Novell has made some interesting changes in distribution and development since our last review of SUSE Linux. Many say it's for the better and I'd say I'm inclined to go with that theory. To tell you the truth, I never thought I'd see the day SUSE opened up it's doors to the community to help expand and concert development efforts, but here we are in a world where SUSE is open and still making geeks sweat every time a new release comes out. Without a doubt, OpenSUSE was one of the biggest announcements of the 2005... and for good reason. SUSE has always been one of the most popular Linux distros on the planet. As of this writing DistroWatch has it ranked as the #3 distro, coming in after Ubuntu at #1 and Mandriva at #2. SUSE has always been at the top of their game and judging by the numbers they still are. Is it worth the download? Is it worth our time? We're here to take a look....
Features
Linux kernel 2.6.13-15
X.org 6.8.2
gcc 4.0.2cvs/glibc 2.3.5
KDE 3.4.2
GNOME 2.12
OpenOffice.org 1.9.125 productivity suite
Firefox 1.0.6 web browser
Evolution 2.4 email/calendaring
Gimp 2.2.8 image editor
K3b 0.12.3 CD/DVD burning
Gaim 1.5.0 instant messenger
Amarok 1.3.1 media player
F-Spot 0.1.2 photo manager
Beagle 0.0.13 desktop search tool
Speaking of geeks in heat, the day SUSE Linux 10.0 was released (Thursday, October 6, 2005), their servers nearly melted from the pressure of thousands of hungry Linux lovers trying to grab the much anticipated release. It was so bad that people were frantically trying to grab it before the release was even pushed out to their mirrors, thanks in part to leaks by sites such as OSNews.com. It got so bad that the mirrors couldn't sync properly to a master server flooded by connection attempts. So, needless to say, many of us had trouble downloading the new version in a reasonable amount of time after its release. To top that off, normally SUSE gets us a location to download from for review but for some reason this time they were silent. We received no announcement or download information from Novell/SUSE... so we had to wait for the mirrors to catch up. I remember the days when communication with SUSE was open and their staff members were a pleasure to work with. I suppose those days are gone. Since the Novell buyout, our “normal” communication with them has all but come to an end. Oh well. Time changes everything I suppose. I was still itching to take the new release for a test drive!
Installation
The SUSE installation, from a consumer standpoint, is one of the better installers available today. Even though it's always been one of the more needy distros out there in terms of end user input, everything is clear and easy to understand. This time around it's even less needy so I can feel even more comfortable recommending it to new Linux users. That being said, not everyone is at the same level of Linux enlightenment, and for those who still require a helmet there's plenty of context help if necessary. SUSE has pretty much everyone covered here and it didn't go unnoticed. Normally I'm all for building desktop distros with as simple an installer as possible. Let's face it, the most popular desktop operating system in the world, Windows, doesn't have the best installer out there. As a matter of fact, I firmly believe that 90% of the Linux distros available have beat it hands down. It's not really hard to do. SUSE is no exception here either. Although it might be a bit long winded, it's without a doubt easier to use than Windows. This is something many people overlook in their reviews and endless comparisons of Linux vs. Windows and I'm not sure why, so here's one reviewer telling you that modern Linux distros are generally cake to install.
Images: booting and installing SUSE Linux 10
Over the years, YaST (the SUSE installation and configuration tool) hasn't really changed much in terms of the end user experience. Actually I shouldn't really put it that way because it has changed, but from the end users perspective it's really been very minimal. Sure, they've fine tuned hardware detection, sped up the overall process, eliminated unnecessary options, fine tuned the others, and generally made it a better installer over time. Hardware detection has been improved to the point that the only thing I need to manually set is my monitor model. For some reason the Viewsonic VG171 has never been properly detected by SUSE. This time was no different. As a matter of fact, it was missing entirely from the model listing so I had to choose a similar model (VG175 if I remember correctly). The specs are pretty much dead on to my model so it works out fine. In the end, if all I have to do is tell SUSE my monitor model, then they're doing something right wouldn't you say?
As a whole, all Linux distributions have improved in this respect. I group them together here because advances in Open Source technology have been great over the past few years, and I can only imagine it's accelerating due to the large amounts of capital flowing into it from commercial interests large and small. The buzz around OSS is also growing at an enormous pace thanks in part or whole to applications such as Firefox and OpenOffice.org, which in turn fuels more cash infusions by big business. As producer (and Mad Penguin™ writer) Christian Einfeldt will be discussing in his upcoming documentary on Open Source software, The Digital Tipping Point, we will soon be witness to a global shift to Free/OSS software and open technology as a whole... away from the aging proprietary software business model. Some might argue we're already there and witnessing the beginning stages of the tip, that the foundations of monopolistic business practices are already starting to erode... in either case, we all believe that desktop Linux will take a major role in this movement.
Not only can you download the official DVD or CD set, SUSE can be installed from the Internet as well using their minimal boot image (64MB ISO). Using this boot disc would allow you to boot the machine and connect to the Internet to pull the entire installation from remote servers. If you've got bandwidth to spare and a shortage of good CD/DVD media, this method might be for you. As an example, if you were to install from the actual OpenSUSE ftp server, the IP address you enter is 195.135.221.134 and the path you'd use would be /pub/opensuse/distribution/SL-10.0-OSS/inst-source/. Once you've given the installer that information it will download the 64MB base install image and continue on pulling everything else from the Internet. Alternately, if you have a LAN at your disposal you can download the ISOs and place them on a file server to use as an install source for all your client machines. In other words, the developers have made it easy to get SUSE on your system(s). They aim to please.
Speaking of aiming to please, I must say that the installer is truly one of the most attractive in the Linux kingdom. Hands down. Mandriva's new installer is looking slick too (you'll see more in my next review) so it's starting to catch on that it's a plus to not only have a technically functional installer, but making it look good/intuitive to the end user has its benefits as well. SUSE's installer has always been very needy as I said. It required far more user input than most mainstream desktop distros, but usually the payoff was that your computer would work just the way you wanted it to when you first booted the system. Well, I can tell you this: the options are all still there as they always were, but you probably won't need to change anything at all. For me, all of the defaults seemed to “just work”. So, rather than having to change a bunch of options all you need to do is glance over everything as it is presented to make sure it all looks right. In my case, everything did and the system installed like a dream. If you'd like to see the install process first hand, you can SEE IT IN ACTION here. The link will open a new window with a short (running time - 2:01 min) flash movie of an actual SUSE Linux install being performed on a virtual machine.
Booting for the first time
After my new SUSE 10 install was finished (which took the better part of 45 minutes I must say, which seems a bit extensive for a modern distro in my opinion) I found myself staring at the new & improved, soothing blue boot screen for just shy of a full minute. After this you are taken to and equally blue KDM login screen. I have to say I like what they've done to this. It looks very professional and friendly. It's almost like a soft blue light is glowing in the middle of the screen. In the middle of the screen you have all the user details for the system. The left side has the list of users currently on the machine and the right hosts a user and password entry area. The top of the screen simply states “SUSE Linux” and at the bottom you have two entries: Session Type and System. The Session Type menu gives you a list of all the desktop environments on the system so you can choose between them when logging in. The System menu allows you to reboot, shutdown, etc. It's all very intuitive. If you've ever used Linux before you're no stranger to this type of layout in both KDM and GDM.
L to R: SUSE login screen; loading the desktop environment
