Re: [tlug] SuSE 10

[Joseph Essertier <essertier@example.com>]

I appreciate the feedback that's been given the last day or two on how
SuSE 10 is working for others.  As soon as you (Patrick and Lyle and/or
others) have working systems installed, i'd appreciate it if you could
tell us how well Japanese input works on it, and if there are any
improvements over 9.3. 

I tried out the Japanese language version of Knoppix 4.0 the other day
on a fairly new Sony Vaio laptop and the Japanese input in it was far
superior to what i have now in SuSE 9.3.  The version of Wnn in it was
working as well as Atok 16 on the Mac has in the past for me, although i
didn't thoroughly test it, so i am not sure which is better.  The DVD is
the kind where it runs off the DVD instead of off the hard disk, so you
don't have to install it.  It was fun to try out the latest versions of
various Linux programs and helpful for me in that it showed me that
Japanese input, or at least the way i have it set up, in SuSE 9.3 leaves
much to be desired, and that i probably did something wrong or missed
some step when i installed 9.3.  But running off the DVD instead of the
hard disk means that there are frequent long delays where you have to
wait for 10 seconds or so right in the middle of typing or doing
something that would ordinarily be accomplished instantly.  (The little
laptop i was using is like 1.3 gigahertz, not blazing fast i guess). 
Saving to removable USB memory is really really slow too--the method of
saving files recommended by Linux World.  So although the Linux World
article (Nov. issue)  claimed that you could use this DVD when you were
on the road with your laptop for real work, that didn't seem practical
for someone like me.  Maybe if there were certain Linux programs that
you absolutely needed to access and you had lots of time when you were
on the road, that might be true, but...  The DVD does seem useful for
showing interested people how many great Linux applications can be had
for free or very inexpensively--i think the word the article used was
"showcase."  That's definitely true; it is great as an introduction. 
And in that sense, i was really impressed.  That a total beginner could
just pop  a DVD they get in a magazine for 1,500 yen into their Windows
machine and try out some wonderful open source software--Wow!  What an
achievement that DVD represents!  What a statement that makes.

One cool thing was that you could switch very quickly and easily between
the KDE desktop and the GNOME desktop, and between Japanese menues and
English menues.  The switch from Japanese to English menues took a few
seconds i think, definitely superior to Mac OS 10.2.8.  Again, maybe
this could be accomplished just as easily in SuSE if you knew what you
were doing, but it was very intuitive in Knooppix for me, a novice.

If SuSE 10 has Japanese input that works anywhere nearly as well as it
does in Knoppix 4, then i'll go get it.  I've been completely satisfied
with everything in SuSE 9.3, except for Japanese input.  (Probably my
fault, but...) 

Come to think of it, there are other problems i've encountered:  one
problem with SuSE 9.3, which Lyle mentioned a while back:  Japanese file
names do get messed up a lot when moving those files to a Windows
platform.  TurboLinux is superior in this respect according to the
Japanese magazine Linux World.  Also, no driver has been written yet for
my 2 year old Epson lazer printer (LP-7100), as far as i know.  It would
be nice to be able to print out.

This thread is supposed to be about SuSE 10.  This message is also a
little off topic, but i'm comparing SuSE 10 to other beginner-friendly
distributions i've seen in terms of input, so...

Joe