| A good day for beta Linux lovers |
Feb. 20, 2006
If you're at home this President's Day, and you want to give some cutting edge Linux a try, this is your lucky day. Both OpenSUSE and Ubuntu have new betas out -- the former, the fourth beta of v10.1; and the latter, the fourth alpha of v6.04.
OpenSUSE v10.1 Beta 4, like earlier versions, is made up of 5 CDs ISO images for i386 and x86_64 architectures. Unfortunately, it still doesn't come as a single DVD ISO.
If you, like me, get really tired of the CD shuffle, you can make your own SUSE or OpenSUSE DVD with the makeSUSEdvd program. While this program is meant to run from a SUSE system, the program's Web page also comes with instructions on how to get it running on most Linux systems.
Before jumping into this, though, you should know that this is a beta with some really rough edges. The title of the beta announcement says it all: "SUSE Linux 10.1 Beta4 seeks adventurous experts and their *test* systems."
How rough is it? Well, you have to do a fresh install because you can't update previous SUSE releases or OpenSUSE beta; the partition tool is semi-broken so I'd stay well away from it; and the new package manager isn't really well integrated. Other than that... well, there's still more problems. Before giving this one a try, read the Most Annoying Bugs page.
If that all seems a little too exciting for you, you can wait for the next beta, which is due out on February 23rd. It's expected to be a lot smoother.
Dapper Flight 4, the fourth alpha release of Ubuntu 6.04, on the other hand, may be an alpha, but it's actually an easier install.
This is the feature-freeze version of Dapper Flight. Other than GNOME 2.14, Espresso, the Live CD installer, and a few other odds and ends, what you see in Dapper Flight is what you'll see in April when the final version appears.
While it may be close to feature complete, the Ubuntu version still has its share of teething problems and you shouldn't run it on production systems.
But, for those of us with test boxes -- or playpens as I like to call them -- it's a great day to take a quick peek at Linux's future with either of these two early model distributions.
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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