Hands on with OpenSUSE 11.0

Bang on schedule, the new major release of OpenSUSE is here. Read on for our look at the new features, how it performs on the desktop, and what challenges it faces with Ubuntu and Fedora also in the ring...

Since the takeover by Novell and the subsequent patent covenant that Novell entered into with Microsoft, it's been a bit of a rough community ride for Novell's free and open source distribution. Although OpenSUSE itself is now well established, it's having to play catch up with Fedora which split from Red Hat Linux almost five years ago (before Novell even announced the SUSE acquisition). Not only that, but Ubuntu has made significant gains in the Linux market, making it a crowded space amongst the big three.

The release schedule has not been kind to OpenSUSE this time round, coming very soon after the release of Fedora 9 and Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. However, with the recent hiring of a formal community manager, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier, OpenSUSE is going to great lengths to engage with not only the community that they have distanced thanks to the Microsoft patent covenant, but also reaching out to other distributions to foster a closer working relationship.

Into the installer

So what does this new version of OpenSUSE offer to rival Fedora or Ubuntu? Clocking in at a rather hefty 4.3GB, almost a full GB more than Fedora 9, it will take you some time to download the full DVD ISO. Using BitTorrent, we were able to complete the download in around 2 hours followed by the wait to burn the ISO to disc. Of course, there are other alternatives available including Live GNOME and Live KDE CDs to give you a taster of what OpenSUSE is like. However, nothing can quite compare to having a DVD stuffed to the gills with all the latest and greatest software.

Confirming settings before OpenSUSE starts the install (click for bigger)

OpenSUSE's new installation environment is graphically quite slick, with the emphasis on making choices very straight-forward. YaST has been ported to Qt 4, and the new design has been created using the CSS-like stylesheet properties of Qt. One choice you definitely don't want to make during the installation, and we can't think why OpenSUSE even have it selected as a default, is to auto-login with the account that you create during setup. It's a fairly simple matter of un-checking the box, but still it's annoying to have it pre-selected; it's easy to miss it. However, we did see one remnant of times gone by - after you've set your installation options, it gives you a fairly lengthy manifest of what the installer is going to do.

If you disagree with anything you have to click on the section heading and make the changes there and then. It wasn't particularly obvious how to make changes to the package manifest during the installation steps, and it certainly might not be obvious to new users what is going on. At least Fedora clearly gives you the option to customise the package set for installation whilst Ubuntu just sticks to a default selection. OpenSUSE would perhaps do better to make the process a little clearer, especially if they are looking to recruit more newbies to the fold.

On first boot

After about ten minutes of installation, you're greeted with the login prompt leading you into the OpenSUSE experience. Depending on your choice during installation, you'll either be greeted by Gnome 2.22, KDE 4 or KDE 3.5; OpenSUSE makes a point of not forcing you down one particular path, instead leaving the choice up to you. For our preview we stuck resolutely with Gnome, but this is Gnome with a definite twist. Instead of having the typical top and bottom panel arrangement, OpenSUSE sticks with a single panel along the bottom of the screen, combining the application launcher with the taskbar and notification areas.

OpenSUSE makes green fashionable again

If you haven't used OpenSUSE then you probably haven't heard of SLAB, the alternative menu system for accessing your applications, documents and places. It makes a good attempt to remember your favourite applications, but we found it mildly annoying and found that in some cases it slowed us down. Perhaps we're too used to the menu structures found in other Gnome-based distros, but we just can't comfortably use the SLAB system for any length of time without shouting out rather loudly at the screen. It wasn't long before we replaced it with the more traditional Gnome menu, and our blood pressure started to drop.

We're sure it has its fans, but SLAB can't count us amongst them

OpenSUSE 11's packages are now based around the LZMA compression format rather than bzip2, which leads to a major improvement in package installation speed - over two times faster in some cases. Another big leap on the packaging front is the inclusion of PackageKit, most notably in the update applet. This will help to bring OpenSUSE in line with other distros that are adopting the new system. Compiz Fusion is enabled by default, with two control panels; one is a simple profile-based affair that lets you add as much bling as you like, and the other provides more fine-grained control over individual Compiz settings. There are two new plugins: a mouse cursor position indicator, and a magnifying glass.

Development continues on Compiz Fusion, with some quite tasteful effects

It's not long before you come across that 'feature' that you wish OpenSUSE would just drop. YaST just keeps hanging on and on despite not having the best reputation for itself. We've long advocated a full overhaul of YaST, arguing that it had become too monolithic; sadly this latest version of OpenSUSE still foists YaST upon you, in all its bloated glory. We'd like to see a much more modular implementation of YaST - in its current incarnation it's like a Swiss army knife with 1,001 different tools and is guaranteed to confuse and frustrate users.

Life in a box

You could be forgiven for thinking that OpenSUSE is going down hill in our book, but nothing could be further from the truth. Both YaST and the SLAB menu are core parts of OpenSUSE, so nothing has really changed there. However, OpenSUSE has something that neither Ubuntu or Fedora currently offer, and that's a packaged retail product. Not only do you get the software, but you also get a rather useful printed introduction to OpenSUSE along with free installation support for 90 days after registration. OpenSUSE have been doing this for a long time now, and they show no signs of letting up in this area; something which we see as a positive, especially when starting out on the Linux path.

Will someone not put YaST to the sword? Please?!

Another thing which sets it apart from both Fedora and Ubuntu is the two year support lifetime, including security patches and critical bugfixes. Contrast this to Fedora's sometimes confusing support offering of one month after release version +2. With this in mind, you're only going to get updates and bugfixes for 13 months or so. Ubuntu, on the other hand, extends this out to 18 months or at least three years in the case of Long Term Support (LTS) releases. OpenSUSE provides a platform that you can work on for up to two years, and gives you assurance that you won't have to move with every new version of OpenSUSE that comes along.

Finishing up

So, do we actually like OpenSUSE 11.0? Does it float our boat or is it tossing like a ship without an anchor on a sea of distributions threatening to drag it under the waves? As a distro goes, there is nothing to gripe about; it has the usual plethora of productivity applications and utilities that one would expect to see in a mainstream Linux distro. However, there just aren't the stand out features that put OpenSUSE up above the likes of Fedora and Ubuntu. Whereas Fedora is currently going through an overdue refresh of its configuration tools, and Ubuntu adds nice touches here and there, OpenSUSE just delivers more of the same. And in this current highly competitive market, that may not be good enough any more, particularly with the return to form (at long last) of Mandriva.

Quite how long Novell can spend trying to mobilise OpenSUSE is anyone's guess; the accusation that Fedora is simply a beta for Red Hat Enterprise Linux pales into insignificance when you compare OpenSUSE 11.0 with SLED or SLES. We'd argue that OpenSUSE is simply an open beta for SLED, much more so than Fedora. At least Fedora has found a real niche for itself in the Linux world, whilst OpenSUSE is still struggling to find a definite identity away from its Novell roots. Not only that, but OpenSUSE is still tarnished by the patent covenant that Novell believe is essential for its survival, leaving a lot of existing Linux users very wary when they take a look at anything from Novell.

One exciting advancement for OpenSUSE that is not necessarily tied to version 11.0 is the continued work towards the OpenSUSE Build Service, a public facing build system that OpenSUSE are slowly moving towards using for the construction of their own distribution. much in the same way that Fedora utilises Koji. Fedora experienced an uptick in community involvement by going down this path and undoubtedly OpenSUSE are looking for the same benefit to them.

If you're looking for a distro that will give you at least 18 months of uninterrupted service, then OpenSUSE may well be the best option for you. It gives you a no-nonsense distribution, with the very latest that Linux has to offer. Try and look beyond the annoyances that we've mentioned and you'll find a very capable distribution, albeit one that is perhaps floundering in the wake of more aggressive distros such as Fedora and Ubuntu. The distro world is a lot more competitive nowadays, and OpenSUSE needs to come up with a significant selling point if there is to be any real take up amongst the Linux faithful. That's not to say that it will drift into obscurity; far from it as Novell has considerable resources at its disposal to continue to fund the development of OpenSUSE and its downstream distributions.

 -- Andrew Hudson

Grab a copy of Linux Format issue 109 (on sale 24 July) to try out OpenSUSE 11.0 and other distros!