It looks like our I.T. department may let me use Linux @ work. I have to choose between Redhat 9 or SuSe 8.2.

I use slack and debian at home and this seems to me like a step back.

I am looking for opinoins from people who have used both and maybe even slack and debian to see which is worse, or better.

LMK

for a dumb secretary redhat is ok but if you what a complete solution for every software type just dig in SuSE 8.2 its the best .

I forgot to mention this will be a CAD/CAM workstation. I've heard SuSe does not like the nvidia drivers. Any thoughts?

It shouldn't matter, honestly.


I'd go with Redhat, because you can download ISOs.

thats bull$shit , i have my suse 8.2 runnig with the last nvidia dirvers ok!
geforce2 mx . if its about being free of course you cant beat other distros since you gotta pay for suse, i got myself a copy Po)

I have used both; my recommendation is to go for Suse. There are many sofware missing from Red Hat, plus you have to do many configurations.

If what you're getting is the box, Suse will come with plugins (java/flash) already configured with Konqueror, Mozilla and OpenOffice. There are more software with Suse than Red Hat; like K3b, Kopete, Knights, Grip, Xine, development (basic/advanced) tools and etc. Plus, nearly most those applications work out of the box without further setups.

I have yet to encounter freezes, lockups and crashes with Suse (regarding X). The case is different with Red Hat; it lacks Suse's rock-solid X functionality and stability. Suse has a centralized configurator; Yast2. Say you want to add entries into grub/lilo; Yast2 will do it with few clicks. Plus, it configures nearly all tasks regarding hardware and software (including installing rpm files).

Good luck

Did you compile from source or run nvidia's installer?

you can use yast online update or nvidias .run file

Well I ordered SuSe 8.2 professional today. It should be here in about a week. We'll have to see how it goes.

i agree with the above posts, red hat has software missing that suse 8.2 will have installed. you can download the drivers from nvidia for linux systems, i have done it and installed it on suse 8.2. i have used suse 8.2 and red hat 9, and suse 8.2 ends up on my desktop. red hat looks great, but a couple of things bother me with red hat. they have not made up there minds if they are going to make a distor for the desktop or not, though they are into the server market for sure. second- multi-media software missing, though you can install it, a newbe probably could not do it. and 3rd, i don,t get there entitlement thing, i switch ed form one computer to the other, and i cannot use the online update because of the entitlements, it,s so confusing .