Linuxnewby

Hi all! I have been larking in the shadows for about 6 months now and i think i'm going to jump into suse linux 9.1. On my puter i have for a main boad soyo sy-p4s-645dx dragon ultra--ati 9000 vid card and a Linksys 10/100 lan card for my dsl. I plan on useing the on board sound. Will i have touble putting suse on this system? I'm 66 years old and i hope the learning carve is not to steep! Fed-up with micosoft. <_< Thanks guys you have a wonderfull form!!

yes it should work ...

and about your age: in our lug we have a member which is much older then you

Best way to know, download the SuSE eval iso still available on many mirrors or the newer personal iso http://www.suse.de/en/business/products/sl...al_iso_int.html
and burn a cd.
Boot from cd.
If this works, you shouldn't have any problem installing, Yast is very user foolproof/friendly.
You could have some problems with the ATI card with the final install, very proprietary drivers at ATI, even under zindoze.

A stripped down verion of SuSE linux exists, as a 1 to 1 replacement for zindoze desktops.
This one is not free, as many licenses have to be paid, and smallest package is for 5 workstations. http://www.suse.de/en/business/products/sld/prices.html
Novell is beta testing a Novell Linux Desktop to be released soon, so, don't be too hasty buying.
Linux desktops do all, and more, than WinXP + WinOffice.

Novell Linux Desktop is ment for business environment, it's the next version of the current SuSE desktop 1.0 ... but it's an option to wait for 9.2

Thanks guys for fast reponise! What vid card should i go with? Name me a card that i will have the lest problem with. I have suse9.1 ready to go.

Nvidia

Nvidia is the best choice in linux (as linux_learner said). They have the best drivers by far. If you aren't planning to do any really high end graphics work pick up a cheap FX 5200 -- should be about $50. I run a 5200 and get very good performance.

Linksys should be good (stay away from D-Link in general because the chips don't always have good support). On board audio is just fine in my book -- listening to U2 on a VIA onboard chipset right now!

Don't worry about the age. Linux has a scalable learning curve -- start slow and only get in only as deep as you want. Myself, I'm still in the kiddie pool, but there are plenty of really smart people on this board.