“There’s a lot to like in SuSE’s latest edition, 8.2, and little to complain about. There are security enhancements and graphics tweaks partly due to KDE 3.1, and major administration bonuses in YaST-2. It’s clear that SuSE has worked hard to accommodate the corporate desktop market as well as the home user since edition 8.1, which we did not recommend.” Read the review at The Register.
SuSE Linux 8.2 Approaches Computing Nirvana
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Sounds like SuSE is ready for the adverage compute user.
Not so fast… Read our reviews too:
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=3163
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=3423
And Linux and Main’s:
http://www.linuxandmain.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=…
http://www.linuxandmain.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=…
Im a little shocked people find SuSE this good, Right now SuSE is starting to approach the ” it just works “. I have 6 FireWire drives that I store data on, with SuSE 8.1 I had to do a lot to get them to work. Under 8.2 I decided to do a clean install, upon Installation and configuration, the FireWire drives were on the desktop with the mount points all set up and ready to go, my camcorder works, my RCA MP3 player works and my iPod works and my digital camera works. Mac OS X better watch out SuSE is catching up in ease of use and functionality.
Well, i don’t see any reason which can make Suse different from Mandrake, RH, Debian, let say Gentoo, and this other. Except that those distro are strictly incompatible with the other ;-))) And please, don’t be annoying with some installation minor difference, or flavor of package.
Therefore, Suse is nirvana means Linux is nirvana. In one way, i feel glad to see such an enthusiasm, in an another, i am one more time bored with this kind of obvious lies.
Linux is near to be working fine, _and_ near to be usefull as desktop. This is true. The greatest quality of this system is and will stay to be free as beer. The second is to be free as speech, i mean open-source, even if this feature is unusable by a lonely person. Alas, speech is not really free, but no politic here ;-))) The third is the licence policy of Microsoft ( I have waited to see if 2003 will be delivered without the infamous registration mandatory… Clearly it’s not the case, so i will run W2K as long as i can, but Microsoft is over for me. Matter of taste ). The fourth quality is a very strange one. The worst a system is, the best it is spreaded, why ? I don’t know, but this was always true since 50 years. The fifth is the support from various governement ( open-source is already wildely supported by university ). The sixth is the IBM support ( which, times to times, may also be the kiss of death ).
Well, nothing really exciting.
A kind of flat nirvana ;-))))))))
Xavier
Try mounting a firewire drive under RH 9, try getting a camcorder to work. Good luck recompiling your kernel. What makes SuSE good is that SuSE got most of these devices to work out of box, one thing the other distros do not do.
I have to agree as a graphics professional that I’m tied into either the Windows or the Mac platform, and given the state of either, I’ll stick with W2K and the Adobe and Macromedia software I have.
But I will not move on with Microsoft. Software as a subscription or a service is just plain wrong. Trying to make money from knowing what it is I’m doing with my computer (by agreeinf to their EULAs) is an invasion I can’t live with.
I guess I’m getting closer to buying a Mac. Sigh…
Vic
Having run SuSE 8.0 for some time now, I was looking forward to the release of 8.2, and while I’m disappointed about some things, on the whole I find it much improved… to the point where I’m using it more than BeOS 5.03! The desktop is pleasing, and the utilities are better, but there’s still no solution to the horrible installs/upgrades that many of the included packages require. Wireless using a Lucent card was child’s play (Orinico Gold), but trying to upgrade the included WiFi Manager from the 1.01 version (that came with SuSE) to 1.02 (from the Author’s site)… <arrrgghhh!!!>
Try mounting a firewire drive under RH 9, try getting a camcorder to work. Good luck recompiling your kernel. What makes SuSE good is that SuSE got most of these devices to work out of box, one thing the other distros do not do.
First, i will never use a camcorder of my life.
Second, supposing i will do it, i will also choose an operating system if i need to manage something seriously. Please read i will use Microsoft, or Apple, i don’t care.
Third, i am really tired with the distro war. I have already RH and Gentoo installed, i don’t want a third, could you imagine that ? Anyway all these distro are the same b***t, the flavor change. So if you prefer camcorder, and if you’re right about your desciption, i don’t know and i don’t care, use Suse.
Fourth, Suse is not free. Matter of taste, but i will _never_ pay for a Linux, or a *nix, system. Well ok, Apple is over too ;-)))
Fifth, you don’t need to be so sophisticated with the RH problems, out of the box, the very first signon stuff have a french keyboard mapping for the user name, and an english keyboard mapping for the password. I leave you imagine the remaining ;-)))))))))))) And if you want spicy details with Gentoo, Mandrake or Peanuts, do not hesitate to ask for them ;-)))
I purchased the 7.1 pro box set. I had some issues so I thought I would use the bundled 60-day email support that came with it. The response was, sorry we just released 7.1 so we no longer support older versions. Not bad, pay for it, register it, then they dont support it. I was not very happy. So now, even if SuSE ends up next to budda, I will not use it.
But… they do make a pretty OS and the effort they put into KDE is huge. I still wish them well, just wont use their distro personally.
That was meant to be just release 7.2 :/
Only very seldom, i have used an Apple system. They are fine, and a point i have always appreciated : their users are happy. Well, to say the truth, happy and a little bit blind. But happy ;-)))
Anyway, i think the move of Apple to a *bsd system is a good idea, and i strongly expect good news and real advances for both open-source and Apple from this choice.
The only drawback, to my point of view, is the choice of a *nix. Before i used Linux, i was used to disliking *nix, now i begin to hate it. It’s not good ;-)))))))))
but the price is one of those things to hate. Does SuSE’s software update feature update everything, even after a new version comes out (ie. can you upgrade from 8.1 to 8.2 using the software update feature or do you need to purchase the update)? If you can simply download the updates it isn’t too bad. On the other hand, if you have to spend $40 twice a year on their updates, SuSE quickly becomes more expensive than Windows which releases an update every 2-3 years and costs $100.
Someone’s got to know if you can download all the updates.
The lesson I learned is pick a distro with the strongest following of community users. Your answers come quicker, and new packages arrive quicker, plus you get a better variety of package selections. Of the 3 main distros – RH, MDK, SuSE – their software selection seems to be governed by them and them alone, almost with corporate politics. Whereas, a distro based on Debian or Gentoo for example, packages can be made available as long as someone volunteers to do it. Yes I realize that those 3 said distros also maintain a directory for contributed packages on their mirrors, but I was not able to get something like KDoc for example, for RH 9 or MDK 9.1 either on the CDs I bought/downloaded or on FTP mirrors. All Debian distros I’ve treid, and even Gentoo and Slackware had KDoc available for me.
The personal edition has the NFS client but not the server : you cannot make a LAN at home ? They must be kidding…
The professional edition is a lot more expensive than other equivalent distros. Moreover, Mandrake offers in his contribs and PLF packages a lot more packages, like preemptive kernel, DVD decoding, etc…
You go with your Windows or Apple system, I will stick with SuSE, It works, it looks better than Windows and Mac OS X and everything I need for professional as well as personal use just work. $79.00 is nothing compared to $129.00 for Jag and $400.00 for Windows XP.The only hurtle that SuSE has is that it doesnt handle streaming video well, but until that problem is fixed CrossOver Office + Quicktime for Windows = Streaming video. Linux isnt for you, hey stick with what does but Linux is starting to turn heads and SuSE will be right on top.
TLy : Yep I couldnt agree more, which is why I now use Lycoris. One of the best communities I have come across.
You can even download the system itself freely, see http://www.suse.com/us/private/download/suse_linux/index.html Considering this it should be possible to keep a SuSE system up to date by spending money for internet connection instead the package.
my camcorder works, my RCA MP3 player works and my iPod works and my digital camera works.
I”m curious – what kind of RCA mp3 player do you have? I have an RCA (Lyra) Kazoo and hate installing Musicmatch on Windows just to load songs on it – I’d much rather do it in Linux if it’s not a royal pain in the ass to get working
What kind of software do you use in Linux to load songs on portable music devices?
I think it’s also cool that iPod works.
And Xavier, lay off, will ya? It’s bad enough when the Linux pundets have to chime in on Windows articles unprovoked, and it’s also annoying the other way around.
I would be willing to bet that if this had been a negative review of SuSe, you’d have 8,000 comments from people bitching and whinning about the glut of MDK/RH/SuSe reviews here on OSNews, but funny how these same people remain mysteriously quiet whenever the review is positive.
Has anyone tried using Suse 8.2 as a pure server OS ?
Just in shell mode, so now KDE or other GUI interfaces.
I have Red Hat 6.x at the moment, and wondered to try Debian, but i like Suse as workstation OS, so i would liek to hear peoples experience with Suse 8.2 as server os.
Thanks.
SuSE is Cool!
You go with your Windows or Apple system,
I know that my English have rooms for improvement, but i tought i have clearly written that i currently use RH and Gentoo…
I will stick with SuSE,
I hope so, you have paid for it man ;-)))
It works,
I’m sure of that.
it looks better than Windows and Mac OS X
Matter of taste, anyway, everything on Linux is done via a console ;-)))
and everything I need for professional
You’re really lucky. You’re working and you don’t need, at least ( i don’t want to worry you with various software packages ) either ms-word, excel or power-point. Fine, your journey are certainly quiet ;-)))
And here is the point. Linux desktop is driven by OpenOffice, and nothing else, and certainly not linux itself…
As server, Linux needs all the production tools. Read : it’s an empty box today.
as well as personal use just work. $79.00 is nothing compared to $129.00 for Jag and $400.00 for Windows XP.
Make you a favor, learn accounting. Let me try to introduce you to the basis. Suse is 79$ * 2 per year = 150$ ( rounded )
A Microsoft system lives, at least, 3 years ( very often 5 or 7 ). Take the minimm : 3.
So, Suse is 150$ * 3 = 450$ for the same feature.
To finish, you find the latest Microsoft system for 200$ when you buy a motherboard.
Therefore : the cheapest one is Apple ;-)))
The only hurtle that SuSE has is that it doesnt handle streaming video well, but until that problem is fixed CrossOver Office + Quicktime for Windows = Streaming video.
I feel a little bit disapointed, after the very classical : “Linux , i can do everything with it”, only the well known mantra : “Linux ? it rocks”, is good enough for me ;-)))
Linux isnt for you,
I never dare to decided which system is good or not for my interlocutor…
hey stick with what does but Linux is starting to turn heads
Stay tuned. Linux will succeed, but today the wave is a little bit broken. A lot of people have opened their eyes and begin to make the difference between stupid advertising and reality…
and SuSE will be right on top.
Ho, i feel sorry. I have absolutely not realized your strong commitment to the linux trolls trend.
Anyway, this a good new. This will make some fresh change for Suse, which today is right on the bottom ;-))))))))))))))
Everything on linux is done on a console?? LOL, what do you run, it can’t be linux?
I only use the console for installing software from source and nothing else.
Also, I’m afraid your caclulations are incorrect.
It is actually 50 * year without shipping charges if you use their subscription service which in the case you described you should since you seeem to purchase each SuSE version.
Anyway the price would be 50 * 6 = 300 which is cheaper than a MS system.
In addition you really don’t need to purchase each version of SuSE, most people including me upgarde every year, not every 6 months.
Also you said
“Make you a favor, learn accounting. Let me try to introduce you to the basics. SuSE is 79$ * 2 per year = 150$ (rounded)”
First of all the dollar sign is placed before the number and second of al, you obviously failed basic math if you think 79 * 2 rounds to 150. Just do 80 * 2 = 160, this is what it rounds to.
Second of all using CrossOVer office you can run Office XP, Photoshop 7 and some other programs.
How on earth did you come up with $400 for Windows ? You can buy winXP professional OEM for $140 and keep it for 3 years, or you can buy suse 2 times per year for $50.
That’s not to say that suse is not ok, but cheap propaganda like this is inneficient.
Ya know, when I installed 8.2 I really had a “finally” moment. Like, finally, someone made a linux distro that just works.
Everything was detected. TV Card, DVD Rom, CDRW, etc. It’s all detected and it all works. What’s more, if I plug a usb device in while I’m logged in, the icon just appears on the desktop. Like a mac.
I haven’t had any of the problems that I’ve heard about, but then, I don’t have a serial mouse.
Nice to hear that it works so well now.
Only problems with SuSE are that it’s non-free and ugly.
When I see something like this:
http://suse.de/de/private/products/suse_linux/i386/images82/gnome_e…
then I understand why so many SuSE users think that GNOME is crap (I like the Metacity theme though).
I kinda grew up with SuSE and I speak the same language as this company so maybe I should like them, but unfortunately they are really typical german.
Very reliable but a tad too serious. 
To me, they represent more the business side of Linux than the idealistic side (I know that’s a good thing for many people).
SuSE is reallly bad when it comes to screenshots. That’s a very customized GNOME DE, the default SUSE does not look like that. It looks quite good, with Geramik (I think).
Xavier: Just really quick, be quiet, your stupidity is painful. “ms-word, excel or power-point” are used where I work, and I don’t have a problem reading them (and I don’t even use Open Office…). Stop your trolling please.
Also, Annonymous Foo: Must be american? 50$ is how other countries do it. Think outside the box.
Anyways, can’t wait to get a hold of 8.2, everything I have been reading has been good news. Not a big KDE/Gnome user (Fluxbox myself), but the rest of the bonuses seem really nice.
Heard they did some updates to Yast2, which is really a nice system. Nice to know that the system is getting to a “it just works” point, especially since we will be deploying SuSE in the office.
” I hope so, you have paid for it man ;-))) ”
You want quality you pay. GPL doesnt mean ” Dont pay money ”
GPL says you have to disclose the source code.
” Matter of taste, anyway, everything on Linux is done via a console ;-))) ”
Everything on SuSE Linux is done with YaST 2, learn the distro before you make an idiotic statement.
” You’re really lucky. You’re working and you don’t need, at least ( i don’t want to worry you with various software packages ) either ms-word, excel or power-point. Fine, your journey are certainly quiet ;-)))
And here is the point. Linux desktop is driven by OpenOffice, and nothing else, and certainly not linux itself…
As server, Linux needs all the production tools. Read : it’s an empty box today. ”
Nope I dont need Microsoft Office, Open Office does a wonderful job of reading the MS formats and I can even make quality presentations that can be read on PowerPoint. Neat huh ? Open Office does not make any Linux Distro a good desktop alternative, speed, stability and cost and utilizing all the devices I use make a good desktop alternative.
” Make you a favor, learn accounting. Let me try to introduce you to the basis. Suse is 79$ * 2 per year = 150$ ( rounded )
A Microsoft system lives, at least, 3 years ( very often 5 or 7 ). Take the minimm : 3.
So, Suse is 150$ * 3 = 450$ for the same feature.
To finish, you find the latest Microsoft system for 200$ when you buy a motherboard.
Therefore : the cheapest one is Apple ;-))) ”
Lets see I have 5 servers at work running SuSE 6.4, I paid less than $60.00 for it 4 years ago. Those 5 servers run SuSE 6.4 with Kernel 2.5.67, KDE 3.1 XFree86 4.3 and QT 3.1.2 and YaST 2, How much did that cost me: $0 and time spent. It took me and my team 45 minutes to get it up and running on a late night. The desktops we upgraded to SuSE 8.2 Pro, $79.00 for one copy that I installed on 47 different machines, the cost of upgrading cost me $79.00, lets see one copy of a Windows XP upgrade Pro edition is $199.00, you do the Math. Thats astronomical savings.
” Stay tuned. Linux will succeed, but today the wave is a little bit broken. A lot of people have opened their eyes and begin to make the difference between stupid advertising and reality… ”
Stupid advertising? Yeah I admit those Apple Switcher ads and Windows 2003 Server commercials make for stupid advertising. As for the people I converted to Linux, all but 1 person has stayed with Linux. As for my individual clients that I have for my consulting business on the side that I put on Linux, all of them have stayed with Linux. You cant understand reality so I am not going to bother trying to explain it to you.
” Ho, i feel sorry. I have absolutely not realized your strong commitment to the linux trolls trend.
Anyway, this a good new. This will make some fresh change for Suse, which today is right on the bottom ;-)))))))))))))) ”
Actually SuSE is number 2 in the Linux world, but if you do the math and incorporate Europes Linux user base in with the US’s, SuSE has a larger user base than Red Hat does.
by the way, I had not realized your strong commitment to the Windows troll trend.
Next time you post something do some research besides reading Bill Gates and Steve Ballmers press releases that way it doesnt make you look ignorant.
I have a LOT of experience with SuSE servers. First, I am writing to you from a box running SuSE 8.2, and I love it. They have done a lot of little things to make it comfortable. The tighter integration of OpenOffice and the improved handling of fonts are just two examples. I used to endure the horrible fonts and ugly GUI knowing that the trade off for stability and freedom (to configure and use without restriction) were well worth it. Now, fonts and a presentable GUI are no longer issues I am even happier.
As regards servers, I have one SuSE box that is a RAID storage server. I chose SuSE because of its RAID drivers, and YaST partitioning really made things easy. Every Linux distro has a great command line interface, but who can top SuSE’s YaST administration tools? No one! I have a second SuSE MP3 server running RAID. I never have to reboot!
I average uptimes of 6-7 months, at which point, I usually install the next version of SuSE. I have yet another system designted as a workstation, although it servers more as a server. The rest of the systems in my office are a RedHat laptop and RedHat server used for testing. I have used most Linux distros available and must say that SuSE is certainly no slouch in the server department! It can handle nearly any task with it’s VERY full featured adminstration tool and it looks great doing it.
This is my home office. My work office has about every Linux distro known to man. Interestingly, everyone gravitates toward SuSE to get administrative tasks done.
So, that’s my opinion and a TON of other peoples as well.
-Robert
” This is my home office. My work office has about every Linux distro known to man. Interestingly, everyone gravitates toward SuSE to get administrative tasks done. ”
Everyone gravitates to SuSE in my office to get everything done, I tried Red Hat first with the development team because Red Hat is the most common distro out there, The administration and I used SuSE and let me tell ya once everyone saw how easy I was getting stuff done, it was always ” Can I borrow your disks” In Red Hat setting up a Printer was murderous, but with SuSE it was plug it in, fire up YaST, 4 clicks and its ready to go. Networking is a breeze. SuSE is just easier. I call SuSE the Cadillac of the Linux world, Red Hat is a Camry.
I loved SuSE..until I started having problems with it. Their mailing list help system is a deliberate attempt at making free-user support almost non-existant. I’ve learned the hardway to go with a distro that has acutal forums full of people willing to help. SuSE is nice and pretty on the outside but don’t make the mistake of plunking cash down on it and expecting any kind of worth while support.
Some annoyances I find under SuSE 8.2 is that it’s damn hard to resize a window, is it just me?, I think Eugenia mentioned something similar in one of her reviews.
Also the whole GUI looks nice, but, I don’t know how to explain it….I don’t feel confident clicking on the windows buttons like “close” or “maximize”, I feel them more like drawings on the screen, than the illusion of being real buttons.
… this is becoming repetitive…. You CAN have the FTP-install version of SuSE for free… !! It usually is a bit delayed opposed to the boxes version. The little install-ISO is real nice-looking.
You can upgrade SuSE via FTP, or if you prefer, you can use APT. I use APT, it’s fairly simple although there are some prepatory steps, but essentially it’s:
#apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade
SuSE is free, but you have to do at least one FTP installation or pay for ISOs. I believe you can get ISO images of 8.2 from various sites on the Net (they compiled them from the patches) for about 5 quid (~8 Euros).
I noticed interesting features that were mentioned in the Register review that I believe were ignored in OSNews’ review, like the GnuPGP setup on the first time KDE is launched. These seem like excellent features that other distros don’t have, why did they not get mentioned here?
In KDE you are able to move windows pressing ALT+LMB (left mouse button) and resize windows pressing ALT+RMB (right mouse button). Since the window areas are usually bigger and thus easier to reach than its borders I’m using those shortcuts nearly all the time.
Regarding the GUI I’m sure you can find some windows decorations and styles besides the default one you actually like using.
I’m talking about free as in free software or open source.
” I loved SuSE..until I started having problems with it. Their mailing list help system is a deliberate attempt at making free-user support almost non-existant. I’ve learned the hardway to go with a distro that has acutal forums full of people willing to help. SuSE is nice and pretty on the outside but don’t make the mistake of plunking cash down on it and expecting any kind of worth while support. ”
I had to call for support one time and they were very helpful. I think like everything it depends on who you get.
For linux 4 things should be integrated very well,
Kernel, Xfree86, Desktop interface and Dependency . If these things are in tight integration Linux will be a fun to work with. Biggest problem linux is facing is still lacking fuctionality in Desktop interface, Xfree86, Dependency of 3rd Party Application. As for Kernel, 2.4v is stable. But i am looking forward for Kernel 2.6. Lets hope that this kernel will do all the tricks still lagging the Linux development and also bring tight integration with all its components.
I’m posting this about a week after the rest of this thread occurred, but I want to have this on the official record:
I purchased SuSE 8.2 professional and believe it’s the best $80 I spent all year. The install was a piece of cake, I repartitioned drives easily, chose software, and waddaya know – everything works. It’s a beautiful distribution: professional looking, good selection of software, well packaged and well presented. YaST has been a useful tool for me; the default settings are largely good, though I added a few fonts.
There are lots of complainers out there but I’m not one of them. This was a great distro and for the moment I have no need or desire to upgrade to anything else. All my needs are met.
So how is SuSE going to sell me a new version? Well, I’d spring for a good Samba tool to aid authentication issues etc. (a la Xandros), but that’s about all I can think of that I’d like to have.
All in all, a great distro. No regrets! I’m a happy customer.