it sees and correctly installs all
hardware right away.

I hope you try SuSE and like using it as much as I do. I am unfortunately
saddled with having to dual-boot with Windows on all my computers for work
reasons, but I could easily use SuSE exclusively and have no trouble doing
so permanently.

-Robert Roye