openSUSE is among the best GNU/Linux based operating systems which
offers a great out-of-the-box experience. I have been using the rolling
release version of openSUSE, but for the sake of this review I did a
fresh install of openSUSE 13.2 to check what’s new and give my readers
an overview of this great distribution.
Fresher than green tea
openSUSE
brings a breeze of fresh air with each upgrade through new themes icons
and color scheme. This release is greener, calmer than the previous
releases.
The first thing any Linux user would notice is the great
integration with the chosen desktop environment. The simple reason is
that openSUSE does an incredible job at patching packages, as and when
needed, to integrate that application with the rest of the OS. One such
example is that of Firefox which looks out of the place in Plasma
desktop, but openSUSE patching makes it look great. I actually used the
openSUSE patched version of Firefox on my Arch Linux box, just to get a
better integration with my Plasma system.
The
default theme of openSUSE 13.2 is pleasant and refreshing. One
advantage openSUSE has over distros like Ubuntu is the ability to easily
customize the whole system; you can download as many themes as you want
and change it to your likings.
For this release openSUSE has created a new theme called openSUSElight which showcases a brand new wallpaper and splash screen.
It got to be stable; it got to be rolling
openSUSE
is extremely stable – I never saw any crashed even when I was using the
pre-release beta version of it. With this release, stability is going
to get better as openSUSE is changing the development model. Factory
(the rolling release) and Greg KH maintained Tumbleweed are merging to create a true, Arch Linux-like, rolling release distribution.
Factory will become the internal ‘development’ release to be used by
developers to push packages. The merged project will be called
‘Tumbleweed’ targeted at those who want an always-updated rolling
release distro. That doesn’t meant openSUSE is moving to rolling release model.
There
are actually three releases of openSUSE: the rolling release, the
regular release and ever green. The last one is community supported
effort to extend the maintenance of a chosen version beyond of the
end-of-life. Currently 13.1 is the Ever Green release.
Depending
on what you use your system for, you can choose the appropriate version.
If you are someone like me who wants the latest packages then
Tumbleweed is for you. Additional benefit of Tumbleweed is that you
won’t have to worry about ‘upgrading’ it every time a new version of
openSUSE is out.
Up, up and upgrade…
Talking about
upgrade, one thing I started missing in non Debian-based distributions
(or rolling releases) was the lack of an smooth upgrade path. I noticed
the ‘upgrade’ option in the install menu of openSUSE. I haven’t tried it
out yet, so I can’t really commit how smooth will it really be. Since I
am a distro hopper I go for fresh installs on desktops.
If you want to upgrade from your current version to 13.2, you should read this document.
If it’s easy to manage it should be easy to install
openSUSE
is among one of the easiest-to-install distributions. It contrasts the
installer of Fedora which is capable of intimidating someone like me who
is an Arch user and has been using GNU/Linux since 2005. One good news
for new users is that openSUSE doesn’t write anything, during
partitioning the hard-drive, until you click that ‘Install’ button at
the end of the procedure thus give a new user more room for ‘mistakes’
(hello, there Windows users). openSUSE gives you an overview of of the
changes it will make to your system before it initiates writing anything
to your hard drive and also allows a user to go back and make changes.
Back to future with Snapper
openSUSE
is now using Btrfs as the default file system for root partitions,
something we already saw as default in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.
openSUSE is using Snapper which allows users to take snapshots of their
system and go back to previous version if something breaks.
Check ex SUSE-developer, and the second-in-command of the Linux kernel, Greg KH giving a demo of Snapper.
Its wicked networking habits
openSUSE
is switching to ‘Wicked’, which solves many problems that networking on
a GNU/Linux system face. As the GitHub page explains:
One of the bigger problems with network interface management today, and with the ifup scripts in general, is that different layers of network management get jumbled together into one single script, or at most two different scripts, that interact with each other in a not-really-well-defined way, with side effects that are difficult to be aware of, obscure constraints and conventions, etc. Several layers of special hacks for a variety of different scenarios cover them like barnacles. Address configuration protocols are being used that are implemented via daemons like dhcpcd, which interact rather poorly with the rest of the infrastructure. Funky interface naming schemes that require heavy udev support are introduced to achieve persistent identification of interfaces.
In other words, a maintenance nightmare.”
Wicked was started by Olaf Kirch of SUSE/openSUSE to deal with these problems.
Cutting boot time with Dracut
As
we are are getting used to instant boot devices, boot time is really
important for GNU/Linux distributions. openSUSE 13.2 is using Dracut
which ensures faster boot time.
What’s new in the desktop
openSUSE 13.2 comes with the latest stable release of KDE software. The press release states:
KDE 4.14, dedicated to the memory of Volker Lanz, provides a familiar look, feel and functionality with the rock-solid stability of the latest version of the long-term support Plasma Workspace (4.11.12) and the applications from latest Software Compilation (4.14.2). The KDE Telepathy stack offers features as off-the-record (OTR) encryption for instant messaging, multi-protocol support and a set of applets for the Plasma Workspace. KDE applications requiring multimedia are now based on the 1.0 version of the GStreamer multimedia framework, allowing a noticeable reduction in dependencies.
I am already
using Plasma 5 on one of my desktops and openSUSE 13.2 really makes it
extremely easy to use Plasma 5, along side your current KDE without
breaking your system. 13.2 comes with the preview of Plasma 5 which you
can install from the Yast Software Manager.
openSUSE + KDE has so many options to expand the functionality of your computer.
Go Gnome
What
I like the most about openSUSE is that they really do a great job at
offering the best experience for the desktop environment you choose.
13.2 comes with Gnome 3.14 which has many new features, check out my review of Gnome 3.14..
You can run multiple desktop environments on openSUSE without breaking
the system. If you want to install Gnome on your system, go to Yast
Software Manager and choose Gnome from Patterns; it may ask you to
removed KDE Patterns – which is safe to do.
These are not the only
two desktop environments supported by openSUSE. openSUSE recently added
MATE to its repositories and 13.2 is the first release of openSUSE to
offer MATE (1.8.1), which provides a traditional desktop experience
ideal for those users who loved GNOME 2.
This release also comes with XFCE (4.10), LXDE (0.55), Enlightenment 19 (0.19.0) and Awesome (3.4.15).
openSUSE
press release says, “All of them have received updates and polishing
ranging from the most user-visible interface improvements to better
integration with underlying subsystems like systemd and upower.”
Docker has docked
A
lot of decisions made in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12, are also
affecting openSUSE (in a positive way). This release comes with Docker
1.2 and there are 13.2 images available at Docker Hub which gives user
the opportunity to use it an ideal base system to distribute
applications.
This release also comes with Linux Containers 1.0.6
and the full visualization solutions traditionally provided by openSUSE
(with QEMU 2.1 and VirtualBox 4.3.18).
YaST,
my favorite tool which I wish was available for other distributions,
has also received improvements – it’s faster and more stable. Only
feature that I miss in YaST is the inability to install packages from
OBS or software.opensuse.org.
In a nutshell
In a nutshell
openSUSE 13.2 is an impressive release with many new features such as
Snapshots, systemd and Btrfs. openSUSE has become such a reliable
distribution that it is hard to find any flaw in it. It continues to get
better, more polished with each release. I have grown fond of openSUSE
for numerous reasons and find it the most appealing distribution for a
desktop user.
In fact I am surprised by how it does a few things
better than Ubuntu. And installing applications from 3rd party
developers is one such thing. It’s far more easier to install
applications from OBS’ one-click install than Googling a PPA, manually
adding it, updating repositories and installing any application on
Ubuntu systems.
OBS of openSUSE/SUSE can be considered it’s
greatest contribution to the GNU/Linux and Open Source world as it
enables projects like ownCloud, LibreOffice and many more to compile and
package their software for the users of different distributions.
If
you are an openSUSE user, you should obviously be upgrading to this
release. I will, actually, encourage you to switch to Tumbleweed so you
are always running the latest and greatest software. If you are a new
Linux user, openSUSE will be my most recommended distribution due to the
polish, maturity, ease of installing new packages and great
user-experience for the desired desktop-environment.
Let me know what you think of this release in the comments below.
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