I'm considering an upgrade from SUSE 9.3 to OpenSUSE 10.0 when the latter is been released. Would it be best to perform a complete new install, just keeping /home/user or is it safe to perform a simple upgrade?

I have previously had some bad experience with upgrades, that's why I am still a bit unsure about the whole thing.

I am not sure I am thinking about the same thing. I was about to order SUSE 9.3 tomorrow when I saw in the SUSE website that Version 10 is going to come out next month.

I currently have SUSE 9.1 but I plan to upgrade and I think that SUSE 10 is the best option. I hope someone can answer our question.

One of my main concerns is that I have DVD playing capabilities and other software that I have downloaded that I dont know if I will be able to do these thing is if I do a fresh install of SUSE 10.

Good luck,
Let me know how it goes with SUSE 10

yeah, me too
i currently have a copy of downloaded 9.3, i dont know if i can upgrade to 10 when its out.

maybe i should wait for 10 to come out before i install suse?

or should i install 9.3 and use yast to upgrade to 10?

what u guys think?

I never did get DVD playing to work on SUSE 9.3 (I tried enough times and re-installed loads --however it's a good distro)

DVD playing does WORK on SUSE 10 Beta 4 ( I got Mplayer from the Pacman site) -- wasn't too happy with XINE or the various front ends

I'd wait for SUSE 10 if I were you if everything is working fine on your current distro I'd wait.

Wireless also works on Beta 4 (NDISWRAPPER) with a lot more cards --it's a bit fiddly but works.

This is also fine in 9.3 but I'd really wait till 10 since it's out in about 2 weeks.

Another good thing about SUSE 10 is the ghastly HOTPLUG system seems to have been fixed and devices work the old way (for example /dev/dvd is really /dev/dvd and not /media/name of file - changes every time you mount a dvd / cd.

Why not back up your system (Image the partitions) and try the Beta 4 --this will give you some idea of what 10 will be like.



Cheers

-K

I upgraded SUSE 9.3 pro with SUSE 10.0 beta4 two days ago. I have not lost anything from my previous setup. Everything is working only very few packages are to be reinstalled . I have 64bit AMD Athlon proc on ASUS K8N-E Deluxe mobo. Apt4rpm, gkrellm, TVTime etc, all are working as on 9.3. I had a small problem with Epson scanner-kooka is not working but xsane is. I am very satisfied.

Hi Riba43,

Please enlighten us. What are the steps to upgrade SuSE 9.3 Prop to SUSE 10.0 Beta 4?

Do we go to Yast somewhere? I am assuming we have to download the new v10 CD's? Do you know the link?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

here is the link to dl page: http://www.opensuse.org/Imageownload.png.

Download the 5 CDs and start installing. You will be asked whether to make new installation or upgrade. I have chosen the upgrade. It completed without any problems for me. As I said I was running SUSE 9.3 pro, must say that the installation was clean, without any non SUSE packages. Then I installed apt4suse using the information from the following link: http://susewiki.org/index.php?title=Install-apt4suse. I also installed synaptic with "apt-get install".
I added some repositories for suse 10.0 RC1 into yast Installation Sources. Here they are:

http://packman.rsync.zmi.at/suse/10.0
http://ftp.gwdg.de//pub/linux/misc/suser-guru/rpm/10.0
http://opensuse.org//pub/opensuse/di...st-source-java
ftp://opensuse.linux.co.nz//pub/SUPER/10.0
ftp://ftp.gwdg.de//pub/linux/usr-local-bin/10.0
http://packman.iu-bremen.de//suse/10.0
After that a little bit of polishing. I am using Synaptic for that. And it works perfectly.

That, I hope, will do.

regards

riba43

thank you, i have suse9.3,
just got 10.0RC1,
will upgrade tonight

Just as a side comment, there really isn't any use in upgrading just for the sake of upgrading. If a new release contains a feature that actually makes a difference to you, then Yes, by all means proceed with the upgrade. However, if your current system is working just fine, and you are unable to come up with any meaningful, specific reason(s) as to why and how an upgrade would "improve" your system, I'd suggest just leaving things as is. Granted, it's cool to be able to say that you're on the leading edge and using the latest release, but as they say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" Just some food for thought -- J.W.

my login screen screws up, very weird,
no choice to choose sessions, reboot or shutdown,
i hope the upgrade will fix this.

Ok Ill put my question to this topic, because i don´t want to start another one... I´ve seen already some questions about this, but no real answers.
So...
6th of october, what will we get?

I know the official suse 10 will hit the stores, but what about the downloadable version?
Can we download the same DVD from novell.com or from opensuse.org?

Opensuse will release 10 FINAL OSS, but is it just the cds or also the dvd?
And does it contain any of the dropped packages (java, eclipse, acrobat,...) or is that still the open source thingy, that you have to update with YAST repositories / apt to get full functionality?

J.W. I'm not sure I agree with your synopsis about upgrading.
If we all did as you feel - if it ain't broke don't fix it - then we'd still be runnning SUSE 8 or earlier. There would be no progression in the scheme of things and nothing would be improved upon. This mentality is similar to Microsoft's: why innovate when the status quo is just fine. Don't take this personally as it isn't meant to be an attack on you per se.
And I don't mean that we should all be on the bleeding edge. But, when improvement comes our way then I think for the sake of progression, we should all take the chance offered to us.
Just my 2 cents anyway.

my upgrade failed,
suse crashed,
i need to reinstall

Agreed. However, just because a new version of something is released, that doesn't mean everyone should immediately rush out to upgrade. Just to clarify, I'm (obviously) not suggesting that upgrading is a bad idea or it's the wrong thing to do, only that in the absence of some sort of clear, meaningful reason which outweighs the time/effort involved in upgrading, going through the trouble of upgrading a working system simply for the sake of upgrading is not necessarily cost-justified. Again, if you've spent hours and hours getting your current system just the way you want it, and it's working just fine, then really there's no particular compelling reason to abandon all that work you've done and upgrade, ie, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

To say it a different way, if a new release offers improved functionality that you know you will use, then Yes, of course you should upgrade. But if the only "reason" for justifying an upgrade is simply that a new version is available, then in my view you might want to reconsider. In SuSE's case in particular, v9.3 was only released, what - maybe 6 months ago or something? Sure, there are numerous new package changes in the current release, but the operative question should be: "Is the associated new functionality something that will be useful to _me_?" Personally, my current answer is No, and the delta between v10 and v9.3 is relatively minor, so at least for the time being, I have no plans for moving to v10. If at some later point I determine that there's value in moving to v10, then I'll do it.

To put this in a different light, I guess the question I'd have for you is, do you recompile your kernel every time a new version is released, or do you upgrade your video drivers each time a new version is announced? My guess is that your answer is probably No, for the same reason that I mentioned before - if your current system is working just fine, then there's no particular pressure to upgrade. Anyway, I agree with your point, all I'm saying that just because a new version is available, that doesn't mean that folks should immediately upgrade, or that they're behind the times if they stick with their current installation -- J.W.

Some great points on upgrading, but would have to say that J.W. does have it cornered, in my opinion. Recently I upgraded from 9.2 to 9.3, and with some necessary changes. However, if the differences between 9.3 and 10 are minor then the particular packages, due to the close nature of the releases, can be sought out, built, packaged, and installed. In a snap.

Regarding system customization, since I run an AMD Athlon processor, I like to recompile my packages as athlon to squeeze every last bit of performance out of my box. I can tell you this much, instant version upgrade is not something to jump into in this case. Also, is it not best to wait until some of the major bugs are removed before upgrading in the case of a fresh version? Normally, I personally did not jump right in when KDE, since this is my GUI of preference, came out with 3.4, waiting until at least 3.4.1 came out was my choice. Iron it all out.... well mostly... along came 3.4.2.

It has been a history with SuSE, and other distros, that as soon as a version such as 8.0 comes out then boom out comes 8.1 to cover the error in the the previous version.

Long and short of it all, waiting is a wise and patent move.