Linux Format forums

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

johnhudson — Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:26 pm

Author: johnhudson

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:26 pm

Marrea wrote:

I've not so far experienced any screen freezes as mentioned by johnhudson.

There was a recent update which appeared to be about fixing a type of freeze and I haven't had any recently.

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

Marrea — Tue Aug 10, 2010 5:15 pm

Author: Marrea

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 5:15 pm

Captain_Tux wrote:

Marrea - Anything to report? I'm still using 11.2 and have wondered whether it's worth it to upgrade...

Hi Captain_Tux

Sorry to be slow coming back. With new distros I tend not to upgrade to start with but to run both old and new in parallel, just so I have the option of reverting to the old version if I don't like/run into problems with the new one! I can easily do this as I have a many partitioned drive specifically for the purpose. I have a soft spot for SUSE and nearly always put the latest version on pretty soon after it is released just for the sake of having it. It doesn't usually disappoint and so far I am more than happy with this latest version.

However, I'm probably not the best person to advise you on whether it's worth your upgrading because I'm not actually making use of 11.3's new features � but you yourself may well be attracted to them. The prevention of data loss �snapshot� function of btrfs sounds like it might be useful in the future but I was reluctant to experiment with this particular file system at the moment in its still very experimental stage. I didn't want to risk destabilising the whole system.

Neither am I at all interested in secure backup and file sharing in the cloud as I don't like my stuff out in the ether somewhere (paranoid about security and reliability), much prefer to have it on usb hard drives, DVDs and such like beside me.

I haven't tried LXDE which 11.3 now ships with. I always stick to KDE with SUSE, of which 4.4.4 has behaved impeccably so far. After being used to KDE3 for so long it took me some time to warm to KDE4 but now I'm quite a fan.

I believe there is improved support for netbooks but, there again, I don't actually have a netbook so wouldn't know the difference!

As I move through the different versions of SUSE (in fact any distro for that matter) what mainly interests me is not so much oodles of features � as my computing needs are fairly basic - but more stability and ease of use, and I can at least confirm that I am extremely pleased with both. I have found 11.3 to be extremely solid and, as regards ease of use, well I don't have any complaints there. But then I think you either like SUSE's way of doing things or you don't. YaST is like an old friend to me.

I had no difficulties with installing the nvidia driver (from the repo). That completed without a hitch.

I've not so far experienced any screen freezes as mentioned by johnhudson.

Perhaps others who have used some of the new features could advise you further.

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

nordle — Fri Aug 06, 2010 7:29 pm

Author: nordle

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 7:29 pm

Rhakios wrote:

nordle wrote:

Lack of vsnyc in opperation. You might recognise it as the Searchlight bit with the trumpets at the start of a Fox movie.
And even if you don't, its pretty obvious that the top half of the sreen is re-drawing at a different speed to the bottom.

Often referred to as tearing.

Ooh er, I've never had that problem, so I can't say it's been fixed.

It only really appears on LCD's. And only then when the drivers don't do vsync properly. I had it on 37" Hannspree with older nvidia drivers (6800), and still do have it on a 22" Samsung with ATI 4850. The only _fix_ is to run the screen at 50hz, but this is not the native refresh and you lose some of the screen.

If nvidia managed to get a handle on it 5 years ago I'm not sure why ATI still can't. Maybe they've taken the view its an X issue.

Apologies for the OT.

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

johnhudson — Thu Aug 05, 2010 7:52 pm

Author: johnhudson

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 7:52 pm

Captain_Tux wrote:

But you can upgrade 11.2 with KDE 4.4, yes?

Yes, details at http://en.opensuse.org/KDE_repositories#For_Users

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

Rhakios — Thu Aug 05, 2010 7:16 pm

Author: Rhakios

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 7:16 pm

nordle wrote:

Ooh er, I've never had that problem, so I can't say it's been fixed.

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

Captain_Tux — Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:33 pm

Author: Captain_Tux

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:33 pm

johnhudson wrote:

So unless you desperately want something that is only in KDE4.4, you may be better off sticking with 11.2.

But you can upgrade 11.2 with KDE 4.4, yes?

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

johnhudson — Thu Aug 05, 2010 8:44 am

Author: johnhudson

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 8:44 am

Rhakios wrote:

Doesn't the openSUSE build service still provide updated KDE packages for the previous iteration?

Yes but only for the version installed within the main repositories, i.e. KDE4.4 in the case of 11.3. KDE4.5 will only be in the Factory and then KDE4.6 will be in the Factory until 11.4 is released. So you need to be prepared to deal with any problems that using Factory throws up.

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

nordle — Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:33 pm

Author: nordle

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:33 pm

Rhakios wrote:

nordle wrote:

Do the nouveau drivers manage to vsync correctly like the nvidia drivers?

I assume you mean the annoying effect that the old nv driver used to have of off-setting the screen to one side? The installer (which uses some sort of vesa or frame buffer thing?) showed this irritating feature, but the booted system didn't.

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

ethernet — Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:45 pm

Author: ethernet

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:45 pm

Rhakios wrote:

johnhudson wrote:

So unless you desperately want something that is only in KDE4.4, you may be better off sticking with 11.2.

Doesn't the opeSUSE build service still provide updated KDE packages for the previous iteration?

Thought so ... until I tried to do a regular update at the weekend and got all sorts of errors for mirrors. It's my one gripe with openSUSE - these things seem to change in such a willy-nilly fashion. Will definitely upgrade, once I find a blank DVD.

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

Rhakios — Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:23 pm

Author: Rhakios

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:23 pm

johnhudson wrote:

So unless you desperately want something that is only in KDE4.4, you may be better off sticking with 11.2.

Doesn't the opeSUSE build service still provide updated KDE packages for the previous iteration?

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

johnhudson — Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:18 pm

Author: johnhudson

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:18 pm

The main advantages I have found using KDE is that most things now have working KDE4 versions and that a lot of the widgets like Trash and the Device Notifier have been tidied up and improved - but you have to get rid of the KDE4.3 ones.

It also boots faster.

However, I and others have experienced some screen freezes which I did not experience in 11.2. Various hypotheses have been put forward but nothing has been identified that seems to be common to all those who have experienced them.

So unless you desperately want something that is only in KDE4.4, you may be better off sticking with 11.2.

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

Captain_Tux — Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:48 pm

Author: Captain_Tux

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:48 pm

Marrea wrote:

I have used 11.3 for a few days now and it is behaving itself, but I am hard pushed to discover what particular advantages it has over 11.2, which I continue to run in parallel.

Marrea - Anything to report? I'm still using 11.2 and have wondered whether it's worth it to upgrade...

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

Rhakios — Sun Aug 01, 2010 6:28 pm

Author: Rhakios

Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 6:28 pm

nordle wrote:

Do the nouveau drivers manage to vsync correctly like the nvidia drivers?

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

nordle — Sun Aug 01, 2010 4:15 pm

Author: nordle

Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 4:15 pm

Do the nouveau drivers manage to vsync correctly like the nvidia drivers?

I ask because ATI still don't seem to have built a Linux driver that manages to get this right on anything newer than 2 years.

Re: openSUSE 11.3 released

Rhakios — Sat Jul 31, 2010 10:40 pm

Author: Rhakios

Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 10:40 pm

Right-ho! I've now got openSUSE 11.3 installed on test-box.

Everything is as it should be - what more can I say?

Oh go on, one thing then: it was nice to see the Nouveau drivers OOTB, but the proprietary Nvidia drivers deliver a considerable performance improvement.