openSUSE 11.2 Gnome edition - Fantastic

Hi all,

I'm such a plonker. I've only recently realized that all these years, I've never tried openSUSE with the Gnome desktop. And having just done that, I must say I regret the omission oh so badly, because openSUSE 11.2 with Gnome is simply fabulous. Even more so than the KDE edition.

So please, enjoy a long, enthusiastic review of openSUSE 11.2 Emerald Gnome edition installed from DVD, covering topics like attention to detail, easy of use, looks, fonts, customization, package management, security, Control Center, Compiz effects, Web camera, and more. Have fun!

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/opensuse-11sp2-gnome.html


Cheers,
Mrk

 

Oh great, now you've aroused my curiosity, compelling me to try this out - again! I seem to remember my experience with this release, although largely positive, wasn't quite up to par with the one I've had - and still having - with Mint Helena. However, I will take it for another spin shortly. BTW, nice review. Thanks!

 

LoL
Where you been buddy...??
I recall you have always liked SuSe.
First time with the SuSe gnome eh?
SUSE has really lifted it's profile recently, lots of nice stuff ( Studio etc) forums better than ever, a very good OS suite ..and I agree, despite the "default"..the foot rox.
Welcome to the gnomics among us...we just keep our heads down because we are so uncool..
We dont have to make thousands of posts like the other mob re dis'n'dat'n'summatelse going screwy..just works..

Personally I am so far over the widgetty world atm.
KDE is getting like one of those pandora necklaces..all blingy bits but no real purpose other than decoration ??

LOL. Gnome is a hardworking tractor ..that can have a few fancy whistles and mirrors if you want.

PS: another nice write up.

 

Brilliant review. If it were not for my 5GB limit imposed by my ISP (the max. available), I would download it immediately. Must check the local newsagent as I see the Linux Format mag. has SUSE 11.2 on its Jan. cover disc.
I hope there is also a LTS like with Ubuntu, or are all the releases only 6 month ? I believe upgrades to a newer release are more reliable with SUSE - but this 6 month stuff can be a deal-breaker. Ok 18 months if I choose not to upgrade at 6 monthly intervals.

I think it has become Mrk's top distro as of late.

 

Could you translate that into the Queen's English, please? . Is it "this and that and something else"? Is that how everyone talks in Australia, mate? BTW, I hear it's warm down under right now. At this moment it's 5 degrees above zero F where I live. God, I hate winter.

Later...

 

Long, just never got the chance to try Gnome on SUSE, that's life. I love Gnome.
openSUSE (SUSE) has always been one of my favorites, but it's gone up a few notches with the latest release.
Mrk

 

Onlee thu edumacted few

Ya, I hear and see that the Northern hemisphere winter is savage this year.
Saw an amazing satellite shot of the UK through the clouds showing a perfect "map" completely whited out
I bet the US is worse.

 

I think I still have a boxed set of Suse 7 somewhere here. But, my big problem with OpenSuse is the command line interface, mainly zypper. It always seemed to be just a tad better than YUM but well below APT/Aptitude. Any remarks on its utilization in the 11.2 releases?

 

Been piddling with Linux Mint on one of my ultra portable laptops (IBM X40)...probably going to stick OpenSUSE on it to piddle for a while, I have a feeling it will make it full time onto my primary laptop dual booted with Win7. When I had Vista on my main laptop I was running prior version of OpenSUSE on it more often, via dual boot.

Downloading lotsa *nix over the weekend, right now almost done pulling down Smoothwall Express to rebuild my PFSense laptop with it...it's been a while since I've run Smoothie at home. Prolly run that til PFSense 1.3 is officially out.

 

Is it fast and snappy or slow and lazy like Ubuntu?

 

Ubuntu is not slow, mind. As to speed, openSUSE is not the speediest distro, but it runs well even on older machines, like a five-year-old T42. On modern machines, with 64-bit processor, it flies very nicely.
Mrk

 

Hmmm... I am using ubuntu on my laptop with Pentium M 1.7, 1.5 GB Ram and application launch is slower than XP( without an AV).

I tried PCLOS Gnome edition and that was significantly faster but I prefere to use Ubuntu.

 

I had Ubunto 9.10 in my VirtualBox for a short time and found it similar in speed to XP, and certainly on par with Win 7.

BTW, tried openSUSE Gnome i386 last night on my real system (had tried KDE before with mixed feelings), and things went swimmingly until after I installed latest updates and re-booted and was greeted with the WSOD (White screen of death ) after login. And I mean solid white - no text or nothin' else, other than the lonely mouse pointer drifting along the barren landscape Same thing logging in compatibility mode. Oh well, just happily reverted to Mint-Helena x64 using trusty GParted/Clonezilla dynamic duo (maybe unnecessary but I like to format first - idea I stole from Peter2150 ).

 

Mrkvonic,
I see you posted your review over at DistroWatch. . I said to myself "Hey, I know that guy!".

Later...

 

I posted? No ... But prolly Ladislav Bodnar linked to it
Mrk

 

Well....now you've ruined it for me ........ .

Yeah, maybe so..........but I don't know him and that creates sort of a pseudo-problem. You see?

P.S.
If my humor is escaping you it's due to the fact that I just got out of bed and I'm on my first cup of coffee so just over look me.

Later...

 

No, but a link would be nice ...
Or a pseudo-link, if you prefer.
Mrk

 

Exactly the same for me...was looking so good up until the update/reboot after which WSOD.

If anyone has some linkies to some help for WSOD I'd be most grateful. I did google to try and find out what to do [but had to install Mint as some family members wanted to use that particular PC].

Cheers,

Chalawah.

 

Glad I'm not the only one, though otoh too bad it didn't go better for you. I don't know about you, but I sent my system configuration to the openSUSE team in hopes it can help them with the changes necessary to support the hardware. I had success with the KDE x64 this morning except the video even with nvidia successfully installed won't support effects. Maybe my hankering for razzle dazzle might seem childish, but I just want it all, especially since it's there for the taking Man, I really want SUSE to work it's a great looking distro in so many ways - both visually and in functionality. Ultimately, I'd rather go with Gnome than KDE but the latter is not too shabby.

 

How about a screenshot?

 

This is a bit off-putting Restart only starts gnome desktop - not computer

Looks like that annoying bug has been unpatched in the repos. although a 'fix' is mentioned in the above link.

Applies to version 11.2.

Mrk. did you not notice this ?

 

That's an old one, and I haven't seen it.
Besides, you can always do init 0, init 6.
Mrk

 

I am an idiot ! Downloaded the openSUSE 11.2 Add_lang iso and of course it wouldn't boot.
I did this using a local mirror site as the d/l speed was double that from the official site. Was in a hurry, buyers were due to arrive - our house is on the market.
This means I can't try openSUSE 11.2 this month as my download/upload allocation of 5GB (recently increased from 3GB by the monopolistic state run ISP) is almost used up !

You folks in N.America and Europe don't realise how good you have it with much faster connections and very much lower prices.
It's a fact that some die-hard internet fanatics have emigrated just to get those ultra high speeds. Then they boast in the local forums that they have downloaded such and such at some mouth-watering speed.
As things stand with my 2 Ubuntu versions plus CentOS plus the wife's Ubuntu, a big chunk of that 5GB is used for updates !
So, post me your live cd/dvd's

PS. Sorry for ranting.

 

Ocky, I can feel your frustration.
There is a Gnome live cd available here: http://software.opensuse.org/112/en

Tell your candidate buyers that the home is not for sale anymore, you have more important things to do...

 

lol ..
Thanks for commiserating. Buyers have left leaving me some quality time to get down to those more important things in life.