OpenSUSE 11.0 Released

Nate D writes "It's here: a new major release of Novell's community-supported distro is now available, and can be downloaded from the mirrors. Linux Format has a hands-on look at the new installer, SLAB menu and Compiz Fusion, and weighs up whether the distro can fight competition from Ubuntu and Fedora. Is this the start of a new era for SUSE?"

Comments

Torrent link

[Anonymous Coward]

Folks, please download it via BitTorrent:
http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.0/iso/torrent/openSUSE-11.0-DVD-i386.torrent

I think most of the downloads are being done selfishly via HTTP or FTP, as I've been in the swarm for almost 1h and the speeds are quite low, there are only 60 peers.

screen shots

[linuxbeta]

http://www.thecodingstudio.com/opensource/linux/screenshots/index.php?linux_distribution_sm=openSUSE%2011.0

Re:Probably not

[catscan2000]

SuSE does offer YaST, which is a very easy-to-use system configuration tool. I need to learn more about Ubuntu, but as far as I know, YaST integrates system configuration bits in a more coherent and consistent manner than other distributions do. YaST was open-sourced at some point in the recent past, so other distros might possibly use it now or eventually, too.

For me, the only downside to SuSE is its slow and memory-inefficient package management system. It gets substantially better with each release, so it might be approaching the speed of apt-get on Ubuntu, but in 10.4, it wasn't quite there yet in performance. In features, however, it's definitely there :-).

Re:Probably not

[caluml]

Don't underestimate package management - it is critical. It is the main differentiator between distros and it is the key to Ubuntu's current success. That's not what I'd have said, as it's the same as Debian. I'd have said Ubuntu's success was due to having little things pop up and ask you if you want to install mp3 codecs when the user tries to play an mp3, or Flash installer helpers, etc.

Re:Probably not

[houghi]

I understand the sentiment. However the installer has gotten a complete overhaul. It is fast. Seriously fast. I have been running since Alpha and am still seriously impressed with the speed they have created. It was one of the focus points and I think they have succeeded.

As an added bonus or as a disadvantage (depending on how you feel) you can install things with a one-click install (also via CLI) that sorts out the repositories for you and all the rest.

Oh, the installer is seriously fast. Really fast.

That said, it could still be that you don't like it. That is why there are different distributions.

Just give it a try (install the live version). It is unfair to think that nothing has changed.

Re:Justin

[houghi]

In response, I've heard that the difference is that Apple doesn't pretend to be fully open-source whereas Novell does to an extent,

Indeed not all from Novell is open. However they are working hard to do so. They have the build service, that you can use and/or download so that you can make your own distribution, if you so desire.
Where Redhat tried to block CentOS, Novell actively helps people to make their own openSUSE and SUSE based distribution.

Also openSUSE make a clear difference between OSS and things that are NON-OSS. It is then up to the user to decide wether you want to install it or not.

Novell has opend a lot of their code already. Indeed not yet everything. However they are working on that as well.

Re:Probably not

[mikesd81]

Open suse has it's own repository, as well as the packman community and these. And you can even simply do yast --install and it'll go get it, or if you have a package you can do a local install and it will resolve the dependencies.

Article gets at least three things wrong

[Whitemice]

1. openSUSE doesn't need a new era, it is doing just fine.

2. The Microsoft pact hasn't alienated any of the community that matters. There are fundamentalists that gripe and whine and spit about every intellectual property issue that they *perceive* reduces openness. And there are people who write code. There isn't much overlap at all between the coder and the fundamentalist - so there whining and spitting should just be takes as the meaningless noise that it is.

3. Yast is *extremely* modular and not in the least bit monolithic - one just has to look at the Yast packages to know that. It even has multiple front-ends. This makes as much charge as the people who accuse Evolution of being monolithic (it a highly modular app that consists mostly of cooperating components). Another Yast plus is that it works and coverts almost all configuration issues right down to certificate management. That makes SuSE / openSUSE the only distro with a comprehensive management tool.

Re:Probably not

[Anarke_Incarnate]

Not to mention, with the 1 Click Install feature, you can also set up the repository for the application you found online very easily. If you install the 3 most popular repos you have nothing to search for that you cannot find right from YaST(within reason).

Re:Probably not

[lazy_playboy]

[ubuntu's package management] ... as it's the same as Debian. Well, it uses the same system but I don't entirely agree with you in essence. Ubuntu offers modern packages in a stable format, which is far more labour intensive than Debian's 'old but stable' philosophy.

I'm not dissing Debian for their approach, but it is quite different to Ubuntu's even though they use the same package management.