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Novell Announces SUSE Linux 9.1

Posted by michael on from the debian-still-rules dept.

ravydavygravy writes "Novell today released details of the next incarnation of its linux products, Suse 9.1, based on the 2.6 kernel. It will come in both 32 and 64-bit versions, and includes a LiveCD version, to help people convince their Windows-loving friends to make the switch. It'll ship with Gnome 2.4.2 and KDE 3.2.1, as well as demo versions of the text processing application Textmaker and the spreadsheet application Planmaker (from Softmaker - but do we really need another office suite?). Samba 3 will also feature in the default setup."

29 of 435 comments (clear)

  1. That is part of the joys of SuSE... by earthforce_1 · · Score: 4, Interesting


    The hardest part is figuring out what you want.

    You are given a choice of a dozen text editors, several office suites, and about 8 or so window managers. Takes a full day to figure out which of the 5000 odd software packages to install, an hour or less to actually do it.

    --
    My rights don't need management.
  2. Aw, crap! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I just bought SuSE 9.0! Is there some way to upgrade without shelling out another eighty bucks for a box set?

    1. Re:Aw, crap! by archen · · Score: 3, Interesting

      While it's true that the software is written already, no one collects it and puts it together for you. And even once you collect it, it needs to integrate into the system - this is what a distro does. I used RedHat for years and was too often fustrated it. Once I got bitten by 7.3 support death, hated 8, and wasn't impressed by 9, so I was looking for a new distro. After a few tries with other distros, I gave SuSE a shot on a test machine at work. I liked it so much, that I dumped Win2k on my home machine and now use Linux full time there as well =)

      Now how is it that one distributor can make a distro that can have such a difference in experience? Someone packaged it right. SuSE is very easy to use, and most of it works perfectly out of the box. My only problems being with them Crippling DVD support, and issues with playing movies. Where it really shines is Yast. Finally everything comes together in a control panel that makes sense, works, and is integrated with the KDE control panel (maybe Gnome too?). Yast isn't proprietary btw, you can get the source; it's just that only SuSE can charge money for it (if I remember correctly).

      The GPL says nothing about cost. I can charge you $800 for Samba and that's fine under the GPL, BUT I am required to make the source code available to you. You can download SuSE via FTP for free, but they don't give out ISO's, yet STILL everyone complains.

      SuSE professional is a bit pricey (although still worth it IMHO), but putting all that together for the home edition at $30 is certainly worth it.

  3. Re:Will Novell get killed by the company's own vis by LostCluster · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder whether corporations as big as Novell can survive in a "world without information boundaries". I'd expect that in such a world, networks of smaller (much more nible) companies will rule.

    I'm not sure what that phrase means other than being marketing fluff. No information boundries would me no infomation security, right?

  4. Mono by AirLace · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Considering that Novell also owns Ximian, it would be interesting to find out if the SuSE Mono packages are provided/installed.

  5. Re:SATA RAID support? by mark_lybarger · · Score: 2, Interesting

    most folks haven't moved over to SATA yet, and there's lots of folks who aren't using raid. that said, most distros build all drivers they can as modules. most distros will include non-vanilla drivers too. do the latest releases of SUSE/Mandrake not provide these drivers?

  6. No they won't. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Part of the SuSE experiance that it is a "complete linux distribution in the box". Unlike just ISO distributed distros, such as Debian, it comes with so much more. The wonderful box artwork, the thick printed manuals, the fun stickers, the support, the propreitery software and drivers (full flash and java support out off the box) and more.

    SuSE demands only the best, and thats why they don't offer ISOs. If you don't understand this, then you proably won't like SuSE.

  7. Friendly NTFS partitioning? by ItWasThem · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I love the live CDs and I love the fact that they're starting now to have an option to automatically install on a partition for you.

    However my primary day-use machine is a work provided Dell laptop. I would love to use Linux on it. I have Linux on all of my other desktop workstations. But the laptop came set up with an NTFS partition that consumes 100% of the drive. I can't just blow it away because I need the usual office apps, VS and Outlook.

    Later versions (> 6 which is what I have) of Partition magic seem to be the only thing on the planet that can non-destructively resize this for me. Does anyone else know of another way?

    For me the uncertainty when resizing a drive or partition is a major holdup.

  8. PPC by BibelBiber · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I hope they'll also release a PPC Version again. I always preferred SuSE to any other Distro unter x86. PPC Distros are rather rare and not as good as PC ones. Maybe Gentoo is quite good but it takes way too long to compile on my iBook.

  9. Re:Watch out... by Doesn't_Comment_Code · · Score: 3, Interesting

    SCO is gonna jump on this one so fast...Trouble is, they don't know what they're talking about. Doesn't stop their FUD campaign though...

    Suse is the one distribution SCO would have the hardest time tackling. It was acquired by NOVELL. SCO can always claim some bs about how RedHat stole their code. But SCO's code was NOVELL's to begin with. That hasn't all shaken out yet. But in my humble opinion, the only thing SCO can do about Suse Linux is sit on their hands and like it.

    --

    Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
  10. More is better by X-Nc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    SoftMaker's products are quite exelent and TextMaker was worth buying, for me. There are a number of times when OO just doesn't render a document right while TM does. Ideaily I like to have at least OO, TM & Abiword installed on any desktop I use. I used to include Applix (the best office suite there was) in this but since the company killed it it's not worth running anymore.

    --
    --
    If I actually could spell I'd have spelled it right in the first place.
    1. Re:More is better by ALecs · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Here - here!

      I, too, am a proud owner of both FreeBSD and Windows versions of Testmaker and a previous user of Applix.

      I find that, while it's a great package - don't get me wrong - I like having a small, fast, lightweight word processor to use when I just wanna edit/view a word doc or type something real quick. On my somewhat older machines, I really have to need some specific feature before I'm ready to devote the full 3 minutes to loading OO.

      I used to keep AbiWord around for the same reason, but lately I've found that it's just not working right or reading .doc files as well as it used to. Anybody else noticing the same thing?

  11. What is a "world without information boundaries"? by bizcoach · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I'm not sure what that phrase means other than being marketing fluff.

    Hmmm... I'd define "world without information boundaries" as "a world in which no-one has an economic incentive to deny you access to any information that would be useful to you for some legitimate purpose".

    This doesn't rule out securing computer systems against crackers, and it doesn't rule out using cryptography for protecting the privacy of truly personal matters.

    However I'd say that business practices of selling a GNU/Linux distro which contains demo versions (and no full-featured versions) of some programs are clearly in violation of this "world without information boundaries" vision. Shipping any programs without making the source code available is even worse.

  12. Re:Holy crap by tftp · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Dependency on Windows is overrated. Our office manager, a retired woman working part time, uses SuSE 9.0 as her primary desktop (OpenOffice and Kmail) on K6-3 450 MHz box. I rarely have any questions from her, and the box hasn't been rebooted for many months. She does not know how to turn it off, and never needed to ask :-)

  13. Install from live CD + YOU = Full-blown SuSE? by salimma · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A question for those who have used SuSE recently / are using it now:

    Is it possible to boot a live CD, install it to your hard drive, and then use Yast Online Update to pull packages not provided on the CD?

    The same way one could download Knoppix and use it as a Debian installer.

    Would be a cool halfway solution between buying a full-set distro and having to bootstrap a netinstall from floppies.

    --
    Michel
    Fedora Project Contribut
  14. Can a Windows-user use it? by Athas · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm thinking of migrating my family (actually my father) to GNU/Linux, but I'd require a distribution that is at _least_ as userfriendly and GUI-oriented as Win98 - that is, he'll never need to touch the command line after initial installation. I had originally planned on trying out the new Mandrake 10 (run Gentoo myself, but I doubt he'd like having to wait hours for applications to compile :-) ), but now I'm thinking of giving SuSE a go. He's not really that computer-savvy (he doesn't want to be, he was quite proficient back in the DOS days), so I want to secure him a distribution that's easy to use with all the odd peripherals (cameras, USB-disks, scanners, etc.). Would SuSE GNU/Linux fill this role?

    --
    Gnusay -- for all your talking gnu needs.
  15. My own experience with SuSE.. by iantri · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Disclaimer: This is only my experiencew with SuSE. Yours may differ.

    I bought SuSE 9.0 and tried it a few months ago, and must say I didn't particularly care for it.

    While they are definately producing one of the most polished distro's available, it deviates from most linux distributions somewhat dramatically; I still don't know how exactly the init system works. (It's not exactly SysV, it's not exactly BSD).

    When I used it I had a problem in which it repeatedly would launch the X configurator if I had dual-head enabled. I don't know if that was just me or not.

    Everything is tightly integrated in SuSE -- the KDE desktop is pretty amazing, but GNOME support is almost non-existant. Unfortunately, I found the KDE desktop to be pretty slow on my machine (P3 800mhz machine. Slackware with KDE3.1 runs great on it).

    I also found that you HAD to do things SuSE's way -- if there wasn't a button for it in YaST, the SuSE configurator (and generally, there was.. YaST is probably the most comprehensive config tool for Linux), or YaST didn't give you all the options you needed, you couldn't do it yourself because YaST would stomp all over your changes.

    SuSE is also the most proprietary of Linuxes, and there's not alot of support for it online (again, you can't just update say, package X from a source tarball because SuSE will throw a fit).

    It's probably not bad for novice and intermediate computer users; I'd reccomend that experienced users who want a pretty desktop with little hassle use Mandrake.

    1. Re:My own experience with SuSE.. by locknloll · · Score: 2, Interesting

      SuSE is also the most proprietary of Linuxes, and there's not alot of support for it online ...

      I agree with the first part of the sentence, but the second isn't entirely correct:

      1. the SuSE support database is a really comprehensive knowledge base about all SuSE versions. In about 90 per cent of all questions I've had about configuring my system, I found the answer there.
      2. rpmseek.com is your friend :)

      --
      -- Power corrupts, but PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.
    2. Re:My own experience with SuSE.. by justins · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Everything is tightly integrated in SuSE -- the KDE desktop is pretty amazing, but GNOME support is almost non-existant.

      The nice thing regarding GNOME is that, now that SuSE and Ximian are part of Novell, Ximian actually works very well on SuSE. It hasn't always, in the past. That's probably the route you'll want to go if you want GNOME on SuSE.

      It's probably not bad for novice and intermediate computer users; I'd reccomend that experienced users who want a pretty desktop with little hassle use Mandrake.

      These are my two favorite RPM-based distros and I've found SuSE releases to be of a much higher quality than Mandrake over the years. On the other hand it took a long time for SuSE to get their setup and admin tools usable to the point where the comparison seems valid. They are fundamentally similar enough that a user who is happy with one will probably be happy with the other.

      I also found that you HAD to do things SuSE's way -- if there wasn't a button for it in YaST, the SuSE configurator (and generally, there was.. YaST is probably the most comprehensive config tool for Linux), or YaST didn't give you all the options you needed, you couldn't do it yourself because YaST would stomp all over your changes.

      One has to wonder what "things" you're talking about. I've never had that particular problem. You need to be careful where you put changes, of course, just as you have to with any other OS.

      (again, you can't just update say, package X from a source tarball because SuSE will throw a fit).

      That rather depends on the package, with any distro. If all the package's dependencies can be met with the distro's prepackaged libraries, there's absolutely no reason why this shouldn't work. Other than the obvious problem that a lot of Linux development kiddies tend to target their build process to, well, their personal machine.
      --
      Now before I get modded down, I be to remind whoever might read this that what I am saying is FACT. - bogaboga
    3. Re:My own experience with SuSE.. by VdG · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I've been using SuSE at home for a few years now. For me, Linux is not a hobby: I just want a functional OS that works out of the box and gives me a decent selection of tools and apps.

      I get paid to deal with UNIX during the day: when I get home I just want my PC to work.

    4. Re:My own experience with SuSE.. by jmt(tm) · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm using SUSE as my primary distro for a couple of years now, and I think SUSE has evolved greatly, supporting Linux standardization efforts widely.

      While they are definately producing one of the most polished distro's available, it deviates from most linux distributions somewhat dramatically

      There will alway be differences between different distributions, but I think that LSB and FHS compliance is the key. SUSE 9.0 is e.g. certified to comply with LSB Runtime Environment for IA32 Version 1.3

      I still don't know how exactly the init system works.

      The init system is designed according to the LSB specifications. I personally find it very easy to use.

      I also found that you HAD to do things SuSE's way ... you couldn't do it yourself because YaST would stomp all over your changes.

      Why this partly was true for older versions of SUSE, the sitaution is much better now (or my knowledge on how to do things improved:-). Of course, there are things like when you have a configured X and then start the X config programms, you'll get an altered XF86Config. But I find that's hardly surprising.

      I happily alter config files by hand all the time and I experience no problems using YaST on other occasions.

      (again, you can't just update say, package X from a source tarball because SuSE will throw a fit).

      You know what package management is all about, right? How can you expect the system to know about your nicely compiled update if you don't tell it? You can't get it both, the comfort of managed software installs and the freedom of source upgrades without spending some work on it.

      I frequently install software from source, either newer versions than the ones from SUSE or stuff not supplied by them. The key is to build packages out of them. It's really not that difficult (it gets difficult when you want to build a whole consistent distro, that's why I happily pay for SUSE's boxes - they do all the dirty work).

      It's probably not bad for novice and intermediate computer users; I'd reccomend that experienced users who want a pretty desktop with little hassle use Mandrake.

      I'd recommend SUSE for both :-) I think SUSE is a very nice distribution usable both for the newbie and more experienced users. Heck, I also like Debian and SouceMage, but in my experience, SUSE delivers a good allround solution. That's why it runs on my laptop, my desktop, and some servers around here. The cluster, otoh, belongs to SourceMage :-) .

      So, yes, my experiences do differ. But that's OK, isn't it?

  16. it doesn't matter by CAIMLAS · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A new office suite? Cool. Will it work? Even cooler.

    Most importantly, however, is will it be standards-compliant? Will it have a proprietary file format, or will it be able to talk with OOo flawlessly?

    From the screenshots on their site, I'm fairly impressed so far - it looks to be able to edit things somewhat more complex than OOo can, at least. Time will tell.

    Anyone use this product yet? They have goofy naming conventions. :P *maker.

    --
    ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
  17. Version number games by hackstraw · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I can't be the only one who has noticed that major product version numbers are a) inflated, and b) the same (+- 1) as the competetors. For example, this is Suse 9.1, Mandrake has some 9.x stuff and even a 10.0, RedHat had a version 9. RedHat even stripped the .X like Solaris, which is at version 9 and a 10 is coming. Slackware is hovering around 9.1 as well. Of course more pure distros like Debian does not participate. Nor do the current owners of all things UNIX. Hell, even Apple's OS is in the 9/10 range.

    This happened when there was competition with word processors (Word vs. WordPerfect), also this happened when there was competition with Web Browsers (Netscape vs IE). etc. Microsoft has surpassed the whole version number thing by appending 2 random letters at the end of their products, so I guess that is next for everyone else to do.

    Just an observation.

  18. What about Netware tools? by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One of the things that got me started on Caldera oh-so-long ago (whenever COL 1.3 was out) was their Netware integration and tools (having an NDS client when ncpfs was just bindery) and a KDE version of Netware Admin.
    I'm wondering if there's anything Novell-y in this, or if it's Just Another Distro.

  19. Re:Holy crap by Asic+Eng · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Well the source code for yast is here: yast2-2.8.31-40.src.rpm Restrictions are solely for commercial redistribution i.e. you can't pass on a copy of Yast for profit. Nothing stopping you from distributing it for free, though: license

    As for giving away stuff: reiserfs, lots of kernel modifications, lots of support for Xfree86 (Dirk Hohndel was a SuSE employee for a long time).

  20. Re:Holy crap by DFJA · · Score: 2, Interesting
    YaST is not free software, in that it is not GPL-compatible. It is indeed the best part of SuSE by a long way, and I've always wondered why we don't have the best features of YaST re-implemented in, say Red Hat's Anaconda (which is licenced under the GPL). The way it displays the details of what you have installed and what you wish to do is second to none that I have seen, although Mandrake's control centre is a close second (can't remember what it's licenced under though).

    I don't expect SuSE will licence it under the GPL, so the best thing is for someone else to reimplement it's features and release it under the GPL. This would be preferable to taking YaST and modifying it, with the restrictions that its licence imposes on you.

    --
    43 - For those who require slightly more than the answer to life, the universe and everything.
  21. Re:I love SuSE by C10H14N2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The last SuSE install I purchased (I'm on number three because they deserve the cash) automatically detected and correctly configured a three-panel display using two different types of video cards (one AGP ATi, two PCI NVidias), to say nothing of getting the network config right etc. etc.

    It's funny, a couple years back I'd mention I was favoring SuSE and people would respond aghast, "but you don't use RedHat?!? BSD? Debian? What crap is this 'SuSE' you speak of?"

    Pfffft.

  22. Do we really need another office suite? by petrus4 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's funny...I remember a time (not so long ago, either) when diversity was encouraged in the Linux community. I'm assuming that the reason why unity has become the Holy Grail is because of the desire to convert Windows users to Linux.

    I read a good article on madpenguin.org the other day though about how if a reasonably consistent, unified *interface* is maintained, it doesn't matter how many actual programs there are out there.

    Also, methinks peeps need to keep in mind that the whole reason why Outlook Express and IE are now the target of so many viruses is precisely because nearly everyone and their dog uses just those two programs. Only having a single set of apps which everyone uses makes life a lot easier for the crackers, script kiddies, and virus writers, and a lot harder for everyone else.
    If we want unity and consistency, I think we should aim for it primarily in the UI space. If we follow ESR's paradigm of creating the core program and UI as modules connected by protocols anywayz, we can have a boatload of different programs all doing different things, (diversity being a GOOD thing) but the UI can be consistent enough that Joe Sixpack will have absolutely no trouble using them. The bazaar lives on.

  23. Xandros 2.0 by petrus4 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I just bought a copy of Xandros 2.0 the other day, and from what I've seen so far it's fantastic...I'm extremely happy with it. Installation is a breeze, and my jaw dropped when I saw how it automatically detected/configured my wretched WinModem. (which I feared would require a kernel recompile to get working, and although I'm definitely not a complete UNIX newb, I'm sufficiently non-programmatically oriented that that would have been somewhat daunting)

    Xandros also doesn't seem to have the problem you mentioned about SuSE not allowing other apps. It does prefer .debs, it's true...but I've been able to get an rpm to work with minimal tinkering, and I'm used to doing manual .configure/compiles with tarballs anywayz, to a degree.
    My only real grizzle with Xandros is KDE, because last time I had Linux installed I was using Enlightenment, which is a lot prettier than KDE, if less user-friendly. Everything else though is fine...File Explorer works like a charm, and I'm currently in the process of installing the alphaware monstrosity that is WINE, in order to use a few of my beloved windows apps. Incidentally, if anyone feels like having a crack at getting RealDraw (http://www.mediachance.com/) working with WINE and posting the results, (I will be myself as well) I'd be much obliged. It's a truly fantastic little vector graphics app too, so you'd be doing yourself a favour at the same time.