Package management in openSUSE 11

Now that I’m happily (and successfully) running an openSUSE Factory install, I couldn’t help but notice one major improvement over every other version of SUSE I’ve tried - the package management system.

My biggest complaint everytime I installed openSUSE was how long it took to either install packages, or add repositories. It seemed the process was taking forever, and even once the downloads started, it was often slow, and there was no way to tell why. I’ve seen this addressed in other writings around the web, so I know I wasn’t alone. Some delt with it, some didn’t. I know personally, it kept pushing me back into Kubuntu (where I was unhappy about other things), which in turn kept giving me an itch to scratch which in turn led to what is called “Distro-hopping”.

Now, I have made a commitment to myself, and others in the openSUSE community to stick it out, be a SUSE user, and give back to the distro along the way. I have been so pleased with my interactions with the community and with the software itself in the past week and a half, I am 1000% sold, and I’m not going anywhere!

That being said, going back to the package management - I’m blown away at the difference in speed of both adding repo’s as well as the refresh process. I honestly believe it’s as fast as apt now. If I go into YaST (or even use zypper on the CLi), I don’t think it takes any longer to do the refresh in Factory than it did to do an “apt-get update” in Kubuntu (or any Debian bred disto). Also, now in YaST once the packages are downloading it finally gives a download speed, which to me is invaluable! Once again, I’m impressed.

On another note, this is the first time I’ve actually “lived” in a development branch of a distro for any significant amount of time, especially this early in the game (openSUSE 11 isn’t due until June), so its absolutely facinating to see how things are coming together, and I know from testing, and submitting bugs as well as helping users out in IRC and on the mailing lists I’m going to feel great once I install the final RTM product!

I hit edit to add:

I also wanted to say as a side note, that personally, I feel that openSUSE is also the single best (and fastest) x86_64 implementation of an operating system I have seen!

openSUSE Factory + KDE 4.0.66

I decided to give Factory another shot, after living w/ KDE 4 for a week. I did an install from the Alpha3 KDE CD and added the factory repos, as well as the “Unstable” KDE 4 repos from the build service.

Everything so far is stable - I’m happy with the more up-to-date KDE and my overall system feels a little snappier (kernel differences perhaps?)

Anyway - just thought I’d update!

openSUSE on a Windows Domain

I had a chance today at work to try out something I’d always wanted to try.

Previously in going through openSUSE’s install routine, I had noticed the ability to join an Windows Domain, but never had a chance to try it out.

I had an issue at work with a VMware Host server which “displaced” several Virtual Servers, and one of those ran a program called btLogAnalyzer which generates reports from Microsoft’s ISA server. I had already rebuilt the server on my local machine, and I had it ready to go, but the host wasn’t ready yet, and I had a report to run. Now, btLogAnalyzer  is a great tool, but it is very CPU and Memory intensive making it impossible to do real work in that virtual on my Workstation, and be able to get anything else done at the same time. So, I decided to just load VMWare on a “PC” and fire up the virtual, and then I can move it to it’s permanent home when the time comes.

I knew it would be easier to install a Linux distro, and throw VMware Server on there and that I’d be done in a fraction of the time it would take to load up WinXP or Server 2003 and go through the whole driver process and then trim down the OS enough to run VMWare acceptably well on a low end 2Ghz desktop machine, so openSUSE was my candidate.

I loaded it up, and when promted for a hostname, I gave it a fully qualified name for my domain, and at the prompt asking what kind of Authentication I wanted to use, I selected “Windows Domain”. The process from there was very similar to joining a Windows PC to the domain. I selected the option to have the system create a /home folder on first log-in as well as to allow offline sync. At first, it gave an error becuase of a time mismatch between the PC And the Domain Controller, so I clicked the button for NTP setup, and had the system clock sync with the Domain controller, and then went back to the previous page. After clicking next, it popped up a dialogue box (just like a Windows PC) asking for Authentication, and I put in credentials authorized to join a PC to the Domain, and Voila! It worked!

After the reboot at the KDM screen I had the option of logging in locally, or onto the Domain. I put in my doimain credentials, and I was at the desktop. We use a DFS based corporate share on our network, and while it didn’t map that share, I was able to browse the network and find the share easily, as well as access all authorized folders without providing authorization at each access. Also, I was able to hit the web without providing credentials to the ISA server each time I opened the browser as well. The entire experience of joining the Domain, and integration into the domain seemed far greater than the Macs we have on our network as well.

Honestly, having never tried it before, I was a little blown away at how easy and seamless of a process it was, so I wanted to share!

Choice of “K-menu” style still available in KDE 4

Personally, I much prefer the new “Kickoff” style menu that is the default in KDE 4, but I hear a lot of people complaining that KDE 4 does not have the “old” K-menu, but it in fact does!

First, you can either remove the current widget, or simply right click the panel and select “Add New Widget”

Then, in the window that appears select “Application Launcher Menu” rather than the new “Application Launcher”

This will result in the classic menu that you are more familiar with:

I do reccomend getting to know the new menu style though. I’ve found it to be easier and  more efficient since getting used to it.

Hope this helps someone out there!

Tip: GTK apps under KDE 4 (and a big thanks to openSUSE!)

One of my first grievances of KDE 4 (when trying Kubuntu’s version) was the horrible appearance of Firefox under KDE 4 (Firefox being a GTK application). In KDE 3.5.x there was a gtk-qt-engine available that would allow you to “skin” your GTK applications with either your native Qt theme, or any of the GTK themes you may have installed.

Once coming to openSUSE 10.3 and installing KDE 4 from the Build Service I had Firefox 2.x by default vs. the 3 beta 4 that was in Kubuntu. As a result, I was open to more of the pre-made Firefox themes available on Mozilla’s website vs. the limited number that were FF 3 compatable. Also, under FF 2.x my “task” icon in my taskbar was no longer stretched and distorted, and I was happy.

With some exploring however, I discovered in openSUSE’s repository there was a “kde4-gtk-qt-engine” package available along with the kde_kcm-gtk module that integrated into the Appearance module of the Control Center. This allowed me the same liberty of using my Qt style (the default Oxygen) in my GTK apps that I had in KDE 3.5.x. All was well in my world, or so I thought.

As it turned out, Firefox was so unstable it was unusable. In fact, when I was here on the WordPress site last night typing my blog entry about installing openSUSE, Firefox kept crashing. It would just dissapear without warning. I didn’t want my frustration with this small problem to show in my writing so I copied my text over to Kate and finished up the post quickly in Konqueror.

After coming home today, I set out to discover the problem. I also wanted to move back to FF3, so I added the Mozilla Beta build repo to my list of repositories (gosh, I’m really starting to like this openSUSE stuff- it’s so flexible!), and set out installing FF3, half hoping somehow a “beta” application would fix my stability problem (I think only us Linux users think that way!), but alas, it did not. I did notice however, that my task panel icon was not stretched and distorted, even under FF3 as it had been in Kubuntu. I guess that means it’s a Kubuntu problem rather than a FF integration into KDE 4 problem, but I can’t say for sure. I did file a bug in Launchpad for Kubuntu, and even included a screenshot, but that bug was “dismissed” and stated as a “duplicate” of another bug that spoke of the GTK/Qt integration problem of GTK applications looking poor under Qt based KDE, which it clearly was not - I did not want to fight the issue however.

After some “googling” and some troubleshooting, I did find a solution to the stability problem, and I wanted to share!

It turns out the stability problem only occurs when using the “Use my KDE Style in GTK Applications” option in the Appearance settings module — fine and dandy, but I only had “Raleigh” installed for a GTK theme, so I fired up Yast and did a search for GTK and I found a GTK theme I remembered using in KDE 3.5.x that looked nice: qtcurve-gtk2.

I installed Qtcurve and opened up Firefox. Now, by this time I was able to “reproduce” the crashing by clicking on a certain link in a certain site I visit often (don’t know why it triggered the crash, but it did), and you guessed it, no crash! I was also unable to type “about:config” in the address bar previously without FF crashing, so I tried that test, and again, Firefox passed!

Whew! I now have a stable core OS, a wonderful new KDE 4 install that I can keep up to date thanks to openSUSE’s build service until openSUSE 11 comes out this summer, I have a stable web browser that I’m comfortable with, and do you know what the best thing is, I think  know, I have finally found my distribution!

Thanks openSUSE!

Here’s a screenshot of Firefox 3 Beta 4 happily running under KDE 4, and looking darn good too!

I found my perfect KDE4 Setup!

In thinking about getting a fully stable KDE 4 setup on my machine, I remembered the Suse Build Service that allows you to remain on a stable core OS, while keeping various parts of your system up-to-date, and I knew it was my perfect opportunity!

I wrote down the KDE4 repository URL’s and pulled out my openSUSE 10.3 DVD and started the install. When prompted, I selected “Add additional software repositories”, and I added the three KDE4 repos (Desktop, Extra-Apps & Community) and doing that I was able to basically do a 10.3 install w/ KDE4 as the default desktop - I only pulled in what KDE3 I needed, and what GTK I needed.

As a result I wound up with a very lean system. I have discovered the secret to a good Suse install - I always complained about “bloat”, but I always did the “recommended patterns” and only added stuff too it for good measure. I’ll be sure to remember this in June when openSUSE 11 comes out!

It’s often been said that nobody does KDE like Suse does KDE, and that rings true even in this KDE4 install from the Build Service Repo. Everything has a nice polish and integrated feel too it - you would have thought 10.3 was released w/ KDE4 - plus, Firefox isn’t ugly!

Screenshot attached (of course!)

How To: Set up Alpine with Gmail via IMAP.

I have always preferred a text based email client. It just seems far more efficient to me, and it spares me all the html garbage and images people tend to forward my way - I can see the text, and that’s all I need to communicate…right?

Anyway, thanks to GMail supporting IMAP, it’s possible to use Alpine (a FOSS implementation of the non-free PINE email program).

When I initially tried to set it up, I ran into some problems getting it properly configured, so I thought I’d post my config here for others who may want to get this set up.

Change the following lines in your .pinerc file in your home directory with the settings below:

personal-name=Your Name

user-domain=gmail.com

smtp-server=smtp.gmail.com/submit/user=user.name@gmail.com/novalidate-cert

inbox-path={imap.gmail.com/user=user.name@gmail.com/ssl/novalidate-cert}Inbox

This should be enough to get you up and running, and obviously you can further customize your config if desired.

Still pleased with KDE 4.

I’ll admit it - I’m in love again with KDE. I toyed w/ the dark-side a little messing with GNOME (said in jest GNOME fans ), but I’m back at home now!

At this point though, I feel I’m more married to KDE 4 for the future than to Kubuntu - I’m hoping they pull through and keep me as a user, but I’m going to open myself up to try Fedora as well. I’ve been hearing great things about what they have been doing to make their distro more “Desktop Agnostic” so to speak, and I’ve heard great things about their KDE team. At times it seems Ubuntu doesn’t have a KDE Team - just Jonathan Riddell (does that dude ever get to sleep?), and as of yet, this is the best KDE 4 implementation I’ve tried.

This weekend I devoted to being my KDE4 “play weekend” - I was going to try it, and if I didn’t like it, I was going to reload Ubuntu 8.04 Beta (GNOME) and never look back, but I’m intrigued, and I’m very impressed, so I’m staying. I didn’t state it in my previous posts, but I did try openSUSE 11 Alpha 3 and I tried to do a Fedora Rawhide Net-install.

openSUSE’s KDE 4 looked perfect, it wasn’t until I started clicking on things and trying to use the OS did it come crashing down around me - and I KNOW it’s only an early Alpha (their new release isn’t due until June w/ Fedora and Ubuntu/Kubuntu gearing up for an April release), but still - I expected it to be at least stable enough to surf the web. I will say this though, and it’s no fought of Suse, but my machine has never gotten along with openSUSE, I’ve always had little odd problems that I know are not the fought of the distro, and I know some distro’s tend to like some machines better than others, and that sometimes ends up being the way people choose distros.

I think the problem I had with Fedora was really more of a “wrong place at the wrong time” situation, doing a net-install from Rawhide this late in the development process can be touchy sometimes, as packages are still being worked out, and perhaps some were missing - who knows - I’ve had good luck w/ Fedora on this machine in the past - it ran Fedora 7 w/ KDE 3.5 for a few months last year. What happened w/ Fedora is for one, the “Firstboot” never ran after Anaconda finished it’s business and rebooted, and I was greeted w/ what appeared to be XDM (rather than KDM or even GDM), and I could enter login info, and it seemed to want to load, but would flash and take me back to the login prompt. So again, I think I just got some “raw” packages from “rawhide”. I hope to try out the Beta when it comes out Tuesday, and I’ll report back as to how I think it fares agains Kubuntu, and make the announcement of what I’ll live with for the next 6 months (or permanently - who knows).

At least for now, anyway, Kubuntu actually worked, where the other two did not, but we’ll see how Fedora fares on Tuesday after their beta hits the net.

Firefox 3 under KDE 4

I know it’s weird for a KDE fan like myself, but I prefer to browse the web w/ Firefox rather than Konqueror (I’ll go ahead and put my fire-suit on to prepare for the flames likely to come my way).

For one thing, I’ve never gotten flash to play nicely w/ nspluginwrapper on my AMD64 system w/ Konqueror, and a lot of web-sites (specifically Google sites) simply don’t render correctly w/ Konqueror.

One downfall to Firfox is that it’s a GTK app rather than a QT app, and as a result can look a little nasty in a KDE environment. In KDE 3.5.x we had the GTK-QT engine that would allow to GTK applications to wear QT clothes so to speak, and I found a GTK-KDE4 program on kde-apps, but I don’t want to go outside of my distribution.

I did come across a nice little Firefox theme that fits in quite nicely w/ the default KDE 4 oxygen style, and it’s a nice compact theme w/ small icons (which suits me just fine).

It’s called Classic Compact, and attached is a screenshot if you are interested.

Now, if I could fix that Firefox icon on my Taskbar

Krdc (KDE Remote Desktop Connection)

One more screenshot to add - I knew I’d be discovering stuff, but this is cool!

I just went to hit my Laptop downstairs via RDP, and I discovered how cool the KDE 4 version of Krdc is - I love the tabbed interface!

I connected to my laptop, and to a Virtual running on the laptop for the screenshot to show off the tabs.

Way cool - wish there was a windows port - this is way better than the “Remote Desktops” MMC console I use at work…