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Novell News Summary - Part I: Hackweek, Reviews, and Call for Testers

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Events



THERE was no particularly important event, but OpenSUSE was tested against other GNU/Linux distributions over at Phoronix and the biggest new event probably ought to be Hackweek, which produces some more valuable software.





I wanted to reimplement kio_sftp with libssh since some month. This week is another openSUSE Hack Week.


Another event that's coming is the OpenSUSE Conference.

Attending the openSUSE Conference is free, but registration is required.


Pascal is still running FOSDEM, where Novell's role may cause issues. Videos are now available from the OpenSUSE portion of LinuxTag 2009.

Packages



The solar eclipse that goes several days back could be viewed on OpenSUSE, but the astronomy package at hand is just one among many that OpenSUSE speaks of, including some KDE ones.

Today i’ve released the kpassgen Package in KDE:KDE4:Community.


OpenSUSE continues to talk about LXDE, as well. More here:

A while ago, Andrea Florio posted about LXDE on openSUSE. Since one platform that LXDE is supposed to be good for is Netbooks, I decided to give it a whirl on my Acer Aspire One.

I have to say that I really like LXDE and there are plenty of positives about it. It's nippy and responsive.


There are lots of other packages that OpenSUSE people write about it and Gabriel Stein chooses to talk about Samba.

Suprise! My first test: a openSUSE 11.1 box with Samba configured in ‘You are my guest’ mode. Everything open. And MacOSX? Automatically detected Samba shares. Without commands. Just point-to-click. What a surprise! I love MacOSX! :P I will share my smb.conf here, on next post, totally dedicated to Samba and interoperability.


Reviews



Reviews of OpenSUSE have been rare recently, but here is one short review which is largely positive.

* Pros: Comprehensive and intuitive configuration tool; large repository of software packages, excellent web site infrastructure and printed documentation * Cons: Novell’s patent deal with Microsoft in November 2006 seemingly legitimised Microsoft’s intellectual property claims over Linux; its resource-heavy desktop setup and graphical utilities are sometimes seen as “bloated and slow” * Software package management: YaST graphical and command line utility using RPM packages * Available editions: openSUSE for 32-bit (i386), 64-bit (x86_64) and PowerPC (ppc) processors (also installable live CD edition); SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop/Server for i586, IA64, PowerPC, s390, s390x and x86_64 architectures


There is also this migration from Fedora to OpenSUSE.

These are the main reasons why I made the switch to openSUSE even though I don't doubt that Fedora is a fine Linux distribution with a great community. For a distribution that releases every six months, they manage to maintain the right balance between bleeding edge software and stability. Their feature list is exhaustive as well and they're usually ahead of Ubuntu in terms of implementing features. But its openSUSE for my taste and I think I'll stick to it.


The Shuttle X27D, which runs OpenSUSE, was also reviewed in a British Web site.

Our Shuttle X27D sample was supplied with openSUSE 11, a mature and reasonably user-friendly Linux operating system.


Other



OpenSUSE is looking for testers.

In addition to well-developed code, testing is a major part of ensuring a rock-solid openSUSE Linux distro. To make sure testing of openSUSE 11.2 (and beyond) are done in a well-organized way, we’re improving the way the openSUSE Core Test Team works together to ensure top quality for openSUSE.


There may be more interesting picks at the OpenSUSE Web site, which seems to have slowed down somewhat (maybe caused by the season).



In this Week:

* Register Today for the openSUSE Conference! * Lydia Pintscher: The Way to Amarok 2.2 * Sebastian Schöbinger : Adding a music profile with the KDE Energy Manager Plasmoid * Michael Andres: libzypp-6.10.4: Tune automatically created solver testcases (zypper dup) * Interviews from the LinuxTag @ Radiotux


The next part will deal with SUSE.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Reboots Should Never be Necessary
"BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web
Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7
Links for the day
XBox is Rapidly Turned Into a Slopfarm by Microsoft
Slop isn't about efficiency and saving money
Microsoft's Halloween Documents and systemd, Wayland, Etc.
Maybe one day Wayland will be widespread. Or maybe not.
 
Links 15/07/2025: LLM Pollution and Pushback in Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: xkcd, New Cert, and Alhena Gemlog
Links for the day
Links 15/07/2025: Press Freedom at Risk and New Facebook Blunders
Links for the day
The Danes Want GNU/Linux
David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies
It's a very long article
BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop
"I went on a date with a chatbot!"
Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month
Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg
Links for the day
Coming Soon: Another OSI Scandal, This One Implicating Molly de Blanc
OSI has been fairly quiet lately
Outreachy & Debian pregnancy cluster, Meike Reichle evidence
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Again, "Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People"
Microsoft Lunduke is not trying to "protect" Linux
One of the Most Hilarious Things About the Microsoft SLAPPs
It's so ridiculous
Financial Support for the Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project
The FSF has extended until Friday its fund-raising campaign
Illegally Hiding (or Demanding Secrecy Around) Illegal Requests or Attempts at Extortion
unlawful communications like threats
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: BOFH Archive, Updating Old Palm PDAS, and Nginx vs Slop Bots
Links for the day
Ubuntu is Becoming GAFAM-Like
What does that say about Canonical and Ubuntu?
Slopfarms Which Take Real Articles About GNU/Linux and Turn Them Into Copycats Which Are False
Even before the LLM hype those were quite common
The Firm That Picks on Techrights is Accustomed to Working With Criminals
Techrights never did anything illegal. So why is it being picked on by people who work with criminals?
Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff
Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish
We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More
Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype
Links for the day
Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way
We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
On behalf of violent men
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025