Well, it’s too late to talk about OpenSUSE 10.3 launching (OpenSUSE teams announced OpenSUSE 10.3 on October 04, 2007 and now October 11, 2007 :-D), but I must started with the story about it before post another topics related to OpenSUSE 10.3.
I tried OpenSUSE 10.3 since alpha version, beta version, RC version and finally GM version. It seems that OpenSUSE teams have so many great improvements to final version and I quite satisfied with this release.
Just to mention some great improvements :
1. Great Improvement on Boot & Installation Speed
As described on "Sneak Peeks at openSUSE 10.3: Greatly Improved Boot Time" OpenSUSE 10.3 has a nice improvement about boot time. If you’ve tried previous version (ie : OpenSUSE 10.2, 10.1 or 10.0), OpenSUSE 10.3 more better than previous version. Just an illustration, OpenSUSE 10.3 boot in almost 50% more faster than previous version on same computer.
Installation more easy and need a fewer time because OpenSUSE 10.3 provided 1 CD installation, Gnome and KDE edition. KDE installation need 1.4 GB disk space rather than 2.2 GB if we install KDE from DVD. Single CD pack have a standard feature for desktop requierement, it didn’t included server application.
2. New Feature : One-Click-Install
Benjamin Weber has been introduced this nice feature in his blog and it would be a killer feature if you have a problem to installing some software, experience with dependencies problem and tired with standard installation with ./configure, make and make install.
If you have a nice internet connection speed, you can install software with one click and the rest is yast automation. Multimedia support installation just an example. To install multimedia support (w32 codecs, mp3, flash and java) you just open this url and click codecs-kde.ymp link (or codecs-gnome.ymp if you used gnome as your desktop environment). Yast will automatically detected supporting libraries and launch an installation wizard.
3. 3D Effects
Compiz, as always, is available directly on all the installation CDs/DVDs, and Compiz Fusion is also available in the official online repository. The new version comes with many new amazing plugins providing you with the latest composite effects.
A complete list of it’s feature can be found at opensuse news. Ariya Hidayat, an Indonesian KDE Developer post his OpenSUSE 10.3 first look. Another nice OpenSUSE 10.3 preview can be reached at Linux@Wordpress.
