1. Make sure the BIOS is set to boot from the optical drive
2. Insert the OpenSUSE install DVD into the optical drive.
3. Boot the machine
4. Select the menu option “Rescue System”
5. When prompted to login, type “root”
6. Mount the Linux root partition, typically something like “mount -t ext3 /dev/sda1 /mnt”
7. If the Linux /boot area is on a separate partition, also mount that into the root partition, f.ex. “mount -t ext3 /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot”
8. Bind the rescue system’s /dev to the mounted root filesystem with “mount –bind /dev /mnt/dev” – this will make sure all your device nodes are correct
9. Chroot to the mounted root filesystem with “chroot /mnt”
10. Mount proc and sys: “mount /proc” and “mount /sys”
11. Re-generate initrd image with “mkinitrd”
12. Remove DVD and reboot

The properties for GDM are defined in the distribution-specific gconf settings in /etc/gconf/gconf.xml.vendor/%gconf-tree.xml.

To change the background image, look for:

<dir entry=”background”>

…

<entry name=”picture_filename” mtime=”1241629069″ type=”string”>

<stringvalue>/usr/share/backgrounds/glass/glass.xml</stringvalue>

</entry>

…

</dir>

Change the string value to the location of the background image you want to use.  This can be either a JPG file or an XML file in the Gnome background slideshow XML format (which does not seem to be documented).

The icon theme and Gtk theme can be similarly modified by editing the properties “icon_theme” and “gtk_theme” respectively.

To debug the problem I tried stracing oowriter without much luck. Around the net people reported various similar problems, but none of the suggested solutions worked. Eventually I found a bug report in Novell’s Bugzilla where Martin Tessun explained, that with the ATI Radeon fglrx driver, LD_LIBRARY_PATH must be set to point to /usr/X11R6/lib:/usr/X11R6/lib64. True enough, after exporting LD_LIBRARY_PATH with these paths, OO started without a hitch.

To make the change permanent, I added the export statement to /etc/profile.local.

It takes just 5 minutes to set up your OpenSUSE box up to synchronize its clock with internet time servers, ensuring that you never have to manually adjust the time again. Internet time servers use a protocol aptly named Network Time Protocol (NTP). In a default installation of OpenSUSE you should already have the software needed to communicate with NTP servers. You can check this by issuing the following command as root in a console:
rpm -q xntp
If installed, you should see the version number printed. If not, install the package using YAST2 or use this command (on OpenSUSE 10.2):
zypper install xntp

Step 1 – finding appropriate time servers

You ISP may provide a time server for you to use. This should give you the most accurate synchronization, as the time server should be close to you in terms of network distance. If your ISP does not provide a time server, you can use the pool of servers offered by the pool.ntp.org project. They maintain a list of public time servers and use DNS to distribute the load among the servers. To find the time servers appropriate for you, go to their main page og select the region you are in from the list on the right. Next, see if you can find your own country listed. You should end up with a list of servers something like this:
server 1.dk.pool.ntp.org
server 1.europe.pool.ntp.org
server 2.europe.pool.ntp.org

Step 2 – setting up the NTP daemon

As root, open /etc/ntp.conf in your favourite editor and paste the server list found above into the file under the section labelled “Outside source of time synchronization”. Save the file.

Step 3 – restarting NTP

Next, still as root, run the command:
service ntp restart

If your clock was out of sync, you should see it change. From now on, the NTP daemon will periodically contact the time servers and adjust your system clock so it is always accurate.

The correct way to install the ATI driver is documented in the ATI HOWTO. Basically, you have to build a distribution-specific package and then install that using rpm. At the end you should have full 3D acceleration as witnessed by running fglrxinfo:

ckm@zeus:~> fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Mobility Radeon X1400
OpenGL version string: 2.0.6400 (8.35.5)

Check that you get the same result both as root and a normal user. If you get permission problems with a normal user, edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, find the section labelled “DRI” and change the Mode line to:

Mode 0666

Save the file and restart X.

Installation

The setup I wanted was a dual-boot with OpenSUSE as the default OS and WinXP as an option. I decided to keep the recovery partition, create a small FAT32 partition for easy sharing of files between the OS’es and split the remaining disk into two equally sized partitions for Linux and Windows.

At the time, OpenSUSE 10.2 had just been released, so I figured this would be a good chance to try it out (I am still using 10.1 on my stationary PC). When I started installation for the first time, the installer reported that the filesystem in the Windows partition had been uncleanly unmounted and therefore it could not safely resize the partition. This happened because the WinXP installation was somehow broken so all attempts to install updates would hang the machine. Well, this was easy to fix, so I booted WinXP and shut down without allowing it to install updates. Points to SUSE for detecting the filesystem inconsistency!

On the next attempt the Windows filesystem was successfully resized and the remaining partitions were created. However, after completing the partitioning, the installer reported errors reading from the drive… The error message mentioned something about SATA. Not quite sure what to do about this, I tried rebooting and repeating the installation steps. Same result.

Realizing that the SATA controller was probably causing the problem, I rebooted and went looking for settings in the BIOS. Under SATA I found a setting for SATA mode set to AHCI. I changed this to Compatibility and restarted the installation.

This time, the installation worked like a charm. All of my hardware was detected automatically.

First impressions

One of the first things you notice coming from 10.1 is that the Gnome/KDE menu has been changed from the traditional program groups into a Windows-ish menu with your favourite applications, a Beagle-driven search field and some system-related icons. I have rather mixed feelings about this new style of menu.

The search facility is useful in that it finds applications, documents, recently visited web pages, etc. Generally it is quick and the presentation is clean. However, once you launch an application, the search window remains. Soon, you will have a whole bunch of Beagle windows open on your desktop. To me, it would make more sense to close the window once an icon is activated.

When you want to browse to an application rather than search, you have to click the More applications button. First problem here is if you do not want to use the mouse, you have to hit Tab eight times to get to the button! Once you have the application browser window open, you will find a huge number of icons (ok – depending on how many applications you installed) sorted into nine groups. Rather confusingly, the individual elements of the Gnome Control Center have been included as individual applications. Maybe I am just stuck in the old way of doing things, but I find it to be illogical.

On the positive side, I really like the NetworkManager applet, which makes it a breeze to switch between wired and wireless networks. I am not sure if it was included in 10.1, but I have not used it before. It automatically lists available wireless networks with their signal strength and security setting. It also manages VPN connections, though apparently only OpenVPN and Cisco type VPNs – not PPTP, L2TP or IPSec.

As with most Linux distributions, OpenSUSE comes somewhat crippled in terms of media capabilities. No DVD or MP3 playback and no or limited 3D graphics acceleration. Fortunately, the fabulous Jem Report will have you playing all your favourite DVDs, MP3s and WMA files in no time and have 3D acceleration for your games or perhaps 3D desktop effects with Compiz.

Compared with 10.1, the package management applications work much better. YaST is still takes a long time loading the package database, but it has been markedly improved. The Zen updater also seems to be more robust in this release.

All in all, OpenSUSE 10.2 has been a pleasant experience so far.

When I get the time (if ever…) I want to build my own MythTV box…

Basically, you lookup a commercial software product and they will suggest open source alternatives. The suggestions they offer are generally for high quality open source software only, so it can save you a lot of time compared to googling for an alternative.
I found this site via Natashas blog.

Here is the official announcement and here is the download page.

Do not expect any revolutionary changes this time around. There are a few new packages and a slew of updated ones. The main highlights are:

• Firefox 2.0
• Kernel 2.6.18 SMP (no non-SMP)
• GNOME 2.16.1
• KDE 3.5.5
• PHP 5.2
• improvements to the online update and package installation tools
• reorganised start menu

Tuxmachines has a review of OpenSUSE 10.2 beta 2.