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Upcoming SuSE 9.0 Professional Reviewed
molarmass192 writes "Open magazine has the first review I've seen of the upcoming SuSE 9.0 (or should that be SUSE 9.0 now?) Professional distribution. To summarize, they are impressed with the upgrades to Yast (it's fully integrated into the KDE control panel), Samba integration, Winmodem support, network configuration management, and performance. It's not the most thorough review I've ever read, but it's an interesting look at what to expect for those who have preordered SuSE 9.0."
"Oh SUSE Q, oh SUSE Q!
Oh SUSE Q, Version 9.2, SUSE Q."
... that perhaps the most secure and enterprise-friendly Linux release gets previewed on the same day Steve Ballmer slanders Linux as non-secure?
You can pay for it, just like everyone else does. Stop being a cheapskate.
Unless they've changed something, they have a habit of having everything including the kitchen sink included.
I guess that's good. Most everything is behind a version or two by the time it hits your hands though (in the past).
Perhaps I'm simply spoiled by the FreeBSD ports collection (any good package manager really) where I run cvsup to get the ports collection current, then I can either build from source or pkg_add -r pkgname and install the binary quickly across a network.
Don't take this a knock though, SuSE was the *nix that I learned on, and it's still awesome. Just seems somewhat unwieldy to bundle so much software in that is going to go out of date so quickly.
Great for situations without net access though.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
People may ask why we should shell out money to pay for open source programs...well, open source doesn't mean free source. Someone had to put in their time and energy programming this stuff. And since most of us haven't contributed to the source code, we could at least support those who have. :)
Mad penguin review
german review (translation)
- Jj
I've got a copy of Libranet 2.8.1 on my spare computer here. 128 Mb RAM, 366 SillyCelery, nVidia 32 Mb card, running KDE. It's snappy. It's slick. It works. It sets a very high standard. OK, OO takes 37 seconds to start up, but otherwise it's OK. Libranet sets a very high standard.
That compliment does not come easily. I typeset annual reports in WP Win, use Paradigm database manager, dream in Excel macros, am a regular customer of InfoUSA mailing lists, use and despise WinWord and Netscape, and live and breathe QuickBooks2003 and mail merge. I know and make money with Win2000.
So, is SuSe as good as Libranet? I find Linux a relief after a day with Windows. If you don't have to do color separations or LAB, GIMP rules!
Fair point. But most stuff that finds its way into my networks is stuff that I've discovered, learnt well, and grown to trust at home first. Why would I try out a distro on a server at work that I've never used before?
Get your own free personal location tracker
The net install works pretty well. You don't need no stinkin' iso
no, you still can't but you can install it directly over the internet via their ftp server. it's not the same but should be good enough for most users.
I don't like CDs anyway because they just tend to get lost...
I like the DVDs though, because with those you don't have to change CDs anymore. btw how many disks is the current SUSE?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I use to use SuSE in the past. It has become quite slow and bloated, even on my athlonXP.
I switched to Freebsd because its slim and lightening fast. I have a hunch its mainly its own version of xinet and yast that slows things. I wonder if it could be faster and if it is, if I should switch?
http://saveie6.com/
SuSE doesn't give away ISO images for free. Why must you insist on ISOs? You can download all the FTP-based install files for free and then do all the freeloading FTP or SAMBA over-your-local-network installs you please. I think SuSE has the finest, most refined Linux distro going and I actually buy the full version from them every other version or so...to help support their efforts. I also download all the FTP files and set up my own internal distro install server. It's not that much extra work, and I actually like it better since a SuSE install base is huge, it spans multiple CDROMs (or a DVD disk, and I don't yet have any DVD drives) and I hate swapping CD discs during the installation, I prefer to kick off the install and let it run to completion all by itself while I go away and do something else. An FTP install over 100Mbps LAN is faster than even a 48x cdrom drive anyway.
Does anyone have the torrent for the live-eval cd yet?
Also, do they actually think that people buy it since they can't download an install iso instead of just using a differnet distro like drake?
- Ship with Kernel 2.6, with support for the most obscurest hardware.
- Gnome 2.6 (that means decent file dialog and banishing gconf-editor and metacity)
- KDE 3.2 (Yes, KDE 3.2 alpha is pretty good, surley an XP beater. The Crystal SVG 0.9 theme is perfect!)
- Use a package manger like urpmi, yum, apt-rpm (not apt-get, that uses a non standard package format)
- Has the command line stripped out with EVERYTHING, I MEAN EVERYTHING possible for the GUI, NO EXCEPTIONS, not even for Emacs zealots)
I loved SuSE 8.0, and it is one of the best distros ever, but I'm currently with Mandrake 9.2, but the distribution that gives me what I want will get my money! We all know what "X" stands for (In mac terms, not X11 terms), so create the best "X" you canI dunno if it's mentioned on the /.ed review, but when I tried out the live-evaluation CD, it auto-detected every single piece of hardware in my machine and configured it automatically withou asking me a single question about it. Why the hell can't windows do this?!
Sounds sort of like the reviewer never actually used previous SuSE versions, but just copied marketting blurb claims. He makes a big deal about how new it is that SUSE 9.0 does....exactly the same thing that the 8.2 I'm running at home does.
Namely it set up dual boot with Windows XP and mounted the NTFS file systems read-only.
S.u.S.E. also includes a tool named hdparm.
I'm a SuSE 8.2 user, and while YaST is very, very nice, I still feel it's missing one feature. In Windows XP, it automatically detects wireless networks, and configuration is as easy as clicking on network "so-and-so."
:(
I know about programs like airsnort, but when will a distro build this feature in? Wireless networking is still a major pain in Linux
I've just installed SuSE 9.0 on my laptop this evening. I wasn't sure if it would be worth upgrading from 8.2 as the changes didn't seem that major, but I like to support SuSE since they do such a good job, and I've bought every version since 7.2 so it seemed like a shame to stop now...
Anyway, I copied all my important data onto the server downstair, stuck the disk in a did a full install. (I've always done an upgrade before, but I thought it was about time to have a clean sheet again).
I was really impressed with the installation - went really smoothly, and detected nearly all my hardware straight off, with only the Wacom graphics tablet not detected. It was improved over previous versions in that it gave options for connecting to networks and authentication via LDAP and stuff like that. One of the last things it offered to do was connect to the internet to get the latest updates, which I allowed it to do. It also got the proper NVidia drivers and the MS TTF fonts.
I did the usual fiddling to get the display exactly how I like it, copied the data back from the server and I have a fully working system again.
Now I'm starting to notice the improvements. The first thing I noticed was the considerable improvement in boot speed. The next thing I noticed was how the fonts were all looking really nice without me having to change any settings. (Although I have now changed to Bitstream Vera because I prefer that).
Then I plugged my camera in, and a new icon appeared on the desktop for it automatically. (I tried to ages to get 8.2 to do that).
My samba connection to the server is working without me having to fiddle with any settings.
I'll admit it's early doors yet, but so far things are looking really good, and I'm very pleased I upgraded.
Ho hum for the life of a bear
Also, do they actually think that people buy it since they can't download an install iso instead of just using a differnet distro like drake?
Actually they *know* people buy it whether or not they'd offer a free ISO download. Also what's this obsession with ISO downloads? SuSE install images would span at least 7 ISO image files. They offer the entire FTP/SAMBA-based install set of files for free download, about 6GB worth, so the total download btye-count to get yourself a freeloader's install-base is about the same. All you need then is to set up an internal FTP or SAMBA server to host these files and then you can do all the install-over-your-LAN installations you please. Over a 100Mbps LAN it even goes much faster than a CDROM install does, plus you're not bothered to do all those pesky disk swaps as does a cd disk-based installation require.
I think I'll wait to see what Steve Ballmer says. Odds are he'll discover that SuSE/SUSE is just as insecure as all the other Linuxes.
Better safe than sorry.
I got a better idea.
We'll all wait around until YOU write an operating system; we'll see how good that is; and when you tell us you have bills to pay, we'll tell you to do what you're telling all your friends in the community to do right now.
Of course the sources will be available but they won't offer an installable distribution for free.
Heh. So much for "objective and unbiased." But as a SuSE fan, I do understand.
It's only funny until someone gets hurt. Then, it's hilarious.
I shell out money for linux because it's worth it, why else?
"might as well install ms?" I think you're a little confused - if you thought the whole point of linux was price tag, you've missed the whole point.
Ooh, add in decent sound card support! I have a nice old Turtle Beach Santa Cruz DSP, and there's no way I'm switching until someone can come up with a nice surround sound (4.1 in my case) & graphic equalizer. Oh, that and a decent GUI. I'm not a programmer, so I want my options up-front and simple!
GL
I had a similar experience, but I was a bit let down when it taunted me with Windows (XP) drives. It found them all and added them to my desktop, but since they're NTFS, they won't open. Exactly what the benefit of adding unusable links on the desktop/workspace is, I don't know.
GL
I would like to install Linux on my IBM 390e Thinkpad. But, what's holding me back is little to no wireless support. I mean, it's supported. But I can't find any devices that are "plug n play" with existing destros (such as Red Hat 9 and the like)
Life is not for the lazy.
That's no troll - I've had similar problems with my (heavily patched) SuSE 8.1 system (Athlon 1.2GHz/256MB on a KT7A-RAID mobo, with the two 40GB IBM 60GXP disks on separate channels of the HPT370 controller and a 128MB swap file on each disk) running a recent Hubert Mantel 2.4.21 kernel. hdparms has both DMA and LBA enabled.
Performance is never better than mediocre under KDE but that's not the real problem. The real problem is that it frequently seizes up completely.
On many occasions it coincided with memory usage going through the roof for no apparent reason, and swapping like mad. The memory problem appears to be down to either X, KDE or mozilla and I suspect mozilla is the usual culprit. Those moz developers just don't seem to take care of garbage collection in a reliable way.
On other occasions "top" appears to show X taking up an awful lot of memory (up to 50%).
In some cases killing all moz processes makes the problem go away but because of gui unresponsiveness its often easier just to keep hammering on Ctrl-Alt-Backspace until X reboots. Sometimes it is so solidy frozen that I can't even ping it from nearby. And sometimes the box is so totally hosed there's no response even after an hour so I'm left with no option but to cycle the power and hope reiserfs will be able to contain the damage.
*sigh* guess I'll give it one more try with SuSE 9.0. If they don't stay on top of the quality thing this time though I'll be switching distros.
I'm switching over to SuSE since the professional Athlon64 version is within the budget of mortals. Red Hat's Advance Server 3.0 for workstations (the cheapest they've got with Athlon64 support) costs $792(!) which is out of my league.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
hmm in wonder how this compares to sun's mad hatter which has also been getting alot of press these days
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
How they always try to blame the lack of support for NTFS, and windows not reading linux partitions, on linux? Wouldn't this be Windows fault for not bothering to admit there are other operatating systems in the world that people might need to use now and then?
*There's Klingons on the starboard bow, scrape em off Jim!*
Your post may not be a troll but that parent post is a troll that's really getting old. He just replaced Mac with SuSE this time around. So clever he is.
Something is definitely wrong with your setup. SuSE 8.1 shipped with gcc 2.96 as a base so be extra weary about trying to run apps compiled with gcc 3.2 (eg. any Mozilla later than 1.3). I can't guarantee that that's the problem but it's a place to look. As for X taking up a lot of memory, that sounds about right. However X is effectively a shared resource under Linux so that's kind of to be expected. Also, Linux uses as much memory as possible for buffering and caching, so top's memory reading doesn't reflect the true resource usage. Run this command and subtract the buffer/cache value from the memory used to get a more accurate picture of what's going on:
free -m
Regardless, you should try a gcc 3.2 based distro, namely SuSE 8.2 and higher, and see if your Mozilla problems go away.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
Thanks, I'll try that before I put 9.0 on.
I started on SuSE 6.4 and then gave up for FreeBSD on the server side and Mac OS X on the Desktop. It is still the best distro for beginners. YaST was an amazing tool. I had tried to install Redhat before and couldn't get RH 5 to work, but SuSE worked great without any problems, everything was detected except for my modem and this was 4 years ago.
After I under stood *iux more I switched to FreeBSD and fell in love with the ports tree and ease of maintaining an up to day server. I can't wait to ditch our last Linux hold out, not to be a troll, but trying to find working RPM's for common apps like php and mysql for RH 7.3 is like near impossible. No biggy, just install from source, but still...
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
As a long-time SuSE Linux user it sounds like 9 is a nice upgrade. I've already ordered the upgrade from 8.2 to 9.
My experience with SuSE was that 8.0 was good, 8.1 was buggy, and 8.2 has been quite stable. They addressed many of my complaints about missing modules in YaST in 9.0, which is good. I also like the fact that they're using GCC 3.3.1, which IMO is *much* more stable than 3.3 or the pre-3.3 SuSE included in 8.2 (although 3.3.2 was just released).
I've already upgraded my SuSE 8.2 to use KDE 3.1.4 (which is available via FTP from the supplementary section of the SuSE FTP site (and mirrors), and have found it to be quite stable. It looks like SuSE 9.0 is basically just an evolutionary step from 8.2. I think the release number should really have been 8.3, although I guess they're under pressure from Redhat. I also like the fact that they backport a lot of features from the 2.6 kernel back to 2.4 (the SuSE kernel scheduler is basically taken straight from 2.6). When Linus came out with the interactive patch that makes X much more responsive I was able to verbatim take the patch and apply it to the SuSE Linux kernel.
I also love the fact that SuSE comes on DVD. It's nice to not have to swap between lots of CDs when installing various packages.
And finally, YaST is a great tool that always surprises me. Last night I went to enable telnet and rlogin support on a machine in our lab (security is no issue) in xinetd and Yast immediately requested that I install the appropriate CD and installed the RPM packages required (they were not already installed).
-Aaron
This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
This sounds a lot more like 8.3 to me.
They upped from 7.x to 8.x when we got into KDE 3... there's no tremendous new version of anything important except YaST.
But you were talking about Unstable, and I'm using Sid (Debian Unstable) so I can use my winmodem, XFree86 4.3.0, CUPS 1.1.19, emacs 21.2, GCC 3.3.1, KDE 3.1.3, MPlayer 1.0pre2, Perl 5.8.0 and other up to date software.
BTW, I love the way Conectiva implemented apt-get for rpm, and the way SuSE organized their rpm repository to avoid weird package conflicts when updating (I've tryed SuSE 8.2 and the only thing I have to complain is about the Brazilian Portuguese translations inside Yast2 and a few other configuration utilities). Very, very well organized.
Thanks, SuSe :-)
About Debian mailing list, I use to see people posting answers using RTFM acronym, but I also use to see many other people giving very polite answers. And it's not usual to see "you idiot" from people wich e-mail ends with "@debian.org". Also about manuals, everybody use to overevaluate the complexity of dselect, as you may see in "Debian Quick Reference", a small 29 pages reference to "tasks", "apt-get", "dpkg", "dselect" and stable/testing/unstable system.
When you say "Debian is falling to pieces", considering many new distributions are based on Debian, I think I would not say this, as I didn't say "RedHat is falling in pieces" when Conectiva, Mandrake, SuSE, among others, based their initial distribution on RedHat. But I have no doubt Debian is not the most popular, nor Slackware, but they won't disappear just because of it. I think Debian will remain a good and free distributuion, very well tested, with fast security updates, and very well organized repository of applications. Not for everybody, and not to be trashed, but to remain as a reference on those topics I've already mentioned
P.S.: I don't think the "backports" John "Mad Dog" Hall applyed to 2.2 kernels were horrible as you've said. Many machines (like my old Psion 5MX, for example) would not have being using some improvements made in Linux kernel 2.4 (mantained by Marcelo Tosati) if John didn't make a so good job.
SuSE 8.2 Pro comes as 2 DVDs and 5 CDs. You only ever need DVD1 though!
feels like an infomercial
SuSE 9.0 sounds interesting. Maybe it's time I give SuSE a roll.
On an OT note, that's a different approach to doing graphs, using two images and some rollover javascript. I must say, it didn't work for me. I kept mistaking them for adverts.
Go ahead, mod this down now...
I'm not sure why, but X under SuSE seems to have a long slow memory leak for me too. I'm running 8.2 (upgraded from 8.0) but somehow I've got over 118 MB allocated to X, which doesn't make sense. Of course Mozilla wants another 82 MB. Other than that SuSE has been smooth. I've not felt HD based lockups like the parent complained about.
I've had suse 8.2 running on my machine perfectly fine since i got it at the beginning of summer. no major issues with it, but i must admit i dont use mozilla....i saw the version that came with suse 8.2 was somewhat outdated, so i downloaded mozilla firebird, http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird/, and have been using that instead. i guess i suggest trying an updated mozilla or even firebird, maybe that'll fix some of your problems.
Yeah but.... ........ last night, and really pissed me off - I'd like to give that Linux a try - where can I get it from?", it's handy to give them the 3 RedHat ISOs, hand it to them, and say "Boot from the CD".
:)
When someone comes to me and says:
"Windows did
No dodgy 6 floppy Debian installs, no faffing around with downloading stages for Gentoo (although it's my fav distro for anyone that knows about Linux). Just let RedHats very friendly installer hold their hand all the way through, ask them all the right questions, set up their XFree86, and network cards etc.
And that, my friends, is why people think Linux == Redhat, and not SuSE. SuSE might be great. I don't know - I've never used it. Gentoo 1st, RedHat 2nd, Debian for old slow machines 3rd in my book. Flame away Debian fans
Get your own free personal location tracker
I have no idea either, but I guess that at some level somebody must suggest a new package to be included and then one of the people involved in putting together the distribution must maintain it.
They'd be responsible for updating the package, building it, and making sure it worked properly.
I'd expect them to forward any changes they had to make to the upstream author, like the Debian people do, and then add the packages details to some internal database - so they know where to look to check for a new release in time for the next release burning..
and slack 9.1
Here is a link. Does anybody know how legal this is?
Sounds great, and I'm about to order it.
But can anybody tell me the difference between the full professional version and the upgrade? As far as I can make out from the website, the only difference is that with the upgrade you don't get the user manual.
Does it actually check during the install if you have a previous version? Hey, if it does that's fine with my, I have a full 7.3, I was just wondering though. I mean, if it doesn't, why doesn't everybody just get the upgrade version, or shouldn't I be saying that?
(I seem to remember pulling that trick with an edition of Delphi once, when someone helpfully informed me that the only difference between the upgrade and the full version was the box they came in!)
Skiing? Check out The Independant Skiers Portal
I am installing SUSE 9.0 on my new Asus M3700N but it seems so slow... anybody else experiencing the same zzzlowness?
maybe the American lunar expedition did not leave Hollywood at all.
Does anyone know if suse 9 supports NPTL?
Pedro For President!
Furthermore, no license costs are incurred for the installation on multiple machines or for software subject to the GPL (General Public License).
on their 10 reasons to switch page. Cool.
I'm in a Unix state of mind.
and I will put 8.2 back on that laptop tomorrow.
Reasons:
'nuff said.
Live-Eval 9.0 RC1: ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/live-eval-9.0/SuS E-9.0-LiveEval-i386-Int-RC1.iso
(you may want to use a mirror)
I've been upgrading every time a new version comes out - I'm on 1.5 now. It's no better.
OK, so I RTFPd, and I saw that you DIDN'T want a Live-Eval. However, SuSE 8.2 Live-Eval worked pretty damn well (can't say anything on 9.0 RC1, though)