Novell Suse Linux is a winner

Well, I finally got sick and tired of all of my anti-windows-security-hole software sucking up all of my computers CPU cycles. I commonly run Symantec Antivirus, ZoneAlarm Firewall, MS AntiSpyware, Spybot Search & Destroy, and Ad-Aware on every Win machine I have. Then Of course I run Spywareguard and VisualZone and various other programs if there are any CPU cycles left to go around. Don't even get me started talking about the scheduling, and the maintenance, and the updating of all that crap.

So, I looked back in to the Linux world to figure out whats going on these days. The last time I tried installing Linux I used Redhat 4.0. I installed a second hard drive in my computer, told Redhat to use that, and it promptly deleted my Win98 partition without a second thought, or asking me if I was sure. Needless to say, I chucked the Redhat cd over my shoulder, and haven't looked at Linux since, figuring it needed time to mature.

I did some research and discovered that Novell Suse Linux is the most secure of the various stable Linux flavors that are out there today. They have an extra security plugin built for the NSA in their distribution! :D If you could care less about this sort of thing, then I would happily recommend any of the other STABLE Linux flavors.

I was quite impressed. It neatly skimmed off a chunk of my Windows partition (all on its own!) to use for itself. It mapped my Windows partitions so I can still access all my Windows documents in Linux. It set up a handy dual boot utility for me. It comes with all the necessary packages to set up just about any sort of server you want, or you can simply leave them all off and use it as a desktop computer. Of course it already comes with OpenOffice (a replacement for MS Office) and various other handy utilities. I think the thing that impressed me the most was that my HP multifunction printer / scanner / salad shooter worked from the moment the operating system was up and running.

I am still researching some things. I have a single word of caution, but it goes for any Linux flavor. Installing 3d graphics drivers, particularly for older Nvidia cards. If you install the OPTIONAL Linux update and you have an OLDER Nvidia card, it's the wrong driver. There is a 'legacy' driver for older cards that you can get from Nvidia.

That said, Linux seems MUCH more stable than Windows. Of course, 99.9% of the security flaws in Windows don't even exist. Some of the things I still intend on looking into is which commonly used windows business applications (ACT, Quickbooks, etc.) will work in Linux. At any rate, I would recommend that anyone who was bitten by Linux in the past to take another look at it. :)

http://www.novell.com/linux/suse/

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