Adopting openSUSE 10.3
Adopting might be a strange word choice, but at the end of the day that is really what you do with a specific Linux distro, you adopt it. You make it your own and become fanatical about it as it helps you to get your job done at the end of the day.
My previous installation was Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10 SP 1. I was very happy with SLED, it is really rock solid, and has a really nice and polished feel about it. The guys at Novell really has turned this into an enterprise level desktop that can be used by power users and normal users alike.
So why change? Well, openSUSE has a much newer kernel, it has Gnome 2.20, and a myriad of other new and cool things which SLED will only have in it’s next big release, and being a geek at heart I like to play with all the new things as they come out.
The installation process:
Painless, and straight forward. I found the secret is to have your /home folder mapped to a separate partition than your root partition, that way you can swap out OSs and keep all your files intact without having to use an external drive to backup and restore your personal files in the process. And the best part of it, openSUSE picked up my user account from the SLED install, I selected it, and voila – logged in to openSUSE with my SLED account on the first start up and had my whole environment set up almost exactly the same as before. What a pleasure.
Gnome 2.20
I do like eye candy, and typically find myself installing new versions on software just to see what the new UI looks like. Gnome 2.20 doesn’t appear much different at first glance, but looking through the release notes it is clear that this is a serious desktop packed with loads of features. There’s nothing vastly different, just a whole bunch of added features making your every day experience that much nicer.
1 click install
From the sound of it, you can expect that these guys will patent the term, and they probably should. The concept is straight forward, go to the openSUSE website, search and select some additional packages that you would like to install, click the link, and let the magic begin. A truly great idea, and endless amounts of fun if you find yourself at the end of a broadband connection.
Compiz
Straight out the box I couldn’t notice too many visual differences, although it has been upgraded to a newer (0.5.4) version. I did some research and discovered all the eye candy is now in compiz-fusion. I 1-click installed it, and all of a sudden I didn’t have borders around my windows anymore and neither any cool spinning cubes with fish stuck at the center – mind you, I didn’t even have a spinning cube anymore. There are means and ways around this, and I did skip a few steps in the installation process, so I’ll have to get back to this sometime in the near future, because the compiz-fusion feature set is the ultimate eye candy right now!
KDE 4
openSUSE 10.3 also ships with a preview of the new KDE4, and seeing as I’ve never been a KDE fan, I haven’t spent any time on having a look to see what the fuss is all about. Personally KDE has always been too over the top for me, where I prefer the simplicity of Gnome, but if KDE is your thing, then you are sure to get some value out of the KDE4 preview.
Tomboy notes
This is probably one of my most used applications, and the’ve improved the new version and now they are offering a to do list as well. You can create tasks for a certain date, and set a priority as well. Completed tasks can also be hidden once marked as completed to reduce the clutter, or they can stay visible for you to witness your accomplishments.
Overall I am definitely impressed with what I have experienced in the last 2 days of the weekend since I’ve installed it, but as I use Linux as a tool in my daily work activities the real test will start tomorrow, and reliability and scalability will be proven. I am convinced the 2.6.22.5 kernel will prove it’s mettle and make for many pleasant work hours, and the rest of the openSUSE 10.3product will deliver the same.
