Novell News Summary - Part I: Problems at Planet OpenSUSE; Farewell, Beebe

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2009-03-21 11:14:50 UTC
Modified: 2009-03-21 11:15:39 UTC

YaST boot

Arrivals and Departures

IN THIS JOURNEY OF ups and downs we are finding one person who has decided to move from Ubuntu to OpenSUSE.

I’m a convert from Ubuntu, after several years with that distribution of Linux, and the difference between Ubuntu 8.10 and OpenSuse 11.1 is night and day.

[...]

No version of Linux is ever as good without all the other versions. Development on Ubuntu, has undoubtedly benefited development on OpenSuse because that’s how open source software works — it benefits all other open source software. For many people, Ubuntu “just works” the way it’s supposed to. As for me, I love Linux and have a new favorite flavor in OpenSuse 11.1.

Bill Beebe, who has supported OpenSUSE for many years, got his hands burned, just like Marcel Gagné a couple of weeks ago.

I'm pulling the plug in openSUSE 11.1, and in the process, on Linux in general as a home system...

LifeHacker has been looking for votes on top distributions and OpenSUSE made the cut. It's described as follows.

While not quite as simple to install as some of the other distributions on the list, openSUSE is quite user friendly. This distribution includes YaST (Yet another Setup Tool) to make installing applications a breeze. The user interface also gets a boost from Slab, a polished Windows Vista-like start menu. openSUSE puts an emphasis on hardware support and ease of use, making typically troublesome tasks like setting up a multi-monitor system less awkward. OpenSUSE is also part of the SMOLT driver project—when you install it, you can opt in to participate in a hardware survey to help continue the growth of Linux and foster support for new hardware.

Stephan Binner posted to opensuse-announce where he was saying that opensuse-planet most likely suffered from DNS issues, just like TuxMachines a couple of months ago. However, we did manage to find an informative post about Zypper and also a vulnerability. There is likely to be more news substance in the OpenSUSE Web site.

In this Week:

* Geeko wants you! * Update on openSUSE Infrastructure Services (download.opensuse.org) * KDE 4.2.1 released * OpenSUSE vs. openSUSE * Easgs: How to setup a software RAID-5 distribution in openSUSE (video)

For SLE*, unlike OpenSUSE, it has been a fairly busy week and next week will be even busier. The next post will say more. ⬆

Where and How to Spot LLM Slop: Many people correctly perceive LLMs as a site's downfall, a step towards the abyss
Links 25/03/2026: Nations Return to Russian Oil and Burning Wood: Links for the day
Gnome Foundation Inc is in Trouble: the agenda is set GAFAM and IBM rather than donors
IBM is "Increasing Its Temporary and Part-time Headcount" While Net Headcount Falls (Despite Buying Many Companies and Their Workforce): Headcount is a rather superficial yardstick.
Confluent Insiders: IBM Laid Off Over 800 at Confluent, Not Just 800: For the record, the layoffs at Confluent won't be over. After the bluewashing there will be "IBM RAs" impacting Confluent folks, aside from PIPs
EPO Union Decides to Continue Industrial Actions, Next Strike in Four Days: The latest strike had the highest participation rate
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 25, 2026: IRC logs for Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Microsoft's "Silent Layoffs" in Slop Clothing: "AI-powered transformation" is just a euphemism for mass layoffs
Public Talk by Richard Stallman in Half a Day "at the Engineering and Architecture Campus of Cesena of the University of Bologna": He'll probably attract a fairly large crowd
Gemini Links 26/03/2026: Buying a House, Stargazing, OFFLFIRSOCH 2026: Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/03/2026: Resisting Authoritarianism and Why Slop Needs to Go Away: Links for the day
Fedora Maintainer-ship Using Slop (Mistakes) Would Make Fedora Less Reliable: It won't produce reliable code or stable systems one can rely upon
IBM's "Legacy Employees" (Experienced Workers, IBM Management Dubs Them 'Dinobabies'): This notion of "legacy employees" seems like something overlapping with "expensive" (well paid) staff, even if not entirely equivalent
EPO's "Current Industrial Actions Are Likely to Intensify Further.": There is another strike in 5 days
This Morning The Register MS Published Slop Promotion With the Term "AI" 15 Times In It. The Register MS Was (As Usual) Paid to Do This: This is not a serious publisher
SLAPP Censorship - Part 23 Out of 200: We Were Right All Along (for 2 Years) About Third Party Funding and Willingness to 'Break the Bank' in Pursuit of "Revenge": How much damage can a person do to oneself in pursuit of cover-up of legitimate technical concerns?
Links 25/03/2026: Airports Further Militarised, "Slopification and Its Discontents", Microsoft 'Open' 'Hey Hi' Shutting Things Down: Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/03/2026: Blogging Fright and Absolutely Useless 'Apps' Made by Slop Machines: Links for the day
Rise in Energy Prices Will Significantly Accelerate the Death of So-called "AI Companies": It should be noted that fake news about Microsoft OpenAI doubling workforce (mere words, not actions) can serve as a nice distraction from the death of Sora due to divestment
It's Always a Question of Trust: There's a widespread stigma of lawyers being manipulative and chronically dishonest
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Must More Carefully Investigate or Assess the Financial State of Law Firms in the UK: We'll cover this in depth in the future
GAFAM Mozilla Removes Theora Support, Now GNU Needs to Re-encode Videos: Mozilla used to mean something to Free software advocates
An Open Admission Profits Depend on Addiction: Proprietary software tends to be like this
IBM Americas President Ayman Antoun Comes to OpenText, Weeks Ahead the Mass Layoffs Begin: Is that what IBM will be good at?
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 24, 2026: IRC logs for Tuesday, March 24, 2026
SLAPP Censorship - Part 22 Out of 200: When You Complain People Impersonate You in IRC (But You Yourself Impersonate People in IRC and Lock Them Out of Their IRC Handles): We'll cover this with direct evidence some time soon
Gemini Links 24/03/2026: Junk Drawer Time Capsule and Building Outside Alire: Links for the day
Not Much LLM Slop About "Linux" Lately, It Only Ever Comes From the Same Few Sites: As long as only few such sites use LLM slop we can skip and avoid them
Links 24/03/2026: "Epic Lays Off Over 1000 Employees" and US in Financial Trouble According to the Fed: Links for the day
The "Media" Does Not Only 'Miss' Mass Layoffs: "The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it"
The Empty Suits of IBM Managers (NIH or "Nothing Invented Here"): IBM's management adopted the business model of parasites
2012: 'Secure' (Microsoft-Controlled) Boot Has Not (Yet) Been Made Obligatory. 2026: systemd Has Not Implemented Age Verification: should we stop calling "nazi" everyone we don't agree with?
More Threats (Including Physical Threats) Against Us Are a Dumb Move: It's like a "hit list" (targets list) and I shall keep the police duly informed
New Example of Pentagon in "Feminist" Clothing Inside Fake News of Publishers Paid to Promote Outsourcing to US ("Clown Computing") and American Slop: Google now pays money to promote Google as a friend of women
Hating Techrights is a Career: but is it good for civil society?
Dr. Stallman’s Work Will Never be Considered 'Mainstream' Because He Rejects and Works Against the So-called 'Mainstream': Try to be more like Stallman
The New Layoffs: 'Silent Layoffs', 'Secret Layoffs', 'Quiet Layoffs', 'Passive Layoffs' 'Stealth Layoffs', and Unannounced Layoffs Disguised as Return-to-Office (RTO Mandates): The US needs to revisit and fix the WARN Act
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part IX - Cocaine Addicts in Charge of the EPO Attacking Families of EPO Staff: Things like being high-profile and being a serious drug addict aren't opposites
What Feminism in Science Means (Codes of Conduct Don't Tackle the Real Issues): Universality matters, more so in a project or community that's said to build the "universal operating system" (Debian)
SLAPP Censorship - Part 21 Out of 200: It's About Behaviour Online, Not How Much Money From Shadowy Third Parties Gets Spent on Lawyers and Two Barristers: 75+ KG of legal papers, 2 cases, 2 barristers (one hiding in the metadata) and maybe two law firms (also hiding in the metadata) against two modest people in Manchester seems disproportionate and vindicative
Links 24/03/2026: "Airports on ICE" and "Have You Paid Your “Intuit Tax”?": Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/03/2026: Slop Interview and Why Slop Makes Lousy Code: Links for the day
Richard Stallman to Give Public Talk This Thursday at the University of Bologna (Italy): Hardly the first time he speaks in Bologna
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 23, 2026: IRC logs for Monday, March 23, 2026

Novell News Summary - Part I: Problems at Planet OpenSUSE; Farewell, Beebe

Arrivals and Departures

Recent Techrights' Posts