Using OpenSUSE on CULV-Acer Timeline 3810T

[markw10]

I have an Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T which uses the 64 bit version of the CULV chip that's dual core running at 1.4GHz.

I prefer using KDE 4.x and have been using Mandriva for quite some time.
When I first installed Mandriva I attempted many times to install the 64bit version but could not even get it to restart after install was complete. I then used the 32bit version that worked better but now I'm experiencing a lot of problems. It boots fine into KDE but then I'm unable to click on the start menu and if I get any desktop items open like OpenOffice Calc as soon as it opens the screen is scrolling through the cells without me pressing a key.

I've spent some time trying to fix it and like Mandriva a lot but was going to even try to wait it out until Mandriva 2010 but since I need this computer for work I had to give up on that.

Since I want a good KDE 4.x based distro OpenSUSE seemed like the obvious next choice. My concern: In the past I've heard that OpenSUSE is more for heavy duty computers and that it runs slower and is not as stable as a system like Mandriva. Since I've never tried it I don't know but before I make the chance and wipe Mandriva off of my system, what have people experienced on here using OpenSUSE on similar hardware.

Also, would I be able to use newer kernels like 2.6.30 or even KDE 4.3 with OpenSUSE?
Thanks for your help.

[D-cat]

The only missing spec here for your ability to run SuSE is RAM. It's recommended you have at least 512MB. 1.4GHz is plenty sufficient power.

While KDE 4 is in general still kind of unstable (I prefer and use KDE 3.5 for that reason), KDE 4 is available as a desktop for SuSE. 11.1 comes with KDE 4.1, which can be easily upgraded to 4.2. KDE 4.3 for SuSE is available via the "Factory" repos, but I hear it is more stable if you install from kde.org Live CD source instead. I haven't tried it either way as of yet, so I can't comment on that.

All I can say from what you show is I believe SuSE would work okay for you, just you might have to do a little work on your part if you're set on having a KDE 4.3 desktop.