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May 19, 2006

Update on Suse 10.1

So I've been using Suse 10.1 for about a week now. I've enjoyed it so much that I've installed it not only on my desktop, but also on Amanda's computer and on my work laptop as well. The guys at work also seem to like it, especially the Xgl part.

So here are my thoughts thus far...

First things first, Suse 10.1 is a great operating system. This is made in large part to several new features that really make it stand out against the rest of the Linux distrubutions available on the market today. Sure, the other Linux distros out there will eventually release their updates and catch up, but Suse 10.1 was the first to have several of these new features.

First off is Xgl. The 3D effects that are part of Xgl are just truely spectacular. Everyone that I've shown Xgl to, with the only one exception to speak of, has thought that it was awesome. For my own personal use, I've been very happy with it thus far. There are some bugs, like the mouse buttons mysteriously not working (thus resulting in a much necessary ctrl-alt-backspace X reboot), but considering that this is the first release of new software, it makes sense that it would have bugs that need to be worked out. I've tried Xgl on several different machines, each with different video cards. My desktop's ATI just has fits, but that's due to the video driver more than the Xgl software. Nvidia cards, on the other hand, handle Xgl well and it's fast and fluid. What really surprised me, however, was that my generic Intel video card included in my work laptop not only supports Xgl, but it handles it extremely well. So well, in fact, that I leave Xgl running while I'm at work.

I just wish that ATI would improve their Linux driver so I could enjoy Xgl on my desktop.

The next big thing is the network manager. I've had much more time to play with this over the past week, especially with my work laptop. Network configuration has finally become easy in Linux with this utility, especially wireless. What's really nice is that this program auto-discovers wireless networks, allowing you to change wirless connections with a single click. What really surprised me is that it was able to detect a wireless connection that required a certificate, and made options available so that you can add a certificate for that connection. There's also a nifty VPN manager that you can install as a module for the network manager, but I haven't had any real opportunity to try that one out. The one big thing that I can say about this program is that it's extremely solid. By far my favorite feature of Suse 10.1.

While there are several great things with this update, there is one major thing that just annoys the piss out of me. The system update tool, aka rug, has one bug that is very frustrating. When you add a third-party repository, some don't have the proper information and return an message that says just that. There is an option to disable this message, but it does no good. Every time you update from the repository, the message comes up again and again and again. I know that this will be fixed with an update in the near future, but MAN ... what an annoying bug.

Overall, a great distribution. I can't wait to install it on my personal laptop here in the near future.

~out...

Posted by ed at 09:24 PM | Comments (0)