[LBo] Problems with installing Open Suse 10.2 64 bit version SOLUTION

[Robert Parker]

I elected to try installing Suse 10.2 on my friends 64 bit machine
over his existing old Kubuntu installation because I have been led to
believe that Suse has multi-media support down pat directly off the
install cds, whereas a newer Kubuntu would require an extensive and
expensive (dial-up) download to achieve that same multi-media support.

The installation failed totally toward the end of CD1. So on my next
attempt I opted to do an upgrade installation. I was presented with a
dialogue which allowed me to test all 3 cds and they all passed
muster. The upgrade installation succeeded finally but not before
toughing my way through some ncurses based dialogues which looked as
though they had been programmed by complete incompetents.

I have been installing Linux of various flavours since Mandrake 8.2
including Debian Woody, Sarge, and later Ubuntu and Kubuntu. All of
these Linux systems have been easier to install than the several
copies of Windows XP that I have installed over that time. Suse 10.2
is the only Linux system I have experienced that is actually a bigger
pig to install than Windows XP. I do not recommend it to anyone unless
they have some compelling reason.

On the positive side I do note that Xen is installed and available as
a boot time option after the install.

I trust this rant is of some assistance to someone out there.

Regards,
Bob Parker