CrunchBang - Code, Design & GNU/Linux

openSUSE 11, a quick look

A couple of days ago I installed openSUSE 11 [GNOME version] on my casual use laptop. I only installed it out of curiosity as I was interested to see how it compared to my regular Ubuntu set-up. I was not really expecting to be as impressed as I have been, openSUSE is really nice.

The good stuff

Here is a short list of features I like about openSUSE:

• The default look and feel is really professional and very slick. I know it is only a cosmetic issue, but first impressions count, or so I have been told.

• The single GNOME panel and main Slab menu make for a good combination. I did not think that I would be overly enamoured with it, but I found myself liking its simplicity. It only took a few minutes to make myself familiar with how it operates and when it is used in conjunction with the next impressive feature, it works well.

• GNOME Do is installed by default. I have been loving the speed advantage this application has given me, to quote the website, GNOME + Do = Crazy Delicious :)

• Both Compiz and PulseAudio are integrated into the desktop environment. I did not have to install any additional packages to make the most of Compiz as CompizConfig Settings Manager was installed by default.

The not so good stuff

Unfortunately, my time spent with openSUSE has not been all good, here is a short list of stuff I noticed which is not so impressive:

• During the installation I was unceremoniously dropped to the console and presented with a login prompt. This was slightly disconcerting and I nearly rebooted as I thought the install process had failed; then, just as I was about to restart my system, X popped back to life and the installation continued. I am not sure what that was all about?!

• I have experienced numerous application-level crashes. Banshee seems particularly unstable on my system and often disappears from my desktop without so much as a bye-your-leave — most disappointing as I was expecting good things from Banshee :(

• openSUSE's package management is fine, but it is not APT. I miss APT.

Conclusion

I have not been using the system long enough to make any solid conclusions; however, from what I have experienced so far, openSUSE 11 is definitely worth a look. If I was not so attached to APT, I would maybe consider keeping it installed. Having said that, it really is not too difficult to set-up Ubuntu to mimic and take advantage of the features I like in openSUSE.

openSUSE 10.3 RC1 - First Impressions

I've installed openSUSE on my desktop machine, replacing Ubuntu Feisty. First impressions are not good and I'll be removing it later today. It would have been nice to keep it running until Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon is released but, unfortunately it doesn't seem to like my system — it boots just fine but it then seems to want to think about running applications before actually loading them. For example, it takes gedit 10-15 seconds to fully render to screen. This is a bit of a show stopper.

Regarding the installation, it went smoothly enough and the only niggle I had was with the automatic selection of web repositories. For some reason the default method wanted to grab all the packages from the web instead of using the CD. Apart from that the installation was easy enough. If I had to compare it to Ubuntu's installation, I would say that Ubuntu's installation is more user friendly [especially with its LiveCD version.]

Once the installation was complete, I logged in for the first time and I thought my machine had locked-up. It hadn't, it was just taking an age for GNOME to load. Every application that I've tried also takes an age to load, it really is slow. This is a shame because the openSUSE team have obviously done an impressive job trying to set its version of the GNOME desktop apart from the pack; I really would have liked to be able to give openSUSE a more thorough review. It's a shame my system is baulking at the very idea!

My Big Linux Software List

I'm currently running Ubuntu 7.04 [Feisty Fawn] on both my desktop and my laptop systems. Sometime in October [the 18th?] I'll be updating to Ubuntu 7.10 [Gutsy Gibbon]. I've been on the Ubuntu upgrade path ever since I first installed version 4.10 [Warty Warthog]. I've seen Ubuntu go from strength-to-strength and I'm pretty certain that Gutsy will be another successful release. However, seeing as there's only a few weeks to go before Gutsy is released I thought it might be good to experience a different Linux distribution.

Enter openSUSE 10.3 RC1. I first experienced using SUSE Linux back when it was at version 6.3. It'll be interesting to see how it has developed over the years. I'll be installing it on my desktop system either tomorrow or the day after and I'll use it until Gutsy is released. I don't think it's possible to get a good understanding of how a system operates until you have used it for at least a couple of weeks — so now is a prime opportunity to give openSUSE a try!

Anyhow, before I remove Ubuntu and install openSUSE I wanted to make a list of the software I'm currently using on a day-to-day basis. I can then refer back to the list once I've got the openSUSE base system installed. So with no more ado, here's the list:

• GNOME — I'm a GNOME user, so I'll be installing the openSUSE GNOME version. I'm currently running version 2.18.1
• gedit — GNOME's default text editor, should be installed by default. I use gedit for most [if not all] coding tasks
• Apache — I run a development environment on my systems and being a web developer it makes sense that I'm going to need a local web server
• MySQL — Again because of the reason given above
• phpMyAdmin — A web based client for MySQL database server
• PHP — My current web development language of choice
• OpenSSH — So I can control my desktop when I'm away from home
• Firefox — My web browser of choice, seems to be installed by default by most Linux distros
• Macromedia Flash — I'm not a big Flash fan but it's needed to watch web based movies and some screencasts
• gFTP — A graphical FTP client
• Gimp — For graphical work, again seems to be installed by default by most Linux distros. Currently running version 2.2.13
• OpenOffice — I don't actually use it much but I do occasionally crack open Writer to bash out the odd report
• KSnapshot — The only KDE based application that I have installed. Simply because it's better than GNOME's default screen capture effort
• Agave — A nice little application for selecting colour schemes
• GnomeBaker — For burning data to CD/DVD
• XChat — An IRC [internet relay chat] client
• Totem — For playing movies, should be installed by default
• Rhythmbox — For listening to my music collection, again should be installed by default
• Non Free Multimedia Codecs — For MP3 and DVD playback
• Audacity — I'm in the process of transferring my partners old vinyl records into digital format. Audacity has been working nicely for this.

And that completes my list for now. It's a fairly standard list and there is nothing out of the ordinary on it. Hopefully it shouldn't take me too long to get openSUSE up and running.