yaUs - yet another Ubuntu switcher

[Jonathan_R]

Originally Posted by steffen13

Then some questions regarding using and operating OpenSuse:

- are there major differences between 11.1 and 11.2 in terms of using the special tools like Yast? I have seen some pics of the 11.2-yast but without using it, I can not tell the difference

- as I want to use 64-bit: are there any limitations regarding software, codecs, drivers, whatever, compared to 32-bit?

- as I fiddled around with 11.1 in virtualbox I saw a lot of firewall stuff, AppArmor and so on, for configuration in Yast. Ubuntu does not have any configuration thingys installed by default for the security stuff. So my question: do I have to care about this or is it sufficient when I choose the pre-defined security settings in Yast --> local security?

and as my questions are mainly based on the 11.1 release, are there any major differences in using 11.2 in general?

any answer would be very much appreciated

thanks
Steffen

Welcome to openSUSE. First rule. Have fun

Now to answer your questions. YaST is like the control panel in Windows. You can go with the default settings unless you need to alter/change something. Ubuntu does have something like this, but not nearly as organized as YaST. AppArmor is openSUSE's version of SELinux. Here I go with the defaults. But if you want to know more about AppArmor then read here AppArmor Geeks - openSUSE

openSUSE is not limited in codecs and such. You just need to know where to look. In YaST>Software Repositories click add, then select Community Repositories. You want to add Packman and VLC and in your case, Nvidia. This will take care of it so you can install the packman version of xine, Kaffeine, and amarok, and the required codecs. For the 64 bit flash, you will want to get that directly from Adobe. Install the Nvidia driver with YaST. Now you can use 32 bit flash just as well, so you don't have to get the 64 bit directly from Adobe if you don't want to.

Here is a nice list of the howto's HOWTOs - openSUSE

I hope this helps a bit.

I did try Ubuntu for a bit. Infact, this computer came with Ubuntu pre-installed on it. I tried Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Ultimate Edition, and Ubuntu CE (Christian Edition). I just didn't like the lack of organization. Their forums have more organization than their distro. I find that.....sad.

[steffen13]

Hi,

thanks to all for your answers! And thank you for the welcome and the links

Now I am fighting with myself... should I go already now, for 11.1 and after I got familiar with it, upgrade to 11.2?

Because playing around with 11.1 in virtualbox is still something different to the real life. And I am really curious now about using OpenSuse in real life.

I also find that OpenSuse as a system makes a more organised impression. This is also a little bit strange to me. Maybe during using Ubuntu now for nearly 2 years I am used to chaos

[conram]

Originally Posted by Jonathan_R

Welcome to openSUSE. First rule. Have fun

Now to answer your questions. YaST is like the control panel in Windows. You can go with the default settings unless you need to alter/change something. Ubuntu does have something like this, but not nearly as organized as YaST. AppArmor is openSUSE's version of SELinux. Here I go with the defaults. But if you want to know more about AppArmor then read here AppArmor Geeks - openSUSE

openSUSE is not limited in codecs and such. You just need to know where to look. In YaST>Software Repositories click add, then select Community Repositories. You want to add Packman and VLC and in your case, Nvidia. This will take care of it so you can install the packman version of xine, Kaffeine, and amarok, and the required codecs. For the 64 bit flash, you will want to get that directly from Adobe. Install the Nvidia driver with YaST. Now you can use 32 bit flash just as well, so you don't have to get the 64 bit directly from Adobe if you don't want to.

Here is a nice list of the howto's HOWTOs - openSUSE

I hope this helps a bit.

I did try Ubuntu for a bit. Infact, this computer came with Ubuntu pre-installed on it. I tried Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Ultimate Edition, and Ubuntu CE (Christian Edition). I just didn't like the lack of organization. Their forums have more organization than their distro. I find that.....sad.

@ steffen13 welcome to the forum
Yep. Listen to him, when I started opensuse 9 years ago he is the one who teach me how to add third party repositories in yast. That's where I started to have fun with SuSE.

[Jonathan_R]

Originally Posted by conram

@ steffen13 welcome to the forum
Yep. Listen to him, when I started opensuse 9 years ago he is the one who teach me how to add third party repositories in yast. That's where I started to have fun with SuSE.

Thank you conram. I didn't realize it had been that long. My how time flies when you're having fun.

[MountainX]

Originally Posted by steffen13

Hello,

although I am registered in these forums since some time (I used the registration for searching without the spam-prevention), I am now finally in the state where I consider a change: switching from (K)Ubuntu to OpenSuse.
Reason: Kubuntu Karmic is no OS which is worth to be mentioned...

To prepare for the switch I have installed OpenSuse 11.1 64 Bit in a virtualbox (I wanted to install the 11.2 RC but it gets stuck during install all the time) and fiddled around with it a bit. I also tried it as Live CD (11.2 RC again got stuck).

But there still are some questions and I hope that you would answer them

I want to install OpenSuse 11.2 64-bit on a Laptop: Lenovo 3000 N200. Does anyone have some experience with this device? Does OpenSuse run well on it? Ubuntu did, so I asume that there will be no issue with OpenSuse?

In Ubuntu, the graphics driver (the Lappy has a Nvidia 7300 GO graphics card) has had a stupid bug:
the screen could start to flicker from one moment to another and only a restart stops it. There are workarounds for that, but it still could occure.
Anything similar known for OpenSuse? I know, its the same driver in both OS'ses but maybe something is still different in OpenSuse?

Then some questions regarding using and operating OpenSuse:

- are there major differences between 11.1 and 11.2 in terms of using the special tools like Yast? I have seen some pics of the 11.2-yast but without using it, I can not tell the difference

- as I want to use 64-bit: are there any limitations regarding software, codecs, drivers, whatever, compared to 32-bit?

- as I fiddled around with 11.1 in virtualbox I saw a lot of firewall stuff, AppArmor and so on, for configuration in Yast. Ubuntu does not have any configuration thingys installed by default for the security stuff. So my question: do I have to care about this or is it sufficient when I choose the pre-defined security settings in Yast --> local security?

and as my questions are mainly based on the 11.1 release, are there any major differences in using 11.2 in general?

any answer would be very much appreciated

thanks
Steffen

Interesting post. I installed openSUSE 11.2 RC1 64 bit on my Lenovo Thinkpad T61p. Even though it is a prerelease, the install was easier and more trouble free than the released version of Kubuntu Karmic. (I actually have both install on different partitions on my HDD.)

As a user of Ubuntu for a few years, I have been very pleased by the high quality experience with openSUSE.

I didn't want to wait on 11.2 final because I wanted KDE 4.3.1 (or 4.3.2) and nothing earlier. So I took a chance on 11.2. As I said, it is more trouble-free than the final release of Kubuntu Karmic.

I'd love to hear your feedback after you use 11.2.

[Penel]

steffen13, Welcome to OpenSUSE I am sure you will enjoy your stay and your experience with OpenSUSE in general.

The OpenSUSE community is very helpful You can join their irc channel over at irc.freenode.net, #opensuse

[Axeia]

Originally Posted by oldcpu

11.2 has some improvements with YaST. For example in software management under 11.1, after one has completed updating some software, the software management would close. I believe in 11.2 it is supposed to stay open (in case one wishes to install more software).

Still closes by default I think, there is a setting to change it though.
I created a feature request on bugzilla to add the configuration option in an easier to access location.

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by Axeia

Still closes by default I think, there is a setting to change it though.
I created a feature request on bugzilla to add the configuration option in an easier to access location.

I noticed the same on my 11.2 RC2 install on my Sandbox PC. I suspect, as you note, there is a control somewhere that this can be changed (to leave open). Since I use the Smart Software Package manager 95% of the time, this is not an issue for me, and hence those who are more impacted by this need to follow this up.

[ReferenceSeete]

The option to change the default behaviour of the YaST Package Manager is in sysconfig.


Finding the app: YaST->"/etc/sysconfig Editor"
Within the app: System->Yast2->GUI->PKGMGR_ACTION_AT_EXIT

There's a drop list, the default is "close" but it can be changed to "restart" or, my personal favourite, "summary".


Alternatively, if you're more of a CLI Commander you can edit the text file /etc/sysconfig/yast2 with your text editor of choice.

[TaraIkeda]

Originally Posted by oldcpu

In 11.2 YaST the graphics/monitor menus have been removed and are no longer maintained. This is a reflection of 11.2 having more automatic graphic card recognition built in. But if that (auto configuration) does not work, it is still possible to boot to run level 3 (ie boot to an ascii / text full screen mode) and run the program "sax2" with various options ( "man sax2" will provide some of the options) and then sax2 will create a custom /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. If that file exists in 11.2, it will over ride the auto config settings.

This is my issue here, the auto config **** can screw up and this method relies too much on the DE/ WM to provide the end user config tools.
Gnome might be fine, XFCE might be fine but KDE4 is fugged.
So are most WM's

I thought the goal was to get away from commandline, not go back to 1993.
I still say SAX2's GUI should remain until a more suitble replacement is made so that when auto config messes up you have a tool to help you instead of relying on commandline or manually editing xorg.