Beta4 changes :

Removal of non-GPL kernel modules
Most developers of the kernel community consider non-GPL kernel
modules to be infringing on their copyright. Novell does respect this
position, and will no longer distribute non-GPL kernel modules as part of
future products.

Package Manager Major Changes
libzypp is the integration of SUSE's yast2 Package manager and
Ximian's libredcarpet. At Novell we used two solutions so far - Red
Carpet and YaST package manager - and decided to merge both in a best
of breed approach.

XGL
XGL will be implemented in the next beta. Mainly its for testing, but it should be usable in final version.
Probably we will see the real benefits from it with Suse 10.2 and KDE4.

Fontconfig fix
It might be that X11 apps just crash or are really slow (installation
of some packages took rather long), which was due to a bug in
fontconfig.

Release dates :

Beta 4 on 2006-02-16
Beta 5 on 2006-02-23
RC1 in early March

Final in late March (my guess)

Can you briefly tell me what's the major difference btw 10.0 and 10.1 ?

Not really. There are quite a bit. A lot of it is in updated programs, newer packages and kernel, but there are plenty of new features and packages which weren't offered with previous versions. Check on opensuse.org changelogs for more details.

Some version highlights this time include:

kdebase3-3.5.1-14
gnome-desktop-2.12.2-4
kernel-default-2.6.16_rc1_git3-7
xorg-x11-6.9.0-9
gcc-4.1.0_20060123-5
perl-5.8.8-2
python-2.4.2-5
OpenOffice_org-2.0.0.99.151-2
gimp-2.2.10-7
qt3-3.3.5-28
gtk2-2.8.10-7
MozillaFirefox-1.5.0.1-6

I have bought a new HDD (80 GB) for my notebook, my notebook has no DVD rom, my suse 10.0 is in DVD, anyway i have suse 9.3 in 5 CDs, do you think suse 9.3 is good enough for notebook?
I am lazy to burn another 5 CDs for suse 10.0 or 10.1

Also Apache 2.2.2.0-6
mySQL 5.0.18-4
php 5.1.2-9

And yes, 9.3 would be fine for a notebook.

About the new features on 10.1 :

NetworkManager - for switching networks fast and easy
AppArmor GPL - Better security enabled by default
SMART - New "edition" of APT

OpenSuse BuildServer - more info on that after the official Fosdem release.
Basically it is the all repositories and packages in one place.

Today supposed to release beta 4.
But not yet!

As I expected the beta4 is full of bugs, and it should be avoided at all costs if not interested in real testing.
Even update from earlier version isn't working. Only fresh install is possible.

Fontconfig bugs should be fixed, but the new "improvements" to package manager produced too many new ones.

Due to the integration of the new package manager which is not complete, note the following non working pieces:

-ncurses installation is not supported right now

-Some statistics will not work, e.g. you see "Size of packages to install: 0" - or "Number of packages to install: 0", or "Software: Default system (0)".

-The graphical package manager frontend has only a limited list of "views", currently you get a list of all the packages and can only search in them.

-Only a fresh installation is supported. Update from a previous installation is not working!

-Only adding of selections work, if you want to remove one, you have to remove all packages in the selection.

-After installation, if you go into the YaST packager, all installed packages are listed twice.

-Language dependend packages are not handled correctly. This results in the installation of one package-$lang package but not necessarily the one for the languages asked for.

-It is not possible to abort installation while installing packages.

Doesn't sound too good.
BIG thanks to Novell for making the developers implement new package manager stuff at the end of test period

From mailinglists :
Beta4 is at least a day late

Betas are always "real" testing, what is your point? Anywho who expects a clean running flawless beta, is in for a shock. And so I will will install alien or yum or apt from source and install that way... if the biggest issues are with YAST, no big deal.

Beta 4 not yet out until now!

They are implementing XGL, so this is going to delay Suse 10.1.

Nope!
Check XGL info here with videos :
http://www.novell.com/linux/xglrelease/

However XGL is why beta 3 to beta 4 release was pushed back a week. Supposedly that extra week was all they would need, but having missed the day and not made any announcements about a time frame...