Re: [tlug] SuSE out of the box

[Jonathan Q <jq@example.com>]

On Tuesday 06 May 2003 13:12, Peter Evans wrote:

> assembled computers before, but I'm not in the mood for it now. So I'm
> thinking of going to Akihabara (which is conveniently close) and talking
> with some store that builds computers and is conversant with Linux, to
> have them build me something, install SuSEgnulinux, and then briefly
> come around to my office and have them get it running with my particular
> printer, monitor, LAN, etc.: English interface, Japanese-capable.

If you really want to go that way, Plat'home is probably your best bet.
Their expensive and will probably charge you an extra premium for
doing a custom job, but you'll get high-quality hardware from a shop
that has a *nix floor.

> I realize that this is a sissy way of doing things and that I'd have to
> pay a bit for it. But does it sound silly as well as sissy

Yes, it does, actually :-)  A number of distros are at least as
easy to install as Windows (Red Hat, Mandrake, and SuSE come
to mind offhand) and updating with the Red Hat Network client
is totally easy.  IMO, Windows Update is a PITA in comparison.
If you've never installed and secured a Linux distro before,
your best bet is to buy a machine you like and don't worry.
Linux will run on practically anything; unless you have some
kind of exotic hardware plans, any decent hardware should work;
note that Promise 20276 RAID chips are only supported from the 2.4.20 kernel,
IIRC, so since you don't want to hack you might want to not bother with
a motherboard that featurs on-board RAID.  Just do software 
RAID instead, if you want RAID.  RAID 1 (mirroring) is highly recommended
as a reliability booster. 

> Or are they all likely to turn their noses up at SuSE?

It's not terribly common in Japan, so most people at shops will have
zero experience with it.  For that matter, most people at most shops will
have zero Linux experience.

> (For that matter, whether in German, English or Japanese, how d'you
> pronounce SuSE? Sue or Zoo, and followed by sea, zee, セ, ゼ, or what?)

A native German speaker told me it's "Zoo-suh" ("suh" being the sound of
an s followed by a schwa. ).

HTH,
Jonathan
-- 
Jonathan Q
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