Linspire Inc. claims that the recently released Freespire is the development version of Linspire, much like Fedora Core is the freely available development version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. During the several days that I used it, I found this to be true in both a good and a bad way. It’s good in the sense that the software that comprises Freespire is a bit more modern, but bad in that it has a few problems that make it unsuitable for a production release.
In short, Freespire is a desktop GNU/Linux distribution that is free to download, and easy to install and use. Aside from being a desktop operating system, it is also the development version of Linspire. That means that all of the latest available software is used in Freespire, whereas Linspire only uses older, more thoroughly tested programs. Often this means that the current Linspire version can be almost a year old, and be incompatible with recently-designed hardware. The idea is that software will be tested and evaluated in Freespire, then if all goes well, it will be included as part of the next Linspire release. If you want to know more about Linspire’s relationship with Freespire, your questions can be answered in this Freespire FAQ entry.
On every level, Freespire is identical to what you would expect to see in Linspire, but there are a few extras included as well. To start off with, the APT package tools come with a correctly populated sources.list file. That means if you’re opposed to Linspire’s Click N Run (CNR) software subscription service (which is fully interoperable with Freespire), you can use APT from the command line to install software not included with the distribution. That also means that you could install the Synaptic package manager and install further programs from there instead of APT.
Freespire is designed for software developers, so GCC, GDB, Emacs, Vim, Python, and Perl are all installed as part of the base distribution. The Java Development Kit and other languages and SDKs as well as IDEs like Eclipse, KDevelop, and Netbeans are available both through APT and CNR.
There are two different Freespire distributions: the standard edition, which includes proprietary video drivers (ATI, Nvidia, Intel) and Web browser plugins (Java 5.0, RealPlayer, Flash, Windows Media, QuickTime); and the OSS edition, which is the same operating system without any proprietary extras. Obviously the standard edition provides a much more complete desktop experience — so much so that Freespire can easily stand up to any other GNU/Linux distribution on the market.
Freespire uses a heavily customized KDE desktop environment, the Firefox Web browser (rebranded as Lbrowser), Thunderbird for email, and includes such desktop standards as GAIM, OpenOffice.org, and the Linspire-authored Lsongs for music and Nvu for Web design.
The installation CD is small, and doubles as a Freespire live CD, so you can use the operating system to a limited degree from the CD before you commit to it. The sound driver on my Acer TravelMate 2300 was not properly detected and installed on the live CD even though it worked perfectly after I’d installed Freespire to my hard drive.
Freespire’s installation routine is oversimplified. There is only one option you can change from the default: the partition scheme and filesystem type. Freespire lumps the entire operating system onto a single ReiserFS partition, a choice that I find to be messy and inefficient.
Linspire is notorious for making users run as root by default. This invites security problems because if the system is compromised, an intruder or attacker will instantly have complete control over the operating system. Freespire has an interesting workaround for this problem. You have to set up a user account during the installation process, and once Freespire is installed the root account will be disabled. You don’t need to type in the root password to install software through Click N Run, and most system settings can be changed with the default user permission level. When you do need to type in the root password, it’s the same as your user password, so root is completely unnecessary for all but high-level command line work (using APT, for instance).
The Freespire developers claim that you can use APT to install programs from Debian repositories. While APT does indeed work without any extra configuration, on one of my test machines APT destroyed Click N Run in a variety of unfixable ways, and I couldn’t install any programs anyway because APT kept choking on a gigantic list of missing Freespire-specific dependencies. After a complete reinstall I tried it again, and APT seemed to work as intended without messing up CNR. I’m not really sure what happened, but I don’t trust APT on Freespire.
If decide to use CNR, you’ll have an exceptionally easy time installing and managing software. Unfortunately it’s going to cost you U.S. $20 per year. Realistically that is not a lot of money to pay for software, especially considering what you’re getting. Linspire graciously makes a “free aisle” of software available for Freespire users, but it consists of only a half-dozen programs, all of them games or KDE applets. Existing Linspire CNR members can use their CNR account with Freespire without any problems.
The proprietary video drivers work wonderfully — the Intel Extreme Graphics on my TravelMate had direct rendering enabled by default, as did the ATI Radeon X700 on my desktop test machine. What really blew me away wasn’t the graphics drivers, though — it was the wireless network drivers. Freespire includes not only the Atheros (madwifi) drivers, but also Centrino wireless drivers and the NDISwrapper utility, pre-stocked with 26 Windows wireless network drivers. Freespire 1.0 was the first operating system I have ever installed — Windows included — on this Acer machine without having to go to great lengths to get the integrated wireless card working. I had wireless Internet access by default. The only consistent problem I had with wireless connectivity was the crappy Connection Manager applet. If I closed the lid on the Acer laptop (this only shuts the screen off — ACPI isn’t fully supported on the TravelMate 2300 yet) and put it on the floor next to my chair, I would come back to it later and find that the wireless connection had gone away. Nothing I could do from Connection Manager or the command line could bring the network up again. The best I could do was shut the computer down, wait a few minutes, then start up again.
The first major problem I had with Freespire 1.0 was the quality of the sound drivers. On both the TravelMate and the desktop test machine with a PCI SoundBlaster Audigy, the sound either refused to work at all, or emitted a high-pitched static noise. No other operating systems I’ve tested on these machines have had sound problems like this. Although I didn’t look too deeply into the matter, I believe it may have been related to the Jack sound server, which I have never used before (it’s been all EsounD and aRts for me).
The second major problem I had with Freespire was the Adobe Flash plugin, which constantly crashed my Web browser. Instead of removing the plugin, I installed the Flashblock, Adblock, and Filterset.G Updater plugins for Firefox, which disabled Flash animations by default and blocked all of the ads that were causing the crashes. This problem is not intrinsic to Freespire — it’s a problem with the old, outdated, poorly programmed, proprietary Flash plugin. Still, the Freespire developers should have been able to find and address this bug before shipping the product.
I also initially had a bad crash when trying to connect to a WEP-enabled wireless network. I couldn’t repeat the problem, so I can’t say much more about it.
After all of the initial issues were dealt with, I installed a bunch of programs through both CNR and APT and had absolutely no trouble with any part of the process (except the APT problem I mentioned before). The one program I thought would throw a wrench in CNR for sure was Eclipse; on most operating systems there is some trouble with installing the Java Development Kit, and since I didn’t see the JDK listed in CNR, I thought for sure Eclipse would fail. Though it did take almost a half hour to install, Eclipse did install properly, and it brought the JDK version 5.0 with it. No further work was necessary to start building and running Java programs.
Another little gem that I discovered in Freespire was the Synaptics touchpad utility. This program enables Synaptics users to disable the intensely annoying “scroll” feature. Usually the distribution programmers overlook little things like this, and users are forced to download and install KSynaptics on their own.
For years now I’ve thought that Linspire should be free to download, especially since users are practically forced to buy into the Click N Run service to get a reasonably complete desktop experience. I’m not a fan of hidden costs; as a software user, I want to know the total price upfront. Linspire makes an effort to hide the CNR dependency until after you’ve purchased and installed the operating system. Freespire, on the other hand, gives you a usable and mostly complete operating system as-is, and allows you to buy into CNR if you want extra programs, or use APT if you’re willing to learn how to work with the command line interface.
Speaking of CNR, it’s greatly improved over the past two years, and is definitely the most easy-to-use software installation and maintenance framework in the operating system world today, primarily because of its tight integration with the Freespire interface. Other package managers on other desktop operating systems seem like hacks or modules that are hastily plugged into KDE or GNOME, but with Click N Run it’s hard to tell where the package manager ends and the desktop environment begins. It’s worth the $20 subscription price if you are decided on Freespire as your desktop operating system.
The OSS edition of Freespire is predictably light and very frustrating for desktop users who expect full Web browser and video card functionality. If you’re adamant about avoiding proprietary programs, however, Freespire may be your best choice for a totally free-as-in-rights desktop operating system. Previously, people concerned with software freedom had to either endure a few proprietary programs, or build their desktop OS from a metadistribution like Debian or Gentoo. Although I’m not sure of the licensing status of every single line of code that comprises Freespire OSS, I’ll take the project leadership’s word that it’s all free, and say that this distribution represents a huge leap forward for software freedom on the desktop.
Originally, SuSE Linux produced a corporate desktop distribution called SuSE Desktop. It used the old UnitedLinux kernel, but was otherwise much like the SuSE consumer desktop products of the same era. It was the first commercial corporate desktop GNU/Linux distribution, and had a large but quiet impact on the GNU/Linux distribution market. Sun Microsystems adopted SuSE Desktop for its first and second editions of the much-hyped Java Desktop System. Later, Sun decided that Java Desktop System would no longer refer to a specific operating system; instead it would be the name of the customized GNOME desktop theme that Sun uses for both Solaris and for future GNU/Linux-based operating systems that it releases.
When Novell bought SuSE, it changed SuSE Desktop’s name to Novell Linux Desktop. With this release, Novell again changed its name, this time to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. Though KDE was the traditional interface for all SUSE products, GNOME is now the standard desktop environment.
You can expect SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10 to include a majority of the packages necessary to run a desktop computer in a large business — and not one single program more. The default installation differs little from the maximum installation, and the extra packages are really only for special-case situations.
First, the obvious: all of the standard packages have been updated. The kernel is at version 2.6.16.21, OpenOffice.org is at version 2.0.2, Firefox at 1.5.0.4, and GNOME is at version 2.12.2. Were you expecting KDE instead? With SLED 10, Novell has changed the default desktop environment from KDE to GNOME, thought KDE is still available if you wish to install it.
SLED 10’s GNOME implementation has been modified from its highly usable default interface to to one that very much resembles Windows XP and Windows Vista in terms of functionality and menu placement. Taken as a whole, however, SLED 10’s interface is unique enough that even seasoned GNU/Linux, OS X, and Windows veterans will have some initial trouble figuring out where things are and what everything does. After I became accustomed to GNOME ala SLED 10, I concluded that the interface design is only useful to people who need a maximum of eight programs (the number of programs that will fit in the “favorite programs” group that dominates your Computer menu). If I were to use this operating system long-term, I think I would have to modify the interface so that I can avoid the click- and scroll-heavy main menu. It is a big production to get to a program that isn’t shown in the main Computer menu screen. If, after clicking on the Computer menu button, you need to use something that isn’t considered a “favorite” application, you have to click another button, then scroll through a double list of installed programs in a separate window. SLED 10’s GNOME implementation won’t win any beauty contests, either — it’s plain and uninspired to the point that the bland theme actually further detracts from its usability by unintentionally disguising the Computer menu button. If you weren’t familiar with the purpose and placement of the Windows Start menu or KDE K menu, you’d find SLED 10 very difficult to navigate.
Another major change in this release is in the software management framework. Novell ZENworks is now the default program for installing, removing, and updating software in SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (and other current SUSE products). If you want, you can still use YaST and YaST Online Update (YOU) for these tasks, but it has officially been deprecated in favor of ZENworks. Unlike the consumer-grade SUSE Linux 10.1, SLED 10’s ZENworks implementation actually works as intended, though it still requires a small amount of configuration to allow normal users to access it. You also need to register your email address with Novell in order to activate ZENworks, but this is a quick and painless process that literally takes a few seconds. This registration process also enables proprietary software repositories in ZENworks, so you can download and install the Nvidia and ATI video card drivers, among other things.
Though they only very recently began to see usage in desktop operating systems (well, SUSE Linux 10.1 and DIY distros like Gentoo and Debian are the only ones so far), the XGL special effects engine and the Compiz window manager are included in SLED 10 and activated by default, assuming you register with Novell to get the required proprietary video drivers. Given the wide range of problems with these early XGL and Compiz releases, I’m surprised to see them included as standard packages in an “enterprise” operating system. Even if these packages were optional, I can’t imagine any sane company rushing to provide support for them. I predict XGL will be a major source of trouble for Novell’s support department over the next few months.
JFS support has been dropped from YaST, so if you had any JFS volumes, you’ll be unable to manage them through the GUI. The JFS kernel module is still in place, however, so you can still read existing JFS partitions.
The default install includes an outstanding computer-based audio/visual training program and interactive help system to assist new users in learning how to operate and configure SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. The program is broken up into tasks, so you can skip directly to the section that applies to your situation. It’s by far the best desktop GNU/Linux CBT that I have ever seen.
Lastly, the NetworkManager applet introduced in SUSE Linux 10.1 has been incorporated into SLED 10. It allows you to easily manage and connect to wired and wireless networks. I’ve got no complaints about NetworkManager at all — I think it’s an outstanding tool that every desktop operating system should have, and I’m glad to see it in SLED 10.
Installing SLED 10 is easy and intuitive — just like SUSE Linux 10 and 10.1 — and not too much different than it’s been over the past several releases. The default disk partitioning scheme is excellent; it assigns enough space to the root and swap partitions to run the system, then gives the rest to /home, where the bulk of your data will ultimately reside.
SLED 10 can authenticate users against the local system (/etc/passwd), OpenLDAP, NIS, a Windows domain, and eDirectory LDAP, a selection I found to be rather eclectic.
I was pleased to learn that the default SLED 10 install included Firefox plugins for Java, Flash, Adobe Acrobat (PDF), RealPlayer, and Citrix. That means that there is little or no post-install configuration or hacking to be done to make the Web browser meet the expectations of the average business desktop computer user. The only thing that is missing is the ability to play video files through Firefox. The absence of such a plugin could prevent important work-related activities like attending online meetings, viewing product demos, and participating in computer-based training programs. As is now customary, I have written a guide to show you how to add missing pieces like these.
While there was a Java Runtime Environment installed, it was the older 1.4.2 version. Since there are significant, oft-used features in Java 5.0 (1.5.0) that are not backwards-compatible with older JREs, I’m puzzled as to why Novell did not go with the newer version. To add insult to injury, there are absolutely no integrated development environments included with or officially available for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. No NetBeans, Eclipse, Bluefish, Screem, Quanta, or KDevelop – nothing. What are programmers supposed to do if their company installs SLED 10 on its desktop computers — switch to Vim?
My first impression of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 was quite negative. On my first test machine — a desktop computer with an Asus A8N-E motherboard, 1GB RAM, an ATI Radeon X700 video card, and a 17″ LCD monitor — the default font settings were so tiny that I couldn’t read any text. The login screen was fine, as was the virtual terminal, but everything in the GNOME desktop had its font set to what must have been the smallest size. I tried to mess with SaX2 for a while, and other YaST modules, but couldn’t fix the problem.
Moving on to my Acer TravelMate 2300 laptop system, the first thing that happened after installation was a hard lockup. It turns out that SLED 10 doesn’t get along with the Linksys WPC11 version 4 wireless network card, and the system crashes when it tries to connect to an access point. Further confounding my wireless networking options, I discovered that NDISwrapper is not installed by default; it is available in the standard SLED 10 package repository, though.
Lastly, the Synaptics touchpad on the TravelMate had the infamous scroll problem. This is fixed by installing a Synaptics control program like KSynaptics, which is not officially available for SLED 10. So you’re stuck with an unfortunately remapped touchpad that wants to scroll the screen when you get near the bottom or right side of the pad. In Firefox, this makes the browser go back and forward in the page history.
As a veteran of dozens of operating system reviews and hundreds of articles on computer technology, I have found that if you don’t stop and recalibrate your frame of reference from time to time, you can start to accept the fact that most operating systems these days ship with obvious and easy-to-find problems. Not just software bugs, but configuration issues and usability blunders. In a free-of-charge BSD variant or GNU/Linux distribution, some of these sins are forgivable. But when you tell me that you have a product designed to work in a big business — a real production environment where you lose thousands of dollars for every minute of downtime or lost productivity — then you’re throwing down the gauntlet and saying that this operating system is not just pretty good, it’s damned good. Well, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is not good enough. This is definitely not what I would call an “enterprise” operating system; you would have to be crazy to deploy SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 on corporate desktop and laptop systems, considering your alternatives. Red Hat Desktop, though only available in volume orders with the higher classes of Red Hat server products and being comprised of somewhat older software, is a perfect example of an “enterprise” desktop OS. You can put OpenBSD and CentOS in the “enterprise” category as well. They don’t crash, they accept a wide range of hardware, and have a better and more varied selection of business desktop software available for them. They’re everything that SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is not. Xandros and Mandriva also make outstanding, far more thoroughly tested business desktop operating systems that — having reviewed two versions of each — I consider to be superior to SLED 10. It seems to me that SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is not so much Novell’s attempt to push into the business market as it is an attempt to provide a for-profit version of SUSE Linux for home desktop users.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is, in effect, what the buggy SUSE Linux 10.1 should have been. Or at least, that’s the most positive way I can think of to say that both operating systems were insufficiently tested for their intended markets. I hope Sun Microsystems takes this first draft of an operating system, fixes the problems I listed in this review, and comes out with a killer Java Desktop System 3.
The following issues must be addressed before I will consider SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (assuming Novell doesn’t change the name again before the next release) truly enterprise-ready:
- Improved release engineering. Did Novell fire its QA department or something? I found showstopping bugs in this product within five minutes of post-install use. That is totally unacceptable for a supposedly production-ready operating system. Don’t give customers your beta builds and promise to try to fix them later.
- Synaptics touchpad configuration. Really this is a suggestion for the GNOME people, but nothing is stopping Novell from designing its own Synaptics touchpad configuration utility (or just including KSynaptics). At very least, X.org could be configured to disable touchpad scrolling by default. If you think I’m being petty about this seemingly minor issue, I challenge you to use SLED 10 for your daily computing work for three days with a Synaptics touchpad and we’ll see how long it takes before you crack.
- Developers, developers, developers. SLED 10 doesn’t have any IDEs. What operating system is the Web development team supposed to use? What about the programmers — what OS do they use? Unless you want to hack SLED 10 to use SUSE Linux 10.1 packages, or download and install RPMs manually from the Internet, these people are left out in the cold. How many businesses do you know of that don’t employ either a Web developer (or designer) or a programmer? The people at Novell who decide what packages go into the Enterprise Desktop product need to create a “Development” package group that includes popular integrated development environments and other development packages. Note: A Novell employee wrote to me about the SUSE Linux Enterprise SDK, which has IDEs and other development tools for SLED 10. I don’t know how I would have found out about this extra disc if someone hadn’t told me — at the time of the review, the SDK was not on the media download page for SLED, nor was it mentioned in any place where I’d notice it.
- Forget XGL. Graphical desktop effects have no place in an “enterprise” operating system. Principles aside, XGL is buggy and causes a variety of stability and usability problems, some of which are even listed in the SLED 10 release notes. If Novell knew that this undeniably superfluous technology caused so many problems, why on earth did the release engineers include it in the base system and enable it by default?
- Fix the upgrade problems. As much as sysadmins adore an operating system that they only have to apply occasional patches to, eventually everyone must upgrade. The bad news for SUSE customers is, upgrading from one version to the next can be difficult at best and impossible at worst. Smooth upgrading from one major version to another is an issue that every operating system developer struggles with, but again, this is supposed to be an “enterprise” operating system. System administrators expect an operating system that they don’t have to mess with.
- Improve hardware autoconfiguration. SLED 10 was totally clueless when it came to detecting the size, resolution, and aspect ratio of two of my LCD screens. It also had trouble switching from the standard ATI driver to the proprietary one. Again, this is stuff that sysadmins don’t want to bother with; the software should be able to do its own configuration.
- Improve usability. I found SLED 10’s interface to be difficult to use. The Computer menu looks more like a minimized application than a menu button. It’s also fairly nondescript, and if I wasn’t already used to the K menu or Start menu being in the lower left corner, I wouldn’t know what that “Computer” icon was. Furthermore, the menu structure is anti-productivity. Perhaps there should be a step during post-install configuration which asks each user what icons they would like in their “Favorite” group, rather than just guess and make them swim through a two-part menu system to get to the software they use most.
| Purpose |
Enterprise desktop operating system |
| Manufacturer |
Novell, Inc. |
| Architectures |
x86, AMD64/EM64T |
| License |
Mostly under the GNU General Public license, but several packages are under restrictive proprietary licenses |
| Market |
Business desktop computers |
| Price (retail) |
U.S. $50 per year per computer |
| Previous version |
Novell Linux Desktop 9 |
| Product Web site |
Click here |
Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.
Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.
Ubuntu overview
This section is for people new to Ubuntu Linux. If you’re already familiar with the basic details of this operating system, you may want to skip down to the next section, which details the new features in this release.
Ubuntu Linux is a relatively new GNU/Linux distribution that was originally based on Debian. Since its first release in September 2004, Ubuntu has grown further and further away from Debian, though there is still a great deal of resemblance between the two. Ubuntu is on a six-month release cycle, so the goal is to create two production releases per year. Release numbers are a one-digit year followed by a two-digit month, so 6.06 represents a June 2006 release, and 5.10 indicates an October 2005 release.
Each version is supported with software updates for a term of 18 months, at which time you must upgrade to the latest release. Any Ubuntu release that has an LTS (Long Term Support) tacked onto its version number will be supported with security updates for five years on servers.
In general Ubuntu Linux is easy to install, use, and configure. It’s also highly focused, meaning you don’t have to wade through huge system menus full of multiple Web browsers and word processors to find what you need. Installing new software is easy through the Install and Remove Applications program, with the Synaptic package manager as a fallback for more advanced users who need to draw from a wider body of available software.
The default desktop environment is GNOME; other DEs and window managers are not officially supported, though you can just as easily download and use Kubuntu or Xubuntu if you prefer KDE or XFCE. The package managers are integrated with the desktop environment, so when you install a new program, it is immediately added to your Applications menu. Software updates are monitored through a notification applet which informs you of available patches.
 |
| Ubuntu Linux 6.06: lots of potential, lots of bugs |
What’s new in 6.06
At its core, each new Ubuntu Linux release includes a more recent Linux kernel and GNOME desktop environment. Version 6.06 ships with the 2.6.15 kernel and GNOME 2.14.2. The following enhancements and additions are also new to Ubuntu 6.06:
- UltraSPARC T1 processor support
- Long-term support for servers
- Commercial software packages are now able to be installed via the Install and Remove Applications tool
Overall there aren’t a lot of big changes in Ubuntu 6.06. Expanded hardware support and an updated software stack are the primary advantages that 6.06 has over 5.10.
Putting it to the test
Ubuntu 6.06 is packed with problems. Both the x86 and AMD64 versions of Ubuntu failed to boot on one test machine (Asus A8N-E, Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 1GB RAM, ATI Radeon X700, Atheros-based wireless PCI network card) no matter what boot option I chose. On the laptop test machine (Acer TravelMate 2300), I got Ubuntu to install, but the system occasionally ignored keyboard input for about half a second. So typing this very review, every two sentences or so I miss a word — a situation that is positively infuriating.
I use these two computers — both of them more than a year old — for the bulk of my operating system testing because poorly designed OSes tend to fail on them. CentOS 4.3 and Xandros 4.0, for instance, both recently installed and worked very well on these machines, so I know that they can handle hardware that is on the fringe of Linux compatibility. Ubuntu 6.06 failed miserably. The previous version of Ubuntu Linux was even worse on these systems — so much so that I couldn’t write a review because I couldn’t find a computer that Ubuntu would work on.
Firefox is the default Web browser in Ubuntu 6.06 (and the only one installed, which is good — no clutter), but it has no plugins installed. None at all — not even the SVG plugin. That means spending a half hour or so finding and downloading the Java, Flash, PDF, RealPlayer, and Windows Media plugins if you want to have a complete Web experience. The only good news is, this is a fairly simple process because of the Ubuntu Install and Remove Applications and Synaptic package managers.
I figured I’d do some Java programming exercises while I tested Ubuntu, but I couldn’t find a Java Development Kit in either of the package managers. There was a Java 5.0 Runtime Environment, but no JDK — or at least, searches for “jdk” and “java” didn’t turn up anything in Synaptic. To top it all off, Ubuntu 6.06 comes with a fake Java installed — GIJ. I want the real Java, or I want nothing so that I can install the real Java properly; I do not want a half-hearted, half-working Java facsimile that doesn’t even have a browser plugin.
I prefer to see NDISwrapper installed by default. That makes it easier to get a system online when its only available network connection is over an “unsupported” wireless card. Ubuntu does not have NDISwrapper installed by default.
There are some good points about Ubuntu 6.06, though: the integrated Intel graphics chip on the TravelMate was properly recognized and configured for direct rendering. I noticed that a general proprietary kernel module package had been installed when I was looking through Synaptic. This includes Nvidia, ATI, and Atheros drivers, so I would assume that my configuration time would have been low on the desktop test system, had Ubuntu actually been able to install on it.
Conclusions and developer recommendations
After spending three days with Ubuntu Linux 6.06, and recognizing that a large percentage of first-time GNU/Linux users are trying out Ubuntu before other distros, I understand why many people think that GNU/Linux can be difficult to install, configure, use, and in general be “not ready for the desktop.” Ubuntu Linux 6.06 is a step below Fedora Core in terms of usability, quality, and ease of use, but it’s far below any modern commercial desktop GNU/Linux distribution like Xandros Desktop 4.0, SUSE Linux 10.1, or even Mandriva 2006 PowerPack Edition.
What I can’t understand is why I seem to be alone in my assessment of Ubuntu 6.06. Everywhere I look, I see glowing reviews and “best of” awards and such. I wonder what computers those people used for testing? What other GNU/Linux distributions are they comparing Ubuntu to? Obviously they aren’t Java programmers. As far as I’m concerned, Ubuntu Linux 6.06 doesn’t live up to the hype. There’s a lot to like about Ubuntu in general — I mean, as far as distribution design is concerned — but this release was poorly tested.
Here’s what I’d like to see in the next release:
- Java: do it right or don’t do it at all. I appreciate the fact that many people are working hard to create free-as-in-rights replacements for the Sun JRE and JDK (despite the fact that Sun Microsystems is working to free them). Having said that, I don’t want to use these replacements. I want the standard, documented, platform-tested Sun JDK so that I don’t pull my hair out trying to decide if the problems I’m having with my programs are due to my code, or the non-standard compiler and virtual machine that I’m using.
- Better release testing. I suspect the reason why Ubuntu failed to install on my Athlon 64 X2 system was due to the dual-core CPU. Since you can hardly buy a new computer these days that doesn’t have a dual-core processor in it, I can’t understand why the Ubuntu team couldn’t properly test their release on one. Furthermore, the strange laptop keyboard problem I had was one that I have never seen before in the four years I have been writing about GNU/Linux, Unix, and BSD operating systems. It is highly unlikely that this is specific to my one test machine, so I have to blame the release engineers for sending the product out the door too early. Perhaps six-month release cycles are too soon for Ubuntu Linux — or perhaps the Ubuntu developers need to take some lessons in release engineering from the OpenBSD crew.
- Include NDISwrapper. It’s not very large, so I don’t understand why NDISwrapper can’t be included in the base install. When you don’t need it, you don’t know it’s there, but when you do need it, its absence is intolerable.
- Web Browser plugins. I realize that licensing restrictions prevent many plugins from being shipped as part of the release, but what about the mplayer plugin? And can’t something be worked out with Adobe to include the Acrobat Reader and Flash plugins?
| Purpose |
Desktop operating system |
| Manufacturer |
Canonical, Ltd. |
| Architectures |
x86, AMD64/EM64T, SPARC64, Niagara, PPC |
| License |
The GNU General Public License version 2, although some parts of the base system are under the BSD or other free software licenses |
| Market |
Desktop and server computers in any setting |
| Price (retail) |
Free to download, or have an Ubuntu CD set mailed to you for free |
| Previous version |
Ubuntu Linux 5.10 |
| Product Web site |
Click here |
Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.
Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.
Xandros overview
If you have never used Xandros Desktop Linux before, this section will give you an overview of it. If you’re already familiar with Xandros, you might want to skip down to the next section, which covers the changes introduced in version 4.
Originally developed and sold as Corel Linux, Xandros is a KDE-centric GNU/Linux distribution that is loosely based on Debian. While it offers a rich desktop environment, it is possible to use the Debian package tools to adapt Xandros Desktop Home Edition for a variety of different uses. Its heritage plus the excellence of its design equal an operating system that is easy to use, but powerful when necessary.
The base distribution includes about 1.4GB of software, though most of that is the base operating system and “filler” — ancillary KDE software and other programs that are rarely or never used. The default Xandros Desktop Home Edition installation offers few useful applications, but the Premium version comes with CrossOver Office 5.0 Standard, which allows you to run many Windows programs, and Versora Progression Desktop, which enables you to safely move all of your data and settings from Windows to GNU/Linux. You’ll also find a small collection of proprietary extras: the Java Runtime Environment, Adobe Flash Player, RealPlayer, and hardware-accelerated Nvidia and ATI video card drivers installed and ready to go. In essence, Xandros is more of an operating system with the ability to expand, whereas most of its desktop GNU/Linux competitors are self-contained software distributions.
The officially supported method of installing new software (and updating currently installed programs) is through the Xandros Networks framework. This consists of a self-contained program that both tracks your current software situation and informs you of other applications that you can install. It’s much like Linspire’s Click N Run (CNR) system, though Xandros Networks is not integrated into the KDE menu structure like CNR is. Lastly, Xandros Networks has a taskbar notification applet that tells you when software updates are available.
The general “look and feel” of Xandros Desktop Home Edition is like a cross between Windows XP and Sun Java Desktop System. It’s easy to use and navigate if you’re used to the Windows Start menu interface philosophy, but not really all that sensibly designed according to modern usability standards. One thing you won’t find in Xandros is clutter — the Launch menu is clean, focused, and easy to navigate. Most other desktop GNU/Linux operating systems will have up to three separate Web browsers, office suites, and email programs. Xandros, in contrast, only has one standard program for each purpose.
Desktop Home Edition is only one of Xandros Inc.’s GNU/Linux products. The others include a business desktop product and a deployment management server; a business server edition; and an education desktop and server edition for schools. Xandros Desktop Home Edition and Home Edition Premium are the only two Xandros products aimed at consumers.
What’s new in 4.0
The most noticeable change in Xandros since version 3 is the interface. Everything from the installation boot splash screen to the KDE desktop and all points in between has been graphically enhanced. Cosmetically this is an impressive distribution, but I am growing increasingly weary of blue themes. I think this must be the “blue period” for GNU/Linux — SUSE, Linspire, Mandriva, Red Hat, and Xandros all have blue standard themes.
Unless I missed it in the previous version, Xandros now requires product activation to enable the Xandros Networks program. Previously you needed a subscription to take full advantage of Xandros Networks, but you could still get updates. In version 4, the whole framework is inoperable until you put in your support serial number, which is sent to Xandros to generate your product activation code, which is emailed to you. Then you enter that code into a prompt in the XN client to enable it. Word on the Xandros forum is, you can only use your serial number five times before you have to make a phone call to activate your XN subscription (normal business hours only). Some Xandros customers are upset about this, complaining that it’s no better than Microsoft’s product activation schemes. In effect, Xandros actually is a little bit better; Windows XP requires product activation to use the operating system, whereas Xandros only restricts support requests and product updates — the base distribution is perfectly usable without the activation code. Secondly, every other major commercial GNU/Linux distribution except SUSE already does this — Mandriva, Red Hat, and Linspire — so there aren’t a lot of alternatives in the top tier if you’re trying to avoid any kind of product registration. I’m not saying what Xandros is doing is in any way ethical or respectful of its customers’ privacy; I’m just pointing out that everyone else is doing it, so there really is no surprise here.
The Xandros Home Edition 4.0 license is rather strange — it now allows customers to install the entire distribution on an unlimited number of home computers and one business computer. This is a sensible choice because, quite honestly, it’s what people do anyway regardless of license restrictions. I don’t know how this broad allowance reconciles with the fact that you can’t activate your support serial number more than five times.
A new feature in the Premium Edition is the Xandros Security Suite, comprised of a firewall, anti-virus scanner, and file system protection application. The latter two programs wanted to run memory- and disk-intensive services at frequent intervals, so I disabled them. Realistically, I think most users are going to have to do the same in order to avoid a noticeable system performance decrease. These services seem like they are designed more to assuage the fears of paranoid-by-experience Windows refugees than as useful security precautions anyway.
Also new to Premium Edition is the Xandros Storage Manager, Xandros File Manager, and the Paragon NTFS kernel module. The latter allows you to write to Windows NTFS partitions; the standard Linux kernel module only allows reading NTFS volumes, so this could be a great asset to people who need to share data with a Windows partition.
Putting it to the test
Xandros Home Edition Premium installed completely in about 15 minutes and without incident on an Athlon64 X2 desktop machine and an Acer TravelMate 2300, both of which are notorious for having problems with poorly equipped operating systems. The TravelMate has an oddball integrated wireless network card that works well through NDISwrapper, but doesn’t have a native free software driver yet. I expected the software to prompt me to set up NDISwrapper for my unsupported wireless card during setup, but no such prompt appeared. Later on, when I went to run the cool NDISwrapper graphical utility that I’d raved about in Xandros Surfside Linux, I found that it had disappeared.
Actually it wasn’t gone — it was just hiding. The utility no longer appears in a sensible place. You now have to go to the Control Center, then click on Hardware Information, then Hardware Detection, then select the unsupported network device, then click Properties, then click Windows (NDIS) Wireless Drivers. If that isn’t a wild goose chase, I don’t know what is. I’m bothered by the decision to move the NDISdrivermanager utility to a remote corner of the interface because there are many laptop computer users who need it. I also think that operating systems should not purposefully be made more difficult to configure; to do otherwise is pure insanity. A Xandros representative told me that the NDISdrivermanager was put in the background because most wireless network cards are natively supported in Xandros Desktop 4.0. That’s no excuse for making the operating system more difficult to configure.
I had trouble getting the touchpad mouse to work properly on the laptop test system. This is nothing new, though — the default behavior of Synaptics touchpads in X.org is to enable an unbelievably annoying “scroll” feature. If your finger gets too close to the invisible scroll area to the right or bottom of the touchpad, it acts like a scroll wheel on a regular mouse. Unfortunately, that can mean that you often go back or forward in the Firefox browser history, which treats sideways scrolling as a back/forward event. The usual cure for this is a program called KSynaptics, which can be found in the standard Debian package repositories. Xandros does not come with any kind of touchpad configuration program by default, and KSynaptics is not in Xandros Networks unless you add the Debian sources to it. Don’t bother trying to do this, though — KSynaptics in Xandros 4.0 causes worse problems than it fixes. In the end, I had to manually hack the xorg.conf file from a terminal window, and even then I didn’t completely eliminate the problem.
I hooked up my Windows XP (NTFS) test drive on the same SATA drive controller that my Xandros test drive was on, then started the computer. While Xandros created device nodes for sdb and sdb1, there was absolutely no indication that the drive existed in the graphical interface. I tried the Xandros Storage Manager, but even that did not list the second hard drive. I tried to mount the Windows NTFS partition from the command line, but I got an error message saying that the drive was already mounted, even though mtab disagreed. So don’t count on flawless NTFS partition support in Xandros Desktop 4.0.
Although they were perfectly capable programs, I didn’t find much value in the Xandros File Manager and Storage Manager. They offer essentially the same (or less) functionality as Konqueror and KParted, except they are more stable and easier to use. The true advantage in these applications is not to someone like me, but to a user who is coming directly from Windows and needs familiar-looking programs to help them adjust to the new operating environment.
One flaw I noticed in Xandros Networks is that the Premium Edition extras like CrossOver Office, Progression Desktop, and the proprietary NTFS kernel module were not listed as “purchased.” In other words, even though these components were installed, the option to buy them was still there, and XN did not recognize the fact that they existed on my computer. This may seem like a small oversight until you consider product updates. How will XN know to update these programs if it doesn’t even know that they are installed?
My other big complaint about Xandros Networks is the fact that the Shop area is comprised mostly of demo or trial software, not the full version. If we can’t buy and install the real thing, why tease us with limited demos?
 |
| Xandros Desktop Home Edition: just like Windows |
Whenever there was a disc in my DVD drive, Xandros would spin it up and seek it about twice per second. This heated the disc so much that I couldn’t even pick it up out of the drive after fifteen minutes of use. This is a serious bug — CDs and DVDs can be ruined if you’re not paying attention. The operating system shouldn’t seek or spin up the drive unless it is currently being used.
There is still no native support for playing encrypted DVD movie discs; neither is there support for Windows Media Audio and Video (WMV, WMA) files. I figured out how to enable these options and wrote this article to show you how to do it.
Lastly, I’ll take a moment to marvel at the fact that ATI and Nvidia video drivers were not only supplied with the distribution, but that they required zero effort to install or configure. I didn’t even know they were there until I ran the glxinfo program and saw that I already had full DRI and GLX support on two test systems (one using an ATI Radeon X700, the other an Nvidia Quadro FX 4000). Unfortunately, there was no hardware acceleration available for integrated Intel graphics chips. I tried briefly to enable DRI on one such system, but didn’t get very far with it.
Conclusions and developer recommendations
Xandros Desktop Home Edition 4.0 isn’t without its little problems here and there, but as far as desktop operating systems go, it’s the most complete one I’ve ever used. Very little has to be done to modify it to do practically anything you need a desktop OS to do, and those few procedures that have to be done are quick and simple. Adding new software and updating the programs you already have is easy and accomplished through a single, simple management framework. The menus aren’t clogged with superfluous options and multiple programs for common tasks, and in general everything is very easy to use if you’re a Windows refugee. Current GNU/Linux or *BSD users probably won’t have much of a reason to switch to Xandros, however.
I’m not sure that the standard Home Edition is worth buying. People who don’t need CrossOver Office or Versora Progression Desktop for Windows migration (it’s a really great tool for that — it couldn’t be easier to use, and gets all of your settings and data in one quick operation) probably won’t see more value in Xandros than they would in a free-of-charge distribution like openSUSE, Ubuntu, or Fedora Core. Xandros’ real advantage is in the ease of migration from Windows that it offers in the Premium Edition.
As I said in the introduction, this should be the GNU/Linux distribution that you recommend to friends and family when you don’t want to spend a lot of time helping them. Xandros is a snap to install and use, and includes a good paper manual and commercial phone and email support, so you can safely absolve yourself of the infuriating string of “how-do-I” questions that computer illiterates sap your time with. If you yourself are looking for a good way out of Windows, Xandros Desktop Home Premium Edition is your ticket to desktop computing happiness.
- Native DVD playback support. I don’t think GNU/Linux companies like Xandros are really putting enough thought and/org money behind native DVD decoding abilities. A significant number of people watch DVD movie discs on their computer. It’s time some company took the initiative to either find a way to make libdvdcss legal, or write a driver for one of the hardware MPEG2 decoder cards out there. Why can’t that company be Xandros?
- Make it easier to find NDISdrivermanager. It was a big mistake to hide this excellent utility. Not only should it go back to where it was among the other networking tools, but it should also be offered during installation so that people who don’t have any other way of accessing the Internet can complete the installation process properly with their “unsupported” wireless network card.
- Red, green, purple, orange… anything but blue! Please, no more blue themes — seriously. At least offer other color themes. Windows is blue and gray because those are the Microsoft company colors. I know that some people might feel more comfortable with what they’re familiar with in Windows, but I doubt that extends to tired old color themes.
- A control utility for touchpads. In general Xandros needs to work a little harder on laptop compatibility. In specific, it would be nice to have greater control over the behavior of the touchpad mouse.
- No more demos. Take the demo software out of Xandros Networks. If you can’t offer the full version, don’t bother teasing users with products you can’t deliver.
- A 64-bit edition. It’s getting harder and harder to find desktop CPUs that don’t have either the AMD64 or EM64T 64-bit architectures. It’s time to make the transition away from 32-bit software, and Xandros is among the last of the holdouts that do not offer a 64-bit edition.
| Purpose |
Home desktop operating system |
| Manufacturer |
Xandros, Inc. |
| Architectures |
x86 |
| License |
Proprietary, lightly restrictive. Most of the included software is under the GNU General Public License. |
| Market |
Home desktop users desirous of switching to GNU/Linux from Microsoft Windows. |
| Price (retail) |
U.S. $80 for the Premium Edition, or $40 for the standard edition |
| Previous version |
Xandros Desktop 3.0, Xandros Surfside Linux |
| Product Web site |
Click here |
Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.
Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.
CentOS overview
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is reliable, easy to use, and has extensive support options. One thing it is not, though, is inexpensive. The usual alternative for people who can’t or won’t use RHEL is its publicly available development edition, Fedora Core. Unfortunately, Fedora is too often littered with showstopping bugs, and doesn’t make as reliable a platform as RHEL does. That’s where CentOS comes in — it’s built from the source RPMs from RHEL Advanced Server, minus Red Hat’s trademarks and proprietary graphics. The end result is an operating system that operates and performs identically to RHEL, with a few extra tools to make it easier to update, and no official Red Hat logos or images.
CentOS is an acronym for Community ENTerprise Operating System, meaning it is a free-of-charge and free-as-in-rights operating system that is stable and reliable enough to be used in a large business. The release cycle is slow and predictable, which is favorable to large businesses that seek a stable, uniform operating environment with rapid security update delivery. Home desktop users may not find as much enjoyment in CentOS because its desktop software tends to be a few versions older than the latest and greatest packages included in home desktop-oriented GNU/Linux distributions.
CentOS has a relatively simple installation routine, just like Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Unlike RHEL, which has different editions for a variety of business uses, CentOS only maintains one core from which you can customize your operating environment to act as a desktop, workstation, or server. RHEL has the same options, but is packaged and supported differently for different uses.
The GNOME desktop environment as customized for CentOS is easy to use, navigate, and customize. It includes up2date, a program that notifies you of software updates, though the preferred method of software maintenance in CentOS is through YUM (Yellowdog Updater, Modified). YUM requires command line interaction, but the only command most sysadmins need to know is yum update — a simple command, to say the least.
CentOS comes with a large enough selection of desktop and server software that the computing needs of nearly any business or professional operation can be met. Anything certified for RHEL should work with CentOS. If you don’t find what you want, you can use the Dag Wieers RPM repository to add many more packages to your system.
System services can be enabled, disabled, or restarted through a nice graphical tool; a similarly easy-to-use tool exists for connecting to other servers on the network. Ease of service configuration ends there, though — each service must be custom-configured by hand from a text editor. The config files are generally well-commented and do not significantly deviate from the universal default values or file names.
What’s new in 4.3
The 4.3 release contains the same updates and enhancements found in RHEL 4 Update 3, plus a new YUM-based update system that automatically selects the closest available CentOS update mirror.
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| CentOS: RHEL rebranded |
Putting it to the test
I had some trouble with the x86 version of CentOS 4.3 on an AMD Athlon 64 X2 test system. Specifically, the USB keyboard and mouse went totally crazy — repeating keys and clicks, and in general being unusable. Oddly, the problem did not occur in the 64-bit edition of the same release.
The up2date program is still there, but it won’t be as fast because of the new server selection scheme employed by YUM. On my test system, the yum update method worked quickly and without error. up2date, however, crashed several times on the AMD64 version, and took a long time to complete on the x86 edition.
The software is somewhat aged, but that’s to be expected from a maintenance release, which is what 4.3 is.
A few people have written to me post-publication and asked that I mention YUMEX, a graphical frontend for YUM. It can of course be installed via YUM: yum install yumex. It’s a nice utility, and definitely a great addition to CentOS. However, I still feel that it should supercede up2date, or that the user should have the option of using YUM instead of up2date for updates by default, not as an add-on or afterthought.
Conclusions and developer recommendations
CentOS is the perfect alternative for people who can’t afford or otherwise are opposed to paying for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It’s as perfect a clone of RHEL Advanced Server 4 Update 3 as can legally be distributed. Overall I found it just as easy to install, use, and maintain as RHEL4.
The only recommendation I have is for the CentOS team to make YUM graphical in a minimalist way, much like up2date currently is. The beauty of up2date is that it is so easy to use and understand, whereas running YUM from the command line to update the system by hand is sloppy and unreliable. I’d like to see an up2date-like utility that monitors the update servers for changes and either automatically applies them, or puts up a big red exclamation mark like up2date does.
Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.
| Purpose |
Operating system |
| Manufacturer |
The CentOS Project |
| Architectures |
x86, AMD64/EM64T, IA64, PPC, Alpha, SPARC, S390, and S390x |
| License |
GNU General Public License |
| Market |
Servers, workstations, and desktops of all kinds; people who like Red Hat Enterprise Linux but can’t afford it |
| Price (retail) |
Free of charge |
| Previous version |
CentOS 4.2 |
| Product Web site |
Click here |
Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.
SUSE Linux overview
SUSE Linux has long been among the best desktop GNU/Linux distributions in terms of features, ease of use, included software, hardware support, user support, documentation, and quality of design. It has a user-friendly installation procedure and it will work on virtually any desktop computer except perhaps some that use motherboard technologies released in the past two months or so.
SUSE uses the Windows-like KDE desktop environment as its default, but is perfectly integrated with the GNOME environment as well. The menus are easy to navigate, and the installed software is easy to find. There’s nothing difficult about SUSE Linux.
SUSE Linux 10 comes with a built-in firewall and spam filter, and although
it’s hardly necessary on GNU/Linux, SUSE also includes an antivirus program.
Because of these features and the fact that it requires a limited-access user
account to be created for daily use, SUSE is, by default, more secure than many
other desktop operating systems. Overall, SUSE Linux is an excellent choice for
those new to GNU/Linux.
There are two versions of this operating system (aside from the corporate
products): commercial and OSS. The commercial edition is generally referred to
as SUSE Linux; the open source edition is generally written SUSE Linux
OSS. Both are essentially the same operating system. However, if you buy the
commercial edition of SUSE Linux 10.1, you’ll get CD and DVD media, an
extensive paper manual on the operating system and its software, and
90 days of installation support from Novell. The open source version is
href="http://www.opensuse.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">free to
download, but it does not come with paper manuals or installation
support.
If you find that you’re in over your head with SUSE installation and
configuration and don’t want to wait for Novell to ship you the commercial
edition, I’ve authored a PDF guide called SUSE Linux 10.1 Kick Start, published and offered for sale through Sam’s Publishing. If you only need some post-install configuration help, check out my guide on Hacking SUSE Linux 10.1.
What’s new in 10.1
 |
| SUSE Linux 10.1: still good, but a little buggy |
One of the most visible ways that Novell has lost its edge lately is the glaring lack of a changelog or any significant marketing materials for SUSE Linux 10.1. In other words, there is no comprehensive list of improvements and changes since 10.0 — there isn’t even a press kit or reviewer’s guide available, which is highly unusual for a commercial operating system. So in lieu of an official list, here are the changes I have discovered in 10.1:
- AppArmor has been upgraded to the full version; previously only the Lite edition was included.
- Xen has been upgraded to version 3.
- KDE, GNOME, and X.org have been updated to their newest stable versions as of the release date.
- YaST Online Update (YOU) and SUSEwatcher have been replaced by the ZENworks updater.
- The Atheros wireless networking drivers (madwifi) have been removed; Atheros-based wireless cards are not supported in SUSE 10.1 initially, but you can download a madwifi package after the installation is complete.
- The proprietary Nvidia drivers are no longer included or available from YaST.
- Various installation-related improvements.
- Separation of free and non-free software; the commercial and OSS editions are now materially the same. All non-free software has been moved to a separate ISO, which can be downloaded for free. Previously these packages were only available in ISO form through the commercial edition.
- NetworkManager replaces NetApplet for easier wireless networking.
- The XGL graphical interface enhancement and the Compiz window manager are now supported and included with the distribution, but are not installed by default.
Putting it to the test
There are a lot of nice things to say about SUSE Linux 10.1, but most of them I said back when 10.0 was released. It’s easy to install and configure, comes with a ton of software, etc. etc. — it’s probably the best desktop GNU/Linux distribution, and easily the best free-of-charge distro for those new to GNU/Linux (Ubuntu fanboys: please send hatemail to spamtrap@thejemreport.com).
The first major change that I noticed in SUSE Linux 10.1 was the distribution method. The commercial edition no longer has any proprietary software integration, and the OSS edition has its own proprietary add-on disk for things like the Java Runtime Environment, the Flash browser plugin, and all of the other proprietary extras that desktop users generally want. The Nvidia video driver is gone, though, which is a disappointment. Its absence means that you have to download the standard driver from the Nvidia and install it yourself… and reinstall it every time your Linux kernel is updated.
Speaking of drivers, Atheros wireless network chip support was officially dropped from SUSE Linux, then hastily re-added to the installation repositories some time after the release. You’ll have to put the driver RPM onto a CD or USB drive before installation, or find some other way to connect to the Internet to get the driver afterward.
The installation procedure is largely the same as it has been over the past several years, though there are little enhancements here and there that make it easier for new users to deal with, especially where drive partitioning is concerned. The default partition scheme actually makes sense — only a root, swap, and home partition are created, with the majority of the drive’s space going to /home — and if you have Windows on the drive already, the NTFS or FAT partition is automatically resized for you. There’s no need to mess with boot loader configuration anymore, either — GRUB is used by default, and automatically adds existing operating systems to the boot menu. Lastly, the Internet connection test usually works; in previous releases, this function was broken.
Once you get to the KDE desktop, you’ll notice one major difference in SUSE Linux 10.1: a buggy, highly unstable ZENworks has replaced the traditional, mature YaST Online Update. I’ve been using SUSE Linux 10.1 constantly for more than a week, and certain package updates (dhcp, totem) consistently crash the update tool. Hopefully Novell will find a way to fix this soon, lest SUSE’s security be in jeopardy from a lack of ability to apply patches.
YaST is largely the same as it was in 10.0, even down to the Online Update settings remaining in place despite the fact that they are no longer used by default. SaX now sucks, though — you can’t change the video driver, and if it does not recognize your monitor properly, you can have a lot of trouble updating the video drivers or installing/configuring XGL and Compiz because SaX wants to revert to all of its own default settings every time it has to autodetect something.
NetworkManager is nice, but so was NetApplet — there isn’t much of a difference between the two in terms of the end-user experience. Under the hood, NetworkManager uses an entirely different network device control framework separate from ifconfig and iwconfig. The two different networking subsystems don’t play well with each other, so you have to either use the new system or go back to the old method. Most people shouldn’t have any trouble with NetworkManager, but if you have any custom network configuration scripts or if you have to compile your network drivers manually, you’ll run into problems.
I tried out XGL/Compiz, and only hosed the system twice. When you mess with the X.org and SaX configurations on a low level (as you must do with XGL) and KDE (with Compiz, which is meant for GNOME), you’re begging for trouble. The video problems that you can experience as a result of a failed configuration attempt include the inability to switch to a virtual terminal to fix things — you have to rely on a serial terminal or SSH login, or boot from the installation CD. I recommend staying away from XGL until there is a proper YaST module for configuring it.
Lastly, Novell has trashed the default GNOME theme so that it works from a single KDE-like menu bar at the bottom of the screen. Making it “normal” requires about ten minutes of configuration work.
Conclusions and developer recommendations
While SUSE Linux 10.1 has lost some ground on its wonderful predecessor, I can see where it is headed in the future — and I like what I’m envisioning. A mildly buggy release like 10.1 was necessary in the big picture, unless of course Novell had opted to wait until issues with Atheros drivers, the ZENworks updater, and XGL were resolved. That would have resulted in a “skipped” release, I think. Despite the trouble I had with 10.1, none of the problems were showstoppers, nor would they keep me from continuing to use and recommend SUSE Linux.
I hold SUSE to a higher standard than most other distributions because it has always been synonymous with high quality and ease of use. Even with the few troublesome spots that version 10.1 has, it is at very worst on par with distros like Fedora Core, Mandriva, and Ubuntu. At best, it’s still the same great SUSE Linux.
Boy do I ever have some suggestions for the SUSE developers:
- Don’t push it out the door. SUSE Linux 10.1 feels rushed, like the release engineers put the deadline ahead of product quality. It shows.
- Atheros drivers — WTF? I have never seen an operating system — especially a GNU/Linux distribution — actually lose hardware support from one release to another. It would have been better to wait until madwifi-ng and the SUSE kernel could play nicely with each other. The fact that Atheros drivers were added later does not make up for their absence on the installation media where people who rely on Atheros-based network cards need network support most.
- Stop castrating Xine. Why is SUSE the only desktop GNU/Linux distribution that cuts the DVD support out of Xine? There is a workaround for this problem, but SUSE users should not have to go through the hassle.
- SaX SuX. It’s either time to ditch SaX2, or make it more configurable (like it used to be). The world would be a better place if SaX2/iSaX did not overwrite the xorg.conf file every time the system starts. Sometimes you need to add custom hacks to this file. At the very least I would like to see a program that allows you to edit the device schemas that SaX uses when configuring newly detected hardware. If my monitor is not properly detected, I should be able to permanently teach SaX the correct settings.
Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.
| Purpose |
Desktop operating system |
| Manufacturer |
Novell |
| Architectures |
x86, AMD64/EM64T, PPC (PPC is not supported in the commercial edition) |
| License |
GNU General Public License, although all of the packages on the non-free extras CD is proprietary |
| Market |
Desktop users |
| Price (retail) |
US $60 for the commercial edition, but you can download an evaluation DVD, live DVD, or the OSS edition for free |
| Previous version |
SUSE Linux 10 |
| Product Web site |
Click here |
Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.
SUSE Linux 10.1 only
If you’re not using SUSE Linux 10.1, don’t follow this article. There are separate guides for SUSE Linux 10, 10.2, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10, and other operating systems. You can find them in the directory of how-to guides on Software in Review.
Why you need this guide
SUSE Linux 10.1 OSS — as the name implies — is comprised entirely of free, open source software. What you will be doing in this tutorial (with the exception of configuring XGL and Compiz) is installing proprietary add-ons that add functionality. All of the browser plugins are proprietary and will require you to agree to restrictive software licenses. The DVD playback capabilities are in violation of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (and similar laws in other countries), which many believe to be unconstitutional and a violation of consumer fair use rights (Click here for more information on DMCA reform). In other words, installing the DVD decoding software could be illegal where you live; therefore I’m not telling you to do it, but I’ll tell you how it’s done — for educational and informational purposes only, of course.
Furthermore, if you morally or ethically disagree with proprietary software and refuse to use it, this guide will be meaningless to you.
If you need a more thorough guide that covers installation and system-wide configuration, I’ve written one for Sam’s Publishing (a Prentice Hall imprint) entitled SUSE Linux 10.1 Kick Start (ISBN: 0768668263). It will be available as an electronic download for $7.99, starting on August 24.
Prerequisites
This guide assumes that you have already installed SUSE Linux OSS 10.1, and are now seeking to add support for Java, Macromedia Flash, Adobe Acrobat, Windows Media, RealPlayer, ATI or Nvidia graphics cards, XGL/Compiz interface enhancements, and commercial DVD movies. Feel free to ignore the portions of the guide that do not apply to your situation, but don’t skip over the parts that show you how to add sources to YaST, or the required packages section.
Furthermore, this guide assumes you are using the default desktop environment, KDE. If you’re using GNOME or a window manager, you’re on your own as far as getting to the YaST utility and any other KDE-specific instructions listed below. In general, however, the majority of the information in this guide is environment-agnostic.
Lastly, Hacking SUSE Linux 10.1 applies only to the x86 and AMD64/EM64T processor architectures. It does not cover the PowerPC architecture. If someone who has a PPC machine is willing to contribute a section specific to PPC, please email me at jem at thejemreport.com.
Adding sources to YaST
The first order of business is to prepare SUSE to install software from alternate sources. In addition to making this guide easier to follow in the long-run, it also eliminates the need for your physical installation media (CDs or DVD).
Go into the YaST utility by clicking on the round green main menu icon in the lower left corner of your screen. Select System, then click on YaST (Control Center). You’ll be prompted for your root password. Go ahead and type it in and press the Enter key.
You’re now in YaST, and the Software category is already selected by default. Click on the Installation Source icon. This will bring up a window that will allow you to add software repositories so that you can download add-on software. You’ll notice that your CD or DVD installation media is already listed. Go ahead and disable it by clicking the Enable Or Disable button — you’re going to add an Internet address that will replace your discs, meaning that all future packages will come from the Internet instead of your SUSE discs. If you need to, you can just as easily enable the CD/DVD source later.
Click the Add button, then click on HTTP in the popup menu. Add the following Internet address to the Server Name field and then click on OK:
packman.unixheads.com/suse/10.1 (or select a mirror from this list if this address doesn’t work for you)
You may get two errors for this source — ignore them both for right now. Repeat this process and add the following servers to your installation sources:
- mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/distribution/SL-10.1/inst-source/
- mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/distribution/SL-10.1/non-oss-inst-source/
The servers may take a few minutes to properly register with your system — be patient. If you need Atheros wireless drivers and currently have a wired Internet connection, add this source as well:
madwifi.org/suse/
Without adding the preceding sources, it will not be possible to follow the rest of these steps. Also make sure you set them to refresh — click the Refresh On or Off button to toggle the status of the new sources you just added. You can now close the Installation Source window by clicking Finish in the lower right.
Required packages
Most of the steps below demand that the following packages be installed:
- gcc
- make
- kernel-source
- kernel-syms
- kdeadmin3
- compat-expat1
- expat
Check the YaST Software Manager to see if they are installed. If they are not, install them and continue with these directions when you are finished.
Atheros wireless network drivers
The original release of SUSE Linux OSS 10.1 did not contain drivers for Atheros-based wireless network cards. There are now packages available, however. Go to the Software Manager in YaST, then search for this term: madwifi
In the right pane, most people will need to select these two packages:
- madwifi
- madwifi-kmp-default
If you have a multi-CPU, Hyper-Threaded, or dual-core system, select the madwifi-kmp-smp package instead of madwifi-kmp-default. If you’re using Xen and need to have Atheros support in your virtual machines, select the Xen-related madwifi drivers. After you have installed these packages, you can load the ath_pci module by hand, or just restart the computer to activate your wireless network.
ATI video drivers
SUSE Linux 10.1 ships with the newly revamped open source radeon driver. That may be fine for 2D rendering, but it doesn’t do direct rendering for 3D graphics. To get hardware 3D acceleration (and for XGL support), you still need the proprietary ATI fglrx driver.
Go to the ATI Web site, click on Drivers & Software, then Linux Display Drivers and Software, then on the driver appropriate to your video card. 32-bit SUSE installations need the x86 drivers, and 64-bit SUSE needs the x86_64 versions. After you have clicked the link for your card, yet another link comes up. Click it, scroll down to the downloads table, then right-click the ATI Driver Installer download link and save it to your home directory. You do not need to download any of the other packages.
After the file transfer completes, close all open programs, then press ctrl-alt-F1 to switch to the first virtual terminal. You’ll see a text-mode login prompt; log in as root. When you’re at the command prompt, type in this command:
init 3
You’ll see a bunch of text scroll by, and then a message saying that runlevel 3 has been reached. Press Enter to get the command prompt back, then type the following command in to switch to the directory you downloaded the ATI driver to:
cd /home/username/
Substitute your user name for “username” in the above example. Now you need to change the ATI installer permissions so that it can be run from the command line.
For long file names, you don’t have to type the whole name into a terminal window. Instead, just type the first few letters and then press the Tab key, and the file name will be automatically completed for you. This is useful in situations like the one you’re in now, where there is a long and complex file name to type in. So type the following command into your terminal, and use the Tab key to complete the ATI driver file name, then press Enter to execute the command:
chmod +x ./ati-driver
That will make the program executable; this must be done before you can run it. Now it’s time to run the installer. Again, use tab completion instead of typing the name in. You have to add the ./ before the filename to tell the terminal program that the file you are referring to is in the current directory. If you don’t specify that, the terminal will look in other places for the file. It sounds crazy, yes, but that’s the way GNU/Linux is (and Unix before it). For the below example, the entire file name is typed in. Please note that this may not be the same file name that you downloaded — it is only an example. You should use tab completion when you type this command in so that you don’t accidentally mis-type the long file name. The part of the example that will not change is the switch statement after the file name (the part with the dashes). Here’s the example command for the ATI driver installer for a 32-bit system:
./ati-driver-installer-8.24.8-x86.run --buildpkg SuSE/SUSE101-IA32
And for a 64-bit system:
./ati-driver-installer-8.24.8-x86_64.run --buildpkg SuSE/SUSE101-AMD64
After a few dozen lines of text, a driver package will be created. Go ahead and run it with the following command (the first example is for 32-bit systems):
rpm -ivh fglrx_6_9_0_SUSE101-8.24.8-1.i386.rpm
And for 64-bit systems:
rpm -ivh fglrx64_6_9_0_SUSE101-8.24.8-1.x86_64.rpm
Update your system environment variables with this command:
ldconfig
Next, you need to tell SUSE that you want to use this driver instead of the standard one:
aticonfig --initial --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf
Lastly, you have to tell YaST which driver to load (that’s a zero in the example, not a letter):
sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx
Now reboot your computer by typing the following command:
reboot
The next time your system starts, you’ll have hardware 3D video acceleration. Please note that every time you update your kernel, you must re-install the ATI video driver.
Nvidia video drivers
SUSE Linux 10.1 no longer includes the proprietary Nvidia graphics driver, but Nvidia does provide a SUSE installation source for YaST. Add this to your Installation Sources screen in YaST as instructed above:
download.nvidia.com/novell/sle10sp1
Once it’s been added, close YaST and right-click the ZENworks notification icon in the lower right corner of your screen. Click Refresh in the popup menu, then wait for ZENworks to check for updates — it could be several minutes. ZENworks should find the Nvidia kernel pacakge and notify you that updates are available. Left-click on the ZENworks icon when it turns into an orange circle, make sure all of the available packages are selected, then go ahead and apply the updates. When ZENworks is done, restart your computer. When next you log into SUSE Linux, you should have hardware 3D acceleration enabled. To check, run this program from a terminal program (the computer screen icon in the lower left, between the house icon and the life preserver):
glxinfo
Dozens of lines of text should result from this command. Look near the top for the Direct Rendering line. If it says Yes, you’re all set. If it says no, make sure ZENworks isn’t still listing the Nvidia packages as updates. If it is, try this process again or visit our forum and ask for help.
Java support
To add support for the Java language both for standalone applications and as a browser plugin for Web applets, go into YaST, then select Package Management. In the Search box, type in sun and click Search. A bunch of packages will show up in the right-hand pane. Click the checkbox next to the following packages:
- java-1_5_0-sun
- java-1_5_0-sun-alsa
- java-1_5_0-sun-devel
- java-1_5_0-sun-plugin
Note to 64-bit users: The Java 1.5.0 packages in the AMD64/EM64T edition of SUSE Linux 10.1 are 64-bit, whereas the Java 1.4.2 packages are 32-bit. Since the Firefox package is 32-bit, you will have to install version 1.4.2 if you want to be able to use Java applets. Firefox will use 1.4.2 if you have both versions installed, so you can install both Java 1.4.2 and 1.5.0, though outside of Firefox I’m not sure what effect that will have on Java-aware programs.
There is no harm in selecting all of the java-1_5_0-sun packages (you’ll notice that there are a few more that weren’t selected), but they are not necessary for running Java programs. If you’re a Java programmer you may want at least some of the other packages. When you’re done selecting them, click on Accept. When it’s done installing, click on Finish in the popup window to go back to YaST. Your computer will now be able to run Java programs and applets.
Flash, Acrobat, Windows Media, MP3, and RealMedia support
Go back into the YaST software manager. In the Search box, type in w32codec-all and click on Search. A single package should appear in the right-hand pane. Click the checkbox next to it if it is not already installed. Some people may see a lock icon there instead; this means that the package is already installed.
Erase your previous search term in the Search box, type in acroread and click on Search. Click the checkbox next to the acroread package in the right-hand pane.
Now search for flash and click Search. Select that package for installation by clicking its checkbox and agreeing to its license.
Search for realplayer and click Search. Click its checkbox. You only need the RealPlayer package itself — the other search results are not necessary.
Search for mplayer and click Search. Click the checkbox next to mplayerplug-in. You can also install the other package — MPlayer — if you want to, but you’ve already got a number of video players on your computer.
When you’ve done all of this, click on Accept. Other packages will be dependent on some of these, so you may have to click Continue in the Automatic Changes screen that comes up. After that, all of the packages you just selected will be installed and your Firefox Web browser will have all of the plugins it needs. You’ll also have the ability to play MP3 music files. A popup window will appear when it’s done — just click on Finish and you’ll be brought back to YaST.
DVD playback on 32-bit machines
You must add the sources listed above and then perform a software update via the ZENworks update tool (from the K menu, go to System, then Configuration, then Update Software). This will replace your Xine libraries with DVD-capable versions from Packman. If you had any errors in installing the Packman repository, ZENworks may not properly recognize it as a source. If this is the case, go to YaST, then Software Manager, then search for xine. Right-click all of the packages that have a blue-colored font, and mark them for update, then click Accept. There will probably be a few other required packages that YaST will want to add — go ahead and accept them, too. This is essentially the same service that ZENworks is supposed to do automatically for you.
After you’ve installed all software updates, go to the K menu (the green chameleon icon in the lower left corner), then select Internet, then Web Browser, then click on Web Browser (Konqueror). When Konqueror opens, copy and paste in this address if you are using 32-bit SUSE Linux:
http://download.videolan.org/pub/libdvdcss/1.2.9/rpm/libdvdcss2-1.2.9-1.i386.rpm
Or just click here if you want a link. Konqueror will ask you what you want to do with the file. Click the Open With button, and in the ensuing popup window, click on System, then Configuration, then KPackage (if you do not have KPackage installed, bookmark the DeCSS RPM, then go back to the YaST software manager and install the kdeadmin3 package, then restart this process). The KPackage program will read the DVD decoding package from the Web. Click on the Install button at the bottom of the KPackage window, then click on Install in the next window too. You will be asked for your root password; type it in and press Enter. Shortly thereafter, the DVD decoding library will be installed. Click on the Done button, then close KPackage and Konqueror.
You now have the ability to play commercial DVD movies on your computer — put one in and try it, if it’s legal where you are. A popup message should appear when you put in a DVD movie. If it asks you if you want to play the movie with Kaffeine, click on Yes and you’ll go straight to the video player. In some instances the disc may be recognized as a data disc, and SUSE will ask you if you want to open the DVD with K3b. In that case, click on Ignore, then go to the K menu, select Multimedia, then Video Player, then click on Media Player (Kaffeine). When Kaffeine starts, click on the Open DVD icon.
DVD playback on 64-bit machines
You must add the sources listed above and then perform a software update via the ZENworks update tool (from the K menu, go to System, then Configuration, then Update Software). This will replace your Xine libraries with DVD-capable versions from Packman. If you had any errors in installing the Packman repository, ZENworks may not properly recognize it as a source. If this is the case, go to YaST, then Software Manager, then search for xine. Right-click all of the packages that have a blue-colored font, and mark them for update, then click Accept. There will probably be a few other required packages that YaST will want to add — go ahead and accept them, too. This is essentially the same service that ZENworks is supposed to do automatically for you.
After you’ve installed all software updates, go to your K menu, then select Internet, then Web Browser, then click on Firefox. When it opens, copy and paste in this address if you are using 64-bit SUSE Linux (there is currently no 64-bit binary RPM):
http://download.videolan.org/pub/libdvdcss/1.2.9/libdvdcss-1.2.9.tar.gz
Select the Save As option, then click on the Home icon in the left pane and save it there. The file isn’t very big, so it should download almost immediately. You can close the Web browser now, and open a terminal by clicking the monitor icon in the lower left corner of your screen (it’s between the house icon and the life preserver). Now use this command to switch to root permissions:
su
It’ll ask for your root password — go ahead and type it in, then press Enter. Now you need to decompress the file you just downloaded. Type this in:
gzip -d libdvdcss-1.2.9.tar.gz
Then unpack it from its archive by using this command:
tar xvf libdvdcss-1.2.9.tar
The file will un-tar to its own directory, so you can now safely delete the tar archive:
rm libdvdcss-1.2.9.tar
Now you need to compile the DVD decoding library. Change to the directory first:
cd libdvdcss-1.2.9
And then run the configure program with this command (don’t leave out the dot and slash):
./configure
When it’s done configuring, run the make command to build the files:
make
Finally, it’s time to install the library:
make install
You now have DVD playback support. It won’t work until your library path is updated. There are a variety of ways to do that, but the easiest is just to restart your computer.
Now let’s test it out. Put a movie disc into your DVD drive and wait for SUSE to recognize it. A popup window will ask you what you’d like to open the disc with; select Kaffeine and click OK. Since this is the first time you’ve started Kaffeine, an installation check will come up — just click Next. After that, you’ll be asked if you would like to set Kaffeine as your default player for a variety of formats, and if you’d like to create a desktop icon. Do whatever you want to with these options — they are immaterial to DVD playback. When Kaffeine finally opens, your DVD should go to the root menu or, if there is no menu, start playing the first chapter.
Some DVDs and DVD players are finicky, and might not automatically start playing a movie disc. If you put a DVD into your drive and it doesn’t bring up the Kaffeine player, open your K menu, select Multimedia, then Video Player, then click on Kaffeine (Media Player). When Kaffeine starts, click on the Play DVD icon.
Using XGL/Compiz
The reason why I’m putting this section last in the article is because it needs to be done after your video drivers are installed. It’s also the section that is least likely to work for you (and most likely to destroy your nice, new SUSE Linux 10.1 installation) because the video card support is so slim and the code is so immature. If you have an Nvidia card of the GeForce 4 TI-4200 era or newer or an ATI card of the Radeon X300 era or newer, and if the drivers installed without a hitch, XGL will probably work on your system. There are three very negative possibilities by following the directions below: anything that uses the SDL library for 3D rendering will look transparent and will generally be unusable. Secondly, your 3D frame rate can drop significantly (on one test system, I saw glxgears go from 16000 to 12000 after enabling XGL), and lastly, you can totally hose your X.org environment. If the worst should happen, you can usually log in through SSH on another computer and change your xorg.conf and displaymanager configuration files back to the way they were (or use SaX); sometimes this will un-hose a system. Proceed at your own risk. All things considered, XGL is a bunch of useless, distracting GUI tricks that will sap your 3D rendering performance, and I can almost guarantee that you will get sick of this XGL crap after you have impressed all of your friends with it and come to the sober realization that wobbly windows, faded window controls, and the raindrop effect serve no meaningful purpose to desktop computing. So if you don’t have a compliant video card, console yourself with the fact that XGL isn’t all that wonderful anyway.
Before you begin, make sure you have a compatible video card. You’ll need one of the following: an ATI Mobility 9700 SE or better; an ATI X300 or better; or an Nvidia GeForce 4 TI-4200 or better. The best-case scenario is an Nvidia GeForce 6000 or 7000 series card; ATI cards prior to the X300 (but after the 8500) may or may not work depending on many factors. If you don’t meet these requirements, do not mess with XGL right now — wait for it to improve compatibility with a wider array of graphics chips.
Last warning: I had a lot of trouble with ATI graphics cards and XGL in SUSE 10.1. Specifically, SaX kept forgetting my monitor settings which meant that X failed to start, which would force me to re-configure with SaX, which in turn would erase the ATI-specific xorg.conf hacks, which would cause more problems. So after a lot of work I could get XGL and Compiz to start for a single X session, but I never did find a good way to make SaX stop screwing up my configuration files. Testing went very well with an Nvidia card, but I lost a lot of 3D performance with XGL.
Start by installing XGL and Compiz. Here are the specific SUSE packages that must be added:
- xgl
- compiz
- libsvg
- libsvg-cairo
If XGL was installed before you added your Nvidia or ATI video driver, you must remove and reinstall XGL. If any of the other packages were already installed, leave them alone. When you’re done installing everything, open a Konsole or GNOME Terminal, use the su command to switch to root, then edit the /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager file. On line 126 you should see an entry like this:
DISPLAYMANAGER_XSERVER="Xorg"
Comment that line out by putting a # in front of it, then duplicate it, using Xgl instead of Xorg:
#DISPLAYMANAGER_XSERVER="Xorg"
DISPLAYMANAGER_XSERVER="Xgl"
Then save and exit the editor. While still in the root terminal, run this command:
SuSEconfig --module xdm
Attention ATI users: You must add these lines to the video card Device line in /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
Option "KernelModuleParm" "agplock=0"
Option "EnablePrivateBackZ" "yes"
Close all open programs and press ctrl-alt-backspace to restart the X server. The next time you log in, XGL will be enabled. To try it out, run these two stacked commands from a terminal window:
compiz --replace gconf decoration wobbly fade minimize cube rotate zoom scale move resize place switcher water && gnome-window-decorator &
Compiz will replace your current window manager and use a GNOME-like window decoration. This is necessary to get the full effect of XGL/Compiz. Now play around and experience some of the XGL tricks for yourself.
If you’re sold on XGL and want Compiz to start by default in KDE, create a file called compiz.desktop in the ~/.kde/Autostart/ directory and add these lines to it:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=compiz --replace decoration wobbly fade minimize cube rotate zoom scale move resize place switcher water & gnome-window-decorator &
GenericName[en_US]=
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-KDE-autostart-after=kdesktop
You can configure XGL/Compiz options through the GNOME Control Center, in the Desktop Effects Settings section. To start this program from KDE, open up a Konsole window and type this:
gnome-control-center
For more information about XGL/Compiz config options, see /usr/share/doc/packages/xgl/README.suse.
Welcome to your dream desktop OS
And that’s all you need to do to make SUSE Linux into a super-powered desktop operating environment. Aside from running Windows and OS X binaries, SUSE Linux 10.1 can do everything that proprietary operating systems can and more. If you have trouble with the directions in this guide, or if you run into problems that aren’t covered here, click the link below to visit The Jem Report’s discussion forum — we’ll do our best to help you. Please note that you are not entitled to support through this forum; it is offered purely as a gesture of goodwill.
Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.
Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.
Gameplay
AirIslands is a “development sim” like SimCity, with one major restriction: space. The only real estate available to you is a floating island, and it’s your job to figure out how to develop your little parcel of floating land so that you can make the most money in the shortest period of time. The object of AirIslands is to rebuild your island’s Gravitator — a ruined tower that, according to the story, has something to do with the reason why your island is floating in the sky — in five stages. Each stage requires a great deal of money, plus a certain level of population happiness; once each stage is built, your population’s happiness increases and the tower dumps a quantity of pollution onto your island. In order to raise money, you have to erect buildings and landscape the remaining space to cut down on pollution.
There are three factors that determine your island’s ability to produce money: population, pollution, happiness, and economy. Population is determined by the number of houses you have. The higher the economy, the more potential money the island can produce. The higher the happiness, the more your people will work. The more pollution there is, the faster your buildings deteriorate (and repairs are expensive!); this also will generally lower your happiness level. Each building or natural element (trees and ponds) affects some or all of these three factors. Different types of buildings are specialized to different tasks, and since your building space is limited, you have to plan your island’s development carefully. Each stage brings with it new building types and more pollution, so your strategy must adapt to the changing conditions. With time, your buildings, trees, and ponds will start to lose efficiency due to everyday wear and tear. You can repair them to keep them running at peak efficiency — perhaps as often as twice per game day. If you don’t repair things, eventually they collapse and fade away.
 |
| SPB AirIslands (click for more screen shots) |
If you’re playing on a PDA phone, you can set AirIslands to terminate when calls come in — if you don’t, the calls will be ignored. If you want to leave AirIslands running for a long period of time, you can configure an in-game screen saver to protect against screen burn-in.
The sidegames: Arkaball, Xonix, and Bubbles
Money is earned by your population, but all of the other necessary resources — brick, wood, and water — must be earned by playing the three included arcade sidegames.
Arkaball is an Arkanoid clone, and I thought was the most fun to play of the three. I also found that it was much easier to earn bricks through Arkaball than it was the other resources in the other two games. Often, by the time I was done playing Arkaball, I had a gigantic stockpile of bricks. Like all other Arkanoid-like games, there are annoying levels where you have to get just the right ricochet to get past a certain level, but if you get frustrated, all three sidegames allow you to take your earned resources and leave the game; you can return later to resume that game, or start a new one.
Bubbles is a Frozen Bubble clone with a few more features. It’s reasonably entertaining, but you earn water resources at a very slow pace.
Lastly, there’s Xonix. I’ve played games like it in the past, but I can’t think of their names right now. Basically, you have to divide and conquer the screen with a laser. There are various objects — like ball bearings, nails, and wrenches — that bounce around the screen, inadvertently trying to stop your progress. Playing this game with the stylus is an exercise in anger management — I recommend the keypad or arrow keys if you have them.
Graphics and sound
The graphics are impressive considering the limitations imposed by a qVGA display. Slower PDAs may exhibit some choppiness in animation; to counter this problem, AirIslands has a detail slider. I had it turned to the highest setting on a Symbol MC50, and never had one problem.
The music is cute but uninspired, and it gets annoying quickly, especially considering the extended periods of gameplay necessary to completely rebuild the Gravitator. I ended up turning the music level down (or off), and left the sound effects at their default value.
Arkaball is the best-looking Arkanoid clone I’ve ever seen, although it’s not like I go around searching for them. The sound is decent. Xonix features some really neat graphics, especially in the interaction between the laser and the wood background. Again, the sound is okay, but it’s nothing special. Lastly, Bubbles looks good and sounds good, but it still seems to rank below its GNU/Linux cousin, Frozen Bubble.
Summary
SPB AirIslands is unlike any other game I’ve played, and though it is limited in scope, the replayability is high. After you’ve finished the game, you’ll want to restart and try to complete the Gravitator in a shorter amount of time. If you can complete AirIslands within 25 game days (each game day lasts for about 5 minutes), SPB Software House will give you a free copy of SPB FreeCell. 25 days is a real challenge when you’re first starting out, but after three or four complete games, your strategy will improve markedly. Some have even completed AirIslands in as few as 8 game days, though that is well beyond my skill level at this point.
Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.
| Purpose |
Game |
| Manufacturer |
SPB Software House |
| Device and OS support |
Supports both VGA and qVGA displays. Microsoft Windows Mobile 2002, 2003, 2005 (5.0) |
| License |
Proprietary, restrictive in all the usual ways |
| Market |
Pocket PC users |
| Price (retail) |
U.S. $20 |
| Previous version |
N/A |
| Product Web site |
Click here |
Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.
Copyright 2008. All content items belong to their respective authors.
