Try CentOS if you want to try what is essentially RedHat. CentOS is a major noncommercial distribution based on RedHat releases. This is legal after repackaging because of all the GPL licensing. It is usually available about 3-6 weeks after a major release of RedHat.

While you can reconfigure old updaters to point to the right pages etc — why bother with the pain of such research on a rather specialized area of coding?

The wonderful thing about a recently released Linux distribution is that most of the download sites and folder locations should be correct. Important noncommercial download sites occasionally close due to funding problems or the project head losing interest or free time. Both commercial and noncommercial sites occasionally change URLs as years and months pass. Also there have been shifts in the updater code over the last couple of years that might mess you up too.

The problem you are experiencing is because all the listed mirror are not going to have 8.2 updates at least not where the default locations point to. The way to get around this is to go to one of the listed mirrors best case a University (.edu) and go back up the tree till you see discontinued and check there for 8.2. You could also Google SuSE 8.2 RPMS updates to find some unofficial. If you want to get a newer release and do not want to download you might go to your local Magazine Store or B&N and pickup a copy of Linux PRO Magazine January issue has SuSE 10 if you buy the DVD version about $15.99 Hope this helps

madmax: I was not aware of how old SuSE 8.2 is; one of the other techs in this (strictly Windows 2000/XP) shop had a copy and I thought I’d give it a shot… At first, I attepted to install Astaro, but it warns in no uncertain terms that the entire hard drive will be erased prior to install… I’ll save that one for firewall purposes. I did attempt to install Fedora, but the installation failed with a message that it was not compatible with my current hardware. Any thoughts on any other distro’s I might try? I might be able to get hold of RH Enterprise Desktop, but licensing issues and all that (we are a publicly traded corp…).

Howard2nd: The installation DOES connect to the Internet with no problem. I have been able to hit any site I tried (including the SuSE support site quoted in my original post). I know that there are several YOU servers, and YaST is set to NOT look at the installation media, and there is no custom (internal) YOU server showing. There are about eight online sources listed as update choices. I believe the issue here (if I interpret the explanation given at the SuSE support site correctly) is that a required file(s) (equivalent to a Windows DLL or INI) is/are missing or corrupt, and (apparently) the source installation files are not contained on the CD/DVD for some unknown reason. There is a corporate firewall in place, but I do not know whether the needed ports are blocked or not. You raise a good point, though, as I DID configure the SuSE built in firewall function (ipchains??? some other routine???); I’ll try disabling it and let you all know if that helps.

SparkyJones: I believe I’ve covered the points you raise in my reply, above. I will try (after disabling the firewall) to connect directly to the online update sources and see what happens…

Thanks again for all your input. I’m not tied into SuSE, so may end up going with another distro if I need to. This is very much an “underground” installation as corporate policy dictates that I receive a security waiver to install Linux at all: it just helps if I present it as a “done deal” and an operational test / tool suite used on a daily basis as opposed to asking for the waiver prior to installation.

I’ll keep in touch; any additional suggestions (including suggestions as to no-cost SuSE alternatives) will still be appreciated. Feel free to take any discussion(s) “offline” and contact me directly if you want…

PaulR.

As a test, try access the Internet sources directly via ftp/http or whatever method is used first to be certain they are available.