[KLUG Advocacy] New SuSe User

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> > 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.

Same DVD worked in the other laptop.  I copied all the files to a server
volume without any I/O errors.  Perhaps it is a flaky DVD drive, beats
me.  I got enough installed to install Red Carpet and installed
everything else over my 1.544Mbps DSL connection.  Seems to work fine
now.

> > 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!

And the browser plugin is even automatically installed!

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

Cool.

> > 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 ...

Never.  The version of GNOME on SuSe is newer than what is contained in
XD2, and theoretically at least, offers more functionality.  XD2 would
be a back-port kind of thing.  And event the version of GNOME on SuSe is
old (2.4) while 2.6 has been released.  One thing I miss from FC2 is
GNOME 2.6 and the new nautilus and integrated gstreamer stuff.  But it
wasn't worth the constant stability problems.

The future of XD is unclear at this point; there maybe a Novell Desktop,
or I've heard of an XD4.  So we just wait and see.

It appears that at least CUPS is integrated, so I can bear to wait.

I haven't tested using the VFS via Open Office,  it will hurt if that is
broken now.  Of course ANY use of the VFS in FC2 would pretty much crash
nautilus.

> 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

Okay, on a laptop "any partition except root" kind of sucks.

> > 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!  :-)

Will do, sounds good.

> 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.

Don't care about KDE.  I know, your shocked.

> 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

Great. So far Totem seems to have coded deficiency issues.

> Is it safe to say that you're happier with SuSE 9.1 than FC2 overall?

A deep and booming - "YES!".  I am as certain that SuSe is a better
distribution than FC as I am that Bush is an amoral philistine and that
my cats look down on me with a smug disdain.

> (I haven't tried FC2 yet myself, and I'm not in a big rush from what
> I've read.)

If you're nostalgic for the days of manually adjusting your arp table or
loading and unloading modules then I recommend it.