Help! Linux newb has trouble installing SuSe

[RaynorWolfcastle]

I downloaded the boot ISO and burned it to a CD. From what I understand the easiest way to install SuSe is via ftp these days so I set about trying to do it that way. I picked a mirror near me, got the IP address, and noted down the directory as per their site. Got all the way to the GUI installation section then it tells me that it has an error creating a software proposal so I look into the package selection and there's nothing there. At this point all I can do is abort the installation.

Has anyone here successfully installed SuSe via ftp? Any ideas as to what the problem could be?

FWIW, I am trying to install SuSe 8.1 via ftp://mirror.mcs.anl.gov

As always any help is very much appreciated

 

[manly]

Last time I installed SuSE Linux was version 8.0 by DVD.

I just tried the 8.1 boot CD installer through FTP and it got stuck at the same place yours did. The instructions in the README file are clearly wrong, so maybe they didn't test the boot CD FTP installer much:

boot.iso: small CD-image usable instead of all the floppies
(contains also the large rescue system)
At the bootprompt, you can enter
install=ftp://IPADDRESS/PATH
IPADDRESS is the address of the ftp-server
PATH is the path on that server
dhcp will be used to obtain the local ip

The last version I installed by FTP was 7.2 and I used two floppies; if you really need to install, you could try the floppies route.

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

Quickie question for anyone who may know..Is the dl/d' FTP version the same as the retail version that you can get at ChumpUSA? Also, what is improved with the 8.1 over the 8.0? I have 8.0 right now and am just about ready to play street hockey with the disks as I am so frustrated with the video corruption I get after getting Nvidia drivers installed(SuSE's versions no less) :disgust:

 

[Toxic]

ftp the easiest? No way. Burn iso's of each disk needed and install it from CD. You can get a pretty good setup with just the first 3 cd's. I wish I had a DVD drive so I could just use the DVD disk....Hey! Santa! Then again, it's already installed.

8.1 is mostly updated packages as far as I understand, but you should be able to find that info on their website. There's a difference in some of the packages and whatnot between the personal and professional versions, but the .1 release may have added some other stuff.

I used the drivers from the Nvidia website - they work fine. You might try that.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Toxic, I can't really burn the ISO's since Suse does not offer downloadable ISO's. AFAIK, ftp is the only way you can install without paying, if you have any idea where I can find 8.0 or 8.1 ISO's please let me know.

Meanwhile I downloaded the RedHat ISOs and will be installing them tomorrow if I can't get SuSe to work...

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: GonzoDaGr8
Quickie question for anyone who may know..Is the dl/d' FTP version the same as the retail version that you can get at ChumpUSA? Also, what is improved with the 8.1 over the 8.0? I have 8.0 right now and am just about ready to play street hockey with the disks as I am so frustrated with the video corruption I get after getting Nvidia drivers installed(SuSE's versions no less) :disgust:

The FTP version is 99% identical with SuSE Linux Pro retail. A few commercially licensed products are excluded because SuSE won't redistribute them by FTP. Having installed the FTP version before, I can't think of a single package I personally missed out on though. You can PM me if you need some assistance w/ Nvidia drivers.

I don't know how improved 8.1 is, but it is the first release based upon GCC 3.2 rather than GCC 2.95.3. While that in and of itself is a important achievement, it's also a significant change and relatively risky to upgrade immediately.

From a bugs standpoint, 8.0 should be a relatively solid release (no major changes) but I can't say it's been 100% smooth sailing either. And yeah, contrary to what Toxic says, ISOs are not freely downloadable.

 

[Toxic]

Opps, my bad. I saw a site that was hosting them, but now that it's been said - you're right. They are not freely available, only illegally.
I never actually checked SuSE's website for iso's, so I aplogize for my mistake. I assumed if they were out, it was because it was mirrored.

Having said that, I PAID for SuSE 8.1.

 

[manly]

Btw, it should be noted that SuSE is still a free operating system. Source code is fully available and the SuSE license allows you to copy the media & install the OS on unlimited seats, including for others (friends, family, clients, etc). It's nothing like a Microsoft license.

The license just restricts you from reselling copies of the media.

I don't mind paying for the retail box (having bought 2 versions before), but to some degree, I do resent & refuse to pay the $70 license fee every 6 months if I want the newest version. I install it on only one machine, and I'm just not able to justify that fee each and every time (I realize the upgrade is more like $50 but you won't find the upgrade available in retail stores). SuSE Linux Pro full retail on rare occasions will be $50 on sale. So I pick & choose when I want to pay up to support the company.

From a personal standpoint, I wish I could download ISOs of every release, but I respect the company's decision to generate revenue. The FTP installer is always available, and it works rather well (except this time apparently).

 

[manly]

Well they've fixed the network install image (that gets loaded by FTP) and I'm running a test install right now. I always try to evaluate the big 3 distros upon each new release.

The two changes I noticed are that YaST2 installer is now graphical (whereas yesterday it was the ncurses text UI that's functionally identical). And that software selection is now working. I actually like the new software selection scheme. It's simple to use; just about 10 categories of software. You can select the whole category or drill down to individual packages. I could be wrong, but it seems to be simplified so they must have hidden many of the thousands of packages that span 7 CDs. Dependencies are automatically resolved as they have been for years by YaST. The installer itself hasn't changed much (still considered one of the best Linux OS installers out there).

I selected the default KDE install + development packages, and it weighs in at 1.3 GB. Not installing GNOME as SuSE doesn't put any time or effort into their GNOME desktop anymore.

The FTP install in general is good, but the only limitation of running SuSE is the lack of freely available installable ISOs. I still prefer the distro over the other contenders, although I haven't done a comprehensive full evaluation in some time.

 

[CrazySaint]

Do you know which packages are excluded from the FTP version of SuSE? I checkec the website, but they don't list which packages aren't included.

 

[Derango]

Well...this 3 year linux user had trouble installing SuSE...and when I finally got the thing installed, I found it wasn't worth the trouble I went through to get it there Its a nice distro...just not worth a couple days of work to get it going.