I have been an avid openSUSE user in the past as it worked perfectly on my main workstation. However, I switched to Xubuntu as I'm more obsessed with speed and simplicity nowadays more than anything else. Since the latest version of openSUSE is about to be released and it promises some major enhancements over its predecessor, I decided to take a look at my former favorite distro to see what's been going on.openSUSE 11 (Release Candidate) is out already, so it's the one that I grabbed. At first, I was still contemplating on which flavor to get since openSUSE is available in both Gnome and KDE Live CD versions. I usually go for GNOME, but this time I got the KDE 32-bit edition. My main reason for this is that I wanted to finally try out the much talked about KDE 4.
So, what's up with openSUSE 11? Is it good enough to finally beat Ubuntu on the desktop? Read on to find out...
Test Machine Specs:
Board: Intel Corporation D102GGC2
Processor: 3.40 GHz Intel Pentium D
Hard Drive: Samsung 80GB ATA with 8GB allocated to VM disk
Memory: 2GB DDR2 RAM with 512 MB allocated to VM memory
Installation:
This is the part where I'm really impressed. The installation was very straightforward that I think even my grandma can figure it out. The process is very simple and it only requires a few steps to get the system fully installed.
Here's my openSUSE 11 installation walkthrough -- The Live CD set-up kicks off after clicking the "install" icon, of course. The "Yast Installer" welcome screen will then open where you can set the "Language" and the "Keyboard layout". You will also have to agree to the "License Term" to go on. Then, you will have set the "Clock and Time Zone", followed by the easy "Partitioning". I said easy because there's already a suggested partition and you can just use it if it suits you. The last step is creating a new user, and then you will be given an option to double-check before the "Live" image can be copied to the hard drive. After the installation, you will have to reboot to use your newly installed system. -- Simple as that.
Look and Feel:
This is the interesting part. Almost all those who have used the most previous versions of openSUSE can definitely notice its trademark elegant and professional-looking themes and artworks. openSUSE 11 is no different and can surely satisfy those who loves a beautiful looking desktop. Everything looks polished -- the grub menu screen, the boot image, the login menu screen, and the default wallpaper.
Now let's talk about KDE 4. I'm not really a big fan of the K Desktop Environment as I've always said before. However, after having used KDE 4 in openSuSE 11, I must say that I'm loving it, although not totally. KDE 4 looked stunning indeed, and the good thing is that it didn't sacrifice "speed". It is very responsive even when running in VM (Virtual Machine) environment. If you have a not-so-old machine and want to experience desktop bling, then KDE 4 might satisfy your desire. It's true that KDE 4 is still quite buggy as I've encountered some of its minor glitches, but I think it's pretty much usable and stable enough for daily and productive use.
Software/Package Management:
openSUSE 11 is packed with plenty of important free and open source software. To name some, there's Firefox 3 (Beta 5) web browser, Kopete IM, OpenOffice.org office suite, Amarok audio player, Gwenview image viewer, and plenty more. I'm a little bit disappointed that GIMP was not included out-of-the-box, so I downloaded and installed it with the help of Yast graphical installer. I also installed the non-oss "flash player" for watching flash-based videos on the web.
Installing, removing, and updating software packages through Yast is hassle-free. To get additional packages, you have to enable the software repositories first, and then just search for the applications that you want. You can also easily browse for installed or available packages as they are well categorized. I must say that the Yast software installer has really improved through the years and has become much faster than before. In my own opinion, it's now almost as good as Synaptic Package Manager.
Stability/Hardware Detection:
openSUSE 11 worked perfectly well with the VM hardware as USB, CD-ROM, audio, and Ethernet were properly configured and were functioning immediately after the installation. SaX2 (YaST module used for configuring the X11 graphics system) worked flawlessly after I've tweak my screen resolution and other graphics options to my preferred settings. I also want to point out the faster boot/start-up speed of this new version. However, as noted on the release announcement, OpenSUSE RC1 is not yet fully cooked and has still some issues that need to be fixed.
Conclusion:
Based on my brief but thorough experience using openSUSE 11 (RC1), I'm expecting a very solid release for this Novell-sponsored Linux distribution. If those minor bugs that I've encountered will be ironed out before the release day comes, then this is going to be the best openSUSE version ever. Does it have what it takes to beat Ubuntu on the desktop? -- openSUSE has always been a distro of choice for mainstream and new-to-Linux users for so many years now, hence overtaking Ubuntu is not far from reality.
If openSUSE 11 can deliver the goods at the right time, who knows, I might give it another chance.
I'm looking forward for the day that openSuSE will beat Ubuntu on the desktop.
But what do you think of the whole Novell/MS thing, especially with regards to Mono and Moonlight? Is that enough to put you off?
Yes, when combined with front-end, Yast+zypper, guess Synaptics+apt-get is faster, though management has been as well enhanced with Yast.
BTW if you´ve been away from openSuse longer, please also test the '1' click installation, it is really nice! http://software.opensuse.org/search
I'm one of the idiots that believe Suse is the Linux Whore. The deal with Microsoft is old news but as long as the deal exists Suse is leper. Stay away from it people. I can't forget about the deal when Novell reminds me all the time about how protected its customers are. I don't want to be patent protected. I want to be free. I might be an idiot but it is better than being a slave.
"Old news" is it? The EULA for OpenSuse 11 apparently contains this warning:
"The Software may contain an automatic disabling mechanism that prevents its use after a certain period of time, so You should back up Your system and takeother measures to prevent any loss of files or data."
http://lwn.net/Articles/283566/
I mean, in a frakking Linux distribution? They can stick it you know where.
As with the EULA thing, that really is freaky. Novell should make a comment on that one.
Some more interesting quotes:
"You
may not, without Novell's prior written consent not to be unreasonably
withheld, publish or disclose to any third party the results of any
benchmark test of the Software."
Then it goes on to say that if you do anyways, Novell holds the right to benchmark and release the information of the vendor who benchmarked them.
Then there's the General terms, which states that you the "Beta Agreement" will terminate if a newer pre-release version comes out or if Novell releases a commercial shipment of the product, and that You MUST CEASE USE OF THE SOFTWARE, RETURN TO AN ORIGINAL STATE OF ANY ACTIONS PERFORMED BY THE SOFTWARE, DESTROY THE ORIGINAL AND ALL COPIES OF THE SOFTWARE OR RETURN THEM TO NOVELL, AND DELETE THE SOFTWARE ENTIRELY FROM YOUR SYSTEMS.
Wow...
I realise that Microsoft's scorpion like shaking of hands while wielding a venomous tail has many of us feeling betrayed but at some point we need to focus our energies and attention on the continued rapid evolution of Open Source software instead of wasting time on how not to develop software.
I am everything but a Microsoft fan but as the marketing folk say "All publicity is good publicity". I suggest we leave MS to either adapt (and play nice) or DIE.
any distro has its pros and cons. thats why they are there, and still allive. If you want the one-and-only-one use windows :)
Sorry, but to me many Ubuntu users are still old windows user with the same lame excuses.
openSuse. Nice job! Keep it up!
So I say let there be more distros.
Another note; With as many distros as we have, they are all linux and share certain similarities. I really see five types of linux at the most.
Some of you are just plain naive. Its not about who has done "great work" for open source or who had contributed. In the end all that great work and contribution if for nothing if you end up destroying the project. Just read the poisonous people article about Subversion.
You all will ignore the possibility that Novell could help MS destroy Linux just because they gave you some free handouts? Good grief...grow up people. This isn't to say Novell has malicious intent but only a fool would just look over it. If it turns out to be a true plot and the manage to wreck the community THEN where will you be?...scratching your heads wondering how you got the wool pulled over your eyes.
OpenSuSE looks great but until certain people and their intents are made clear...especially around projects like Moonlight and Mono then I would advise people to tread cautiously. Put your silly distro pride aside for a second and think. Canonical may not give back the way you think they should but they aren't injecting code from a company that is threatening to sue into the Linux community.
A quick spin up in a vm may be quick, convenient and risk-free; it is anything but thorough ;-)
I installed the first beta release (64-bit version) to hdd, and was not impressed by how it blew away an fc8 install on another partition. Note that when I reinstalled fc8 back to that partition, it did not blow away suse. Manners. Some distros just get it.
I ran suse 10.3 for a few months and it was pretty solid. The 11-beta did have some bugs (unsurprisingly), but the update manager was in a class of its own. I was unpleasantly surprised when it managed to delete both KDE4 and itself in one go, while I was attempting to upgrade to the next beta release, leaving me with a crippled KDE3.5 desktop no menu, but Firefox and a terminal accessible (I suppose that's something). An update manager that attempts to commit suicide, leaving behind a vegetable. That's a first in my experience.
Still, I liked it well enough that I will install the final release. On its own disk. Maybe one day suse will learn to 'play nice' with others....
OpenSuse 11 has impressed my from the alpha days. The Alphas were so good that I knew even then that this would be a rock solid kick asses version. And since Ubuntu uses Gnome and Kubuntu is no good then even their butts won't be spared.
I just love Suse and will never leave her no matter what people say cause she is simple the best :)
Check the facts.
Where is this analysis? I don't think Microsoft's lawyers would agree with it.
http://boycottnovell.com/
I don not want to use openSUSE. The best distro is Pardus
http://www.pardus.org.tr/eng/index.html
to all those who refuse to use openSUSE because it's related to Novell and MS,>>
as it was mentioned Novell also is one of the major contributors to OpenOffice, Gnome and MANY other open source projects!
if you are so true to your beliefs I dare you to refuse using OpenOffice and any project related to Novell!
Font hinting is still as bad as earlier SUSE versions.
In fact, it has the worst font compared to Ubuntu 8.04, Fedora 9, Mandriva 2008.1.
SUSE has spent lots of effort to deliver impressive eye candies - icons, colors, graphics, etc.
But ultimately these are not as important has having smooth fonts display that ease the use of computers.
Overall, Linux distributions are still struggling with getting consistent and usable fonts done correctly even till today.
And it's a petty to see lots of users wasting lots of time tweaking displays, system setup, source codes, etc just to get fonts working to their expectation.
Is using Linux has to be that hard and painful compared to using Windows and Mac?
- Ubuntu fonts look much better
- Many packages on openSUSE have to be searched through web instead of package manager. Ubuntu wins there, to.
- Try to run a program from the CLI that hasn't been installed yet. Ubuntu tells you what package contains that program and how to install it. OpenSUSE just tells you it doesn't have that program installed.
- Similar thing with video. I tried to view some FLV videos, Ubuntu offers me to install the necessary plugin(s). openSUSE just says "sorry" and closes the application (totem in this case).
- One thing has improved in openSUSE with respect to previous version. For example, if you want to install gvim, there is one metapackage, something Ubuntu had for a long time. In the past, I had to chase several packages untill I got gvim working. Gvim is not the only example, I just can't remember the other ones right now.
After SLED 10 and OPENSUSE 11 one can say that linux is ready for deployment within a managed environment.
When i say managed i mean working along side other technologies and adaptability.
But, on the other hand lINIX is in no way ready for the home market (Other than a managed environment like a HOME USER)they will go nuts.
For example:
1 Click install
user knowledge
available aplications which users know about
So far the closest as far as i know is SUSE. I less than a year i believe there will be heaps of organizatons moving into SUSE LINUX which eventually will bring home users to the light.
ITS ALL ABOUT WHAT THE USER FEELS EASY and FAMILIARITY.
People can hate Micro$oft all they want and Novell for collaborating with everyones' arch nemesis but, Microsoft has met every objective that they set down in the eighties.
The real openness of Linux was not instituted for hatred but, for learning and keeping the tools out there for people to become acclimated with learning CIT.
The Linux community has forgotten this fact and the community suffers for it.
SUSE will always be my first pick in Linux, even though I don't care for the .rpm file management format. SUSE is, by the way, incorporating synaptic as well as apt get functionality in full scope. SUSE the total package is exactly what we need/want!
I am beginning to study for my linux+ cert. And in doing so I have to study and gain exp with Fedora, and Opensuse, or Mandriva. I personnaly like the looks of the new suse, but eye candy doesnt mean anything, without stability, compatibility, and reliability. I tried out the new PCLINUXOS as it was supposed to be very highly reccomended for new linux users, yet dropped it like a bad habit, when after my install, it could not read CD/DVD-ROMs, and wouldnt mount USB devices right off a clean install.
Now like all great powers such as the Romans, and Greeks,... Microshaft's decadence will be its downfall. Its presumption of me or nothing will eventually come to and end as will all things in time. If someone, even Novell comes up with a way of making it so I dont have to have windows on my linux box at all to do my work and play games GREAT! I would only say just dont sell the soul of what attracts us all, and is the bragging point of what makes linux, Its soul,...its Freedom.
I am always on the search for "the Distro" that will end my needs for using MS forever. In fact I only go back to MS when I have to due to a program or 2 requiring it. But even with the Great Ubuntu, I find short comings. I am extatic to see Linux distro's finally offered in competition with Winblows as the primary operating system, that is so cool it not even describable. I dont hate MS, I just like Linux better, as MS has a way of irritating me, kind of like a 9 year old asking me the same question 5 times on the same thing.
I would like to see Linux Distros step up the game even further, and make it so in every way MS is not needed, to essentially, knock the king of his hill. Mfg'ers will code for Linux if it becomes an operating system of choice, or even just completely competitive. So squabbling over mute points wont help, lets all get our certs, learn to code, and help out the Linux revolution! Id be interested in hearing your opinion. Email me, as I cannot get online very often while Im out to sea serving in the US Navy. I am spreading linux all over this ship. All I do is show a little Compiz off, and explain linux to them, and bamm I have another linux user. I have performed more than 50 installs to new linux users here on this ship. People love it! Lets keep up the good work! My email is deardorff.yaughn@cvn72.navy.mil
Have a great day!
1) kchmviewer
2) mplayer, mplayer plugin
3) audacious
4) k3b, k3b-codecs
5) sox
6) devede
7) audacity
8) avidemux
9) ffmpeg
10) transcode
11) ntfs-config
12) vlc
13) libdvdcss
14) w32codecs
15) xine
16) xmms
17) dvdShrink
18) k9copy
19) Gtkpod
20) Acetoneiso
21) Furiousiso
22) DVD::RIP
23) Amarok
24) Kaffeine
25) kmplayer
26) Kdvdcreator
27) K3guitune
28) Kdvdauth
29) DVDAuthorWizard
30) Kguitar
31) Mjpegtools
32) Soundconverter
33) Gdvdcreator
34) Asunder
35) Brasero
36) Smplayer
37) LMMS
38) winff
39) KmediaFactory
40) DVD2Xvid
you can install any of the above without internet, they include all the dependencies, just unzip the both files into a folder named MMP2008 and create a repository from that folder as a simple rpm folder in yast, then make a search in the yast installer with the name of the program and check it to install it, this is very important if you don`t have internet at home, and besides, by default Open Suse doesn`t include several codecs due to license matters.
You can download the pack at:
http://easgs.wordpress.com/category/multimedia-pack-2008-for-open-suse-11/
Thanks
Ive talked with many people about the RPM system and the dependency issues seems to be the major and only complaint with using RPM based systems. Any ideas folks?
Thanks
Some application bugs in Ubuntu dont appear in the same apps in openSUSE (playlist in fullscreen in SMplayer). I set up an identical openSUSE system to my old ubuntu, in which i used terminal in many cases, without having to open terminal once!!!
I cant understand why people say that there are more .deb packages than .rpms...Wherever i go, i see much more .rpms than .debs, which i rarely see.. Anyway, between openSUSE and ubuntu which i tried, i definitely vote for openSUSE