Postinstall guide for OpenSuse 10.2 users

opensuse 10.2 postinstall checklist:

this is a list of things you probably need to know to make the best use of your opensuse 10.2 installation.

upon the installation of opensuse 10.2 , there are some issues that may be of interest to many users, the most popular of these are:

opensuse comes without mp3 support due to patent issues. so out of the box,you can not play mp3 files.
special(proprietary) drivers for hardware are not included. in particular, the nvidia driver which allows you to play 3d games and run gl apps etc(if you are using a video card from nvidia , eg: gefoce).
non-free software like flashplayer , java and win32 codecs are not included.

all of these problems can be solved by installing the required software from external(non-official) sources.

installing software:

Opensuse comes with a large set of applications present on the installation cds. these are enough for most uses, but for the problems we mentioned earlier , you still need to add external sources from which you can install software that could not be included in the official distro packages.

There is a number of methods to accomplish this and they are will only mention some hints that i think might save you some trouble.

dealing with the issues:

there are many non-official repositories that offer packages not available in the main distribution , but basically there are a bunch of these that are of particular usefulness , suse/oss , suse/non-oss , Packman and Guru:

Add the following sources using yast (see 'adding a repository' below to know how)

After adding the repos you'll need to install the following packages(see 'managing packages' below):

for mp3 support: libxine (and not xine-lib) from the packman repo

to play divx videos: win32codecs-all

flash player: flash-player

java: java-1_5_0-sun and java-1_5_0-sun-plugin

basics:

adding a repository:

the easiest way to add sources(repositories) is through yast.

open yast control center>software>installation source

given a repository url , click add then select 'specify url' , enter the url and finish , it will download all the needed files to build a local index of packages offered on the repository(this method works most of the time, but not always)

this way you can use the software manager to search and install any packages available on the sources you added

managing packages:

open yast control center>software>software management .

there you can search , install , update or remove packages

enter the name of or a relevant keyword to the package you want to install, once found , mark it and click accept, the package with all its dependencies will be fetched and installed , you can mark more than one package.

general tips:

check out amarok!