[Novalug] OpenSuSE 11.2 Gripe

Varol Okan varokan@movingsatellites.com
Sat Dec 19 19:37:18 EST 2009


I just finished installing 11.2 on my work laptop and I absolutely love it.

I have no issues installing by group ( I.e. development etc )
zypper zips like you would not know and web cam, wireless, audio all
worked out of the box. Yes wireless worked without tinkering with it.,
well, I had to config the wireless settings.

Now kvpnc did not work ( routes were not being set ) but KNetworkManager
is working like a charm instead. Of course I had to use
http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~massar/bin/cisco-decode
to get to the group password but you might get the info from your IT staff.

The other thing was I had to enable puleaudio in yast -> Hardware ->
Sound -> [Other] -> Pulsaudio
After this I was able to have multiple programs using audio out at the
same time ( I.e. Amarok and youtube's flash player )

Oh and just for the heck of it I added the packman repository and
updated the system.
NVIDIA is happy and ekiga talks to linux and windows clients all around
( first time ever for me ).

So bottom line is I have a cool laptop with 100% functional hardware and
software installations. I will probably upgrade my private laptop as
well ( ATI gfx card ) though I am not too sure about my netbook ( HP
2133 ), which runs OpenSuSE 11.1 with all but 3D gfx ( due to VIA not
releasing all required information ).

The Mother thing:
I installed OpenSuSE 11.1 n my moms Laptop and I can remotely log into
her system. So even if wireless is not working for her, she can manually
hook it up to the router and will get dhcp configured. Once her laptop
is connected I ask her to execute a script ( Click on icon or manually [
the script is called 'm', how easy is that ? ] ).
The script basically opens a reverse ssh tunnel ( with X forwarding )
moms> ssh -Y -R 12345:localhost:22 user@host.com  ( Pick your port, and
server log in )
( Note I am using 'expect' to send passwords etc to not bother telling
her what to type when and how )

This way I do not have to worry about any router port forwarding on her
side but all I need is a server that is accessible on the internet.
On my side I will do
shel1> ssh -L 12345:localhost:12345 user@host.com
shel2> ssh -Y -p 12345 mom@localhost  ( note mom should be a user
defined on your moms computer )
Instead of the second shell I sometimes use nxclient to get a graphical
login to my moms laptop.

The proof was when Somehow X would not come up for her. I was able to
remotely log into her Laptop as root and fix the system. yast runs
without X and so does zypper.
BTW, did I mention she's in germany and I am the only one who can help
if trouble arises ?

The only thing I have a hard time with is her web cam, which seems to
lock up her mouse when using it through ekiga. I have not given up on it
just yet.

Okay, long story short all's working 100% super-fine-nice-cool with
11.2, and 11.1.

Varol :)
Ps if you need further info on the reverse ssh tunnel feel free to
contact me.

Clif Flynt wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 02:48:57PM -0500, Jay Hart wrote:
>   
>> I think your options right now are move to a different distro or stop your
>> whining...
>>
>>     
>
>   That was the option I took.
>   
>   The kicker was that I couldn't figure out how to install the
> development tools using the latest incarnation of yast2.  It really
> makes yum and apt-get looks nice.
>
>   I looked at mint, which might be in my future, but it's largely
> another front end on Debian, and I couldn't see that it offered any
> tools than Ubuntu (or pure Debian) offered.
>
>   So I'm using Centos 5.4.  VMWare just installs (no PAE kernel hacks),
> and changing the graphic card seems to just work.
>
>   It turns out that installing Gnome after you install KDE can get you
> a system with no login screen, but I can cope with that.
>
>   My needs on this system are a lot different than my normal needs. 
> I'm building the disk in Michigan, then shipping it to my Mom in Texas
> to install on slightly different hardware than I have here.  That means
> that various config tools need to be easy for me to understand from her
> description, or "just work" without me talking her through them.
>
>   Ubuntu systems have been really good for installing, but not so good
> at living on a system with changing/evolving hardware.
>
>   I'll give RH credit for making anaconda work more often than not.  I
> used to give SuSE credit for making yast2 and sax work more often than
> not.  Maybe 11.3 will be better.
>
>   Happy hacking,
>   Clif
>   

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