openSUSE 11.1 Released with KDE 4.1.3

openSUSE 11.1 is now out (screenshots), featuring KDE 4.1.3 and a string of KDE improvements. The release brings back the much-loved KDE-PIM suite, and includes new games, the KSCD CD player, KSystemLog to keep track of system changes, improvements to Dolphin, Konqueror (including Webkit part), Plasma (including auto-hide panel, folder view), Marble integration with OpenStreetMap, and much more. The release is available as an installable live CD, or on a DVD with KDE 3.5.10, GNOME, Xfce, and many more applications.

KWin Composite Effects

Of particular interest are the KWin improvements in this release. openSUSE users now have a number of backported KWin effects to enjoy, and show off to their friends. If KWin effects aren’t your cup of tea, you can use the new Compiz KDE configuration module to enable and handle Compiz Fusion on KDE 4.

PackageKit and Powerdevil

KDE has now also standardised on PackageKit for its backend, which means both desktops are using the same update stack. Furthermore, Powerdevil is now included for easier and better power management on your KDE 4 desktop. Just click the battery icon in the system tray.

Other

The award-winning release also contains 230 new features, improvements to YaST, OpenOffice.org 3.0, and more freedom with a brand new licence, Liberation fonts, and openJDK. This is also the first release built entirely in the openSUSE Build Service, and the last release to contain the full KDE 3 desktop available on the DVD medium for installation.

Finally remember that for testing purposes, the recently released KDE 4.2 Beta 2 is available in the openSUSE Build Service, via 1-click-install. Alternatively, you can try out the release with KDE Four Live.

Comments

by R. J. (not verified)

I can see my Hard Drive Partitions, including my vista partition in Dolphin without having to add anything in opensuse 11.1

by Bobby (not verified)

Really? Did you have the partitions at the left side where Home, Network, Root (the red folder) and Wastebin are by default or did you add them at some point?
I even created a new user to see if it had to do with my previous settings but I have the same result. No partions listed at the side (like in KUbuntu) by default. Of course I can find the partitions but they show up as folders and not with hard drive icons.

by Alejandro Nova. (not verified)

Then I'm going to give it a go when KDE 4.2 final is released, or when April comes, with Jaunty ready. Let's give time to the Kubuntu crew.

I didn't intend to bash Kubuntu. Maybe I installed it from Ubuntu and not from itself, and that was the problem. Maybe I was running kubuntu-experimental. I will definitely bash my translators, because you can't put something like "Configuración avanzada de los efectos" in one line, in the white sidebar of a preferences dialog: it makes you lose screen state (in KDE, because of the beautiful Qt resolution-aware drawing stack, I get bigger fonts, and less space, so everytime I see a preferences dialog, I curse the translators because the drawing stack makes me lose even MORE space). But I'm not going to bash Ubuntu, or Kubuntu for the matter.

I installed Intrepid Ibex in my tx1000, a certified Linux-unfriendly notebook, designed from ground zero to run solely with Windows Vista. And the Ibex made everything work in no time and with mostly free software (including Broadcom wireless (working with b43 and fwcutter, flawlessly) NVIDIA video (177.82, working, with StR, StD, TV-out), a touchscreen that was a nightmare to configure before the Ibex (working almost flawlessly with evtouch, thumbs up to X developers!), and more hardware hated by all Linux lovers). How could I bash the Ibex! I recommend it! ;)

by blackbelt_jones (not verified)

The most important thing about KDE4.1.3 on opensuse vs. KDE4.1.3 on Kubuntu is that (I'm told) opensuse contains crucial improvements that have been backported from KDE4.2. That means they're not in Kubuntu yet, but they will be eventually. I can name two big improvements that just make all the difference to me. These two improvements are :

1. The filter bar has been restored to Konqueror, making it more useful as a file manager.

2. The bugs have been fixed in the "Action Inputs" interface, allowing working custom keyboard shortcuts in KDE for the first time that I am aware of.

Taken together, these two improvements in particular not only justify my choice to use opensuse instead of Kubuntu, at least for the moment, they have caused me to revise my previous out-of-my-cold-dead-hand adherence to KDE3. At least for my media box, I'm a KDE4 user now.

Unless you have special software needs, I think you'll find that opensuse is pretty sufficient for resolving dependency issues although it's not always easy getting more obscure software. With Debian and *buntu, I get a kick out of being able to install fun stuff like, say fvwm-crystal, with a single command. It's that kind of freedom of choice that will probably have me back using Kubuntu eventually, some time after KDE 4.2 comes out.

by Ian Monroe (not verified)

Any reports? I remember reading that its possible without burning a disc.

Is wiping / just the best way?

by Kit (not verified)

There's a very to upgrade from a previous version to 11.1 without reinstaling or using a CD/DVD, but last I heard it was Very Much Not Recommended Way and (from what I heard), likely to lead to lots of problems (I ran into many dependency issues that I was eventually able to work out).

Basically what I'd do is switch all the sources to being the version that you want to upgrade to, then ask Yast to upgrade everything if there's a newer version available. You'll likely have to work through a lot of dependency issues Yast can't auto-figure out but it worked for me a couple times. It *might* be better to tell Yast to simply update EVERYTHING, even if a newer version isn't available (never tried that way before).

by R. J. (not verified)

add the repositories for 11.1

go into terminal and type

zypper dup

by Clifford (not verified)

I see OpenSuse got rid of that ugly cashew in the corner. Very nice. That alone is enough for me to try it out.

I made the Mistake to try to install Opensuse with the Windows-autorun-installer (Instlinux) on the DVD. It changes Windows' own Boot Sequence, inserts itself into the Windows Bootloader and adds an entry to install Opensuse at startup. Problem is it doesn't know how to treat the new Vista Bootloader right and you can't start Vista afterwards.
The problem has nothing to do with Grub or the like. I had Opensuse 11.0 installed before, so at startup there's grub which has the entries 1. Opensuse 11.0 (works) and 2. Windows Vista. If you select Windows Vista, there's a new subscreen from Windows, with the entries a) start Windows Vista (doesn't work, does the same as b)) and b) install Opensuse 11.1 (works, starts the 11.1 installer from c:\openSUSE something). So no way back into Vista.

I spent the next six hours trying to fix the problem without a reinstall. I learned more about the new Vista Boot process (different from XP) than I ever wanted to know. (The installer should finally do that too). So I needed a Vista install DVD, which I didn't have, because you only get useless Recovery DVDs these days (even had to burn them myself). So after getting my hands on a rescue CD and several attempts to repair Vista, I managed to repair the Vista boot store (not a text file anymore) and get rid of the openSUSE installer using trial and error. At the next startup I was greeted with the uninstaller which did finally the right thing.
As it seems the installer is part of Opensuse since 10.3. So since 1 1/2 years it must have been trashing Windows installs of curious Vista users, as there are many reports of other people. I wonder how this is still unnoticed respectively why the installer is still there and autorun on the DVD breaking stuff.

And just a quick note that KNetworkManager still doesn't work. Had to change to ifupdown to connect to the net. Also you can't change the network with KNM (not the right one set during install), so had to use ifupdown anyway. I wonder what KNM is good for, since it is also known for not working properly since a long time.

Another problem is that Opensuse 11.0/11.1 doesn't work properly on the processor, an Intel Core 2 Duo T9300. Even when not in powersaving mode it clocks the processor down and all actions like copying files, actions using the CPU, downloads and network or ftp connections come to a halt and begin to timeout/get dropped until you wake the notebook up e.g. by using the touchpad. Found that a problem also on recent Kubuntu and Debian Sid releases, so might be a kernel problem, Vista works right on the CPU.

If you wan't to make comments like "nobody needs Vista anyway, what's the problem", I can tell you it's the OS I had to use because it worked when openSUSE 11.0 didn't. Apart from several minor things (and the processor problem) I couldn't use the KDE desktop at all because it was so unbearable slow (nvidia graphics, but with both standard and nvidia drivers). Entering a folder or opening a file took several seconds because there was a fade animation on the icon which had to be completed first.

While I'm at it, many thanks to nvidia (not) for finally packing the new driver for opensuse after 4 months of procrastinating.
The driver has been out since early August but only now with the release of the next Opensuse Version it's the right time to fix the previous release (ftp://download.nvidia.com/opensuse/11.0/x86_64/). It was hailed as a breakthrough but not provided to the suffering users. Apparently fixing their stuff twice a year is enough, en passant while they are putting out the drivers for the next release 11.1. Or maybe they were just so kind because it's christmas time, who knows.

That's unfortunate that the installer don't like the Vista boot loader, could be a good idea to notify the OpenSuse team(bug report). That way there are hopes the issues can get fixed and they can add some warnings on the OpenSuse website to warn other users.

That said, I don't think the installer is used much as most prefer to boot from the DVD/CD when installing. Since most machines having Vista also have bootable DVD/CD.

I have the installer a few times when installing on machines without DVD, and old BIOS not able to boot from external USB DVD drive. Only on XP and Win200 machines, but it has worked flawlessly every time.

by T. J. Brumfield (not verified)

You should be able to boot to the Vista DVD, go into a recovery console and fix the MBR within 10 minutes.

That being said, once openSUSE is done installing, it installs grub into the MBR and grub can boot into Vista without problems.

by Grósz Dániel (not verified)

"grub can boot into Vista without problems."

In case you didn't read the post you replied to: GRUB loaded Vista's bootloader but the installer screwed up Vista's boot menu so that it couldn't boot Vista.

I dual boot, Vista, and OpenSUSE, currently running OpenSUSE 11.1, and have no problems with this. I suggest you file a bug report and see where it goes. I have yet to hear of any other vista users having this problem. And personally, I am running KDE 4.2, and find it to be amazingly fast. So again, maybe it is unique to something you are doing, or to your machine.

by Man in trouble (not verified)

How exactly did you fix this problem then, because i have the same problem i can't boot linux or vista cause the installer is corrupted and the recovery DVD for vista is no use it has the option to fix the problems on start up but it doesn't think anything is wrong. System recovery does nothing apparently except delete files that i can no longer access. I am in risk of losing everything on my computer just because linux installer doesn't work and seemed to be the dominant force that has broken my computer. I have searched for this error and none of them seem to be close to the problem i have. Error 17: File not found then it tells me i have a fictional partition of my hard drive which I don't and it offers me the chance to view the 3 files that are attached to it and edit them in the BASH terminal. However what i would prefer to do is remove this tumour us problem from my computer and go back about my business. If anyone could spare the time to please find a quick and practical solution to my problem (Taking my hard drive out and copying its contents onto another machine before reformatting isnt considered to be quick or practical) then I would be eternally grateful.

Hey, I have the same problem you did. After trying to install opensuse 11.1 with the autorun-boot-loader, my vista partition failed to boot/work. I have tried using the vista recovery cd (from neosmart) but it even fails to recognize my vista partition (since it can't recognize the partition, it doesn't repair it). Could you tell me what exactly you did to get vista to work again? Thanks.

Hey, I have the same problem you did. After trying to install opensuse 11.1 with the autorun-boot-loader, my vista partition failed to boot/work. I have tried using the vista recovery cd (from neosmart) but it even fails to recognize my vista partition (since it can't recognize the partition, it doesn't repair it). Could you tell me what exactly you did to get vista to work again? Thanks.