Joe Barr takes a quick look at the beta of the upcoming of SuSE 9.1 at Linux.com.
A Quick Look at the SUSE 9.1 Beta
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
He basically goes over the same install as previous versions of SUSE and complains about getting gnome to work(its a valid point though).
It is still Beta software. All notes on it’s use should be taken with a grain of salt. SUSE has proven in the past that the final version to ship is very stable and somewhat easy to install and use.
I have to agree, it reads more like a beta tester bug protocol addressed at SUSE. No specs about included software versions, whether GNOME has Ximian patches or not, how OpenOffice.org is integrated into KDE, how the advertized improved usability of YaST modules is. It’s almost fact and news free.
How did suse 9.1 work? Is it fast, responsive?
Hardware detection.. Did your scanner / camera work? USB memory stick?
What’s the default filesystem?
What’s the default theme?
Are there any new YAST modules?
What version of X does it have?
Any comercial software in it?
This is the kind of review that i was looking for 🙁
well i kinda get feeling that this is a alpha quaility product or early beta may be… well but they will have to tweak the setup process to make it faster
Why post a review of a distro when it hasn’t even been released to the public? This is “Beta” meant for developer testing purposes while working out the bugs prior to releasing the final product. This article is a complete waist of site space.
I have tested and currently run the SuSE Pro beta…my question to the reviewer is whether is is testing the Personal or Professional version of beta1 which is the most current code. The Personal version does indeed have the dumbed down menu set, but professional has pretty much the same menu options present in 9.0. And as for updates the only new packages mirrored are fetchmsfonts and fetchnvidia lol. This review is such a joke, I have professional running myself and yes I am a SuSE fan and may be biased, but this is going to be by far the strongest desktp distro on the market. I mean for goodness sack you can Configure thinks liek Installation Servers(http,ftp,nfs) and YOU Servers of your own right out of YAST modules…heck you can even Install a full instaance of suse into a directory or configure UML from YAST (UML=User Mode Linux for those unfamiliar, for runnin multiple linux full kernels on a machine similar to what you would have in vmware minus the pretty guis)..SuSE has been notirous for being a bulky distro that is somewhat sluggish compared to the linked of say RedHat or Mandrake, but I find the new kernel to be very responsive, and its almost as if it gets more and more responsive the more apps you open…
How did suse 9.1 work? Is it fast, responsive?
Hardware detection.. Did your scanner / camera work? USB memory stick?
Much better USB support, my usb explorer plug and plays with no configuration from desktop and yes the scroll works perfectly. Havent tried anything else ATMoment.
What’s the default filesystem?
ReisferFS
What’s the default theme?
SuSE theme is the default as pictured, i prefer Plastik with SuSE colors…and yes the new desktops are gorgeos, there is a second one of a pond or marsh, very nice…
Are there any new YAST modules?
WOW yes…IPSEC,Installation Server, UML Configuration, YOU Server, Install Into Directory…and quite a few others, Ill have to reboot my testbox to check…
What version of X does it have?
4.3
Any comercial software in it?
same stuff as 9.0 java, flash, etc
Any other question feel free to ask, I’ll answer them best of my ability without getting into to much trouble.
YAST Installation software was at least 2x as fast as in 9.0 lol, YAST installation during setup is normally extremely sluggish, but on a 733mhz 256mb ram was speedy and excelent response on my side.
I haven’t had a chance to try out any version of SuSE 9.1, but I have reviewed professional, personal, FTP, and Live versions of several releases between 7.2 and the current release.
My opinion of them is that SuSE is among the leaders when it comes to the amount of software available, the appearance of the desktop and the overall system, and quite possibly the best documentation in the business (or at least as good as anything else). However, I agree with Joe. The installers, no matter which version I’ve tried, have been very sluggish, taking nearly twice as long to complete as nearly every other distro I’ve tried, including Debian distros with even more software than SuSE provides. The hardware detection is excellent, but the hardware configuration is fair to poor, considering that hardware is detected, yet rarely configured correctly. YAST is a good tool for configuring the system, once installed, and it always gets the detected hardware configured, but it’s very annoying, release after release, to have to do it by hand. I’d understand if I had oddball hardware, but that isn’t the case. My stuff is mainstream, virtually all distros (including SuSE) recognize it, so it’s a big deal that only SuSE can’t configure it properly unless it’s done manually.
I’m hoping that the final 9.1 release or the 9.2 or 10.0 release will finally iron out these kinds of issues, which, for me anyway, really mar an otherwise excellent distribution. I’m hoping and expecting that the combination of more GPL software and Novell’s backing will markedly improve this situation.
so the IBM guy likes Suse…how interesting.
(scribbles quickly on notepad)
soooo. is IBM looking to lean more to Suse over Redhat?
(pokerface)
?
Well they did invest $50 million into SuSE, so I’d say that’s a rather clear sign where they’re headed.
“I’m guessing that YaST takes more memory for itself than the Debian-based installers, leaving less available for copying data from CD to disk.”
Huh? Caching in memory is only useful for repeated reading and writing. With packages you’re unpacking to a particular location the whole time. Not to mention that cached disk stuff normally ends up in swap anyway. This guy is clueless.
I know these fluff articles can attract a large audience, but could OSNews at least cut out the really silly ones?
Hi Helfrez@ibm
Thanks for your ‘review’ 🙂 Mr. Barr should be reading this, and learning a bit
While their window manager theme is pretty sweet, I don’t think it’s a good idea to have the chameleon shown up there.
Besides the point whether it is attractive or not (I don’t want to hurt the feelings of any chameleon-lover), overly branding on interfaces is usually bad. Heck, I count eight chameleons on that screenshot! 
I’m also not very excited about their own style, because basically they don’t have any own style, it’s pretty obviously the typical Aqua/Everaldo look which, while being quite attractive, can be seen at countless places.
On the upside, that desktop font is awesome. I have always been a fan of white fonts with a black outline, can’t get much clearer than that. Though I also like the soft shadow of Aqua/XP/GNOME, that white outline looks much nicer than the desktop fonts on the latest KDE screenshots I’ve seen.
It’s hard to see on that screenshot what kind of widget theme they use, hopefully they’ve gone away from Keramik.
I cant speak for the exec up above, but SuSE and RedHat are the 2 major platforms right now for servers..and I think they plan to keep it that way..no monocultures lol
And as for the issues of speed of YASt installation and such…sorry but I dont think Debian is even closet to the consumer desktop race which is where SuSE and Mandrake, etc are directed at..Debian is a purist distro, and no doubt it is aces in many area but except where it matter in this race. ease of use, configuration, & install would be a NIGHTMARE for any user beginner to intermediate…so I dont think comparing a text-based install to a gui based install makes any since…You could take every since default and do nuthin but click next and ok from Yast install and end up with a full functioning , and possible dual booting desktop…try that in Debian lol…IMO of course
i also wonder why no of the commercial distributions seems to care much about an elegant, unique and coherent theme for their resp. desktops (sure, there’s bluecurve, but i wouldn’t exactly call it elegant, really), means especially suses look leaves much to be desired- icons look clumsy, bloated and the colours are too much in your face.
imo this lack of style i also an indication of the lack of polish of the linux desktop in general.
so in general: too much coders, too little designers (somehow i even think, no designers at all)…look comes last.
So: What kind of themes do you consider as “elegant”?
I think without to get too far into subjective perceptions, one can safely say that Bluecurve is useful without being bloated and too colourful (in fact, it is just blue and grey).
My specific problem with SuSE’s default theme:
1. Why so many colours and those completely overweighted WM decorations? Is that a requirement for _working_ in Linux?
2. Why the KDE startup sound? Do you have to announce your KDE start to the entire office floor?
I can’t imagine why anyone in the would takes (as considered by many people) two of the most annoying features of Windows XP and build them as default in a Linux distribution, except – sorry for being direct – that those developers are not interested in building a system for professional work.
What is possibly left on their agenda is an annoying autostart dialogue, just like Windows XP.
Helfrez Gama should of did the article I got much more from him. What does he mean the menu is dumbed down? Give a example.
If he was indeed using SuSE Personal with only CD1 handly, the menus are pretty bare. A default install pretty much leaves you with 2-3 menu options under each category, unlike Professional which is notorious for giving 10 different choices for each menu and submenu. This can be very intimadating for a new user who doesnt know which program to use. Maybe this is what he was refering 2, by lowering the price and trimming the distro down, I think it will actually make it more accessible and less intimidating for new SuSE users. Less IS sometimes better, this also trims down thes distro install size..if im not mistaken the Personal ended up being maybe 1.5gb installed, which is signiccantly more slender than a Pro installl and speeds things up a bit. I will agree with the previous statements on the “Look” of linux..Sorry IMO Bluecurve is a bland as a overcooked steak with no steak sauce…and yes suse’s default theme, especially the window decorations do seem to be a bit “over the top”…its a bit much for my taste. The theme guys on ALL camps have definately got to do better..Looks may not be everything, but first impression is…Imagine how people would react to OSX minus the much heralded gui…Galaxy is grainy and looks kinda cheesy, SuSE is just too dang bright and glassy, Bluecurve is to dull and lifeless, an lets not even talk about wut Lindows did to Keramik. Much work to be done, but we have come a VERY long way since Crux and KDE2.
check osnews front page 🙂 great new review with everything we were talking here