SuSE 7.0

DickBreath writes: "It looks like SuSE 7.0 is released. See http://linuxpr.com/releases/2272.html. Now I wonder how soon it will be on my local bookstore's shelf." cloudmaster points to this description -- in German, there for the babelfishing adventurer -- of the new release. In addition to the ever-evolving SuSE logo, you'll find there that SuSE is branching ala Red Hat and others into Personal and Professional versions; the Personal comes with "three easy to understand handbooks" intended to guide new users, one of which is all about system configuration.

Comments

SuSE page translation (not just Babelfish!)

[vertical-limit]

SUSE Linux 7.0

With version 7.,0 SuSE goes in new directions. After seven years as the most successful Linux distro in the German market it is now popular (?) with Linux developers. With Personal SuSE for a desktop PC and on through the extensive Professional SuSE for workplaces, SuSE Linux meets all the demands and requests.

SuSE Linux 7.0 Personal

SuSE Linux 7.0 Personal is recommended for Linux developers and users who would like to become acquainted with the advantages of a free Unix clone on a desktop computer. In addition to thecurrent Linux system, the three CD-ROMs contain numerous games, multimedia, graphics, and Internet applications. StarOffice 5.2, a complete office package, is included, guaranteeing a smooth data exchange with other office applications thanks to its revised import and export filters.

Three easily understandable manuals arrange information on operating the new system for the Linux beginner: The "Quick Install manual" describes the Linux installation on 64 color pages with numerous step-by-step pictures. The new "Configuration" book teaches the user how to configure the printer, scanner, CD-R driver, how to merge sound and TV cards optimally, and how to arrange the KDE Desktop to your taste. The last manual, "The Programs" presents an overview of the most functions of Netscape Navigator, the GIMP, Acrobat Reader and Midnight Commander in compact form.

SuSE Linux 7,0 Professional

SuSE Linux Professional 7.0 offers to ambitious home users (such as IT professionals) an extensive collection of over 1,500 current Linux tools and software packages. SuSE Linux Profesional contains the tools to implement Intranet and Internet solutions, as well as the connection and protection of those networks. Professional users will find all the tools to operate WWW, proxy, mail, and news servers under Linux. The user can choose between 6 CD-ROMs or a DVD, all of which are contained in the Professional package. A total of four manuals supply over 1000 pages of current Linux know-how, as well as covering special topics such as network configuration and security.

SuSE Linux 7.0 updates

In addition, SuSE offers a economical update version to experienced Linux users. Its software scope is identical to SuSE Linux 7.0 Professional; in place of the detailed 650-page SuSE manual, a compressed 60-page informs users about the most important innovations.

(Okay, I haven't taken German in a few years, but this should at least provide some information...)

Who is SuSE aimed at? Everyone!

[Jeff Mahoney]

I'm an advanced user, so my opinion of what might be good for a beginner is probably very skewed.

I've been running SuSE for a while now, since a co-worker of mine went to work for them. One of the major things that attracted me to it was that one of the install options is the ability to choose ReiserFS as your default (root) filesystem.

I first installed 6.3. Recently, I installed a new box with 6.4-eval (they call their downloaded versions evals). I'm not at all afraid of non-graphical installs - I've been installing commercial UNIX boxes over a serial console for years. I found myself very much impressed with the graphical configuration/installation that SuSE has going. It found my hardware, presented appropriate technical options [module params] if you wanted them, etc.

All in all, I think it's a perfect blend of easy-to-use, and the level of control that your typical UNIX geek wants. The configure scripts are well thought out, and centered around a core "/etc/rc.config" settings file - which you can edit yourself if you wish, or have YaST do it for you.
..and it comes with damn near everything, but doesn't install all the fluff unless you want it to.

They offer add-on packages that aren't really part of the distro because they're not really mature yet, such as XFree86 4.0, on their FTP site.

Furthermore, they're going from a release 6.4 to a 7.0. This isn't abnormal. Part of it may be version creep - but it really wouldn't surprise me if it does, in fact, merit a full version increment.

I've tried most of the major Linux distributions - and SuSE is the one I've stuck with.

-Jeff

Re:Who is SuSE aimed at? Everyone!

[CJ Hooknose]

Well, I'm sure glad I didn't pick up that SuSE 6.4 boxed set for half price earlier today...

Anyway, I'd have to agree with with a lot of Jeff's comments. SuSE is excellent if you don't have a fast Net drop. For that reason alone I've been reccommending it to any potential Linux users. Nothing's more frustrating for a newbie than to realize you need $FOO, and it's available for download, but A) the computer you bought has a LoseModem or B) it's 20M in size, and your Real Modem will be busy for 3 hours.

That said, there's at least one improvement they could make: Either borrow, steal, or re-invent RedHat's "sndconfig" program. That thing can save a lot of time and aggravation, especially for a newbie.

Allowing ReiserFS as an option is a good thing, but it might bite people in the arse since very few rescue systems can read ReiserFS. I hope they've addressed this by putting a rescue floppy image that groks ReiserFS somewhere on the CD.

YaST doesn't seem as invasive as Linuxconf, and it's possible (even easy) to munge around manually with things in /sbin/init.d/ without your system getting all confused. Having all the config data in /etc/rc.config may be a bad idea for some things, but I think most people find the idea easier to understand than the royal mess that lies underneath RedHat's /etc/sysconfig/.

Now to wait a few days for the /. effect to wear off so I can actually get a look at what they've done....

(SuSE User since 5/5/1999! Go Geeko!)

SuSE 7.0 is more like 6.4.1

[rednic]

The latest SuSE release doesn't have any new features that would justify the version number 7. There are a few things that are quite new, like the fact, that you can now get a professional and a personal edition, the personal edition costing as much as the "normal" edition used to cost, whereas the professional version will cost DM 129 (compared to DM 89). The other new thing is "a much improved" yast2, which in my opinion is completely useless. I like yast a lot and use it on a daily basis, but I see no need for a badly designed graphical version of it. Have you ever tried selecting a bunch of packages with a doubleclick for each item? that's fun... my wrist starts hurting whenever I think about that... the graphical installer sucks compared to Caldera's, which is really smooth, has awesome hardware detection and let's me configure things while the installation is running... yast2 in comparison has a GUI that is non-intuitiv, the hardware-detection misses stuff Caldera detects and the installation process takes longer.

what else is new? hmm, a KDE2beta snapshot, a patched XFree 4.0, other than that nothing that I could remember...

Personally, I couldn't care less whether they have a personal and a professional version out, since I always just install the stuff via NFS from fpt.gwdg.de, which is the local mirror and is always up-to-date when it comes to SuSE. I understand that SuSE tries to package a distribution that is geared towards the enduser or beginner and one package for developers or "powerusers", but I think a lot of customers will be confused by the new packaging... oh yeah, speacking about packaging, I wish they would finally get a real marketing team and then get rid of this crappy logo, the weird mathematical figures and the ugly colors.