Do you need all 5 SUSE ISOs?
 

Is it possible to download only 1 or 2 CD images and install the rest over the net when installing SUSE 10x ?

try here for the net download bootable cd ...

http://tinyurl.com/bymh2

Fine, like the debian netinst CD (seems there is some exchange these days debian-suse: debian is developing a yast version for debian)

--But I can't use it because I have a VPN (pptp) connection and you cannot connect to that from the installer I'm pretty sure (I know SUSE has pptp in the network setup as the frist major distro)

I'll try with cd 1. I suppose SUSE has web repositories; does it use apt?

It uses it's own kind of installer, YaST; and yes, it has repositories,. You can find these at the SUSE home page or you can use the one I do http://mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/d...S/inst-source/. You can also use these instructions on the OpenSUSE webpage http://www.opensuse.org/Released_Ver...t_Installation

Hope this helps.

Depending on what you select, you may need all the discs. I have seen quite a few posts with people complaining about this. As for installing using a minimal netinstall cd, Suse and most distros have had this feature for years so its not a feature copied from Debian.

I agree. Still, I have added and added and added to my original SUSE 10.0 install. I am soooooo happy that I bit the bullet and installed with Retail SUSE 10.0. Now, if I want to add some packages--even the larger ones, I just insert the DVD and let YaST do its thing for a minute or two and I am back in business again. I recommend downloading everything or buying the retail box and being done with it. :twocents:

Yes, it's no big deal, debian has 14 CDs.
Thanks for responding, I'll read the effing manual now.
Is there any reason to prefer the open source edition?

As I recall, the open source edition has the smallest number of packages, since everything in that distribution is open source. There are some proprietary packages in the eval version and the full compliment of proprietary stuff in the retail version. The hierarchy goes something like this:

Retail SUSE > Eval SUSE > OSS SUSE