What Is SUSE Linux?

The first thing anyone wants to know is "where does this SuSE thing come from, why is it spelled funny, and how do I pronounce it?" Fair questions.

• The Gesellschaft für Software- und System-Entwicklung (Corporation for Software and System Development) was founded in 1992 in Nuremberg, Germany, and released its first distribution of the Linux kernel and associated software a year later. SuSE began publishing its distribution in English in 1997; it opened an office in Oakland, California, at that time.

• The spelling, as you can see, is not derived from some marketer's branding idea. It really is the corporate acronym. However, since being acquired by Novell in 2004, the distribution is now called SUSE (no lowercase letters) Linux, and the acronym no longer stands for anything.

• In German, there are no silent letters, and the letter E is almost always short (as in "the"), so the company's name is pronounced "Sue-suh." Often as not, though, you'll hear it referred to as "Susie" or some variation.

But what is Linux? More properly known as GNU/Linux, it is an operating system born in 1991, when Linus Torvalds, then a computer science student at the University of Helsinki, wanted to run a variation of Unix on his home computer. At that time, Unix ran only on big workstations with lots of power and memory, not Intel-based personal computers. Using tools from the GNU (GNU's Not Unix) project, Torvalds was able to port a usable operating system to PCs. He then made the source code available on the Internet, licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

As a result of that generosity, Linux now runs on nearly every platform and architecture, from cell phones and personal digital assistants to Intel- and Macintosh-based PCs to mainframes and workstations running global enterprises.

SUSE Linux is one of dozens of distributions of Linux. What does this mean? The Linux kernel is really just the central piece of any distribution. Each distribution bundles different pieces of compatible software (most, if not all, licensed under the GPL or other free software license), an installation program, perhaps some documentation and some level of support.

Tip

Want to learn more about other distributions? See http://distrowatch.com/ for listings of more than 300 distinct offerings.

SUSE offers a variety of versions of its core distribution to meet differing needs. This book focuses on SUSE Linux 10, which Novell calls the "community supported" product targeted to home and home-business users. This is the version now created by the OpenSUSE project, which launched in August 2005. The next sections include descriptions of the other versions available.

All these versions use the SUSE install program, YaST (Yet another Setup Tool), to install, configure, and update your Linux installation. Besides being one of the tools that makes SUSE Linux unique, YaST is such a useful and pervasive tool, you'll find mention of it in nearly every chapter in this book. YaST simplifies nearly all your administrative tasks: managing users and groups, updating applications, installing new hardware and maintaining security. YaST also manages your printers through the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS), which contains drivers for more than 1,000 printers.

SUSE Linux

SUSE has always been well known for having the biggest distribution among the "majors." Hundreds of open-source applications are bundled with SUSE Linux so many that it takes five CD-ROMs (or one DVD) to hold them all. Half of that includes the source code for the applications, but there are still more applications than you will probably ever use. But consider this: If you have instant access to all these programs, you are less of a prisoner of your installed applications. If you find an application installed with SUSE Linux that isn't doing the job right, chances are that there's another application you can install that will be more to your liking.

If your business needs change and you need some other software tool to get things done, odds are you don't have to pull out your checkbook to get the functionality you need. You just need to fire up YaST and search for the appropriate tool, and in minutes, you're ready to go.

Both Unix and Linux began as systems oriented toward the command line (or shell), and the command line is often the fastest and easiest way to get computing tasks done. But just as DOS begat Windows, Unix begat the X Window System. Proprietary X servers later begat the XFree86 project, which became the default GUI for Linux systems. In 2004, the X Consortium, which originally oversaw the development of X, revived and put out its own free server. SUSE Linux opted to use this (referred to as X.org) as the basis for its X Server beginning with v9.1.

Sitting on top of most copies of X these days is a desktop environment: The K Desktop Environment (KDE) or the GNU Network Object Model Environment (GNOME pronounce the G). Both provide the same sort of look and feel and functionality of proprietary desktops, but each has its own personality. Historically, the SUSE team has been involved in developing KDE practically from the beginning, and so KDE has been the default SUSE desktop, although GNOME was always an option. With SUSE Linux v9.4, you can choose your preferred desktop. You'll learn more about X, KDE, and GNOME in Chapter 6, "Launching Your Desktop."

SUSE Linux also comes with two complete office suites (OpenOffice.org and KOffice), two minisuites (GNOMEOffice, with word processor, database, and spreadsheet, and SoftMaker Office, with word processor and spreadsheet), two industrial strength open-source relational database management systems (PostgreSQL and MySQL), two financial programs (GnuCash and KMyMoney), two personal information managers (Ximian Evolution and Kontact), and just about everything you need to be productive.

When you consider that the Internet largely runs on Unix, there should be no surprise that you can find on your SUSE Linux discs just about anything you need to connect with or do work on the Internet. And many functions have a selection of tools: multiple web browsers (all the browsers you've heard of, except for Internet Explorer, and many you haven't), email clients, chat and instant messaging tools, and newsreaders (for both Usenet and RSS feeds). Web developers and designers also have two web-page creators in Bluefish and Quanta Plus.

Programmers at all skill and experience levels will find practically all the necessary tools for their craft. Text editors galore, starting with the venerable GNU Emacs and vim and including many others of more recent vintage, the GNU Compiler Collection (gcc), support for Perl, Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, and just about any other language you can think of, and at least two integrated development environments (IDEs) in KDevelop and Eclipse. Manage your large projects with the Concurrent Versioning System (CVS) or Subversion, too.

Generally, SUSE Linux is updated with point releases twice a year, but because applications get revised with bug fixes, security fixes, and feature enhancements all the time, you can stay on the cutting edge. Many developers package their applications using the Red Hat Package Management System (RPM). SUSE has always used this method to build its distribution, and many SUSE-specific RPMs have been written. Use the YaST Online Update (YOU) or the Advanced Package Tool (APT) created for Debian systems and adapted for RPM.

With SUSE Linux, you can create many types of systems: a networked file server, a Web server, a DNS server, a mail server, a router, or a plain old desktop workstation.

You can string together several machines to make your own super computer, known as a Beowulf cluster. The choice is yours.

OpenSUSE.org

On August 9, 2005, Novell announced the OpenSUSE project at the LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco. For the first time, the SUSE community at-large would get to participate in the testing and development process for SUSE Linux. Novell's stated goal in this venture is to make it easy for anyone to get access to "the world's most usable Linux distribution," and to welcome new open-source developers into the SUSE fold.

The OpenSUSE process offers a freely-downloadable distribution that contains only open-source software, with the ability to add non open-source packages (like the Java Runtime Engine) separately. In addition, OpenSUSE serves as the basis for the boxed, retail version of SUSE Linux, which is the traditional distribution.

To participate in the project, and get the latest installable version of SUSE Linux, visit www.opensuse.org and click the download link (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1. The OpenSUSE.org website lets you participate in the SUSE Linux development process.

There is much useful content at this site, besides getting both the latest release and the latest test version. How often have you run into a problem that might be a bug, and asked yourself whether the software company is aware of the problem, and on the road to fixing it? With SUSE Linux, now you can check. Novell has opened up its SUSE bug database, Bugzilla; if you run into trouble, you can search the database, and if necessary, submit the problem directly to Bugzilla.

On the OpenSUSE.org site, you can learn more about the distribution. View official documentation, and read posted articles from the Novell website and elsewhere on the Web. View the roadmap for the next release, subscribe to the OpenSUSE discussion/support mailing list, and peruse the FAQs. One of the more interesting aspects of OpenSUSE.org is that it is a Wiki. This means that you and every other user of the page can submit content to any page on the site. You are especially encouraged to add content to the Documentation page, so as you learn more about SUSE Linux, you can share that knowledge with other users. You'll learn more about wikis in Chapter 16, "Collaborating with Others."

Users will also be the driving force in future development. Like Red Hat's Fedora Core project, OpenSUSE will be the place where new features and applications first appear. What works will then appear in the regularly updated boxed version of SUSE Linux, and, where appropriate, into the corporate Novell Linux Desktop and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES).

The SUSE Linux Install Program

There are several ways to install SUSE Linux, but the easiest is to boot from the CD-ROM that accompanies this book. Your initial install is not the only thing you can do with this CD. You can use it to

• Test your computer's memory This test confirms that your installed RAM chips are working properly.

• Rescue a troubled system If you cannot boot your computer at all, booting from the CD gives you access to an emergency command line that can help you access your files and troubleshoot the problem.

File Systems in SUSE Linux

By default, SUSE Linux uses the ReiserFS v3 file system written by Hans Reiser and maintained by the Namesys team. This is faster and more efficient than the traditional Linux ext2 file system. ReiserFS and other journaling file systems make crash recovery much simpler. When changes (such as creating, deleting, saving, or executing a file) are about to be made to the file system, ReiserFS writes this information in a journal file that exists on the disk. Should the system crash before the change is finished, the repair utility needs to search only the journal to locate the problem, rather than searching the entire disk surface. This makes it easier to repair and preserve your data.

What if you don't like ReiserFS? No problem! The install program will create volumes in ext2, ext3, the IBM Journaling File System (JFS), and XFS, originally developed for the SGI Irix. You will learn more about file systems in Chapter 18, "Managing Files, Volumes, and Drives."

64-Bit SUSE Linux

Personal computers have been getting ever more powerful as time goes on. A decade ago, the 32-bit microprocessor, and the new operating systems that could support it, were the focus of attention. The transition from 16-bit processors like the Intel 80286 and its predecessors, to 32-bit processors and the graphical operating systems that supported them, was rapid and changed people's lives. These processors could support four gigabytes of memory, just a phenomenal amount in the days when RAM was measured in megabytes. We got genuine multitasking, prettier interfaces and yes, the ability to think about running UNIX-like systems on PCs.

We are now standing at the dawn of the next revolution in personal computing, as 64-bit processors have come down in price to the point where it's quite possible that your next computer will have one. Servers have been running 64-bit processors for some time now. Since September 2003, AMD has been selling 64-bit Opteron and Athlon chips for ordinary PCs, and the Apple G5is a 64-bit processor.

What does this mean? A couple of things for the average user. First, your system will (theoretically) support up to 16 million gigabytes of RAM. In practice, however, your system will probably be limited to a mere 256 terabytes or less. This means that applications can run much faster. Chances are they will also be larger, because they can now have more code running at the same speed.

The Linux kernel has supported 64-bit processors from the beginning, and SUSE Linux has run on the x86_64 architecture since version 9.0. If you install the 64-bit version of SUSE Linux (not included with this book's media), nearly all the applications you install will be the 64-bit versions. SUSE Linux will still run 32-bit applications as well, but you are a little more likely to run into problems. Some of the known problems will be mentioned in Notes in this book.