I am trying to write an article for our newsletter regarding the openSUSE 11.3 release (I’ve already done one for Ubuntu 10.04 and Fedora 13) and I am hoping to get a feel for what improvements are people most insterested in for 11.3.
Most of these people I am writing for are non-Linux users, or dabblers. They have heard of Ubuntu and Red Hat, and a few mentions of openSUSE or Novell. I’m hoping to raise some awareness.
I’ve already gone through the release notes at Portal:11.3 - openSUSE but some of that has already come up for the other distributions so the “excitement” is slightly muted. Noteworthy, but muted. (SpiderOak <-> UbuntuOne, iPhone support already there, etc.)
I have a basic one I compiled yesterday during lunch, but need to “sexy” it up some. I already know I want to add more about Yast.
Not an easy task, apart from what’s in the release notes you mentioned, it’s mainly in new software releases and the new kenel 2.6.34 offering better support for newer hardware and the latest drivers. 11.3 is definitely quicker in performance, e.g. KDE 4.4.4
The new LXDE pattern and improved LXDE compared to 11.2, where ubuntu has a separate distro but openSUSE offers it as a feature and obviously the same comment goes for Gnome.
How about other than Yast, what features of openSUSE would be important or interesting to somebody just getting into Linux? Even the philosophy or openSUSE culture could be of interest.
Like I have to look into “Web Yast” and see what that is about.
So really your task has nothing to do specifically with improvements in 11.3 over 11.2. It has more to do with competing with ubuntu for the attention of non-linux users and dabblers. Good luck.
I meant to say that the same comment goes for KDE (where ubuntu uses separate distros in both cases). openSUSE’s integration of KDE has been reviewed as the best in a recent 11.3 review.
No, my “other than Yast” was because I just thought about making sure I include that so no sense copying what’s in my head
It’s a mixed-party. Anything like this is going to be for Linux users looking at openSUSE, non-Linux users looking at Linux and there are some people who have tried openSUSE or has used/heard of SUSE at work, for example. If I were to get more comments regarding the improvements from 11.2 to 11.3 then I would use that and reorient the article. If I get more of the overall openSUSE advantage over Windows then I would use that. Also true if I get more openSUSE over other distributions.
LXDE, Netbook tweaks like Plasma Netbook Workspace and MeeGo (Smeegol), Smart phones, SpiderOak, Banshee & Amazon, and Brtfs are items that they may find interesting but I don’t think that’s sufficient or enough so I hope that some people may be able to put forth some other benefits/features.
I’m with consued. This release is mainly updated software. The KDE desktop seems a lot faster. The Gnome version has gotten rid of hal, and moved to udev, so it is more on par with Ubuntu’s hardware detection (especially with regards to changing hardware). KDE still requires hal. I can now install the Gnome version to a flash drive, and boot it on a totally different PC without it choking because udev reconfigures everything at boot time. The KDE version still complains about missing hardware(if it boots at all). Wine got a nice new menu structure. The Yast Web module is just a front end search for webpin package search. It is similar to Ubuntu ppa repos. Webpin Suse studio was just updated to 2.0, and is supposed to be a little easier to use, although I haven’t tried it since it was updated. Maybe write about the new wiki? It’s pretty nice now. Version 12.0 will be a lot more interesting to write about.
I found now there is an easy way to try out the gnome shell preview… Just installing the gnome-shell package using zypper or yast brings this feature… Then logout and login to a gnome 3 preview session to experience the new gnome shell…
Although gnome shell looks good - it needs to pack in more features otherwise it would be used by only very few people… Like for example I need to have the list of all running applications always visible to me… There is a sidebar for that I agree but when this sidebar is enabled, takes up hell a lot of screen estate…
So far, everything looks great.
Thats the first time i use KDE as my main desktop and i couldn’t be happier.
I think OpenSuse gets easier with every release, but i have to admit that i haven’t made a list to which features i rate high.
I have to play a little more to come to a conclusion. But as far as usability, it is already easy to use. Or is it KDE? Not sure
Dragonbite, this may sound negative but you could use this ill-conceived and poorly researched rubbish… OpenSUSE 11.3 delivers spit, polish and niggles • The Register as a guide and put all the so-called errors right. The author did get severe criticism for comparing a release candidate to a polished and finished article.
I still downloaded and installed 11.3 on the day it was released and I am definitely not a geek.
You could also mention that there is only one reboot when installing Linux from scratch - compared to the 20-odd for a vanilla (no office and no frills) XP rebuild I performed last week. And it works!
Yeah, all Linuxes I’ve tried are a lot easier to install than Windows XP. Heck, right now I have a laptop with XP installed that I have to download the NIC drivers for so I can get it online and download the rest of the drivers?!! What a pain!
Unfortunately my DVD download, which takes 15 hours, doesn’t have the correct md5sum signature so I get to try and do it all over again! Wouldn’t be so bad, except 15 hours is a long time to try and minimize my internet use lest it increases the BitTorrent download!
I had the same problem with XP - no internet connection as the 6 year old intel (a small American company that makes computer stuff!) NIC driver was not in the XP build. How to load the driver then??? Use a SUSE linux machine to download them to a USB stick and you have it cracked. Imagine not having a basic driver that can connect to the internet in the basic install -
Defining feature of OpenSUSE is OBS which coupled with RPM software management and professional maintainers allows great choice for a user in what software or desktop environment he preferes. I think OpenSUSE gives the widest possible choice of DEs than any other distribution. On 11.0 you can install the bleeding edge KDE 4.4.5 and on 11.3 you can install KDE3 and even KDE2. The same is with Gnome, Enlightenment, LXDE, XFCE, Mozilla, Samba, OOo and any other piece of software.
