Hi,

for hardware reasons (IBM R51 laptop, the infamous 'fan always on' problem), I'm considering switching from fedora cr 4to open SuSE 10, since it seems that SuSE has a particular attention towards Thinkpads. One guy from the linux-thinkpad ML told me he was running 9.3 on a R51 without any problem.

However, SuSE 7.3 was my first distro (ages ago). I somewhat remember that I had to use specific SuSE rpm packages for updating/installing my system. Is this still true?

For instance, I would need Sun's Java SDK on my laptop, I know in the open version of SuSE it is not included. How would I proceed with install, i.e. where do I have to look for? The same with Firefox, Thunderbird? Do I need to build my own rpms?

Finally: Where can I find a website for openSuSE specific question? Will this forum here be ok?

Yes, in principle. Meanwhile there are more sources available than the standard SUSE ones. Have a look at the sticky threads about YaST update sources.

This in not completely true. Java may not be included on the downloadable iso's, but SUSE specific packages are available throught online repositories. Same for firefox and thunderbird. You can also install the binary distributions of this software, however it is recommended to use the SUSE rpm's. Again, have a look at the stickies for URLs.
Sure! This is a good place for SUSE specific questions.

A good start is always http://en.opensuse.org
There you'll find a lot of documentation, links to download sources, forums, etc..