[ale] Some Headway RE: Configuring X11 on SuSE-9.3

[Mills, John M.]

Geoffrey -

Thanks for the help. I think you touched the core with "sounds like ...
a minimal install", which is not what I had expected.

I was able to restart the update by first commanding 'Abort', then going
back to 'Continue'. Once the hours-long pull of OpenOffice ended, the
rest of the download ran smoothly. Maybe the 'gatech' mirror decided,
"Enough, already!" and closed the connection, else my overnight download
conflicted with some maintenance activity.

I'll try the updated box this evening.

I'll probably try the KDE-mode re-installation, since I'm very happy
with that setup on my laptop. I was just blind-sided when I didn't end
up with a similar environment on the desktop box.

 - Mills  

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
To: ale at ale.org
Geoffrey
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 7:05 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] Some Headway RE: Configuring X11 on SuSE-9.3

Mills, John M. wrote:

>  7. Only two desktop panes instead of the four I expected.

G> I assume you mean desktops?  Anyway, depending on what wm or desktop 
G> you're using (kde,gnome) that is configurable by simply right
clicking 
G> ont the image of your switcher/pager.

>  6. "Plain vanilla" (or rather, light gray) login screen instead of
the
> more SuSE-esque motif that comes up on my laptop.

G> I believe that the 'pretty' one that comes with SuSE could well
require 
G> certain parts of either kde or gnome (possibly gnome2-SuSE or 
G> kdebase3-SuSE).  At any rate, look to install either kdm or gdm and I

G> would think you'll be happy with either.  If you really want
something 
G> k00l go for Enlightenment 17 and entrance!

Q1. Is Enlightenment a good setup for a !(geek)?

Q2. Is there a clean installation package for the unelightened (me)?

>  5. Some "cute, fuzzy" details seem missing (decorations here and
> there).

G> See above. :)

_Cute'n'Fuzzy_ would be perfect for this user.

>  4. Always opens a console terminal on-screen (until I kill it); fine
> for the sysadmin, but this box is going to a non-geek user who doesn't
> need gratuitous error messages.

G> Again, depending on which desktop you're using, you should be able to

G> 'save current desktop' as you want it to boot to.

See (2) below :(

>  3. Only screen choice I got was lots of resolution (don't recall
> exactly what), but only 8-bit color - perfectly usable here, but I
> expected some depth:resolution choices. (Video is the built-in Gateway
> 2000 VESA.)

G> Unfortunately, I've found some bit of grief accompanying the latest 
G> rework of Sax2 and SuSE 10.0.  You may well end up editing the config

G> file by hand.

Been there, can go there again. I was just spoiled with my laptop
drop-in. Actually I was giving SuSE credit for lots more finesse than FC
in the matter of display hardware discovery.

> In the "serious nuisance" category:
>  2. Missing features ("save setup", "restart" and "stop computer"
> buttons on the logout widget).