With openSUSE 11.2 right around the corner, let’s take a look at what’s new and interesting in the GNOME desktop for this release. Highlights include a preview of GNOME 3.0, new applets and application updates, and the incredibly attractive Sonar theme new for 11.2.

For users coming from 11.1, openSUSE 11.2 actually features two GNOME releases worth of updates. Because of the lengthy release cycle, openSUSE skipped the 2.26 release and jumped to GNOME 2.28, which was made available in September.

Nautilus now has a plugin to allow quick and easy file sharing. Just right-click on the folder you’d like to share and select “Sharing Options.” This makes use of Samba, so you need to enable directory sharing under the Samba Server module in YaST.

New and Improved Cheese

The Webcam application for GNOME, Cheese, includes some enhancements for 2.28, including a redesigned interface that’s better suited for netbooks.

Not only does openSUSE feature the goodness from upstream GNOME, but also some home-grown improvements as well. For instance, the Sonar theme that is the default in 11.2. It’s a slightly darker, but still green, theme that’s pleasant to look at and show off to users new to Linux!

Vincent Untz, a member of the openSUSE Booster team and member of the GNOME Foundation Board, says that part of the main focus for 11.2 was “to be a better upstream citizen” with GNOME. So, for the most part, openSUSE does not diverge greatly from upstream GNOME — but there are some differences.

For example, GNOME 2.28 ships Empathy as the default instant messaging client. Untz says that it’s likely openSUSE will switch to Empathy in 11.3, but due to issues with some protocols and proxies, it was decided to keep Pidgin as the default client for one more release. Empathy is, of course, available via the repositories, so users who want to start with Empathy now can do so.

Want to get a preview of GNOME 3.0? The final GNOME 3.0 release isn’t due until September 2010, but openSUSE 11.2 has an early build of GNOME Shell in the repositories and users can see what all the fuss is about (or will be about), early on.

And, of course, you’ll find Firefox as the default Web browser for openSUSE instead of Epiphany. openSUSE users will find the most recent stable version of Firefox (3.5) on their GNOME desktop, though Epiphany and its new Webkit backend are available in the openSUSE 11.2 repositories.

All in all, there’s a lot to look forward to in GNOME in openSUSE 11.2. Be ready to grab it on November 12th!

This is it folks! We’re almost there for openSUSE 11.2. Time to grab the final 11.2 release candidate and shake out any remaining bugs to get the lizard ready for release. This release includes an updated kernel, Samba, Firefox, and more.

This release should be almost ready for the gold master stamp, but there’s still time to shake out remaining bugs. This release should not be deployed on production systems, but should be ready for early adopters and contributors who want to help with testing and development of 11.2.

Changes Since openSUSE 11.2 RC 1

Release Candidate 2 includes a few new packages, and several of the “most annoying bugs” in RC 1 have been fixed for this release. New packages include:

• Linux kernel 2.6.31.5
• SeaMonkey 2.0
• Firefox 3.5.4
• Samba 3.4.2
• xorg-x11-server 1.6.5

A more complete list can be found on the wiki and an updated list of Factory packages can be found on DistroWatch.

11.2 is looking fantastic. Want screenshots? We’ve got ‘em! Check out the shots here, and/or add your own.

Most Annoying Bugs

As this is a release candidate, we’re still shaking the release out for major bugs. However, at this point in the cycle, we’re almost ready to call 11.2 RC 2 production ready. We do know of one bug worth noting, however: The Net ISO images will call the factory repository. The URL for repositories needs to be changed from /factory/repo/oss to /factory-snapshot/repo/oss manually.

You can find more on adding repositories on the openSUSE wiki.

If any major new bugs do crop up, they will be listed on the openSUSE wiki.

Testing! Testing! Testing!

As you can see, 11.2 RC2 does have a few bugs that we know about — but there may be more lurking somewhere in the release that haven’t been found yet. If you want to make sure 11.2 final is free of Most Annoying Bugs, we’ll need your help finding, reporting, and fixing those hidden bugs.

To learn more about testing openSUSE, visit the Testing pages on the openSUSE wiki. To follow the testing and development process, we suggest that you subscribe to the openSUSE-Factory mailing list, and join the #openSUSE-Factory channel on Freenode to discuss openSUSE development.

Get Release Candidate 2 Today!

What are you waiting for? Grab the milestone release today! Downloads are available at software.opensuse.org/developer/ now.

Note, if you need to try the live CD on a machine with no CD-ROM drive, you can copy it to a USB key with the following command:

dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M

Replace “image.iso” with the name of the ISO image that you have downloaded, and replace “sdX” with the actual device name of your USB drive. Be careful! This will erase the target device, so make sure you have the correct device name and have any vital data backed up!

The final release for 11.2 is scheduled to be released on November 12, 2009. See the detailed roadmap on the on the wiki.

We’re at the home stretch. A big thanks to all the contributors who have participated in the 11.2 cycle. Without you, we’d have no openSUSE.

The KDE 4 experience in openSUSE has been enhanced daily, and while the desktop environment itself has matured significantly since the last release, there has been a constant focus to provide an outstanding delivery of it in openSUSE 11.2.

The highlights include: the openSUSE DVD preselected to KDE 4.3; new Firefox KDE integration; OpenOffice.org KDE 4 integration; consistent KDE artwork; all other standard applications fully ported to KDE 4, including KNetworkManager, Amarok, DigiKam, K3b, Konversation and more.

We will also be talking to openSUSE and KDE core developer Luboš Luňák, to find out more about the developments in KDE 4.3, where the project is concentrating its efforts, and what the openSUSE boosters team is really all about. Read on for the full story… (more…)

Although openSUSE 11.2 is still two months away updated openSUSE 11.1 KDE4 Reloaded images previewing some changes are available now. They are respins of openSUSE 11.1 including KDE 4.3.1, Firefox 3.5 and all the online updates which have been released for openSUSE 11.1.

These installable Live-CDs are useful for people who want to test out KDE 4.3 and users who are doing new installs and want the most recent openSUSE updates straight out of the box, saving a lot of installation time. New in this version is that the images can be also dumped to a USB stick and booted from there.

See the KDE 4.3 announcement for more information on the improvements and new features in KDE 4.3.

Compared to openSUSE 11.1 KDE4 desktop, the images include the latest KDE4 version of applications like Amarok, Digikam, KNetworkManager and the new Qt4-based YaST Control Center. Some additional applications like Choqok, Kompare, Marble and Okteta could be added thanks to a more efficient compression algorithm.

A Note of Caution

Please note that this is not an “official” openSUSE release, and has not undergone the same kind of testing that stable releases receive.

Issue #84 of openSUSE Weekly News is now out!

In this week’s issue:

• openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 5 released
• People of openSUSE: Marcus Schaefer
• Linux.com/Rob Day: The Kernel Newbie Corner: Kernel and Module Debugging with gdb
• Guillaume DE BURE: More skrooge features
• LDN: Kernel Log – Coming in 2.6.31 – Part2: Graphics, Audio and Videor

For a list of available translations see this page:
http://en.opensuse.org/OpenSUSE_Weekly_News/84/Translations

openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 5 (M5) is now available for download. It includes several updates, new features, bugfixes, and other improvements. This milestone includes KDE 4.3 final, a kernel built specifically for desktop systems, and beta 1 of OpenOffice.org 3.1.1.

This is a Milestone Release, one of several that lead up to the 11.2 final release in November. It may not be suitable for production systems, but is ready for contributors who want to help with testing and development for 11.2.

Changes Since openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 4

Lots of changes since the M4 release! This release is built with GCC 4.4.1, and debug packages are generated for each sub-package. It also includes many updated packages and a few new packages, including:

• Linux kernel 2.6.31-rc4
• Xen 3.4.1 RC10
• GNOME 2.27.5
• PackageKit 0.5
• Apache 2.2.12
• Choqok 0.6.1
• VirtualBox 3.0.2

A more complete list can be found on the wiki and an updated list of Factory packages can be found on DistroWatch.

11.2 is looking fantastic. Want screenshots? We’ve got ‘em! Check out the shots here, and/or add your own.

Most Annoying Bugs

As this is a milestone release, 11.2 M5 does contain a few bugs that we know about, but should not stand between courageous contributors and release testing. The big bugs in 11.2 M5 are:

• Live CD ISOs will not boot from USB on some hardware
• The GNOME Live-CD image is missing Tomboy, Beagle, and GNOME-Do.
• Bug #529098: x86_64 DVD ISO doesn’t fit on DVD
• Bug #522025: X doesn’t display properly in VirtualBox machines with big video memory. Workaround: reduce video memory size or switch to first console and back (default: right Ctrl-F1, right Ctrl-F7)
• Bug #529113: and Bug #482749: kdesu does not work (for example, starting YaST), work-around: ’su -c “unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS;yast2″‘
• Bug #528397: X server might hang with some video drivers (vesa, intel) in runlevel 5 before the KDM logon occurs. A workaround can be found in this comment.

You can track the Most Annoying Bugs on the wiki along with 11.2 development.

Testing! Testing! Testing!

As you can see, 11.2 M5 does have a few annoying bugs that we know about — but there may be more lurking somewhere in the release that haven’t been found yet. If you want to make sure 11.2 final is free of Most Annoying Bugs, we’ll need your help finding, reporting, and fixing those hidden bugs.

Holger Sickenberg has put out a call for testing team members. If you’re interested in doing some heavy testing on openSUSE, check out Holger’s announcement.

To learn more about testing openSUSE, visit the Testing pages on the openSUSE wiki. To follow the testing and development process, we suggest that you subscribe to the openSUSE-Factory mailing list, and join the #openSUSE-Factory channel on Freenode to discuss openSUSE development.

Get Milestone 5 Today!

What are you waiting for? Grab the milestone release today! Downloads are available at software.opensuse.org/developer/ now.

Note, if you need to try the live DVD on a machine with no CD-ROM drive, you can copy it to a USB key with the following command:

dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M

Replace “image.iso” with the name of the ISO image that you have downloaded, and replace “sdX” with the actual device name of your USB drive. Be careful! This will erase the target device, so make sure you have the correct device name and have any vital data backed up!

The next milestone will be released on August 20th.

Get the latest KDE hot off the presses! The KDE Project announced the stable KDE 4.3 release this week, and openSUSE users can get the goods right away.

The KDE 4.3 release is available via One-Click Install for openSUSE Factory, 11.1, 11.0, and 10.3. Stephan Binner has provided a KDE 4.3 live CD using the openSUSE Build Service and KIWI. The live CD is a pure KDE showcase based on current openSUSE 11.1 packages. Note that the live CD and packages are not an official openSUSE release and have not been as fully tested as final openSUSE releases.

The latest KDE includes a number of new features, application updates, performance and usability improvements, and much more. See the KDE 4.3.0 release announcement for a list of improvements and updates.

The iFolder project will be having its monthly meeting tomorrow, June 9th, at 14:00 UTC. The meeting will be held in the #ifolder channel on Freenode.

iFolder is a simple, secure storage solution that helps enhance collaboration and improve productivity. The iFolder client is cross-platform and runs on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. The iFolder server that is used to sync and store files runs on Linux. A release for openSUSE 11.1 is due this month, and will be part of the discussion for the iFolder meeting tomorrow.

The agenda for tomorrow’s meeting, so far:

• Project engineering status
• Website update
• openSUSE Build Service update
• Documentation (help needed)
• Close bugs (help needed)

If you’re interested in iFolder, please be sure to attend. If you have questions about iFolder, contact iFolder Community Manager Brent McConnell or ask in the #ifolder channel on Freenode.

While 11.2 is still months away there’s still plenty of activity going on with openSUSE. In addition to last week’s milestone release, you can also get your hands on openSUSE 11.1 Reloaded. This is a respin of openSUSE 11.1, including KDE 4.2.2 packages and updates to 11.1.

This is an installable live CD that features the KDE 4.2.2 packages from the openSUSE Build Service repo. The live CD was created by Stephan ‘Beineri’ Binner, and is useful for people who want to test out KDE 4.2 and users who are doing new installs and want the most recent openSUSE updates straight out of the box.

See the KDE 4.2.2 announcement for more information on the improvements and new features in KDE 4.2.2.

Some features in openSUSE’s distribution of KDE differ slightly from a stock install of KDE. The “cashew” (Toolbox) is not enabled by default. It ships with the “Aya” theme and includes some bugfixes and enhancements over the stock 4.2.2 release. The Reloaded live CD also defaults to the KDE4 versions of Amarok (2.0.2) and Digikam (0.10).

A Note of Caution

Please note that this is not an “official” openSUSE release, and has not undergone the same kind of testing that stable releases receive.

Additional openSUSE KDE News

As Will Stephenson points out, if you’re following the KDE:KDE4:Factory:Desktop repository, you’ll soon start getting KDE 4.3 packages. If you want to keep on with the KDE 4.2 packages, use the new KDE:42 repo. The live CD is pre-configured to use this repository, so no need to worry about getting moved to 4.3 unless you change it.

See Important news for openSUSE KDE4 users for more information about KDE repos in the openSUSE Build Service and package naming changes.

Will Stephenson has announced that the KDE team will be having a bug squashing and packaging workshop day on Sunday, April 5:

I’m happy to announce that we’re having a bug squashing and packaging workshop  day this Sunday, the 5th of April.  This is being run in tandem with an upstream KDE bug squashing event running all weekend, so we can effectively sort bugs that are specific to openSUSE out from those that upstream KDE should know about.

For bug squashing, join #kde-bugs and #opensuse-kde on Freenode IRC.

For packaging, the KDE Team will be around #opensuse-kde from 1200CEST (that’s  10:00UTC) and I will present a couple of packaging tutorials and answer questions.   If you have an interest in learning to package and have not already mailed me, please send me a personal mail so I can call for
reinforcements if necessary.

See you on Sunday!