openSUSE 11.3 is based on Linux kernel 2.6.34 and has KDE Software Compilation 4.4.4 as the default desktop environment. A GNOME version is also available and it uses GNOME 2.30.1. In terms of the default applications, it comes with Thunderbird 3.0.5, Firefox 3.6.4 and OpenOffice 3.2.1 to name a few. openSUSE 11.3 also gives the user the choice of using Btrfs during installation.

You can view the complete changelog here or read the release note. A screenshot tour of openSUSE 11.3 have also been put up.

via openSUSE 11.3 Released – Download Now.

My favourite distro gets an update.

The folks behind openSUSE have released the next version of the extremely popular (and my favorite) Linux distro – openSUSE.

openSUSE 11.1 comes with KDE 4.1.3, GNOME 2.24.1, and for those who (still) don’t want to shift to KDE 4, yes openSUSE 11.1 comes with KDE 3.5.10

You can download openSUSE via HTTP, FTP or via BitTorrent, just head over here.

Due to weird-ass PolicyKit rules, you may not be able to mount external drives – such as USB Hard drives, Pen drives, or other mass storage drives. while the drive gets recognised, on trying to mount you’ll end up with this error:

org.freedesktop.hal.storage.mount-removable no <– (action, result)

This is because of a PolicyKit rule, which prevents external media from being mounted. To get around this, you’ll have to edit the policy. So first open the terminal. Switch to root by typing

su root

Next, open the PolicyKit config file corresponding to Storage. This file is located at

/usr/share/PolicyKit/policy/org.freedesktop.hal.storage.policy

Open this file for editing, by typing
kate /usr/share/PolicyKit/policy/org.freedesktop.hal.storage.policy
Next, search for this section

<action id="org.freedesktop.hal.storage.mount-removable">
<description>Mount file systems from external drives.</description>
<message>System policy prevents mounting external media</message>
<defaults>
<allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
<allow_active>yes</allow_active>
</defaults>
</action>

And replace it with

<action id="org.freedesktop.hal.storage.mount-removable">
<description>Mount file systems from external drives.</description>
<message>System policy prevents mounting external media</message>
<defaults>
<allow_inactive>yes</allow_inactive>
<allow_active>yes</allow_active>
</defaults>
</action>

Save the file, and then restart the HAL subsystem by typing

rchal restart

From now on, your external drives should be mounted with full access.

After a long, long wait for SUSE maniacs like me, its finally here: Presenting the latest version of openSUSE, openSUSE 11.0

The new version features a slick shiny new installer, updated KDE 4.0.4, GNOME 2.22, Kernel version 2.6.25. If you’re still hesitant to jump to KDE4.0, you can use KDE 3.5.9 which comes with the DVD edition. And if you’re on a low-end spec PC, then just install XFCE!

On the applications front, openSUSE 11 features Firefox 3 Beta 5 which gets auto-updated to Firefox 3.0 via online updates. Also featured is Banshee 1.0, which has been re-written to improve performance and includes many new features, like video playback, better “shuffle” playback, support for iPods, MTP devices, and mass storage player devices, and support for podcasts and better Last.fm integration.

[...]

The official openSUSE forums has been established and went live yesterday on June 9th, 2008, providing better support for openSUSE community. The Forums merges 3 existing openSUSE forums, suseforums.net, my personal favourite suselinuxsupport.de and the openSUSE support forums at forums.novell.com.

You could use single sign-on login with your Novell/openSUSE account. Your account at existing forums -  will also work.

Behind the scenes, a project team consisting of Novell employees, openSUSE Community members, and existing forums’ staff have been working on this project since the beginning of 2008. The new infrastructure will be hosted by Novell to ensure the highest possible quality of service.

So if you’re facing any problem with your openSUSE box, or would require help in setting up openSUSE on your system, head over to the official openSUSE Forums

Via  – The Official Announcement

Only three weeks after Alpha1, we’re glad to announce the release of openSUSE 11.0 Alpha 2. There are various exciting changes in there that we would like to have feedback on.

  
For more screenshots head over to the Screenshots/openSUSE 11.0 Alpha2 wiki page

Changes since openSUSE 11.0 Alpha 1

• KDE 4.0.1 replaced KDE 3.5.8 as default KDE
• GNOME 2.21.90 was integrated
• Continued work on the Installation workflow
• Live CDs for both GNOME and KDE
• CDs support German as an additional language
• DVDs have only OSS software
• Linux 2.6.24
• OpenOffice.org 2.4 Beta
• Alsa 1.0.16rc2
• D-Bus 1.2rc2

For a more detailed list with links to backported packages, see the Factory/News wiki page.

Most Annoying Bugs

• Progress dialog Loading the Package Manager… blocks the installation-update proposal (Bug #359235). Although you can accept the proposal by clicking on [Accept] you can’t see the proposed data/values.
• KDE3 autostart applications may crash on KDE4 Startup (Bug #359800)
• Mono apps do not work on the GNOME LiveCD (Bug #359768)
• Missing graphical menu on Live-CD (Bug #359486)
• Popups during the installation behave sporadically

Media and Download

Please refer to software.openSUSE.org/developer for direct links to all the available media.

Comments, Feedback and Helping

Please report all bugs you find on in our bugzilla as explained on http://bugs.opensuse.org;

discussion is most appropriate on the opensuse-factory@opensuse.org (subscribe) mailing list. For other queries and ways to communicate with the openSUSE community — including IRC, Mailing Lists, and Forums — take a look at the Communicate wiki page.

The next release will be openSUSE 11.0 Alpha 3, on March 18.

PC vendor Lenovo has promised ThinkPads with pre-installed Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 for some time now. Lenovo will deliver the goods the week of Jan. 14. Lenovo will release pre-installed SLED 10 on its Intel Centrino processor-powered ThinkPad T61 and R61 14-inch-wide notebooks. In February, Lenovo’s pre-integrated Novell Linux offering will expand to include some Penryn-based ThinkPads. The ThinkPad T61 with SLED 10 Service Pack 1 will come with the Intel Core 2 Duo T7250. The T61 laptop is powered by a 2.0GHz processor with an 800MHz FSB (front-side bus) and a 2MB Level 2 internal cache. For memory it comes with 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM. For graphics, the T61 will use an Intel GMA X3100 GM965 on the motherboard. This, in turn, displays images on a 14.1-inch WXGA (Wide XGA) screen. This widescreen has a maximum resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels. On the storage side, the T61 uses an 80GB hard drive that speeds along at 5400 rpm. The PC also includes a combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive. For network connectivity, the system will use a built-in ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless minicard.

The starting price for this system will be $949, $20 less than the same laptop with Vista Home Premium.

The R61 with pre-installed SLED has almost identical equipment. However, it’s been designed to be quieter and use less power than its T61 brother. Its price will also be about $950.

With both systems, Lenovo will provide direct support for the hardware and operating
system. Novell will provide maintenance updates for SLED directly to ThinkPad notebook customers.

Source: DesktopLinux

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