[KLUG Advocacy] New SuSe User

[Bruce Smith]

> Well, I've got SuSe installed on two laptops, so here are my
> observations.

I have it on one laptop and two desktops, FWIW.

> 2. One one install the install really struggled and kept complaining
> that the media did not contains such-n-such package (?!).  Starting over
> would result in the install failing because some different package
> installed. Wierd.  After hours I got it installed by installing a nearly
> bare install.

Bad media?  I installed one desktop from CD and the other two from DVD.
I had no such issues.

> 3. On the other laptop (from the same DVD) the install sailed through
> without issue for a GNOME install.

Ditto.

> 4. Acrobat Reader is included!

So is realplayer (on the purchased box set anyway).

> 9. GNOME install is pretty good, but has a few holes.  For instance OO
> seems totally unintegrated and isn't even in the GNOME "Office" menu. 
> This is bad enough to seem a bit of a deliberate slight.  And since when
> is Open Office Calc "kcalc"?

How long before XD2 is available, I wonder ...
I think I'll try it this time. (on a cloned parition! :)

> 16. Your stuck with Rieserfs (Ick!).  Installing onto other filesystems
> didn't seem to work and blew up catastrophically (I tried XFS & JFS).

After updating the kernel, XFS works fine.  There is a driver diskette
image you can download to let you use XFS in the installer on any
partition except root. 

The problem is described here, along with a link to the floppy image:
http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/04/91_xfsfix.html

> 17. Battery applett does not work, so there is ONE thing that worked
> under Fedora that doesn't under SuSe.

Install and start acpid, then it works (in Gnome).  You an also program
other acpid events, like run shutdown if you press the power button,
lock the screen if you close the lid, etc.   Kinda cool!  :-)

It's a different service (similar to acpid, forgot the name) to make the
battery applet work under KDE.  You cannot run the two at the same time.

18.  mplayer is no longer included (it was in 9.0).  However that can be
solved here (SuSE 9.1 RPM's):  http://packman.links2linux.de/?action=128

Is it safe to say that you're happier with SuSE 9.1 than FC2 overall?
(I haven't tried FC2 yet myself, and I'm not in a big rush from what
I've read.)

 - BS