openSUSE 11.4 Review - Linux Distro Reviews

[PunkBusterSVK]

is ths distro good for notebook?? ..others distros like debian od BT works fine on it

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@PunkBusterSVK The power management is pretty good, but I've noticed openSUSE can sometimes guzzle RAM. Nothing huge, but if you have 1 GB or less, it might not be heaps snappy.

[sri4phy01]

For those who had multiple failures in installing Compiz in UBUNTU 11.10 might try OpenSUSE 12.1. One disadvantage is Open SUSE doesnt have as much as free online apps like UBUNTU does. But it has all the required driver and software packages within. For me it is really good, reliable, fast and user friendly. My notebook has 2nd Gen., Intel i7 2720Qm, HD graphics 3000, 4 Gb RAM.

[kshep92]

I have an Acer Aspire One 772. I've tried installing Ubuntu on it and spent an entire week finding drivers and fixing bugs. Can I expect the same scenario with openSuse?

[22ness0hayden]

As a mainly Gentoo and Arch user I still have a soft spot for OpenSUSE. I used it for many years with KDE 3.5

[SavageDutchman]

What are the differences between KDE and Gnome ?

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@SavageDutchman They are two different desktop environments with different goals. I suggest you have a look at their homepages to see what you think.

[SavageDutchman]

@InfinitelyGalactic oke because i'm relatively new to linux and have only ever used ubuntu and never kubuntu or mint or any or distro

[freeballs7]

@InfinitelyGalactic thank you!

[joeyjobear]

Would you recommend OpenSuse for a thinkpad X61 tablet? If not, then which distro would you suggest?

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@joeyjobear I've heard good things about compatibility with openSUSE on the X61, so it should work just fine. Let me know how you go. Thanks for asking :-)

[analog3]

I've been using Suse since 10.1 and it's always the same, one step forward and two steps back. First it was video and sound, this time around it's wireless drivers. What's worse is the usual hours of forum trawls on this one are yielding some very complicated fixes that a newb will just be baffled by. Honestly, if wireless doesn't work out of the box then it shouldn't be released. I currently have 3 different network devices that it wont recognize. That's just not good enough.

[91jmda]

I'm coming from Ubuntu 11.04 and i came here because openSUSE feels solid and professional and ubugtu does not, i like Fedora but if it wasnt for SElinux >.>

[theMastrgamr]

LOVE the review, very descriptive i never really knew the benefits of openSuse. I'm thinking of giving it a try

[ZamatoElite]

I miss my OpenSuse desktop. :(

[martmelee]

hmm opensuse is based on slackware (my favorite distro), and since i don't really have the time to play building packages with slackware i might try this one.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@martmelee In the early days, it was based on slackware, but it's more or less its own beast now, and yes, as you said, conveniently packaged...so no compiling!

[74ryanwolf]

@martmelee openSUSE is independent now

[lxreaper]

So openSUSE is either Gnome or KDE?

[restman79]

I finally got around to trying SUSE, ran it in VBox, liked it a lot. I've always been a Gnome guy, but figured if I was going to give KDE a fair shake then why not one of the best? Install goes perfect, first login and boom...my wireless needs firmware! Firmware!?! In four years of running various distros, I have never had a wireless setup problem. Ever. My jaw literally dropped as I muttered, "What is this? The bad old days of 2006?" I'll give it another chance eventually, but wow. Unexpected.

[SeaofInfinity32]

@restman79 That is the only thing keeping me from openSUSE. It's a bit confusing why wireless works so easily on some distros but can be a pain in the a.. on others. I'm still going to install it tonight though, and use ethernet to get it up and running then try the wireless thing. The package kernel-firmware needs to be installed and hopefully that will be it.

[spamllpitdept]

btw, great channel. Subbed

[spamllpitdept]

@InfinitelyGalactic - Which desktop env do you feel is best and why? I'm a new user comming to linux so I literally will have no idea what the difference between kde and gnome is

[Justic3h]

@spamllpitdept if you didn't get your answer here's what i think : go with ubuntu 10.04 to get the stable version you need to start to learn...and everything come with it and if you need something special for it you can get it from software center.... another thing: the community is absolutly great at the beggining.... and then when you get a little bit of knowledge you can do to something like openSUSE or fedora or whatever sauce you like :) feel free to message me for questions :)

[spamllpitdept]

cool :o) I just installed OS 11.4 ... on the login screen, under session type, it has both "KDE" and "KDE Plasma" ... I was wondering what the difference is between them? Is it anything substantive or just asthetics?

[Justic3h]

@spamllpitdept its certain the more you add the more it takes power..so keep in mind you if you have a laptop or a desktop...then plasma what it means is : plasma desktop wich is some widgets and stuff...useless stuff :)

[spamllpitdept]

PS - Is there a way to completely disable all remote logins and remote SSH, etc? Or does it come disabled by default? thanks again :)

[Justic3h]

@spamllpitdept im not an expert in openSUSE maybe you should check the community for that :)

[91jmda]

Hey im having a great time with my openSUSE 11.4 install =D i just have a question and one teeny issue, what are ZYpper equivalents of apt-get autoremove, apt-get autoclean and apt-get clean? And the other thing, to use TOR i have to type tor in the shell and it would start... weird

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@91jmda Hey...firstly when removing a package through zypper, simply put '-u' on the end and it will automatically remove the dependencies, and secondly, there is no need for an 'apt-get clean' because zypper does not cache the downloaded packages. I'm not sure about your second problem, I've got no experience there whatsoever. Might be worth poking around the openSUSE forums. Good luck.

[91jmda]

Hey i kinda developed a fear for openSUSE, it started in 11.3 and when i net installed it (took forever) it seemed like it was successful but when I restarted my new system, the system just hung at startup and wouldnt start u.u

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@91jmda I know how you feel, happened to me with 11.2. You just have to be careful with the 'bootloader' settings on the 'Installation Summary' page.

[91jmda]

I heard openSUSE is the best KDE distro, is it true? cause kubuntu 11.04 had a regression with desktop effects and i cannot use them :/ and is the package management fast like APT and Pacman??

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@91jmda Good question. In my opinion openSUSE is the best KDE implementation because it's very professional. And the package management can be a little more cumbersome than apt, but is on par in terms of speed. Download time is way shorter than apt because it uses multiple threads/mirrors by default, even with the standard repos.

[JackSituation]

@InfinitelyGalactic LOL. I heard the intro away from the desk.

Sounds like the News on TV.

[74ryanwolf]

@91jmda your problems could be because of the blur effect. try disabling that

[Spamazoid]

gac18 are you retarded? Windows is a dumbed down OS?

It's more powerfull then any other OS.

Linux takes far too many steps to do the same thing. Windows just does it by default

Linux excels at software updating and coming with pre installed software that's it.

And as you said, everything supports Windows, next to nothing supports Linux and that won't change any time soon

[NikolaGB]

Hey is there anyway for me to change the gnome interface to KDE in Linux Mint?

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@NikolaGB Yep, there's a few ways. If you go into synaptic and type 'kubuntu-desktop' and install that one, that will give you the full Kubuntu install (including apps) that you can then log in to. Or you could just search 'kde' and look for a package that is something like 'plasma-desktop-interface' or something like that...I can't remember.

[NikolaGB]

@InfinitelyGalactic Ok thank you

[Benc1213]

which should I use fedora or ubuntu?

[Nyocurio]

@gac18 Instead of saying the world needs MS, let's just say it is/has been made dependent on MS.

Do you remember what your first experiences with PCs were? Would you say there was almost minimal learning involved to get going with MS? I certainly couldn't.

I'm not condemning you for still using MS or anything, but just bear in mind that the actual amount of learning for doing minimal stuff is about the same for both OSes.

[bossronny]

Okay, i'm just a big fan of Linux, but i do wonder: Which is best?

Linux Mint, Linux Fedora, Linux OpenSUSE, Linux Ubuntu, or Linux Mandriva?

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@bossronny You know that is a really good question, and it's very hard to answer. Each distribution of Linux is unique and excels in someplace better than others. Linux Mint is good for the average desktop, Fedora is good for developers and IT, openSUSE is good for working-very stable, Ubuntu is the most widely used-thus supported well, and Mandriva was good, but they haven't released Mandriva 2011 yet, so they're a bit behind. Each has it's pros and cons. Just find out which one works for you.

[bossronny]

@InfinitelyGalactic I'm trying to install Fedora, but it doesn't work, when i try to restart the laptop it won't boot, and when i try to boot from desktop i only get into a folder, What can i do? Fedora 64bit KDE

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@bossronny Wow, I don't know, I think you'd better go and take that question to the Fedora forums. Unfortunately I don't have much experience with Fedora. Sorry 'bout that.

[SeaofInfinity32]

@InfinitelyGalactic I still have Mandriva 2010.2 on my desktop and it's incredibly stable and beautiful. They do need to get 2011 out but the previous release was excellent, in my opinion.

[NikolaGB]

@bossronny Hey i will answer to you too i have used them all and the best is Linux Mint 10

[Nyocurio]

@technologyvictim I use the original adobe flash plugin and have no trouble with YouTube at all. Oh, and Win7 doesn't "have" any apps, it just forces everyone around the globe to program apps that only work for Win7. That's like saying "I like DVD better because it has more movies".

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@technologyvictim I know how you feel, and technology is all about finding what works best for you. Windows 7 is a fantastic system, and its entirely up to you (the consumer) as to what apps/system you want to use. The reason for my channel is to promote choice. Just to show that there are alternatives out there from the mainstream systems. Thanks for the comment, you raise a valid point. :-) (P.S. I use Win7 too, because it's the only system that can pick up my 3g modem. ;-)

[jdfranklin2]

Is that music the same as The Onion News Network uses on their videos?

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@jdfranklin2 I don't know. It might be. It's just another loop I have in my library.

[jdfranklin2]

@InfinitelyGalactic It's probably just a stock sound. Great vid, though.

[22ness0hayden]

Package management speed turned me off opensuse years ago, so good to hear they are now on top of it.

[M4TM777]

Very nice review. Can openSUSE keep the laptop cool running xfce?

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@M4TM777 Yeah I think so, I hardly pull any resources when using xfce. It has to do a cold boot into xfce though, because otherwise all the heavier QT libraries will still be running in the background, if you just logout of KDE and into xfce. Thanks for the comment.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

You took the words right out of my mouth! openSUSE is rocking better than ever!

[demopley]

Thanks for the review! Package manager is definitely a win for openSUSE 11.4. Not a single hardware issue with ATI or Broadcom WiFi cards which were problematic in the past. This release gets a 9.8/10 rating.

[bradenn]

Linux rocks. I run Arch Linux on my desktop because I like playing around, and I run openSUSE 11.4 on my laptop because when I am out at work or at school I need things to 'just work' and openSUSE is just that, it 'just works' ... amazing.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@bradenn Truth, openSUSE 11.4 is on my primary laptop as well. It's definitely a fantastic release, especially after you've used it for awhile. It keeps gettin' better. :-)

[tbsbattousai]

how do you install flash player on opensuse so I can watch YouTube videos??

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@tbsbattousai Hi, generally speaking you just run the online update, and openSUSE will automatically download and install the Flash player. If not, just search for "flash" in the repos.

[tbsbattousai]

how do you install flash player on opensuse so I can watch youtube videos??

[Niflheyn]

Hope that this time I will be able to install it on my macbook pro ^^.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@Niflheyn Yeah. openSUSE on MacBook Pro! Is there anything betterer(rer?!?) I hope it works.

[kowalczyk7]

@InfinitelyGalactic

Yes it is. Slackware on the Macbook Pro :)

Or just Mac Os X :)

[Niflheyn]

@InfinitelyGalactic Well, for the moment I still discover Suse, I used Mint and ubuntu, now I want to see more and find the right one ;-)

[fruj]

@Niflheyn Why did u want to install linux on a macbook? I mean osX is good

[Niflheyn]

@fruj Yes of course OS X is really great, but I think it is good to try other operating systems, see how it works etc... I'm open to everything in computing =)

[terrac1de]

Ive been using opensuse since it was still Suse 9.0 and it is great to see that it is getting more and more awesome as time goes on. In my opinion, there is no substitute for Yast..

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@terrac1de Truth!

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@JWLinux Hey wow! So you're the person who got the feature with OMG! Ubuntu. The people you meet on the net.....! Nice to meet you.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@JWLinux Yeah, so am I. The more I use it, the more fantastic it is! It's hard to tell on the surface, but they have actually done a lot of under-the-hood improvements that make it such a better distro than it ever was. openSUSE 11.2 was the first distro that I fell in love with, but I couldn't use it because of some really annoying issues. 11.3 was the same, but with 11.4, it's simply stellar! Only 2 hrs till final release!

[InfinitelyGalactic]

Yeah, it is a pain. One place that I've found helpful is the "openSUSE Community" site. If you look there they have some helpful info for all things "proprietary". Peace out.

[bkovacs7]

One thing I hate about opensuse, is the ability to easily install the official nvidia driver. Not nearly as easy as Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS.

[y3it221]

@bkovacs7

When I am inside the opensuse for the first time, I go to the Yast and add the community repos and then add the non-free, nvidia and some other repos. After adding all the required repos and I click on OK and it refreshes the package database and I shows us the updates along with the non-free packages like codes and nvidia drivers, I would say Yes and it downloads everything and installs it.

Sorry, if you already did this and its not working. I am on Arch now.

[dsakurai0]

Thank you for a nice review!

[porkchop62882]

LOL love the dialogue boxes! Good distro review, as usual.

[iLoGiiKzv0]

Thanks for uploading this, I didn't know of the openSUSE upcoming update until now.

After seeing this I couldn't wait and I downloaded the same version btw

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@iLoGiiKzv0 Great to hear!

[tostoday]

LMAO! about the Alsa notation...can't trust those Linux chicks! I would love to blame Windows like this, but I never have a problem with videos.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@tostoday Yeah, it's interesting, but I tried doing a screencast with camstudio on Win7 and the audio was horrible! Just look for the PCLinuxOS E17 review that I did. But it's probably out of ignorance that I make these mistakes. Anyway........