Another SuSE release and another review on Mad Penguin. What’s so special about this release to merit taking up your valuable time?Well, for starters this will be the first commercial Linux release built on a production 2.6 kernel. To top that off, it includes the newly released KDE 3.2 and GNOME 2.4.2 desktop environments. This could turn out to be one slick desktop system. Will it live up to expectations? MadPenguin intends to find out.
Update: Here is one more review of SuSE 9.1.
How can it ship with 5.5 when the latest version is 5.2.9? Will Mainconcept release 5.5 in time for SUSE 9.1?
This one was great! As always, from madpenguin
Agree. And much better than the previous review posted on OSNews.
“but in no way does that give anything back to the developers who innovate.”
I hope Novell spends my purchase wisely. Actually, I’d much rather make my purchase from an org – like OSDL – but there is no such option – yet.
I’m looking forward to see how the game plays out between Fedora and SuSE. Fedora being free, bleeding edge but only by download and no printed doc.
SuSE is by far the most polished distro. I am loking forward to put my hands on 9.1
Great review for a great product
SuSE is by far the most polished distro.
And broken. Half the options in YaST don’t even work. All the multimedia libraries are crippled so you can’t really watch or listen to anything. Not many people seem to be making uncrippled SUSE rpms either. I spent forever looking for them on google. SUSE looks nice from the outside but YaST needs to be fixed and SAX needs to be fixed too. No one should have to manually edit an XF86Config file for a distro like SUSE.
That’s strange, cause i installed it (v9) in a lot of systems, and helped others… YAST just works… It’s not a ferrari, but it works great. Have you tried 9.0?
I only had 1 problem with multimedia libs: k3b and mp3 to wav encoding, but google found me a rpm for it (check k3b homepage).
If you’re talking about support for divx videos or dvd, maybe you should get it yourself, cause distros (not just SUSE) will not risk their asses.
SAX2 is not perfect (look and feel), but it did work for me everytime.
I should say that I only tried SUSE9, not previous versions, so I cannot talk about those.
No distribution developed by a corporation ships with libcss2 by default, which is required to play DVD’s. They can’t, legally.
However, perhaps you should polish up on your Google skills. There are some awesome apt4rpm archives with everything you need. Google on that. I’ll leave that as an excercise for you, instead of giving the direct link.
Oh, and as for X configuration… I believe every distribution is lacking in that area, including SuSE.
I love SUSE and I like that you can use YOU to install the nVidia drivers, but what about the ATi drivers? As far as SUSE rpm’s, there are a few good places that I have found, all of which are in the APT for RPM SUSE repository. I have never had any problem with SaX2 and have never hand edited my XF86Config file. I have had problems getting my 9600XT to use the ATi Driver with 3D support but that is not SUSE’s fault. I will be purchasing 9.1 when it comes out in May.
And as for the reviewers comments about missing the Ximian technology in 9.1, I’m sure 9.1 has been in the works for a while and you can’t expect them to integrate new technology they just got within the last few months. Right now they have stopped working on Red Hat support for Ximian to focus on getting SUSE and Ximian to work perfectly. Expect 9.2 to be totally Ximian-ified (or probably have that new best-of-both-worlds Desktop they announced). Also, SUSE reported that soon after 9.1 comes out they will have GNOME 2.6 rpms available from their mirrors and (i think) YOU.
Except for the complaints about Ximian stuff, the review was great, much better than the Linux.com one.
If history is any judge, 9.1 will be the one to get
for those of you who were on the fence about getting 9.0.
Sean
This review is much better than the last “quick look”.
Btw, you can preorder SUSE 9.1 now, it will ship in the beginning of May.
http://www.digitalriver.com/dr/v2/ec_MAIN.Entry10?V1=632188&PN=1&SP…
Fedora Core comes bundled on the DVD of a magazine I read every few months (PersonalComputerWorld, UK). It doesn’t take a lot to get it looking sweet, I installed KDE3.2 etc. (mmm, Plastik).
It’s not hard to add DVD and MP3 support to Fedora, and there is no shortage of RPM’s for any application. So I’m sticking with FC1.
OK, now this annoys me. I have been pre ordered for a while, and they are saying it wont be out until early May. How come madpanguin can get it so easy. I read it, and he makes no mention of it being a beta. So what is the hold up. Is it taking them that long to print CDs, or are the using people like mad penguin to work out last minute bugs. Anyway, how do you become a beta tester for SuSE, I have tried and tried to find out. I wish SuSE was more open with their betas, I feel it would help out their overall product quite a bit. Anyway, I can’t wait for SuSE 9.1.
It is in beta4 release, n/m. I still hold by my assertion that the betas need to be more open though.
There is mention in the review of the fact that it is beta 4 code
“Granted this software is in beta4 release, so there is still room for improvement, but so far all of the development effort has been on KDE. Even still, it hasn’t gone unnoticed.”
The update link to Neolinkcomputers contains a review which states that a Canon digital camera was recognized, but that SUSE could not deal with images shot in RAW mode. RAW mode is useful because one frequently can squeeze out an extra stop of detail, particularly in what look like blown highlights in JPEG mode.
I am writing this to say I own a Canon EOS 300D, known in the USA as the Digital Rebel. I sometimes shoot in RAW mode, and Linux handles the resulting conversions quite well. The key program for the conversion is “dcraw.” If you install it, then Imagemagick incorporates it, and provides a graphical front end for the conversion.
I use the Debian Sarge repository, where this functionality is an “apt-get” away, but I suspect something similar is available in SUSE.
I’m using version 9 of SuSE. I have been waiting too long for 9.1. That’s why I want to have BETA version before the full release version. Can anyone tell me where I can ver 9.042? I’d really appreciate (have reward in return ^_^).
???
SuSE sent out emails to press people offering them a free download of a press kit, photos, manuals, and the x86 and AMD64 editions of SuSE 9.1 beta 4. That’s how MP, OSNews and others got it.
-Jem