Hi. I burned the SuSE online install CD, but I'm having problems connecting to the server or whatever.

I want to use:
http://suse.mirrors.tds.net/pub/suse
but I have no idea how to install it. I get a lot of messages saying that's the wrong address or something when I try to install.

Can you help me find out how to do an online install of the current SuSE? Thank you,
-Jim.

doing an ftp/http install, you'd have to specify

http://suse.mirrors.tds.net/pub/suse/9.2

You left off the version number
Also, make sure to load your network driver

It asks for the IP address of the HTTP server for some reason. Shouldn't it just ask fo that URL?

I just entered the IP address and then the ftp address like it asked, worked for me. Didn't stop to worry about why it was asking.

Little slow over a 384k DSL connection but started in the afternoon, by the next morning I had a fresh SuSE 9.2.

I think the installer was designed to install over a lan. That might be why it asks for an IP address. It will take a normal dns though. You will need to enter it in in two parts. First
http://suse.mirrors.tds.net, and then pub/suse/9.2 (notice, no slash before pub, someone here at lq was having a problem with that.)

I am also trying to do the ftp install for SUse 9.2

I thought it would probably be as good as Mandrake and have the mirrors for ftp already there unlike Fedora you have to enter them manually. Another question is I load the network driver and I try again and it says I Need to load the network driver like if I didn't do it and I did , I redid it about 3x.

WHat should I do thanks

Amd Athlon XP-M 2800+ (laptop)
Ati Technologies Inc. Radeon Mobility U1
National Semiconductor Corp. (Ethernet)

which card do you have and which module are you choosing?

Use a different network driver. I can't tell you which one, nor can I give you a good suggestion on where to look. Make sure you are properly pugged into your network. There are ways to figure it out using a live CD such as knoppix, but it can take a while (unless someone has a slick trick to teach me...).

The package mirrors are all identical. You will need to enter one manually for the ftp install to work. You will put in the name of the server in one prompt, an then the path on the server in the next prompt. You will only need to do this once. This is where your computer will go to get it's packages. The online updates, however, are hosted on the same servers, but the online updater already knows where they are at. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but whatever. You can choose from any of these: http://www.suse.com/en/private/downl..._mirrors.html. Just poke around until you find the /i386/9.2 directory (it's on a slightly differnt spot on some of them).

Once past these two big hangups, most people have but few problems.

Does suse have mirrors automatically in the ftp installation like mandrake does?
or you have to enter them like in fedora and quit the installation because its so complicated to enter the ftp name and ftp directory ?

There are two tricky things about installing SuSE via ftp. The first is knowing what module your network card takes. The second is knowing what ftp server /directory to enter. After that, anyone capable of doing an OS install can do the rest (with ease).

Entering the ftp name and directory isn't complicated. I've not tried the one for fedora, so I cannot compare. Go to http://www.novell.com/products/linux...t_mirrors.html and find a mirror that suits you. Go to that mirror and look for 9.2 . For example, I use mirror.msc.anl.gov (from the list of mirrors). I click on link to the server and it takes me to ftp://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/suse/ . From here I look at the list of architectures. I (like almost everyone else) have a chip based off of the i386, so I choose that. Now I see 9.2! That wasn't so hard. The full path is ftp://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/suse/i386/9.2 . SuSE wants this in pieces. First you will tell it ftp://mirror.mcs.anl.gov, and then pub/suse/i386/9.2 (note: don't start the path with slashes. I hear some people here having problems with it.)

It would be nice if SuSE would put these into the boot CD. They certainly could. In fact, the online updater (YOU) already has them entered. You can update your system without knowing the ftp mirrors, you just can't install your system without. (If you plan to NOT use DHCP, I have heard some say that you will need the ip address of your ftp server. If you don't use DHCP, then you should be smart enough to use ping to get that address. If you use DHCP, it will still ask for an ip address, but it will accept a dns anyway.)

To find your network module, use knoppix 3.7 (I learned a shortcut since I last posted here). At the "boot:" prompt type "knoppix26 2" (that means, use the 2.6 kernel, run level 2 - text only). Once bash becomes available, go to /sys/class/net/eth0 and type "ls driver -l". This will tell you that "driver" is a symbolic link to somewhere else in /sys. The end of that path is the driver knoppix is using for eth0. For example, my machine uses 8139too, and this is my ls output:
After you know those two bits of information, everything else is easy.

THanks I got the ftp mirror part
Now lets see about this network stuff

I'm going to boot up on Kanotix,

but before I did lspci to try to troubleshoot some probs for my vidalinux installation Ihad and heres 1 part that might be part of this

0000:00:12.0 Ethernet controller: National Semiconductor Corporation DP83815 (MacPhyter) Ethernet Controller

NOw let me do that ls driver -l thing

mine says

/bus/pci/drivers/natsemi

I recommend this article for anyone installing Suse via FTP. Good luck with it -- J.W.

That should be /sys/bus/pci/drivers/natsemi (by the way).

When you boot off the install CD, tell it that you want to load the network driver "natsemi".

That should do it I think.

Let's hope