OpenSUSE 11.4 installation experience

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi,

having used SuSE Linux ever since the April 1995 release, I thought installing 11.4 would be a straightforward task. Since it wasn’t, I’m summarising here my experience. My PC is built around a 3-year old Asus P5B-plus mainboard, i.e. certainly not brand-new hardware.

1 - on installation, my “Atheros Communications L1 Gigabit Ethernet (rev b0)” wasn’t recognized, so I had to “modprobe atl1” from one of the consoles available during installation. That worked but the installer didn’t pick up the fact that network was now available.

2 - after completion of the installation, online-updating for the first time and installing the nvidia driver for my “nVidia Corporation G71 [GeForce 7300 GS] (rev a1)” the KDE desktop showed the “blank desktop with mouse pointer” syndrome. Googling yielded that desktop effects had to be disabled in the kwinrc configuration file.

3 - logging in today after an online update, firefox (MozillaFirefox-4.0.1-0.2.2.x86_64) segfaults on start-up while loading the default website (opensuse.org). firefox will run in safemode but it won’t run in normal mode, even with all add-ons disabled.

Now I don’t have a useable system after a couple of hours of trying. Fortunately, I have a working installation of openSUSE 11.2 but I believe that updates for that distribution will be stopped shortly. Too bad :-/

Anybody with similar experiences?
Martin

#2

You have posted this in one of the help forums. When you want help on your problem, please start one thread per problem. Give the thread a telling Title that will draw people with the experience and knowledge you need to that thread. When you post this as you did, many people taking a fast glance through new threads with a pronmising title will skip yours. I do not think that is what you want.

When just want to tell us a story, how you fared, etc. there is the General Chit Chat forum for that.

#3

Ok, I thought feedback would be useful but if it’s not appreciated please ignore.

#4

Feedback is allright, but please in the correct place. As it is now people are still wondeing if you need help or not.

#5

On 05/05/2011 12:36 PM, wmsx wrote:

> having used SuSE Linux ever since the April 1995 release, I thought
> installing 11.4 would be a straightforward task. Since it wasn’t, I’m
> summarising here my experience.

-=welcome=- highly experienced but new poster!!

been using SuSE for 16 years and never had a problem so bad you needed
to stop in and ask a question? -=congratulations=- on such a background…

but this 11.4 is so dang confusing that now you can’t figure out this
problem ?

simply unbelievable!!

[my FUD Detection Meter is bending the needle far past “Unbelievable!!”]

> 2 - after completion of the installation, online-updating for the first
> time and installing the nvidia driver for my “nVidia Corporation G71
> [GeForce 7300 GS] (rev a1)” the KDE desktop showed the “blank desktop
> with mouse pointer” syndrome. Googling yielded that desktop effects had
> to be disabled in the kwinrc configuration file.

Really? i would have expected your GoogleFu would have been easily able
to find this: http://tinyurl.com/23mgej6

which works great and doesn’t mention either kwinrc, or turning off
desktop effects

> 3 - logging in today after an online update, firefox
> (MozillaFirefox-4.0.1-0.2.2.x86_64) segfaults on start-up while loading
> the default website (opensuse.org). firefox will run in safemode but it
> won’t run in normal mode, even with all add-ons disabled.

and?

are you asking for help or just making a statement?

if asking for help with 16 years of SuSE experience you certainly know
what the helpers will want to know about your system, and see in order
to be able to help you…right?

> Now I don’t have a useable system after a couple of hours of trying.
> Fortunately, I have a working installation of openSUSE 11.2 but I
> believe that updates for that distribution will be stopped shortly. Too
> bad :-/

“Too bad” oh no! will you have to go back to some other operating
system? is this one just too hard for you?

instead of just throwing your hands up, declaring defeat and making your
first help request ever to this community, i might have expected you to
back level that online update which apparently killed something,
somewhere, somehow…and, logged a bug already.

> Anybody with similar experiences?

nope…after only six years experience with SuSE i was able to figure
out how to trouble shoot a firefox problem…and, if i couldn’t i knew i
could post to an applications forum somewhere . . .

–
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[openSUSE11.3 + KDE4.5.5 + Firefox3.6.17 + Thunderbird3.1.10 via NNTP]
HACK Everything → http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5b4CCe9pS8&NR=1

#6

I 'm running suse since version 6.0 year 1999.

I think you should check your installation media.

Redownload if necessary and repeat the installation.

#7

Thanks, folks, you made my day by responding to my expression of frustration. DenverD’s reply was great although I’m not entirely sure whether there wasn’t a hint of irony in it. Anyway, I got my act together, deleted and succesfully reinstalled all mozilla from the opensuse repositories and figured out that the “black desktop + mouse pointer” syndrome could be cured by unchecking “use direct rendering” in the OpenGL options of the Desktop Effects. Amazing modern technology :shame:

#8

DenverD’s reply was great although I’m not entirely sure whether there wasn’t a hint of irony in it

He always comes at you that way. But he’s very knowledgeable too, so don’t dismiss his comments.