I am a new member here, and I found this place is really fantastic, I learn much with this forum.

I am now having a question. I would like to install a SuSE Linux without buying the box set. Is it legal for me to download the
1.) 9.1 Personal
2.) 9.2 Pro
3.) 9.2 Pro Eval

from the Internet and install on my production system for
a.) commercial use
b.) educational use??

I am very concerned for the legal problem as I only know little about it.

I would be very grateful if any reply could be received!! Thanks!!!

PS. I originally posted in SuSE broad, but it seems that this question is like a newbie question more than technical question, so I moved here, I apologize for any inconvenience caused!!

Much of SuSE is open source now,... meaning that a lion's share of the work that appears on the disks is freely transferable (read: yeah you can download and use it on whatever you want). However, there are a few commercial and/or closed source packages still in the distro. Which are which??? Can't tell you.

If you are going to distribute the distro, I'd say switch to Fedora Core 3 (despite its bugginess [I know I'll catch flack for saying that]). If you are going to just use it,... then I don't think you have much problem.

It also depends on where you are downloading it. If you are downloading it from a service that charges to burn the disks or makes distros available for download, then I don't think you have a problem (they are likely to only include the open source packages).

Of course, I am only a licensed attorney in Pennsylvania, so,... this is not legal advice.

Thanks for your advice very much!!

btw, do you have any ideas on where could I found a downloadable version (without commercial packages) for SuSE Linux Pro ya?!
and is that true that SuSE Personal doesn't include Commercial Packages?

Thanks!!

you should go straight to the horses mouth. try suse.com or novell.com. novell (suse) sells it new releases to make money as a company. it is worth paying for the box set, you get installation support and a manual ( i think ). if you want to download the latest version for free, you have to wait a couple of months after they release it for sale. thats the way the have always done it to my knowledge. you can get suse for free if you wait, but getting the box set has its advantages. and besides, if you download an earlier version like 9.2 or 9.1 you can pay the upgrade price for 9.3 when it becomes available.

I am sorry that I post this twice here, for all of you, please go to:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...99#post1573999

for further discussion!!

Thanks!!

Please do not post the same thread in more than one forum. Picking the most relevant forum and posting it once there makes it easier for other members to help you and keeps the discussion all in one place.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/rules.php