SuSE Linux 10.0

[longdog]

I have just installed SuSE Linux 10.0 on this very laptop. It's the very first distro that I have tried that has run first time with a wireless connection. The whole thing went perfectly, apart from the monitor configuration which was my own fault. The distro came completely free on the cover on Linux User magazine and has Open Office 2, wich is completly compatible with MSOffice file types too. All in all, a fisrt class distro!

 

[Kropotkin]

I first started using SuSE back in the 6.0 days. I actually paid cash money for 3 different boxed sets of SuSE (6.0, 7.1, 7.2). I always liked it, easy to set up, easy to configure. I'm very impressed that wireless worked out of the box, as we tried to get Mandrake 9 working with wireless on a mate's box, and that was a nightmare. Still, things move pretty quickly in Linuxland.

I've since abandoned SuSE, though it's still a great distro, in favour of Gentoo. I like the fact that you can compile the whole thing from scratch, and the portage system makes all that compiling and configuring pretty simple. Of course, it's mostly just "because I can", rather than because of the 2% performance gain I can allegedly get out of it, but that's beside the point.

Well done on getting 10 going!

 

[longdog]

Linux and laptops are a funny combination so I should add that I have tried SuSE 8.2, Mandrake 9 (I think it was) and Fedora Core 3 and I couldn't get any of them to work with my Netgear PCMCIA card or my Belkin wireless USB gizmo. SuSE 10.0 worked and connected 1st. time automatically with the Belkin USB gizmo! Even Window$ XP Pro wouldn't do that!!!!

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

Mepis is the only one i've found that finds a wireless pcmcia connection straight away.

 

[TheJoker]

Glad it worked - I take it you haven't tried Kubuntu/Ubuntu? I personally can't deal with the RPM based distros and I find Kubuntu to be pure love for me.

Wireless is always a PITA as many wireless card manufacturers release the "same" cards with different chipsets. I have got a DWL-650+ card for my laptop and it was a complete nightmare to configure. Ended up with ndiswrapper...

... but now that laptop died a horrible heat death (probably because it's a Crusoe processor and it's designed to have speed stepping software on it and I didn't have that... I think..)