| OpenSUSE 11.2 and Novell's Mono Tools ship |
Nov. 12, 2009
 The Novell-backed OpenSUSE Linux distro project today released the final OpenSUSE 11.2, which received a mostly positive, in-depth review from eWEEK. Meanwhile, Novell released its Mono Tools for Visual Studio for developing .NET applications for Linux, Unix and Mac OS X, says another eWEEK story.
The 11.2 release of OpenSUSE, an upstream community version of Novell's enterprise-focused SUSE Linux, falls within a busy season of Linux distro upgrades. Last week, for example, Mandriva was released in final 2010.0 form. (We covered Mandriva 2010's final development release on Oct. 13, here.)
As we noted in our Oct. 1 report when OpenSUSE released its 11.2 Milestone 8 (M8) version, the new release features numerous bug fixes, Linux kernel 2.6.31, and improved partitioning. The release establishes ext4 as the default file system, and offers early support for the Btrfs filesystem. Other OpenSUSE improvements include interface enhancements to the YaST partioner interface, improved package management and mirror handling, and Zypper command line enhancements.
KDE 4.3 on OpenSUSE 11.2
(Click to enlarge)
OpenSUSE 11.2 features updates to the latest desktops, including GNOME 2.28 and KDE 4.3, as well as the latest versions of numerous applications, including Firefox and OpenOffice.org. The new release also offers improved social networking clients, with GNOME's Gwibber supporting Facebook, Twitter and Identi.ca., and KDE's Choqok client supporting Twitter and Identi.ca.
eWEEK review: OpenSUSE still one of the best
According to the review by Jason Brooks in our sister publication, eWEEK, which focuses primarily on the new package tools, OpenSUSE 11.2 maintains its position as being "one of the best desktop Linux distributions available." He notes, however, that the distribution has not grown much easier except in package management, and still caters to power users, in the menu-surfing Windows meaning of the word.
"Where Fedora and Ubuntu focus on delivering friendly interfaces for mainstream user functions and shunting everything else to the command line (the home of the Unix power user), OpenSUSE enables users to click their way through a great many administrative tasks -- control panel complexity be damned," writes Brooks.
GNOME 2.28 on OpenSUSE 11.2
(Click to enlarge)
This approach makes OpenSUSE more discoverable than its peers, says the review, but it also leads to confusion in some areas, "such as where parallel, installed-by-default software upgrade and installation tools vie for your attention in right-click menus and system control panels."
As an example of both the pros and cons of OpenSUSE, Brooks points to the new package management tools, which are tied to Novell's much-praised OpenSUSE Build Service. "The new tools make it easier than ever for users to locate and install the particular software they want," writes Brooks, "but it’s easy as well to turn reasonably supportable distributions into Frankenstein-like mashups of potentially conflicting packages."
Still, the review praises the new package tools and build service, saying, "OpenSUSE isn't the only distribution to boast a volunteer software packaging community, but OpenSUSE 11.2 makes the process of finding and configuring these packages faster and simpler than any other Linux option I've tested."
As an example, he compares OpenSUSE's tool for configuring networked software repositories with that of Ubuntu, and notes that the latter requires users to locate and manually enter repository details. By contrast, "OpenSUSE offers up a list of popular community repositories from within the tool," he writes.
Brooks adds that importing a cryptographic repository key is also much easier on OpenSUSE. On the flip side, OpenSUSE's "zypper dup" distribution update command, when combined with an assortment of software repositories with overlapping packages, "can lead to warring upgrades," he warns.
Brooks praises other 11.2 enhancements, including the ability to write Live CD images to a USB stick, as well as a new Ubuntu-like option for full volume encryption, and a check-box option for creating a separate home partition. Brooks also praises the new partitioning tool that appears both in the system installer and in the Yast config tool set.
Novell releases Mono Tools for Visual Studio
In other Novell-related news, the company announced the release of its Mono Tools for Visual Studio, which is designed for developing .NET applications for Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X within Microsoft Visual Studio, reports Darryl Taft in eWEEK. The technology is available as an add-in module for Microsoft's Visual Studio IDE (integrated development environment), enabling developers of Microsoft's .NET runtime and application development framework to "utilize their familiar Visual Studio environment to design, code and maintain multiplatform applications," according to Novell.
The software is said to be available in three editions: Professional ($100), Enterprise ($250), and Ultimate ($2,500). The Ultimate version offers "a limited commercial license to redistribute Mono on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X and includes five enterprise developer licenses," according to Novell.
Key features of Mono Tools for Visual Studio include:- Development and porting of .NET applications to Linux, UNIX, and Mac OS X with analysis, testing, debugging and deployment all from within Visual Studio
- Creation of turnkey virtual appliances and software appliances for .NET applications using integrated appliance building functionality, and integration with Novell's SUSE Studio Online hosted tool for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server or OpenSUSE appliances
- Integrated porting analysis tools that provide .NET developers a road-map to Linux, Mac OS X, and UNIX.
- Ability to run and debug applications in Mono within Visual Studio to isolate incompatibilities between Mono and .NET and between Linux and Windows
- Automated packaging for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and OpenSUSE to prepare applications for immediate deployment on Linux
The "Mono Tools" are based on Mono, a from-scratch open source implementation of .NET. Developed by the Novell-sponsored Mono project, which has also developed the Moonlight open source clone of Microsoft's Silverlight, Mono has proven to be controversial in the open source community, as are most Novell-sponsored efforts that appear to sidle up to Microsoft. While an impressive piece of software, and imminently useful in a .NET dominated enterprise software world, Mono is also seen by many as a potential legal landmine, due to Microsoft patents.
In the eWEEK story Taft quotes Joseph Hill, Novell's product manager for Mono, as telling him, "We know that Visual Studio developers are very comfortable with their IDE and they have no [intention of switching] from it."
Miguel de Icaza |
The story includes a statement from Miguel de Icaza (pictured at right), Mono project founder and VP of Developer Platforms at Novell. "With Mono Tools for Visual Studio, we are bridging the gap between Visual Studio, one of the world's leading development platforms, and Linux, one of the world's leading deployment platforms."
The story also includes a testimonial statement from Al Hilwa, program director for Application Development Software at IDC: "While Linux presents software vendors with a host of new opportunities, developers familiar with .NET tools can find Linux application development tools challengingly different and unsuitable for their needs."
Availability
OpenSUSE 11.2 is now available in final form for free download. More information and links to download sites may be found here. More information can also be found in our earlier 11.2 Milestone 8 coverage, here.
The eWEEK review of OpenSUSE 11.2 may be found here, and a slide show of the new release should be here.
The eWEEK story on Novell's Mono Tools for Visual Studio should be here .
-- Eric Brown
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