Stephan Kulow has announced the availability of the first development release of openSUSE 11.0: "We'd like to kick start the development of openSUSE 11.0 with releasing the current state of Factory as Alpha0 release. Since the release of 10.3, we checked in 2,187 packages including such fundamental package updates as GCC 4.3.0, Linux kernel 2.6.24-rc4, X.Org 7.3, KDE 3.5.8 and 4.0 RC1, CUPS 1.3.4, ALSA 1.0.15, GIMP 2.4 and YaST 2.16. The change between 10.3 and Alpha0 is big, but it still works pretty nicely." More here.
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Member since:2006-07-13
for part #1:
what I do is that I have the ISO mounted always or have the image on the system and mounted.
Also, switch off the force refresh and you will see it is blazing fast.
The manuals are as you say, on disk; the box is cheaper and without printed matter. I fail to see how it would help me anyways; given the fact that you announce yourself as experienced -- why do you need the paper weights?
Member since:2007-04-11
For part 1: That is what I ended up doing too. I just wish the whole thing were a bit faster...
The force refresh tip is good though..thanks...
As for the manuals, I just like them. I have a few friends that occasionally like to try Linux but inevitably go back to Windows because the need to surf the web and download things int ehieir words either "annoys them" or makes them "feel it is not a real system"; And yes I care about thier opinions, because I gave up zealotry and banner waving a lon gtime ago...I think they are just reflecting a general conception of what they think an operating system should be...
Having a manual is also just a nice thing to share with others. Like I said, I am paying to support something I could do and get for free to support OpenSuse; I would pay even more if the manuals were sexy... The nice thing about the box, is I can just give it to a friend, say play with this, and they cando just that.
As for the paperwieghts, I just think they look nice on my desk...and I am comfortable with paper...call me old fashioned or whatever...I just like it...it is an aesthetic thing...
Member since:
2007-04-11
I actually bought 10.3 as I wanted to support the effort. It recognized my hardwdare perfectly, except of course my wireless and 3D which I have to hack, but that is fine until AMD/ATI and Broadcom get their heads out of their asses)and the bootup time is AWESOME!. My SCRIBUS program was nice and new and stable and after you patch up the codecs, multimedia is actually better than on my XP partition!
There are some items of note however...:
1. For updates, while they are easy as heck on 10.3, they are much slower than it was for 9.3, The repositories system is of average ease of use, but the time to check the repos is painful. Also, when installing new software, I shouldn't have to put the DVDs in when they are required; just go to the damn repositories on line and use them! It is just an annoying thing to have to do. And before anyone tells me I didnt check this box et cetera, yes I did but I still had to put them in. Also, the actual dialogs and directions that pop up on the screen during the process don't really walk you through as well as they could. Luckily, I am an experienced user, so it was a breeze for me, but as an educator of professionals, I feel their on screen messages as you go through the steps should be much more explicit in what you are actually doing. Especially in a boxed product. It was still easier in 9.3. They should go back to the way they did it then.
2. Written documentation is nowhere near as great as it was for 9.3 Pro boxed set. In 9.3 you got two big thick books: One for OS admin and one describing the apps. In the 10.3 boxed set, the equivalent material was on a DVD. The one book included in 10.3 is small, thin, and flimsy like the manual to a camcorder not an OS. Here is a thought: If I am willing to pay for the boxed set for something I could have downloaded for free, I want paper and documentation. Why are they putting it on a disk I could have downloaded for free as well. I want to look at a nice bound book not print one up myself and habve pages all over the place. If I wanted to look at things on the screen, I would have downloaded them to my hard drive or a disc. Kill the trees; I am paying for them. The older books were much more professional and fit in with my way of working: OLD SCHOOL RTFM baby!.
3. There is no cute little lizard bumpersticker or t-shirt :-). I hope they have one in 11.
4. As an experienced SUSE user, I have long come to accept Novell/SUSE whimpy stance on codecs and have learned what to do to run around them. A person buying the boxed set could do to have not only the included list of useful sites and repositories built in to the on screen documentation (e.g. Packman, The Gem Report Hacking OPenSuSE X, et cetera) but also a much more complete description what you can get at each site and why that site is useful rather than a blurb during the install process. Again, I am an experienced user and 10.3 was fine for me, but a nouveaux user might need a little more help in the written documentation in this regard.
I sound like I am whining and off topic, but here I come back around to the article. I like the quick release cycle and it is cool they are working on 11, it would be nice if they would bring the documentation back to the boxed set to where it was in 9.3, clean up the updates/installation and get it back to where it was, and give a few breadcrumbs to the users who are new to SUSE so they can get full functionality out of their systems.
Edited 2007-12-07 15:06