SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
It's funny how things happen almost simultaneously sometimes. As I have mentioned here several times, I'm extremely pleased with my HP 2133 Mini-Note netbook. Shortly after buying mine, for about 500 Swiss Francs, with Windows Vista Business and Windows XP Professional, I got an advert offering one for about 360 Swiss Francs, with SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. That is an offer that is very close to being too good to refuse.
This morning my partner surprised me by saying that she thought we should go ahead and get one for her. As she put it, at that price it's silly not to do it. That's quite a surprise, because she is usually the one who is telling me to stop mucking about with her computer equipment! So, I came to the office this morning intending to order one for her. There are significant advantages to owning two of the same machine - things like using the same charger, peripherals, knowledge of software installation, configuration and use, and the like.
However, no sooner did I get to the office than I came across a write-up in DistroWatch about SuSE releasing a public "sneak preview" of SuSE Linux Enterprise 11 (actually RC4). That really caught my attention, because after all of the struggling I've done with various free Linux distributions to get the Mini-Note display working properly, I'm very curious to see how it works in the "factory loaded" Linux, presumably with the VIA proprietary graphic drivers. So, I went to the Novell SuSE web page, read the details, completed the free registration to create a Novell login, and started the download of the iso image.
While that download was running, I ordered the new Mini-Note as well. If that company is as prompt and reliable this time as they have been when I dealt with them previously, it will be delivered to my house tomorrow.
So, assuming that all goes well, I will be writing about SLED 11 on my Mini-Note later today, and about the preloaded SLED 10.3 on the new Mini-Note over the weekend. What fun!
jw 26/2/2009