[Novalug] OpenSuSE 11.2 Gripe

Jay Hart jhart@kevla.org
Sat Dec 19 19:47:49 EST 2009


Bravo, sounds you got this to work.  I hope it gives your mom years of trouble
free use.

Jay

> 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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