SuSE Linux 9.1 Pro - initial thoughts

[Deja Q]

Having had success with 9.0, I thought 9.1 would be sweet.

Well, overall it is sweet.

But I ran into a tinker of a clinker:

I chose to immediately connect to the internet and download updated drivers (a generally wise move, they had a couple of security updates). While this is nice as SuSE also provides direct downloads of Nvidia (and probably ATi) drivers, and Microsoft TrueType fonts, they don't tell you that you have to REBOOT before getting full functionality from the downloaded video driver! :crazy: Next time, I'll install, reboot, run the liveupdate feature, then reboot.

I was also unable to install the Soundblaster Audigy Soundfonts, but that is no loss. I might contact their support for this one if I feel I need to...

Also, the KDE interface is now completely iconical. :puke: No more text menubars. :cry: This setting CAN be changed, but the default is different. It looks like SuSE wanted to make the system more Windows-like. That's a disappointment as I had to reconfigure certain settings (like double-clicking on titlebars to roll up the window and other sundry items).

Disk access speed is about the same, maybe a tinge faster, but I was expecting a greater improvement. I dunno, I'll have to double-check the system's settings and run some benchmarks. Of course, I love to expect lots of things...

I ran video benchmarks. Glxgears, for example, now performs at 7000. (On 9.0, it was at 6000.) Sweet. Can't wait to install Unreal Tournament 2004. :9

Some of the OpenGL screen savers do not work. :cry: I will re-install my video driver with the one I downloaded myself...

9.1 doesn't come with xmame or UAE, so I will have to download those manually. No big loss, but it's an annoyance. SuSE used to come with these, for 7 straight versions in a row... :shrug:

Gnome 2.4.2 is included (YES!) but I'm disappointed that Novell/SuSE didn't incorporate Ximian, which is an improved version of Gnome. But the stock version is great as it is.

I like KDE 3.2, overall. Lots of new desktop features to tinker with... but I still prefer Gnome's design...

Vmware installed fine, but gave me a kernel mismatch warning (to be expected), but I'm going to be switching to Win4Lin anyway. I've always preferred their emulation, and a new version with Win2000 compatibility will be out this autumn! :thumbsup: Needless to say, vmware now FLIES, like tinkerbell on speed. I wonder how WIn4lin will perform... :9

Samba 3 is pretty nice too.

Overall, I'm happy with the upgrade, so far. Just a few small bugs need to be worked out, and those emulator oversights that I will report to them...