Novell Suse Linux Professional 9.2

I have been using Windows XP (32-bit) for a while ...

Posted Jan 31, 2005 - I have been using Windows XP (32-bit) for a while on my 64 bit AMD Athlon based laptop. I did not realize that I have seriously under-utilized my laptop's horse power until I installed SuSE 9.2 Professional for AMD64. I just fell in love with it. I have very little Linux experience and despite the fact that Linux is for geeks, SuSE has just made it so simple and easy to install and use even for casual computer users. I tried the Live DVD version for sometime and was so overwhelmed that I did not think twice getting rid of Windows XP altogether. Yes, I now have a Linux-only machine. The installation was a breeze with YaST. All my hardware except the built-in wireless LAN adapter were recognized. It took just over 40 minutes for a standard install. Then I tried YaST Online Update. It automatically found the mirror nearest to my locale and listed the updates it had. All I had to do was select the patches and Finish. The base installation media did not contain graphics driver for my nVidia graphics card. So I had to google a bit to configure 3D support. It was simple but, I didn't knew. I'm a newbie Linux user. Anyway I got it right and it worked flawlessly. But my wireless adapter still doesn't work. After little more googling, I found that my wireless adapter cannot talk in 64 bits and so, I have to wait till the vendor releases one. Next, time to explore some of the applications I need for my day-to-day tasks. I'm quite impressed with the office tools and multimedia support. My USB flash drive was detected and I was able to open and edit some of the MS office documents I had backed up in the drive. Open office had all the bells and whistles I commonly use. I played and listened to some of the MP3 songs I have downloaded. The sound was husky initially, but after little tweaking and tuning with KMix, it was just perfect. However, my DVDs and VCDs did not play out-of-the box. With a little help from the SuSE support forum, I was able to install and run Mplayer. I was really surprised at the range of codec Mplayer supports. It played virtually all formats ranging from mpg1, mpg2, .avi, .wmv, xvid and even .mov files. My VCDs and DVDs worked just perfect. It truly is a damn good player (www.mplayerhq.hu...). Mozilla firefox is cool for browsing internet. It also has Konqueror but as for now I'm sticking to the much familiar firefox. 3D (OpenGL) is great for games. It has Kino for DV capturing and editing, K3B for burning CDs/DVDs, digiKam for managing pictures from digital camera and much much more. Another thing remarkable is the performance. SuSE has everything I wanted and that I was doing with Windows. It does it better and remarkably faster and smoother. Every bit of it is customizable. My laptop really does scream. SuSE 9.2 Pro truly is a kick-But. product. Go get it and forget [ctrl] [alt] [del] forever.

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Anyone that has visited this site and read my revi ...

Posted Nov 7, 2004 - Anyone that has visited this site and read my review of SUSE 9.1 Personal knows, I really like SUSE. It was my first Linux distro , it was my learning tool, etc. With that in mind, I'm proud to be able to review SUSE 9.2 PROFESSIONAL prior to its release to the general public. SUSE Linux Professional 9.2, as the Novell-Suse Distribution is known, has updated much of the distributions core technology. This includes the new Linux kernel now 2.6.8 from version 9.1's version 2.6.4. In addition, 9.2 has shifted the distribution from Xfree86 to the X.Org Foundation's X Window System. If you are a KDE user, you will be happy to know that SUSE has upgraded to version 3.3. GNOME users are not quite as fortunate as version 2.8 was released in September and the timing did not work for this release. 9.2 PRO has GNOME version 2.6. While not the newest, this is still a very feature filled release. SUSE Linux Pro 9.2 also has new redesigned interfaces to make the setup of network services like Samba, DNS, and DHCP easier than before. Other advancements in this distro include; GIMP 2, a comprehensive image processing and graphics creation tool, INKSCAPE, a new vector graphics application that is advertised to outperforms all other Linux alternatives, Nvu, a Web authoring system that combines Web file management and easy -to-use WYSIWYG Web-page editing, Open Office 1.1.3 and a host of other cutting edge programs. An area that Linux, in general, has needed to improve upon has been WIRELESS. Version 9.2 Pro now offers “Bluetooth” wireless support including automatic recognition of Bluetooth-devices via the YaST configuration and admin tool. Bluetooth configuration is simple using YaST making it easy to connect to and move between wireless LANs (WLAN) and other network connections. There is even a suspend-the-disk feature that makes it easy for laptop users who require increased mobility. WHAT ABOUT INSTALL AND USE? Those that have installed SUSE before are familiar with the Green Screen. The new SUSE 9.2 Pro has a very pleasant blue and grey screen, but beyond that, the installation is as smooth as always. Couple of questions, auto partitioning (I always turn the entire hard drive over to the distro) and the installer goes to work. Not unlike every SUSE install, after Disc 1 has been installed, the installer reboots. A couple of disc changes and you are ready to boot into your new system. Hardware detection is excellent. SUSE 9.2 PRO correctly detected all my hardware including my old HP printer and did the full set-up without problems. I booted into KDE and was quite pleased with the speed, quality of fonts and graphics. Using the Suse icon, I went to the Control Center and selected a screen saver and then checked Internet to see what was available for browsing. KONQUEROR was my only choice, so I went to YaST and selected INSTALL SOFTWARE. With YaST, if you have never used it, you can search for software in a number of ways. I chose to enter Mozilla into the search block and it came up with Mozilla and a host of plugins. Also offered in this distro is Mozilla's Firefox. After install, I checked to see what plugins had been installed, as I have a couple of sites on the Web where I go to play games! No JAVA! Not a problem, I made a directory and downloaded. Installing java in SUSE is a little different from other distributions. If you are using a Red Hat, Mandrake or a Debian distro, you can go to /usr/lib. Find Mozilla and install into the plugin directory. SUSE uses /opt/mozilla. If you are creating a simlink, your path to Mozilla becomes: /opt/mozilla/lib/plugins Once the symlink had been created, it was off to the Web to give it a spin. The system worked flawlessly and I noted how quickly the system responded to commands. Sound would be the next check. I went to one of the Web music services and selected a genre. Immediately, I had music playing using Real Time Player 10.0. So far, so good. The next test would be logging into my home network. The network consists of multiple LINUX machines in the Lab and a couple of WINDOWS XP machines in the household. The Windows machines are both wired and wireless (although it doesn't matter). Log in went flawlessly. First look appeared as expected...EXCELLENT! For those that had fears when SUSE was purchased by Novell, this distribution should eliminate any doubts that SUSE is going to continue bringing an excellent product, featuring many cutting edge programs. Their release schedule is aggressive with a new distro planned for every 6 months.

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And, as a Linux n00b, I deeply appreciated that. I ...

Posted Nov 13, 2004 - And, as a Linux n00b, I deeply appreciated that. I am currently running SuSE, and am likely to stay with it. I tried Fedora and Mandrake - both very nice, but none with the suite of helpful tools and easy hardware support that SuSE had right off the discs. I'm still struggling with understanding things the Linux way, but SuSE made it a whole lot easier to get started. Maybe I'll get into a different distro someday, but for now SuSE is the closest thing I have to a potential Windows killer, at least in my household. :) One other thing that I'd like to mention is that I have not shared your experiences when it comes to the installation configuration. While, on one hand, the SuSE installer is very smooth and Yast seems to have great hardware detection, I have been repeatedly confounded when I install new versions, and that's even true of the latest 9.2 release. For whatever reason, SuSE (including 9.2), nicely detects all of my hardware.

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I BOUGHT THIS PRODUCT AS AN ADITIONAL SOFTWARE IN ...

Posted Jan 14, 2005 - I BOUGHT THIS PRODUCT AS AN ADITIONAL SOFTWARE IN MY COMP. IT INSTAL EASY. AS ENY OTHER, BUT IF I ONLY WHERE ABLE TO GO ONLINE FROM ITSELF TO UPDATE IT. DRIVERS (VDEO,MODEM.ETC. ETC.) BY THE WAY MY COMP IS LESS THAN 8 MONTHS OLD...THIS PROGRAM NEVER COULD DETECT MY MODEM...THERE IS NO BETTER CHOICE THAN WINDOWS. UNLESS YOU GET HELP FROM ANOTHER REVIEWER. TX.

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