[olug] Distro Poll on the website

[Bill Brush]

>OK, you've talked to them and you've read the license
>(I have done neither) so you're +2 over me.  And
>IANAL, but I have to agree with the poster below
>who pointed out that there are no ISOs, only the live
>CD and the FTP installer.  It was my understanding that
>Suse wants to sell Yast, and whatever other proprietary
>programs they also include.  And that the FTP installer
>does not install Yast, etc., so that the FTP install is
>sort of a "lite" version?
>

>From what I understand YaST isn't GPL, nor does it qualify as free
software, however from my reading of the license it does not prohibit
redistribution.
<snip>

>"You can make copies of the CD and redistribute them
>   without a problem..."
>
>Are you talking about the Live CD and the FTP install
>boot disk?  I agree, those would be no problem.

No I'm not talking about those.

>But what about ISOs?

I couldn't tell you about ISO's, I don't have any.

>If what you say is true, why
>does no one copy their CDs/ISOs to an FTP server?
>Have you been able to find the current Suse ISO
>images anywhere?

Previously Suse did not make an ISO available, which is, I assume, why you
aren't finding any on the distro mirrors.  I did hear something about a 9.0
iso being available, but that might have been in reference to the LiveCD.

<snip>

>Don't get me wrong, I'd like to try Suse, a friend
>of mine likes it.  I'm just not sure how free it is.
>
>On the one hand, at
>http://www.linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=2
>they are still showing Suse at 8.2, but with no x86
>ISOs for sale, and a mention of the FTP and Live CD.
>

9.0 is still pretty new and might explain this.

>On the other hand, at
>http://www.linuxcd.org/view_item.php?id_version=373
>They show Suse 9.0 Professional, 5 CDs for $10.99.
>(Aha, only 5 CDs, I almost missed that.  Is the sixth
>CD for Yast and the proprietary stuff, etc.?)
>
>So is it OK to copy CDs 1-5, but then you end up with
>Suse without Yast and the other Suse good stuff on CD 6?
>Wouldn't that be like Thanksgiving turkey without the
>stuffing and cranberry sauce?
>

Ok, in the box you get 5 CD's and 1 DVD.  The CD's hold the same info as
the DVD, which is why you won't see a "6 CD set", it's redundant.

For further clarification I asked (again) in the Suse irc channel and was
told "you can copy them, you just can't charge for the software".

I think we're fine making copies for the Installfest.

Bill