Re: Is SuSE going downhill?

From: Paul J Gans (gans_at_panix.com)
Date: 06/06/04 

Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2004 04:06:27 +0000 (UTC)

Jan <At@home.nl> wrote:
>Hello.

>some time ago I posted an artikel in which I expressed my dissapointment
>about SuSE 9.1 Personal. I did a clean install on a PC that had SuSE 9.0
>Pro before, that I had downloaded from the net. There were some issues with
>my PC that made a clean install necessary and I was aware that I would lose
>some apps and functionality in the process. I bought the Pro version
>because of its price and I like SuSE (still). I have SuSE since 1999
>version (6.0)and I had never anything else (to date).
>I ended up with a gutted system -many apps gone- and I also lost the ability
>to burn. Big letdown.

>So I waited for the excellent Pro version to download and solve the problem.
>I did that yesterday, and yes all the apps I wanted are back, but I still
>can't burn. SuSE 9.1 Pro just doesn't see my burner, the way 9.0 did. And I
>want my system to be able to burn.

>What is it with SuSE? Why can't I burn? SuSE places my burner on /dev/hdd,
>the bootup show no sign of a scsi hostadapter that I apparantly need and it
>whines about cdrecord and cdrdao not running with root permissions.

>How do I fix that? I could off course tamper with permissions, that's no
>problem. But where is the scsi hostadapter? Is it the new 2.6 kernel that
>lacks it? Has SuSE forgotten to include it? Is it neglect?

>I am thinking about going back to 9.0 Pro, that version did what I wanted it
>to do. I thought Linux was all about using old(er) hardware, like my burner
>is, a cheap but good TEAC CD-W512EB. But if that is no longer possible with
>SuSE 9.1 Pro, then I might downgrade to 9.0 or try another distro.

>The question on my mind now is: is SuSE going downhill??

I don't think so. The problem is in the versioning. SuSE
9.1 was really SuSE 8.3. SuSE 9.1 is really a very new
version with a new kernel and as a result all sorts of new
things. It also has an upgraded KDE (more problems) etc.

The glitches you are talking about happen every time there is
a major version change. SuSE can't help that. Major changes
in basic systems such as the kernel break all sorts of things,
many of which have to be discovered by trial and error.

As an example, 9.1 installed flawlessly on my system, recognized
both my CD burner and my DVD burner and I'm a happy camper. I've
burned CDs with no problems. (I've not tried DVDs yet and may
have some difficulties, but perhaps not.)

Sorry to have no help for your problems. But I don't think that
SuSE is going downhill at all.

   ---- Paul J. Gans

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