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Have you tried looking at the wiki? 1-click installs for all the blobs

Doesn't that violate an Amazon patent? ;-)

Have you tried looking at the wiki? 1-click installs for all the blobs

The Java, Flash and restricted codecs are all in the Opensuse repositories. Opensuse installs flash and java automatically when you install it if you have the 'non-oss' add on CD. If not you can simply add this repo after installtion and install them.
The restricted codecs are a 1-click install: http://opensuse-community.org/Restricted_formats [opensuse-community.org]

The procedure might be slightly different from Ubuntu's but it couldn't be simpler, really.

(double-post the other one I accidentally clicked 'post anonymously')

The Java, Flash and restricted codecs are all in the Opensuse repositories. Opensuse installs flash and java automatically when you install it if you have the 'non-oss' add on CD. If not you can simply add this repo after installtion and install them.
The restricted codecs are a 1-click install: http://opensuse-community.org/Restricted_formats

The procedure might be slightly different from Ubuntu's but it couldn't be simpler, really.

Maybe so, but these problems have been fixed in the 11.x releases. zypper works beautifully now, and fast too. And installing the codecs couldn't be easier: http://opensuse-community.org/Restricted_formats/11.3

For example, it wouldn't play MP3s out of the box (ridiculous!) so I went to the OpenSUSE site and found a very lengthy and poorly formatted forum-style wiki on setting up non-free decoders. I tried several of the different options and none worked. So after hours of hunting I came across a blog walking me through adding the gstreamer back end for Phonon and all of the restricted codecs, which were in a separate Packman repo with a dubious cert. After about 8 hours and a couple reboots I was finally able to listen to MP3s.

I don't know what wiki you're referring to but the opensuse-community one couldn't be simpler (1-click install): http://opensuse-community.org/Restricted_Formats
This is the page linked to in the sticky post in the multimedia forum, the one people who ask about codecs in the forums are directed to and it is, or is linked from, the first 2 websites listed from a Google search for 'opensuse mp3 codec'.

(the opensuse-community.org wiki exists basically to serve up this page, and a handful of others, that can't go in the main opensuse.org wiki because of these legal issues)

Most Linux distros have community forums and IRC channels if you have questions as a new Linux user.

For most users, the first two steps you need to take after a new Linux install (openSUSE being no exception) is to install a video driver, and install codecs.

With openSUSE, there are two 1-click installers that handle these tasks.

http://en.opensuse.org/NVIDIA_drivers
http://opensuse-community.org/Restricted_Formats/11.2

Running those two 1-click installers should get DVDs, Flash, your video driver, MP3 support, QuickTime support, etc. all working.

KDE 4.4 isn't night and day different from KDE 4.3. You can use a 1-click installer to add a newer version of KDE, or you can wait a few months for openSUSE 11.3 which will upgrade your entire system to the latest and greatest versions.

1) does it force the use of RPM? Some prefer DEB, or even ebuilds.

Yes, because it produces a openSUSE derivative.

Fortunately, openSUSE also comes with zypper as high level tool. It's quite like apt is a high level tool to dpkg and DEB packages.
For a comparison:

• rpm -i <-> dpkg -i
• zypper install <-> apt-get install

Zypper is also just as fast as apt-get. So it may not be that bad after all. :-)

Secondly the openSUSE build service allows you to search for an insane number of packages in community / addon repositories.

How about that? OpenSuse offers an alternative approach to install a program; besides the typical package manager tool and the command line there is a 1-click installer.

1. go to their Software search page

2. find the program you want

3. click the "Install" button

This will start the package manager and from that point it is a matter of authenticating and clicking "Next" a couple of times.

I hope not. I'm have used kubuntu since 0606 and been happy about it and recommended it to everybody. But I stayed on 0804 with still has kde 3.5, and now I'm looking for an alternative distro.

Ubuntu / Kbuntu are bastardized distros. Ubuntu has to learn that there's a difference between trying to create a more user-friendly distro and "more Windows-like experience". And Xubuntu is a mess.

Try openSUSE (and use this link to get all the media codecs with one click). Try Fedora. Try Mandriva Heck, try Slackware.

Installing MPlayer under 11 (10.3 will also work if you look it up) is done with one click install: http://api.opensuse-community.org/searchservice//YMPs/openSUSE_110/e208863ffe1f342b2a9eed35603427dcac9fa27c
http://en.opensuse.org/One_Click_Install for more info
They have bought SuSE and have opend up not only YaST but the whole process. You can even make your own openSUSE based distribution where they activaly helped solving on how to do this in several ways.
They are working on how to open source other things as well. However that is not as easy as they would like.

The fact that they have gotten a lot of money from MS so that MS can give away SUSE is realy nice and except for all the emotional reactions to it, I am still waiting for the negative things that were going to happen what people were promising. Instead I see no change, except the fact that Novell got a bunch of dollars for SLES licences.

And being closed to FOSS is something I disagree with if you compare it to Novell. Novell is not closer to FOSS. They are standing in it and are part off it.

Perhaps it was true for Novell a few years ago. It certainly isn't at this moment.

FWIW, there is a nice search tool for finding packages for OpenSUSE at Webpin. They've made adding repositories much easier and faster now in 11 as well (zypper is light speed ahead of the old package management tools in OpenSUSE).

So if the distribution does not offer it, then you must look for an alternative place. Just like with e.g. Windows, who offer almost next to nothing that yu can install that way.

e.g. you have openSUSE 10.3 and you want to install MPlayer so you can watch pr0n? Just click here wich you can find via http://packages.opensuse-community.org/

Not only does it install the software, it will add the reporsitory as well, so you can select other software as well.

So if the distribution does not offer it, then you must look for an alternative place. Just like with e.g. Windows, who offer almost next to nothing that yu can install that way.

e.g. you have openSUSE 10.3 and you want to install MPlayer so you can watch pr0n? Just click here wich you can find via http://packages.opensuse-community.org/

Not only does it install the software, it will add the reporsitory as well, so you can select other software as well.

It's just one click away: http://opensuse-community.org/Restricted_Formats/10.3