openSUSE 10.3



Here's my "Installation Report" and first impression of OpenSuse 10.3 (with KDE)
Booted the CD and straight away got a hint of the "polish" level of OpenSuse. The installation supports my LCD's native 1280x1024 resolution which other distros previously would not (only 800x600) for graphical install. This must be the german heritage of quality here.
Installation took under 45 minutes under VMware with 256mb virtual RAM, running on my P4 2.4ghz with 512mb real RAM. The only other program I had running was bitlord downloading the Fedora 8 test 3 iso torrent.
During installation, I unchecked the option to "add online repositories" because with the previous version 10.2 it took ages to download the package lists on my sucky 256kbps connection. But in this version it may be improved, even after adding additional repositories.
Can't say about the safety and user-friendliness of the partitioning part because I just took the default suggestion for my virtual disk under VMware.
It gave a nice warning about my weak root password too
It also tried to detect DSL devices (which I didnt have of course) and this may be helpful for us here.
I skipped the online update during installation option, although after first boot, there were a few quick updates available including for Amarok.
It has passwordless and auto login options which I couldn't find easily in Ubuntu.
It has options to authenticate logins via NIS, Windows Active Directory, LDAP, Kerberos etc. which is cool for corporate/office desktop installations.
It even kinda detected my virtual sound card on the second boot after I added it to my virtual machine config although I had to go to the system sound config to enable and test the sound which worked.
Can't test compiz/desktop effects or video card support under vmware of course.
There is even a setup for fingerprint readers! Got to try that on the HP tablet which I'll be buying soon
So I logged in and quickly browsed the menus/config options:
Good points are that it has both Firefox and Konquerer browsers installed. Kubuntu 7.04 only came with Konquerer which was annoying to have to install FF separately.
There is KTorrent and K3B which is neat. There is also KDE4's KRFB (remote desktop sharing) and KRDC (remote desktop client connection) which I believe can connect to Windows remotely and also Windows can connect to OpenSuse remotely, although I can't test this now.
Other software: GIMP 2.2, OpenOffice 2.3, Akgregator RSS reader, Kopete (KDE's version of Pidgin which is as good IMO), KMail for email, Amarok audio player, Kaffeine video player.
I don't mind the green bootup theme but changed the green wallpaper to the old 10.2 blue wallpaper available in desktop settings.

Conclusion/Summary:
OpenSuse 10.3 is solid/polished as always. I feel it is meant for the "power user" and/or for corporate/office desktop installations as the menus and configuration options are "comprehensive" and can even be confusing to navigate!
Ubuntu in comparision keeps things clean and simple and is better for the "home user". I like Ubuntu (and its GNOME) a lot but I will switch back to OpenSuse (and KDE) if it works well on my real desktop.
Now I have to try out Fedora 8 (with GNOME) and I am downloading the "test 3" beta ISO and will post an update tomorrow. I have a feeling Fedora will fall somewhere in between OpenSuse and Ubuntu in terms of tradeoff between power and ease of use.
One thing I didn't find was virtualisation software, I'll need to figure out the repositories to install VirtualBox and VMware Server (probably after I install it on my real PC) and will post an update on that later.