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Contributed by Clement Lefebvre in Reviews on 2006-12-11 14:15:03

The biggest Linux event this December is without a doubt the new release of SUSE. It was announced early, the scheduled date was met and on the 7th of December the much awaited SUSE 10.2 was out and available for download. This time SUSE was in a very good position. Ubuntu 6.10, Fedora Core 6 and Mandriva 2007 were released in October, and this gave SUSE nearly two months to inspect them, learn from their respective innovations and make SUSE 10.2 the best desktop Linux distribution available on the market. Had they done so? I couldn't wait to find out!

SUSE 10.2 can be downloaded as a DVD or as a set of 5 CDs for x86, x86-64 and PPC architectures. There are also two additional CDs that you can download, one that contains language packs and the other one for non-open-source software. Of course everything is also available from the repositories, so if you're only interested in a default English Gnome or KDE desktop installation, all you need is to download the first three CDs.

I found the mirrors to be quite fast and it only took me an hour to download all three CDs. You can get them from here via HTTP or BitTorrent: http://en.opensuse.org/Released_Version

The DVD contains both free, non-free and source packages. Also, A live DVD should follow the release and be available in the forthcoming days.

Installing SUSE 10.2

SUSE's installer is quite impressive. If you like options and the ability to choose every single detail of your installation, you'll love it. It is designed to be both simple and comprehensive to suit both novice and experienced users. At every stage of the installation you can see where you are and what remains to be done. It starts by asking you about your default language. Then it proposes to check your installation medias. After that you need to read a license agreement and you can choose whether you want to upgrade from a previous version of SUSE or go for a new installation. There's also an option which you can select if you downloaded the Add-on CD, which allows you to install non-free software from it. You then need to select your desktop. Gnome and KDE are available and none is selected by default. For the purpose of this review I chose to go for Gnome.

And then... you're done. A summary appears on the screen and you just need to press "Next" to proceed... Oh! But not so fast! If you actually look at the summary you can see that the default option for partitioning your drive is simply to remove everything! I can understand that partitioning was made optional so that novice users wouldn't have to care about it, but deleting all their data is definitely not what I would have chosen for them to be the default option. On top of that, the partitioning tools didn't prove to be very intuitive. Another bad thing about the installer is that it installs GRUB on the target partition by default. Most users prefer to put it in the MBR, so be careful about that summary and even though it seems "optional", chances are you don't want to go for the default options!

Although the installer is more responsive and faster than it was in the previous release... Although you can define exactly which packages get installed and get total control on every aspect of the installation... Although you are shown the time remaining between each CD, this installer is not as cool as the one found in Fedora Core. For instance, it doesn't show where its logs are kept and doesn't allow you to save the choices you made in order to automate future installations. During the installation of the packages (which is quite long) you can't access the Release Notes, so you basically get bored waiting for the installation to complete, and when the notes finally become available at the end of the process you're ready to play with SUSE so you're not going to take time to read them.

The message that asks you to insert CD3, is not labeled "Please insert CD3" but "insert '20061207-124705 CD3'" and if you'd like more esotericism you can press "show detail" on it :) It looks like some developer left the debug traces turned on (actually while I'm talking about that... dmesg is full of debug message from the wifi eth1 interface on my machine).

Overall, it's a good installer. It's full of options and it does the job. It's not fun though and it can be confusing for a novice user.

Inside SUSE 10.2

Artwork

There's a nice and Christmassy surprise in SUSE 10.2. The Grub screen shows a little snowy part of the sea ice on top of which is an igloo and a bunch of penguins originated from Pingus. One even has a Christmas hat. The boot splash is neat, and although it doesn't show any progress bar it looks very professional. As usual the SUSE desktop also looks really nice and comes with a nice selection of icons and wallpapers. The default theme is Gilouche and the default icon set is Industrial.

The default SUSE 10.2 Gnome desktop

Desktop

SUSE made a lot of changes to the default Gnome desktop. The most obvious one is the Gnome menu. It was replaced with Slab which represents an entirely new way to access applications and documents. Instead of showing a list, Slab shows an interactive area from which you can access nearly everything on your computer: Your favorite applications, most recently opened documents, your home folder, etc... Slab also integrates Beagle and a lot of other features, so you can search for nearly everything from your main menu, log out from it as well, access the help, monitor you network interface, launch the control center, the system monitor, and even the package manager. One place to do it all.

To be honest, it looks really nice. I'm not entirely used to it and I really don't know if I'll prefer this or the traditional way in the long term, but thumbs up to SUSE for the innovative ideas they put into this!

Slab, a beautiful replacement for the Gnome "Applications" and "Places" menus

The traditional Gnome "System" menu also disappeared and was replaced with a "Control Center" which centralizes all aspects from the Gnome and Yast configuration, and which also looks very nice.

Nautilus showing the home folder, the network and the computer.

Finally, there is only one panel and it is placed at the bottom of the screen. Apart from the fact that it reminds some people of Microsoft Windows, it makes the menus harder to access. However that's not an issue here since they were replaced with Slab. The absence of a second panel also gives applications more space to show their content, and this is quite positive.

Default Selection of Software

SUSE 10.2 comes with Firefox 2.0, OpenOffice 2.0.4 and Evolution 2.8.2. The kernel is 2.6.18.2. I only downloaded the first three CDs and went for the default selection during the installation process. I was surprised by the large collection of software that was installed by default. I couldn't find any IRC client installed, but apart from that there was an application for nearly every basic need and a large collection of games too. F-Spot and Gaim (although it's version 1.5) were also present.

Evolution 2.8.2 and Firefox 2.0

Package Manager and Configuration Tools

The last time I reviewed SUSE, my main complaint was about its package manager. Improvements were announced in SUSE 10.2's Release Notes so I had a look.

First, the package manager doesn't know where and how to find its sources and repositories. You have to find that information and set it yourself. There is also too many choices and not enough default values in Yast to configure this. If you're not used to SUSE you'll probably be lost. I had a look at the opensuse.org website and found out that I could add the following repositories:

http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/10.2/repo/oss
http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/10.2/repo/non-oss

So I went to Yast to add these "installation sources". I clicked on "Add", I "specified the URL" and after waiting for more than 35 minutes for the first repository to be added, I decided to give up. An applet is present on the panel for the Software Updater. It probably works fine, but without repositories there's no much point to it. It takes a few seconds to APT to fetch the list and configuration for a repository, and I doubt SUSE's have more packages than Debian and Ubuntu have, so what can justify a 35 minutes wait? I hope this is only happening to me or that it's due to the repositories not being ready for the new release yet. (although it's version 1.5) were also present.

SUSE's Package Manager, sluggish and not intuitive

The configuration tools on the other hand are great. They're centraed in a place called the "Control Center". It has all the features usually found in the Gnome "Preferences" menu plus a few others added by SUSE. The interface is very nice looking and also very intuitive. From the Control Center you can also access Yast to administer the computer, its hardware, network and services.

The Control Center, a beautifully centralized configuration tool

Multimedia

If you download the CD edition of SUSE 10.2 you get a 100% free desktop. So restricted formats like MP3, DivX...etc are not supported by default. It is easy however to add support for these formats by installing a few packages and extra software. In this release the Add-on CD also makes this process easier.

Networking

SUSE 10.2 comes with the Network Manager applet and the Control Center allows you to choose whether you want to use it or not. The configuration is very easy and this represents an ideal solution for laptops. The Gnome desktop has all the tools necessary to access remote servers and to browse Windows shared folders.

Hardware Recognition

I was very disappointed with the hardware recognition in SUSE 10.2. As soon as the system was installed I ran into problems. In a majority of cases my hardware was detected but not set correctly.

My i855 graphic card was detected but Yast could not activate the 3D on it. This is something that worked out of the box on every other distribution so I was quite surprised to see that I wouldn't be able to run Xgl/Compiz in Novell's own distribution. I tried to set my screen resolution to 1280x768, but it didn't work either. The 915resolution was installed by default, but most of its modes were wasted.. . some resolutions settings taking two slots while other ones were simply not set at all. I had to tweak the modes and some configuration files to get my 1280x768 resolution working.

My ipw2200 Wifi card was detected but it didn't work either. I think this is because of licensing issues though, and it worked perfectly after I installed the ipw-firmware-7.31.noarch RPM package.

The release notes announced improvements on the detection of internal SD readers, so I thought maybe my Sony memory card reader would be detected as well. It wasn't.

Finally, I had a problem with my sound card which I never had before. It simply wasn't configured. I went to Yast, and it started to work after I "automatically configured" it. Why didn't the installer do that for me? I really don't know.

There were some good things though. For instance, the power management was improved and I could hibernate my Sony Vaio T2XP for the first time under Linux, without configuration :)

Speed

I couldn't test the speed of the system with the 3D effects activated, but I can say that I found SUSE 10.2 to be responsive and the applications were fast to launch. Of course it doesn't benefit from Ubuntu's upstart and in comparison it was quite slow to start. On my computer, from the Grub menu to a fully operation Gnome desktop, it took 1m54s.

Conclusion

Well, what can I say about SUSE 10.2? I'm very disappointed in it. It hasn't changed much. It still is one of the best desktop Linux solutions available, its configuration tools are brilliant, its Gnome desktop is great and uniquely designed but the quality of its package manager is simply unacceptable. If you've ever used APT before you can't decently consider using this. I had a few problems with the hardware detection and I would have solved them, but if the package manager is bad why would I bother? This release is better than the one before, and SUSE did what they did best: a great desktop with great configuration tools. Maybe it is time however they learn from others and start addressing what doesn't work. There are better solutions out there for novice users, and there are better solutions for experienced users as well. When I look at this I understand why some people love SUSE, but I also remember why I'm not using it.

Discuss!

Discussion(s)

	i855 graphics issues
	Written by dopp on 2006-12-11 19:34:43
	Clement, thanks for the great review. Would you be willing to post the xorg.conf you ended up with that allowed your i855 graphics to work at 1280x768? I have the same chip and am having no end of trouble getting the proper resolution to work with the i810 xorg driver in openSUSE 10.2. With vesa it works fine, but is horrendously slow. Thanks again, dopp
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	A few points
	Written by Michael on 2006-12-11 22:00:20
	I had a different experience. I've only installed cleanly today (after wiping my 10.1 installation to test the clean install of 10.2). I used the DVD. Perhaps this is a difference. The automatic update system. It automatically added the repositories from the web for me, and downloaded all the indexes etc from them. Yes this took a while, but I'm on a 1.MB link, and I could have chosen to do it later, but figured I'd try a clean, full, install. This is an improvement on 10.1, when I had to go down the manual path. Also, I've found Suse one of the best for hardware detection. I have an eclectic custom built box, and it has never failed to grab correct info. Just some thoughts. Michael. Quote: Clement, thanks for the great review. Would you be willing to post the xorg.conf you ended up with that allowed your i855 graphics to work at 1280x768? I have the same chip and am having no end of trouble getting the proper resolution to work with the i810 xorg driver in openSUSE 10.2. With vesa it works fine, but is horrendously slow. Thanks again, dopp
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	Research Scientist
	Written by Robert M. Elowitz on 2007-02-14 20:55:55
	I recently installed the full Open SUSE 10.2 on my Intel Core 2 Due laptop with impressive results. I was suprized to find out that it recognized my Windows Vista partition and created a Dual Boot system automatically. I really like to 64-bit kernel that makes use of multiple processor cores. I also chose to buy Intel's latest Fortran compiler, which is probably the best modern Fortran compiler available, as it handles the "REAL*16" data type, and also operates on multiple processing cores. This compiler can compile just about every intensive scientific fortran code available, and creates 64-bit binaries, enabling enormous addressing space.
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	915resolution fix
	Written by raldztech.blogspot.com on 2006-12-12 13:11:12
	it's a 915resolution fix.. execute this in console: 915resolution -l then look for a mode that you don't use, in my case, I used "5c" so, I inserted this 915resolution 5c 1280 800 in /etc/init.d/boot.local where 1280 800 is the resolution.. this will load 915resolution for i810 in your desired resolution..
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	Couple of things...
	Written by Larry Stotler on 2006-12-11 21:48:42
	Here's a Bug Report from v10.1 that was marked unfixable: [QUOTE=]Some users have reported that they have been unable to properly install 10.1 on laptops that require the Intel i810 video chipset driver. Specific examples include the 855GM. Other chipsets may be affected as the i810 driver supports i810, i810-DC100, i810e, i815, 830M, 845G, 852GM, 855GM, 865G, 915G and 915GM chipsets.[/QUOTE] As for some of your other comments: Package Manager - Well, it's definately much better than v10.1's, but it does still need improving. I've never used apt-get, and I'm willing to bet a lot of others haven't as well, so maybe you could keep that in mind. What the entire Linux system needs is a universal package manager so that we don't need customized packages for every distro and every version of every distro. Hardware - I installed this on a PowerMac 9600 with a G4/700 and guess what? It saw ALL my hardware. My Adaptec 19160 PCI SCI card, my Promise ATA100 PCI card, my Radeon 7000, etc. About the only thing it didn't set up properly was my Monitor, and that was a simple fix. Newer and cutting edge hardware is always problematic. Perhaps next time you could download and install a Beta and offer feedback on your hardware. Might not be every user's idea of fun, but that's what this community is about. Updater - You didn't properly add an update repository. What you need to do is launch the update configuration tool from YaST. This is a big issue for me since this was never neccessary before. And, yes, it is slow. It seems that for some reason RUG seems to have to load the ENTIRE package list in memory. Nice idea, but not very well implemented. Lastly, remember that SuSE has always been targeted at the corporate user. openSuSE is the start of a great community project, but it's only 3 versions in unlike Fedora's 6. Most of us who choose SuSE have experience with it and are very comfortable with it.
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	RE: Couple of things
	Written by Joseph Gaffney on 2006-12-11 22:41:48
	Quote: What the entire Linux system needs is a universal package manager so that we don't need customized packages for every distro and every version of every distro. That probably won't happen. First off, you'd need Red Hat and Novell/SUSE to leave RPM (highly unlikely), slackware to drop using simple .tgz, gentoo to stop using ebuilds, debian and its derivates to stop using deb, or other such things. Then, you'd need binary compatibility across the distributions - also very unlikely due to the patches, lib locations, so on. There are distributions out there that specifically stray from the standard to make it more "human readable". Quote: Newer and cutting edge hardware is always problematic. Perhaps next time you could download and install a Beta and offer feedback on your hardware. Might not be every user's idea of fun, but that's what this community is about. Sorry to tell you this, but the hardware mentioned is not newer and cutting edge. The ipw2200 series has been out for a very long time now, and the intel 855gm (and subsequent 915, 945, 950, etc) have not only been out for a very long time, but are entirely supported by xorg using free drivers, provided by intel - they have opened up all there drivers. This includes the 3D stuff. There is no beta to grab and test - this should be working as of atleast a year ago. This is why the author was surprised. Quote: And, yes, it is slow. It seems that for some reason RUG seems to have to load the ENTIRE package list in memory. Nice idea, but not very well implemented. Thats acceptable to you? Seriously? Quote: Lastly, remember that SuSE has always been targeted at the corporate user. openSuSE is the start of a great community project, but it's only 3 versions in unlike Fedora's 6. Most of us who choose SuSE have experience with it and are very comfortable with it. SUSE has not always been targeted at the corporate user. SUSE was a German translated slackware derivative, and the S.u.S.E. company behind it targeted corporations through UNIX consultation services. It wasn't even really unique until Jurix. Also, openSUSE is not only 3 versions old, it traces back to the origins of SUSE - and is mature. Its simply the starting point for Novell's semi-annual corporate desktop release now; just as Fedora didn't start at 1, it was Red Hat before that - they are just doing things differently now. No offense, but I really don't get your point. I'm very familiar with SUSE, and I haven't been comfortable with it (or Novell for that matter) since 10.0.
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	Again....
	Written by Larry Stotler on 2006-12-11 23:04:01
	Quote: That probably won't happen. First off, you'd need Red Hat and Novell/SUSE to leave RPM (highly unlikely), slackware to drop using simple .tgz, gentoo to stop using ebuilds, debian and its derivates to stop using deb, or other such things. Then, you'd need binary compatibility across the distributions - also very unlikely due to the patches, lib locations, so on. There are distributions out there that specifically stray from the standard to make it more "human readable". And that's the biggest reason that Linux will never hit the mainstream. Windows is easy enough for anyone to buy a copy of a program, insert the CD and run the installer. Something needs to be done. Quote: Sorry to tell you this, but the hardware mentioned is not newer and cutting edge. The ipw2200 series has been out for a very long time now, and the intel 855gm (and subsequent 915, 945, 950, etc) have not only been out for a very long time, but are entirely supported by xorg using free drivers, provided by intel - they have opened up all there drivers. This includes the 3D stuff. There is no beta to grab and test - this should be working as of atleast a year ago. This is why the author was surprised. Vaild points. However, that is why I posted that bug. There is a problem somewhere. I am also unfamiliar with his setup. But, like I pointed out, older hardware is always usable(for me that's like P-III's and Athlons and G3's. I can't afford a shiny new system. My fastest machine is a Xeon 2.0Ghz and my desktop is a dual P3 Xeon 500Mhz system). This is where Linux is making it's inroads. Quote: Thats acceptable to you? Seriously? No, it's not. Like I said, it's a "nice idea" but it "needs work". It's a whole helluva lot better than 10.1's broken mess. Quote: Also, openSUSE is not only 3 versions old, it traces back to the origins of SUSE - and is mature. Its simply the starting point for Novell's semi-annual corporate desktop release now; just as Fedora didn't start at 1, it was Red Hat before that - they are just doing things differently now. No offense, but I really don't get your point. The COMMUNITY aspects of these distros are NEW. Not the distros. Rad Hat and SuSE have always been the top 2 enterprise distros. That is why I said commercial. SuSE has always targeted the commercial. That's why they had a Professional version and a Personal. Quote: I'm very familiar with SUSE, and I haven't been comfortable with it (or Novell for that matter) since 10.0. I've personally used SuSE since v5.3. And it has always been a solid and stable distro. My Desktop still runs v9.2. No real reason to switch. v10.0 was a good release, and it restored mainstream support for the PowerPC. v10.1 is where it started having issues. Replacing the package system in Beta3 instead of at the beginning was a bad move. Other than MPlayer, I rarely add anything to SuSE. It works out of the box and it works well. Comes with every package I have ever needed. Personally, I could do without OpenOffice, Beagle, Gnome, etc, but it's there for those who do like them.
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	Gotta disagree there too...
	Written by Joseph Gaffney on 2006-12-12 18:59:29
	Quote: And that's the biggest reason that Linux will never hit the mainstream. Windows is easy enough for anyone to buy a copy of a program, insert the CD and run the installer. Something needs to be done. And that can be done in linux too. All you do is prepackage the libraries that are used with every application - thus making huge, memory hungry crap. Which is exactly the 'mainstream' I would want to avoid - otherwise, whats the difference? Quote: Vaild points. However, that is why I posted that bug. There is a problem somewhere. I am also unfamiliar with his setup. But, like I pointed out, older hardware is always usable(for me that's like P-III's and Athlons and G3's. I can't afford a shiny new system. My fastest machine is a Xeon 2.0Ghz and my desktop is a dual P3 Xeon 500Mhz system). This is where Linux is making it's inroads. Sure - but its still a problem, and I really don't think its with the setup the author has. After all, my laptop has all the same things - and they all worked out of the box. Quote: No, it's not. Like I said, it's a "nice idea" but it "needs work". It's a whole helluva lot better than 10.1's broken mess. Which would have been even better had they not introduced that .net/mono-based Zen crap. It was all marketing ploy anyways; thats why it happened mid beta (beta 3, iirc). Quote: The COMMUNITY aspects of these distros are NEW. Not the distros. Rad Hat and SuSE have always been the top 2 enterprise distros. That is why I said commercial. SuSE has always targeted the commercial. That's why they had a Professional version and a Personal. What you are saying are two different things. Red Hat has provided both personal desktop versions and corporate versions for a long time, as did SUSE. SUSE targeted companies through consultation services, using their distribution to support and test was the bonus. Their service was what cost money. And development model aside - they have had, and will continue to have, in-house paid developers. The only difference is increased community input. This should make things better, not worse. SUSE's developers are being hindered by the marketing desires of the higher ups. Thus the Zen fiasco, mid-beta, as mentioned earlier. Quote: Replacing the package system in Beta3 instead of at the beginning was a bad move. Very :( I can't blame the devs though....
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	The metalinks were also quite fast...
	Written by Anthony Bryan on 2006-12-12 01:38:33
	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalink http://en.opensuse.org/Released_Version#Metalink Faster than the torrents actually.
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	I mostly agree...
	Written by Frank on 2006-12-11 22:28:29
	Good review! I mostly agree with your assertions... My brother installed 10.2 on his HP laptop this past weekend (I had downloaded the DVD image to try it myself, but he beat me to it!). The normal stuff did not work out-of-the-box: the Broadcom BCM4306 wifi card (but I found a Debian forum posting about installing and using ndiswrapper and I was able to convert the Debian commands into SUSE for him). We got it working pretty quickly, considering how much trouble I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ve had with my own Broadcom card. We didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t check for WPA (using wpa_supplicant) because I just didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t think about it. He installed KDE because, like me, he likes the eye candy. But he didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t like the included NetworkManager and wanted to know what I was using (I use the stock KInternet from KDE 3.4). We\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ll set that up for him when we next get together. He had no problem getting his resolution set properly, nor was there any issue during the installation regarding partitioning or such (he had SUSE 9.3 installed previously and we wiped it to install 10.2). We fiddled with pointing the Firefox profile towards his Windows installation of Firefox, and ditto with the Thunderbird config. He wants to be able to remove Windows, but since he uses the laptop for business, he needs the fallback approach until he\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s ready to go cold-turkey. :) I agree about the GRUB configuration. I changed his installation to put GRUB into the MBR, but I read the Release Notes just now and I will try their recommended configuration when I install 10.2 on a spare partition on my laptop. I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m curious about how it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s supposed to work. (If you install GRUB into the root partition, for example, how does it get loaded? It can\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t work based on the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"active partition\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" flag in the partition table, can it, since the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Boot Options...\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" dialog defaults to having that function turned off for the partition being used to boot!? As I said, I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ll try it.) We didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t test his laptop\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s ability to hibernate/suspend, but that is going to be the killer app for me: waiting 90+ seconds to boot my current 10.0 installation just eats up too much time and battery power. Once again, good review. It gives me some things to keep in mind when I do my installation later this week...
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	Mr
	Written by Don Marshall on 2007-02-21 10:49:54
	Quote: Good review! I mostly agree with your assertions... My brother installed 10.2 on his HP laptop this past weekend (I had downloaded the DVD image to try it myself, but he beat me to it!). The normal stuff did not work out-of-the-box: the Broadcom BCM4306 wifi card (but I found a Debian forum posting about installing and using ndiswrapper and I was able to convert the Debian commands into SUSE for him). We got it working pretty quickly, considering how much trouble I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ve had with my own Broadcom card. We didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t check for WPA (using wpa_supplicant) because I just didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t think about it. He installed KDE because, like me, he likes the eye candy. But he didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t like the included NetworkManager and wanted to know what I was using (I use the stock KInternet from KDE 3.4). We\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ll set that up for him when we next get together. He had no problem getting his resolution set properly, nor was there any issue during the installation regarding partitioning or such (he had SUSE 9.3 installed previously and we wiped it to install 10.2). We fiddled with pointing the Firefox profile towards his Windows installation of Firefox, and ditto with the Thunderbird config. He wants to be able to remove Windows, but since he uses the laptop for business, he needs the fallback approach until he\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s ready to go cold-turkey. :) I agree about the GRUB configuration. I changed his installation to put GRUB into the MBR, but I read the Release Notes just now and I will try their recommended configuration when I install 10.2 on a spare partition on my laptop. I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m curious about how it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s supposed to work. (If you install GRUB into the root partition, for example, how does it get loaded? It can\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t work based on the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"active partition\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" flag in the partition table, can it, since the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Boot Options...\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" dialog defaults to having that function turned off for the partition being used to boot!? As I said, I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ll try it.) We didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t test his laptop\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s ability to hibernate/suspend, but that is going to be the killer app for me: waiting 90+ seconds to boot my current 10.0 installation just eats up too much time and battery power. Once again, good review. It gives me some things to keep in mind when I do my installation later this week...
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	Negativity is so easy
	Written by OpenBSD 101 on 2006-12-11 22:29:20
	"I'm very disappointed in it. It hasn't changed much. It still is one of the best desktop Linux solutions available," You're "disappointed" that it's "one of the best desktop Linux solutions available available"?! Give me a break! A very typical conclusion from the very typical lazy Linux user. "If you've ever used APT before you can't decently consider using this. I had a few problems with the hardware detection and I would have solved them, but if the package manager is bad why would I bother?" Yeah, why bother? Go back to using Windows then. God forbid you actually have to learn and figure things out in the world of Linux. Stop your whining and look under the hood of the operating system! This review is a D- at best. -Nathan www.openbsd101.com
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	Silly...
	Written by Joseph Gaffney on 2006-12-11 22:47:08
	Quote: Yeah, why bother? Go back to using Windows then. God forbid you actually have to learn and figure things out in the world of Linux. Ugh. Why is it whenever someone complains about something done wrong in linux, this is the reply? Its a horrible, ridiculous, simple-minded answer, and I wish all the tools out there who say this would simply stop. Get a life, get a grip on reality - you can point out mistakes in something you enjoy using without resorting to switching operating systems. So please, find a better response than "Go to windows", or get off them internets. You're in my pipes. Quote: Stop your whining and look under the hood of the operating system! This review is a D- at best. -Nathan I would definitely like the option of marking your comment +1 Troll or some such.
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	?
	Written by barthosch on 2006-12-11 23:35:09
	What's up with all the &quote;s and \\\\\\\\\\\ ?
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	Solo geek
	Written by Jim March on 2006-12-12 00:21:32
	I've got OpenSuse 10.2 running right now on my sole computer, a slightly old'n'funky "Compaq" Evo N610c (actually one of the first of the HP/Compaqs). I switched from Ubuntu 6.10 ("Edgy Eft"). I had been running Dapper 6.06 for about three months, my first break from Windoze and had fully converted my whole life. Edgy on the other hand...had issues. Minor video glitches (old ATI Radeon 7500) and then the file system started to crumble after I deleted files from an SD card (known Ubuntu bugginess there). Sigh. So I decided to try OpenSuse and 10.2 had just came out. So far I'm doing OK. I managed to bring my entire Ubuntu home directory structure over to OpenSuse and get everything running, saved all data, etc. Very cool. The Ubuntu/Debian APT software installation system is so far MUCH better than OpenSuse, but the YaST system doesn't suck badly enough to make me want to toss it :). Stability and compatibility with MY hardware setup is excellent, 'cept my audio volume up/down buttons don't work like they did in Ubuntu...no biggy. Guys, the good news is that shipping your data files and basic configuration stuff (bookmarks, mail, etc) is easy as long as you go from a gnome-to-gnome or KDE-to-KDE switch. And do recall, I've only been doing Linux/UNIX/etc for about 3.5 months now, so if it's easy for ME...hey, this Linux thing ain't sucking so bad, is it? My hope is that the Ubuntu folks will get their (bleep) together next update set and I'll try switching back in a few months...OR maybe whoever is running the OpenSuse thing will sort out their software installer. (Right now some of the things I try and install in YaST give what amounts to "file not found on the servers" when I hit "accept" - I'm assuming the people maintaining the 10.2 repositories (I've got packman and guru plus the official ones) need more time to get sorted out which may be a lot of the problem...but it's still not organized anywhere NEAR the clean way Synaptic is... For others: if one distro chokes on your hardware, try another. ------- Long term, what we need is an add-on software management system equivelent to YaST/Synaptic/etc. that runs on ALL the major distros, is the only way to get the coolest apps and is not connected with any one distro. If one or two major Linux apps houses (Mozilla?) were to say "OK, this is the ONLY way you're getting our crap" to get the ball rolling, how cool would THAT be?
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	Solo geek
	Written by Jim March on 2006-12-12 10:38:37
	I've got OpenSuse 10.2 running right now on my sole computer, a slightly old'n'funky "Compaq" Evo N610c (actually one of the first of the HP/Compaqs). I switched from Ubuntu 6.10 ("Edgy Eft"). I had been running Dapper 6.06 for about three months, my first break from Windoze and had fully converted my whole life. Edgy on the other hand...had issues. Minor video glitches (old ATI Radeon 7500) and then the file system started to crumble after I deleted files from an SD card (known Ubuntu bugginess there). Sigh. So I decided to try OpenSuse and 10.2 had just came out. So far I'm doing OK. I managed to bring my entire Ubuntu home directory structure over to OpenSuse and get everything running, saved all data, etc. Very cool. The Ubuntu/Debian APT software installation system is so far MUCH better than OpenSuse, but the YaST system doesn't suck badly enough to make me want to toss it :). Stability and compatibility with MY hardware setup is excellent, 'cept my audio volume up/down buttons don't work like they did in Ubuntu...no biggy. Guys, the good news is that shipping your data files and basic configuration stuff (bookmarks, mail, etc) is easy as long as you go from a gnome-to-gnome or KDE-to-KDE switch. And do recall, I've only been doing Linux/UNIX/etc for about 3.5 months now, so if it's easy for ME...hey, this Linux thing ain't sucking so bad, is it? My hope is that the Ubuntu folks will get their (bleep) together next update set and I'll try switching back in a few months...OR maybe whoever is running the OpenSuse thing will sort out their software installer. (Right now some of the things I try and install in YaST give what amounts to "file not found on the servers" when I hit "accept" - I'm assuming the people maintaining the 10.2 repositories (I've got packman and guru plus the official ones) need more time to get sorted out which may be a lot of the problem...but it's still not organized anywhere NEAR the clean way Synaptic is... For others: if one distro chokes on your hardware, try another. ------- Long term, what we need is an add-on software management system equivelent to YaST/Synaptic/etc. that runs on ALL the major distros, is the only way to get the coolest apps and is not connected with any one distro. If one or two major Linux apps houses (Mozilla?) were to say "OK, this is the ONLY way you're getting our crap" to get the ball rolling, how cool would THAT be?
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	Open Suse 10.2 Video Card Issues
	Written by Mark Fruhling on 2007-01-26 11:04:40
	I saw that you had some display issues with your ati radeon 7500. I just installed opensuse 10.2 and @ 1600x1200 the display will not fill the entire screen. Any advice on what to do? I am new to the Linux OS, but very capable of learning if pointed in the right direction. Quote: I've got OpenSuse 10.2 running right now on my sole computer, a slightly old'n'funky "Compaq" Evo N610c (actually one of the first of the HP/Compaqs). I switched from Ubuntu 6.10 ("Edgy Eft"). I had been running Dapper 6.06 for about three months, my first break from Windoze and had fully converted my whole life. Edgy on the other hand...had issues. Minor video glitches (old ATI Radeon 7500) and then the file system started to crumble after I deleted files from an SD card (known Ubuntu bugginess there). Sigh. So I decided to try OpenSuse and 10.2 had just came out. So far I'm doing OK. I managed to bring my entire Ubuntu home directory structure over to OpenSuse and get everything running, saved all data, etc. Very cool. The Ubuntu/Debian APT software installation system is so far MUCH better than OpenSuse, but the YaST system doesn't suck badly enough to make me want to toss it :). Stability and compatibility with MY hardware setup is excellent, 'cept my audio volume up/down buttons don't work like they did in Ubuntu...no biggy. Guys, the good news is that shipping your data files and basic configuration stuff (bookmarks, mail, etc) is easy as long as you go from a gnome-to-gnome or KDE-to-KDE switch. And do recall, I've only been doing Linux/UNIX/etc for about 3.5 months now, so if it's easy for ME...hey, this Linux thing ain't sucking so bad, is it? My hope is that the Ubuntu folks will get their (bleep) together next update set and I'll try switching back in a few months...OR maybe whoever is running the OpenSuse thing will sort out their software installer. (Right now some of the things I try and install in YaST give what amounts to "file not found on the servers" when I hit "accept" - I'm assuming the people maintaining the 10.2 repositories (I've got packman and guru plus the official ones) need more time to get sorted out which may be a lot of the problem...but it's still not organized anywhere NEAR the clean way Synaptic is... For others: if one distro chokes on your hardware, try another. ------- Long term, what we need is an add-on software management system equivelent to YaST/Synaptic/etc. that runs on ALL the major distros, is the only way to get the coolest apps and is not connected with any one distro. If one or two major Linux apps houses (Mozilla?) were to say "OK, this is the ONLY way you're getting our crap" to get the ball rolling, how cool would THAT be?
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	Joseph Gaffney is a dolt/troll
	Written by Nathan on 2006-12-12 06:32:57
	So please, find a better response than "Go to windows", or get off them internets. You're in my pipes. And you're a dolt. This review is horrible. Just because they don't like the APT they want to burn the house down?! Again, just another lazy linux user: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.os.linux/msg/0d3315b73f1c9c12?dmode=source Come on. The reviewer is an idiot and you are an idiot yourself ... nice how you were quick to pull out the troll card ... sort of like the pot calling the kettle black. The fact of the matter is, this review of Suse 10.2 is horrible at best. Whaaaa I can't get my APT working whaaaa what am I going to do?! Whaaaa the APT doesn't work, conclusion Suse 10.2 sucks! Whaaaa. If it doesn't work, fix it! But oh, that would mean I would have to actually do something and know what I was doing. Whaaaa.
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	Wow :)
	Written by Joseph Gaffney on 2006-12-12 19:04:48
	Quote: And you're a dolt. Oh, I see - well reading your educated response, I certainly must be.. Quote: This review is horrible. Just because they don't like the APT they want to burn the house down?! Again, just another lazy linux user: Because they "don't like the APT"... hmm... Well.... except, of course, the author likes apt because it takes far less time than the package manager here. And its not "the APT" its simply "apt", as in apt-get. So... what you're saying doesn't really have anything to do with the article. I'll skip the rest of your detailed explanation and thorough use of the word "whaa".
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	Mr.
	Written by slim on 2006-12-28 01:03:17
	Quote: Quote: And you're a dolt. Oh, I see - well reading your educated response, I certainly must be.. Quote: This review is horrible. Just because they don't like the APT they want to burn the house down?! Again, just another lazy linux user: Because they "don't like the APT"... hmm... Well.... except, of course, the author likes apt because it takes far less time than the package manager here. And its not "the APT" its simply "apt", as in apt-get. So... what you're saying doesn't really have anything to do with the article. I'll skip the rest of your detailed explanation and thorough use of the word "whaa". This reminds me of that red vs. buue episode "internet vs. real life." Seriously, the guy needs to get a life.
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	MR
	Written by Don Marshall on 2007-02-18 18:37:15
	Quote: Quote: Quote: And you're a dolt. Oh, I see - well reading your educated response, I certainly must be.. Quote: This review is horrible. Just because they don't like the APT they want to burn the house down?! Again, just another lazy linux user: Because they "don't like the APT"... hmm... Well.... except, of course, the author likes apt because it takes far less time than the package manager here. And its not "the APT" its simply "apt", as in apt-get. So... what you're saying doesn't really have anything to do with the article. I'll skip the rest of your detailed explanation and thorough use of the word "whaa". This reminds me of that red vs. buue episode "internet vs. real life." Seriously, the guy needs to get a life.
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	Written by on 2007-10-03 00:36:53
	Quote: Quote: And you're a dolt. Oh, I see - well reading your educated response, I certainly must be.. Quote: This review is horrible. Just because they don't like the APT they want to burn the house down?! Again, just another lazy linux user: Because they "don't like the APT"... hmm... Well.... except, of course, the author likes apt because it takes far less time than the package manager here. And its not "the APT" its simply "apt", as in apt-get. So... what you're saying doesn't really have anything to do with the article. I'll skip the rest of your detailed explanation and thorough use of the word "whaa".
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	Idiots
	Written by your moma on 2007-01-09 09:51:02
	The idiots in the Linux community are the ones who can't seem to develop any sort of people skills.
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	complaining about complaining LOL
	Written by stolennomenclature on 2007-02-26 23:26:54
	Quote: Quote: Yeah, why bother? Go back to using Windows then. God forbid you actually have to learn and figure things out in the world of Linux. Ugh. Why is it whenever someone complains about something done wrong in linux, this is the reply? Its a horrible, ridiculous, simple-minded answer, and I wish all the tools out there who say this would simply stop. Get a life, get a grip on reality - you can point out mistakes in something you enjoy using without resorting to switching operating systems. So please, find a better response than "Go to windows", or get off them internets. You're in my pipes. Quote: Stop your whining and look under the hood of the operating system! This review is a D- at best. -Nathan I would definitely like the option of marking your comment +1 Troll or some such. Couldnt agree more. What on earth motivates people to get onto a forum or chat list and then complain about people complaining. Thats what they are for!! Its like going to a Hospital and complaining that its full of sick people. If you don't like people making complaints, then you should not be visiting forums.
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	Is it ready for Enterprise desktop yet?
	Written by TruthSeeker on 2006-12-12 00:39:12
	Is it ready for enterprise desktop yet? More specifically what would a company consider Suse 10 for ? Replacing the windows based PC's or the Redhat x86 servers or the sun/ibm legacy systems? Regds Alex http://www.pitchbuster.com
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	Disagree
	Written by E@zyVG on 2006-12-12 01:25:34
	I am not getting this review. I have installed openSUSE 10.2 on 7 different hardwares, including two notebooks and one Core 2 Duo hardware, and myself @home on Athlon64 and office Pentium 4 with i865 chipset with integrated video. Guess what, all is working nicely. And what you mean by out of box. Nothing works out of box, you still need to install drivers and tweak a lil to get your OS up properly. Regarding package manager, openSUSE has less, compared to Ubuntu and Fedora, in repositories, but is thanks to Guru and Packman we have all the necessary and famous apps there. Mplayer-plugin can be compiled in two secs .... do it ... it is Linux. For DVD install libdvdcss2 and voila ... another 2 secs. What is this whining and crying. I report this review as¨C¨. Too many mistakes.
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	Out of the box..
	Written by Joseph Gaffney on 2006-12-13 10:42:09
	Quote: And what you mean by out of box. Nothing works out of box, you still need to install drivers and tweak a lil to get your OS up properly. Intel hardware works out of the box, no proprietary bits needed - or available for that matter. Intel has opened up all their graphics drivers, and has been working to get all their hardware fully supported using f/loss drivers. So no, you don't have to install drivers and tweak to get your os up properly - just use supported hardware.
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	Wouldn't touch Novell Suse
	Written by Henry on 2006-12-12 04:03:33
	Having recently sold the Linux community down the river by endorsing Microsoft's ridiculous patent protection scheme, why would you anyone use Suse? I've got rid of mine and good riddance.
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	YAST
	Written by rooot on 2006-12-12 05:12:51
	i've been using Suse 10.1 for a while and i must say that its much better than mandriva, ubuntu, etc. i havent tried fedora though. Yet YAST is not the best package manager around. APT-GET sets the standards in Linux currently in my opinion. So IMPROVE YAST Novell guys!
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	Simple
	Written by blah on 2006-12-12 07:07:36
	Perhaps some people just like to get shit done and leave politics at the door?
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	Freedom?
	Written by Steven Giles on 2006-12-12 07:42:57
	Quote: Perhaps some people just like to get 'shit' done and leave politics at the door? Yes I imagine you're right some people do and will not care because they want to get 'shit' done as you so eloquently put it. However the overall majority of those working with Linux including myself (Samba etc..) are very annoyed with Novell's position and some people would rather they used (or at least knew) that Novell is system that compromises the very thing that Open Source has fought for, freedom. You might not care but that fact that so many of us do is the reason you have Linux to play with in the first place.
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	Remove ZMD
	Written by kapeka on 2006-12-12 08:08:11
	Remove the whole zmd Pattern (including zmd, rug and zen-updater) in Yast and install opensuseupdater and zypper and the System will run much better. ZMD is Crap for Home-User, but since 10.2 you can deselect it and it will run much faster. Some Repos are somehow broken, yet, so it might be the problem, why it did take so much time probably (or it was only zmds fault). So just try some other repos. I had one broken Repo, but the other were working as they should. And they were attached after may a minute or even less. And you complained about the missing feature for saving your installation-choices. But there is this feature. right at the end of your installation he ask you, if you want to save this installation for "autoyast". This is what you are looking for, as far as I know. With Autoyast you can copy your chosen Installation options on other systems. 10.2 is the Suse 10.1 should have been. This is not a big step forward, that's right. And it need not to be, because it's just an minor release, fixing bugs and getting things smoother and more up to date. And for this Suse has done a very good job.
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	Bad bad bad
	Written by Mark on 2006-12-12 10:18:48
	I have to agree, this is a really poor review :). Still maybe I\'m looking at it through the eyes of someone who\'s had no problems with SuSE. Ok the package manager isn\'t the best but if Thad\'s what you\'re looking for in a distro of course you\'re going to put up with Ubuntus [legendary] instabilities. Don\'t get me wrong, I\'d love to have as many repos as the Ubuntu guys but I\'ve had so many problems with APT that you couldn\'t pay me to use it. Ubuntu has died on me so many times because of APT almost randomly removing or replacing dependencies. Uninstalling packages is a definite no no. Now that\'s never happened with Yast to be fair. When it gets in my way I\'ll have to reconsider this, but as a software eng\' I don\'t really see that happening. I don\'t download and install thousands of pieces of software. I\'m not asking for that much: 1) good multimedia support. Yay, it takes a couple of minutes to get this up and running, with very nice results. 2) good development tools & language selection. Good in more or less every linux*, but the package manager makes it very easy in this case. 3) good behind a very strict proxy. SuSE is the only one that\'s worked \"out of the box\" from here, nuff said. 4) good clean desktop environment. SuSE has always been ahead here, and with the refinements the guys have made to Gnome it\'s very hard to say no. There\'s my informal, though admittedly bias review :), Mark. The less being Ubuntu which doesn\'t even come with make, gcc etc. That\'s more of a reason to skip a distro. I hope this wasn\'t the one you were recommending for professionals.
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	There's my informal, though admittedly b
	Written by Dmitry on 2006-12-12 13:30:56
	Quote: I have to agree, this is a really poor review :). Still maybe I\'m looking at it through the eyes of someone who\'s had no problems with SuSE. Ok the package manager isn\'t the best but if Thad\'s what you\'re looking for in a distro of course you\'re going to put up with Ubuntus [legendary] instabilities. Don\'t get me wrong, I\'d love to have as many repos as the Ubuntu guys but I\'ve had so many problems with APT that you couldn\'t pay me to use it. Ubuntu has died on me so many times because of APT almost randomly removing or replacing dependencies. Uninstalling packages is a definite no no. Now that\'s never happened with Yast to be fair. When it gets in my way I\'ll have to reconsider this, but as a software eng\' I don\'t really see that happening. I don\'t download and install thousands of pieces of software. I\'m not asking for that much: 1) good multimedia support. Yay, it takes a couple of minutes to get this up and running, with very nice results. 2) good development tools & language selection. Good in more or less every linux*, but the package manager makes it very easy in this case. 3) good behind a very strict proxy. SuSE is the only one that\'s worked \"out of the box\" from here, nuff said. 4) good clean desktop environment. SuSE has always been ahead here, and with the refinements the guys have made to Gnome it\'s very hard to say no. There\'s my informal, though admittedly bias review :), Mark. The less being Ubuntu which doesn\'t even come with make, gcc etc. That\'s more of a reason to skip a distro. I hope this wasn\'t the one you were recommending for professionals. I'm completely agree with that.
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	SUSE 10.2
	Written by Dmitry on 2006-12-12 13:24:04
	Open SuSE is an open source, so u have to tweak/tune it to bring it to full functionality. MP3, DVD: all these can be fixed easily from SUSE oriented web sites like: http://packman.links2linux.org http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser Almost any rpm package can be found there. All u have to do, just point your zypper or Yast to it, or u can install packages manually, i.e. rpm -ivh. Even NVIDIA driver can be install over zypper or Yast, pointing them to ftp.nvidia.com/drivers... If u like full functional system, try to purchase SUSE-10.2 from one of the stores, or install more easiest distro: Mepis. Open systems always require user intervention for tuning the system, some times it needs really professional knowledge to bring it to full functionality.
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	Happy with Suse 10.2
	Written by chestnut on 2006-12-12 20:32:19
	I just like to add that my experience (so far) with Suse 10.2 has been very good, and am quite happy using this as my new desktop OS. (SLED 10 also takes pride of place on my Dell Latitude lappy, happy days there as well, even with wireless internet)
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	Yast just sucks.. get over it.
	Written by neopath on 2006-12-12 21:58:10
	poor,poor babies... This is simple fact of life: As a package manager yast sucks really really bad... You can tell us to go back to windows.. insult us all you want but at the end of the day the facts stay the same: compared to apt-get the software management portion of yast sucks so hard that words escape me to describe it.But hey, I'll try anyway. It's slow,unreliable,bloated and quite broken. And I'm not even talking about the sucky repositories. All two of them.Yes,because apart from puckman (I think) and the other one which name escape me right now nothing is worth adding... so will you please give me a fucking break? thank you so much.
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	The above guy sounds nice!
	Written by Kiah on 2006-12-13 03:46:54
	Good review, I was scared I'd read something like this:( I KNOW the installer will own because the only installer I've ever liked better than Suse's is PC-BSDs and thats because it only takes 11 minutes and you can do it with your eyes shut. (I wish you could have an "advanced option" and configure more stuff though, like what software is installed to PCBSD). Hardware in SuSE 10.1 I gave a 9/10. Mostly everything worked, and I have some exotic hardware. Strangely, the only things I can't get working are ipw2200, rtl8187, and ati 3d accelleration (I know, all the common things!!) - I really hoped they'd give it a 10, because then it would probably be the only good operating system that deserves one! (that I know of.) Seems like 10.2 will stay 9/10. Also, I LOVE YaST. It is a little slow, but hey it is everything in one, what do you expect? In the long run it is better than switching between a hundred apps. Although, it really REALLY needs more sources/packages added to sources. YaST has got, what? 7 sources and 250 packages I'd say. That SUCKS compared to Gentoo, Slackware, Debian and BSD/OS (Any, because ports owns :) ) It may not be as much of an improvement as I was hoping, but atleast it has a new kernel (I can't get 10.1 to update) and for the sake of it, I'm going to get it anyway. It might turn out to be my dreamOS, you never know. Although, I'm thinking of trying out a few other operating systems that look nice and are ready for use. Can anyone tell me what problems one can face upgrading from 10.1 to 10.2? I haven't installed that much extra software. Kernel sources, gcc, gambas, eric, wesnoth, opera and a few others.
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	I am a Linux user, also Windows User, an
	Written by Coco Loco on 2006-12-13 18:41:29
	if I could afford a Mac, I would not mind, one of my oldest system run Mandriva, formely Mandrake, my first distro was a Red Hat 5.0, the 2nd a Debian, I don't care the distro, they are all base on the kernel, the Linux kernel, and the only reason I installed 10.1 was because it was in a Magazine, and it is a nice and clean distribution. And it cost me 9.95CDN to put an operating system in my laptop who permits me to do everything I want. You will understand that my computers are for my work. For games I got a Nintendo Gamecube, these little computers are made for play and I don't care what OS they are running, because they are for my little entertainment. But I can't afford the same waste on my work tool. So to comeback with SUSE, it is a solid distribution, well maintain, and I will surely install it on an old reclaim Dell that I found in my basement, it will SUSE 10.2, cuz I need a HD....... and I will not have to pay for the Microsoft Expensive Graphical interface, which is not much than a graphic shell, btw all my machine are fully licensed, which mean I only have one Windows machine. But 3 other computers base on Linux. And I am happy with it. Oh and Yay.
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	Web developer
	Written by Paul on 2006-12-14 08:34:40
	Well...Suse is very polished and I agree with the assessment of the Gnome desktop and general UI elements: very professional and clean. The only gripe I have ever had with Suse is the speed. It is by and far the slowest Linux distro I have ever installed and used. Slow in both app load and boot time. I run an Athlon XP 2800 with 2 gig of ram, sata drives, and a Geforce 6800GT, so my system is not slow at all. I normally turn off every service that is not needed after install, never use Compwiz, or whatever the heck that stupid XGL crap is called, and the system still runs like axle grease in North Dakota. Other than the speed and dismal package management system, Suse is very nice. It detected all of my hardware and was very easy to use. Now if they could just speed things up I might switch...hard to give up my Debian Etch install when I can get to a full blown Gnome desktop in 45-50 seconds, and have apt to boot....
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	AliceC
	Written by AliceC on 2006-12-14 08:37:28
	Having installed the Suse 10.2 myself, I found it to be a stable and solid environment. The only issue I have is the name calling and childish behaviour in these forums and discussions group when people don't agree with the reviewer.
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	It does work, ubuntu doesn't
	Written by tweetiepooh on 2006-12-14 13:53:42
	In my case SUSE always finds the hardware I need. Ubuntu does not see my printer. SUSE does have some problems.
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	as always...
	Written by Erwin on 2006-12-18 07:32:09
	Quote: In my case SUSE always finds the hardware I need. Ubuntu does not see my printer. SUSE does have some problems. As you can see, folks, it's an everlasting and enduring discussion... to all the critics: stupid wankers...
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	should i upgrade/bother with SUSE ?
	Written by cmarvel on 2006-12-20 14:42:19
	If only SUSE was reliable! here is my wish list before i upgrade from 10.1 to 10.2: 1. clock runs too fast (AMD 3200+ duo thingy) - is this fixed in 10.2 ? 2. Sound is choppy - used to be OK in 10.1. In previous versions KMIX had to be uninstalled to fix sound. This is absolutely basic - how can an operatiing system mess that up? 3. DVD drives cease to respond when a disk is inserted. What's this about ? For anything serious like burning disks, copying, running a DVD I have to reboot to WINDOWS. Things that will never be "fixed": 3. After installtion, DVD's (no matter what kind) don't play. A long, time-wasting and tedious, not to mention frustrating search has to follow to find the effing drivers to make it work. 4. No drivers for modern scanners (Microtek 5900). I know just go out and buy some other scanner 5. No drivers for decent printers eg. canon 6600D. I have a 7800GTX video card that miraculously installed in 10.1. Will this happen in 10.2 ? A major problem with this LINUX isthetime one has to spend finding drivers, installing drivers, dealing with drivers that crash/destroy the installtion (eg. wireless wrapper thing on my laptop - what a time waster that was!) Does SUSE support VPN ? Can I install it and getting it working in half an hour ? (Takes 2 mins in WINDOWS). I have looked at UBUNTU 6.01 - looks great, but where is anything on that Gnome desktop ? Seems very limited compared to SUSE. Linux is WAY ahead of WINDOWS for security and all the time and money that is saved not having to deal with all those security issues that WIN XP and apps have, so I would love to abandon WINDOWS. FRUSTRATED
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	Printing in 10.2 is broke
	Written by Jersey Devil on 2006-12-20 21:46:01
	Novel wants you to hand write every document. Yast crashes on a faithful basis at 4% detecting printers. Many of the forums are buzzing with this. This is repeatable with Gnome or KDE. Another great distribution, with a major flaw that is unacceptable for use on it's initial release. you have to keep kill -9 <# on y2base that is hung> To print - either wait for an update that is supposed to be fixed, or use something else.
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	humm
	Written by derrickdp on 2006-12-21 15:32:27
	Quote: Novel wants you to hand write every document. Yast crashes on a faithful basis at 4% detecting printers. Many of the forums are buzzing with this. This is repeatable with Gnome or KDE. Another great distribution, with a major flaw that is unacceptable for use on it's initial release. you have to keep kill -9 <# on y2base that is hung> To print - either wait for an update that is supposed to be fixed, or use something else. My experience with printing is ok. I added the printer and I print and home and at work. I must admit, that printing at work is much slower than the my co-workers windows machine, but it prints and it prints the way I want. I didn't reply to belittle your response, I have read all of the replys and read people call each other names, I just wanted to say, my experience was a little more positive. Yast, it is what it is! I can say nothing bad OR good about it. When I need it to work, it does. I run 10.2 on my dell laptop and I like it. Given the responses that other give I am not sure I would recommend it for my mother, but I like it and I works WELL for me.
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	;)
	Written by Gdoc on 2007-02-12 14:29:08
	Quote: Novel wants you to hand write every document. Yast crashes on a faithful basis at 4% detecting printers. Many of the forums are buzzing with this. This is repeatable with Gnome or KDE. Another great distribution, with a major flaw that is unacceptable for use on it's initial release. you have to keep kill -9 <# on y2base that is hung> To print - either wait for an update that is supposed to be fixed, or use something else. I Hate to say this BUT. The printers ain't broke, It installed both my printers, just asked me to configure my "windows" printer a Konica Minolta PagePro 1350w. The only snag being sharing it with an XP machine, that's all good now. As far as the Nvidia problem some are having the module installs correctly in the "default" kernel so if the xserver kicks you out just start up the "failsafe" setting log in as "root" start the xserver go to Yasst install the "nvidia Kernels" in my case the big-smp and all will be well, at this point there doesn't seem to be an nVidia for XEN kernel but an good user might just want to recompile easy enough to do. So much for Vista not worth the coin. By the way anyone wanting to check out openSuse without the hassles jut grab the "new" Live DvD as see how it runs on your contemplated system. As for you "windose" users: to keep "vista" from sporadically crashing on my extremely stable (formerly XP) system I had to move my "Microsoft" wireless keyboard from the USB port to the PS2 port! Now how easy was that to find - harder than downloading a couple of file for openSuse. By the way as of this morning the repositories are running just fine and fast
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	Net Admin
	Written by Mark Peart on 2007-01-10 07:10:42
	Quote: If only SUSE was reliable! here is my wish list before i upgrade from 10.1 to 10.2: 1. clock runs too fast (AMD 3200+ duo thingy) - is this fixed in 10.2 ? 2. Sound is choppy - used to be OK in 10.1. In previous versions KMIX had to be uninstalled to fix sound. This is absolutely basic - how can an operatiing system mess that up? 3. DVD drives cease to respond when a disk is inserted. What's this about ? For anything serious like burning disks, copying, running a DVD I have to reboot to WINDOWS. Things that will never be "fixed": 3. After installtion, DVD's (no matter what kind) don't play. A long, time-wasting and tedious, not to mention frustrating search has to follow to find the effing drivers to make it work. 4. No drivers for modern scanners (Microtek 5900). I know just go out and buy some other scanner 5. No drivers for decent printers eg. canon 6600D. I have a 7800GTX video card that miraculously installed in 10.1. Will this happen in 10.2 ? A major problem with this LINUX isthetime one has to spend finding drivers, installing drivers, dealing with drivers that crash/destroy the installtion (eg. wireless wrapper thing on my laptop - what a time waster that was!) Does SUSE support VPN ? Can I install it and getting it working in half an hour ? (Takes 2 mins in WINDOWS). I have looked at UBUNTU 6.01 - looks great, but where is anything on that Gnome desktop ? Seems very limited compared to SUSE. Linux is WAY ahead of WINDOWS for security and all the time and money that is saved not having to deal with all those security issues that WIN XP and apps have, so I would love to abandon WINDOWS. FRUSTRATED
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	Hi
	Written by pedram on 2007-04-28 06:53:49
	Quote: Quote: If only SUSE was reliable! here is my wish list before i upgrade from 10.1 to 10.2: 1. clock runs too fast (AMD 3200+ duo thingy) - is this fixed in 10.2 ? 2. Sound is choppy - used to be OK in 10.1. In previous versions KMIX had to be uninstalled to fix sound. This is absolutely basic - how can an operatiing system mess that up? 3. DVD drives cease to respond when a disk is inserted. What's this about ? For anything serious like burning disks, copying, running a DVD I have to reboot to WINDOWS. Things that will never be "fixed": 3. After installtion, DVD's (no matter what kind) don't play. A long, time-wasting and tedious, not to mention frustrating search has to follow to find the effing drivers to make it work. 4. No drivers for modern scanners (Microtek 5900). I know just go out and buy some other scanner 5. No drivers for decent printers eg. canon 6600D. I have a 7800GTX video card that miraculously installed in 10.1. Will this happen in 10.2 ? A major problem with this LINUX isthetime one has to spend finding drivers, installing drivers, dealing with drivers that crash/destroy the installtion (eg. wireless wrapper thing on my laptop - what a time waster that was!) Does SUSE support VPN ? Can I install it and getting it working in half an hour ? (Takes 2 mins in WINDOWS). I have looked at UBUNTU 6.01 - looks great, but where is anything on that Gnome desktop ? Seems very limited compared to SUSE. Linux is WAY ahead of WINDOWS for security and all the time and money that is saved not having to deal with all those security issues that WIN XP and apps have, so I would love to abandon WINDOWS. FRUSTRATED
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	GRUB on the MBR default better ???????
	Written by Michel Catudal on 2006-12-27 08:26:06
	"Another bad thing about the installer is that it installs GRUB on the target partition by default. " Are you nuts? My biggest gripe with a lot of Linux installer is that if I am not carefull they blow my MBR and I can no longer use the bootloader to boot other operating systems. I have 6 different operating systems to boot and surely don't want some damm installer screw up the MBR my machine. I have to then look for my OS/2 or Dos boot diskettes to clean the MBR. Installing grub on the partition as a default is the smartest move even made by a linux distributor. If you use the MBR for GRUB then you have to rely on one of the Linux installations to boot to your other systems. If something happens to this installation you are screwed. With the bootloader you can just wipe out a linux distribution and reinstall without having to worry about being able to boot to other systems if the install fails. As for the Ubuntu install, it is a joke. It gives me errors on every ext2 partitions I have and there are no errors whatsoever on those partitions. Slackware, Fedora and SuSE are very confortable with them. Debian has the same bug toward ext2. If I have a ReiserFS partition Ubuntu refuses to install on it. When I installed Fedora Core 5 on a ReiserFS partition it crashed on reboot. I booted on one of my SuSE installation and went to disable the selinux t