openSuSE 10.2: Free from Novell
Submitted by srlinuxx on Fri, 12/15/2006 - 11:56.
Between the deal Novell just made with Microsoft and the countless statements and counter-statements by lawyers and armchair analysts, it's easy to forget that Novell does make a free Linux desktop product. The latest iteration of this is openSuSE 10.2.
I think it's important to note with all the furor regarding Novell and Microsoft that the SuSE team almost certainly had no say in what kinds of deals the Novell management made, and it's still possible that openSuSE will fork completely, leaving those of us with a distaste for corporate ass-wiping with an unencumbered product.
Install:
If you've ever installed SuSE or openSuSE before, you know what to expect here. The installer runs YaST2 and steps you through various screens (language, license, install type, etc). There's really nothing new here from 10.1 or before.
SuSE is not a distribution for the faint of harddrive space. I didn't change any of the default settings and the install weighed in at around 2GB. The upside to this (and something I've appreciated in the past) is that you get a lot of software either in the default install or installable off the DVD, making this a lot easier to get working if you're on slow or no internet.
10.2 isn't going to win any awards for quick booting.
Can't even use 10.2..
.. I downloaded the DVD version and booted up with it. I usually have problems with Linux on that system (AMD AM2) but -nothing- would help 10.2 boot up. Normally a noapic switch fixes things, but I tried many and nothing.
Still seems like a downward spiral for SUSE.
openSUSE 10.2 downward spiralling
Seems the contrary is what happening. openSUSE 10.2 has overtaken the most popular linux distro on earth for the last 30 days, according to Distrowatch!
Re: openSUSE 10.2 downward spiralling
The problem with Distrowatch's "hit page stats", is that you can manipulate a situation to bump up your popularity. (This was once achieved by Freespire).
So you have to be careful about where the numbers came from.
Re: openSUSE 10.2 downward spiralling
Sorry, I wasn't referring to its popularity. I mean, ever since 10.0, I have found the distro to get worse, even alongside all the "improvements". I've used 10.0 and 10.1 and had a LOT of issues with 10.0, but it wasn't "as" bad with 10.1. Now 10.2 won't even boot whatsoever. I may just have some seriously bad luck.
Same with SLED 10 though... I had a fair amount of issues with that, but not half as much as I have with SUSE.
But yeah, their popularity is going up, but I still find the distro to be getting worse.