openSUSE

And they say Linux is not ready for the desktop.

Having installed both Fedora Core 5 and SUSE Linux 10.1 recently, I have to say I was impressed with SUSE. Each step of the way, the installer probed my system for hardware and current setups and presented a list of very sane settings to use by default, which most newbies would have found perfectly acceptable if they didn’t have any special magic they needed to accomplish.

Then each section of the install had a tab for Experts, in which I was able to get down and dirty and tweak the install to my heart’s content, for example by telling it to yes, go ahead and format my old root partition but leave my /home partition alone. I had the option of selecting package groups or getting in and seeing every package the system wanted to install, and I had full control over my network settings.

Fedora did some of this, but it had a very vanilla feel and didn’t do near as good a job of showing me exactly what it was going to do. SUSE also had far more packages available, and asked me during the install whether I wanted a KDE or GNOME desktop. I was also surprised to see it ask me if I wanted to handle user accounts locally or if I wanted to connect to another directory service, such as an LDAP directory or (surprise!) a Windows environment, something I will definitely have to tinker with at work. Finally, Fedora by default installs a limited number of packages, and you have to get in and tweak the package set for things like OpenOffice.org, which openSUSE installs by default.

At the end of the install, it dropped me to a GUI login without having to reboot. Not Earth-shattering cool, but a pleasant surprise. However, I was very impressed when I started up Firefox for the first time. I’m not sure whether this is a credit to the way Mozilla does things or if SUSE worked some magic, but it found all of my old settings, including both bookmarks and installed extensions. Thanks to the SessionSaver extension, I was even presented with the last page I had viewed before shutting down Slackware for the last time.

Thunderbird had not been included as part of my package set (like Fedora, SUSE’s default mail client is Evolution, which is not surprising given both SUSE and Evolution are Novell projects these days). This was easily remedied by firing up the YAST system tool and installing the package from the DVD. If you can point and click, you can find this. Click, click, Thunderbird’s in, and voila, it too found all of my previous settings. It immediately brought down new mail and all of my address book was intact.

Unlike Fedora, Firefox already had Java and Flash ready to go, something that should be a no-brainer (of course, Microsoft doesn’t do this for you, either). However, like Fedora, there was no MP3 or MPEG support out of the box. My understanding is this is because I’m using the free version rather than the retail or enterprise versions, both of which are paid products so the patent/licensing issues are covered. This is not uncommon in the Linux world, as Ubuntu works the same way.

I will concede to critics that newbs should have MP3/MPEG support out of the box, but given it is a licensing/patent issue (as opposed to Open Source zealotry) and that it’s easy to fix (yes, even for newbs), I have to say if this is your biggest argument that Linux is not ready for the desktop, you’re out of your mind.

Software-wise, I have a ton of it. Even a number of video players and editors are installed, something I’ve not seen in the past. Some say this is a bad thing, that newbs will be confused by the sheer number of items available, but I’m going to call bullshit on that, too. The menu is very well organized by default, and the software packages are well-labeled for functionality. I can now pick and choose what I like, without having to go to the web and track it down. Try that with some distros — or Windows, for that matter! I haven’t tinkered with YAST a lot, but I like its package manager better than Fedora’s, which is very simplistic. It even has a package search feature, similar to Ubuntu’s Synaptic Package Manager (which I thought was slick, too).

Overall, I’m very pleased on first impression. I’ll share more after I’ve had time to get my hands dirty.