Article: openSUSE-11.4 Pre-installation Guide

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[LEFT]Important information for users planning to install openSUSE 11.4 Note: openSUSE-11.4 was released 10-March-2011[/LEFT]

The VERY first thing to do is read our “general” openSUSE stickie here:
NEW Users - openSuse Pre-install (general) PLEASE READ - openSUSE Forums

Again, note you MUST read that link above. The majority of the information you need for a smooth installation/use of openSUSE is located there!

Now after you have read that, please continue for openSUSE-11.4 specific information (note some links may still point to 11.3) …

New Users - Additional Important Links you should know about

Here are some more important URLs for new openSUSE users specific to openSUSE-11.4 (note some of these Links may not yet be active or may still reference openSUSE-11.3):

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

OpenSUSE-11.4 Release Notes:

Anyone who has corrections, and/or comments, and or suggested improvements, please add them to the thread link here:
discussion thread for NEW Users - openSUSE-11.4 Pre-installation PLEASE READ
or PM one of the moderators.

Existing Linux Users - Additional Important Links you should know about

For those familiar with openSUSE and using openSUSE-11.2 or earlier, the sax2 configuration tool is no longer present in openSUSE-11.3 nor 11.4, so PLEASE keep a copy of your old /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, in case it might come in handy. Also note the guide:

which was specifically written because sax2 is no longer available.

Most annoying bugs in 11.4

Unfortunately despite significant effort on the part of SuSE-GmbH and the openSUSE community, openSUSE-11.4 is not without bugs. There is a list of the most annoying bugs here (which is worth a look BEFORE you install): openSUSE:Most annoying bugs 11.4 - openSUSE.

In particular, note the following:

EXISTING USERS - Beware of a nasty BUG when UPGRADING:

Please read here: Beware of a nasty BUG when UPGRADING In essence, a nasty bug got into 11.4 between RC2 and GM (Access Denied). If you do a ‘zypper dup’, it breaks rpm by removing liblzma0. Recovery is quite difficult. The workaround is quite easy - do a ‘zypper up rpm’ before the ‘zypper dup’.Sample installation pages

*(note some of these Links may not yet be active or may still reference openSUSE-11.3 - they will be updated in due course):
*
You can also see a full DVD installation walkthrough on the openSUSE wiki:

There are excellent references 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.

… or for the Live CD:

… and a series of videos on installing 11.4:

Some Graphics Configuration issues you need know about

As already noted above, for those familiar with openSUSE, the sax2 configuration wizard/tool is no longer present in openSUSE-11.3 nor 11.4. Its recommended experienced users keep a copy of your old /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, in case it might come in handy.

However in openSUSE-11.4 your graphics should be configured automatically, with no need for an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. If you have problems with graphics, please note the guide: SDB:Configuring graphics cards - openSUSE which was specifically written because sax2 is no longer available.

Also, for some basic graphics theory, please note openSUSE practical theory guide. openSUSE Documentation and Product Highlights

(note some of these Links may not yet be active or may still reference openSUSE-11.3 - they will be updated in due course):
openSUSE-11.4 documentation (both online HTML and pdf files):

And a general link to openSUSE documentation is here:

This paragraph provides links to pages giving various product highlights of 11.4.

Some other links:

setting up your multimedia

Further guidance for setting up your multimedia on your new openSUSE-11.4 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

To make the above easier, here is a link to a script (mmcheck) that will perform the above 10 steps in an easier to follow format.

For users who do NOT have Internet, but still wish to setup their multimedia with 3rd party packaged applications, here is superb package from user easgs](http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/multimedia/455316-multimedia-pack-portable-opensuse-11-4-a.html) with a large amount of multimedia that can be downloaded from a friend’s PC or internet cafe.

**openSUSE-11.4 LIVE CDs **

OpenSUSE-11.4 has just been released, and similar to openSUSE-11.3, we anticipate there will be a number of liveCD offerings for 11.4. This list of what was available for openSUSE-11.3 (all of which are installable) will be updated for 11.4 as the liveCDs become available.

The wiki summary of the liveCDs available is here: Live CD - openSUSE

So Please - stay “tuned” to this page !!

I have summarized some of them below:

Novell/SuSE-GmbH liveCDs:
There are installable liveCDs (packaged by Novell/SuSE-GmbH) for:

openSUSE community liveCDs
and there are liveCDs packaged by the openSUSE community for:

In all cases, after downloading:

  • be certain to do an md5sum check of the downloaded file vs the posted md5sum value
  • be certain to also burn at the slowest speed to the highest quality media available, to ensure the highest probability of a successful installation
  • during the install, when you have a hiccup, pull out your digital camera (if you have one) take a snap shot of the error message(s). You can use the digital camera image as a refresher as to the error message, or even post the image on the web to illustrate your point/error
  • and finally, after the above (or during the above) log on to our forum and ask for support. You can also get good support from IRC freenode channel #suse

Again, Please - stay “tuned” to this page as we hope to update it once the 11.4 live CDs (based on released GM versions of 11.4) start appearing.