Couple of thoughts:
1. Nice review
2. Having a disto available as a DVD download is not such a bad thing. After that you can install more apps from it without Internet connection.
3. Personal experience: Suse is the one of the most polished distros out there and the only one so far that installed correctly on all of my home PCs (I have several laptops and desktops of different age and power).
4. I would not attribute their quick fall from #2 spot in Distrowatch to PCLOS or relatively old age of the last release, I would attribute that to their pact with the “evil” and to over-sensitive M$-hating community.

Great review!

I agree on the KDE implemention..
On openSUSE it’s the best I’ve seen, even upgrading to KDE 3.5.7 went without any issues..
I really don’t know why they ‘default’ to GNOME nowadays.. KDE used to be the default desktop for Suse, before Novell took over.
Waiting for 10.3, even though I can’t think of anything that would be better. Even 10.2 is freaking brilliant.

Hey, nicely reviewed!

A question: Is flash installed by default? Or do you have to do some software settings in the install? When I did it (10.2) I’m sure flash wasn’t there… Hum.

One thing I think opensuse has fallen behind in is codecs for things like media, and wireless networking. I’ve also found the community to be a bit fragmented - there are so many sites doing opensuse support - maybe it should be centeralized. Anyway, good work, I’m looking forward to 10.3.

Scott

Many good observartions from someone not very involved with openSUSE. Of course openSUSE doesn’t have apt-get - but actually on 10.2 it comes with 2 different CLIs for package management by default - zypper and rug. RealPlayer decision is simply a legal one - getting mp3 support for amarok from 3rd party repos is easy.

Make sure you try out 10.3 final - many great things are coming - some of which are not available in alpha5 yet..

- Much faster package management (binary cache used on demand instead of reading all cache into memory)
- Zenworks stack is dropped (making package management simpler, faster and with less bugs)
- 1 CD install for KDE/GNOME desktop
- Some common YaST-modules are getting a makeover (network, printer, partitioner)
- large boot speed improvements
- KDE4 elements in standard KDE (3.5.x) (so far mostly games)
- KDE4 preview
- Green artwork (SUSE gets it’s true identity back, very important )

.. and various other things.

@ Scott
Flash-player is installed by default when you use the DVD - or use the non-oss add-on CD (”CD6″). CD1-5 are OSS only. If installing from CD1-5 all you need to do is add the non-oss repo and install flash using the package manager - same goes for Java.

Three things that destroy openSUSE in the broader distro war –

1. Proprietary graphics card driver preconfiguration/support
2. Proprietary graphics card driver preconfiguration/support
3. Proprietary graphics card driver preconfiguration/support

Although they have done a great job of getting the “nv” driver to do about everything it is capable of doing (which is quite pathetic), they have zero support for getting your graphics card to work properly. Any distro that wont help the user support his/her graphics card (which they bought and paid for) is, and always will be, a loser.

Having proprietary software is not what made suse drop. its the microsoft deal. PCLinux has proprietary stuff and its on its way to passing ubuntu on the HPD. Even if the novell-microsoft deal wouldnt have happened, PCLinuxOS would have passed it anyway. As far as hits per day are concerned, when the novell deal happened, suse’s hits took a big leap up on the rankings. i guess it was all the media attention it was getting. Remember: the distro’s dont get their hits from their users, they get it from other people showing interest in the distro.

@Aku
“I really don’t know why they ‘default’ to GNOME nowadays..”

It’s not true, there is no “default” DE in openSUSE. Both Gnome and KDE are supported. However I think you are not openSUSE user because you have simply no idea about Gnome in openSUSE. Gnome in openSUSE is outdated, has less Gnome apps than Gnome in, for example, Fedora, and generally is less polished than KDE. Otoh KDE has always up-to-date packages, a lot of apps and is really polished. I wish openSUSE could support Gnome as much as they are supporting KDE!

@Scott
“One thing I think opensuse has fallen behind in is codecs for things like media”

G, some people will never understand that openSUSE will not ship with all this media related stuff. Never. Just like Fedora won’t ship codecs. Never, never, never. Just stop asking about it…

@davemc
“they have zero support for getting your graphics card to work properly”

Are you kidding? SUSE is the only distro that has drivers for NVidia and ATI hosted on…NVidia and ATI servers! And those drivers are in rpm format, just add repo with driver and install it using YaST. And when you go to, let’s say newest drivers site http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_amd64_100.14.11%20.html
what do you see? A link to SUSE how-to! I don’t see there any information about Ubuntu or other popular distro, just SUSE. If this is not support so what is?

Please stop spreading the FUD. I know that Novell-MS pact is evil per se but it doesn’t mean you have to spread FUD about openSUSE which is really outstanding distro.

“Please stop spreading the FUD. I know that Novell-MS pact is evil per se but it doesn’t mean you have to spread FUD about openSUSE which is really outstanding distro.”

I second that, with the only difference that I do not see the pact as “evil”. Collaboration of Linux with Windows can bring new users to Linux. Just think about how many people use a PC at home with Windows only because that’s what they use at work (trained in it and all they know). If Linux desktop makes it into work environment, people will be trained to use it. And, naturally, will start using it at home. Expecting a rapid switch from Windows to Linux is just too naive.

Those who are concerned about using FUD should consider this… MS is using FUD to coerce Linux distributors to allign themselves with MS. SUSE has cooperated with the principle agent of FUD. SUSE has chosen to put itself in a position to use FUD against competing Linux distros that aren’t aligned with MS.

If you are concerned with those who use FUD… that is, if you can’t support those who use FUD as a marketing tool… should you really be supporting SUSE?

Take your FUD elsewhere
You used it 6 times in your short post (if I counted right). So you’re using it too, fuddy-boy

@Jason

““Please stop spreading the FUD. I know that Novell-MS pact is evil per se but it doesn’t mean you have to spread FUD about openSUSE which is really outstanding distro.”

I second that, with the only difference that I do not see the pact as “evil”. Collaboration of Linux with Windows can bring new users to Linux.”

You are partly right. Collaboration is a good thing but patent deal which is not clear is a bad thing. This is why I called this pact as “evil”. You don’t have to pay for unspecified threats, and you can still protect your customers like Red Hat does
http://news.com.com/Red+Hat+adds+new+Linux+legal+protection/2100-7344_3-6132552.html
http://www.redhat.com/legal/patent_policy.html

Novell made mistake because Novell (imho) still doesn’t understand a value of community and free software. Microsoft did a lot of bad things to GNU/Linux users, spreading the FUD etc. and Novell should know that such strange deal will turn users against them.

But there is another thing. What Novell did also wrong is a communication with community. Novell should understand that such deal like with Microsoft has to be transparent. Users have to know what, when, why and how. And all those “open” letters did not clarify anything at all. I as a GNU/Linux, openSUSE, Fedora user don’t know what will Microsoft do in the nearest future but I’m sure it won’t be something nice (history shows Microsoft as a predatory company, not cooperative and good neighbour). And Novell did not convince me that it will have enough power to defend GNU/Linux from Microsoft dirty tricks.

Go openSUSE! or if you want better supported SUSE try SLED with SP1.. rocks!

@Jason

““Please stop spreading the FUD. I know that Novell-MS pact is evil per se but it doesn’t mean you have to spread FUD about openSUSE which is really outstanding distro.”

I second that, with the only difference that I do not see the pact as “evil”. Collaboration of Linux with Windows can bring new users to Linux.”

You are partly right. Collaboration is a good thing but patent deal which is not clear is a bad thing. This is why I called this pact as “evil”. You don’t have to pay for unspecified threats, and you can still protect your customers like Red Hat does
http://news.com.com/Red+Hat+adds+new+Linux+legal+protection/2100-7344_3-6132552.html
http://www.redhat.com/legal/patent_policy.html

Novell made mistake because Novell (imho) still doesn’t understand a value of community and free software. Microsoft did a lot of bad things to GNU/Linux users, spreading the FUD etc. and Novell should know that such strange deal will turn users against them.

But there is another thing. What Novell did also wrong is a communication with community. Novell should understand that such deal like with Microsoft has to be transparent. Users have to know what, when, why and how. And all those “open” letters did not clarify anything at all. I as a GNU/Linux, openSUSE, Fedora user don’t know what will Microsoft do in the nearest future but I’m sure it won’t be something nice (history shows Microsoft as a predatory company, not cooperative and good neighbour). And Novell did not convince me that it will have enough power to defend GNU/Linux from Microsoft dirty tricks.

PS. Sorry for sending message so many times but it didn’t show previously.

@openSUSE
“G, some people will never understand that openSUSE will not ship with all this media related stuff. Never. Just like Fedora won’t ship codecs. Never, never, never. Just stop asking about it…”

Not to start a flame war… But how does ubuntu have default mp3 support then? I’ve got 7.4 (I think) on a machine out the back, and I could play mp3s by default. No extra package installation. I’d just like to know why openSuSE doesn’t do it… (BTW, I am a openSuSE user, not some ubuntu guy coming to have a go @ openSuSE)

Scott

[…] is another yet good review of Opensuse. Overall, openSUSE 10.2 is great to use and feels as though it runs faster than any other […]

@Scott
Novell/RedHat are in USA, Canonical is not so it doesn’t care about USA law.

Btw. Owner of this blog deleted my previous post. I wonder why he did it. It was response to latest Jason post. I hope it is not because he doesn’t like others point of view…

I have never deleted any posts to any article I have written. I have enjoyed reading everyones comments and have no intention of censoring anything that has posted (unless of course it is spam).

I am not sure why your post never made it, but feel free to repost!

I didn’t want to offend you, but I’m sure I saw it and now it is not here. It was quite long post where I wrote (in response to Jason post) that Red Hat provides cover for it’s customers and doesn’t have to sign such strange patent deals like Novell. Here is the link if you need more information http://www.redhat.com/legal/patent_policy.html

I tried openSUSE on my (3-year old, but very powerful) machine and even with a new video card and monitor, the graphics were awful between both KDE and GNOME. However, out of curiosity, I downloaded SLED 10-SP1 (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) and tried it. That was almost two weeks ago and I’m still impressed.

The start/computer menu and the application menu layout is the best I’ve ever seen, and that includes any flavor of MS Windows or OS X. Hardware support is incredible, recognizing and installing drivers for my new Nvidia card and monitor during installation, and within a couple of downloads, I was watching movies, playing MP3s, and so on. Every part of SLED 10-SP1 is quick and responsive. Best of all, someone tell me why the same fonts on most other distros are so readable and clear on SLED 10-SP1! Only Fedora 7 equals its font clarity, and since I spent more than 90% of my time at the computer reading, that’s essential.

Frankly, I hate the deal Novell made with Microsoft. No, I really hate it. You don’t enable evil on principle. However, I’m beginning to think that Microsoft got suckered out of its millions, since to date it is Novell who has benefitted most, and what did Microsoft get? Nothing they couldn’t already get for free. I also dislike the Novell version of OpenOffice. But for $50 (or the 60-day evaluation), SLED 10-SP1 is very, very nice. If I were trying to hook a Windows user, I’d start here, and then maybe let them use PCLinuxOS or Linux Mint.