openSUSE 10.3

openSUSE 10.3 Post-Install

So you have openSUSE 10.3 - this page is a collection of tips and teething problems I have encountered. Something here should help. Caveat: these hints assume you are using the Gnome desktop. The openSUSE DVD also comes with KDE, and the instructions need to be modified accordingly.

Installing or Uninstalling Programs

... OpenSUSE uses centralised repositories to store variously supported programs. You use these instead of going to the program vendor's website. In these repo's, a program is divided into packages for greater efficiency. The packages on your computer are maintained by a program called YaST which is called from the K-menu.

Kmenu--->Computer--->Administrator Settings--->YAST
From there you can manage installed software or search for software you feel may be missing.

An imortant consideration is that openSUSE comes with a great deal of software, enough to carry out all the tasks you are used to. A specific application may not be available. Don't fall into the trap of thinking of a function in terms of the software name. "Music" is not the same as "mp3", for example. You won't find any mp3 players, but you will find music and multimedia players. You won't find IE, but you will find Internet Browsers.

The best bet is to explore, find out how things work, then figure out what you need.

Essential Multimedia

Use YaST to search for and install "ffmpeg2theora". This will install everything needed to convert proprietory media formats into free theora and vorbis formats.

To use it, open a terminal, cd into the directory where your mp3 (for eg.) collection lives, and enter the following:
ffmpeg2theora *.mp3
rm *.mp3
(Second line optional.)
Now it's a high-quality, free, ogg/vorbis library.

So you have an iPod or similar mp3-only player? Sell it and buy a media player that supports ogg, like iRiver. 100% linux freindly, and some models play flac too. Note: it turns out that many Media Players that claim to be mp3 only will, in fact, plac ogg/vorbis and other formats. Apple, on the other hand, are only interested in DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) and are yet to impliment free formats in their players.

Advanced Eyecandy

OpenSUSE installs Compiz-Fusion 3D desktop by default. Rt-click on the desktop and select the intuitively named "change desktop background" to alter the level of eyecandy-ness.

The compizconfig-settings-manager controlls the desktop look and feel.
System--->preferences--->advanced desktop effects settings.
In there you can set up things like the "desktop cube", "rotate cube" and "expo".

The cube rotates the workspaces instead of sliding them like the default. Use ctrl+alt+arrom keys.

Expo zooms all the desktops out so you can choose between them. super+E, arrow keys to select, then enter.

Another one to try is super+alt+tab - release the tab and use the arrow keys.

Note: You must have a 3D accelerated video card for this to work.

Dvorak Layout

System--->Preferences--->Keyboard--->Layouts--->Add - USA - varient - dvorak

Dvorak layout is:
... The layout is designed to reduce RSI and increase typing speed for touch as well as hunt-and-peck typists. There are also options to optimise the layout for one-handed typists. Most keyboards have moveable keycaps and some companies manufacture custom keyboards.

To get the gdm login screen to recognise the dvorak layout, sudo gedit /etc/default/console-setup ... add the XKBVARIANT="dvorak"

in the correct place. (eg. see mine below.)

# The following variables describe your keyboard and can have the same # values as the XkbModel, XkbLayout, XkbVariant and XkbOptions options # in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. XKBMODEL="pc105" XKBLAYOUT="us" XKBVARIANT="dvorak" XKBOPTIONS="lv3:ralt_switch"

Restricted Multimedia

... needed to play proprietary formats streamed over the internet or as part of DVD video. It is still better to use free formats wherever possible. However, sometimes it is not possible. These instructions will get encrypted DVDs playing in Totem too.

Add the packman and videolan repositories

Run YAST
Go to Software--->Community Repositories
Select Packman and VideoLan by placing a tick in the check box beside their names and click finish
YAST will then automatically setup the repositories for you. During the setup process, you will be asked if you want YAST to import the gpg keys for the repositories you chose, you need to select "yes".

Needed Packages
The basic libraries you need to install are libxine1, w32codec-all and for playing encrypted dvd discs, you need libdvdcss. There are obviously optional packages available, but this is for an individual to choose whether they need them or not. If you use totem and want it to use the xine engine, you will also need to select libxine1-gnome-vfs. If you want Mozilla based browsers to use your Xine based player, also select xine-browser-plugin.

Install Packages

YAST--->Software--->Software Management--->Search
Look for the packages you need and select them for installation. The installation of libxine1 should automatically result in xine-lib (SUSEs crippled Xine library) being automatically uninstalled.
Also select the Xine based apps you want to run such as kaffeine, amarok-xine, totem, codeine, gxine, kmplayer and xine itself. There is obviously no need to do this if they were already installed and they should be able to play wmv, avi etc once libxine and w32codec-all are installed.

Other applications to look at are MPlayer and VLC. You may also need to install LAME if you want to rip your discs to mp3 files.

Install Vultures Game Set.

Vulture's Eye is a fork of Falcon's Eye, an isometric front-end to the classic Nethack game. Vulture's Claw is the same GUI set against the Slashem fork of Nethack. These games are only available as source-code, so they need to be compiled.

Download the Vultures tarball
wget http://usrsrc.org/svn/vultures/releases/2.1.0/vultures-2.1.0-full.tar.bz2 ... or you can browse to usrsrc.org and download the file with firefox.

Install Programming Basics Use YaST to search for and install build-essentials, bison, and lex. That's if ou don't already have them installed.

Install SDL Libraries Use YaST to make sure you have the following libraries: libsdl1.2-dev, libsdl-gfx1.2-4, libsdl1.2-dev, libsdl-image1.2, libsdl-image1.2-dev, libsdl-mixer1.2, libsdl-mixer1.2-dev, libsdl-ttf2.0, libsdl-ttf2.0-dev ... the version numbers on these files will change as the libraries get upgraded.



Compile the Game

Untar the archive, cd into the top directory, and run "make":

cd vultures-2.1.0

make home

... read the error messages. Tell me about them: they mean I've missed something out.




Teething Troubles
 At the time of writing, openSUSE is a mature technology. While there were a few problems at the start, subsequent updates fixed them. So... get all the updates.