HG wrote:
I presume this can be installed with floppies and network?
Probably even easier - USB-stick.
USB doesn't work for this (or on this machine). Network boot would be ok, but it's too hard for me to set up with SUSE.
You mean use etherboot off a floppy, or with bootrom or builtin PXE? Yeah, that could get a little complicated, especially if you don't like compiling your own software. It's works fine though.
I've tried it with knoppix though and it works just fine. Actually, I could see a tremendeous benefit for small business if SUSE would include a easy to setup network boot installation.
I run a small(ish) business myself, and for installations, booting off the USB-stick is all we need. It's easy and requires no CDROM. Even some (in business terms) quite ancient systems - 3-4 years old - will boot off USB. But you probably meant an installation option that would allow workstations to boot off a central server? With an NFS-mounted root filesystem? Where your workstations would boot with PXE or perhaps off a floppy or USB-stick. We have a 16-node cluster that works like that. For a few ordinary workstations, I think it is overkill, especially in a small business. The overhead in management and setup is too much, plus you'd need to keep the right sort of IT skills around.
Large businesses can take the time to use the current systems, but smaller can not.
But do you always need to be bleeding-edge in a small business? I don't. The advantage a small business has over a large is its flexibility - being a nimble ship. There is no big-brother IT-dept to dictate that all workstations must be the same colour, and run the same software. You don't need 100page roll-out plans to go around installing/upgrading SUSE whilst the secretary goes for a coffee. Interesting chat. /Per Jessen, Zürich