'Sneak Preview' of SUSE 9.1

Roblimo writes "SUSE 9.1 won't be out until May, but Joe Barr got access to a 'secret' beta download and tried it out. He liked some of what he saw, and found things he didn't like, too, but is willing to overlook some of the negatives because, he points out, 'This is a beta. Bugs are expected. Work will be done before it goes gold.' The review's at Linux.com." Linux.com and Slashdot are both part of OSDN.

Much Needed

[artlu]

I have never been a huge SUSE fan because of their somewhat commercialized attitude, and based on the screenshots from the article it looks like this version is going to be no exception. However, if it gets more linux users on the wagon, go for it!

My $0.02.

Just say no to OSNews

[Gothmolly]

Mod me offtopic, but I for one, welcome a review from someone other than OSNews. Why? Because I want a review containing real information, not gripes about screen antialiasing, the (in)ability to compile packages, and GRUB vs. LILO flamewars.

Interesting screenshot

[tverbeek]

The "My Computer" icon shows Tux sitting in front of what could only be... an iMac. Is this somebody's idea of a joke? A peek at Novell/Suse's long-range goals? A rogue OS-X-boosting employee waiting to be slapped down? Inquiring minds....

JDS?

[AKAImBatman]

Suse and GNOME? It will probably end up being a lot like Java Desktop System. The demo CD of JDS I've tried is niiice. It's fast, smooth, and even detects 3D hardware automatically. I have not once been to the console in it or experienced an unexpected crash.

likes?

[viniosity]

After RTFA I can't say I saw much of what he liked about 9.1. "The next least favorite thing for me.."

I've never used SuSE before but, beta or no, this hardly encourages me to give it a try. Not that that's so bad.. there's a distro for everyone after all.. still I would have liked to hear more about the integration of Ximian and SuSE under Novell's stewardship.

Re:"Dumbing" Down?

[Maestro4k]

• I don't think a new user of a linux system would mind having some simple defaults to choose for. Since SUSE is aiming to please more than just hard core linux enthusiasts, I think that having a single choice is important.

The only thing bad about this is having only a single choice for apps is very much a Microsoft mind-set. We want to see Linux to succeed, but I don't think any of us want to see Novell/SuSE turn begin acting/thinking like Microsoft. There are ways to give choice while providing easy single options. For instance the first time you log in, a script could ask if you'd like to change what programs you use for chat/E-mail/Web Browsing/etc. If you're more familiar with Linux and have preferences you'd say yes and pick out your favs. If you're a newbie, or just don't care, you'd say no and get the default options. I doubt this would be terribly hard to do, and shouldn't confuse new users.

Re:"Dumbing" Down?

[KlomDark]

Absolutely, but have both "Default" (Dummy) and "Advanced" (Geek) buttons on the first page, with something like "If you are new to Linux, click Default or expect problems". Just because you are making it easier for new users is no reason to assume everyone is...

light on details

[kbrannen]

Ok, it's a beta; but could we have a few more details? #1 on my list is: What's it like with the 2.6 kernel?

Closely followed by how is the driver scene and hardware compatibility list is, what X version is being used, and so on.

The hard thing will be having to wait for this release. :-) If it's coming out in early May in Germany, it'll be the 3rd or 4th week of May before it gets to the US. Or at least that's how it's been historically. It'll be interesting to see if Novell's recent ownership changes that.

PowerPC

[Goo.cc]

Does SUSE still make a PowerPC version of their OS? I seem to remember one being announced but I didn't see it in their online store.

Re:"Dumbing" Down?

[mortenmo]

The point is here (which some other people also pointed out) is that the personal edition is not for geeks. Geeks should buy the Professional "swiss-army" knife edition that got everything you could possibly want.

Personal should be for people who doesn't care or doesn't know enough to care; they just want to use the computer.

I've said it before ...

[DrugCheese]

And I'll say it untill something else replaces the fact that SuSE is the best all around distribution. From linux newbies looking to switch from windows for the very first time to system administrators needing to drop in a box here or there that they can setup and never think about again.

And if they need to think about it again they can remote administer it through YAST or SuSE's desktop sharing.

Re:Much Needed

[richmaine]

"Based on the screenshots"? Did you read a different article than I did? I saw one screenshot, which showed nothing particulary commercial.

The article discussed some objectionable commercial stuff, but I have trouble fathoming your "based on the screenshots".

Re:Much Needed

[halosfan]

Well, some of us are not really huge fans of any OS/distro, as we are just trying to get the work done. And as far as getting work done, SuSE, in my experience, has always been worth its price. I personally view it the way I view German cars: well thought-out design, excellent engineering and superb build quality let me spend more time using the product rather than maintaining it.

Just say no to random babelling

[fm6]

Critiquing the quality of information in the article is hardly offtopic. My personal gripe is that the story is full of comments like, "KDE and Konqueror are OK, but I'd rather use Gnome and Mozilla." We all know that SuSE is KDE-centric, and that not everybody likes KDE, so what is he telling us that is of any interest? If you're going to do an unauthorized peek at a beta version of a product, you should use a writer who can actually talk about what's changed in the product. In the case of a Linux distro, that probably means a person who actually prefers that distro and uses it with most of its default options.

Re:Just say no to OSNews

[Ubernurd]

I agree that the article was pretty detail deficient. What have they changed "under the hood" in this version? Just as a random example: If I want to manually reconfigure something, do I have to do it in three places and then find out that my changes were undone because I didn't go through the GUI config tool? I haven't used SuSe for a while, so I don't know what the current issues are with it but you get the idea. While, I'm sure the mountain photo is really cool, I'd appreciate some more "techie" details.

Re:Can we have some too?

[NighthawkFoo]

You have to be a SuSE partner to get a copy of the ISO's. I've got access to them, but sharing is explicitly forbidden.