Planning Your SUSE Linux Installation

Even if you are installing SUSE Linux on a single computer (which is a basic assumptions in this book), there may be some business-related considerations to make before getting started with SUSE Linux.

If you know ahead of time what you need and want from your new system, you will save time. You can always make changes down the road.

The most important consideration is: What do you want to do with your SUSE Linux system? Will it run just the Apache web server or be your network file server? Will the computer be connected to the Internet? If so, how? Do you want to launch a web-hosting business? Will it be just a toy to practice on or a full-time tool?

Will you have to access Windows files on other computers or on the same machine?

If you have some other operating system (OS) now performing the task(s) you want Linux to do, you should think about why you want to make a change.

There is a cost to migrating in time and training, although in most cases, Linux makes that cost very worthwhile.

Tip

As you plan for your install, keep a notebook handy to write things down as you think of them, and always keep it around to make notes as things happen while you're running Linux. Text files typed into the machine are handy, as are sticky notes. But when something breaks and you can't get to those electronic notes, you'll be happy you have something to refer to.

I got this tip from Matt Welsh's Running Linux when I was starting out, and it is still one of the best tips I ever got.

Another thing to consider is what to do with your existing OS. Later on in this chapter, you'll learn about setting up your machine to dual boot Windows and SUSE Linux.

This is an easy thing to do, assuming you have the space. Before you decide, make a list of all the things you use your computer for and the applications you use. Look at the list of applications in your Windows Start menu to be thorough; it's easy to forget some of the things that are second nature to use. Try to find a Linux counterpart. Start with the list at http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/table.shtml and match the Linux applications to your Windows list.

To get you started, look at Table 2.1. This is a sampling of the list I made for myself. The list of applications features some of the best-known applications for their category, but the list is not comprehensive by any means.

Table 2.1. Selected Computing Tasks and Linux Applications

Task	Windows Application	Linux Application
Browsing the Web	Internet Explorer	Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox, Opera, Konqueror, Galeon, Epiphany
Budget stretching	Quicken, Money, QuickBooks	Gnucash, KMyMoney
Developing websites	Dreamweaver, FrontPage, HomeSite	Quanta, Bluefish, emacs
Editing photos and graphics	Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro	The GIMP
Editing plain text	Notepad/WordPad, JEdit, NoteTab	KWrite, Emacs, XEmacs, vim, JEdit
Number crunching	Excel, Paradox OpenOffice.org Calc	OpenOffice.org Calc, KSpread, Gnumeric
Opening and creating Zip archives	WinZip, ZipMagic, PKZip	Ark, GNOME File Roller, command-line
Playing MP3 and other multimedia content	WinAmp, MusicMatch, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player	XMMS, Xine, Kaffeine, FreeAmp, RealPlayer (Helix Community version)
Playing RealAudio streaming audio files	RealPlayer	RealPlayer (Helix Community version), XMMS
Reading and writing email	Outlook/Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, Eudora, Pegasus Mail	KMail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Evolution, Sylpheed
Word processing	Word, WordPerfect, OpenOffice.org, Writer, Abiword	OpenOffice.org Writer, Abiword, Kword
Managing personal information (contacts, calendar)	Outlook, Lotus Notes, Groupwise	Evolution, Kontact, Groupwise