I am planning to switch my laptop from Windows to the Linux operating system. I have been considering to use Ubuntu due to the rave reviews I have seen on the web. There is however a critical application that I currently use that I will definitely need. This application can be used on various operating systems. The system requirements for the Linux version of the application mentions the following requirements:

Red Hat Linux 8.0, RHAS 2.1, RHEL 3.0, SuSE SLES 8, SLES 9

Does this mean that I must reconsider my Ubuntu choice and select either the Red Hat or SuSe distibutions?

Most commercial linux vendors I've worked with state something along the lines of "We support distributions x, y and z, but you'll probably be able to get it to work on others as well. If you do, please tell us how you did it".

So, basically, you have to ask yourself if you want their support. If not, you can always give ubuntu a try, and if you fail to get it working, switch to a supported distribution.

Groetjes,

Kees-Jan

I think kees-jan is right. I can't now remember only one commercial app that doesn't follow that rule in their specifications, but you'll found tons of tutorials for all of them with "how to"s from people who uses them in other distros.

If your app runs on the platforms you stated, then its probably an rpm. Yo can convert it to a debian package using a tool called "alien" and then try to install it on Ubuntu.