SuSE 10.1
As a hardened SuSE fanboy (this was afterall the distro that persuaded me around a year and a half ago that I finally had no more need for that Windows partition) I was looking forward to the latest installment with some excitement. Well, with as much excitement as a software release merits anyway 
So, it’s a shame really that SuSE 10.1 was so disappointing (and I’m not the only one to think so – Aaron Seigo and Cristian Tibirna seem a little underwhelmed too). Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of good things to be said about this distro – there are further improvements in boot speed and while you’re waiting you’re treated to one of the prettiest SuSE boot splashes ever. No, it’s in a few small but vital areas that this distribution is broken.
First off, I noticed that my Netgear wireless card (Texas Instruments ACX111) was not recognised at all, according to SuSE it simply wasn’t there. In 9.1, 9.3 and 10.0 all I had to do was download the appropriate firmware with YOU (YaST online update). This is most likely tied up with Novell dropping non-GPL kernel modules from their distribution which has also zapped support for cards with the Atheros chipset. It inconveniences me, but I could probably get around it and I can’t really argue with the principle.
More serious was that when I looked for SuSEWatcher to launch YOU and see if there was any ACX111 firmware available I found that it no longer exists. Instead we have Zen updater. There are a number of problems with this new approach. First, I have to register before I can get updates, which in all probability is entirely harmless but reminds me uncomfortably of the Windows world. Secondly the Zen-updater is GTK and therefore looks ugly in my KDE desktop. Now I don’t mind using GTK apps when I need them (I much prefer the Gimp over Krita) and I use Grip on occasions when DRM trips up the KDE audiocd kioslave. But I don’t have these programs running on my desktop full time. Even in the system tray the little Gnome-like icon looks out of place. Worst of all though, Zen updater does not work. It won’t install anything. Now even YaST crashes when I try and install things. So we’ve gone from a rock solid package and system management solution (YaST) to two broken packages that trip over each other. Nice one Novell.
Now, SuSE is still a decent distro and I’m not ditching SuSE 10 which, after some initial teething troubles now works pretty well. I also believe that the SuSE/Novell people will sort out the package managing debacle and that by 10.2 (probably much earlier) it will be pretty solid. However, if this had been the distro I’d tried seriously a couple of years ago (after being unconvinced by Mandrake and Fedora Core before falling in love with the now defunct Munjoy and switching to SuSE as a more mature alternative) then I think frankly I’d have been back off to Windows. Now I’ve fallen in love with GNU/Linux and KDE enough to make that not even cross my mind, but it takes time to appreciate how poor some aspects of Windows are technically in comparison and to really understand the freedoms of free software that I’m no longer prepared to give up. SuSE 10.1 will not, in its current state win converts from Windows or other distros. It may well lose them, though it pains me to say it.
