| Posted on Wed 26 Oct 2005 (439 reads) |
| Suse 10 review I have been a Linux user for almost two years now. I think it is about time I put together a review of my favorite distribution. Suse 10.0 was released to the world on October 6th. I got my copy a few days after, having purchased the boxed DVD directly from Novell. I have been using SuSE consistently as my distribution since 9.1 back in 2004. Previously, I hadn’t been able to consider any distribution as ready for prime-time on a desktop since there were too many features missing or difficult for a user like me. (See the article on how hotplug was enhanced.) Since July, I have been using SuSE 9.3 – the FTP version – on a Dell laptop purchased with Windows XP Home. I setup 9.3 as a dual-boot and had little issue getting everything working, Wanting the latest, I was eager to purchase the new 10.0 when it came out. Instead of dual-booting, however, I removed the Windows XP partition and installed everything fresh. Unlike many reviews, I won’t go into the installation except to say that everything went as expected. It took about two hours, including downloading new updates and multimedia enhancements not shipped with the distribution. Another few hours of tweaking KDE to my liking and I currently have 10 running. So far there have been no issues. Let me start off by stating that 10.0 is not a revolutionary version of SUSE. In fact, I don’t believe it is much more than a progression from 9.3 to 9.4. But that said, I feel it is an excellent OS which continues to put Novell at the top of the game in terms of a stable, usable desktop distribution. No other distribution I have tried seems to provide the level of stability, options, enhancements and refinement that SUSE provides. 10.0 includes all the software one should expect from an operating system distribution. Included are the following. (Links are to pages on Novell’s site): Firefox 1.07, OpenOffice 2.0, Beagle, photo tools, VoIP, Mono .NET development, Apache, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. Out of the box, SUSE 10.0 runs like a champ. You turn on the computer, see a very nice synchronized startup screen and go. First off, let me counter-claim the naysayers out there by proclaiming that SUSE is fast. Yes, fast. That is how I’d describe this desktop. Since 9.2, Novell has made great strides in ensuring that people like me don’t have to wait for things to startup. Loading OpenOffice takes about three seconds before I’m ready to run. Loading Firefox takes about the same amount of time. Everything about this distribution screams, “speed.” There are no complaints here. I typically run with several applications loaded at once so speed is crucial to my desktop experience. there are those who will counter-claim by stating that Gentoo or another home-grown system is faster or that running KDE is akin to driving a steamroller on a freeway. I stand by my assertion, however, that SUSE is fast and works for my needs. I haven’t done any specific time trials, and I won’t compare to other distributions such as Slackware, Gentoo or Mandriva. Suffice to say that it works for me. My machine on which I’m running is a Dell Inspiron 600m laptop with 1GB RAM and a 1.9GHz Pentium M Centrino. The one drawback with SuSE – and apparently most other distributions – is the lack of multimedia content included out of the box. There are arguments both ways on this, but it is well-known that patent laws preclude Novell from including the tools needed to play several multimedia formats. However, these tools are very easy to obtain and install. In no time, the ever-popular MP3 format and the commercial DVD formats can be played. And they can be played in style. I prefer the included Amarok for music playback: Amarok is the first application I have run across which actually provides a use for the funny looking key between the Ctrl and Alt keys. (This is also known as the “windows” key for users of that other OS.) For example, pressing it and various other keys provide easy navigation between songs. Amarok by default doesn’t play the MP3 files I – um – ripped over the years from my CD collection, but this is easily fixed by installing the required libraries. Amarok includes a nice CD cover collection and a better interface than any of the Windows-based products I’ve seen to date. Ripping my CDs is a breeze on SuSE, with the included software, namely KaudioCreator. I simply load the CD in the tray, wait for FreeDB to identify all the tracks, select which ones I want and rip. Again, for those who want MP3 playback, you’ll have do do a bit of downloading. I choose to rip using OGG these days, and that library is included. Review of SUSE Linux 10.0 Posted on Wed 26 Oct 2005 (439 reads) Suse 10 review I have been a Linux user for almost two years now. I think it is about time I put together a review of my favorite distribution. Suse 10.0 was released to the world on October 6th. I got my copy a few days after, having purchased the boxed DVD directly from Novell. I have been using SuSE consistently as my distribution since 9.1 back in 2004. Previously, I hadn’t been able to consider any distribution as ready for prime-time on a desktop since there were too many features missing or difficult for a user like me. (See the article on how hotplug was enhanced.) Since July, I have been using SuSE 9.3 – the FTP version – on a Dell laptop purchased with Windows XP Home. I setup 9.3 as a dual-boot and had little issue getting everything working, Wanting the latest, I was eager to purchase the new 10.0 when it came out. Instead of dual-booting, however, I removed the Windows XP partition and installed everything fresh. Unlike many reviews, I won’t go into the installation except to say that everything went as expected. It took about two hours, including downloading new updates and multimedia enhancements not shipped with the distribution. Another few hours of tweaking KDE to my liking and I currently have 10 running. So far there have been no issues. Let me start off by stating that 10.0 is not a revolutionary version of SUSE. In fact, I don’t believe it is much more than a progression from 9.3 to 9.4. But that said, I feel it is an excellent OS which continues to put Novell at the top of the game in terms of a stable, usable desktop distribution. No other distribution I have tried seems to provide the level of stability, options, enhancements and refinement that SUSE provides. 10.0 includes all the software one should expect from an operating system distribution. Included are the following. (Links are to pages on Novell’s site): Firefox 1.07 OpenOffice.org 2.0 Beagle Photo tools VoIP Easy wireless networking GIMP 2.2 Xen 3 virtualization (preview) Mono Security tools Bluetooth Apache, CUPS, MySQL and PostgreSQL Commercial Software Out of the box, SUSE 10.0 runs like a champ. You turn on the computer, see a very nice synchronized startup screen and go. First off, let me counter-claim the naysayers out there by proclaiming that SUSE is fast. Yes, fast. That is how I’d describe this desktop. Since 9.2, Novell has made great strides in ensuring that people like me don’t have to wait for things to startup. Loading OpenOffice takes about three seconds before I’m ready to run. Loading Firefox takes about the same amount of time. Everything about this distribution screams, “speed.” There are no complaints here. I typically run with several applications loaded at once so speed is crucial to my desktop experience. there are those who will counter-claim by stating that Gentoo or another home-grown system is faster or that running KDE is akin to driving a steamroller on a freeway. I stand by my assertion, however, that SUSE is fast and works for my needs. I haven’t done any specific time trials, and I won’t compare to other distributions such as Slackware, Gentoo or Mandriva. Suffice to say that it works for me. My machine on which I’m running is a Dell Inspiron 600m laptop with 1GB RAM and a 1.9GHz Pentium M Centrino. The one drawback with SuSE – and apparently most other distributions – is the lack of multimedia content included out of the box. There are arguments both ways on this, but it is well-known that patent laws preclude Novell from including the tools needed to play several multimedia formats. However, these tools are very easy to obtain and install. In no time, the ever-popular MP3 format and the commercial DVD formats can be played. And they can be played in style. I prefer the included Amarok for music playback: [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] Amarok is the first application I have run across which actually provides a use for the funny looking key between the Ctrl and Alt keys. (This is also known as the “windows” key for users of that other OS.) For example, pressing it and various other keys provide easy navigation between songs. Amarok by default doesn’t play the MP3 files I – um – ripped over the years from my CD collection, but this is easily fixed by installing the required libraries. Amarok includes a nice CD cover collection and a better interface than any of the Windows-based products I’ve seen to date. Ripping my CDs is a breeze on SuSE, with the included software, namely KaudioCreator. I simply load the CD in the tray, wait for FreeDB to identify all the tracks, select which ones I want and rip. Again, for those who want MP3 playback, you’ll have do do a bit of downloading. I choose to rip using OGG these days, and that library is included. For all other media – videos and streaming audio – I use Mplayer. Mplayer can be obtained by adding the packman and guru repositories to Yast (more on this later) then run. I have read there’s a KDE front-end to Mplayer being written. At this time, it is not available through the default installation, so we’ll have to wait. Commercial DVD playback – like MP3 is not available out of the box. (You may feel free to voice your opinion on this subject to your local government official.) Again, updating the libdvdcss library from one of the above-mentioned repositories will get you commercial DVD playback. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] I have written my local representative complaining about this issue. In addition, I have inquired repeatedly of the MPAA – the organization responsible for the inability to play DVDs on Linux – as to where I can purchase DVD playback software for Linux. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] Like most desktop systems, my laptop has a multimedia keyboard. As such, I expect to be able to use the keys on that keyboard and to have on-screen feedback. Of course, SUSE and KDE don’t fail here either. Switching the volume shows a phosphor green slider on the screen. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] Similar to earlier versions of SUSE (or SuSE if you prefer the old name) several alternative desktop managers are included. If running a full KDE or Gnome desktop isn’t needed or suitable based on the power of the machine, then options are available. In the instance below, I have logged in using Blackice. It allows for little in the way of frills, but does run the apps needed. My favorite apps are available. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] Now, since most of us don’t spend our live running games, people will want to know how to get their daily stuff done. In the above example, a GIMP photo is loaded. By default, SUSE comes with several imaging and photo manipulation applications, some of which are well-suited for the professional. GIMP has the features needed. My only complaint is that GIMP uses a funky unfriendly file open dialog which is completely unlike anything else in KDE. SUSE also comes with a SUSE-Flavored version of Open Office. When released, the beta version was shipped. Thanks to SUSE’s online update service, YOU, that version was upgraded seamlessly to the full 2.0 release. I run the Open Office Quickstarter in my taskbar. As such, documents open from click to editing in a matter of seconds. Open Office does a superb job of handling most document types – MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Word Perfect – are all handled nicely. I did run across an issue trying to open a MS Works document, however. This was solved by telling the person to save the document in RTF format. Among the goodies supplied with Open Office are the standard Writer, Calc, Impress, and a cool web editor. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] As can be seen above, Open Office can handle a standard Excel file without breaking a sweat. This is crucial for people like me, who work in a MS-Centric office environment. I must be able to open and edit MS Office files without issues. On the occasion that I need to get in and do something (like a macro) which Open Office just can’t handle, I have my trusty CrossOver Office (http://www.codeweavers.com/ ) on standby. This works for opening MS Project files, which have no Linux equivalent. I’m still on CrossOver version 4, but version 5 is out now and handles even Office 2003 and Visio documents. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] Of course, no system would be complete without a plethora of email, chat, and newsreader clients. SUSE 10 delivers there, too. The very capable Kontact is shipped, along with Thunderbird and – hey – Pine. I use Kontact, because it feels more comfortable than Thunderbird, which I was using previously. Of course, Kontact did a very good job of importing my Kontact emails. Unfortunately, my office runs Exchange 5.5 still so I am unable to find any connector to link up my email. For that, I can still run Outlook under the aforementioned crossover office. Kontact – and the mail part, KMail, do a very nice job of handling mail and alerting me to the evil ever-present spam. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] In summary, I find SUSE 10.0 a worthwhile upgrade from the already excellent 9.3 version. For those who wish, SUSE 10 can be purchased either direct from Novell or at your local online retailer. If you’d rather not spend any money, you may also get SUSE for the cost of a download at http://www.opensuse.org. As usual, the SUSE community is alive and well online, in newsgroups and via mailing lists. If there is anything you need, joining one of these communities will get the answer back fast. Version Reviewed: SUSE 10.0 Retail Platform: Dell Inspiron 600m RAM: 1GB Processor: Intel Centrino 1.93 GHz Hard Drive: 60 GB For all other media – videos and streaming audio – I use Mplayer. Mplayer can be obtained by adding the packman and guru repositories to Yast (more on this later) then run. I have read there’s a KDE front-end to Mplayer being written. At this time, it is not available through the default installation, so we’ll have to wait. Commercial DVD playback – like MP3 is not available out of the box. (You may feel free to voice your opinion on this subject to your local government official.) Again, updating the libdvdcss library from one of the above-mentioned repositories will get you commercial DVD playback. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] I have written my local representative complaining about this issue. In addition, I have inquired repeatedly of the MPAA – the organization responsible for the inability to play DVDs on Linux – as to where I can purchase DVD playback software for Linux. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] Like most desktop systems, my laptop has a multimedia keyboard. As such, I expect to be able to use the keys on that keyboard and to have on-screen feedback. Of course, SUSE and KDE don’t fail here either. Switching the volume shows a phosphor green slider on the screen. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] Similar to earlier versions of SUSE (or SuSE if you prefer the old name) several alternative desktop managers are included. If running a full KDE or Gnome desktop isn’t needed or suitable based on the power of the machine, then options are available. In the instance below, I have logged in using Blackice. It allows for little in the way of frills, but does run the apps needed. My favorite apps are available. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] Now, since most of us don’t spend our live running games, people will want to know how to get their daily stuff done. In the above example, a GIMP photo is loaded. By default, SUSE comes with several imaging and photo manipulation applications, some of which are well-suited for the professional. GIMP has the features needed. My only complaint is that GIMP uses a funky unfriendly file open dialog which is completely unlike anything else in KDE. SUSE also comes with a SUSE-Flavored version of Open Office. When released, the beta version was shipped. Thanks to SUSE’s online update service, YOU, that version was upgraded seamlessly to the full 2.0 release. I run the Open Office Quickstarter in my taskbar. As such, documents open from click to editing in a matter of seconds. Open Office does a superb job of handling most document types – MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Word Perfect – are all handled nicely. I did run across an issue trying to open a MS Works document, however. This was solved by telling the person to save the document in RTF format. Among the goodies supplied with Open Office are the standard Writer, Calc, Impress, and a cool web editor. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] As can be seen above, Open Office can handle a standard Excel file without breaking a sweat. This is crucial for people like me, who work in a MS-Centric office environment. I must be able to open and edit MS Office files without issues. On the occasion that I need to get in and do something (like a macro) which Open Office just can’t handle, I have my trusty CrossOver Office (http://www.codeweavers.com/ ) on standby. This works for opening MS Project files, which have no Linux equivalent. I’m still on CrossOver version 4, but version 5 is out now and handles even Office 2003 and Visio documents. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] Of course, no system would be complete without a plethora of email, chat, and newsreader clients. SUSE 10 delivers there, too. The very capable Kontact is shipped, along with Thunderbird and – hey – Pine. I use Kontact, because it feels more comfortable than Thunderbird, which I was using previously. Of course, Kontact did a very good job of importing my Kontact emails. Unfortunately, my office runs Exchange 5.5 still so I am unable to find any connector to link up my email. For that, I can still run Outlook under the aforementioned crossover office. Kontact – and the mail part, KMail, do a very nice job of handling mail and alerting me to the evil ever-present spam. [CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] In summary, I find SUSE 10.0 a worthwhile upgrade from the already excellent 9.3 version. For those who wish, SUSE 10 can be purchased either direct from Novell or at your local online retailer. If you’d rather not spend any money, you may also get SUSE for the cost of a download at http://www.opensuse.org. As usual, the SUSE community is alive and well online, in newsgroups and via mailing lists. If there is anything you need, joining one of these communities will get the answer back fast. Version Reviewed: SUSE 10.0 Retail Platform: Dell Inspiron 600m RAM: 1GB Processor: Intel Centrino 1.93 GHz Hard Drive: 60 GB |
