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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Be Careful!, February 10, 2004
I believe in Linux. I was ready to switch from XP. I was excited. I found SuSE 9.0 and was ready to go. Their site had a lot of good information and encouragement, including:"No previous experience is needed to install SUSE LINUX on any common PC - even alongside an existing Windows operating system." The YaST setup tool was very smooth. I followed SuSE's recommendations, being a complete novice with "no previous experience," and went with the recommended setup options. This included selecting to have the Windows partition resized, not deleted, and have the boot loader give me the option to boot either Linux or Windows OS. Well, rebooted after installation (by the way, make sure your printer is supported)and didn't receive any option other than Linux. Contacted SuSE's tech support and was told that the free installation support did not cover this topic. I needed to mount the Windows partition. I could pay for that support if I wanted. I went to Linux.com instead and received intelligent *free* support from the forum there. Had a couple of unsuccessful attempts to mount the Windows partition. Guess what? Discovered that there was no windows partition on my system anymore. ?????????? Contacted SuSE and told them I thought this did qualify as an installation issue. Here's part of their response: "During installation you can choose where to install Linux, it's on the installation settings screen. Also, you can choose to shrink an existing partition. Frankly, I'm afraid you've deleted your windows partition. Please _always_ read all instructions careful, all the information during installation are there for a reason. Just clicking 'Next', can cause
changes you didn't want." Really?! I did choose where to install Linux. I did choose to shrink the existing partition (their recommendation). I did read the installation instructions (remember - no prior experience necessary). As their website states, "The following paragraphs show how even newcomers can install SUSE LINUX 9.0 in 9 easy steps." It also states, "Then, YaST2 will automatically check your system and present an installation proposal. If you wish, you can easily install additional applications or change some of the settings. Experienced users have a lot of configuration options. Newcomers can simply click Accept." Of course, as I was admonished, "just clicking 'next' can cause changes you didn't want." Oh, and it says, "After you click OK, YaST will prepare the hard disk. Existing Windows partitions will be resized automatically to make room for SUSE LINUX." I guess I should have anticipated that "resized" could mean resized to zero. Finally, "When the system is powered on, you can choose whether you want to boot Linux or another operating system." They need to add, "unless we deleted your windows partition." I just don't know what to say at this point. I still believe Linux is a more stable OS than XP. My opinion of SuSE however was "resized" if not completely "deleted." Their site promises much, including: "SUSE LINUX is easy - probably much easier than you think. However, if you should encounter any difficulty - which is quite unlikely - our support team will be at your command..."
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