SuSE Updates Linux For Servers, Posts Free Desktop EditionSuSE Updates Linux For Servers, Posts Free Desktop Edition

SuSE refreshed its top-end enterprise Linux edition with a service pack on Tuesday, a day after posting its desktop version for free downloading by users.

Service Pack 3 for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 now supports IBM's newest thin blade servers, the eServer BladeCenter JS20, allows up to 27 hard drives to be bundled in a storage device, and promises to accelerate database access by up to 25 percent, according to SuSE. Other changes include a switch to the 2.4.21 Linux kernel -- previously, Enterprise Server 8 relied on the 2.4.19 kernel -- that more than triples the number of physical hard drives that can be managed by the server software.

The new Service Pack, which can be downloaded free of charge from the SuSE Web site by customers of its Maintenance Program.

Following SuSE's standard practice, the company on Monday posted SuSE Linux 9.0 for free download. Released more than a month ago to paying customers, Linux 9.0 can now be retrieved from the company's FTP server, and can be installed from a network or a hard drive. Installation CDs, however, cannot be created, nor does SuSE offer support for the free edition of its popular desktop operating system.