If you\’re looking for a \”SuSE rules\” or \”SuSE sucks\” type of review here,
I will not make you waste your time. Go ahead and point your browser somewhere
else. The same applies if you came here looking for a star rating system
that will help you compare SuSE and other Linux distributions. First of
all, I have never believed in that kind of product reviews. I would rather
describe the product (SuSE Linux 7.1 Professional, in this case), talk
about its pros and cons, where it could be used productively, where it may
make no sense to use it, and then step out and leave it to you to make a
decision. But, second, I think I still have to install and run a Linux
distribution that \”sucks\”. What I mean is that, after all, it is Linux
that we are talking about here, the kernel does not change much, and all
distributions have their strengths and their weaknesses. I would actually
go as far as to state that it is not possible to \”rate\” distributions like
so many people do, especially because everything depends on what the user
intends to do with the Linux system. Are you trying to install a Linux
distribution on a development workstation, a multimedia home desktop, a
database server, an intranet departmental server? Everything depends on
that, and your personal preferences.
The package
If you were looking for a Linux distribution that included it all, SuSE may
be the one you should place your bets on. The SuSE 7.1
Professional box packs 4 manuals, 7 CDs and even a DVD. The guys at SuSE
may very well be setting the trend in this sense, since there is a good
chance that very soon vendors will distribute large collections of software
in DVD format. In total, the box contains over 2000 programs.
In spite of the embarrassment of riches that this collection of software
may inspire on any new user approaching the Linux world, there is no doubt
in my mind that the most impressive feature of SuSE 7.1 is the documentation.
Other major vendors, especially Red Hat and Caldera, would better learn
from these guys and include some decent documentation with their next
releases. SuSE 7.1 Professional includes a Quick Install Manual
that truly lives up to its name, offering the user some clear instructions
on how to install the distribution, together with plenty of screenshots
so new users do not get lost. The Applications manual contains
basic directions on how to use Star Office 5.2, Adobe Acrobat, Midnight
Commander, joe, Netscape, the GIMP, kscd (the KDE CD player), xmms, and
even Xsane (a scanning utility). The Configuration manual holds
the user\’s hand in a tour that explains how to configure a SuSE Linux
system, but also how to use applications such as Konqueror or KOffice.
More important though, it also explains how to configure a printer, how
to write CDs, configure Wine, work on the shell, and even how to install
a TV card. Finally, the actual Handbook or Technical guide for
SuSE Linux 7.1 (definitely the largest at 615 pages) covers installation,
configuration via YaST, network configuration, the X Window System, kernel
compilation, and even some security basics. The only criticism that could
be levelled at SuSE regarding their documentation is that it is a little bit
too KDE-centric. If you prefer Gnome, you won\’t find a lof of information
in their manuals. But then, on the other hand, SuSE made the decision a
long time ago to make KDE their default desktop manager, so this should
not surprise us at all.
Altogether, the packaging is attractive and extremely professional. A
definite must for first time users who may need some help with the
installation, setup and configuration of their Linux systems. As a final
little detail that gives you an idea of how important documentation seems
to be for the SuSE guys, the little booklet containing the installation
media also has a printed FAQ with questions such as Where can I see
system messages?, How can I see the free disk space in Linux or
Why Linux seems to consume my entire RAM?\”. Exquisite.
Installation
As for the installation itself, SuSE 7.1 Professional once again lived
up to its official label of being a professional distribution. It may
be the German passion for good engineering or the European love for civil
respect, but one has to love things like the hardware detection routine
\”looking for a braille display\”. After that, the graphical installer
YaST2 came up on the screen, checked the system, and displayed a polished
look to let me choose the default language that would be used during the
installation process. I must say that I really liked the GUI installer,
especially the detail of always displaying some concise but always informative
help on a left panel regarding the choices that I was faced with. For
example, during the stage where I had to choose between the different
types of installation it showed me the disk space they would use.
By the way, not only does the installer always lets the user go to the
previous step in the installation but it also lets you abort it at any
given phase. I know this is simple, but it\’s something not all distributions
can be proud of. Also, at all times a cute graphic at the top of the
GUI gave me an idea how long into the installation process I was.
Aside from a general feeling of professionalism, perhaps the most impressive
feature of the YaST2 installer is the simplicity used to deal with the
hard drive partitioning. Sure, I\’ve already partitioned lots of disks and
don\’t feel intimidated by the process anymore, but YaST2 made it really
easy even to the beginner. As for the installation choices, you get the
following: all packages, minimal, default, and default with StarOffice (the
one I chose). It also lets you choose to install both the 2.2.18 and 2.4.0
kernels, or simply one of them.
Finally, before going ahead and partitioning the hard drive, YaST2 gives
you a final warning and ahead it goes with the installation, always keeping
you informed about the status of the installation. At all times there is
still an \”Abort Installation\” button readily available in case you have
second thoughts or suddenly realize that you won\’t have enough time to wait
for the installation after all and decide to postpone it until later. As
a last detail, the installation wizard lets you know that you can run the
lilo -u /dev/hda if you want to restore the old MBR.
Since the SuSE distribution comes split in so many CDs, I always wondered
if it dealt with this fact in a graceful way. Well, as you might expect,
it did. After installing the packages, it rebooted again into YaST2 and
requested me to insert the second CD, offering me a Eject button
so I could still control when to perform the action (I really dislike it
when other installers simply pop up the CD without even telling me).
As for the configuration of XFree86, SuSE has always had a good reputation
in this sense. Although I didn\’t like the fact that it forced me to test
the video settings to proceed with the rest of the configuration, the
\”Xfine tuning\” section of the installation process is definitely
a wonderful touch. It basically allows the user to set an optimal screen
dimension. How often did you share a monitor between Linux and Windows
and had to constantly resize the screen dimensions when switching from one
to the other? Well, SuSE takes care of that for you.
The final steps of the YaST2 installation allowed me to configure sound
(the sound card, a standard Sound Blaster card, was detected without any
problem and this other feature allowed me to define the default volume),
the network interfaces (it even allowed me to configure the PPP setup,
which is definitely a plus for novice users), etc. Once I was done with
that, the system dropped me into the graphical login on runlevel 5, but
not without previously restarting a few daemons (SSH among others) and
generating the SSH keys.
In case you are wondering what to do in order to format the hard drive as
a reiserfs filesystem, simply choose the customized option to partition the
drive and select \”reiserfs\” as the filesystem type. Keep in mind that no
single partition can be smaller than 30 MB, since that\’s precisely the
size of the log for reiserfs filesystems. So, for those who like to create
small /boot partitions, keep that in mind. But then, why would you care
about creating a reiserfs filesystem for a /boot partition? The installer
also lets you install the 2.2.18 kernel, the 2.4.0 kernel or both, thus making
SuSE 7.1 Professional the first Linux distribution out there that comes
preconfigured for the newer 2.4 kernel.
Overall, a very well designed, professional and polished installation
routine. There is not doubt in my mind is perhaps the best one I\’ve seen
so far.
Usage
So, let\’s go for a driving tour but keeping in mind that my test drive was
somehow limited in time. Overall, the KDE2 desktop looks impressive and
stable although somehow more \”kewl\” than the previous version of KDE,
and I\’m not sure I like that. The default theme has something to it that
makes it look not as clear as the default theme in KDE1. Call me old
fashioned if you may, but I sort of liked that clean, business-like look
of KDE1 that KDE2 pretty much throws away in order to compete with Gnome
in \”coolness\”. By the way, some people seem to be really impressed by the
new KDE feature that allows you to open multiple X terminals within one
single window, but I find it rather annoying as a matter of fact. I\’d rather
see all the windows opened in my workspace so I can take a peek and get
information from them. Oh, well, it must be a matter of personal preference.
All those users who never liked the traditional SuSE initialization scripts
will be glad to hear that SuSE adheres to the Linux Standard Base now, and
you can find them in the more standard location (/etc/rc.d). By the way,
in keeping up with the professionalism that characterizes SuSE, they went
ahead and left a init.d.README file in /sbin explaining the new initialization
system. Now, when is the last time you saw a little detail like this from
Red Hat, for example?
Then, even with the default installation plus StarOffice that I chose,
the amount of applications is so huge that one feels sort of overwhelmed.
I got the feeling I\’d need around a couple of hours or so just to check all
the apps that were installed. A little annoyance I found is that the GIMP
couldn\’t be found under the Graphics menu off the main KDE button.
After some poking around, I found it buried in the SuSE menu, but
I then had to open the Multimedia/Graphics and then the Graphics
menus to access it. Sort of annoying.
A couple of interesting applications I found while checking the menus are
worth any little annoyance though. First of all, the FTPD Editor (kwuftpd)
allows the user to configure the FTP server simply using a clear point and
click interface. This tool alone should save the SuSE tech support people
quite a few calls, and it\’s worth its weight in gold. I also liked the
Font Installer utility included under the System menu.
From there I moved onto Konqueror. I had heard a lot about this browser
as a possible alternative to Netscape, so I knew I had to give it a try.
Well, it does have a few nice details. For example, the default screen
lets you add FTP servers and web sites that you can reach from the left
panel, just the same way you can also access Windows shares and local files.
In this sense, Konqueror blurs the line between the local system and the
network. As for its functionality as a browser, I found it pretty fast
and couldn\’t recognize any major bug or problem while displaying pages.
It\’s a nice piece of software, and a strong competitor for Netscape and
Mozilla.
Perhaps the only issue I\’d have is that many applications seem to lag a
little bit in order to appear on the screen when launching. Mind you,
I\’m not referring to big applications like StarOffice where we all learnt
to expect these delays, but even smaller applications such as Konqueror
itself. The same application is also available in a menu off the main
start bar at the bottom of the screen, but the fact is that it takes a
while to realize that. It\’s also sort of confusing the way SuSE arranges
the menus in several different ways, and quite a few of them are displaying
the very same applications. It sort of gives the overwhelming feeling of
a labyrinthical collection of menus.
A final touch of the elegant design behind SuSE 7.1 Professional
came when I selected the YaST2 menu and it displayed individual choices
for all the major subsystems (DNS, NIS, modem, sound, inetd.conf, boot,
Sendmail, etc.). This is a nice detail, especially taking into account
that in the case of other Linux distributions one needs to open the whole
humongous system configuration tool in order to change even the simplest
thing. The same menu also offers the choice to tune the system by running
the hdparm utility, and to start an online upgrade of the system.
Conclusions
I must say that, overall, SuSE 7.1 Professional offers an impressive
piece of software engineering that is worth much more than the US $69.95
price tag that carries. It offers a comprehensive array of applications,
an excelent collection of printed manuals that should be the envy of any
other Linux vendor, a stable and professional looking installation tool,
and a default desktop that is very well put together to provide a nice
working environment perhaps with the exception of the overwhelming amount
of menus appearing all over the place to provide access to the very same
applications over and over again. By the way, my Default plus StarOffice
installation included KDE, fvwm2, mwm, twm and WindowMaker but no
Gnome. I suppose if you like Gnome you will need to perform a customized
type of installation.
I\’d recommend this distribution to any newbie who is just trying to get
his or her feet wet in the Linux world, more experienced users who are using
Linux for a home desktop, and even advanced users and developers. Nevertheless,I\’d say SuSE 7.1 Professional shines when it\’s installed in a home environment
or perhaps for first timers. If you\’re trying to set up a Linux server of
any type (FTP, Web, database), you can certainly make it work with this,
but SuSE has other packages for the server market.
