Customer Reviews

Suse Linux 8.1 Professional Edition

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First, there are a couple of corrections I'd like to post regarding a review of Dec 26. The review has 2 major errors that I could not leave alone:

- Power Management has changed. APM is the former package that supported power management (i.e. laptops). It is still included in SuSE for older hardware support. ACPI is the new kid on the block, and is installed on newer hardware. It does have a bug that, fortunately, can be resolved easily...

- Star Office is no longer in SuSE. That is correct. The review fails to mention that Star Office is a Sun Microsystems' commercial product. It is based on an open source project named Open Office. The source code and functionalities are almost identical. Open Office 'IS' included in SuSE. So, in essence, all that changed from SuSE version 8.0 to 8.1 with that office application, is the name on the icon.

Now, for my own review: SuSE Linux 8.1 offered me what I wanted, as did prior versions. Since I've upgraded to 8.1, I replaced Quicken for Windows with GnuCash. I had, during my 8.0 upgrade, replaced Photoshop 5.0 with Gimp. As for administering the application, don't take the YaST application lightly - it rocks!!! I rarely update or customize my Linux without it. RedHat, on the other hand, offered (I stopped using it at around version 7.0) sereral little applications to customize the installed base. The problem was to remember which did what!

There are a couple of books bundled with SuSE 8.1. There were 3 in 8.0. In my opinion, they need to reduce it to one. There is some redundant content across the 2. They do work fine though. If you are neither willing to read some software literature and comfortable installing an operating system, then Linux is not for you just yet - if ever. There are a few decisions along the installation process that you must make. Windows, on the other hand, doesn't have as many because the options don't exist. i.e. type of system you want (server, half-server, client, password mgmt, disk layout, users, ...) Don't be scared, it only takes about 30 minutes on a computer that you wish to save nothing, or up to an hour or 2 if you wish to not remove your current Windows installation - mostly unattended installation procedures.

I recommend SuSE to anyone that has installed Windows a couple (few) times in the past, or feels comfortable differenciating beteen an Operating System and an Application. Linux is a bit more complex for the new user, and a whole lot more useable for the experienced. I'd never switch back.

The installer has changed significantly in the 8.x series. It feels wierd to me because it's trying to mimic a more www feel, it worked flawlessly though.

The package manager is significantly improved. It enables you to resolve package conflicts (it's like fixing DLL conflicts before they happen, for you Windows users) using a tree view depicting paths to resolve the conflict. It's confusing at first, but I'm getting used to it. The search option for packages works much faster and the interface for that part is greatly simplified.

I was shocked to find that the GNOME configuration in this release seemed far more stable than in Red Hat 8.0, since Red Hat are dedicated to GNOME and SuSE is dedicated more to KDE.

Unlike other reviewers, I find SuSE's frequent releases to be a blessing. If I buy every release, it's still cheaper than broadband (I hesitate to pay $50/month) and keeps my linux system very current.

My only complaint is that the Java Development Kit included is a bit old. It's version 1.3.1 when the current is 1.4.1. Oh well, still deserves 5 stars.

When it comes to reviewing an OS, I do not believe in writting a "first impression" review. I have now used SuSE 8.1 on two systems for 2 months and this review is based on my expreience.

I installed SuSE on a PC and a laptop. On both the systems I had SuSE 8.0 running prior to that.

Installation:
Its time people stop cribbing about linux installation. Yast2 installer makes life really easy. It tales care of HDD partioning, default selection of packages for installation, configures your hardware with very little user intervention. It does not need to restart the system N number of times during installation. If U R a power user the installer has enough juice for you to customize the installation to your hearts content. [ Full 5 starts for YaSt installer]

--User Experience ( PC, Athlon 1.1 20 GB + 60 Gb dual HDD, Promise ATA controller, SB Live 5.1, Geforce 3...)
First time after installation you will be greated with a new login window. Login to KDE and u get all the eye candy of Keramik ( Only Suse has back ported Keramik to KDE 3.0). All desktop icons and menus are well thought out, apps are easily located. SuSE includes a good choice of www apps, like Mozilla, Konqueror, GAIM, Evolution. All these apps are stable and one of the best in their breed.
For multimedia, XMMS shipped with SuSE comes with a full suite of sound enhancemnet plugins. Also included is MPlayer that can play most of the Video/Audio formats including wma files.
It also includes Open Office suite , this more or less takes care of documents and spreadsheet.
It includes a full suite of development tools, in fact i have been doing a lot of development on this system including running a cvs server.
Post install configuration is the easy with Yast2, in fact KDE control center also has Yast2 embedded to it.

I have this system running since since the day I installed SuSE 8.1, I havent had any instability and have seen no degradion in preformance.

--User Experience on Copmaq Preserio 702us laptop.
So far I had seen linux and laptops are dicy thing. But SuSE 8.1 is special. Eariler I had 2 major problem on this laptop
1. ACPI support, SuSE 8.1 is the only distro i have used that has ACPI support built into the default kernel. With other distros the laptop becomes too hot to be used for a longer time.
2. Sound Support: Earlier to make sound work on the system I need to rebuild the kernel with a patch for the ac97 codec. But with SuSE 8.1 sound works smoothly with the default kernel.
[BTW i have tried Mandrake 9.0 on this laptop also, sound works, but no acpi by default].

One thing I would like to see SuSE doing is replacing Blackbox with fluxbox desktop.

This is the first time I have given 5 STARS to any Linux distro, SuSE 8.1 deserves it.

I have installed this distribution on 3 servers, a workstation, and a laptop so far. It is the usual very complete set of programs and options from SuSE. All hardware was recognized and easily configured, and the default KDE desktop was pleasing. However, as with Version 8.0, There were installation flaws that should be noted. First, if installing from DVD, check the website for special instructions. Second, if you have both a DVD and a CDRW drive, you will need to pass some boot parameters (load some modules)so that the DVD is recoginized as an ide device, otherwise it will show up as a scsii device. Also, CUPS is now the standard print protocol, not LPR, so you might have to configure both. And, of course, after installation, immediately download the patches with YOU.

This review is primarily in response to the earlier REDHAT RULEZ review.

About 2 years ago, I was assigned to install and compare most of the available Linux distros in preparation for starting the move to Linux. At that time, SUSE 7.2 was head and shoulders above the other distros in several areas, such as ease and flexibility of installation, newbie accessibility (except for Mandrake), available apps, and robustness. Despite RedHat's ubiquity in the US (RedHat is US-made, SUSE is German), and the appeal of Debian's DIY style (RedHat and Debian were the two major contenders), we standardized on SUSE. With the exception of our pursuit for canned training, we haven't regretted it. RedHat is BY FAR the best when it comes to making training and certification programs available, and their website simply blows away SUSE's when it comes to usability. When comparing actual distributions however, RedHat appears to always be a step or two behind SUSE.

They're both good and well-established distros, and you won't go wrong with either. We prefer SUSE. Try several flavors before settling down with one, but SUSE definitely belongs in anybody's shortlist.

It is clean! It is well-priced! It contains everything you will find in the Personal Edition, plus much more!
With fine features that include: GNOME 2.0, KDE 3.0, HTML editors, and Professional/Developer Network support tools, it is difficult to condemn SuSE Linux 8.1 Professional. The OS offers a lot: including enhanced systems and multimedia capabilities. The attached OpenOffice.org provides a useful Office platform, as well as a compatible bridge for Microsoft Office file formats.
As regards this product, there is indeed very little to bicker about.

I have been a SuSE user since version 6.4 and I have purchased every single version execpt 7.0 and 8.0. (I skip x.0 releases). SuSE 8.1 is leaps and bounds better than its earlier versions. It is also better than Red Hat 8.0 and Mandrake 9.0. It is one of those distribution that can be enjoyed by both power Unix/Linux users as well as newcomers to the Linux operating system. SuSE includes pretty much everything you could ever need to be productive: Office Suites, Window Managers, C/C++ compilers, perl, python, and JAVA compilers. It is optimized for pentium systems but SuSE also provides different kernels depending on the system you have (they have an AMD Athlon optimized kernel too). Installation is easy and straightforward for new users but it is also very flexible and powerful for more advanced users. KDE 3 is better in SuSE than in Red Hat 8.0 and SuSE offers of KDE updates (or Gnome if you prefer). Power Users and newcomers will enjoy SuSE linux. I know I do. In a few words: Powerful, Flexible, Open, Easy to Use.

SuSE 8.1 Professional is a good product but at the same time, having been a SuSE advocate, I am a little disappointed by a few things that I consider this to be a "downgrade". here are the lists of pros and cons over the SuSE 7.2 and 6.4 distributions I have.

Pros:
- nicer and easier to use install program (almost flawless hardware detection)
- more multimedia apps (like DVD players)
- SSH included
- great KDE and GNOME support
- improved software package conflict resolution

Cons:
- StarOffice (MS Office clone) not included anymore (that's because Sun does not make the latest version 6.0 free,
but SuSE could have included an older version, like 5.2)
- mysterious disappearance of octave (clone of the math software Matlab) and no inclusion of the popular statistics freeware R (S-plus clone) which I suggested them to include over a year ago
- new installation program lost the ability to load/save configurations (thus it is a pain to setup say, two computers with the same config./software selection)
- still does not include MP3 encoder(s) (due to some software export law because is SuSE is based in Germany)
- APM (power management) is de-supported -- the SuSE kernel (and source code) simply does not have it anymore (you need to grab a new source)! So you can't put your laptop to sleep, let alone find out about the remaining power.

Given that I don't regret getting SuSE 8.1, I always thought that the greatest strength of SuSE Linux is that it is so comprehensive (including say 95% of all Linux freeware) that I don't have to be bothered with finding RPMs and source code to compile around the Internet. But SuSE 8.1, despite the eye candy and the ease of installation, forces me to go back to the good-old-day practice of RPM/source digging/compiling. I would hesitate to buy the next distribution of SuSE -- I was using RedHat in 1998 and moved to SuSE because I found SuSE far superior. But I now have doubts about SuSE 8.1 (and its future releases) so I should evaluate other distributions again -- perhaps I should try Debian first.

I don't know waht the previous reviewer is talking about, SuSE 8, has far better configuration tools than Redhat 8,a more powerful add/remove programs thingy and it actually ahs multimidia apps. Redhat 8, not only couldn't run UT2k3 but I can't even play an MP3!! SuSe also detected all my hardware, Redhat didn't detect my sound card well.

While the latest version is not too big improvement over the previous 8.0, it's still nice to work with. There are a few bugs here and there, but overall I don't think SuSE has any serious competition from other distributions.

I'm buying most releases, it's worth to support this company; also, you'll get a plenty of stuff in the retail box. Looking forward for the next version (SuSE 8.2 Pro?), which should be out hopefully within a few months....

Fast installation, online update, no registration necessary, use it on as many PC's you wish, some 4GB of software and 3 nice manuals....not bad compared to pretty bare WinXP. While XP is overall more polished and in my opinion works smoother with multimedia and has way better hardware support, SuSE, on the other hand, NEVER crashes or locks-up; rock-solid OS ...the choice is yours.

Owners of some newer hardware may want to wait for the next release, since 8.1's kernel 2.4.19 doesn't have of course support for some of this year's later chipsets, graphics cards etc...but you can still either patch, or install new 2.4.20 kernel if you feel up to the task and need the SuSE distro right now.