“When my copy of SuSE Linux 8.0 arrived, I almost felt like I was coming home after a long trip. SuSE had been my primary Linux distribution for over two years, until last November, so it was exciting to see what they had been up to. SuSE 8.0 seems as good a way as any to come back to SuSE, after all it was the first distribution to ship with KDE 3, and it comes with a truckload of improvements over previous versions.” Read the review at OpenForBusiness.
Is SuSE 8 SuPERB?
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I have to agree, SuSE 8.0 is fantastic. Its reignited my belief that Linux is virtually ready for the desktop.
I switched to debian a couple of years ago because I got sick of bloated distributions, but SuSE is different. Its very fast, feels snappy doing any task. YaST2 is a quality piece of software, makes settings up the system a doddle. Even changing screen resolutions etc!
Software is really easy to download too. And I am really impressed that the default KDE3 desktop looks good, fonts are pretty clean (still not as good as Microsoft ones, but fairly close)
Its reliable too, giving me hardly any problems, the only glitch I came across is setting up the NVidia 3d accelerated drivers. In the end I gave up, downloaded the source from Nvidia.com and compiled. Was a breeze after that.
Well recommended.
Daryl, I agree with you 100%. I’ve been using versions of SuSE since version 7 and it just keeps getting better. YaST2 is great and so is SaX2, if you have to go that route. Updating is a breeze. I’m doing an experiement with Lindows and Lycoris right now, to see how they are for Joe User. But, if a person is at all used to installing software and has done stuff like reformat their hard drive, if they are at that level, SuSE 8.0 is for them!
I gotta say that SuSE is great on SPARC64. I just installed it on an Ultra 1 creator and it is a s good and easy to use as Solaris!
It is superb and not so expensive as RedHat official. And you will get as nice and varied software for Linux as you could (if you get the Professional version).
that SuSE is also very buggy; if you ask me. But nothing is perfect…
“The default installation comes with all of the standard applications you would expect in a Linux distribution such as the Abiword word processing program, StarOffice, Evolution PIM software, three web browsers, and various other applications.”
I’m starting to wonder if there’s something in the Linux license agreement that forbids reviewers to actually TALK about the apps that come with the distros they’re reviewing?
Never have seen a feature-for-feature, side-by-side comparison of Win32 apps and their Linux alternatives. But, I guess none of that matters when you can play an mp3, watch 5 mpegs, get 90FPS in Quake 3, burn a CD, and format a floppy drive at the same time, all while using only 3% of the CPU resources?
The reason I do not touch on the actually applications is that this is NOT a Linux application review, it is a Linux distribution review. I review applications seperately, that is not the point.
If for instance, I would like to review KOffice (which I have), I do not include that in a SuSE Linux review, rather I include it in a KOffice review. There is plently that is unique about different distributions, so why review the stuff that is the same in each one?
I would like to see a side-by-side comparison of Linux vs Windows apps. Anybody like me who has taken the time to learn the apps and what they are capable of know they are getting pretty close in a lot of areas.
The one thing that is really starting to impress me about Linux is the abundance of reasonable quality apps covering virtually every area. A bit like the good old days of shareware on Windows a few years ago.
It seems all developers that want to tinker and create something seem to be choosing Linux now which is great. Its improving at an exponential rate.
Not so sure how KOffice would stand up though, from my experience it seems the Gnome based Office apps have the lead in functionality. Although one thing annoys me, my partner had a spreadsheet saved in excel format of our monthly bills etc. Im really getting her to use Linux for must stuff now but she gets annoyed when KSpread/Gnumeric will not save back out to Excel format properly. I think this does need to be addressed.
On a related note, Eugenia how did you get your two row kicker set up? It looks pretty good. I have to admit I have got my SuSE setup working almost as fast as Windows now, bar the obvious X related problems.
Any has anybody noticed how fantastic Freetype seems to be on SuSE? Compared to debian, the font rendering looks a generation better. Almost the best looking fonts on any machine I have seen so far. Crystal clear and sharp.
Just set it to “CENTER” on 50% of your desktop. Requires of course KDE 3.x
I am running KDE 3.0 on SuSE 8.0 right now. 50% width, and centered. And it is centered and taking up half the screen width (well a little over, but its set to expand to fit) but the icons are still one row high. If I shrink the panel size down, the icons just get smaller but they still stay on one row.
Tried everything. Must be a case of not seeing the wood for the trees, I guess !
Ah, you mean the icons, not the taskbar!
You need to delete the big icons, and then from the right click panel menu, Add a “Quick Launch” and then put your icons in it! It will automatically do two rows. From the big icons, only keep the K menu and the Show Desktop one.
Works a treat, looks much better. When combined with auto-hiding gives a nice clean desktop.
Have you installed SuSE 8 on your machine. Can you give a relative speed comparison of that compared to Gentoo? To me, my desktop has never felt so fast before. Things happen instantly, with no waiting. My machine is nothing too special, but SuSE 8.0 feels significantly faster than debian, maybe even twice as fast.
I understand that using ReiserFS may make a difference, but this seems faster than just that. Is SuSE 8.0 compiled for GCC 3.1 does anybody know?
How can I reorder the structure of KDE start menu in SuSE 8 ?
I must say, SuSE indeed looks very nice for the ‘average user’ (who wants to play some MP3’s, do some text-editing and so) but for the true geek, I must say I prefer RH where you can FEEL the sorta 🙂 raw power.
My migration from RH 7.2 (KDE2) to SuSE gives me some bad feelings and a socket opened to http://ftp.redhat.com to download the 7.3 (Valhalla)
SuSE is nice, but I still prefer RedHat…
CodeGuru
SuSE has a setting that will give you control over the menus. The default is to have YaST configure your menu system based on what you have installed. If you turn that off, the YaST managed menu will still be available, but under a SuSE submenu item instead of the root menu.
You change this somewhere in the YaST2 tool I think. I don’t remember for sure though. I will look at it when I get home and let you know if I remember to.
I have been on the SuSE train since version 6.1 and I am still
a happy camper. And I enjoyed the review and was pleased to see
others feel the same way. SuSE has done a great job.
But I have to mention that Yast IS open source being that the source
code is available to anyone (its on the cd). The only restriction
is that Yast cannot be included in a commercial product. So what.
-(The yast argument can be followed on suse mailing list.)
– SuSE will NOT introduce per seat licensing. Its only the people at
Caldera that are hinting at that kind of pricing.
–
As for migrating to SuSE I have to say that all distros have
quirks that an experienced user no longer sees as a barrier to
entry. The install of SuSE allows for the near newbie cruise
control install, and it also allows for a manual install so
you can feel the real power. You could if you’re really bored
compile everything from the srpm’s on the dvd.