[Sderby] Re: A Linux Network?

[James Gibbon]

On Tue, 3 Aug 2004 20:20:43 +0100
"Barry Woodward" <barrywoodward at ntlworld.com> wrote:

> I could not get the Network to operate. It works under Windows 98SE, but not
> at all under SuSE. In the installation documentation there is a small print
> statement that certain Modules are available for installation if you have
> the SuSE Pro version. Hmmm.
> 
> I suspect that means SUSE Sales believe that only professionals will want to
> set up a network. Amateur home users like myself are not supposed to want
> networks yet. Are those that do expected to buy software licenses for
> hundreds of users?

Barry,

Please be assured that EVERY standard Linux distro supports TCP/IP networking,
and thousands of ordinary home users who have obtained their distros from the
covers of magazines - like myself - have set up home Linux networks.  I don't
have SuSE myself (I run Mandrake, Fedora and Slackware, all networked together
by the way) but am absolutely certain that the personal edition os SuSE can be
networked 'out of the box'.

I've networked a few versions of Windows too (W2000, 98 & XP) and would say that
it's every bit as easy to set up one of the major Linux distros for networking
- unfortunately they tend to be different from each other in this respect, using
different GUIs and config files, which makes it difficult for me to advise you how
to do it for SuSE (from YaST though, no doubt).

Again since I'm not a SuSE user I'll let someone else comment on the problems you
refer to later in your post too, but they do sound unusual, and not a normal part
of the usual Linux experience by any means.

best wishes
James