On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 05:12:44 GMT, "StvyLife" wrote:

> what the difference between downloading linux vs purchasing the package at
> the store.
> i am looking at suse 75 box for pro.

.... you dont HAVE to get the complete boxed set. you can
get the 'upgrade' edition, which is the full pro boxed
set, the difference is with the upgrade, you only get
one manual (admin guide). this one is $49us

the difference is the amount of software 'instantly available'.
the pro has a bunch of software, right there on the CDs.

--
<< http://michaeljtobler.homelinux.com/ >>
If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they
can sure make something out of you. - Muhammad Ali

hmm cool
k

StvyLife wrote:
> what the difference between downloading linux vs purchasing the package at
> the store.

Oh, about $45. (ba dum bum)


Ok, no joke.

If you purchase a linux distribution, you get some things that you don't get
when you download it for free. You get
- customer service for problems
- additional software
- the convenience of a CDROM instead of 8 days of downloading @ 56kbps
- the satisfaction of knowing that your financial contribution will assist your
vendor in providing both after-sales service /and/ upgrades and new releases.

> i am looking at suse 75 box for pro.
>
> also how can one install directly from a servia; I have a laptop and I want
> to install on that too;
> it doesn't have a floppy drive or a cd drive.

That's a bit of a dilemma. Some distributions support a "network install"
option, but they usually require some sort of offline media like floppy or
cdrom. Assuming that your laptop has (a) some networking capability, (b) a FAT
filesystem, and (c) an operating system that permits programs to interact with
the bare hardware (i.e. something like WindowsME or below), then you can use
your networking tools to retrieve a distribution that uses the "UMSDOS"
filesystem, and run it. This would give you better access, including the ability
to network install a full linux distro; think of it as bootstrapping Linux onto
the system. (Slackware's "zipslack" distribution would do.)

Other than that, I can't suggest anything. Your problem may be solvable, but
we'll need to know a lot more about your laptop to make proper suggestions


--
Lew Pitcher

Master Codewright and JOAT-in-training
Registered Linux User #112576 (http://counter.li.org/)
Slackware - Because I know what I'm doing.

StvyLife wrote:
> also how can one install directly from a servia; I have a laptop and I want
> to install on that too;
> it doesn't have a floppy drive or a cd drive.

You can open up your laptop, and extract the hard drive and connect it
to a pc via a special connector (I got mine a Fry's), and then install
GNU/Linux as one would on a regular PC.