For those that don’t already know what I’m referring to, I’ve started a sister site to OMG! Ubuntu! called OMG! SUSE!.
I’ve been working on it for about the last month, it’s been live for two weeks though. The goal is to create a user-centric weblog around openSUSE, highlighting some of what makes openSUSE great. I am hesitant to classify it as a fanboy blog, since there are still plenty of things that bug the hell out of me with openSUSE
The question that I want to pose to the greater openSUSE Forums community is this: What kinds of news/content would you like to see on the site?
However, before answering the question "What kinds of content ", I’d like to ask you another one : “Who are you targeting with the blog? What kind of reader would be possibly interested by the blog?”
I personnaly would like to see something that I can’t read somewhere else (or read it in a very different way, with a different point of view), but again, I’m not sure if I’m part of your target reader
Fairly basic, but important to newcomers to openSUSE non-the-less and is good for capturing some eyeballs because these are the types of things people put into the search engines to and whether they are looking for openSUSE specifically or not, if it shows up in the hits page it increases visibility and they may even check it out (from then, who knows? … )
How To… set up a basic LAMP server, mail server, Zimbra server, LDAP, media server, etc.
I have gone to HowToForge and don’t find as much for how to do it in openSUSE compared to the other distributions and this is important because it also shows the power and advantage of using Yast and how to use Yast (and where it fails), which is the #1 distinction between openSUSE and other distros.
How To… use Zypper
How To… use Yast
How To… set up file sharing
How To… set up networking
with Windows/Mac/etc.
How to use, benefits of and/or getting involved with
openSUSE Builds Service
; what is it, how to use it, how to submit/participate with it, etc.
SUSE Studio
; latest images, how to customize it, how to search for appliances, etc.
About openSUSE, the distro, people and projects
Of course providing announcements for openSUSE activities
would be great and those people organizing it should be willing and able to supply the information since it benefits whatever their activity is.
How to get involved with the community
, whether the forums, mailing lists, etc. to getting involved as a developer or packager or ambassador. Or things from the mailing lists and/or forums (Kim does a great job summarizing the activity in the Forums each month).
Descriptions of the projects
, people involved and how to get involved (like the Art team, the MeeGo team, etc.). Be great if could get somebody from the different projects talking about the latest thing they are working on and/or who they are since they will know it best (and relieves you from having to write everything )
Define what is the relationship between openSUSE and Novell
(is it like Fedora with corporate sponsor (Red Hat) benefiting from testing new technology in Fedora? is it like Ubuntu being the same product being supported by Canonical? etc.)
Update on the development of the openSUSE’s organization
as things seem to be changing, and people are trying to focus on who openSUSE is for, and forming a direction.
New applications review
and how to get them. Looking at OMG! Ubuntu a number of the articles I’ve read (as opposed to skipping over) feature some little-known program which talks about what it is, and ends with how to install it. These are usually Gnome-focused so since openSUSE is known for it’s KDE ties, new and improved KDE-orientated applications may be good.
Ok… that’s about all I can think of at this moment off the top of my head.
I think that it shouldn’t be like a wiki. I mean a lot of “how tos” maybe aren’t such a good idea.
Articles about some different openSUSE features like “the power of zypper” or “what’s new about yast” or that kind of content sounds more attractive for anyone
Of course as Spyhawk said it depends on the kind of reader you are expecting.
The target audience I’m looking for is users of openSUSE. Folks choosing it as an alternative to WIndows, or looking for a new computing experience, etc. There certainly should be some overlap between that and power-users or developers using openSUSE as their desktop, but they’re not who I’m striving to write content for
Perhaps you might want to switch that a bit. Instead of folks already using openSUSE, you could make your target audience those who are looking to switch from Windows and new users to openSUSE. As a result, what drangonbite said inpost #4 would be very good What should I cover on OMG! SUSE!
One of the things most new users miss when they start with openSUSE is the community repositories that can be easily added via the Software Repositories module. So people whine and complain about audio and video not working, when it’s easier than they realize.
Yeh showcasing openSUSE like this is a very good idea.
I like going to OMG! Ubuntu! for my Ubuntu needs, and hopefully this will be quite similar.
One thing I can suggest is to help aid new users to the one click installers, that way nobody is banging coconuts trying to figure things out.
Sure the openSUSE documentation is sound but you never know when the site will have an outage.
Are you willing to accept help? I’d love to contribute articles.
I think the posts before me have done a good job discussing what should be covered. I just want to offer a suggestion on how. On OMG! Ubuntu!, the writers slip a lot of opinion into their headlines and content. I think opinion is fine, but it isn’t really needed in a two paragraph post letting me know that Gwibber has been updated. I think OMG! Suse! should have posts dedicated solely to expressing an opinion on something, simply for the sake of stirring discussion amongst readers, but keep this opinion out of the regular posts.
Of course! If you contact me through the contact form with an email, we can discuss further (worried about forum scraping email trolls)
I can agree with the sentiment, I’m not sure if I can write that dryly though. With the post about Banshee 1.7.3, I had a hard time keeping my excitement hidden
I think with some of the stellar software I want to discuss, there’s no need for me to add any of my own biases, but I don’t want to cover up my (positive) emotions when trying out new software.
Like you mentioned, there will be “opinion pieces” and other posts mean to provoke and arouse discussion, I’ll try to keep provocative writing in those instead of leaking into more newsy posts.
I’m a new linux user. Ubuntu was the entry point for me. Blogs like OMG Ubuntu have drawn my attention to Ubuntu “big time” in the way they made Linux looks and feel simple for regular PC users. Now that I’ve joined the OpenSUSE camp, and that I’m 100% comfortable with OpenSUSE, a site like OMG SUSE would really add up. I would like to read a post that explains software repositories and how to manage them in a simple way. Also, how to roll back if something went wrong after a wrong installation of software or a driver. What are the alternatives of the main applications shipped with OpenSUSE GNOME and KDE…Who should use GNOME and who should use KDE…
Maybe these subjects look so simple to many of the users here in the community…But these “simple” subjects would be the reason why a person decides to stay with OpenSUSE or maybe move on to another distro/OS.
How to integrate the look of google chrome with the desktop theme (fore xaple)…
How to enhance the sound quality and/or to boost the system volume…
These are some subjects that I have in mind now…I would let you know when I have more…
I agree. These things would be great to see in a newbie friendly blog. I also like the feature in YaST that allows you to automatically unsubscribe from a repository after installing a package, this way I keep my system clean of too much third-party/community clutter.
A e-mail has been sent! Here’s to fruitful collaboration.
When I originally wrote my Meet openSUSE 11.3 post I was trying out the Plasma Netbook Workspaces feature and it kept crashing hard in VirtualBox.
I don’t entirely have a free machine to drop out of my current desktop environment to try it out for realsies, I’m hoping some valiant text warrior will step up and write a glowing review of it at some point
I’m going through that myself, somewhat, with Gnome-shell on my laptop. If it annoys me enough I may actually take a look at the PNW. Argh,… now the idea is planted in my head! (ADHD + #_of_linux_variations = sleepless_nights!)
Actually, the Plasma Netbook Workspace is nearly six months old. It was officially released with KDE 4.4, which was after openSUSE 11.2 was released. Kubuntu was the first to show of the netbook workspace when it offered a preview of the interface in Kubuntu 9.10, released roughly four months before the interface was complete. I have used the interface in Kubuntu (both when it was a preview and the official release in Kubuntu 10.04), and though I have yet to try it in openSUSE, I could fire it up and write a review. I will admit upfront that I’m not the biggest fan and prefer the regular desktop workspace.
Apple made itself into a viable company by getting itself into schools. Early indoctrination led to loyalty. OpenSuSE has that opportunity with Edu-life and that would make for interesting reading and maybe a powerful tool for expanding opensuse’s use.
Also, nothing succeeds like success. If OMG!Ubuntu is drawing crowds, just copy 'em. >:)
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