if nothing else, it'll give youa feel for the os. if you've got a good, fast net connection, you might try ftping everything, but i think that the suse distribution is very reasonably priced...chances are, you'll end up installing more than once, anyway....may as well get used to it. ;) the book is well worth the money too, in my opinion.
-derek I must respectfully take issue with the "installing more than once" statement. One of the most powerful aspects of Linux is the fact that things CAN be fixed. If the fix takes longer than a reinstall, well you've actually learned something and that knoweledge can be redistributed to help others. My advice, after 10 years experience with Unix, is to leave the reinstall and reboot philosophy in the trashheap with your Microsoft CDs whence they arose.
yours, Andy
well, all i can say is from experience. it took me three installs to get my system running well when i first tried to put it on. the first time i installed it, i was just messing around trying to find out how difficult it would be. as it turned out, it wasn't difficult at all, and i ended up with a running system before i knew it. the partitioning wasn't good, though, so i wanted to give it another shot. the second, i must have screwed up something during the installation, and without knowing which critical applications i'd left out, i decided to just reinstall...seemed alot easier than trying to figure out what i'd done wrong... the third time was the charm, however, and it ran great until i decided to try out another couple of versions of linux that i got ahold of...suse is back on the machine. on my second machine, which i waited a couple of months to intall on, i only needed one install...but i think that's because i took the time to fiddle with my system on the other machine. once you've got a system up and running, and have some idea of what you are looking for, then yes, i can understand your point. but if you've no idea what you are even shooting for, then i think you have to _plan_ to reinstall at some point. if the original poster has some idea of what he's shooting for, or has a friend that can help, then yes, he may well only requre one install. but for the inexperienced folks who are just taking the leap on their own, i think they'd better expect to experiment a little before they are going to be satisfied. this isn't a drawback, nor do i think it's a mindset generated by microsoft indoctrination. i think it's just a matter of 'learning by doing.' besides, it's not as if installation is a big deal...suse has done a great job at making it easy to install linux. -derek "Winter's hateful battle raging on, Rocket's flying towards the glowing sun, Pollution fills the land, the air, and sea, Man prepares to meet his destiny...." Into the Void--Black Sabbath - To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e Check out the SuSE-FAQ at <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/"><A HREF="http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/</A">http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/</A</A>> and the archiv at <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/Mailinglists/suse-linux-e/index.html"><A HREF="http://www.suse.com/Mailinglists/suse-linux-e/index.html</A">http://www.suse.com/Mailinglists/suse-linux-e/index.html</A</A>>