AMD Athlon 64 1.60 GHz, 2GB DDR2, 160GB HDD.
OpenSuse 11.3 is the latest release of the OpenSuse desktop Linux distribution from Novell. In essence it is the free edition of Suse Enterprise Linux, which is a commercial distribution also developed by Novell aimed at a business audience.
The first thing I noticed about OpenSuse is that while it is an acclaimed desktop distribution, the installer did appear very bloated and slow, and installation is not as simple as the installation in distributions like Ubuntu and Mandriva. I also found that the partition editor whilst it selects "the best partition configuration for your system", it is better to create your own custom based partition table. Installation was very slow and even after the initial install and reboot process, OpenSuse still insisted that the installation was not over and took a good ten minutes to configure the system for first time use. Overall installation, while to most intermediate users is still relatively simple, it is not as simple as other distributions and comparatively is much slower taking a good 40-45 minutes to complete, compared with the 10 minute install from Mandriva.
Once logged into OpenSuse you are presented with a standard install of the KDE Desktop and the standard KDE Networking tools and sound controls are also present. The default install still includes a selection of software including Firefox web browser and open office. Unfortunately I found that connecting to my wireless network took some effort and required me to logout and login again before I could connect and still it was not automatic connection as I still needed to input the network encryption code.
I also found that the system would momentarily glitch and the responses were slow, which makes using it a very patience-testing experience.
Whilst the benefits of OpenSuse as a stable and secure operating system is clear, unless you are running all the latest hardware you might experience considerable issues in the general flow of the system.
Conclusion:-
OpenSuse is a well documented, well supported and well though out operating system, however its bloated installer and occasional momentary freezes can be frustrated.
Pros:-
Comes pre-bundled with a selection of software for instant productivity, layout is friendly to windows users and generally is attractive. The system is stable and secure and well supported and documented.
Cons:-
Very bloated and slow installer, as well as momentary freezes in general running (and we're not talking during live CD mode, which is to be expected), don't exactly make for an enjoyable user experience. In my personal opinion i have never been so disappointed in a Linux distribution before, as i have been with OpenSuse 11.3
Overall Rating - 4/10
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