Novell & Open Source

[Justin Gedge]

I tend to recommend SuSE to new users.  One of my co-workers bought 9.2 
on my recommendation a few weeks ago to install it on his new HP 
laptop.  The only issue he had was with the built in WiFi.  It was one 
of the cryptic chipsets that didn't have an open driver so you had to 
jump through a bunch of hoops [which you would have to do for any 
distro].  He does have that working now too.

Personally-- I started using SuSE years ago [because it was easier to 
get help from our IS group since they were all using SuSE].  Their 
experience years ago [years before the Novell days] was that SuSE played 
better w/ Sun than the other distros did.  Stability wasn't an issue.  I 
had boxes I'd forgotten I'd had because you tend to forget about the 
boxes that have been up for over 400+ days with no intervention on my end.

After years of using SuSE i'm still impressed... and happy that Novell 
is continuing to keep SuSE a top player in the Linux/Open Source community.

I still believe they have the best hardware recognition out there-- 
especially when it comes to multihead displays.  I have not seen an 
easier configuration for multihead display than SuSE's.

If I were to switch distros right now-- it would probably be to Gento... 
Gento sounds interesting... but until I have time to get through the 
initial config [and have more than a dial up connection at home] I'll be 
using SuSE at home.  I spend less than a hundred every 12-24 months when 
I feel it's time to upgrade the OS and rebuild my box at home.  The 
money spent is well worth it.

jmg