Useful support information for openSUSE is available in a number of sources.
Free installation support for retail box customer
Premium support
Free community support http://en.opensuse.org/Communicate
If you encounter problems with the installation or use of openSUSE that you are unable to solve, our experienced support staff can offer practical assistance with the free installation support for registered releases and the incident-based support by phone or Web for unregistered, expired, or download versions. Nearly all common customer problems can be eliminated quickly and competently. You can use the extensive support offered through the community as well.
Our free installation support is provided for a period of 90 days following the activation of your registration code or following the release of the next version. If you cannot find an answer to your question in any of the available information sources, we will gladly provide assistance for the following issues:
Installation on a typical home user system or laptop equipped with a single processor, at least 256 MB RAM, and 3 GB of free hard disk space.
Resizing of one Windows partition that occupies the entire hard disk.
Installation of a local ATAPI CD or DVD drive.
Installation on the first or second hard disk in an IDE-only system (/dev/sda or /dev/sdb) or supported S-ATA system, excluding RAID.
Integration of a standard keyboard and standard mouse.
Configuration of the graphical user interface (without the hardware acceleration feature of the graphics card).
Installation of the boot manager in the MBR of the first hard disk or on a floppy disk without modifying the BIOS mapping.
Setup of Internet access with a supported PCI ISDN card or external serial modem (not USB). Alternatively, setup of DSL based on PPPoE with a supported NIC.
Basic configuration of an ALSA-supported PCI sound card.
Basic configuration of a locally-attached compatible printer with YaST.
Basic configuration of an IDE CD writer for use with k3b (CD burning application) without changing the jumper setting.
Configuration of a supported PCI ethernet card for LAN access with either DHCP (client) or static IP. This does not include the configuration of the LAN or any other computers or network components. It also does not cover the configuration of the computer as a router. Fault analysis is limited to checking for proper loading of the kernel module and the correct local network settings.
Configuration of an e-mail client (Evolution or KMail) for collecting mail from a POP3 account. Fault analysis is limited to checking for proper settings in the e-mail client.
Support for the package selection GNOME Desktop or KDE Desktop.
Upgrade from the previous version of the product.
Kernel updates (only official Novell update RPMs).
Installation of bug fixes and security updates from the official update server using online update or the manual method.
For a detailed listing of the subjects covered by the free installation support, check http://support.novell.com/products/suselinux/support_overview.html.
In case you are not sure if your support is covered, please do not hesitate to give us a call. We are happy to assist.
Reach our support staff under the following links and phone numbers. Any prices listed are typical call costs, not costs for support.
United States and Canada: Phone: +1-800-796-3700 (Monday through Friday from 04:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon EST)
Germany: Phone: 0180 500 36 12 (14 Cent/min) (Monday through Friday from 10:30 to 18:00 CET)
Austria: Phone: 0820 500 781 (14.5 Cent/min) (Monday through Friday from 10:30 to 18:00 CET)
Switzerland: Phone: 0848 860 847 (costs depend on provider) (Monday through Friday from 10:30 to 18:00 CET)
UK: Phone: +44-1344-326-666 (Monday through Friday from 09:30 to 17:00 GMT)
All other countries (English only): Phone: +44-1344-326-666 (Monday through Friday from 10:30 to 18:00 CET)
For the most recent contact information, refer to http://support.novell.com/products/suselinux/contact.html.
Free installation support is offerd to customers with a valid, activated registration code. You can activate your registration code at http://www.novell.com/usersupport.
The registration code is not transferable to another person.
The free support covers only the initial installation on one computer. Refer to our Web site for further information http://support.novell.com/products/opensuse/support_overview.html.
We can provide support only for hardware supported by openSUSE. Refer to our Component Database at http://www.novell.com/usersupport/hardware for information about supported hardware components.
We recommend to use http://support.novell.com/eService to open a service request and to provide us with the relevant information like problem description and log files. It helps us to avoid misspelled commands, links, or directory names, which often cause frustrating problems and are particularly common during phone conversations. You will receive a reply soon after that providing a practical solution.
We endeavor to help you as quickly and precisely as possible. The effort and time needed is considerably reduced if the question is formulated clearly. Please have answers to the following questions ready before contacting us:
Which program and version are you using? During which process does the problem occur?
What exactly is the problem? Try to describe the error as precisely as
possible, using phrases with words such as when (for
example, When X is pressed, this error appears
).
What hardware do you use (graphics card, monitor, printer, ISDN card, etc.)? You can get this information from the YaST Hardware Information module.
Detailed documentation can be found in manuals, online help, and the Support Database. These comprehensive documentation of openSUSE gives guidance to solve a variety of problems. The SUSE Help Center on your desktop provides additional information about installed packages, the vital HOWTOs, and info pages.
You can access the latest Support Database articles online at http://www.novell.com/usersupport or access the community Support Database at http://en.opensuse.org/SDB. The Support Database, one of the most frequently used databases in the Linux world, offers our customers a wealth of analysis and solution approaches. You can retrieve tested solutions using the keyword search, history function, or version-dependent search.