31 October 2013

openSUSE 13.1 RC2

Tested it on Triela and haven't really noticed much different (the icon theme is still broken, which is also nothing new).

I don't remember well, but I'm quite sure I didn't need to log out and back in after installing ibus and ibus-anthy to put it into the input method section for RC1; I found that it didn't appear, so I decided to try logging out then in (well, for some weird reason, download.opensuse.org stopped responding), which then it appeared afterwards (along with a normal response with download.opensuse.org).

The only other problem I encountered was with VLC. While it installed just fine, it was somehow missing the h264 decoder and couldn't play the video I used to test. I then decided to try to use the VLC repository for factory, but it said that one of the necessary packages (a library if I remember correctly) couldn't be provided; I tried the repository for 12.3 with no avail either. I also tried to install the package itself, but there was an error in the repository and I ended up aborting. I'll try again when I can give more attention to what's going on (I was a bit distracted by anime XD).

I'll also test it on the Dell when I have a chance, though I'm not expecting to see anything different compared to last time (but at least I can test BTRFS a bit).

Oh, one thing I noticed since B1, I think it was, is that the option for the laptop lid close action is missing; what I mean is that there's a text entry, so it's supposed to be there, but there is no drop-down menu for it. I'm hoping this doesn't appear in the final release.

Other than that, I think 13.1 is just about ready for release, just a few of these problems need to be either squashed or "hidden" from the final release.

After testing it on the Dell, I haven't really seen much difference from RC1, at least, nothing that I remember.

I did end up "testing" it on Mei-chan, since I moved the wireless card to the PCIe x1 slot, forgetting why I had it in the other PCIe x16 slot. The biggest surprise was that the dual screening defaulted to extending the desktop instead of the usual mirroring; I was also able to rearrange the way the screens were set up without the hassle that I remember it (where it said it was outside the boundaries or something like that). If this is the case and it's stable, FGLRX may become a thing of the past for me. After doing that, I moved the wireless card back, finding out that the reason was that FGLRX couldn't find the graphics card. I'm assuming the wireless card in the x1 slot was confusing FGLRX, and so it just left me with CLI instead of the GNOME.

Side note, one of my friends that runs Debian said that SCIM no longer worked for him, and after I asked him for the kernel version, I concluded that SCIM is incompatible with the 3.x kernel. He has yet to use IBUS, but I'm sure he'll get to it when he does.

By UTC time, there's a couple days left until 13.1 is released, and I'll probably grab the full install DVD, as I want to write it to a regular DVD instead of using the +RWs that I've been using for the milestones, betas, and release candidates (I have several +RWs that I've never really done anything with, and with the nature of the GNOME live being about 900MB, along with the nature of testing almost each step of development release, it's more efficient to use the +RWs instead of regular DVDs.

I'm looking forward to 13.1 as long as VLC works, since that seems to be the only main reason that would hold me back. It will be nice to have a good LTS so I won't have to worry much about updating every 18 months. While 18 months sounds like a long time, If you think about it, it kinda really isn't, especially when you consider that the next release needs to be tested for specific use beforehand to make sure it works properly before adaptation. Sure, it's still not a huge deal in most cases, but think about the computers you don't use a lot. Especially if you forget to test them, and the new release doesn't work quite right, you're stuck. That is the reason why I like LTS.

It seems if I had read the feature list on the openSUSE wiki, I would have known about the input method integration and some of the other surprises I had. I'll have to make a habit of poking through that with upcoming releases.

That's it until the release.

13 October 2013

openSUSE 13.1 RC1 Part 2

One thing I forgot to mention that I noticed was that there is also a section in the settings that allows programs to be run at start-up. Very nice for those who want to start up, walk away for a bit, then come back and be ready to go (assuming auto-login is true XD).

11 October 2013

openSUSE 13.1 RC1 Part 1

Well, it was released a day late... Oh well.

I didn't really notice too many new things... BUT! I did manage to figure out why Ibus/SCIM weren't working. With 12.3, Ibus had its own part of the system (like it was part of the "top-level" programs), so you only needed to configure Ibus and it would work. But that's not the case in 13.1 - Ibus no longer has the same part of the system like it used to, so after installation, it requires a bit more configuration (Ibus is not "top-level" any more). I'll have to test it a bit later on the Dell, but I think Anthy still needs to be set up in the Ibus configuration before configuring on the system side. In the settings, there's the "Region & Language" section, where the input methods are added in (normally nothing is there, so the default input method must be added first, otherwise the system will probably use the other as the default). After adding in the input methods, if a different hot key to switch between input methods is preferred, the option is under "Keyboards" -> "Shortcuts" (tab) -> "Typing". (The default is Super+Space, but I prefer it to be Ctrl+Alt+Space. I'll try it out with SCIM as well to see if it's usable or dead.)

I don't know if anything was wrong with M1, M4, or B1, and it was just my lack of poking around that made me think I was screwed for typing in Japanese.

The Iris icon theme doesn't work still, probably won't, who knows. Not a huge deal with it though, seeing as that it was aesthetic tweak and not purely necessary to function.

One thing though, is that there's no support for exFAT (I'm not sure if it was default with 12.3 or not, but I'll have to check.), which kinda prevents me from using my flash drive that has the Wifi password for my network. I did, however, find fuse-exfat that I can use, though it's a bit roundabout since I have to use the ethernet to get the package to read the password on the drive to connect to the Wifi at home (to be honest, I have another flash drive that isn't exFAT that has the password). Native support would be nice, but isn't wholly necessary.

Well, I think the only other thing to really test is VLC, and to just do a pseudo-setup. Other than that, I think once 13.1 is out in November (I think), I'll be migrating, as it's going to be LTS (Yay! :D) version (It'll also be the first time I've adapted an x.1 version XD)

I'll write more after more testing.

(edit)

SCIM doesn't work at all, as it doesn't list Anthy in the input methods list; however, I found that Ibus doesn't need any configuration at all, so all that needs to be done is to select it in the input methods.

The only problem I have with VLC is that none of the hot keys work when the video window is selected (not even on the video window border :/ ). I read into it once and it has something to do with that the VLC packages aren't built right and maybe a missing package I need to install? I'm not horribly concerned with it, seeing as I usually have the controller window focused to be able to use the hot keys (I use the full screen controls in the case of single-screening).

Oh, one of the minor changes I forgot to mention, was that the "Date & Time" section in settings is much different now. It has a slider for "automatic time" (NTP), "automatic time zone", then a section for setting the time and date manually (you click on the bar and then the window pops up), a section to set the time zone manually (I find it gets a bit funky), and last, as slider for 12/24 hour clock (24 hour is default). With the time zone, when I set it in the installation and have "hardware clock set to NTP" checked, the time is UTC time once I finally get into GNOME, and then I have to select a different time zone (for some reason, it thinks my time zone is UTC when it's not), then select my time zone again (which fixes it). Not sure if it's a small bug, but I suppose I'll see if it's fixed in RC2.

The main thing I need to get used to is that the regular control panel has the second-highest control over settings (the first-highest would obviously be YaST), so I should toy there first before elsewhere. Not sure where the tweak tool would be, but probably third-highest. Things have changed quite a bit since 11.3, and some are a lot less apparent than others; I just need to find the less apparent ones that are important and adapt to them (I can adapt pretty quickly once I have an understanding of it).

I think that's all for now, unless something else pops up. XD