i want to upgrade from suse 8.2 to 9.0, but not have suse 9 install the newer kernel over the 8.2 default kernel. i dont want it to do this because the commercial X server i use needs the kernel source to install some "drivers". without them, the server wont startup. is this possible to upgrade from suse 8.2 pro to 9.0 personal, and have it remove/upadet all the older packages, and not update the kernel? that main reason is because i dont want to download the suse 9 kernel source, which is 44 mb, and with dialup, its painful. i'd rather use something i already have.

AFAIK it will update the kernel as will most distros when updating. Your probably going to have to go the other route and update the packages you use to bring your distro up to date. It might not officially say its 9.0 but that's all versions of distro's are, just packages that are newer and updated, etc.

make sure that your comercial X server supports SuSE's current set of programs, though it should (that said make sure that if you go up in kernel such as from 2.4.x to 2.6.y that it will work). Install the kernel sources and re-build the X server.

Of course there is never any certainty. Try doing it on a spare box, and take it from there if that's an option.

As trickykid said, you could just update the packages, but that does not address the scripts that SuSE would supply ... so be careful with that one.

ok, thanks. the X server does support suse 9.