openSuSE 10.2 Is Here!

[DavidMD]

Hello, everyone.

I realize that I am not telling anyone who uses SuSE Linux anything new, especially if you had problems with Version 10.1, but openSuSE (http://www.opensuse.org/) 10.2 is out and, if you have a slow Internet connection, vendors of Linux discs already have it in stock.

Good luck -- and please keep us informed!

Thank you, in advance! :)

Cordially,

David

[MkIII_Supra]

and the laptop is running great no issues.

Problem is with my desktop. I can't seem to find viable KDE repositories so I can re-install KMediaFactory! Which I had with OpenSuSE 10.1. And I was in the process of creating some DVD's with KMediaFactory for x-mas gifts.

Other than that, so far so sweet. I notice a bit more pep out of my older system (desktop is a Duron 1.2GHz CPU) and other than no longer being able to play .WMV's or some other formats, even though I followed the Jem Report (http://www.softwareinreview.com/cms/content/view/60) oh well, par for the course and no surprise to me anymore.

The fonts are far more crisp and clear in 10.2 compared to the earlier SuSE's I have run so another bonus. The new SuSE menu is kind of hard to get used to at first and if you don't like it, it's easy to convert back to the stock KDE style. I don't use Gnome so couldn't tell ya about it.

Beagle is blazing now, it's almost like having a Mac! I haven't tried suspend to disk yet with my main PC, with 10.1 it worked but it would kill sound and the only way I could get sound back was to do a complete reboot. So I will try that and update my post.

Cons -


Pros - Faster (is it KDE or is it SuSE?)
The updater is most definitely faster!
Fonts look great
Beagle hauls tail
Interface seems more clean, crisp
Menus are a bit to get used to but very easy to use and pack a lot of info in a small area.

Info - KDE repositories (http://www.suseforums.net/index.php?showtopic=27749)

With the repositories you will need to break the urls like so:
repos.opensuse.org/ - first line
KDE:/KDE3/openSUSE_10.2/ - second line

For some reason if it isn't like that it won't work. I read somewhere this was resolved, guess not.

Overall, another win for SuSE.

[betamaxman]

Works great for me as well, beryl was an easy install, and best is yast seems fixed.
However the grub gui installer is a tad different and on my sata/ide machine it kept placing grub to hda instead of sda even though scsi is first in my boot order. Easy enough fix though just annoying.

[DavidMD]

Hello, betamaxman and MkIII_Supra! :)

I am glad that openSuSE is working well for you!

I have ideological problems with Novell's patent agreement with Microsoft, so -- after over four years of installing SuSE Linux exclusively -- I have decided to switch to Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 ("Etch") as my "main" Linux distribution.

Unfortunately, "Etch" obviously missed its 4 December release date, and an article on DistroWatch speculates that it won't be released until January -- so I'll do a 'Net install of "testing."

Incidentally, for people who want the ninety (90) days of installation support and documentation of SuSE 10.2, and are willing to pay for them, they can order the retail boxed set directly from Novell. One needs to search for "openSuSE 10.2," however, on the Novell Web site, and not "SuSE Linux." Even the box containing the DVD, CDs, and documentation is labeled openSuSE 10.2. ;)

For whatever reasons, Novell did not release SuSE 10.2 with any fanfare. There was, for example, no official press release announcing this much-anticipated release (after the problematic 10.1 release).

Again, I am very glad that everything is working well for you with open SuSE 10.2!

Cordially,

David

[asarch]

Does anybody knows the repos for the "forbiden" packages? :D

[blackbelt_jones]

Before I discuss suse10.2, I want to mention that SUSE10.1 was finally fixed. When the remastered version came out, a mere six weeks or so before the release of opensuse10.2, I found that it performed quite well for me.

Both 10.1 and 10.2 featured worthwhile improvements to YAST, the big comprehensive administrative tool that makes SUSE SUSE. 10.1 made it easier to add installation sources to the package manager by allowing the whole url of an online repository to be installed at once, (instead of requirung that the domain name and the directory be added seperately) and by making it possible to add sources from a local hard disk in the form of an .iso file

Opensuse 10.2 features some nice progress meters for YAST, which is welcome beause YAST can easily become bogged down with collecting all the information from onloine and local sources that it needs to function, and it can be genuinely helpful to have a graphic that tells you that it's actually working, especially if you're running an older computer, like I am currently. I think a lot of people would be surprised at how well SUSE has always performed on an older computer... the one big exeption is YAST, which most users won't have to run very often, after the initial setup.

I had a few problems with the Packman online repository for 10.2. Certain packages that are supposed to be there just aren't. My best guess is that this problem is caused by heavy online traffic after a brand new release. In the case of fluxbox, I got around the problem by compiling from source. In every other case, I replaced the missing rpms with packages from the packman repository for SUSE 10.1, which I downloaded and installed individually, and they worked just fine.

I have actually installed opensuse 10.2 on three different partitions, so I can fool around with it to my heart's content. One is a text mode system, the second is a minimal graphic system (fvwm is the name of the Window manager, I think, basically a fancy version of twm) and the third got the the woks... kde and gnome have both been installed, though I usually use fluxbox as a Window manager.

[DavidMD]

Hello, blackbelt_jones.Before I discuss suse10.2, I want to mention that SUSE10.1 was finally fixed. When the remastered version came out, a mere six weeks or so before the release of opensuse10.2, I found that it performed quite well for me....Thank you for bringing up this point. Novell -- regardless of what one thinks of its agreement with Microsoft (or the fact that Microsoft approached Red Hat first, which "is neither here nor there") -- responded very promptly to the problems with SuSE 10.1. In fact, Novell took the time and effort to remaster openSuSE 10.1, while not taking the same action with the retail version of SuSE Linux 10.1 (for which people paid). :p
...Opensuse 10.2 features some nice progress meters for YAST, which is welcome beause YAST can easily become bogged down with collecting all the information from onloine and local sources that it needs to function, and it can be genuinely helpful to have a graphic that tells you that it's actually working, especially if you're running an older computer, like I am currently. I think a lot of people would be surprised at how well SUSE has always performed on an older computer... the one big exeption is YAST, which most users won't have to run very often, after the initial setup....I started using Linux, and installed SuSE Linux exclusively over four years ago, back when it was SuSE Linux Professional. I have not upgraded the computer on which I have always run SuSE, which installed and ran much faster than Windows XP Professional when I was dual-booting. (I am adding more memory, new hard drives, and a 3-D video card to this computer, but it will still have a 2.0-GHz, Pentium-4 processor without hyperthreading.) SuSE Linux, despite its wealth of offerings and features, runs very well on older machines! :D
...I have actually installed opensuse 10.2 on three different partitions, so I can fool around with it to my heart's content. One is a text mode system, the second is a minimal graphic system (fvwm is the name of the Window manager, I think, basically a fancy version of twm) and the third got the the woks... kde and gnome have both been installed, though I usually use fluxbox as a Window manager.Your idea of setting up openSuSE 10.2 on three separate partitions with three separate environments is an excellent way to test SuSE 10.2, blackbelt_jones -- and I am sure that we will benefit from your efforts. (In addition, I hope that you are enjoying your technical endeavor!) :)

Speaking of FVWM, I tried it very early when I started using Linux, printing out all of the documentation from the FVWM (http://www.fvwm.org/) Web site. (Mastering the scripting is the key.) The amazing thing is that, with some effort and aptitude (which I lacked four years ago, and probably still lack) ;) one can make FVWM look and behave just about any way one wants, and there are some wonderful themes available! I don't think that FVWM will convert you from fluxbox, blackbelt_jones, but I do plan on re-exploring it -- although my initial plan is to try XFCE as my default desktop environment. (I was also intrigued by FVWM because I am an ailurophile -- "cat lover" -- and the FVWM Web site is worth a visit if you are fond of cats (http://www.fvwm.org/fvwm-cats/).) Now, I am really off-topic! :p

Please keep us posted on your work with openSuSE 10.2, blackbelt_jones. Your posts on SuSE Linux are always very detailed and informative, and I very much appreciate your contributions to JustLinux. :)

Thank you, blackbelt_jones!

Cordially,

David

[asarch]

Ok guys, is Saturday December 16th, 4:05 hrs UTC, I've finished my installation and I have these issues:


How can I enable anti-aliasing fonts?
How can I switch from GDM to KDM and viceversa?
Isn't that great the penguins Grub boot splash?

[leonpmu]

Antialiasing should be accessable from the kde control centre and to change to kdm enter yast -> System -> sysconfig editor -> Desktop -> login manager -> change to kdm

[DavidMD]

Greetings, asarch. :)

Congratulations on your successful installation of openSuSE 10.2. :D

Have you run into any problems (minor or major) with openSuSE 10.2?

Again, congratulations and thank you, asarch!

Cordially,

David

[service88]

I started using Suse with the 9.0 release. My current system is running Suse 10.1 and I have managed to get everything running except for audacity. Could someone please try audacity in 10.2 and let me know if it works? If if does I might have to upgrade. Thanks :)

[blackbelt_jones]

Ok guys, is Saturday December 16th, 4:05 hrs UTC, I've finished my installation and I have these issues:


How can I enable anti-aliasing fonts?
How can I switch from GDM to KDM and viceversa?
Isn't that great the penguins Grub boot splash?


I don't even know what anti-aliasing fonts are, but if no one comes up with a better answer for switching desktop managers, I'd try looking in YAST under system/sysconfig editor.

Oh, never mind; I see you DID get a better answer.

[MkIII_Supra]

I started using Suse with the 9.0 release. My current system is running Suse 10.1 and I have managed to get everything running except for audacity. Could someone please try audacity in 10.2 and let me know if it works? If if does I might have to upgrade. Thanks :)

4 hours ago to do a little mixing for my DVD files.

[asarch]

Ok, let's go step by step. First of all

Greetings, asarch. :)

Congratulations on your successful installation of openSuSE 10.2. :D

Thank you very much. :D

Have you run into any problems (minor or major) with openSuSE 10.2?
As a matter of fact, just a couple of them:


Is a little bit slower than 10.1 from GRUB screen to the login screen.
On the other hand, in the morning my battery ran out of power and when I reboot the screen penguins did not appears. :(


Again, congratulations and thank you, asarch!

Cordially,

David
Not mention. Anywhere, anyplace, anytime...

See you DavidMD and happy hacking!!! :cool:

[asarch]

Speaking of good things:

One thing it *REALLY* shoked me was that is is *VERY* fast to install its packages.

I downloaded the DVD ISO and selected all the packages (which is about 1700 or more) and the installation of packages it only took half an hour. OMG :eek:

On the other hand, the eyes of the chameleon on the K menu of the KDE enviroment it follows the mouse pointer ala xeyes program.

P.S.

I don't even know what anti-aliasing fonts are, but if no one comes up with a better answer for switching desktop managers, I'd try looking in YAST under system/sysconfig editor.

Oh, never mind; I see you DID get a better answer.
Not to worry man, thanks a lot anyway.

See you and happy hacking!!! :cool:

[service88]

I updated my system to 10.2 (fresh install) this morning and everything seems to be working so far. My problems with Audacity are just a fading memory now. I used this guide to get all the codec stuff working http://www.softwareinreview.com/cms/content/view/60/ The only problem I ran into was this. I use KDE and for some strange reason I could not install an RPM using Yast while running KDE, it would run for and while and post an error message. Luckily I had also installed Gnome. Once I logged into Gnome Yast installed the RPM without any problems at all.

[DavidMD]

Hello, asarch.As a matter of fact, just a couple of them:


Is a little bit slower than 10.1 from GRUB screen to the login screen.
On the other hand, in the morning my battery ran out of power and when I reboot the screen penguins did not appears. :(
I am sorry that you have had a few problems, but at least they are not serious.

I suspect that SuSE Linux 10.2 still boots more quickly than Windows XP! ;)

Do the penguins reappear after you recharge your battery?

Regarding anti-aliased fonts, asarch, I am sure that there is a technology for Linux. Windows uses ClearType, which works especially well for LCD screens, and Apple uses Quartz with Mac OS X (which is better than ClearType).

Have you tried doing any Google for Linux searches, asarch? I suspect that you can anti-alias fonts with SuSE and they will look much nicer on the screen. I am sorry that I cannot offer you specific advice, asarch! :(

Cordially,

David

[blackbelt_jones]

One thing that I'm really starting to get is how surprisingly powerful SUSE is with older equipment. (My P4 is down, yet again) I couldn't even install Ubuntu on this old box.

The ability to utilize old equipment is one of my favorite things about Linux, and I'm glad to know that SUSE is tuned into that. YAST takes a long long time on this box, but it works, and that's the name of that tune, as Robert Blake used to say.

Here's an interesting development. I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but SUSE 10.2 goes back to using the ext3 filestystem as the default. I'd heard enough scary anecdotes about data loss with Reiser that I'd been using it all along. I wonder if this is going to be a trend.

[DavidMD]

Hello, blackbelt_jones!...The ability to utilize old equipment is one of my favorite things about Linux, and I'm glad to know that SUSE is tuned into that. YAST takes a long long time on this box, but it works, and that's the name of that tune, as Robert Blake used to say....Everytime I boot a computer running Windows XP Professional at work, I wonder how much faster the hardware would perform if it were running a Linux distribution. :p

I always got excellent performance out of SuSE Linux, even though I upgraded SuSE constantly, but kept the same processor, motherboard, and amount of RAM.

Cordially,

David

[blackbelt_jones]

I finally got my "good" computer back, and I installed SUSE10.2 on it last night, and so far no issues. Most of the packages installed cleanly from the repositories, all dependencies included, except that I still had to compile fluxbox from source, and that's no big deal, it's just a textbook compile.

Again, the changes to the Desktop menus for KDE and Gnome are pretty cool, but the big news is that they're still refining YAST, and YAST is an awesome tool, no matter how slow it is. I recently became aware that YAST is not proprietary, and I wonder if there are any other distrs out there using it, or using a version of it.

[DavidMD]

Greetings, blackbelt_jones!I finally got my "good" computer back, and I installed SUSE10.2 on it last night, and so far no issues. Most of the packages installed cleanly from the repositories, all dependencies included, except that I still had to compile fluxbox from source, and that's no big deal, it's just a textbook compile....Congratulations on getting your "good" computer back -- and on your successful installation of openSuSE 10.2 on that machine.

I am going to have to do give FluxBox (http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/) a try, although my original plan has been to switch to XFCE (http://www.xfce.org/) as my default desktop environment. (I have also volunteered to help with the XFCE documentation, although this new job leaves me little time.)

I cannot help but notice, blackbelt_jones, that you install FluxBox immediately after you install a Linux distribution -- so FluxBox must be very cool! ;)

As a matter of principle, I always want to make the minimum use of system resources with my Linux GUI. (I have used KDE for much of the past 4.5 years, which is definitely not a "minimalist" environment, :p although I have been impressed with XFCE and FVWM.)

On the other hand, KDE and Gnome are always improving, and I know that I can run KDE and Gnome applications via XFCE, although I am not sure what sort of demands this type of setup will put on my hardware.

(Note: I need to research to find out, for example, how much of KDE and Gnome must load in order for XFCE to launch selected KDE and Gnome applications. Perhaps mixing XFCE with KDE and/or Gnome is a wasteful configuration.)

By the way, blackbelt_jones, are you still experimenting with the separate openSuSE 10.2 installations on the three separate partitions? (How have you liked FVWM?)

Thank you for your update, blackbelt_jones. I always benefit from your informative posts, especially your many contributions about openSuSE.

Cordially,

David

P.S. -- Incidentally, blackbelt_jones, you have posted many helpful messages about openSuSE over the last several months. Are you using any other Linux distributions right now, or are you focusing on SuSE? Thank you! :)

[blackbelt_jones]

Incidentally, blackbelt_jones, you have posted many helpful messages about openSuSE over the last several months. Are you using any other Linux distributions right now, or are you focusing on SuSE? Thank you! :)


To the best of my knowledge, I'm convinced that SUSE is, as advertised "the world's most usable open source operating system." It's not the easiest to install or set up, but it's easy enough that I could write a tutorial that would give a reasonably intelligent newbie a fully functional multimedia Linux Desktop very quickly. It's comprehensive and functional, and one big when you've got the right repositories in place, you can install easily mplayer, the mplayer mozilla plug-in, and just about every codec you will ever need. That's just about total media access, from the command line and from the Desktop.

This interests me, not only for the sake of my own success, but because I believe that it is in the area of educating the Newcomer, if anywhere, that I am most likely to contribute to the community. I came to Linux with almost no technical background at all, and foundered and struggled much longer than should be necessary for those who come after me. As I'm fond of saying, I'm only an expert at not being an expert.

I certainly do try other distros. I usually have something debianish installed on my machine to back up when something doesn't work quite right in SUSE. And I like to keep abreast in the changes in other popular distros, just in case Ubuntu ever becomes as good as it's supposed to be (it's getting there!) I have it in the back of my mind to learn Slackware. I may install it on my old computer now that my new computer is back in business. But while I try other distros, or even study other distros, I use SUSE.

[DavidMD]

Hello, blackbelt_jones....I believe that it is in the area of educating the Newcomer, if anywhere, that I am most likely to contribute to the community. I came to Linux with almost no technical background at all, and foundered and struggled much longer than should be necessary for those who come after me. As I'm fond of saying, I'm only an expert at not being an expert.Thank you for your thorough reply, blackbelt_jones.

You are emulating one of my personal ideals for a member of the GNU/Linux community: Letting others benefit from your early struggles and from your experience, by making a focused effort to help newcomers to Linux.

I sense that you are not a "touchy-feely" kind of fellow, blackbelt_jones, but I still want to commend you for passing along your experience to Linux neophytes/"newbies," so that -- ideally -- their learning path will not be as difficult as yours was. In my book, this approach is THE way the GNU/Linux world should work, and I think that it succeeds in JustLinux, despite the fact that we don get sidetracked, often by petty matters.
I certainly do try other distros. I usually have something debianish installed on my machine to back up when something doesn't work quite right in SUSE. And I like to keep abreast in the changes in other popular distros, just in case Ubuntu ever becomes as good as it's supposed to be (it's getting there!) I have it in the back of my mind to learn Slackware. I may install it on my old computer now that my new computer is back in business. But while I try other distros, or even study other distros, I use SUSE.I am still feeling ambivalent about my decision, blackbelt_jones, to stop using SuSE Linux, after over four years, and to switch to Debian (because of the agreement between Novell and Microsoft).

I still want to take advantage of Debian's philosophy, stability, and packaging technology -- but perhaps I am letting ideology take priority over practicality: SuSE Linux Professional -- and now openSuSE -- has served me very well since I first decided to install a Linux distribution, and SuSE 10.2 appears to be of the quality that I have always expected, and usually gotten, from SuSE (long before Novell's acquisition).

Besides, I know that getting comfortable with Debian "Etch" will take me a while, but that I can get up an running with openSuSE 10.2 while I learn Debian GNU/Linux 4.0. :)

Thank you again, blackbelt_jones, for your helpful messages!

Cordially,

David

[andycrofts]

Grief, like Blackbelt Jones, I love to push old kit.
So, I was using SuSE 10.0 on this IBM 600E thinkpad, 256Meg ram, and it was...OK. Sluggish, but OK.
So I upped to 10.1. What a bloody disaster! That Zen thingy, which seems to have been written in not-so-quick-Basic (or some similar Beginners interpreted language), hogged the machine at 99% for 20-30 minutes. Frankly I wasted a weekend on that junk, and went to Mandrake ONE (via Kubuntu, but I couldn't stand that damn SUDO fixation. Even got me entering my password for supervisory tasks, not root's ! Freaky)
So, as I love SuSE for desktop (CentOS for server) one more chance with Suse 10.2
Got the eebie-jeebies when it told me (interet install) there wasn't enough memory to run Yast (oh, cripes, here we go again!), but offered to use a swap from the previous installation. OK (well, second time. Like a total prat, I told it to format all partitions, including the swap it was using... :eek: )

So far, so very good. Slick, fast - very, and I love it!

-Andy

[blackbelt_jones]

By the way, I think already mentioned, but it may not be in this thread, they did fix the problems with SUSE 10.1, the remastered version came out sometime in October, and it's as sound as a dollar.

I guess I've developed a wait-and-see attitude about Novell's deal with Microsoft. To be practical about it, if SUSE and Microsoft are going to be working together for interoperability, it means that SUSE is going to have an advantage in business and that's all the more reason to be familiar with SUSE. Morally, I don't see anything wrong with the deal, but is it smart? I'm not smart enough to know.

I sense that you are not a "touchy-feely" kind of fellow, blackbelt_jones,

You'd be surprised; I have six cats! :o

[DavidMD]

Hello, blackbelt_jones.I guess I've developed a wait-and-see attitude about Novell's deal with Microsoft. To be practical about it, if SUSE and Microsoft are going to be working together for interoperability, it means that SUSE is going to have an advantage in business and that's all the more reason to be familiar with SUSE. Morally, I don't see anything wrong with the deal, but is it smart? I'm not smart enough to know.Although I have expressed my ideological objections to Novell's agreement with Microsoft, and my plan to switch to Debian GNU/Linux as my "main" Linux distribution, I have been doing some reflecting upon the practical implications of my decision.

I started using Linux over four years ago, and SuSE Linux Professional (now, Novell openSuSE) was/is the only distribution that I have installed on my Linux workstation. It would be a waste for me to "throw away" that familiarity with SuSE, especially given my very positive experience with SuSE. (I did skip SuSE 10.0 and 10.1, but 10.2 appears to be a "keeper.")

In addition, who am I to dictate the morality of the agreement, although I have used morality as the basis for my decision? :rolleyes:

Regarding my comment about your personality, blackbelt_jones, you write:
You'd be surprised; I have six cats! :oAt one point, I had seven cats -- all adopted strays -- although one male, even after he was neutered, insisted on spending most of his time outside, and I agreed with his decision, because he "sprayed." :p

Since the end of my marriage and a subsequent move (my ex-wife, it turned out, had "replaced me"), I have had one dog, Mira. She was picked up by animal control, had been abused by a man or men, and was on "death row" at the animal shelter. Although I miss having cats, Mira is a wonderful companion and I am glad that our eyes met on that faithful day in the shelter. :D

To get back on topic, blackbelt_jones, I am realizing that I can run Debian "testing"/"Etch" as my "main" Linux distribution, but would be foolish to abandon SuSE after over four years.

Thank you for your time! :)

Cordially,

David

[Darkbolt]

It'd probably actually be more benificial to you if you tried another distribution. You may have learned suse, but thats a ways off from knowing linux. But hey, your call.

[blackbelt_jones]

It'd probably actually be more benificial to you if you tried another distribution. You may have learned suse, but thats a ways off from knowing linux. But hey, your call.

I both agree and disagree with Mr. Smartypants Slackware Snob. Knowing SUSE is not "a ways" from knowing Linux, but learning another distro is always a great idea if you have the time and inclination, and Etch is an excellent choice. Whether it's Etch, Sarge, Kanotix, Ubuntu, Knoppix or Linspire, Debian-based Distros are a vital part of the community., and apt-get provides easy access to a massive universe of software, more packages than you can imagine.

People still tease me about the fanatical devotion I demonstrated when I first discovered the debian-installer for Sarge, but these were the days before opensuse, and back when Ubuntu still made you edit the sources list in order to use apt-get and I still believe that Sarge was the best newbie distro available at the time. There were "holes" in my Sarge install. Things like the Mozilla Plugin Browser for mplayer and installing nVidia drivers were huge problems for me, but I got my first real taste of what it feels like to really run a Linux desktop.

At the moment, I am also running Etch and SUSE10.2 together, although SUSE is my number one distro, and Etch is number 2. If you've got any hard drive space at all, it's a good idea to have separate partitions. It makes backing up, recovering and reorganizing data a breeze, and I think you might as well have more than one distro. There's always something that just won't work quite right. (In SUSE10.0, it was audacity, and it's nice to have an alternative. And, like I said before, Debian makes it easy to explore a dumptruck full of free software packages. That makes it fun to fool around with, and a great complement to another distro whether you put in charge or give it the fallback position.

David, I think it's obvious from the way you started this post that your heart isn't in giving up SUSE completely.

[DavidMD]

Hello, Darkbolt.It'd probably actually be more benificial to you if you tried another distribution. You may have learned suse, but thats a ways off from knowing linux....Thank you for your message.

Although I agree with you that learning more than one distribution is beneficial, I politely disagree that knowing SuSE is not "knowing Linux." ;) SuSE is an excellent GNU/Linux distribution, and I have installed many packages from source and several from CVS. YaST2 is great, but it was not always the method that I needed to get the software that I wanted to install: I am sure this situation is true for openSuSE, as well.

When I first started using SuSE Linux Professional over four years ago, I was warned that SuSE was not a good distribution for a Linux neophyte/"newbie." Over the years, SuSE's reputation has obviously changed, and it is a great distribution -- for new and experienced Linux users.

Thank you very much for your feedback, Darkbolt.

Cordially,

David

[DavidMD]

Hello, blackbelt_jones....learning another distro is always a great idea if you have the time and inclination, and Etch is an excellent choice....

...David, I think it's obvious from the way you started this post that your heart isn't in giving up SUSE completely.Thank you for your detailed reply, blackbelt_jones.

I think that we agree in our perception of SuSE as a true GNU/Linux distribution.

You are perceptively correct, blackbelt_jones, in stating that my "heart isn't in giving up SUSE completely." Regardless of my disapproval of Novell's agreement with Microsoft (especially the patent clauses), openSuSE remains an excellent Linux distribution -- and SuSE Linux Professional was a joy to use. Sure, I had my share of problems, but I always learned a great deal more about Linux, because of the help that I received from the JustLinux community in solving those problems.

When I asked a question about a problem with SuSE, I requested that people "point me in the right direction," rather than "spoon feed" me a direct solution to my problem.

Sometimes, I would get lost and "wander off in the wrong direction," but I learned important information about Linux nonetheless. Members of the JustLinux community always helped me and my problems were solved, in due time. (I am generally very patient.)

At this point, blackbelt_jones, I think that I will install Debian "testing"/"Etch" as my primary distribution, but install openSuSE 10.2 on a second partition. SuSE has always served me well, and I see my ideological conflict as being one in which I could easily make the mistake of "throwing out the baby with the bathwater," if I "give up on SuSE completely." ;)

I am either being pragmatic or I am compromising my ideals (or worrying about this issue is pointless), but I will leave the labels to others: I just want to enjoy Linux -- and why can't I enjoy the latest releases of Debian GNU/Linux and openSuSE Linux? :p

Thank you, again, blackbelt_jones, for your message and for your perceptive observations about me! :)

Cordially,

David