i recently installed opensuse on my computer due to it contracting a virus and not letting me reistall the original operating system on it. but i know nothing about this program. i have almost everything up to date and working on it. one thing i find strange is when i try to update the flash or java on it that i have to do all this extra stuff to get it to run. i do not know what programs to pull up to type the stuff down thats given in the java installation instructions. the movement of the webpages when scrolling is running slow and videos on youtube do not have as good of quality to it as it did on windows. so im assuming something is out of date or there are settings i need to adjust. and help with this would be greatly appreciated cause i just started messing with this new operating system.
What video card/chip is in the machine? I expect that you may need to install a propritary driver for the card to get max-experience for video. But we need to know what hardware you have to guide you. Also it is helpful to know which GUI you are using KDE or Gnome.
In OpenSISE GUI you install software by Yast-Software Managment. You should find this in your menu. From the command line you can use the zypper program to manage your software.
It is important that you understand that Linux is NOT Windows. Things are done differently.
devonramey,
First, welcome to openSUSE! I think once you get used to it, you’re really going to like it! gogalthorp raises good questions, but since you mention Flash and Java, you need to make sure that the Non-OSS repository is included in your YaST Software Management tool. Here’s the process:
- Whatever desktop (KDE or GNOME) you’re using, press Alt+F2. A little command line will appear.
- Type ‘yast’ (no quotes). You may be asked for a password.
- When YaST appears, click the Software Repositories module (use the Search tool if you have any trouble finding it).
- The repositories module lists all the places you can get software from. You should see a Non-OSS (OSS=Open Source Software) repository on the list.
- If this is not on the list, click the Add button in the lower left corner. Click the Community Repositories button and click Next. You should see the Non-OSS repository (often shortened to ‘repo’), along with a bunch of other interesting places (judging from your message, I’ll recommend the Packman repo for multimedia packages). Check any of the interesting ones, and click Next.
That should get you set up quite nicely. Let us know if you have other questions or problems, and please do answer gogalthorp’s questions.
Here’s a nice guide for you to get started:
This might be useful for you to consult as well:
If you get stuck, feel free to post (per problem). We’ll help where we can 
first of all thank all of you for the great help, ill defiantly be coming back with more questions im sure. im looking at my hardware information right now and i have a
Intel(R) Core™ Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz
im using a KDE desktop, im not sure what other information your looking for on the hardware so just let me know and how i can find it on this computer and id be happy to let you know. and thank you for the help MMcCallister, i looked and i do have a non-oss. it says openSUSE-11.2-Non-Oss
URL: Index of /distribution/11.2/repo/non-oss and its enabled and on autorefresh.
ok i think this in the info your looking for
OS Information
OS: Linux 2.6.31.14-0.8-desktop i686
Current user: devon@linux-l18i
System: openSUSE 11.2 (i586)
KDE: 4.3.5 (KDE 4.3.5) “release 0”
Display Info
Vendor: Intel Corporation
Model: 965 GM
Driver: intel
CPU Information
Processor (CPU): Intel(R) Core™2 Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83GHz
Speed: 1,000.00 MHz
Cores: 2
Temperature: 46 °C
Memory Information
Total memory (RAM): 2.9 GiB
Free memory: 1.8 GiB (+ 827.8 MiB Caches)
Free swap: 2.0 GiB
Welcome to opensuse
Before You start configuring your system, I would suggest you to … install it once again 
Because it seems like you are currently using quite old version (11.2), that will be soon unsupported.
What is more, you should install x64 version, it should be a bit faster.
openSUSE 11.4 is more up-to-date (about 1,5 years, that’s a lot of time) and maybe will work better “out of the box”.
It seems like you have integrated Intel GPU (I don’t know which driver you should use, though).
here is download link:
http://software.opensuse.org/114/en
just make sure you select “64-bit PC”, as you PC is 64-bit.
edit:
you can upgrade openSUSE without reinstalling it using 11.4 installation DVD, but I don’t know if it’s possible to upgrade i586 to x64 architecture.
It seems like you have integrated Intel GPU (I don’t know which driver you should use, though).
The intel driver (which is is in use), so all should be ok here.
ok so if i upgrade to the 11.4 will it wipe out my computer? and i figured that if i updated everything on here that it would update it to 11.4 for it didnt. so is it possible to just upgrade it from the internet to the newer version? and i thought when i first did the installation of the program that my computer was a 32 bit. so your saying my computer is a 64 bit or does it even matter and i can install a 64 bit anyways?
You have a 64-bit processor, so you can install 64-bit OS.
technically you could upgrade. Yet, you’d better follow the advice by deano_ferrari, and do a clean 11.4 install, 64bit. During install you will meet the partitioner. At that point, choose to edit the partitioning and pick “Import Mount points”, tick “Format system volumes”. This will leave “/home” as it is, and that is where your docs, settings etc reside, so nothing lost.
oh ok thanks for the help, ill do that then
so what method do i use to install the new version. can i do the live KDE desktop with the download method being direct link for a 64 bit? and whats the different between KDE desktop and GNOME
Both are different GUI environments atop a linux kernel
GNOME feels like a gurgling stream and KDE feels like a river in spate
so does that mean that Gnome is worse than KDE?
Nope it is a matter of taste. Some like KDE some like Gnome. They are both GUI ie they have windows and menus in a graphic environment. Each will run just about any Linux program. So it is a matter of personal opinion which is best. There is no reason you can’t install both and try each out. From the CD ( KDE/Gnome) install then in Yast install the other. Or from the DVD select both to be installed. You can select which desktop you want when you log on.
What i meant to convey was it is a matter of personal choice.Some like to relax while hearing a to a relaxing sound made by a stream.
While some lie a plethora/overwhelming number of features{KDE]
What i tried do was a poetic comparison