Minimal Install openSUSE 11.1

[ReferenceSeete]

This a tutorial coverning how to do a mininal install of openSUSE 11.1. A minimal install is quicker to boot, has a smaller memory footprint and allows you greater control over what is installed in your system. It originally appeared in DistroWatch Weekly on February 23, 2009. I've reproduced it here with modifications.


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Preparation

This tutorial requires:
1. An openSUSE 11.1 install DVD
2. A willingness to use the command-line

This tutorial highly recommends:
1. An internet connection
2. A printed list of all the repositories you use
3. Familiarity with installing openSUSE 11.x

This tutorial recommends:
1. A willingness to use the YaST ncurses interface


Installation

1. Boot to the DVD and choose to install from the menu. You can press F2 and select an alternate language if required or desired.

2. "New Installation" should be pre-selected, make sure that's the case.

Note: Lower on the screen is an option for "automatic configuration option". This option is selected by default. Leaving this option on means you will not have to use the YaST ncurses interface later. However, if your internet connection requires special settings (such as static IP address, to use particular gateways, or a specifc hostname) and you do not know how to apply those settings with command-line tools...you should deselect "automatic configuration".

3. Set your time zone.

4. At the 'Desktop Selection' screen select 'Other' and choose "Minimal Server Selection (Text Mode)".

5. Partition your hard drives.

6. Complete the rest of the setup procedure until the 'Summary' screen.

7. Change the default run level from 3 to 5.

8. IMPORTANT: Review the summary screen for any errors(!), especially the partitioning and formatting settings. This is also the time to review the packages that will be installed. Make sure any packages you do not want are excluded.

9. Install. This won't take long because there are very few packages to install.

10. If you selected "Automatic Configuration" at the beginning skip down to the "Set-Up: Base System" section. If you did not select "Automatic Configuration" then you'll be presented with the YaST ncurses interface. The layout is fundamentally the same as the colourful Qt-based installer. Adjust any settings as necessary.

Note: You can select different menus and 'buttons' by pressing [Alt+the letter highlighted letter]. For example the 'Next' button may have the letter "N" as a different colour than the rest of the word. By pressing [Alt+the different colour letter] you will select it.


Set-Up: Base System

The base openSUSE system includes a fully functional splash screen and includes many services, such as D-Bus, HAL, Firewall, CPUFreq, NFS, CUPS, OpenSSH and Postfix out of the box. It also includes YaST and all the modules for configuring your system. Since you'll be installing packages from the internet you'll jump directly to the most recent packages, this is especially useful if you want to move to KDE 4.2+ or Gnome 2.26 without installing their previous editions that came on the DVD.

Note: Make sure you are root or have root permissions. All of the following commands assume you have administrator rights. So either log in as root OR use "su" and the root password to aquire the necessary rights.

1. Refer to your repository list and add any repositories you want to use. Adding repositories takes the form; ["zypper"] ["ar"] [option] [path-of-repo] [name-you-want-the-repo-to-have].

Example: Adding the KDE 4 Factory Repositories

zypper ar -t rpm-md http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/Qt/openSUSE_11.1 KDE4:Qt

zypper ar -t rpm-md http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/KDE4:/Factory:/Desktop/openSUSE_11.1/ KDE4:Desktop

zypper ar -t rpm-md http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/KDE4:/Factory:/Extra-Apps/openSUSE_11.1/ KDE4:Extras

zypper ar -t rpm-md http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/KDE4:/Community/openSUSE_11.1_KDE4_Factory_Desktop/ KDE4:Community

[What's the "-t rpm-md"? It's an option that tells zypper what type of repository it is dealing with. Zypper typically knows what type of repository it's dealing with but when this tutorial was tested some of the KDE 4 repos would not work. Explicitly telling zypper the repo type fixed the problem. Type "man zypper" in a terminal if you want to know more about this option.]

2. Refresh your repositories

zypper refresh

3. If you don't like certain packages or software now's the time to lock them from ever being installed. Example: Beagle & Pulse Audio

zypper addlock beagle*
zypper addlock pulseaudio*

4. Update your system

zypper dist-upgrade

Set-Up: Desktop Environment

1a. Quick Path: Install A Pattern

There are groups you can install under openSUSE, called 'patterns', which pull in packages as specified by the package maintainer. For example, if you want a basic GNOME or KDE desktop, you can install 'gnome_basis' or 'kde4_basis' respectively. KDE3 is also available with 'kde3_basis'. The problem with using these is that you forfeit some control and minimalism for your system as many packages are pulled in for you. The upside is that you don't need to know each and every little package to make everything work, which can be frustrating if you want something but don't know how to get it! Feel free to experiment, but for the purposes of this exercise, here is how to use the available patterns.

zypper install -t pattern gnome_basis

This will pull in all required packages to get you a default openSUSE configured desktop.

You can see all of the available patterns by typing

zypper pt

1b. Continued Minimalism: Install what you want/need

GNOME

zypper install gdm gnome-terminal xorg-x11 xorg-x11-driver-input xorg-x11-driver-video xorg-x11-fonts 
yast2-gtk yast2-control-center-gtk

KDE4

zypper install kde4-kdm xorg-x11 xorg-x11-driver-input xorg-x11-driver-video xorg-x11-fonts 
yast2-qt yast2-qt-pkg yast2-control-center-qt 
kdebase4 kdebase4-runtime kdebase4-workspace kdebase4-session kde4-konsole

Note: The above two sets of commands should be entered as one unbroken line. They are shown here with line breaks for reading and printing purposes.

2. Give yourself an X11 set-up

cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.install /etc/X11/xorg.conf

3. Set up a Login Manager

GNOME

yast2 sysconfig set DISPLAYMANAGER=gdm

KDE4

yast2 sysconfig set DISPLAYMANAGER=kdm4

4.Select a default desktop environment.

GNOME

yast2 sysconfig set DEFAULT_WM=gnome

KDE4

yast2 sysconfig set DEFAULT_WM=startkde

5. Reboot your computer

6. You should be greeted with the login manager you chose earlier. Log in as the user you set up during installation.

7. Install more software.
Things to consider installing ("*" may require additional repos):
- Additional fonts: Liberation Fonts, DejaVu Fonts, language-specific fonts
- Office software: OpenOffice, GNOME office + Evince, KOffice/KOffice2* + Okular
- Image software: For GNOME try GIMP, F-Spot & Eye of Gnome, For KDE try Krita, Digikam & Gwenview
- Browser-plugins: Java, Flash, streaming plugins* (VLC or MPlayer)
- Multimedia codecs*
- ATI or Nvidia 3D graphics drivers*

7a. If you installed using gnome or kde patterns: you'll have many tools included such as a web browser, email and calendar program, chat client, CD burner and an image viewer. You can use YaST (or a terminal) to install additional software.

7b. If you did not use patterns: You can use YaST (or a terminal) to install additional software. Beyond the list above you should consider 'basic' software like a web browser and email/PIM suite.

8. Perform the usual tweaks & customisations you would with any install - wallpaper, icons, fonts etc.

9. Enjoy your lighter, faster system.


Additional Notes

1. NetworkManager: If you want to use NetworkManager enter the following in a terminal with administrator rights.

GNOME

zypper install NetworkManager-gnome
yast2 sysconfig set NETWORKMANAGER=yes

KDE

zypper install NetworkManager-kde
yast2 sysconfig set NETWORKMANAGER=yes

2. Sax2: If you want Sax2 and its modules to work from YaST (or the command-line) be sure to install it.

Command-line Only

zypper install sax2

GUI & Command-line

zypper install sax2-gui sax2-tools

3. Synaptics Touchpads: You'll probably have to install the "x11-input-synaptics" package manually. Your touchpad will work without it, but only with basic functionality - no scroll zones, tap-&-drag or multi-touch functions.


The Payoff

The Original Writer @ Distrowatch (Chris Smart):
This new custom openSUSE system boots from GRUB to login screen in around 28 seconds, taking a further 6 seconds to load the GNOME desktop. It is using up 175 MB of memory once fully logged in and just over 1.7 GB of hard drive space. Compare this to the default install, which takes 39 seconds to boot and over 10 seconds to load the desktop, while using up 3.6 GB of hard drive space and over 315 MB of memory.

ReferenceSeete:
With auto-login, my laptop used to take ~95-100 seconds from GRUB to full KDE4 Desktop with no-HDD-activity. It now takes <60 seconds.

[gutaper]

At the point "1b. Continued Minimalism: Install what you want/need" of "Set-Up: Desktop Environment" for KDE, you wrote "yast-qt-pkg". May be yast2-qt-pkg ?

[consused]

Thanks for this re-engineered howto, and handy to have here in the forum. I found it useful in making a lean and mean virtual machine with openSUSE 11.1 and KDE 3.5, to try different combinations before committing it to a real partition.

[ReferenceSeete]

@gutaper
Good find! I'll ask a moderator to fix the error.

@consused
I'm glad it has helped someone. I was very happy that the original article was published but it had a couple shortcomings (in my eyes) such as not addressing a KDE install.

I'll definitely review it for 11.2. Although a custom, lean-oriented SUSE Studio re-spin of 11.2 would probably be a winner.

Hmm, once I get an invite to SUSE Studio I'll definitely get to doing that.

[consused]

Originally Posted by ReferenceSeete

...
@consused
I'm glad it has helped someone. I was very happy that the original article was published but it had a couple shortcomings (in my eyes) such as not addressing a KDE install.

I'll definitely review it for 11.2. Although a custom, lean-oriented SUSE Studio re-spin of 11.2 would probably be a winner.

Hmm, once I get an invite to SUSE Studio I'll definitely get to doing that.

For 11.1, and setting up a KDE 3.5 environment as at 1b. Continued Minimalism: Install what you want/need, this is what I did:

zypper install kde4-kdm xorg-x11 xorg-x11-driver-input xorg-x11-driver-video xorg-x11-fonts 
yast2-qt yast2-qt-pkg yast2-control-center-qt 
kdebase3-session kdebase3-SuSE kdelibs3 kdeutils3

It worked just fine on a real installation. Is that minimalism ok, or would you have added more packages?

[ReferenceSeete]

Originally Posted by consused

For 11.1, and setting up a KDE 3.5 environment as at 1b. Continued Minimalism: Install what you want/need, this is what I did:

zypper install kde4-kdm xorg-x11 xorg-x11-driver-input xorg-x11-driver-video xorg-x11-fonts 
yast2-qt yast2-qt-pkg yast2-control-center-qt 
kdebase3-session kdebase3-SuSE kdelibs3 kdeutils3

[edited...]

consused, Thanks for adding the relevant parts for KDE3!

It looks good and fits into the rest of the instructions from the tutorial. The only modifications I would suggest would be if someone wanted to avoid more KDE4 bits...it would be better to replace 'kde4-kdm' with 'kdebase3-kdm'.

Then in step 4 use:

yast2 sysconfig set DISPLAYMANAGER=kdm3

In step 5 using, I would have assumed "yast2 sysconfig set DEFAULT_WM=startkde3" would be necessary, but "yast2 sysconfig set DEFAULT_WM=startkde" should be fine if your install worked.

Otherwise I wouldn't recommend that more software be included in the set you outlined. This install method assumes the user has a good idea of what they want to install, keeping it light is ideal.

[consused]

Originally Posted by ReferenceSeete

It looks good and fits into the rest of the instructions from the tutorial. The only modifications I would suggest would be if someone wanted to avoid more KDE4 bits...it would be better to replace 'kde4-kdm' with 'kdebase3-kdm'.

Then in step 4 use:

yast2 sysconfig set DISPLAYMANAGER=kdm3

In step 5 using, I would have assumed "yast2 sysconfig set DEFAULT_WM=startkde3" would be necessary, but "yast2 sysconfig set DEFAULT_WM=startkde" should be fine if your install worked.

Glad to contribute to your howto. It's useful to show both kdm versions for user choice. I kept with kde4-kdm as my original default installation of 11.1 + KDE3.5 did install that, and I note the KDE3 Base pattern only includes kde4-kdm. Also, I wanted to keep as close to your original minimal selection as possible.

Indeed, "yast2 sysconfig set DEFAULT_WM=startkde" did work after my install with kde4-kdm.

In terms of feedback, compared to a default install with its automatic configuration, sound needed configuring and that was achieved by running alsaconf post installation. The only other basic utility packages for KDE3 I would have listed, and did immediately install are: the KDE sound mixer kdemultimedia3-mixer; and kpowersave.