The Beta 4 version of OpenSuSE 11.1 was released today. I’m thinking of downloading and trying it, but I haven’t decided where and how I would install it.

I just recently replaced OpenSuSE 11.0 with Mandriva 2009.0, so I am not sure I want to put OpenSuSE actually back on my hard drive, quite yet. I will probably install it through VirtualBox, though, and give it a spin.

If you’ve tried OpenSuSE 11.1, please let me know what you think; especially if you can compare it to some other popular Linux flavors.

Periodically, I plan to review various Linux distributions. At this point, I have five different Linux distributions installed through VirtualBox on my computer at home, and will be trying to write a review of each when I feel I’ve used it enough to comment on it.

I will begin the series by reviewing OpenSuSE 11.0. I have been using SuSE since 9.1 was released, and have always enjoyed it. OpenSuSE 11.0 brings quite a few nice updates (discussed in a previous post) from the previous versions. However, I’m not really going to discuss the differences between 11.0 and previous versions, as I couldn’t do the same for other distributions. Instead, I will only be reviewing 11.0 as though I am a new user.

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For those of you that use Linux, especially those that use a Gnome-flavored distribution, you should be familiar with Evolution; the greatest e-mail client I’ve ever used. For the rest of the world, I want to share this amazing application.

Though there is a version of Evolution available for Windows, I have not yet used it, so all of my comments in this article will be based on the Linux version. I cannot say for sure whether or not the Windows port has the same features, but I am hoping that it does.
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I visited the main Web site for the Novell companies the other day, and was fairly impressed by the design of the home page. I was a bit disappointed by the fact that the menu is hidden until you mouseover (poor choice for usability), but I was impressed by the overall design.

The site makes very good use of Flash, and seems to have optimized the Flash items extremely well. You won’t hear me toot the horn for Flash usage very often, but Novell’s Web site impressed me very much. When you have a chance, you should pop on over and check it out.

I was especially impressed by the home page of the main site and by the SuSE Linux pages. I am honestly shocked at just how quickly the pages load, even with the large Flash objects on each one.

On Thursday, June 19, OpenSuSE 11.0 was officially released by Novell. The newest version of OpenSuSE includes many new software packages on the installation DVD. Some of the new packages include Firefox 3.0, KDE 4.0, Compiz Fusion (apparently a 3-D display module - pictured at right) and a newer media player called Banshee 1.0.

All-in-all, the new release from the OpenSuSE community includes over 200 new features that are only available in OpenSuSE.

Having been a SuSE user for a little more than three years, I cannot recommend this download highly enough. When I first installed SuSE, I was very weary of using Linux, as I had heard everyone talk about how difficult Linux was to use if you weren’t a complete computer geek. SuSE was a different experience altogether, however. The desktop is extremely intuitive and the entire OS is very easy to use. It took very little effort to understand how to configure and use SuSE, and I very quickly came to love it.

If you are curious at all about Linux, you should definitely download the new live CD from the OpenSusE download site. A live CD is a disc that contains the entire base operating system on a single disc. Live discs do not require you to install anything on your computer. Rather, the entire operating system runs directly from the disc. Of course, with a live disc, you don’t have nearly as many configuration options and you can’t really store your files effectively. However, the newer live discs from SuSE have even included a one-click install option right on the desktop, should you ever decide you want to install the system on your computer.

Presumably, in preparation for OpenSuSE 11.0, which should be released very soon, the top three support forums devoted to the software have merged into one.

The forums I frequented for support (forums.suselinuxsupport.de), along with suseforums.net agreed to merge with the official forums found at opensuse.org. As a result, there is now only one definitive place to look for help with OpenSuSE and Linux in general.

Be sure to pop over to opensuse.org and register if you’re even the least bit interested in using Linux.

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