I'm currently using Redhat 8.0, and aware that the first 3 discs are compiled binaries and discs 4 and 5 are source. I am interested in trying out SUSE 8.1. I'm curious about SUSE because in The US Redhat was preferred, but here in Europe more people seem to use SUSE. I just want to know why.

I used Emule to download ISOs of the SUSE linux 8.1 discs 1-7. Which of these do I need to install from precompiled binaries? Are there some that are just apps or just source? Is there a feature on the SUSE discs that checks the integrity of the data on the CD, similar to the mediacheck tool in RedHat?

For those of you who use SUSE 8.1, do you prefer to compile from source or use binaries?

Yes, I'm aware that SUSE is not free. I just want to try it out to see if it's better than Redhat 8. I'm currently quite content with Redhat so there's only a marginal chance that I'll actually end up switching to SUSE. Even if I did, I would go out immediately and buy the box even though I can only get it in German Here. (Mein Deutsch ist trotzdem gut genug.)

Thanks for any help you can offer.

I don't compile, I just instal precompiled apps.

I had a look at the SUSE discs and it appears that all 7 are needed to install... there's a little bit of binaries and corresponding source on each disc. Gotta say that's a dumb way to do it. I like the Redhat approach better. (first three discs are binaries, next 2 are source, last disc is documentation)

Not exactly, though it depends on your installation selections. I believe for most options, you only need the first three discs...at least, that was my experience when installing it. The rest of the CDs are for source/development/optional/etc.
BTW, if you have the packaged distribution, and a DVD-ROM drive, all you need is the single DVD disc.

It comes on DVD? SWEEEET!

You don't need all 7 to install.

Just installed Suse 8.1.

You get 7 CDs, only the first one of which is required for the base install. You can install stuff off the remaining 6 if you want, but the base install only needs CD1.

All 7 CDs are also supplied as a single DVD if you have a DVD drive instead.

And who says its not free? Its the same as Redhat, buy the distro , where you pay for the CDs and books, or download it. I read the license and only the normal restriction applies, if you mod the binaries or source you must remove all reference to suse, only fair in my book.

Cheers

man i'm running also suse but i'm very disappointed with this distro.it might be easier to install but...every other day i have to repair something in it.the other day i've got kernel panic after installing from the DVD.in fact i intend to migrate to a more serious version of linux.for me it was a bad affair man.from the desktop versions i think although that mandrake is the best.

The support offered from SuSE absolutely stinks. I ran into several problems, and the answer from SuSE support is always, "Many thanks for your enquiry to SuSE Installation Support. Sir this topic is unfortunately not covered within the scope of the free installation support." I don't know if support from Red Hat is any better, but it sure can't be worse.

I have to agree... I fell into the hype on the boards and some recommendations, and I gave SuSE a try, on two machines: one very low-end, and the other a decent XP-capable machine. The version on the slow machine (text-only) was just awful, and the graphics-capable machine had nice graphics but that's about it, and as was pointed out by Mark above, the support wasn't very good.

I've been using SuSE for a while and must say that I have never had a problem that wasn't answered satisfactorily from either their knowledgebase, here, linuxISO.org, or newsgroups (alt.os.linux.suse, alt.linux.suse).

I'd try groups.google.com and searching the newsgroups and searching here instead of giving non-specific problems like "I didn't like it" and giving up.