OpenSUSE
Encyclopedia
openSUSE is a general purpose operating system
built on top of the Linux kernel
, developed by the community-supported openSUSE Project
and sponsored by SUSE. After Novell
acquired SUSE Linux in January 2004, Novell
decided to release the SUSE Linux Professional product as a 100% open source
project.
The initial release of the community project was a beta version of SUSE Linux 10.0, and as of November 16, 2011 the current stable release is openSUSE 12.1.
community, sponsored by SUSE, develops and maintains SUSE Linux distributions
components. OpenSUSE is the successor to "SuSE Linux Professional".
Beyond the distribution, the openSUSE Project provides a web portal for community involvement. The community assists in developing openSUSE collaboratively with representatives from Novell by contributing code through the openSUSE Build Service
, writing documentation, designing artwork, fostering discussion on open mailing list
s and in Internet Relay Chat
channels, and improving the openSUSE site through its wiki
interface. Novell markets openSUSE as the best, easiest distribution for all users.
Like most Linux distributions, openSUSE includes both a default graphical user interface
(GUI) and a command line interface option. During installation, the user may choose among KDE SC, GNOME
, LXDE
and Xfce
GUIs. openSUSE supports thousands of software packages across the full range of Free software
/ open source
development.
Since the acquisition by Novell
in 2003 and with the advent of openSUSE this has been reversed: starting with version 9.2, an unsupported 1 DVD ISO image
of SUSE Professional was made available for download as well as a bootable Live DVD evaluation. The FTP server continues to operate and has the advantage of "streamlined" installs: Only downloading packages the user feels they need. The ISO has the advantages of an easy install package, the ability to operate even if the user's network card does not work "out of the box", and less experience needed (i.e., an inexperienced Linux user may not know whether or not to install a certain package, and the ISO offers several preselected sets of packages).
The initial stable release from the openSUSE Project, SUSE Linux 10.0, was available for download just before the retail release of SUSE Linux 10.0. In addition, Novell discontinued the Personal version, renaming the Professional version to simply "SUSE Linux", and repricing "SUSE Linux" to about the same as the old Personal version. As of version 10.2, the SUSE Linux distribution was officially renamed to openSUSE.
Over the years, SuSE Linux has gone from a status of a distribution which includes proprietary software, with restrictive, delayed publications (2 months of waiting for those who had not bought the box, without ISOs available, but installation available via FTP) and a closed development model to a free distribution model with immediate and freely availability for all and transparent and open development. Its popularity continues to grow: as of May 2010, for example, patch download statistics show more than two million unique installations of openSUSE 11.1 and 11.2 alone, with the largest numbers located in Germany (28%) and the United States (14%).
On April 27, 2011 Attachmate completed its acquisition of Novell. Attachmate split Novell into two autonomous business units, Novell and SUSE. Attachmate has no plans to change the relationship between SUSE (formerly Novell) and the openSUSE project.
architectures (as for version 11.4):
. In more recent times, many more YaST modules have been added, including one for Bluetooth
support.it is also control all software application
provides software developers with a tool to compile, release and publish their software for many distributions, including Mandriva
, Ubuntu
, Fedora
and Debian
. It typically simplifies the packaging process, so developers can more easily package a single program for many distributions, and many openSUSE releases, making more packages available to users regardless of what distribution version they use. It is published under the GPL.
, an X server
architecture designed to take advantage of modern graphics cards via their OpenGL
drivers, layered on top of OpenGL via glitz
. Compiz, one of the first compositing window manager
s for the X Window System that is able to take advantage of this OpenGL-acceleration, was also released.
, and kdenetwork. Other notable projects include:
group became part of Novell, and in turn made and continued several contributions to GNOME with applications such as F-Spot
, Novell Evolution
and Banshee
.
The GNOME desktop now uses the slab instead of the classic double-panelled GNOME menu bars.
and as a boxed retail package, with certain bundled software only included in the retail package.
On May 11, 2006, the openSUSE Project
released SUSE Linux 10.1, with the mailing list announcement identifying Xgl
, NetworkManager
, AppArmor and Xen as prominent features.
For their third release, the openSUSE Project renamed their distribution, releasing openSUSE 10.2 on December 7, 2006. Several areas that developers focused their efforts on were reworking the menus used to launch programs in KDE and GNOME, moving to ext3
as the default file system
, providing support for internal readers of Secure Digital card
s commonly used in digital camera
s, improving power management
framework (more computers can enter suspended
states instead of shutting down
and starting up
) and the package management system
. This release also featured version 2.0 of Mozilla Firefox
.
The fourth release, openSUSE 10.3, was made available as a stable version on October 4, 2007. An overhaul of the software package management system (including support for 1-Click-Install), legal MP3 support from Fluendo
and improved boot-time are some of the areas focused on for this release.
s (GNOME, and KDE4 respectively). A KDE3 Live CD was not produced, however, due to limited resources. Package management and installation were made significantly faster with ZYpp.
openSUSE 11.1 was released on December 18, 2008. Updated software includes GNOME
2.24.1, KDE
4.1.3 + KDE 3.5.10, OpenOffice.org
3.0, VirtualBox
2.0.6, Compiz
0.7.8, Zypper 1.0.1, continued improvement in the software update stack, X.Org
7.4, Xserver 1.5.2 and Linux kernel 2.6.27.7.
openSUSE 11.2 was released on November 12, 2009. It includes KDE 4.3, GNOME 2.28, Mozilla Firefox 3.5
, OpenOffice.org 3.1, improved social network
support, updated filesystems such as Ext4
as the new default and support for Btrfs
, installer support for whole-disk encryption, significant improvements to YaST and zypper, and all ISO images are hybrid
and now support both USB and CD-ROM boot.
openSUSE 11.3 was released on July 15, 2010. It includes KDE 4.4.4, GNOME 2.30.1, Mozilla Firefox 3.6
.6, OpenOffice.org 3.2.1, support for the Btrfs filesytem and support for LXDE. It also updates the Linux kernel to version 2.6.34.
openSUSE 11.4 was finished on March 3, 2011 and released on March 10, 2011. It includes KDE 4.6.0, GNOME 2.32.1, Mozilla Firefox 4
.0 beta 12, and switched from OpenOffice.org to LibreOffice
3.3.1. It updates the Linux kernel to version 2.6.37.
i586 and 64-bit
x86-64 PC
hardware. Official support for PowerPC
(PPC) processors was dropped after openSUSE 11.1, though an automatid PPC build is still made from Factory snapshots. The basic requirements for non-PPC hardware is as follows:
The actually achievable minimum specs differ. Older processors that still belong to the i586 family are usable, for example the AMD K6-2
. When excess language/translation files and documentation are removed and X is not needed, decent console-based router systems can be made using 300 MB disk space. Most console workloads also cope with 128 MB RAM at the cost of increased swap activity in tight situations.
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
built on top of the Linux kernel
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
, developed by the community-supported openSUSE Project
OpenSUSE Project
The openSUSE Project is a community project to produce, improve and document the openSUSE Linux distribution and make it the "world's best Linux distribution".-Project:The openSUSE Project is a community program sponsored by Novell, AMD and IP Exchange...
and sponsored by SUSE. After Novell
Novell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
acquired SUSE Linux in January 2004, Novell
Novell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
decided to release the SUSE Linux Professional product as a 100% open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
project.
The initial release of the community project was a beta version of SUSE Linux 10.0, and as of November 16, 2011 the current stable release is openSUSE 12.1.
Overview
In openSUSE the openSUSE ProjectOpenSUSE Project
The openSUSE Project is a community project to produce, improve and document the openSUSE Linux distribution and make it the "world's best Linux distribution".-Project:The openSUSE Project is a community program sponsored by Novell, AMD and IP Exchange...
community, sponsored by SUSE, develops and maintains SUSE Linux distributions
SUSE Linux distributions
SUSE Linux is a computer operating system. It is built on top of the open source Linux kernel and is distributed with system and application software from other open source projects. SUSE Linux is of German origin and mainly developed in Europe. The first version appeared in early 1994, making...
components. OpenSUSE is the successor to "SuSE Linux Professional".
Beyond the distribution, the openSUSE Project provides a web portal for community involvement. The community assists in developing openSUSE collaboratively with representatives from Novell by contributing code through the openSUSE Build Service
OpenSUSE Build Service
The Open Build Service is an open and complete distribution development platform designed to encourage developers to compile packages for multiple Linux distributions including openSUSE, Red Hat, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian...
, writing documentation, designing artwork, fostering discussion on open mailing list
Mailing list
A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is referred to as "the mailing list", or simply "the...
s and in Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
channels, and improving the openSUSE site through its wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
interface. Novell markets openSUSE as the best, easiest distribution for all users.
Like most Linux distributions, openSUSE includes both a default graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
(GUI) and a command line interface option. During installation, the user may choose among KDE SC, GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
, LXDE
LXDE
LXDE is a free and open source desktop environment for Unix and other POSIX compliant platforms, such as Linux or BSD. The goal of the project is to provide a desktop environment that is fast and energy efficient...
and Xfce
Xfce
Xfce is a free software desktop environment for Unix and other Unix-like platforms, such as Linux, Solaris, and BSD – though recent compatibility issues have arisen with regard to BSD Unix platforms...
GUIs. openSUSE supports thousands of software packages across the full range of Free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
/ open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
development.
Product history
In the past, the SUSE Linux company had focused on releasing the SuSE Linux Personal and SuSE Linux Professional box sets which included extensive printed documentation that was available for sale in retail stores. The company's ability to sell an open source product was largely due to the closed-source development process used. Although SUSE Linux had always been open product licensed with the GPL, it was only freely possible to retrieve the source code of the next release 2 months after it was ready for purchase. SUSE Linux strategy was to create a technically superior Linux distribution with the large number of employed engineers, that would make users willing to pay for their distribution in retail stores.Since the acquisition by Novell
Novell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
in 2003 and with the advent of openSUSE this has been reversed: starting with version 9.2, an unsupported 1 DVD ISO image
ISO image
An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...
of SUSE Professional was made available for download as well as a bootable Live DVD evaluation. The FTP server continues to operate and has the advantage of "streamlined" installs: Only downloading packages the user feels they need. The ISO has the advantages of an easy install package, the ability to operate even if the user's network card does not work "out of the box", and less experience needed (i.e., an inexperienced Linux user may not know whether or not to install a certain package, and the ISO offers several preselected sets of packages).
The initial stable release from the openSUSE Project, SUSE Linux 10.0, was available for download just before the retail release of SUSE Linux 10.0. In addition, Novell discontinued the Personal version, renaming the Professional version to simply "SUSE Linux", and repricing "SUSE Linux" to about the same as the old Personal version. As of version 10.2, the SUSE Linux distribution was officially renamed to openSUSE.
Over the years, SuSE Linux has gone from a status of a distribution which includes proprietary software, with restrictive, delayed publications (2 months of waiting for those who had not bought the box, without ISOs available, but installation available via FTP) and a closed development model to a free distribution model with immediate and freely availability for all and transparent and open development. Its popularity continues to grow: as of May 2010, for example, patch download statistics show more than two million unique installations of openSUSE 11.1 and 11.2 alone, with the largest numbers located in Germany (28%) and the United States (14%).
On April 27, 2011 Attachmate completed its acquisition of Novell. Attachmate split Novell into two autonomous business units, Novell and SUSE. Attachmate has no plans to change the relationship between SUSE (formerly Novell) and the openSUSE project.
Distribution
openSUSE is fully and freely available for immediate download, and is also sold in retail box to the general public. It comes in several editions for the x86 and x86-64X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
architectures (as for version 11.4):
- openSUSE Download Edition: This is the freely downloadable ISO version, available from the openSUSE downloads page. It is available as a Live-CD version (KDE4 or GNOME) which can be installed on the hard disk, or as a more complete single layer DVD-5. A CD containing additional proprietary software and an additional CD containing files for internationalization (less common languages) are also available. This version does not include any technical assistance, nor printed manuals.
- openSUSE Retail Edition or openSUSE Box: Users are able to purchase openSUSE box from www.open-slx.com. The box can be ordered at open-slx.com It contains a DVD-9 (dual-layer) comprising the 32-bit and 64, which detects the right architecture during boot time. The second DVD is a KDE-live-system for testing and rescue and also provides the non-open-source software. The box is delivered with printed documentation and with 90 days user support via email or phone. Since 2009 open-slx is producing the Retail Edition also named openSUSE Box. open-slx includes balsam extensions. DVD2 comes as 32 bit KDE Live-DVD, also including the non-oss addon repositories.
- openSUSE FTP: There is also a small ISO to install openSUSE directly from FTP (network install). There are mirrors on the two different FTP trees: one for open-source packages (OSS), a second for non-open-source packages or whose license is restrictive (non-oss). The FTP can be used to complement the Download and Retail editions.
- openSUSE FactoryFactory (computing)Factory is the development tree for the openSUSE distribution. It is continually revised, with software being added, removed, and updated. In many cases, this software is made of CVS, Subversion or Git snapshots....
: This is the continuous ongoing development version, from which the development team take out regular snapshots (Milestones and RC) to get the stable openSUSE. - openSUSE Tumbleweed: Rolling releaseRolling releaseIn software development, a rolling release development model refers to a continuously developing software system; this is opposed to a standard release development model which uses software versions that must be reinstalled over the previous version...
, in which new stable versions of packages are made available as soon as they are released.
YaST Control Center
SUSE includes an installation and administration program called YaST which handles hard disk partitioning, system setup, RPM package management, online updates, network and firewall configuration, user administration and more in an integrated interface. YaST also integrates with SaX2 to help users handle their graphics card and monitor, touch displays, and even additional monitors with XineramaXinerama
Xinerama is an extension to the X Window System which enables multi-headed X applications and window managers to use two or more physical displays as one large virtual display.It was originally developed by Madeline T...
. In more recent times, many more YaST modules have been added, including one for Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
support.it is also control all software application
AutoYaST
AutoYaST is part of YaST2 and is used for automatic installation. The configuration is stored in an XML file and the installation happens without user interaction.ZYpp package management
ZYpp (or libzypp) is a Linux software management engine which has a powerful dependency resolver and a convenient package management API.Build Service
The openSUSE Build ServiceOpenSUSE Build Service
The Open Build Service is an open and complete distribution development platform designed to encourage developers to compile packages for multiple Linux distributions including openSUSE, Red Hat, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian...
provides software developers with a tool to compile, release and publish their software for many distributions, including Mandriva
Mandriva
Mandriva S.A. is a publicly traded Linux and open source software company with its headquarters in Paris, France and development center in Curitiba, Brazil. Mandriva, S.A...
, Ubuntu
Ubuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
, Fedora
Fedora (operating system)
Fedora is a RPM-based, general purpose collection of software, including an operating system based on the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat...
and Debian
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
. It typically simplifies the packaging process, so developers can more easily package a single program for many distributions, and many openSUSE releases, making more packages available to users regardless of what distribution version they use. It is published under the GPL.
Xgl and Compiz
On January 2, 2006, SUSE developer David Reveman announced XglXgl
Xgl was an X server architecture designed to take advantage of modern graphics cards via their OpenGL drivers, layered on top of OpenGL via glitz. It supported hardware acceleration of all X, OpenGL and XVideo applications and graphical effects by a compositing window manager such as Compiz or...
, an X server
X Window System
The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...
architecture designed to take advantage of modern graphics cards via their OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
drivers, layered on top of OpenGL via glitz
Glitz (software)
Glitz is a software library for 2D graphics which provides hardware acceleration using OpenGL, an API for 3D graphics. Glitz is open-source software, licensed under the MIT License...
. Compiz, one of the first compositing window manager
Compositing window manager
A compositing window manager is a type of window manager. A window manager is software that draws a graphical user interface on a computer display – it positions windows, draws additional elements on windows , and controls how windows interact with each other, and with the rest of the desktop...
s for the X Window System that is able to take advantage of this OpenGL-acceleration, was also released.
KDE Desktop innovations
SUSE has been a leading contributor to the KDE project for many years, and now SUSE sponsors more developers to work directly within KDE than any other distribution. Hence, SUSE’s contributions in this area have been very wide-ranging, and affecting many parts of KDE such as kdelibs and KDEBase, KontactKontact
KMail supports folders, filtering, viewing HTML mail, and international character sets. It can handle IMAP, IMAP IDLE, dIMAP, POP3, and local mailboxes for incoming mail. It can send mail via SMTP or sendmail...
, and kdenetwork. Other notable projects include:
- KNetworkManager – a front-end to NetworkManagerNetworkManagerNetwork Manager is a software utility aimed at simplifying the use of computer networks on Linux-based and other Unix-like operating systems.- Overview :...
. - Kickoff – a new K menu for KDE Plasma Desktop.
GNOME innovations
The XimianXimian
Ximian was a company that provided free software desktop applications for Linux and Unix based on the GNOME platform. Ximian was founded by Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman in October, 1999, and was bought by Novell on August 4, 2003...
group became part of Novell, and in turn made and continued several contributions to GNOME with applications such as F-Spot
F-Spot
F-Spot is an image organizer, designed to provide personal photo management for the GNOME desktop environment. The name is a play on the words F-Stop and G-Spot.-Features:...
, Novell Evolution
Novell Evolution
Evolution or Novell Evolution is the official personal information manager and workgroup information management tool for GNOME. It combines e-mail, calendar, address book, and task list management functions. It has been an official part of GNOME since version 2.8 in September 2004...
and Banshee
Banshee (music player)
Banshee is an open-source media player, called Sonance until 2005. Built upon Mono and Gtk#, it uses the GStreamer multimedia platform for encoding and decoding various media formats, including Ogg Vorbis, MP3 and FLAC. Banshee can play and import audio CDs and supports many portable media players,...
.
The GNOME desktop now uses the slab instead of the classic double-panelled GNOME menu bars.
10.x Series
The initial stable release from the openSUSE Project was SUSE Linux 10.0, released on October 6, 2005. This was released as a freely downloadable ISO imageISO image
An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...
and as a boxed retail package, with certain bundled software only included in the retail package.
On May 11, 2006, the openSUSE Project
OpenSUSE Project
The openSUSE Project is a community project to produce, improve and document the openSUSE Linux distribution and make it the "world's best Linux distribution".-Project:The openSUSE Project is a community program sponsored by Novell, AMD and IP Exchange...
released SUSE Linux 10.1, with the mailing list announcement identifying Xgl
Xgl
Xgl was an X server architecture designed to take advantage of modern graphics cards via their OpenGL drivers, layered on top of OpenGL via glitz. It supported hardware acceleration of all X, OpenGL and XVideo applications and graphical effects by a compositing window manager such as Compiz or...
, NetworkManager
NetworkManager
Network Manager is a software utility aimed at simplifying the use of computer networks on Linux-based and other Unix-like operating systems.- Overview :...
, AppArmor and Xen as prominent features.
For their third release, the openSUSE Project renamed their distribution, releasing openSUSE 10.2 on December 7, 2006. Several areas that developers focused their efforts on were reworking the menus used to launch programs in KDE and GNOME, moving to ext3
Ext3
The ext3 or third extended filesystem is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default file system for many popular Linux distributions, including Debian...
as the default file system
File system
A file system is a means to organize data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available space on the device which contain it. A file system organizes data in an efficient manner and is tuned to the...
, providing support for internal readers of Secure Digital card
Secure Digital card
Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.Secure Digital...
s commonly used in digital camera
Digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...
s, improving power management
Power management
Power management is a feature of some electrical appliances, especially copiers, computers and computer peripherals such as monitors and printers, that turns off the power or switches the system to a low-power state when inactive. In computing this is known as PC power management and is built...
framework (more computers can enter suspended
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
In computing, the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface specification provides an open standard for device configuration and power management by the operating system....
states instead of shutting down
Shutdown (computing)
To shut down or power off a computer is to remove power from a computer's main components in a controlled way. After a computer is shut down, main components such as CPUs, RAM modules and hard disk drives are powered down, although some internal components, such as an internal clock, may retain...
and starting up
Booting
In computing, booting is a process that begins when a user turns on a computer system and prepares the computer to perform its normal operations. On modern computers, this typically involves loading and starting an operating system. The boot sequence is the initial set of operations that the...
) and the package management system
Package management system
In software, a package management system, also called package manager, is a collection of software tools to automate the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing software packages for a computer's operating system in a consistent manner...
. This release also featured version 2.0 of Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
.
The fourth release, openSUSE 10.3, was made available as a stable version on October 4, 2007. An overhaul of the software package management system (including support for 1-Click-Install), legal MP3 support from Fluendo
Fluendo
Fluendo DVD Player is one of the first products that can be bought that allows legal/licensed DVD playback for Unix/Linux users...
and improved boot-time are some of the areas focused on for this release.
11.x Series
openSUSE 11.0 was released on June 19, 2008. It includes the latest version of GNOME and two versions of KDE (the older, stable 3.5.9 and the newer 4.0.4). It comes in three freely downloadable versions: a complete installation DVD (including GNOME, KDE3, and KDE4), and two Live CDLive CD
A live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...
s (GNOME, and KDE4 respectively). A KDE3 Live CD was not produced, however, due to limited resources. Package management and installation were made significantly faster with ZYpp.
openSUSE 11.1 was released on December 18, 2008. Updated software includes GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
2.24.1, KDE
KDE
KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
4.1.3 + KDE 3.5.10, OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software...
3.0, VirtualBox
VirtualBox
Oracle VM VirtualBox is an x86 virtualization software package, originally created by software company Innotek GmbH, purchased by Sun Microsystems, and now developed by Oracle Corporation as part of its family of virtualization products...
2.0.6, Compiz
Compiz
Compiz is one of the first compositing window managers for the X Window System that uses 3D graphics hardware to create fast compositing desktop effects for window management. The effects, such as a minimization effect and a cube workspace are implemented as loadable plugins...
0.7.8, Zypper 1.0.1, continued improvement in the software update stack, X.Org
X.Org
X.Org refers to several things related to the X Window System:* X.Org, the organisation in charge of X standards from 1999 * The X.Org Foundation, a community-based foundation which took over X stewardship in 2004...
7.4, Xserver 1.5.2 and Linux kernel 2.6.27.7.
openSUSE 11.2 was released on November 12, 2009. It includes KDE 4.3, GNOME 2.28, Mozilla Firefox 3.5
Mozilla Firefox 3.5
Mozilla Firefox 3.5 is a version of the Firefox web browser released in June 2009, adding a variety of new features to Firefox. Version 3.5 was touted as being twice as fast as 3.0...
, OpenOffice.org 3.1, improved social network
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
support, updated filesystems such as Ext4
Ext4
The ext4 or fourth extended filesystem is a journaling file system for Linux, developed as the successor to ext3.It was born as a series of backward compatible extensions to ext3, many of them originally developed by Cluster File Systems for the Lustre file system between 2003 and 2006, meant to...
as the new default and support for Btrfs
Btrfs
Btrfs is a GPL-licensed copy-on-write file system for Linux.Development began at Oracle Corporation in 2007....
, installer support for whole-disk encryption, significant improvements to YaST and zypper, and all ISO images are hybrid
ISO image
An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...
and now support both USB and CD-ROM boot.
openSUSE 11.3 was released on July 15, 2010. It includes KDE 4.4.4, GNOME 2.30.1, Mozilla Firefox 3.6
Mozilla Firefox 3.6
Mozilla Firefox 3.6 is a version of the Firefox web browser released in January 2010. The release's main improvement over Firefox 3.5 is improved performance . It uses the Gecko 1.9.2 engine , which improves compliance with web standards...
.6, OpenOffice.org 3.2.1, support for the Btrfs filesytem and support for LXDE. It also updates the Linux kernel to version 2.6.34.
openSUSE 11.4 was finished on March 3, 2011 and released on March 10, 2011. It includes KDE 4.6.0, GNOME 2.32.1, Mozilla Firefox 4
Mozilla Firefox 4
Mozilla Firefox 4 is a version of the Firefox web browser, released on 22 March 2011. The first beta was made available on 6 July 2010; Release Candidate 2 was released on 18 March 2011. It was codenamed Tumucumaque, and has been confirmed as Firefox's last large release cycle...
.0 beta 12, and switched from OpenOffice.org to LibreOffice
LibreOffice
LibreOffice is a free and open source office suite developed by The Document Foundation as a fork of OpenOffice.org. It is largely compatible with other major office suites, including Microsoft Office, and available on a variety of platforms...
3.3.1. It updates the Linux kernel to version 2.6.37.
Version history
The openSUSE project aims to release a new version every eight months. It supports each release with critical updates for two years from the release date. Starting with version 11.2, critical updates will be provided for two releases plus two months, which at the current release cycle of 8 months would result in a support lifetime of 18 months.| Color | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Red | Release no longer supported |
| Green | Release still supported |
| Blue | Future release |
| Project Name | Version | Release date | Kernel version |
|---|---|---|---|
| S.u.S.E. Linux (Slackware based) |
3/94 | 1994-03-?? | 1.0.0 |
| 7/94 | 1994-07-?? | 1.0.9 | |
| 11/94 | 1994-11-?? | ?.?.? | |
| 4/95 | 1995-04-?? | 1.2.9 | |
| 8/95 | 1995-08-?? | ?.?.? | |
| 11/95 | 1995-11-?? | 1.2.13 | |
| S.u.S.E. Linux | 4.2 | 1996-05-?? | 1.2.13 |
| 4.3 | 1996-09-?? | ?.?.? | |
| 4.4 | 1997-05-?? | ?.?.? | |
| 5.0 | 1997-07-?? | 2.0.30 | |
| 5.1 | 1997-10-?? | 2.0.32 | |
| 5.2 | 1998-03-23 | 2.0.33 | |
| 5.3 | 1998-09-10 | 2.0.35 | |
| SuSE Linux | 6.0 | 1998-12-21 | 2.0.36 |
| 6.1 | 1999-04-07 | 2.2.6 | |
| 6.2 | 1999-08-12 | 2.2.10 | |
| 6.3 | 1999-11-25 | 2.2.13 | |
| 6.4 | 2000-03-09 | 2.2.14 | |
| 7.0 | 2000-09-27 | 2.2.16 | |
| 7.1 | 2001-01-24 | 2.2.18 | |
| 7.2 | 2001-06-15 | 2.4.4 | |
| 7.3 | 2001-10-13 | 2.4.9 | |
| 8.0 | 2002-04-22 | 2.4.18 | |
| 8.1 | 2002-09-30 | 2.4.19 | |
| 8.2 | 2003-04-07 | 2.4.20 | |
| SUSE Linux | 9.0 | 2003-10-15 | 2.4.21 |
| 9.1 | 2004-04-23 | 2.6.4 | |
| 9.2 | 2004-10-25 | 2.6.8 | |
| 9.3 | 2005-04-16 | 2.6.11 | |
| 10.0 | 2005-10-06 | 2.6.13 | |
| 10.1 | 2006-05-11 | 2.6.16 | |
| 10.1 remastered | 2006-10-13 | 2.6.16 | |
| openSUSE | 10.2 | 2006-12-07 | 2.6.18 |
| 10.3 | 2007-10-04 | 2.6.22 | |
| 11.0 | 2008-06-19 | 2.6.25 | |
| 11.1 | 2008-12-18 | 2.6.27 | |
| 11.2 | 2009-11-12 | 2.6.31 | |
| 11.3 | 2010-07-15 | 2.6.34 | |
| 11.4 | 2011-03-10 | 2.6.37 | |
| 12.1 | 2011-11-16 | 3.1.0 |
System requirements
openSUSE 11.3 has full support for 32-bit32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
i586 and 64-bit
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
x86-64 PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
hardware. Official support for PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
(PPC) processors was dropped after openSUSE 11.1, though an automatid PPC build is still made from Factory snapshots. The basic requirements for non-PPC hardware is as follows:
- CPUCentral processing unitThe central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
: Intel PentiumPentium compatible processorA Pentium compatible processor is a 32-bit processor computer chip which supports the instructions in the IA-32 instruction set that were implemented by the Intel P5 Pentium processor family...
1–4 or XeonXeonThe Xeon is a brand of multiprocessing- or multi-socket-capable x86 microprocessors from Intel Corporation targeted at the non-consumer server, workstation and embedded system markets.-Overview:...
; AMD DuronDuronThe AMD Duron was an x86-compatible microprocessor manufactured by AMD. It was released on June 19, 2000 as a low-cost alternative to AMD's own Athlon processor and the Pentium III and Celeron processor lines from rival Intel...
, AthlonAthlonAthlon is the brand name applied to a series of x86-compatible microprocessors designed and manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices . The original Athlon was the first seventh-generation x86 processor and, in a first, retained the initial performance lead it had over Intel's competing processors...
, Athlon XP, Athlon MP, Athlon 64Athlon 64The Athlon 64 is an eighth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by AMD, released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name Athlon, and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP...
, SempronSempronSempron has been the marketing name used by AMD for several different budget desktop CPUs, using several different technologies and CPU socket formats. The Sempron replaced the AMD Duron processor and competes against Intel's Celeron series of processors...
or OpteronOpteronOpteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same... - RAM: 256 MBMegabyteThe megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
minimum, 512 MB recommended - Hard drive: 500 MB for minimal system; 2.5 GBGigabyteThe gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
recommended for standard system
The actually achievable minimum specs differ. Older processors that still belong to the i586 family are usable, for example the AMD K6-2
AMD K6-2
The K6-2 was an x86 microprocessor introduced by AMD on May 28, 1998, and available in speeds ranging from 266 to 550 MHz. An enhancement of the original K6, the K6-2 introduced AMD's 3D-Now! SIMD instruction set, featured a larger 64 KiB Level 1 cache , and an upgraded system-bus interface...
. When excess language/translation files and documentation are removed and X is not needed, decent console-based router systems can be made using 300 MB disk space. Most console workloads also cope with 128 MB RAM at the cost of increased swap activity in tight situations.
See also
- openSUSE ProjectOpenSUSE ProjectThe openSUSE Project is a community project to produce, improve and document the openSUSE Linux distribution and make it the "world's best Linux distribution".-Project:The openSUSE Project is a community program sponsored by Novell, AMD and IP Exchange...
- SUSE Linux distributionsSUSE Linux distributionsSUSE Linux is a computer operating system. It is built on top of the open source Linux kernel and is distributed with system and application software from other open source projects. SUSE Linux is of German origin and mainly developed in Europe. The first version appeared in early 1994, making...
- YaST
- ZYppZYppZYpp is a package management engine that powers Linux applications like YaST, Zypper and the openSUSE/SUSE Linux Enterprise implementation of PackageKit. Unlike other common package managers, it provides a powerful satisfiability solver to compute package dependencies and a convenient package...
- openSUSE Build ServiceOpenSUSE Build ServiceThe Open Build Service is an open and complete distribution development platform designed to encourage developers to compile packages for multiple Linux distributions including openSUSE, Red Hat, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian...
External links
- openSUSE Project official website