Novell Linux Desktop 9 is a capable, polished Linux distribution that will serve well in an enterprise setting—provided the applications that a particular user requires aren’t exclusive to Windows. Read the review here.
Novell Linux Desktop 9 Review
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Not much was mentioned about the fonts that I have found not to be as crisp as those in the Windows world, unless one takes an extra effort at them. Linspire was not bad in this department. At one time, I got M$ fonts installed on SUSE, but then this made my system rather unstable. How does this [Novell] desktop measure up?
I’dont know about SUSE and Novel… but on Debian to use M$ fonts is just a matter of typing “apt-get install msttcorefonts”
Also… The anti-alias quality depends on the algoritm used. You can fine-tune it under Gnome and KDE. And it can match both Windows and MacOSX (IMHO).
A lot of people have been having trouble with Fonts and the latest Xorg releases. Even in the pre-configured/”boxed” distros, you may need to do some tweaking. Make sure the appropriate font paths are set in the config files… (e.g., xorg.conf
When that’s all taken care of, run an: fc-cache -vf
then, make sure your DE is configured for anti-aliasing.
I really, really, really hope they don’t botch SuSE. I’ve been using Linux for over ten years, and SuSE is by far the closest of any distro to providing a real alternative to Mac and Windows. It’s polished, the GUI tools are completely integrated, it’s stable, it’s supported, it’s available on most major architectures, etc. Every single other distro I’ve tried (and I’ve tried just about all of them), falls short in one of these key ways. I can run the same OS and interface for my company as I can at home.
So from what I can tell, they’re going with GNOME as a default. GNOME has a couple of nice attributes, but since using the major distros (Mepis, Ubuntu, Dropline) that use GNOME, it just isn’t there. The spacial stuff is absolutely rediculous, and even moreso that there isn’t an obvious way to change it for an end user.
Basically, I’ve always thought that Gnome and Ximian were just not good enough. They didn’t understand the end user’s perspective. I work with computers and install/configure/support major financial institutions, local retail shops, friends, family (incl. grandparents), and SuSE is the closest to being able to provide what Windows does. That said, it’s still not there. However, given that it’s the closest I hope they dig deep and build on the great success and strides they have made without letting the whole Novell/Ximian thing get in their way.
Basically, a lot of egos are going to have to put themselves out of the picture in order for the best most sane one of the thousands of different directions Novell has under its roof to emerge.
<< GNOME has a couple of nice attributes, but since using the major distros (Mepis, Ubuntu, Dropline) that use GNOME, it just isn’t there.>>
Mepis is KDE-centric.
Dropline isnt a disto.
<<The spacial stuff is absolutely rediculous, and even moreso that there isn’t an obvious way to change it for an end user.>>
Edit -> Preferences is too hard for users?
<<They didn’t understand the end user’s perspective.>>
“End user’s perspective”? The user wants an easy to use, yet powerful desktop experience, isnt that what Gnome is offering?
Whoops, *distro.
-quote-
GNOME has a couple of nice attributes, but since using the major distros (Mepis, Ubuntu, Dropline) that use GNOME, it just isn’t there. The spacial stuff is absolutely rediculous, and even moreso that there isn’t an obvious way to change it for an end user.
-quote-
And you’re saying you’ve been using linux for 10 years?
Calm down, noone is ditching Suse
And get some information about distributions next time you make a comment on this topic please…
I like the picture of the Mac Mini in the screenshot
50+ screenshot here:
http://www.hup.hu/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7504
thats my impression. more and more important software uses GTK: OpenOffice, Evolution, Mozilla, RealPlayer, Mono,…
I really liked KDE, but since GTK 2.0 a lot changed and the Linux world slowly switching to Gnome.
I never knew OpenOffice use GTK.
Mozilla can use qt or gtk. And gtk is prefered by all sorts of semi-free projects.
Free and really commercial ones tend to use qt.
Openoffice is not a GTK app by itself. OO2 will be. Evolution is a _gnome_ app. Mozilla can be gtk2 but doesn’t have to be, Mono is not an app alltogether but more of a platform and really, what kind of desktop you prefer is a matter of taste. Where things are going, nobody can tell, at least, I can’t. In my opinion QT/KDE has a lot more to offer out of the box, but license issues will make the Americans (NOVELL + IBM) decide not to depend on an European licensor (Trolltech) so there you have it: the battle is won by an slightly mistier toolkit (gtk) due to politics.
I just can’t bring myself to read a page, which is 85% adverts. Where’s the beef!?
I think they should bite the bullet and standardise on either kde or gnome.
Haven’t used Gnome in awhile…
Is there now an equivalent to the kprint dialogue to fine tune print settings?
How exactly do you turn off the spatial in Nautilus in NLD9?
Was I the only person on this planet disappointed by NLD? I expected a lot more from Novell on this one, and what I got was a lackluster-at-best YALD. It felt like a kludge. It seemed to be just Suse underneath, with basically a stock KDE, and a minimally modifed GNOME desktop.
I honestly expected Novell to effectively leverage the skills and talents of the folks from Suse and Ximian to produce something outstanding. But they didn’t. What did I expect? I guess I expected a Linux-based Operating System from Novell, which is an OS company, rather than a run-of-the-mill Linux distribution. I expected to see lack of choice (gasp!). I expected to see Yast possibly ported to GTK. I expected to see only a tricked out Ximian-ized GNOME desktop. I expected it to work 100% out of the box – and it didn’t. When it didn’t work out of the box, I expected online support to have some documentation that dealt with the issue – it didn’t. (BTW it was a kernel issue with ACPI – Thanks Red Hat for actually having the answer!)
All I got was the same old crap that I could have gotten from ANY linux distro – take another Major distro, make some minor modifications, slap my logo on it, and put it in a box. Sorry, but coming from Novell – this didn’t cut it.
As much as I agree with you, I can say one minor thing in defense of Novell. Just wait.
Novell has owned Suse for less than a year. It would of taken the majority of that time to transition people. They are just settling in. Now if NLD(suse) 10 comes out and it stays the same, then let the complaining begin.
That’s a bit pricey for something I can do now for free. If I want evolution, I install Gnome. If I am using Slackware, I install Dropline-Gnome and I’m all good. If I’m on Suse I install Gnome.
There had better be more to this than what I’m reading, but as it stands the price doesn’t match anything of the sort. I predict NLD will die.
Maybe Novell could eat potato because it will give theme live long and prosper like Vulcan people do.
And maibe they can have big hears with it.
It would be very soo coool, and hot, and warm.
Just guessing here, but I’d bet KDE remains the SUSE desktop default. I thought I read something authorative to that effect, but can’t locate it.
Gnome will be NDL’s primary environment, though. While I really like KDE, I think that with Sun, Novell, and Red Hat all defaulting to Gnome, it will end up evolving into the dominant business desktop.
KDE is flashier, faster (right now), and more configurable. Great for home or advanced users, but Gnome’s simple interface and GUI discipline is a plus for large-scale corporate training and adoption. This is just my personal opinion and is not intended to slight either desktop or their dedicated developers.
Novell 9.1 is a pretty nice product. One weakness, I think, is having what amounts to three preference panes: the Gnome control center, YaST, and Red Carpet. I’d hope they’re eventually gathered into a well-organized single app at some point.
The Open Office quickloader isn’t working well for me, and I encountered a significant bug that prevented me from loading NDL on an AMD box this weekend. The same bug was evident with Fedora 3, but Fedora’s updated kernel and ALSA pack seems to have fixed the problem. I don’t believe NDL has shipped an updated kernel since issue.
Still, Novell is a good office solution for me. Using it every day.
Novell Radio adds on Dutch radio …. Open Source by Novell. And Novell LInux Desktop … by Novell. First distro advertising. Kudo’s to Novell for this.
I downloaded the Eval version, though I had to tweak it a lot to satisfy me. My question is Agfa fonts are included in NLD, has anyone tried using AGFA fonts with or without BCI. I know it is a licensing issue but has anyone tried using the supplied AGFA fonts in FEDORA.
Don’t forget another BIG one.
Adobe Reader 7 in GTK+!
http://muse.19inch.net/~jr/tmp/acrobat7.png
You’ve got to turn on hinting or whatever it is in /etc/font.conf – at least in Ubuntu. This will give you fonts that approach cleartype.
but license issues will make the Americans (NOVELL + IBM) decide not to depend on an European licensor (Trolltech) so there you have it: the battle is won by an slightly mistier toolkit (gtk) due to politics.
The issue is very clear, people don’t want a toolkit controlled by a company which has a dual license scheme. It was inevitable that Gnome would gain dominance just over that fact. KDE has always been technically superior. Just think if Glibc was dual-licensed like that. There would have to be alternatives.
Microsoft Truetype fonts made your system unstable? That’s an impressive achievement! Sure you didn’t have some braindead broken third party fonts in there that fontconfig was choking on or something?
Oh, and BTW, Windows doesn’t anti-alias fonts by default, while Linux distros do. Most people prefer anti-aliased, but a few don’t, and describe anti-aliased fonts as ‘fuzzy’ or ‘not crisp’. You can configure fontconfig to disable anti-aliasing on Linux, which should give you a Windows-y look. You can also get anti-aliasing on Windows (XP at least) by enabling Cleartype.
The key is to turn on hinting in your fonts.conf file. AA might be on, but hinting won’t (at least in Ubuntu). Hinting is what gives those AA fonts their crispness which you get with cleartype.
I know, I use autohint. But still, some people see anti-aliased fonts with all the correct setup as fuzzy. It’s just one of those things. (I sometimes turn Cleartype on on other people’s computers to see if they like it – a lot do, but some say ‘it’s fuzzy, put it back!’)