I was really hoping to sink my teeth into what appeared to be a great Linux distribution until I happened upon this nightmare of an install. First off, I have a fairly new Dell system complete with very common, industry standard hardware. Second, I have a solid 3MBS cable internet connection. Third, I'm using the 9.2 mini-iso to boot my computer and install SuSE using the FTP method.

On the first day that I tried to install SuSE (3 days ago), I had to really wrestle with connecting to ftp.suse.com to finally get into YaST. The connection issues, I assumed, were due to the overwhelming user demand as SuSE 9.2 hit the mirrors just recently. Fine. Understandable.

Now, once I got into YaST, every other file for my custom install was "not found", and I had to babysit my machine for over 4 hours, clicking "Retry" until each file was found and downloaded. Again, I concluded these files were indeed on the server, but were latent due to server load. Clicking Retry revealed this to be true as the file was suddenly "there" again. Irritating, but again - understandable.

However, at this rate, I did have to give up and abort the installation after I downloaded about 40% of the 1.7 GB required. I could have sat there another 4-5 hours and simply didn't have that kind of time. Hoping to reboot back to my XP partition, I restarted my computer and took out the install CD only to be confronted with a black screen and several "99"s. The hard disk boot failed. YaST had killed my master boot record. It was 2am and my patience was officially wearing thin.

But in a flash, I figured, "Oh, no problem. I'll just drop down to the rescue system and fix my boot record by hand." I've done this before using Knoppix. Only problem is, no cfdisk exists in the rescue system and I'm not seeing any other tools present to actually "rescue" my system. Go figure.

Needless to say, the FTP method to install SuSE has proven to be a nightmare and the rescue mode of the mini-iso is basically useless (no cfdisk to repair my master boot record!). I cannot boot back into my XP partition without cfdisk or another tool that can make my partitions bootable again. Until I can find my copy of Knoppix, it looks like I'll have to try again to complete the FTP install. Only problem - none - and I mean NONE - of the mirrors listed at suse.com work. I've only gotten "File not found on server" messages. This is true of every single mirror - even the ones in other countries (I'm willing to put up with slow transfer rates if it means a solid FTP connection where I'm not clicking "Retry" every 30 seconds). Yes, I did actually try each one.

So, how other people have been able to complete the FTP install is just beyond me. I've followed the instructions to the letter and only met up with disaster. With capable companies such as Novell backing the SuSE distribution, it boggles my mind why they (or any other distribution, really) can't get their installation process right. By making only a few MINOR changes, the whole thing could be a snap. But it isn't. And I stab at Novell for those shortcomings.

Anyways, I'm hoping to have SuSE running soon so I can evaluate the real meat and potatoes of 9.2. However, an OS installer should never ever leave you up a creek without a paddle in the event of an install problem. Major faux pas here. A clean, effective installer is going to be a key to winning the lay users. I'm giving Novell until version 10 to get an effective installer right before I let them off the hook in my book. They simply have too many quality resources available to them to be falling short in this area.

If anyone can offer some suggestions, I welcome them.

Hmm a while back I decided to install SuSE 9.1 onto multiple systems so decided mirroring the FTP tree to a local network server was the best idea. This all went fine, installed maybe 20 times on different machines then the FTP version of 9.2 became available. Planning on doing the same as with 9.1 began to mirror the 9.2 tree (note, its >14gb). This took between 2-3 days on a 1mb line, after trying many mirrors (including ftp.gwdg.de which was the main one I used for 9.1 gave me a slow speed <15k/s)

After trying many mirrors the one that I ended up using was

ftp.esat.net

(ftp.esat.ne/tmirrors/ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/9.2)

Maybe since my use of it, all the bandwidth is starting to get eaten up but after trying many other mirrors this one was the fastest for me

With 9.1 i had 100% success rate doing FTP installs all of 3 (FTP over the Internet that is)


But by the time I did this the servers wouldn't have been at a high load

So my suggestion would be if you have a DVD writer drive to get the DVD ISO of 9.2, or if you will install onto multiple systems to consider downloading the full tree to a local hard drive

Sadly, I don't have a DVD-R drive. I'm stuck with the mini iso for now.

Anyone else have any success with the FTP install?

Took me >12 hrs. but I had success doing it over 384k DSL using IU's server.

This article does a great job of explaining how to perform an FTP installation (it's for v9.1 but should be applicable to v9.2)

While I can understand your frustration, I would also say that it should be expected that an FTP installation is going to take a signficant amount of time, simply because of the amount of data that needs to be transferred. Fast connection or not, it won't be a speedy undertaking. (I'm on DSL, and it took at least 5 or 6 hours starting in the wee hours of the night just to do the download when I was installing 9.1). Along those lines, and as you acknowledge, the 9.2 images just recently released, and therefore everyone trying to do the same thing will be facing huge competition on the mirrors, at least until the demand subsides. My point here is that blaming Suse for a poor installation experience under these conditions would be a bit like taking a car out for a test drive during rush hour in the rain, and then complaining that it took you hours longer than it should have to get across town. I do understand your frustration, but I don't think you can really find fault with Suse for difficulties caused by these kinds of external conditions.

Anyhow, I would urge you though not to give up on Suse. As you originally epxected, it really is a good distro and I would suggest giving it a second chance. Personally, the more I use it the more I like it.

I do agree with you that the "Installation via FTP" method is not as fully automated as it could be, and could be improved, but then again, Novell is offering you its product for free, and you can't really complain about free stuff. Similarly, there are other options out there, namely that you can purchase the boxed set from a retailer, or, if you don't want to shell out the cash, you can download and burn the Live CD version. My point is that there are other options out there.

Good luck with it regardless of what your decision ends up being. I found the article I linked to after I had done the install, but it summarized the steps I ended up taking. Good luck with it -- J.W.

Just finished my first successful Suse FTP install.

On the first try, got connected without problem to the FTP server but everything hung after a while on the part where it says its analysing the files available for download - tried again and all went fine. It took about 3 hours from start (booting the CD) to finish (reboot into fully functional Suse system).

Overall, I was unimpressed with Suse's FTP installation and the instructions they provide for doing it, so I probably won't be doing it again. It didn't seem nearly as streamlined and simple as Debian's net installer, at least in my opinion.

However, I do like this latest version of Suse, and everything seems to work this time around.

BTW: I used the following FTP server and directory...

140.221.9.138
/pub/suse/i386/9.2