NEW Users - Suse-11.1 Pre-installation – PLEASE READ

[oldcpu]

This “stickie” thread is locked, to ensure this is easier for new openSUSE users to read.

Anyone who has corrections, and/or comments, and or suggested improvements, please add them to the new thread link here:
Suggestions for openSUSE-11.1 Newbie Installation stickie? - openSUSE Forums
or PM one of the moderators.

MANY MANY thanks to those who have contributed to helping out new users to openSUSE.

NEW USERS - Suse-11.1 Pre-installation – PLEASE READ

.... more posts to follow ....

[oldcpu]

NEW USERS - Suse-11.1 Pre-installation – PLEASE READ

This thread is for New openSUSE users (ie newbies to openSUSE) to provide basic guidance in burning your installation CD/DVD and installing openSUSE. This is for simple, and not complex setups.

This first post is the first of a series of posts in this thread, which will hopefully provide helpful hints on how to install openSUSE-11.1.

Note: openSUSE-11.1 is scheduled to be released on 18-December-2008. Please wait until then, and then proceed to download your CD / DVD. [Before then you will get openSUSE11.0]. You may find things somewhat slow the first day or so, as the masses all try to download at once.

1. Where to find the openSUSE installation ISO file

Note, typically you go to openSUSE web site, and download an ".iso" file. Software.openSUSE.org

You then burn that to a CD or DVD (dependent on whether you downloaded CD or DVD version) the installation CD/DVD. This first post has some important hints on that.

Please note, if you decide to download openSUSE-11.1, pay very close attention to the MD5 checksum.

2. Checking MD5 SUM on ISO FILE from Linux

The theory here is one downloads the appropriate .iso file(s). For those who already have Linux, one then runs "md5sum file.iso" (or something like that) in a konsole, against the downloaded file (which in my example I called "file.iso"). This will give an md5 checksum value. One then compares that to the checksum that is on the download web site. If they don't match, you have a problem, and you MUST download again.

Typically, bittorrent downloads are more reliable than FTP or HTTP downloads. Another new download method is metalink - ref openSUSE Lizards » Best Way to Download openSUSE (more detail here Downloading openSUSE FAST using Metalink - openSUSE Forums )

3. How to check the MD5SUM from Windows:

One completely free, MS-Windows application for running the md5 checksum on a number of different operating systems, is here on sourceforge.net: md5deep

Another gui md5 checker for MS-Windows 95/98/NT (it works in Xp as well even though it doesn't say so). The file is md5.exe (248kB) and can be downloaded from MD5 GUI for Windows. It's under the gpl licence and you can download the source if you want.

4. Burning the CD/DVD

Next, when one burns, burn the CD/DVD iso file as an "image file". For windows users, in Nero, this does not mean selecting some iso option, but rather means selecting the "image" option (this is under "file > burn image").

When burning, please burn at a VERY SLOW speed. VERY SLOW. Also, choose a CD/DVD media that is of the highest quality you can get. Don't use some no name bargain basement brand CD/DVD that you know nothing about (see the end of this post for more information on this subject).

There is further excellent guidance, providing help on "burning the ISO image" on the opensuse wiki:
http://en.opensuse.org/Download_Help#Burn_...SO_Image.28s.29

5. Ensure BIOS is set properly

Also, on the PC where the installation is to be done, ensure in one's BIOS that the PC is set to boot from the CD/DVD drive before booting from the hard drive.

6. Check MD5SUM again from within installation CD/DVD

When installing openSUSE-11.1, you may be given an option to check the MD5 checksum on your CDs (it is called a "media check" on the initial installation menu). Take the extra hour (or more) to do this!! It will potentially save you many evenings later on down the road, looking for some elusive problem that you can't find.

7. Installation Menu

If you have a simple PC setup, with only a single MS-Windows partition on your drive, then likely you can leave the "Use Automatic Configuration" selected. BUT if you believe you may have to change the location of the openSUSE boot manager GRUB in your Master Boot record then you MUST deselect "Use Automatic Configuration". If you do not, you will NOT be able to control the location of your boot manager GRUB.

In particular, Thinkpad Lenovo owners- PAY ATTENTION to this. You may need to deselect "Automatic Configuration" and then follow the guidance in the openSUSE 11.1 Release Notes !!

8. Desktop Selection

Your two main desktop choices under the automatically installed Linux X Window System are GNOME or KDE 4 . Both are good. Surf the web for more info. Alternatively, if you like KDE but wish to try the older more proven KDE-3.5.10 , then select "Other" and choose KDE3.5. (You also have a choice of Xfce , or minimal X window or minimal server (text) installation).

Please note the Live CD for KDE ONLY comes with KDE-4.1.x and not KDE-3.5.10. To quickly get KDE-3.5.10 one must install off of the DVD and not the Live CD. There are ways to obtain KDE-3.5.10 via CD (using the KDE-4.1.x CD as an install CD for 3.5.10) but that is outside the scope of this stickie.

9. MS-Windows Users - you MUST defrag your MS-Windows partitions before installation of openSUSE. That is because if you have not already prepared a partition for openSUSE, then openSUSE installer will try to carve up your MS-Windows hard drive (allocating space for both MS-Windows and Linux), and a badly fragmented drive can cause problems.


Good luck to all.

========================================
Notes on CD Burning. Note it is recommended one use a High Quality CD and burn at a slow speed. I have had better experiencing using the PC with the burner on which openSUSE is planned to be installed. On PCs with significant difference in CD/DVD burner age, I have noted there can be problems related, I believe due to calibration of older drives being poor. Reference burning speed and CD quality, please note the following: openSUSE Forums - View Single Post - Suggestions for openSUSE-11.1 Newbie Installation stickie?

The drive may not be rated at the high speed in combination with the media used. If you realise that a lot of cheap media are turned out in factories where economy wins over quality, you might have DVDs where the manufacturer ID might be fake and this causes the writer to choose the wrong burn power, which become a more serious problem at high speeds.

The drive might require the latest revision of firmware to work at high speeds. Something like this: Maybe when the drive was first issued, it was rated at 8x for all known DVDs and at 16x for QualityRUS DVDs and other brands were not available yet. As more media brands came out, the drive manufacturer might have updated the firmware to handle those. But you haven't got the latest firmware. BTW this also applies to PVR appliances.

And cheap media are just that, cheap. They are ok for handing your relative copies of programs you recorded off free-to-air TV, but don't expect them to keep data for more than months or a year. I have seen media where it was obvious that exposure to air had caused the dye layer to thin and start developing pinholes.

Having said that, I don't believe it is necessary to go down to 1x. I hardly ever have problems with 4x.

You have to watch k3b. It could pick a high speed when you choose Auto, but this is not compatible with your drive or medium for reasons given above. So set k3b manually to use 4x or less.

BTW if you want to make archival quality DVDs, two words: Taiyo Yuden. The real ones, made in Japan. And good storage conditions of course.

Reference CD/DVD quality, here is a link with good information on this subject: digitalFAQ.com | Blank DVD Media Quality Guide

[oldcpu]

How to check burned CD (if cannot perform media check)

If you have burned the .iso to a CD or DVD already, and you are having problems with that CD / DVD, and if for some reason the media check option does not work for you, and you still wish to check the md5sum on the CD / DVD, then you can do the following (thanks to a contribution by our openSUSE user ken_yap):

To check the md5sum from a just burned dvd:

Ideally, one would just use

$ md5sum /dev/dvd

But trailing zero’s and nuls at the end can change the MD5 hash. So to calculate the md5sum we need to run isoinfo on the file to get the number of blocks. E.g.

isoinfo -i /dev/sr0 -d

Look for the line

Volume size is: XXXXXXX

Use this in a dd command:

dd if=/dev/sr0 of=image11.iso bs=2k count=XXXXXXX

It is possible that when you burnt it, you had some padding blocks. This will affect the md5sum if you read it off the DVD, but no contents should be affected even if get back more blocks than what you originally had in the download.

[oldcpu]

Cautions to take when migrating from an old openSUSE Linux to a new

For new Linux users, who are migrating from an older openSUSE, to openSUSE-11.1, here is some advice from the SuSE-10.2 reference manual, which is a useful reference for users who are updating (or re-installing) their SuSE for the first time:
========================

5.1 Updating the System

5.1.1 Preparations

Before updating, copy the old configuration files to a separate medium, such as streamer, removable hard disk, USB stick, or ZIP drive, to secure the data. This primarily applies to files stored in /etc as well as some of the directories and files in /var and /opt. You may also want to write the user data in /home (the HOME directories) to backup medium. Back up this data as root. Only root has read permission for all local files.

Before starting your update, make note of the root partition. The command df / lists the device name of the root permission. There is also df -h.

==================
For example, I typically make copies of my /etc/fstab, /etc/X11/xorg.conf, /etc/cups, /etc/modprobe.d/sound, /boot/grub/menu.lst.
.

And I typically keep a copy of the output of:

df -Th
cat /etc/fstab
su -c 'fdisk -l' #enter root password when prompted

[oldcpu]

New Users - Important Links from openSUSE Community

The openSUSE community has created a number of web pages, for the specific purpose of helping new openSUSE users.

It is definitely worth while for new openSUSE users to take a look at these (below) openSUSE community URLs, which provide guidance as to how to improve one's SuSE, to go beyond the initial limitations in the "as delivered" version of SuSE provided by Novell-SuSE-GmbH:
http://opensuse-community.org/Welcome_to_o...E-Community.org

In particular I recommend looking at this page:
Repositories - openSUSE-Community
Note repositories are in essence file servers on the internet containing applications, drivers, codecs, ... etc ... in this case, for openSUSE. and as a new user, when setting up your repositories by following the guidance in that page, initially set up only 4 repositories (repos). Just 4. No others. Those 4 are OSS, Non-OSS, Update, and Packman. Adding others can cause compatibility problems, and users who have advanced past the new user stage may think it is better to select more than these four--and you may also, when the time comes and when you learn how to solve problems that may arise from having others. Until then, stick to the 4. One may also have to briefly add other repos, install an app, and then remove the repos (for example for installing a graphic driver, or installing an updated alsa sound driver). Once those 4 repos are setup, one can go to YaST > Software > Software Management and change the "filter" to "search" and do searches for specific applications for installation.

Specifically (for instructions on adding repositories), new SuSE-11.1 users, go for the SuSE-11.1 link, go here:
Repositories/11.1 - openSUSE-Community

A guide on installing restricted formats (ie mp3, video codecs, etc ...)
Restricted Formats - openSUSE-Community
The above suggests a one click install. If one has setup their repositories as noted earlier in this thread, it is easy to instead go to YaST > Software > Software Management and install the applications from there. IMHO one has more control via that YaST installation method (but one does need to know the name of the application).

and for SuSE-11.1 (follow for "one-click" guide on installing openSUSE-11.1 multimedia):
Restricted Formats/11.1 - openSUSE-Community

and don't forget to look at the FAQ:
FAQ - openSUSE-Community

The above URLs also provide guidance re: playing mp3's and dvd's, installing/setting up Software Package Managers (such as Smart, Yast, ... ), one's wireless, etc ...

[oldcpu]

New Users - Additional Important Links you should know about

Here are some more important URLs for new openSUSE users (including DRIVER Information):

Wireless under openSUSE:
Ndiswrapper - openSUSE

ATI Graphics Driver Custom Install:
ATI - openSUSE


Nvidia Graphics Driver Custom Install:
NVIDIA - openSUSE


Intel Graphics Driver under Linux:
Welcome to the Linux Graphics Driver from Intel site | Graphics

Webcam under openSUSE:
HCL/Web Cameras - openSUSE

Scanner working under openSUSE:
YaST/Modules/Scanner - openSUSE

Checking for hardware compatiblity under openSUSE:
Hardware - openSUSE

Basic openSUSE concepts: for the Windows users migrating to openSUSE
Concepts - openSUSE

Audio Troubleshooting:
SDB:AudioTroubleshooting - openSUSE

MS-Windows NTFS under openSUSE:
NTFS - openSUSE

Zypper - openSUSE Software Package Manager: for installing software under openSUSE without using the one-click install
Zypper/Usage/11.1 - openSUSE

OpenSUSE-11.1 Release Notes:
openSUSE 11.1 Release Notes

General guidance for printing under Linux:
* YaST/Modules/Printer - openSUSE
* http://en.opensuse.org/Concepts#Philosophy...printing_format
* OpenPrinting - The Linux Foundation

[oldcpu]

Novell Support

In case any new user has purchased a "boxed" version of openSUSE, and is looking for official Novell support for their openSUSE, here are a couple of links:

Circumstances Warranting Installation Assistance for openSUSE
NOVELL: openSUSE: Support Requirements

Table providing level of support one can get with commercial boxed openSUSE
NOVELL: openSUSE: Support Service Catalog

Having noted that, if one has problems with their openSUSE, please post the details of your problem here on our forum, and there is a chance one of the many volunteers on our forum will be able to help you.

[oldcpu]

New Users - Sample installation pages

You can also see a full installation walkthrough on the openSUSE wiki:
Installation/11.1 DVD Install - openSUSE

... or for the Live CD:
Installation/11.1 Live CD - openSUSE

This is an excellent reference to point to, if you have an installation failure (after the GUI starts) and you wish to point to the failure location. Simply take note of the page where your problem occurred, and use that information to help you describe the problem to those providing you support.
.

[oldcpu]

openSUSE Documentation and Product Highlights

openSUSE-11.1 documentation (both online HTML and pdf files):
Novell Doc: OpenSUSE 11.1 - Table of Contents

And a general link to openSUSE documentation is here:
Documentation - openSUSE

Here is a good page giving various product highlights of 11.1.
Product Highlights/11.1 - openSUSE

Some other links:

• openSUSE 11.1 Release Notes
• Testing:Features 11.1 - openSUSE
• Buy openSUSE - openSUSE

[oldcpu]

setting up your multimedia

Further guidance for setting up your multimedia on your new openSUSE-11.1 installation is here: Multi-media and Restricted Format Installation Guide - openSUSE Forums

For users who attempt that, and still have trouble, there is a guide here for troubleshooting your problems: Check your multimedia problem in ten steps - openSUSE Forums

For users who do NOT have Internet, but still wish to setup their multimedia with 3rd party packaged applications, there is a guide/package here by

• doctorjohn2: OpenSuSE - Selected Packages and Dependencies (i586 & i686) - Page 2 - openSUSE Forums
• Easgs: http://easgs.wordpress.com/2009/01/1...-opensuse-111/

Only one of these two packages (ie either the one "packaged" by Easgs or the one "packaged" by doctorjohn2) is needed. There is duplication between them.