novell linux desktop 9, what do you think of it
 

it sure looks really interesting on the website of novell linux? has anyone used it? if so, what do you think of it? does audio and video work well in it?

its pretty much an exact clone of suse 9.2 with the colors changed



However, a few strange packages are missing:
1. there is no ability to "shutdown" the machine through the main menu, you have to do it through the shell (like slackware)
2. the ability to lock the screen (ie password protect) is skewed, as there is no "installed greeter" to unlock it.


The routing issues seen in suse 9.x where it didn't grab the gateway or DNS server from a DHCP server are still there.
the organization of the file system seems to more closely mimic the more traditional distros (like fedora and slackware).


Other than that, its EXACTLY like suse 9.2.

Novell Linux Desktop Do I like It?
 

I have been using NLD 9 for a while, even bought license for it.
To shutdown the computer its easy: no console needed go to the System Tab and Click Logout; choose Shutdown. As for the issue with DNS there is none with the final release of NLD. I can switch between wireless (using ndiswrapper, which is included in redcarpet) and eth0 and no DNS or DHCP, uses the device that you picked from the tool bar.





Linux: where you don't click start to turn off your computer!

>>its pretty much an exact clone of suse 9.2 with the colors changed
one difference is that NLD9 seems to have more current drivers.
Still, I am using SuSE 9.2 Professional.
NLD9 seems to be more for corporate desktops.
If you are home alone, I would recommend SuSE 9.2 Pro.

KDE friendly?
 

Does anyone know if NLD 9 is KDE friendly? I've been thinking of upgrading my wifes computer from SuSE 9. Pretty sure she'd like to stick with KDE though.

>>Does anyone know if NLD 9 is KDE friendly?
very much so

Kde friendly related question
 

Can you set up the system so that kde is the default desktop environment but using Firefox instead of (spelling?) Konqueror ? I haven't really tried gnome since the Xandros distro only has kde, and I'm not sure if I like it or not.

Dave

kde as default? sure this would be done in the screen you use to login (gdm or kdm(?))

disclaimer: I use gnome
KDE seems to allow you to configure everything - control center, yast2 or system settings(?) should allow you to make firefox default.

I have decided to download the evaluation version to give it a test drive (iso #3 is downloading as we speak). But before I actually take the plunge and replace everything in my Xandros partition:

1. Is it more like the personal or pro versions? Or is it a little different than either of them? The above post by allelopath said that Novell 9 was more for corporate desktops than Suse Pro. What does that mean?

2. How do you perform the checksum procedure to see if it's a good download? For the life of me I can't figure out how to do this.

1. It's like a stripped down version, GCC and make aren't even included by default.

2. to get the checksum run 'md5sum filename.iso'

Well thank you for that info. I found that the checksums are correct on all three CDs. However I can't get CD #1 to boot up to do the install. I did set the system to boot from the CD drive first so I know that's not it. Plus I can hear the CD start up and run, followed by a blank screen with flashing cursor. Then the boot loader (lilo) flashes on the screen once and it goes into it's normal routine. Since the checksums are all right I'm assuming it's not a bad CD download or burn. Does anyone have a good answer to this? Am I missing something?

Thanks

Dave

Dave, even though the download went fine, the cd burning process may have created a coaster for you :)

Try reburning at a slower speed.

--Shade

Everyone, thank you for all your help. Actually I figured out that I had to burn the files inside the iso and not the iso as a whole (duh!). After a lot of fiddling around in Windows I finally got the job done in a super cool Linux application (K3B). After that it was smooth sailing. I now have a shiny new Novell desktop 9 to take on a test drive. I actually kind of like the newer Gnome desktop environment so far. Nautilus seems to have improved dramatically since I tried it awhile back. It has some of the things I have been missing in Xandros such as the ability to check mail directly from the web browser as well as a mail notifier applet in the task bar. However this did not work when I tried using kde with Firefox as the web browser. So it's probably safe to say that you can't get all the functionality out of the system if you try to mix and match things. But if you are willing to stay with Gnome/Firefox/Evolution or Kde/Konqueror/Kmail, then you will have a pretty slick system. As far as applications go it is pretty stripped down from Suse 9.2 Pro and is aimed primarily at business as was stated above. I certainly would need more apps than is included in this distro for it to really be a keeper. And I have some questions about Yast (u um excuse me, Red Carpet for Novell) but that seems to be for another topic.

Dave