LINUX - openSUSE 12.1

Time for an update.

As I have said in previous articles, I have a laptop that I got for the purpose of leaning Linux OS.

It came with Ubuntu installed, I loaded Linux Mint 10 next.  I just loaded openSUSE 12.1 with the KDE desktop. This is an OpenSource version of  Novell SUSE.

This version, or distribution, comes with GNOME and KDE (default) desktops, so you can choose which to install.  I choose the KDE desktop because it looks more Windows-like.

GNOME Desktop

My KDE Desktop

Although I am still experimenting with my installation, I have already found some nice features:

• It can be upgraded without doing a full-install (Linux Mint 10 does not have this feature built-in)
• Right-click the [Application Launcher] icon (far left, Gecko icon) and it has a Menu Editor option
• Note ALL icons you see, including those in the Taskbar, are Widgets in this distribution, and I found out that you have to Lock Widgets if you don't want a screw-up
• It includes a Touch Pad utility that has the option to disable the touch pad if an USB Mouse is connected (nice, very nice)
• Note that the Taskbar is made up of Panels and Widgets, which you can add Widgets and move components IF you Unlock Widgets

My KDE Desktop with Application Launcher open

Note I had to change the launcher configuration (right-click Gecko icon to see option) to Disable Hover to make it easier to use.

My Taskbar close up

I am still playing around with openSUSE, but here's some things I've already found NOT-up-to-muster:

• The included version of System Information (sysinfo) does not work like the one Linux Mint 10 had which could generate a full report on everything on my system that I could print
• Finding some apps in the Application Launcher can be difficult, but it does have a Search Bar which occasionally shows an app that I could NOT navigate to (the search-result does not show location)
• I am still trying to get the [SHARE] folder to actually share with my WinXP Desktop (getting help from forum experts), it was much easier in Linux Mint 10

Well, that all for now. I'll likely be updating this post.

UPDATE (as promised):

 My run of openSUSE failed...

• Had 3  crashes that cause me to do a full reinstall
• Never got SAMBA sharing to work properly (caused one of the crashes)
• Since sharing did not work, of course I couldn't connect to my shared pringer

So, on to something else....