I've an aswer to cjcox. the original thread is closed - don't know why ??
I think it's not only for users who download an image from the internet, it's also interested for user who want to make a backup copy from their original dvd's.
the original thread was
w w w.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=263969

to cjcox
yes it's true that you can write the image to a dvd, it's also true that you can boot from this dvd. but if you start install you get an error message that not all package are found.
suse support confirmed that it isn't possible to copy the original dvd, except you have a dvd burner who burns double layer dvd's (about 8 GB on one side)

Original thread contained something suggesting creation of illegal copies.

I have a DL burner. As I mentioned, it works fine... just have to be concerned about the booktype for other DVD readers. I install stuff using my copy all of the time.

Why should it be a illegal copy ??
if it is legal to make a copy for a friend, as far as I know it is, it have to be also legal to get a copy from anywhere.
the price for suse is for the documentation and for the installation support.
as fa as I know all the software on the cd's are open source


which software du you use to burn your dvd ? linux or windows software ?

I do believe there's also commercial software on Suse Pro, no?

The reason why you shouldn't BUY cheap SUSE online is because there is indeed some licensed software (some just evals... bug regardless) on it.

SUSE in general has turned its head with regards to people making copies for internal and external purposes as long as NO FEE is charged. Which makes it easier to give people a REAL taste before they purchase it. You just need a friend. But always tell them to support SUSE by buying a real copy if they intend to use it.

Enterprises may want SLES instead anyway.. which is where the big money is. SLES gives you something with a good 5 years worth of stability, vs. the 1-2 year quasi-support you get with SUSE Pro. However, SUSE Pro will be more bleeding edge, which makes it better suited for the home user market. Just for comparison sake, I get tons of updates for SLES daily... just to show you the amount of support difference.

I burned my DL DVD using K3b which in turn used growisofs. I created an on-disk image of the DVD (using a different DVD unit in fact) first and burnt that.