Customer Reviews
SuSe 9.1 Pro 
2004-08-20
The previous review commented on Suse's proprietary installer. I assume he was referring to YaST. As far as I know, YaST is no longer proprietary (it used to be but has since been changed) and this hasn't stopped Suse from allowing you to download the personal edition for free from their site. This allows you to see if Professional might be something you would want to by for it's added software.
I found hardware support to be better than ever, with improvements over my prevous version of Suse 8.2 pro.
SuSE Linux Professional 9.1 
2004-08-20
If you are considering purchasing SuSE Linux Professional 9.1 as an escape from the corporate shenanigans of Microsoft, save yourself the trouble. At least Microsoft wears the wolf's clothing. Whatever you do, DO NOT buy SuSE Linux 9.1 Professional for the documentation or support. The support service is on par with the industry standard, which in the case of tech support is not a good thing. They respond to any request by pointing you to their online support database. At first glance, the database may seem great. However, only a tiny chunk of its information is new enough to be relevant to this product. Likewise, they are incredibly picky about the technicalities of which topics are covered. Most of the topics covered by free support are simple enough that they can be handled without their help. Then, they keep trying to sucker the customer into using the chargeable advanced support.
Meanwhile, the user's and adminstrator's guide provide almost no worthwhile information. The user's guide is nothing more than a brief description of the simplest features of various applications. The adminstrator's guide, on the other hand, fails in the opposite regard. It is overly technical, yet it remains incomplete. I have no problem with having a manual that's so vague as to of minimal help, and no problem with one that's too advanced. I would absolutely love an extremely advanced manual if I had one with enough relevant information for the technicalities to matter. Likewise, I understand how other users might need a simpler manual. The lack of an intermediate manual compromises the value of the other two.
Unhappy with the responses to my requests for support, I filed a complaint. Several days later, I finally received a response. They simply told me that they had done nothing wrong and my complaint had no justification. They informed me that my request was not covered by their free support service. I fully understand that some of my many questions were not covered, but that does not excuse their ignorance of other questions. For example, after abandoning any hope of configuring my current network card, I asked if a different specific network card would function properly without difficulty. This question remained unanswered, and I had to ask again before receiving only a tentative and insulting response. I do not have time to wait for two responses to receive one simple answer when I need to order a new card as soon as possible.
Obviously, when dealing with Linux, the user must be careful which hardware is used. SuSE includes a supported hardware database on their website. Unfortunately, they fail to clearly define the terms used in the database. This is why I had to inquire about the network card. I feared that by "full support" they simply meant that they could actually answer my question when I asked about a problem with it, and would simply tell me, "Sorry. It won't work."
The software itself seems fine to me, and I'd love to be able to use it. I'm waiting for my network card and hoping that I can access the internet with it. However, the complete arrogance of their complaint and support departments absolutely infuriates me. Rather than offering the freedom of Linux combined with the security that accompanies association with a large corporation, SuSE Linux combines the hassles of Linux with those typical of evil faceless corporations. At least amazon.com had a good price.
2 thumbs down 
2004-08-05
I had Mandrake 8. With KDE installed. Everything working perfectly. Fonts changed and the entire system almost like Windows, in 1024x768 resolution. My laptop is a Vaio, all components are top class, nothing from unknown companies etc.
Then, I took a friend's advice to install Suse. After the 1.5 hours of install (only 2 CDs needed) it came up with a 640x420 resolution of really crappy screen. Can I change the resolution? Nope. I go into the Monitor adjustments and it doesn't have any other resolutions listed. It doesn't recognize the monitor at all. It's a bloody Sony, a monitor EVERY OTHER operating systeam has breezily installed.
Way to go Suse. Best linux my butt.
Suse Linux 9.1 
2004-07-30
I downloaded the ISO for the Personal version and I must say that Suse did a very good job. The Personal version does not have the development tools to compile programs and drivers which are needed if you intend to install a Winmodem. You will have to have DSL to use this distribution. The Professional Edition will have everything. This system is very well put together and is more stable and robust than any other version of Linux I have tried.
Some people have notieced that if the system is installed more than once, each installation can be different. All versions of Linux does this because the hardware will cause some components to not display correctly. Even Windows XP will do this.
If you are feed up of virus alerts, attacks, and your anti-virus software keeps updateing itself multiple times a day which bugs the crap out of anybody, give this distribution a try.
TOP LINUX DISTRO, BUT GET THE PERSONAL EDITION, IT SUFFICES. 2004-07-29
I love Suse, I liberally evangelize it, and despite the trivial grouses of some reviewers (namely, Mozilla not being the default the browser or Gnome not being the default desktop, both of which are easily and freely resolved issues) I believe SuSE is the best Linux distro on the market, the benchmark to beat.
But I'd like to point out that the "Personal" edition of the OS does all you probably need it to do. If you have a high-speed connection, the personal version is also absolutely FREE to download.
Take a look at www.suse.com/us/private/products/suse_linux/pers/pers_prof.html (or google for "SuSE 9.1 personal professional comparison" in case this site filters the URL in my review) and you'll see why the Professional version is not worth the price of admission. It includes some micro-minor software that is easily skippable. (E.g., do you really need GnuCash and Mr.Project?)
That said, if you're in the market for trying out a Linux, you simply cannot go wrong with SuSE; it is the most easily configurable, the best supported, the best documented, and above all, the most easily usable OS in the Linux world.
! ! ! SuSE fanatic ! ! ! 2004-12-18
While back I was having lots of trouble with My win2k pro especally when I rebuilt My systems to 64 bit.
Red Hat handled it but I didnt like the rpm Linux to much and found Myself trying to go back to windows which had a problem supporting 64 bit so I started looking towards maybe trying out Debian untill a good friend/tech talked Me into giving SuSE 9.1 Pro a try.
While windows can support 64 bit in xp I knew I wouldnt run xp, thats a story in itself...
I was alittle skeptical at first but soon as I recieved My box set, and installed it I immediatly fell in love and wont even consider another OS... If amazon.com wasnt limiting I would give SuSE Pro more then 5 stars easily!
Once I installed, I was surprised to find I didnt miss one thing that windows offered, actually to My surprise was even better then what windows had to offer such as Vim and Kwrite over note pad and word pad for My programming and coding.
Im not sure if Red Hat comes with it now, but My SuSE 9.1 Pro came with not only Gaim, but Kopete which I like so much better then msn messanger including with msn plus added, Kopete just blows msn messenger/w plus away, userability, functionally, etc and seems to handle connect times much better too then msn messenger. Logs right in with no problems =)
Also came with many many other messangers to choose from which you can log in to msn, yahoo, aim, icq and jabber along with a big list of irc chat clients to choose from such as the new x-chat, Ksirc, KVirc 3, GnomeICU messenger for icq/aol, Konversation, Gabber etc... But I stick with Kopete and X-chat...
I also noticed the Netscape browser that came with My SuSE was so much better then the netscape for windows. It seems to handle plug ins so much better, actually accepts more HTML then windows internet explorer and so far not one crash. I didnt care much for the windows netscape but I love the Linux version even better then Mozilla FireFox...
Kind of like x-chat I suppose, I didnt like the x-chat for windows at all, mirc is to exploitable which was why I wanted to stay away from it but it was very customisable, but the new x-chat for Linux thats packed with SuSE is awsome in KDE enviroment, and also very hackable to customise the source to build your own tools or add others, much like the [/a] in mirc but much nicer and goes thru the config files instead and also its not exploitable ;P
I seen 9.2 is out but Im going to stick with My 9.1 for awhile, Im really enjoying this and enjoy learning new things as well with My SuSE in an extreamly comfortable, kewl enviroment.
I will say this though, well... I do miss somethings from windows that I dont get with SuSE Linux, such as those nifty neat-o blue screens and all that way kewl down time, corrupted and/or missing files, constant error messages that dont explain a thing, one app crashing but forces you to crash your entire system, and lets not forget everybodies family fun fill adventure packed favorite... 3 thousand reboots a day =) ... NOT ! ! !
Power ov the Green Geco Lizard!
Enjoy B-)
Good distro, but one major concern... 2004-10-27
After using suse 9.1 for a while I have come to the conclusion that it is an excellent distro. But... beware the USB hotplugging functionality. It is virtually broken in 9.1. If you have or are using 9.0 where just about everything worked, and want to have easy USB key functionality, it is my recommendation that you don't even bother getting 9.1 and just wait until 9.2 or the Novell desktop hits the streets. I have tons of USB devices in the form of flash keys and a USB multi-media reader and I was appalled to find that they wouldn't work automatically. Suse appears to be ignoring the many unsatisfied users' cries for a resolution to this travesty as this kind of situation isn't covered in the 90-day or so installation support and they will just ignore your requests or just straight tell you "sorry, we can't help you." Frustrating, as everything (especially this) seemed to just work fine in SuSE 9.0. Countless forum trips and lengthy post after another from many knowledgeable fellow Suse users have not been able to cure it. The only way is to disable supermount and manually stick entries into the /etc/fstab file and hope your devices mount to the directories you specify. A big headache for those that want to just plug in their keys and go.
Consider this.
Good one 2004-10-20
I tried the live CD version to see if any hardware problems I would have. Only the sound card was an issue. The manufacturer only had a driver for RH 7.3. No problem got it mostly for the server functions and it is going on a spare PC. It has more packages than you can count.
http://www.suse.com/us/private/products/suse_linux/prof/packages_professional/index_group.html
http://www.suse.com/en/private/products/suse_linux/prof/winprice.html
I would use Partition Commander or System Commander to safely resize your windows partitions if you have no free partitions or drives. I have been in the Linux/Unix OSes for a year now and this works well. I have used Knoppix, Red Hat Enterprise Server, Fedora Core 2, FreeBSD, Solaris, Mandrake, and others. This had an easy install and has many things to get you up and running. I would recommend this for advanced OS users. If you just surf the Internet and play games this is not for you and you can stay with Windows and be ok. Being the best maybe not. But the real good secure OS are definitely harder to configure than this one.
Does not install 2004-10-09
Do not be fooled, you cannot even get this to
work unless you want to spend hours on user
forums and paying for support.
Very nice! 2004-10-05
I'm actually writing this review on Suse 9.1 Pro. Best money I've ever spent. Most of my computing is done on a Linux box even though I'm getting an MCSE. 9.1 is by far the best yet and I'll continue to support SuSE and Linux.
The base OS is freely downloadable, but is really a demo version. The huge amount of software you get, the hardware support, and the manuals are definately worth it. Amazon even has a good price on it!
