Where to Get SUSE Linux

Novell Cool Solutions: Feature
By Rick Holzer

Digg This - Slashdot This Posted: 13 Oct 2005

Novell SUSE ships a new version of SUSE Linux (SL), (formerly SUSE Linux Pro), every six months.

There are many ways to get the product. The most complete version of the product is the purchased version. There are many ways to get the free versions of SUSE Linux.

Purchased Version of SUSE Linux

SUSE Linux - $59.95 - Deliverables:

• One 300-page manual
• One 14-digit registration code that entitles the registrant to Free Install Support
• Five CDs that are 32-bit only - This is a subset of what is on the DVDs
• One DVD has the full package list in both 32- and 64-bit
• Amusements/Games, Development Tools/Libraries, Documentation, Productivity Tools, System Tools
  See a full list of all packages included on SUSE Linux 10.0 @ http://www.novell.com/products/linuxpackages/professional/index_group.html

Free Eval versions

** Available in CD or DVD
** Only available from mirrors of Novell/SUSE sites

• Five CDs - 32 bit only - same CDs that ship with the purchased version
• One DVD - 32 bit - full package list
• One DVD - 64 bit - full package list

Live Eval Version

SUSE makes the live version of SUSE Linux available for download as an ISO image. This version runs entirely from the bootable DVD and is not installed on the hard disk.

• 32-bit only
• A limited number of packages

Free OSS (Open Source Software) version at Opensuse.org - CD only

www.opensuse.org

• Five CDs (no DVDs) - these 5 CDs are almost identical to that which is on the 5 CDs in the purchased version of SUSE Linux. The only difference between the 5 CD OSS version of SL and the purchased version is that there are no closed source pkgs on the OSS free download. These closed source pkgs includes things such as Adobe Acrobat, Real Player, etc. (which one can freely download from their respective developers.)

These OSS 5 CDs come in 3 architectures

• 32-bit (x86)
• 64-bit (x86-64)
• PPC (For Machintoshs) (there is no supported version of the PPC)

FTP installation option

This option provides all open source package and source code. http://www.novell.com/products/suselinux/downloads/ftp/index.html

There are actually three different YaST package repositories available via FTP. Two of them are on opensuse.org:

• The main OSS one
• The Java one

Additional Info

Additional non-OSS packages are available in the extras repository on suse.com mirrors. See http://www.opensuse.org/Package_Repositories for information on the additional package repositories.

For an unoffical synopsis of what packages come with any given version of SUSE Linux, please see http://primates.ximian.com/~pzb/sl10/packages.xhtml . All three different FTP repositories are listed on this page; See the color key at the top.

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