Submitted by “Many changes have gone into the SUSE Linux operating system since version 10.1, including a name change: the entire operating system is now known only as openSUSE. All of those changes appear to have been for the better – openSUSE 10.2 is as great a release as 10 was – but despite the improvements and bug fixes, there are still several underlying problems that prevent openSUSE 10.2 from being competitive with commercial desktop operating systems.”
I would disagree with that. *I* use konqueror, and in fact, many others do as well. Its a fine browser and to just simply toss it aside for that sluggish memory eating pig called firefox is offensive.
I don’t think the suggestion is to remove Konqueror. Instead, that the default browser should be Firefox. A Firefox icon should be in the tray, and Firefox should be in the Internet folder in the Applications menu. For those who do not want to use Firefox, use Konqueror! Like it or not, the trend is to NOT offer the user all possible options for every application. This confuses converts to Linux. A baseline install should contain the default apps for everthing. It should then be simple to install other apps, such as Epiphany, Opera, etc.
The same is true for Office Apps. Like or not, OOO is the default for most distros (I like it). However, other apps such as KOffice and AbiWord should be easily installable.
Does OpenSuSE still mangle FireFox to match ancient NetScape local/remote browser behavior?
It is *really* obnoxious when you’re doing remote work on, say, a remote 128-processor Altix, using a product with HTML documentation starting at some /opt/foo/doc/index.html and when you
remotely launch
firefox file:/opt/foo/doc/index.html
you wind up launching a local (your desktop-machine) instance of FireFox, acting on a non-existent local opt/foo/doc/index.html. Historically, RedHat and SuSE have munged their browsers to do this mis-behavior…
As a Firefox user I find your assessment of Firefox offensive.
However, Konqueror is a very good web browser. In truth it probably is a much better overall browser than Firefox, but I don’t see it on other platforms and that’s were we need Firefox. Not everybody can run to Linux and people who do move from Windows to Linux are probably more likely to use Firefox than Konqueror simply because they used it on Windows.
I do like the fact that Konqueror seems to be working toward better support of Web Standards. I would love to see all browser have the same kind of support for Web Standards.
This is changing rapidly. With KDE 4 the libraries and applications based on the libraries should be available everywhere.
Shared libraries make KDE amazingly useful and lightweight. People really don’t know what they’re talking about if they claim its bloated, slow, etc etc. Aesthetics are one thing… but actual hardware usage is another, and thats what I’m talking about.
For example I’ve got a p3 500 with 128mb of ram thats perfectly usable, konqueror starts up almost as fast on that machine as it does on my dual athlon mp box with a 1gb of ram. Firefox takes forever on both.
I don’t think firefox is a bad browser at all, but it does take up a lot of ram and it is slow to start. Its certainly my favorite browser when I’m using windows.
I could care less what is the default browser; people will use what they want. But I hate articles when the article writer makes alternate programs to what they use sound useless or like junk.
On the various machines I have plug-ins worked just as well in konqueror as Firefox, (including Crossover Office plug-ins like Shockwave) and tabs worked almost identically to Firefox.
If this was about IE and not Konq. your get loads of people replying to your post calling you lazy for not swapping to FF.
Funny how Linux users don’t want to do what they keep telling windows users to do. 🙂
Edited 2007-02-22 18:55
The difference is that konqueror, unlike IE, doesn’t suck.
I would disagree with that. *I* use Internet Explorer, and in fact, many others do as well. Its a fine browser and to just simply toss it aside for that sluggish memory eating pig called firefox is offensive.
Edited 2007-02-22 19:37
I would disagree with that. *I* use Internet Explorer, and in fact, many others do as well. Its a fine browser and to just simply toss it aside for that sluggish memory eating pig called firefox is offensive.
Hahahaha… I think you forgot the <sarcasm></sarcasm> tags.
Firefox is the default browser on KDE just as it is with Gnome on OpenSUSE 10.2. The only difference is that Konqueror is installed along with Firefox on KDE, unlike Gnome where the Epiphany browser is not installed with the default installation. This is what I was referring to when I mentioned previously on OSNews about KDE bloat. I think this is due to Novell doing as they said they would and that is to place more focus on Gnome due to it’s used as the default desktop GUI on Enterprise Linux distributions such as SLED, RHEL, etc. Having a more streamlined desktop in a default installation is what businesses prefer and most home users would probably agree.
I think the way to go for installations on all OS’s should be the way Ubuntu, Mepis and others do it.
1. Boot into a Live CD
2. Make sure everything is working (network, video, sound)
3. Click the install button. The current rununing configuration is used as the baseline. The user just answers a few questions (partition preference, user/password).
4. Enjoy!
A one size fits all installation method is not always ideal and personally I dislike it. Fair enough it makes it easy for certain groups of people e.g. newbies to install Linux, but for someone who needs total control over the installation and what gets installed, such an approach is no good.
A one size fits all installation method is not always ideal and personally I dislike it
That’s why Ubuntu has the second install CD for power users who want total control over the install. I agree that this method of install should remain. I am not suggesting that the live install replace the detailed installers, but that all distros should adopt the live installer as an option. The live CD is also a good way to test compatability with your machine (such as on laptops).
Yes are right about using live discs to test hardware. Ubuntu indeed has the alternate installation disc, but the last time I used it, you did not have any choice with regards to package selection like you do in openSUSE, Fedora, Mandriva etc.
because the base install media only has a few programs on it.. you connect to repos for the rest. Ubuntu is not a fat DVD with all the stuff, just a little bit. Frankly, that helps support because you can guarantee users will have a default config… there’s nothing worse in suse or Mandrake than thinking your clever at the install and clicking a bunch of boxes because you read it on slashdot… then the system doesn’t work how the manual says and you’re cursing the penguins. The Ubuntu way is much better… and you go to Synaptic and get the stuff you “think” you need later from a proper system.
is that open suse is by novell and item reported here:
http://osnews.com/story.php/17301/Ballmer-Confirms-Novell-Deal-Is-A…
.V
Now, hold on. You can read my scathing comments on the Novell patent covenant via my profile, but this doesn’t change the fact that openSUSE is a fine distro backed by a community that really cares. It’s shame that Novell doesn’t appreciate their efforts and that the openSUSE community hasn’t taken steps to distance itself from Novells horrible mistake, but it’s hard to walk away from the project infrastructure that Novell provides without impacting the roadmap. Hopefully they act to defend themselves–and the rest of the Linux community–in the near future.
By the way, I recently had a nice email conversation with Miguel de Icaza concerning these issues. His justification is that, although we in the community all know that Linux and the OSS stack is strongly defensible against IP claims, prospective corporate customers are staying away because of IP concerns. Apparently they had several big deals fall through because of this issue alone. Corporates don’t want to be told that Linux IP is defensible, they want to be told that they’re indemnified. Defending a frivolous lawsuit can cost untold millions.
He had no response to my point that Red Hat provides its enterprise customers with indemnification on their own terms, based on their confidence alone, rather than through deals with patent holders.
It’s true that this deal doesn’t negatively (or positively) impact the defensibility of Linux IP in a courtroom setting. However, it strongly impacts public perception, and plaintiffs can leverage these perceptions in out-of-court settlement negotiations. The OSS community is just as vulnerable to patent claims as it was before, but the Novell deal heightens the perception of vulnerability.
As I’ve said before, the deal is an agreement between Microsoft and Novell that it is in their mutual best interest to address the IP status of Linux in the court of public opinion rather than in the court of law.
Edited 2007-02-22 17:41
I work for a Fortune 50 company as a J2EE developer. You are sooooooooooo right you wont believe it. We are going about the long way and paying lots and lots of money for various products just to avoid that IP scenario. It is annoying to say the least with all the restrictions imposed on us. Heck I am surprised we are able to use Struts!!
I have been using Suse 10.2 on my Dell Inspiron E1505 with pretty decent results. I currently have it set up with XP Pro and Suse 10.2, dual-boot. I’ve been developing Java apps with NetBeans in Linux; I think I’ve been using it more than XP.
I can’t speak to SaX, but I did find the Slab horrid – It is, however, very easy to remove from the Gnome Panel and add the traditional menu.
Hobbling Xine is inexcusable though. I can’t help but think that this is at least in part to dealing with the Devil. I am completely against Microsoft Genuine Advantage; I’ve paid my MS-Tax when I bought my Dell, and that should be that! I should not have to continually prove that the installation is legit. And for Vista – I just LOVE the fact that MS assumes we all want to violate Federal Copyright Laws. I seriously hope that Novell doesn’t follow suit.
I’ve managed to find packages that I need/want on RPMFind.
Hobbling Xine is inexcusable though
I think we should clarify the “dance” openSuse is trying to do. There are 2 parties to please:
FSF – only Free (libre) software should be installed. No proprietary/patent-laden apps or codecs should be installed in a truly Free OS.
Joe User – I want to put in my DVD and have it work on your OS.
This is why Freespire has 2 versions – one totally Free of encumbrance, and one fully of proprietary goodies. The user gets to choose what they want. For Suse, this is the difference between openSuse (note the prepend ‘open’) and Suse, the OS you buy.
Having said that, it’s not hard to install the yummy goodies if you want. I guess they could make it even easier, but then they risk the Wrath of Richard (a good TNT movie).
I know what you relate to, but DVDs (and increasingly media codecs) are a bad example to draw the line between strictly-Free and not-so-strictly-Free distros, since libdvdcss for example is GPLv2[1] licensed and is as “Free” as Software gets, when one considers only the copyright of the source code and not streched interpretations of the DMCA (et al.).
Most non-DRMed mainstream media formats are today accessible using one of the likes of ffmpeg, libmad, mplayer codecs, ogg, etc. via Free software implementations (many times even GPL licensed).
The problems are the de facto and de jure status of software patents plus regulations like the DMCA and its counterparts in the rest of the (not-so-free) world and of course the emerging lock-in scenario for Trusted Computing / DRM.
Note, that it was not the FSF that caused distros to stop shipping (the at least partially existing) Freemp3 and wma codecs.
Your comment stays perfectly valid, if one considers examples like binary blob drivers for video- and wifi hardware or gratis-but-not-free software (Suns non-gpl Java until now, google picasa, Adobe Acrobat, Adove Flash, …. ) instead of media codecs and libdvdcss.
Regards
[1]http://developers.videolan.org/libdvdcss/
EDIT: Clarified the “as free as it gets thing” with the libdvdcss and the FSF/ wma codec thing
Edited 2007-02-22 17:57
The author has some good points. My own personal experience with opensuse (10.2) yeilded some of the same issues. It takes Waaaay too long to install and I never was able to get nVidia drivers to work (yes I have done it before with other distros so don’t bother). It took quite some time to install all the codecs I use (decss, flash, etc.). The opensuse team should look at Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS to see how easy it can be for new users or users that just want to use their systems, not play with them all day. I really tried to like this distro, but it didn’t stay on my hard drive very long.
10.2 is actually the first SUSE version that I have used that had problems with the nVidia binary driver. I can’t speak for 10.1 because it had too many problems for me to even bother with a graphics driver, but previous versions worked very well with nVidia binary drivers.
I don’t love how long SUSE takes to install, but as long as I have a DVD (so that I don’t have to switch disks) I’m not bothered enough to complain about it.
I also agree that installing software that isn’t in an official repository can be troublesome with 10.2 (I didn’t have problems with unofficial repositories on previous versions). Even the official repositories seem to be flaky at times.
I like the polish that SUSE has offered in the past, and I think that openSUSE 10.2 does a better job than most free distro’s. Unfortunately, I think Jem’s right when he states that poor quality releases are no longer acceptable. There are just too many other good options.
Suse 10.0 was the distro that finally made me dump both XP and Mandriva off my main machine.
It did everything a desktop system should do.
When 10.1 came out, I stuck it on expecting more of the same. I was not amused by that release !
What were they thinking ?
Anyway, I tried 10.2 on a test box, and it still is not as good as 10.0. I absolutely detested the new menu system. It was slower, and I did not want to go through all the crap to get everything set up properly again.
Thats when I remembered why I dumped Suse in the first place.
I have since installed Ubuntu 6.10 on that machine. It is a “REAL” desktop, is simple to get everything working with a double click of the automatix2 deb file… and it doesn’t include YAST
I believe that anyone with their ear to the ground can see where the Linux desktop market is going. Red Hat blew a seemingly insurmountable lead by offloading all of its desktop focus onto the Fedora community, Novell is in the process of ruining what was once the premier Linux desktop experience period, and one community has risen to prominence not because of technical superiority, but simply because it’s more about the community than it is about the company.
I know we will see more “based on Ubuntu” announcements in the near future. Xandros and PCLinuxOS are very likely, and who knows, maybe Mandriva will eventually hop on to avoid going at it alone with their RPM repositories. There will be source-based distributions for enthusiasts, Debian for customized IT infrastructure, the two withering RPM dinosaurs, and a thriving ecosystem of Ubuntu-based distributions catering to all corners of the turnkey end-user market.
You can surely argue that Ubuntu/Kubuntu is not the best Linux distribution by a long-shot. I’ll probably agree. But it is the best Linux community by a long-shot, and that’s 98% of what it takes to compete in the Linux ecosystem.
” It takes Waaaay too long to install and I never was able to get nVidia drivers to work (yes I have done it before with other distros so don’t bother).”
I got the nVidia drivers to work when I installed 10.2, “but” there was one big catch that in the end caused me to wipe it out and reinstall Ubuntu. I could never get it to let me use the default resolution of my LCD at 1600×1200. I have an nVidia GeForce 6200 and I have that resolution available from the card.
I did some looking on the forums and I was not the only one with the problem. One person solved the problem by disconnection the LCD from the DVI hookup and using the VGA cable instead, but that is not an option I am prepared to use since my main OS on the system works just fine.
And the other big problem I also had was the audio/video codecs. This stuff should either work right out of the box or at the very least have a one step process for making it do so.
In the end I deleted the partition and reinstalled Ubuntu on it. I have to admit it was a very slick looking desktop and almost everything seemed to work as it should. They have done a very nice job on it.
Oh, the other OS that uses my DVI output and lets me run 1600×1200? That is PCBSD. And the AV codecs were installed with a little program called “All Codecs” available right from their program repository. It took me about a minute to DL and install.
File open/File Save dialog, its 3rd on my list after opera and konqueror especially if I want to download something.
Its absolute puss to navigate to save a file in a place other than the desktop or default directory.
Amen!
But is even worse to locate a program to open a file, if Firefox can not detect that program itself. Then you need to track down the freakin’ binary! :p
Until Firefox gets a decent File open/File Save dialog, its 3rd on my list after opera and konqueror especially if I want to download something.
The workaround I found involved using the Flashgot extension. In Flashgot’s preferences, you can add the download manager you want. I use Kget. Not only is it a robust downloader, it uses KDE’s file dialogs, which are some of the best around.
I agree completely with your assessment of the Firefox file dialogs. They are an instance of having too much functionality stripped out. That said, the issues you have with the dialogs are the same issues you would have with any Gnome file dialog. You alleviate the issue by creating presets to where you might save files in the future (think /opt, or /usr/local, or /any/old/path/to/downloads).
nice screenies of 10.2 and 10.3 Alpha 1 http://shots.linuxquestions.org/index.php?os=openSUSE
I guess I am one of the few who actually like the SLAB menu. I have OpenSuse 10.2 on my desktop and actually like the organization of this better than the traditional menus (in fact, I now also have USLAB on my Ubuntu laptop).
I do believe, however, that the SLAB update available in SLED needs to make its way to OpenSuse. In it, for example, you have a “Places” option for easier access to network shares.
SuSE (OpenSuse 10.0, 10.1) were my introduction to Linux on desktop. Both the versions are easy to install and look pretty on the eyes. The installation of either of them is so easy
10.1 was a step backward bcos of the crippling of YAST by including LibZypp crap. I was introduced to SMART which after repeated tries I got it working like a charm that made me not touch YAST at all. Whatever it is YAST was slow and SMART was a lot better.
I agree with Otters comment reg. the crippling of Xine. I used the Guru and Packman repositories though to solve the issues.
But sometimes the dependency did not get resolved when I tried to install s/w myself. When I installed Simply Mepis , I overwrote the MBR GRUB and I did not like it at all. So I had 2 choices
a) Reinstall Suse10.1
b) Try a new Linux desktop distro.
I opted for the latter with the arrival of PCLinuxOS .93. That was the best decision I made and I have not looked back since. Now I am running PCLOS 2007 TR2. The Synaptic Package Manager is far faster, easier to understand/add repositories etc compared to YAST or SMART. Agreed YAST is both a H/W and S/W Manager while PCLOS uses the DRAKCONF module to manage h/w.
Now as far as I know PCLOS is the only distro that uses RPM as the s/w package format while using Synaptic as the Package Manager.
PCLOS Menu editor is a bit quircky though. It was working fine for a while but all of a sudden stopped accepting inputs that I give. That is a known issue that they are fixing in .94.
Another thing is that since the developer base is small when .94 was nearing beta stage the .93 repositories are not updated (FF is still 1.5.x, Opera 9.02 etc).
Development tools like Eclipse Netbeans are not in the official repositories and need to be manually installed.
Install LibDVD CSS2 and DVD movies play fine. In the repos u have both QT as well as GTK apps. The package dependencies automatically take care of themselves.
install w-32Codecs and u can play all windows formats. Install MPlayer plugins and all QT and RM files get played.
My experience with Konqui as a web browser has been bad. Leaving aside the light memory requirements ,
No mouse gestures, no easy way to manipulate tabs
and pathetic browding capabilities. I get regular timeouts for no apparent reason. Some ppl. suggested IPV6 and asked me to chnge to IPV4. Nope! I am fed up.
But as a File Manager Konqueror shines though.
http://www.distrowatch.com always gives an error saying “Cannot Access / on distrowatch.com”. FF, Opera, Seamonkey, Flock all work w/o any issues.
Konqui in KDE 3.5.6 is a little better but still I am having all the errors only less frequently. So I have stopped using Konqui for browsing. FF is the best for me closely followed by Opera and Flock. I am not feeln the FF bloat in PCLOS as I find in the WinXP. Opera is similar to WinXP but for some reason the Menu in Opera 9.10 is not antialiased.
After knowing about the MS-Novell deal I said no Suse for me.
“No mouse gestures”
Um, it does do mouse gestures and they’re available both when you use it for web and file browsing, which is quite nice and is one of the features I miss now I’ve switched to the Mac.
No idea why they’re not enabled by default, but you can enable them via the kontrol center (or whatever it’s called) and the settings involved are not in the most logical of places (or at least where I expected them the first time I went looking) so not surprised it was missed.
Look under “Regional & Accessibility => Input Actions”.
“Development tools like Eclipse Netbeans are not in the official repositories and need to be manually installed.”
I think this is because SuSE is aimed on users, not on developers…?
“Install LibDVD CSS2 and DVD movies play fine. In the repos u have both QT as well as GTK apps. The package dependencies automatically take care of themselves.
install w-32Codecs and u can play all windows formats. Install MPlayer plugins and all QT and RM files get played.”
See? That’s too much complicated for a Steven Q. Average home user. He must have all of them preinstalled and preconfigured.
My uncle started with SuSE last year and then dropped it after a few days. Unsupported parallel scanner, unsupported JVC digital camera, unability to play MPEG, AVI and WMV videos out of the box, CD automount problems. Brother laser printer not printing, DVD recorder not working, TV card not working. Maybe no sound working at all. And error messages in english while german has been selected as KDE system language. Too complicated – no further use. (He’s back at his “Windows XP” now.)
On the other hand, I know some people using SuSE and being very happy with it – without any problems with hardware or software. Same purpose: Office, multimedia, gaming.
Why is this?
“My experience with Konqui as a web browser has been bad. […] No mouse gestures, no easy way to manipulate tabs and pathetic browding capabilities.”
All the things we take for granted universally from using Opera… 🙂
“But as a File Manager Konqueror shines though.”
Along with KDE’s automount procedures and HAL should be completely fine for the usual home user.
I would not recommand openSUSE 10.2.
For years i was an Suse user and always thought it to be the best Linux Desktop. But with 10.2 software installation stopped working after less than a week. Now i always get prompted for the CD, despite even having removed it from the sources list and even with the CD it simply does nothing.
Suse 10.1 broke even faster for me (around 3 days).
I think i will skip some mayor version numbers before trying it again.
Now i’m using KUbuntu. Don’t get me wrong, i think KUbuntu is pain in the ass (seriously guys… no out of the box WPA support? Welcome to 2007), but at least it is reliable. I wish the openSuse project would kick out ZEN because i don’t believe they will ever going to get it working right.
I agree. I don’t think I would recommend anything above SUSE 10.0 until they get rid of ZEN by default or at least fix it.
I’ve been using SUSE since the 9.x days. I mainly like SUSE because it detects all of my hardware correctly, even my printer, wireless, and 56k modem. I can get everything working on Kubuntu and Mandriva, but I’m lazy and like everything to “just work” out of the box.
But, praise about SUSE’s hardware support aside, ZEN is awful, and YaST is dog slow. 10.1 was the worst version of SUSE I’ve used–hell, it’s probably the worst Linux distro I have used period. But I installed openSUSE 10.2 without ZEN, Beagle, Mono, and OOo, and I haven’t had any dependency or “insert your CD” problems, unlike 10.1. 10.2 without ZEN and Beagle is pretty zippy for me, with the exception of YaST, but YaST has always been sluggish, and I don’t find myself using it much when I get everything set up.
Edited 2007-02-22 18:41
Agreed.
Ubuntu, and Kubuntu are not the best Linux distributions around.
However, they are the most welcoming to new Linux users, both in the limited amount software included and in the amount of support available in the main Ubuntu forums, and on other Linux based forums.
We seem to be past the stage where a new user asks a question, and some smug git replies to “rtfm noob”.
Like you said, it is the community that the best thing about the Ubuntu distro, and for all you non-Ubuntu people out there, give it a try, you will see the real meaning of humanity !
Like you said, it is the community that the best thing about the Ubuntu distro, and for all you non-Ubuntu people out there, give it a try, you will see the real meaning of humanity !
What kind of nonsense is this? As if you can’t find nice people in other ‘communities’ and on other forums/lists, be they for openSuse, Mandriva, Fedora, Arch, DSL, distro-independent, whatever?!
you will see the real meaning of humanity !
Come on people, this is just *software*. Ubuntu is fine, but it is not the gospel, Gandhi or MLK. It is an investment and it is meant to be making some money for Canonical someday. Nothing wrong with that, but I don’t see it being any different there from most other distributions, or more “humane”.
Sure, it’s good when people are enthusiastic about their OS, but let’s keep some perspective here, ‘aight? And a bit of critical reflection on marketing speak.
Clearly from your post, you have not tried to become part of the Ubuntu community.
Have you read their support forums ?
Have you asked any questions there ?
Have you compared them with other support forums ?
It is true Canonical want to make money from supporting Ubuntu, but that is Canonical. They are a “support” company, nothing more.
Do you expect all Ubuntu support forums, and all the people willing to help other users of Ubuntu to suddenly “go away” and all support requests to go through Canonical accompanied by a hefty cheque ?
I have been on many forums – SuSE and Ubuntu and frankly – there is no big difference except the fact that Ubuntus users in general use to adore their distro as it were a kind of holy grail.
I fail to so how Ubuntu is more open or more about community than SuSE. It seems that Canonical just managed to create a halo of being special in the minds of some (in fact – too many) computer users that they start to treat the company and the OS as something which is beyond any criticism. And that is not a good thing.
We should value a distro in its own terms, not in the terms of an abstract community which is great part is a herd which moves from one distro to another.
Clearly from your post, you have not tried to become part of the Ubuntu community.
I already use a distribution that suits me, and many of its users are also nice people.
I had tried to use Ubuntu before but there were some tiny specific bugs at the time that prevented me from using it. I guess these have been fixed, but I settled down a little lately, distro-wise. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
Have you read their support forums ?
Have you asked any questions there ?
Have you compared them with other support forums ?
3x yes.
Have you been at a Mandriva, Fedora, DSL, Arch, … forum lately? Are they so much nastier there?
It is true Canonical want to make money from supporting Ubuntu, but that is Canonical. They are a “support” company, nothing more.
Exactly. But without Canonical, Ubuntu wouldn’t be where it is today. And Canonical used all the “Linux for human beings” marketing speak, partly because Shuttleworth is essentially a nice guy, and partly because it’s clever marketing.
Do you expect all Ubuntu support forums, and all the people willing to help other users of Ubuntu to suddenly “go away” and all support requests to go through Canonical accompanied by a hefty cheque ?
I did not even remotely suggest that.
I merely replied to your implying that, somehow, the Ubuntu community is more “humane” than other ‘communities’, whatever that word may mean. And I simply think that’s a gross exaggeration.
But maybe I took your praise of Ubuntu’s community too literally and it was just a hyperbole, sorry for that.
You know, in the end I don’t think it really matters what distribution people are using. It’s all more or less the same FOSS. So I end up hanging around in non-distro-specific forums. Nice people there too.
I run open SuSE and I am a bit surprised by some points made in the review. First, in installation. I got a quite a modest hardware (Pentium M 1,4 ghz, 512 ram) and my installation of SuSE took around 45 minutes. Is that unbearably long? Do not agree. I consider it as just psychological problem.
On Konqueror. Well, In fact, by default I use Firefox. But guess what – there are pages that I can open by konqueror only. And thats why this browsre is a must to me.
I moved to SuSE from ubuntu 6.10 and I must say that to configure this to my mind overestimated system I spend twice as more time than to cinfigure my SuSE box. And what is most importand to me – SuSE is rock solid in comparison to Kubuntu. KDE on Kubuntu is really just a piece of crap; KDE on SuSE is a pleasure to work with.
The points about menus are unfair to my mind. I really prefer new SuSE KDE menu to the original KDE menu as I find it more easy to use. I am not that positive about their Gnome menu, however still it seems to me more practical than original Gnome menu. Morever – it seems stupid to complain about the menu as you can get the traditional gnome menu running in 5 seconds.
All in all, I on my part am satisfied with my SuSE experience and would recommend anyone who has used Kubunut to give SuSE a tray. I hope, that you will notice the overall polish of the system. Ubuntu is still very far from that.
And finally – as for live CD there is a live DVD for SuSE. Not to mention that option inthe review seems unfair.
I also had my share of problems with Suse 10.2. Here’s my review and the workarounds that I created for those problems:
http://oficinayred.blogspot.com/
Don’t mind too much the title. I was a little tired and hot headed from dealing with the bugs I encountered when I wrote it. Just look at the workarounds I provide in case they are helpful to some of you.
Later
It’s not hard to find problems with SuSE. It’s not hard to find problems with any distro. So if I wanted to argue against SuSE I wouldn’t do it on the details. They’re not important or singular enough. Overall, after all, SuSE is a darn fine distro, as are many others.
If there is a weak point, I suspect it lies in SuSE’s corporate owners. There seems a bit of flim-flam – the new menus, e.g. – around SuSE these days, which suggests box-ticking from the marketing department. And SuSE is vulnerable to interference from PHBs, as happened with 10.1, because SuSE is really just a test on the way to SLED. Arguably, it has just happened again with the Microsoft deal.
So the problem, if any, lies in the notion of a “community” distro. What this means, in practice, is a tightly controlled commercial distro that’s been opened to public participation but only in certain regulated ways. This is never going to mate with the aspirations of those who want a fully loaded, multimedia-friendly desktop.
Maybe it’s time to call BS on the “community” distros that aren’t, er, very communal at all and which – in SuSE’s case anyway – claim to be all things to all folks. Maybe, in fact, they are a bit of a con all round. If you want a full-up community of like-minded souls and software with all the trimmings, avoid SuSE or Fedora and head for Ubuntu, Mepis, Arch, Slak, Debian, and 101 other outfits.
FWIW, I’ve deliberately used “SuSE” rather than SUSE, OpenSUSE, SLED, etc, etc. The trouble started when some corporate types moved in and started divvying things up, imho.
I switched to Gnome quite some time ago. And I recently read that konqueror will be replaced by dolphin. I’m seriously thinking of trying kde on the next Ubuntu release and definately going to try it when KDE4 is released by whichever distro releases it first. I’m guessing it will be OpenSuse and Linspire and Ubuntu. But with click n run now available for Ubuntu I’ll prolly stick with Ubuntu and install the everaldo linspire icons which I love. and yes the only thing that has anything to do with this article is the kicker menu but I like to rant. Please no flamming on my message i’m not looking to start an argument
I stopped to use suse since the horrible (for me ) 9.xxserie
I lately downloaded the 10.2 live dvd, I was impress by the desktop!
I recommended it to a friend of mine new user of linux!
install went fine and very please at the beginning but when came to add repos and to use yast for drivers (nvidia,wifi…)..all fall and failed!!!
3 days of explanation later we went to Ubuntu and everything was fine in an easier way.
since we are all with Ubuntu.
I personally think the review isn’t that bad.
In order to have things the way i like i might as well install gentoo (i did) because a lot of things don’t work right out of the box and require some tweaking.For instance repositories.Why should Joe Average know the existance of needed repos displayed on the following sites:
http://linux.wordpress.com/2006/12/20/opensuse-102-the-most-complet…
http://linux.wordpress.com/2006/12/11/opensuse-102-list-of-recommen…
And even with the recommended repos enabled now and than you have to fall back to the cmd prompt rpm instalation because the dependancies of displayed Yast packages couldn’t been met.
RPM isn’t evil per se, but the lack of decent repos and or repo management.I must admit Ubuntu to name a user friendly and suitable “newbie” distro handles packages more friendly and less intrusive.So does gentoo while not a newbie friendly distro perse has a central repo where a simple “emerge mplayer” handles all dependancies and installs the ebuild.
SuSE 10.2 is a nice distro besides the minor issues also described in the article.But not nearly as revolutionair as Novell wants it to appear in the media.
The Microsoft Windows-like KDE desktop environment
“don’t like the menu, it’s too free but not free enough”, leads him to the conclusion it can’t compete ok but damn, no reason to get insulting and piss on kde like that.
i use suse since a couple of years, i’m trying a lot other distribution
for me the problem is:
-look and feel of the installer is very too old, look ugly if we compare it with xandros, freespire…
-installer is too slow
-boot is too slow
-system is not enough fast, slower than mandriva
don’t have problem with nvidia driver, only need to add the source and click….
opensuseupdater work fine, i removed zmd