Installing & Configuring openSUSE 10.3

This is how I installed and configured openSUSE 10.3. This is simply how I did it. It may or may not be the best way, but it worked for me. I hope that you may find a tip or two to help you with your installation. At the very least you’ll find some good links here. If you have anything to contribute PLEASE do so.

The Important Links

openSUSE.org
openSUSE-Community.org

openSUSE 10.3: Important URLs for Newbies (and not)
Suse Linux Community (forums) – If your using openSUSE, this is the place to ask questions.

Installation
openSUSE Installation

This install is on my main rig (label=Mine) and will dual-boot with Windows XP. This machine already dual-booted with openSUSE 10.2 so I didn’t feel there was much prep work to do. If you need some advice on preparing for installation please see Installing Suse Linux 10.1. After booting from the DVD and answering the install screens and choosing KDE as my desktop I got to the main Installation Settings screen and choose Advanced > Software > Details. I removed Apparmor, Beagle, and a few other minor things. I added Smart (SPM), Smart_Gui, Thunderbird, kdeadmin, mysql, kernel-source, and a few other minor things. Back in the Installation Settings > Advanced screen I set up my partitions. I have 2 RAID setups which work well (OpenSUSE complains about not being able to mount one of the disks but it is already mounted is a RAID device). I install OpenSUSE on a single partition ( / ) because it makes backup/restore from an image way faster and easier. I choose not to let openSUSE mount all partitions except 2. These I mount in my home directory (I have found this makes sharing the drives via Samba easier), the mount point looks something like /home/tweakhound/docs. Under the Boot Loader section I let Grub do its thing but I do remove several partitions from the boot list and rename the partition with windows to XP Pro. The rest of the installation went smooth.

First Boot
openSUSE HOWTOs

After closing out a couple of annoying pop-up screens I immediately switch from the SUSE Menu Style to the KDE one. Next I turn off kpowersave and tell it not to autostart, disable the screensaver, and turn off system sounds.
Now I open YAST and take a peak. The Software section now has a Community Repositories section, I click it and “Surprise!” it goes out and ands them for me. I check the box next to the ones I want and choose repos are now in my Software Repositories.
Next I fire up Smart Package Manager (SPM). I had already copied the channels from my 10.2 install and altered URLs from 10.2 to 10.3. A couple didn’t work but the main ones did (if you’ve got a good list please post them in the comment section). Now, because I had found this article (openSUSE 10.3: Important URLs for Newbies (and not) ) I knew about this; Restricted Formats/10.3 , I ran the “one-click”-install”. SWEET!

NTFS
openSUSE NTFS

I had mounted 2 NTFS partitions to my home directory. openSUSE now uses the ntfs-3g driver as the default for NTFS partitions. This allows native write support, but as it is mounted only Root can write to those partitions. I need to allow myself access write access to those partitions. So, I hit the alt-F2 keys and type ” kdesu konqueror ” (enter password), then right-click on the mounted folders, choose Properties > Permissions. I change the permissions to allow myself to View and Modify content (I suppose I could just modify the fstab or use ntfs-config but heck, this works).

Samba
Samba support has improved over every Suse release. No exception in 10.3. Nice work guys! See my how-to to set this up.

Next Updates
This is a little complicated. I recommend only using one source to update or add software. I also run my openSUSE box on the”bleeding edge” so-to-speak so I use Smart (SPM). I add a few things like more multimedia stuff, NVU, knemo, ksensors, kooldock, superkaramba, Azureus, Filezilla, Pidgin, bunch of KDE ‘extras’, etc… I also update everything.
Next I install msttcorefonts (which I had already) and change my screen fonts to Arial. I also setup my theme, styles, and colors ( kmenu > Personal Settings > Appearance & Themes). Now I go about setting up Firefox, Thunderbird, kooldock, configure my sound card (volumes etc…) and a few other tidbits.

3D Video Drivers
ATI Driver HOWTO

Nvidia Driver HOWTO

I’ve really no need for these because I don’t use any 3D stuff or games under Linux. I just do it because, well, I’m a Geek. The first thing I did was make an image using an Acronis Boot Disk (v10). Then attempted to load the ATI drivers (yes, I know, my bad for trying to use ATI with Linux). They worked under 10.2 but would not work under 10.3. They install but will not run. Pfft! Ah well…

**Update, 11OCT07 – I solved my ATI driver problem the old-fashioned way. I ripped it out and put in an Nvida 7600GS! For those using ATI cards, you’ll definitely want to check out: openSUSE 10.3: AMD/ATI Drivers Installation


Sensors
“Lm_sensors provides essential tools and drivers for monitoring the temperatures, voltages, and fans of Linux systems with hardware monitoring devices.” Ksensors and many Karamba widgets require this. See openSUSE 10.x: Hardware Monitoring – Using LM_sensors “Sensors” on how to configure it.

SuperKaramba
Vista sidebar? HAHAHAHAHA!!! SuperKaramba puts it to absolute shame. I run Liquid Weather and PCLOS System. Now I heavily modified that theme. I put up a web page and contacted the author but he has school/work and is too busy to implement the changes right now. So, for the brave,you can see it what I’ve done and download it yourself if you want. Just a warning, this theme may take some configuring. Click on the thumbnail below to see them on my screen.

Amarok
I’m a music freak and I’ve got a reasonably sizable collection. I’ve tried just about every music player/manager there is. Under Windows I use iTunes because it consistently does the best job if you configure it correctly. But, when I actually want to listen to music I use Linux, it just sounds better and I’ve never figured out why. Under Linux I use Amarok. There isn’t another player/manager that even comes close. I’ll be using MYSQL to manage my database so I set that up first.

Links:
Amarok Main Page
Amarok – Wiki Main Page
Amarok at KDE-Apps.org
Amarok at Wikipedia

MYSQL
Install MySQL via Synaptic Package Manager. Then you need to start the service. Open YAST and go to System > System Services (Runlevel) , and enable mysql.

Lets make this easy, this is a copy/paste from my terminal window (only the nameswere changed to protect the guilty). A couple of notes: all commands must end with a semi-colon, and, you can stack commands ( I didn’t to make things easier to understand). What you need to type is in bold, when you need to type a password it is in bold/red. It’s OK to copy/paste just make sure to change what is in red.

username@computername:~$ mysql -u root
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 6
Server version: 5.0.38-Ubuntu_0ubuntu1-log Ubuntu 7.04 distribution

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('password_goes_here');
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> USE mysql;
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A

Database changed
mysql> flush privileges;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> quit;
Bye

username@computername:~$ mysql -p -u root
Enter password: password_goes_here
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 7
Server version: 5.0.38-Ubuntu_0ubuntu1-log Ubuntu 7.04 distribution

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql> GRANT ALL ON amarok.* TO amarok@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'password_goes_here';

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> flush privileges;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> quit;
Bye
username@computername:~$

Configuring Amarok
Amarok comes with loads of features but I’ll just touch on a few that need configuring. Mostly I’ll let the screenshots do the talking.

Context Screen

The Database
Make yours look like mine.

The Sound System
Most people will use the xine Engine, however there is supposedly a problem with openSuse and the latest version of Amarok though I didn’t have any problem and I am using the xine engine. The only other thing you should have to configure is “Speaker arrangement”.

Last.fm
I do this just for fun. You can find more info under Scrobbler in this blogs sidebar.

Amarok Scripts
Amarok Scripts Main Page
Amarok has the ability to to add features that anyone can make or that aren’t a part of the official release. I really like Kirocker, you could download it from the Kirocker Page but you should be able to install it from YAST or Smart. This can operate as a panel applet but I prefer just to call it when I need it ( alt + F2 keys, type “kirocker” ). Here is a resized screenshot of the Kirocker full screen view:

Cover Manager
Go to Tools > Cover Manager. First use the Fetch Missing Covers button. OK, bet it got some wrong or didn’t find some of them? No problem, you can right-click and choose “Fetch From Amazon” and find a new cover, or refine the search, or if that fails load a cover manually. Click on thumbnail for a larger image:

That is it for now. I’ll update this article as I do new stuff or questions are
asked.
Eric

*Author’s Note: Trying to get this article formatted properly in WordPress was a PITA. Basically putting pictures in the page completely messes up the formatting. My solution was to put the pictures inside of a table. If someone has a better way to do this please let me know.