| SuSE 9.1 review roundup |
May 25, 2004
A host of SuSE Linux 9.1 reviews from OSNews, the Jem Report, FlexBeta and Guilinux all provide their views of the good and bad of the latest offering from Novell's SuSE Linux.
Overall, the resounding impression from reviewers was favorable. But that praise was not without some issues including glitches that even, in the case of one review, called on SuSE tech support to lend a hand. Drawbacks noted by a few reviewers centered on the inability to play DVDs due to a lack of licensed codecs. Said one reviewer, "For the amount of money you're paying, ($100 USD), SuSE could (and should) have licensed DVD codecs."
OSNews contributor, Tyler Bancroft: " SuSE 9.1 Professional is a well-developed, stable, well-supported distribution . . . A nice box, good manuals, a great software package, and good, if not incredibly fast tech support." Read the full review here.
Flexbeta contributor, Mike Petersen: "SuSE Linux 9.1 offers the best of everything available for Linux, whether you normally use KDE or GNOME. Also, with the YaST control center, there is no other distribution that offers easier or more inclusive system tools than Suse Linux 9.1." The reviewer did experience some glitches, most due to interoperability issues between KDE and Gnome. Read the full review here.
Guilinux hosts a "user's" review: SuSE's 9.1 "operating system is a very well polished system. It handles well in the speed department. It handles application installation extremely well, but for some of the everyday usabiltity tasks the defaut installation is lacking a lot." The reviewer gave SuSE high marks for handling software. Using YaST for installation "is almost a no-brainer, although it is a lot slower process then using the command line" and SuSE Watcher, a tool to let you know applications have been updated and allows automatic installation. Read the full review here.
The Jem Report examines the personal edition of SuSE's 9.1, concluding that in comparing SuSE 9.1 Personal to other GNU/Linux distributions, SuSE's tools are generally superior to the ones found in most other distros, but really it boils down to a matter of personal taste." While the Jem Report recommends the Professinal version for daily use, they note that the personal version is one that "your mother can use." The review does complain about the lack of DVD playback and lobbies for Nvidia or ATI drivers. Read the full review here. Last, but not least, DesktopLinux.com founder and editor-in-chief Rick Lehrbaum reports that he has used SuSE Linux on his Sony VAIO PCG-FXA59 laptop (as his desktop system) for the past year, beginning with version 8.2. Lehrbaum migrated to a pre-release version of SuSE 9.1 Professional two months ago, and is currently using the final "Gold" version.
"It's awesome," Lehrbaum says. What's hot? "The CD-based installer is clean, efficient, easy-to-use, and works beautifully," he says. "The latest linux kernel, KDE, YaST2, GIMP -- and everything else SuSE includes are all worth the upgrade. And thanks to the improved performance of linux kernel 2.6, I can rip CDs while playing MP3s without any skipping." Lehrbaum also has high praise for the SuSE online update service, which he uses to keep his system up-to-date with the latest security patches and bug fixes. He also appreciates the way SuSEplugger "automagically" recognizes and installs USB devices that he plugs in, while the system is running.
What's not so hot? "I noticed some crashes of the X Window system in the earlier pre-releases of 9.1, probably due to having power management functions enabled that weren't quite ready for prime time," he says, "but at this point my laptop seems to be running rock solid." Also, Lehrbaum notes that he misses KPPP, which doesn't seem to work properly in SuSE 9.1 at this time; but he's getting used to KInternet, which he calls "a very nifty little utility."
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