Page 2 - Adding extra useful packages
7) After successfully having run the openSUSE 11.1 installer, first run your updates.
To do this use YaST > Online Update
NOTE: With GNOME, PackageKit (a system update mechanism) gets loaded by default. This can temporarily lock your package management access.
If, when running Online Update , you get a message that the package repository is locked.. Wait a couple of minutes and try again.
You can stop PackageKit from loading at login by unchecking it in the startup program list using 'Control Center' > 'Sessions'.
8) Extra packages after initial install:
Banshee (audio manager) , Brasero (CD/DVD burning), Evolution (mail), OpenOffice and other applications are already installed with the default GNOME install. Next to these default packages the following are among my top-10+ that I always add after install:
Packages needed to compile (minimal)
Packages containing useful local and network tools
Windows application support
Java runtime and browser plug-in
NOTE: Due to problems I'm having with Java 1.0.6 packages when running certain java web applets and possible freeze issues (Netilla, Tivoli and others), I haven't installed the 1.0.6 version
Misc:
' yast2 sw_singel --qt ')
Installing these listed packages using Zypper:
Now we can use YaST's Software management to search and install these packages. Zypper on the other hand, is allot quicker as we know which packages we want installed.
To add the packages using zypper:
open a terminal console and enter:
su - #<-su elevates to root for the needed rights
zypper install kernel-source gcc gcc-c++ smpppd mc minicom unix2dos powertop rdesktop tsclient aspell-nl wine ncpfs nmap atftp wireshark gnome-commander sysstat yast2-qt java-1_5_0-sun java-1_5_0-sun-plugin
You can add or remove packages to the zypper command as pleases.
9) Adding Compiz Fusion extras
There are some nice effects you can add to the default Compiz packages. One of these is the Sphere / Cylinder rotation found in the plugins-extra package.
zypper install compiz-emerald compiz-emerald-themes compiz-fusion-plugins-extra
There are some bugs in the initial Compiz code released with openSUSE 11.1. Before enabling Compiz make sure you update to the latest packages found in the X11 repository.
To do this add X11:XGL repository and install the updates
(NOTE: the X11 repo contains compiz without NOMAD patches)
For more info see this link: Cyberorg, Compiz on openSUSE 11.1
To get Compiz working with NOMAD (xrdp for Linux) this blog might help you on your way :
openSUSE 11.1 Compiz & NOMAD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10) If you have an ATI or NVidia GPU installed, you'll probably want the proprietary Video drivers. See the relevant wiki for more information and the one-click installs:
www.opensuse.org/NVidia
www.opensuse.org/ATI
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11) Some annoying bugs to fix after install:
Normally you can access you CD and DVD player as user. Due to a bug this is not possible in 11.1, only for the root users. As a fix add you user accounts to the disk group.
Add the X11 repository with a name alias X11:XGL
zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/X11:/XGL/openSUSE_11.1/ X11:XGL -f
Update all Compiz packages from that repo
zypper up -t package -r X11:XGL
To make sure you start with a new configuration file, first make sure Compiz is switched off and disabled, remove old configuration:
rm -rf /home/[your-username]/.config/compiz
Launch simple-ccsm, enable Compiz & enjoy
12) Remove Beagle:
Beagle is the indexing engine that can quickly retrieve content by simply entering the words related to the item you are looking for. As this is a nice thing, it can also take up resources and slow things down. Although Beagle has been greatly enhanced to use less resources.. I still choose to remove it from (most of) my systems.
To remove it, again you can use YaST's Software Management, but here's the zypper command (plain and simple):
su - #<- elevates to root
zypper remove beagle*
Accept the dialog to apply the changes.
13) YaST configuration:
By default, openSUSE will ask you for the install source when adding new packages. If you have a fast Internet connection it's easier to disable the DVD source and let new packages get downloaded from the online repositories.
To do this go in to YaST > Software Repositories, select the DVD source (probably named openSUSE 11.1-0) pointing to your DVD drive and uncheck Enabled. Now the online repositories will be used to collect needed packages.
Additionally, if you rather keep a local install source, you can also place a copy of the install DVD ISO in a directory and add the ISO as repository. This is a smart thing to do if your Internet connection is not that fast.
~