Over the weekend, I found a great configuration guide for openSUSE 11.1 See http://www.thomasguymer.co.uk/tutorials/opensuse-11-1-guide/.
A fresh openSUSE installation is remarkably complete and ready for most users to begin working right away. By default, you have almost all you need:
- Firefox browser
- OpenOffice.org Office Suite — full version, free, not a trial version
- Nice MP3 / Media players
- CD/DVD burning software — full versions, free, not trial versions
- Chat clients
- Email clients
It’s all there, in full, ready to go!
I’ve done a lot of openSUSE installations for a non-techie. I run openSUSE on my 2 work machines and the home machines. And I have my own preferences and wants for my new desktops. There are a handful of tweaks I make immediately, then a few I add over time.
Primary among these tweaks are multimedia software upgrades and add-ons. These are all free, but many are not distributed with openSUSE so that openSUSE can remain compliant for global distribution. In his guide, Thomas appears to capture all those things.
I don’t use each change Thomas recommends. Some of his configurations are specific to his own coding preferences, I don’t code, so those don’t matter to me. I also use different virtualization software than he, so I skip those packages.
And just in case it’s helpful, here’s my list of must-have software that I add to most machines now (in addition to the default installed software):
- Hulu desktop (see Hulu.com) – play TV and movies from Hulu.com via this desktop client. Even smoother than the already smooth web interface! And bravo to Hulu for such a complete and stable client, even on linux!
- TweetDeck – (see TweetDeck.com) – Mates at work showed me TweetDeck, which helps me to manage my personal and professional Twitter accounts and searches. Very solid, stable linux client, too! My favorite hash tag? #PMOT – Project Managers on Twitter.
- XMind – (see my XMind page at CottagePM.com) – free Mindmapping software that’s fully cross-platform. I use the “portable” option, which was easier to install on Linux since openSUSE-specific binaries aren’t on the site.
- Pidgin - My preferred chat client, since it supports GroupWise Messenger protocol, my corporate chat system.
- Google Toolbar – I use the email buttons to access my various GMail and Google Apps email accounts.
- Delicious Bookmarks plugin for Firefox. I use Delicious to sync my bookmarks between systems. By tagging like items, I can also share lists of bookmarks with others rather easily.
- Then all that multimedia stuff. Thomas’ list now replaces my own.
I also have a handful of corporate apps I need to install on my work machines, but that doesn’t matter to most of you.
Want to get openSUSE? Try it out on LiveDVD. A LiveDVD is a bootable DVD. Reboot your Windows or Mac system from the DVD. The system will run openSUSE from DVD. You can get a feel for it, launch the software, etc. Nothing gets installed on your machine, so when you reboot without the DVD, you computer never knows anything different was done.
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