I am considering installing SuSe but i have a few SuSe questions.

Firstly I have SuSe 9.2 Pro Retail that i bought second hand from someone on ebay back in febuary but never got round to installing it. Now I notice 9.3 is out . What is the difference between these two releases, i.e what is new or has been updated is it worth still using 9.2 or are the upgrades in 9.3 to great or usefull. (Does anyone know where there is a list of upgrades for 9.3)

Secondly is the 9.3 Download from the SuSe site exactly the same as the retail. People say it is but at the site it mentions it is only a free trial.

Thirdly as i own the 9.2 retail is there anyway i can install this and then update for free through an update process to 9.3 (similar to how microsoft updated XP to SP2)

Fourthly i currently have Mandriva on my machine as a dual boot partiiton with windows XP on my C Drive. I wish to remove this (Mandriva) and install SuSe in its place. Same size partition that mandriva took up. How would i do this

Fifthly one of the problems with Mandriva was its inability to recognise my USB mouse, will i have the same problems with SuSe 9.2 Retail or 9.3 free if i were to install them as im stumpt if i cant use my mouse. My mouse is plug and play and i cant find no drivers for it on the internet

Finally I wish to browse the internet but my broadband modem (BT Voyager 100) needs drivers to be installed, i tried this in mandriva but they seem to be windows only drivers. How do i get them to work in linux. So i can install my modem and browse the internet.

Thanks
Anthony

1.) I don't know much, but you may find some information on the SUSE website. The kernel will be newer and I guess KDE and GNOME as well. The hotplug system seems to be improved.

2.) 9.3 is not yet downloadable from the SUSE website. Once it is, it will be almost identical to the retail version, except some commercial packages maybe.

3.) After 9.3 will be released, you will be able to do so.

4.) The SUSE installer deals best with empty space. So I would recommend to remove the Mandriva partitions from your XP system and let SUSE do the rest. Otherwise you should be able to convince SUSE to format the existing partition in the expert partitioning mode. But be sure that you delete all data.

5.) I wouldn't worry. In most cases it works

6.) Have a try to search your hardware with the search function of this forum. Usually you'll find valuable information.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by abisko00
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4.) The SUSE installer deals best with empty space. So I woulöd recommend to remove the Mandrive partitions from your XP system and let SUSE do the rest. Otherwise you should be able to convince SUSE to format the existing partition in the expert partitioning mode. But be sure that you delete all data.
. . . . .
Do be careful and do a little looking around for info on the parted problem. SuSE 9.2 did ship with the bug it inherited from RH, that is, if your planning to dual boot with XP. It hit me real bad and I just got a copy of XP from HP (cost me near $30) so I'll have a lot of work (several days) to get my hardware back on track for dual booting. I just got 9.3 and hope the problem was fixed. . . . . don't know just opened the box.
Even so, 9.3 looks like a much inproved edition. I might put up my 9.2 for sale ;>)
Paul_E_T

I thought that the parted bug was in 9.1 and fixed in 9.2.

I don't know when or if any fix was made to the parted problem. I did install 9.2 , my first with MS XP, on an HP a620n w/160GB HD. My system would not boot XP with same symptons as extensively reported in the developer's forums. I suspect the large disk (160GB) and the 1024 boundry problem may play into it here but I don't know. SuSE did provide a fix on their web site but it didn't work for me. There is a fix using sfdisk it didn't work either. Just got SuSE 9.3 two days ago and I am doing a quick read on the documentation. Someone needs to check the source code, maybe do difference on the parted source to see if changed (?). I'm going to check the readme and update notes to see if anything there. If I find anything I'll note it back here since the original post "dual boot XP partition won't work" is closed out. I may start a new post if I find something definate.
tabo