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LinuxDig.Com : Linux News : Installing a Bug Free Novell Suse 9.1
Author: HumanX | Wednesday October 20, 2004
Suse 9.1 is generally an easy to install distro but underneath the hood lies some problems. In this article I will discuss some of those issues and how to deal with them correctly.
After dealing with Fedora and some of the issues in Core 2, I finally decided to give Novell Suse 9.1 a try. Suse is an impressive distro with the excellent configuration program named YAST. Yast makes Linux administration a breeze. Now, getting through the installation is another story.
Though Suse's install is relatively easy, the folks at Suse fail to install some necessary programs by default. By adding these few programs to your installation you can have a bug free Suse 9.1 Linux Installation. I am hoping Suse resolved these issues in Suse 9.2, if not this may still apply in the new version.
Note: The installations I did were from Suse source not from the personal CD which may or may not install some of these programs by default.
* Resolves errors
** Part of normal system operations.
*** Optional but recommended.
1. Kbd : (Keyboard mappings and fonts.) *
2. Local: This addition came from a LinuxDig reader and he says that this should should resolve some issues in your terminal sessions. Have not seen the bug myself, but I would definately recommend this to be installed. *
3. Man: Another LinuxDig viewer suggestion. This is the man (documenation) page viewer which is a MUST to install. Suse should have made this part of the installation. ***
4. Text Editor: Another LinuxDig reader suggestion. VI is not installed, though this is not needed unless you plan to do command line text editng operations. VI is one of many text editors, I personally like "pico" which comes with pine.
5. dhcpd : (dhcp client/ip - only if using dhcp) **
6. Yast-Curses : (Yast from command line) ***
7. ndiswrapper : (If you plan to use wireless) ***
8. mingetty : (Virtual console: adding this removes many error reports) *
9. hdparm : (hard drive performance program.) ***
10. Pine : Always good to have if you want to pico editor. ***
11. iputils : Gives you ping, tracert. Could not figure out why this was not in the base install. **
12. procps : gives you utilities such as kill, top, uptime and many other system monitoring and admin utils. **
READ PRE-INSTALLATION NOTES BELOW.
How do you do this
If you are unfamiliar with YAST or Suse's Installaer then the information above does very little for you. But, hopefully I can fix that for you. Before Suse actually installs the final system you will be brought to a page which lists all of the configuration options for your computer.
Look for the section marked software and click on the title. The installer will bring you to a page where you can search for any of the above applications and make them part of the install. It is that easy.
Pre Installation Issues
1. Their has been some reported problems with USB devices during installation like USB mouse. One reader reported his USB mouse was not detected until after the system was installed.
2. If you are using XFS, a reader reported that the XFS driver is faulty in the stock kernel.
3. If you are have problems with the graphical installation with Suse you can easily swith to Text mode. When Suse first boots the Boot Menu, at the bottom of the screen you will see display settings which can be changed with one of the function keys. Switch to Text Mode there.
4. Sound: Personally, I have not had problems with sound on any of the equipment I have installed Suse on. If you are having problems, try setting sound up in yast from command line. Make sure you exit X first.
Post Installation Problems
I have found many problems in Suse can be attributed to two programs, or the lack of those programs: KBD and Mingetty. The lack of these applications can cause X / KDE to incorrectly map your keyboard causing the keys to switch positions. Example, pressing the 'Z' key displays 'Y'. Also, when you load a console from within KDE you might see unicode or LC_TYPE errors. Mingetty installation fixes this.
If you are suffering from any of the above errors, then installing these two programs may just be your solution.
Last Note on Suse 9.2
Novell Suse 9.2 is expected to be released November 1, 2004. You can currently download the Live CD from Suse's web site via ftp. The Live CD allows you to completely run Suse Linux without making ANY changes to your currently installed system.
Links
Novell
Suse
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