Published: July 7, 2010 - Pageviews: 25041

Novell's SLED11 SP1

Working with SLED11 SP1

The first thing we noticed when we started working with SLED11 SP1 is the fact that the interface is pretty clean and hasn't went down the "Dark" path like it's openSUSE counterpart (and Ubuntu Linux), although it is a little weird that there is a green background against the standard blue/gray GTK theme (the KDE theme is a little dark, but usable). The SLAB interface is very similar to a Windows interface and most people that have used computers before will easily get around the system, which is a plus for an Enterprise Distribution.

As we worked with the Desktop, we didn't find too many bugs, the only ones we found are when working with OpenOffice.org Writer, when you click onto a "Bulleted" paragraph, OpenOffice seems to lose the focus, which can become annoying with documents with lots of bullet points. Also, on some systems Nautilus didn't want to create thumbnail previews on supported files (we couldn't figure out why it happened on some systems and not on others). The last bug we found is that when you disable 3D effects and you drag a window so it overlaps to another workspace, the window only shows up in the original workspace (this bug may be a GNOME bug as we have seen it on other distros).

One of the nice features that we found was the fact that although SLED11SP1 installs Beagle (the search service) by default, it does not automatically start the service until the user requests that it runs automatically. This is benefical since nearly all Search Services take a pretty hefty system resource toll when they scan your files (including Beagle).

Beagle giving the option of starting at logon and KDE 4.3.5 on SLED11 SP1

GNOME wasn't the only thing that got TLC with this update, KDE was also updated to 4.3.5, which is a pretty big jump from the 4.1.3 release in the initial release of SLED11. This later KDE release seemed to have tightened up the KDE Desktop and it now seems at home on an Enterprise Desktop (either that or we are finally getting used to the new KDE4 releases).

Additional Software

Although SLED11 SP1 includes excellent applications for Enterprise Tasks, such as OpenOffice.org and Evolution (along with a comprehensive Software Development Kit), most Linux Users require additional software on their Desktops (including Multimedia Applications). To resolve this issue, openSUSE uses the third party repository from Packman. Unfortunately, Packman does not provide software channels for SUSE Linux Enterprise releases, although you may be able to use either the openSUSE 11.1 or openSUSE 11.2 channels for SLED11 SP1.

Yast Software Module with the SDK and the AddonDVD installed

One of our regular contributors, Mike Petersen, maintains a few SLED machines and has created "Addon Products" for various SLE releases. (He was one of the Admins we talked with about the SP1 release and has helped us with the history portion of this article.) He now provides both an Addon CD and an Addon DVD for the SLED11 SP1 release on his website. We tested his latest release and found it very complete. It includes nearly all of the Multimedia Codecs available on Linux and includes all of the most popular Linux applications available today. The only downside we found is that he only provides a 32bit version and doesn't plan on a 64bit versions until more of his clients take the jump to 64bit (unless he gets funding to create a 64 bit version). You can get the addon media at:

http://www.pcc-services.com/sled_rpms.html

Another resource to find additional software for SLE releases is the openSUSE Build Service, where you can search for packages at http://software.opensuse.org/. Also, many resellers will include additional software with their SLED11 SP1 products, including additional drivers and proprietary applications, such as LinDVD. If you absolutely need "legal multimedia and DVD playback" for your organization, it may be worth it to research the various vendors that sell SLED11 SP1 pre-installed on their systems.

Final Thoughts

This release really shows the attention to detail that Novell put into this update to SLED11. They definitely gambled when they decided to include major version updates in a Service Pack of an Enterprise product, but the gamble seems to have paid off for them. SLED11 Service Pack 1 is a huge improvement to the initial release of SLED11.

Although Linux Power Users may not like the long release cycles of Enterprise Distributions, if you are looking for a Desktop that will be on your networked computers (or parents/friends computers) for years to come, SLED11 SP1 is now ready to replace SLED10 as the preferred Enterprise Linux Desktops (at least until Red Hat decides to compete on the Enterprise Desktop).

Controversy aside, this update to SLED11 fixes nearly all the issues that the initial SLED11 release had and pushes SLED11 SP1 to the front of the pack of all the Enterprise Desktop Distributions available today.