I'm really new to Linux, but after doing a bunch of research on distributions, I think I'll be going with SuSE. But after browsing online looking for ISOs, it looks like I need a DVD drive. But I would be downloading/burning it on one computer in order to load it on another. Without a DVD drive to load from, what are my options? Is there a set of several CDs I could load from instead?

Many thanks.. hope somebody can clear this up for me..

Suse comes with both a DVD and a set of CD's so you can just use an ordinary cdrom drive for your installation.

Is there someplace online where I can download the set of CDs? All I've seen is the slimmed down CD version, which doesn't sound very attractive.

Mmm, I am not sure. I know if you buy the boxed set it has both CD's and DVD's. I don't know if the ftp version has any cdrom isos.

You can do several things:

1. Download the FTP-DVD.iso and burn it on another computer. Then share the DVD drive over the local network. Boot you DVD-less computer from the mini-installation.iso (same folder on the SUSE server) and set it up to use the shared DVD drive as installation source.

2. Alternatively, boot from the mini-installation CD and use a FTP server as installation source instead.

3. Buy the boxed version, which contains CD's and DVD's (although not all packages are on the CD's, so you still need the download option).

My home network is from a Windows PC. Will I still be able to share the DVD?

Same for FTP.. will it work with a "Windows" network? Without Linux being installed yet?

Call me cheap, but I'd rather not cough up the money for something I could get for free.

Yes, it should work from a Windows PC. You may either use a FTP server or a windows share (managed by 'samba').