Comments on The Perfect Desktop - OpenSUSE 10.3 (GNOME)
The Perfect Desktop - OpenSUSE 10.3 (GNOME) This tutorial shows how you can set up an OpenSUSE 10.3 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.
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Unfortunately this HOWTO will lead to a lot of users complaining the package management is still much to slow: You will get a list of predefined online repositories. Select them all to make sure your system can install all available OpenSUSE 10.3 packages if they are needed. This is a really stupid suggestion, and a total contradiction to http://news.opensuse.org/?p=341#more-341 Note that it should be used with care, however; you should only add an extra repository when you need it and when you know what it will provide. Adding many repositories will slow down your package manager’s start-up time and adding repositories that you don’t know about can ruin your system!
I wouldn't go as far as calling an 'enable all' stupid but it has to be acknowledged that some repositories actually contain conflicting files and older versions which can create confusion.
I would advocate not to switch on more than you absolutely have to, because it's not just the update time (it's caching now so it's a little bit better than it used to be). You main problem is that without the repository enabled you may never see any updates appear, which is not good from a security point of view.
This leaves you two options: enable monthly to catch up, or leave them on entirely which gives you the aforementioned delays..
Thanks for the article. (Un)fortunately I found it after I bumped into troubles with my OpenSUSE 10.3 Gnome. I'm fairly new to OpenSUSE, but I got pretty far on my own with the OS setup (from CD not DVD) and app installs. The article clarified some things for me about adding software during/after setup, and the checklist approach for desired apps was helpful.
In the Package Selector, by default the Search has Name, Summary, Description, and RPM Provides selected. If you leave it that way and search for e.g. opera, you will still have 100 Available Software to choose from. I suggest going into the Package Selector's Search function and unchecking Summary, Description, and RPM Provides. I hope this approach still work okay with the author's list.
While I'm at it, I would go with ktorrent-feature-dht instead of ktorrent. And, having moved over from KDE, not sure what irc client or multiple-chat client is good on gnome. Or cd burner for that matter.