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Rejigged desktop

KDE 4.3 proves to be well-configured by default, extremely stable and to have overcome its teething troubles. Even the irritating "moving panel icons" bug when changing the resolution has vanished. In contrast to the previous version, openSUSE 11.2 relies entirely on KDE 4 applications. Amarok, Digikam and several other programs which were installed under KDE 3 in openSUSE 11.1, are now installed by default in KDE 4. Few compositing effects are activated by default, but users who want wobbly windows and exciting cube rotation effects when switching desktops can configure this from the KDE control centre.

The suggested openSUSE KDE 4 desktop opens with a plasmoid containing useful links

Konqueror loses its spot as default browser to Firefox 3.5.4, which has, along with OpenOffice, been beautifully integrated into the desktop environment. Konqueror is of course still included and can be promoted back to default status using KDE's set-up options, using which users can also activate KDE's Strigi and Nepomuk desktop searches (both deactivated by default). Strigi generated a colossal index, almost the size of the indexed content, on our test system (equipped with a well-populated home directory). Strigi should therefore only be activated where sufficient hard drive space is available. One of the highlights in KDE 4 is, as ever, Marble, a desktop globe which now offers an OpenStreetMap view by default. There's still no route planning à la Google Maps, but OpenStreetMap maps do include useful additional information, such as postboxes and bus stops, for many towns and cities.

If you selected GNOME during installation or choose to try it out down the line, it doesn't take a lot of getting used to – the KDE and GNOME menus are pretty much identical and Firefox is also set up as the default browser in GNOME. Users familiar with GNOME will spot one or two changes. In contrast to vanilla GNOME 2.28, openSUSE still sets up Pidgin, rather than Empathy, as its IM client. Empathy is, however, included in the software repositories, from which it is simple to install, as is the preview version of GNOME Shell, which offers a taster of what to expect from GNOME 3.0.

The GNOME Shell will integrate a view of all operations to allow both novices and experienced users to work efficiently

For users and administrators

There is, as ever, a generous range of pre-installed software, which can be extended by activating the additional repositories already entered in YaST. As well as the Packman package repository, repositories for the current version of KDE and repositories containing proprietary drivers are also set up on installation. Immediately after installation, openSUSE suggests installing the AdobeICC profile, Flash player and the fetchmsttfonts script, which downloads a range of TrueType fonts from the Microsoft website.

A beta version of Thunderbird 3.0 is also included, with the final version expected shortly, when it too will be available from the software repositories. For office stuff, openSUSE 11.2 includes OpenOffice 3.1, plus GIMP 2.6.7 for image editing. For vector graphics the distribution includes Inkscape, which must, however, like desktop publishing application Scribus 1.3, be installed by the user. Software management with Zypper has been made faster and the tool also now offers the option of downloading only. The development team recommend this for, for example, the new option of upgrading from a running system. If the network connection is lost during the upgrade process, the user then has the package on their hard drive and is not left with an inconsistent system.

The openSUSE team has also souped up the visuals in the Qt package manager, which is now based on Qt 4. It offers an easy-to-use tab view making it simple to keep on top of package groups, forthcoming updates and saved searches.

Summary

openSUSE 11.2 is a solid update with much to offer for KDE 4 users in particular. The desktop environment is more stable, users no longer have to struggle with a mishmash of KDE 3 and KDE 4 applications, and Firefox and OpenOffice have been superbly integrated into the desktop environment. GNOME users will also be happy as they can use the current version of the desktop environment with all preview features on GNOME 3.0. A little work on the installer wouldn't go amiss, as the boot manager is not as smart as it might be. The decision to include the officially unsupported Btrfs file system in the installer might also confuse some users. (amu)

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