Novell News Summary - Part I: OpenSUSE, SLES, and Turbolinux

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2009-07-18 17:51:10 UTC
Modified: 2009-07-18 17:51:10 UTC

IT HAS BEEN an exceptionally quiet week for Novell, but more news about SUSE (and OpenSUSE in particular) will be caught up with next week.

OpenSUSE

Heise published a list of GNU/Linux distributions and OpenSUSE was one of them.

The only other real news is OpenSUSE 11.1 being added to click2try's catalogue. Then there is this blog post about SUSE Studio.

Some months ago I casually signed up for a beta program online that seemed to mix cloud computing with Linux distributions. This program being SUSE Studio. I was impressed by the concept and I took it for a brief whirl. It is quite powerful and apart from adding packages from the regular openSUSE repositories of the latest stable release version, you can add/remove your own repos. Furthermore, you can customize the artwork and share this custom distribution with the world. You can watch this video to see how to use SUSE Studio to build a custom Linux distribution based on openSUSE.

SLES

There was also not much about SUSE. In the context of GNU/Linux servers, the Var Guy mentioned Novell as follows:

Rewind to the 1990s, and Microsoft wisely evangelized Windows 95’s connectivity to Novell NetWare servers. Fast forward to the present, and Microsoft should do the same with Linux servers and open source.

Earlier on we mentioned the US Postal Service moving to Free software, but the role of SUSE was not mentioned at the time. Here it is:

The Postal Service is moving 1,300 Sun Solaris midrange servers to a Hewlett-Packard Linux environment, using Novell’s SUSE Linux on the mainframe and distributed computing platforms to forge greater interoperability between the two environments.

In an article about IBM, SUSE is mentioned very briefly at the end alongside its main rivals.

IBM will begin shipping the Istanbul variants of the System x3755 server on August 26. Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Microsoft Windows Server, and Sun Microsystems Solaris 10 are all supported on this box.

This is nothing of significance, but it's the little that could be found.

Turbolinux

Turbolinux is one of the 4 server/desktop companies that signed a Linux patent deal with Microsoft. Turbolinux seems quite irrelevant in English-speaking parts of the world, but in Asia it is sometimes used and it got some scarce attention in the English press, even a press release this week. There is usually nothing at all about them, not even a mention. ⬆

IBM Falls Below $200, Expect $199 or Less Today (Panic Threshold): Will this be enough to topple the managers?
Links 23/07/2026: RIP John C. Dvorak, Organisation Weaponised Against J.K. Rowling: Links for the day
US is Insolvent, GAFAM is Buying Time by Hiding (Not Disclosing) Its True Debt Which Explains Never-ending Layoffs (Unrelated to Slop or "Efficiency Drives"): Five Tech Giants are Hiding $1.65tn in AI Debt, Using the Trick that Toppled Enron
The First Point About Software Freedom is, You Must Understand What It Really Means (Not "Open Source"): Forty Three Years of Commitment to Software Freedom [...] Educating people about what Software Freedom actually means
Gemini Links 24/07/2026: Recovering From Broken Shoulders, Loss of Passion, and "True Hacker Versus Growth Hacker": Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 23, 2026: IRC logs for Thursday, July 23, 2026
Gemini Links 23/07/2026: Databases, TLGS, and RSS Feeds: Links for the day
Links 23/07/2026: Science, Censorship, and Territorial Overreach by China: Links for the day
The State of Google Security: Blocking competition: GMail is the best!
What Happens When Windows Becomes as 'Niche' as GNU/Linux on Desktops and Laptops: Android enjoys a near-monopoly and GNU/Linux isn't far behind Windows.
IBM Cash "Down $6.3 Billion From Year-end 2025." Total Debt/Equity 188.97%. (Debt Can Exceed the Company's Real Value): the CEO alone can make well over $0.7 billion in 5 years of salaries and bonuses
Wave of PIPs Allegedly Coming to Microsoft, Managers Trained to Terminate Employees Without Paying Severance (and Without Calling it Layoffs): They count and cut the losses
This Looks Like the End of XBox, the Console: Sharma has become the "fall man" of Microsoft
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Consummate Master of the "Rigged Game": "single-candidate shortlist"
Attempts to Change Focus and Change the Subject as IBM Shares Dwindle. Buying Revenue to Mask the Rapid Decline One More Time.: IBM used to be good at engineering, not financial engineering
Down 848% Year-on-year, Negative Cash Flow, Growing Debt (Richest Man on the Planet or Shrewd Scammer?): The latest for Tesla is more of the same
Gemini Links 23/07/2026: SharePoint Rants and “Junk DNA” in Commented-Out Code: Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 22, 2026: IRC logs for Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Freexian & Debian: antitrust, unfair competition against joint authors and volunteers: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
IBM in the Red After Bad Results (Shares Down in After Hours): Will the CEO step down, retire, of what else?
Gemini Links 22/07/2026: Fault Lines, the Dark Web and Beyond, and Why Substack is Awful: Links for the day
Insult and Injury: Getting Banned, Not Just Sacked, by Microsoft: A former insider spoke about this in public 5 hours ago
Links 22/07/2026: "Dumb Phones" Not Enough to Tackle Harmful Addition, "MPEG-4 Visual's Road to Being [Software] Patent-Free": Links for the day
IBM's Press Release About Results Mentions "AI" 10 Times, "Quantum" 4 Times: Blah blah blah AI"
Top secret: Cults inquiry submission concealed from public: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
An Hour Ahead of Alleged 'Results' (Amid Investigation Into Fraud) IBM Falls Back to New Lows: Only cents away from a 52-week low
IBM Headed for Lowest "Value" in 2 Years: In a nutshell, Krishna "can't keep it up" and IBM is now investigated for fraud
Investigation Progressing: There is nothing "funny" about receiving mortal threats for merely reporting information in a civilised country
Things We Could Do More Than Half a Century Ago But Can No Longer Accomplish: Newer is not always better
Anupa Ann Joseph & Debian defamation gang: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
State of the Invidious Project: Never forget how hostile Google can be towards freedom
Prioritising the Safety of Women is the Best Approach to Foster Diversity in Technical Communities: Debian was never "normative", but that does not mean Debian should have such low standards
IBM Will Report 'Results' Tonight (CET), It's Already Investigated for Securities Fraud: "Five of the biggest US tech giants are carrying $1.65 trillion in debt that does not show up on their balance sheets"
Hardware Has Gotten a Lot Worse, Not Just Far More Expensive: prices go up fast
Amid Claims of Microsoft Bing Layoffs It Seems Like Bing Cannot Even Hold on to Second Place: Yandex is sometimes bigger than Bing
Wikileaks Does Not Publish New Material Anymore, But Wikileaks Still Changes the World: Wikileaks has a legacy that will soon turn 20
Links 22/07/2026: Postal IRCs, PlayStation Kills Discs, Union Action Against Microsoft, "Judge Considers Tossing Databricks Patent Suit Under California anti-SLAPP Law": Links for the day
Same 'Journalists' Who Published Fake News for IBM (Pump and Dump) Now Write Puff Pieces About the Stock Falling: the media is so compromised
They Called It "Social" and "Media", But It Turned Out to be Slop and Child Porn: Why do any sane people still use social control media?
Age of consent: DebConf26 registered sex offender in Argentina?: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: In the Pole Position Despite a Dismal Track Record: António Campinos is an old hand when it comes to such high-level institutional intrigue
Site a Bit Slower Due to Visitors' Load: We'll try to work out better speeds
Gemini Links 22/07/2026: Emacs, Astrology Clock, Arduino, and Rogallo v1.0.0: Links for the day
After Involvement by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) LibreTech and Quibble Gain More Participants: RMS expressed gratitude for people who worked on Quibble and improved LibreJS after many years of inactivity
The Lessons From the Assange Saga: This will not end well
Linux Foundation an Enemy of the Planet, Proponent of Pollution and Global Heating: "could the "polluters pay" model be extended to the computing environment and used to take on Microsoft and Microsofters?"
Apple Will Increase Surveillance of Customers, Record Verbal Communications Under the Guise of "Hey Hi": Apple now drinks that same Kool-Aid
Dave Winer, Blogging Pioneer, Sells Out, Spews Out LLM Slop to Readers: Another one bites the dust [...] Now it's a slopfarm of sorts
Not Everything Can be Automated: not a new thing
GNU/Linux OS in ComorOS: Now, as in recent years or the last year, the GNU/Linux "signal" is growing significantly
Microsoft Redefines "Layoffs" to Give Smaller Tallies: It's not just calling them "buyouts" or saying people are merely "leaving" or "retiring"
IBM is Not Done Destroying Red Hat, Wait Till October 1st 2026 (More Layoffs and Bluewashing): It's not bluewashing 'til it's 100% done
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 21, 2026: IRC logs for Tuesday, July 21, 2026
"LF Sex", Nothing to Do With Linux: a lot of explaining to do this week

Novell News Summary - Part I: OpenSUSE, SLES, and Turbolinux

OpenSUSE

SLES

Turbolinux

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