openSUSE

I quite like openSUSE, the installer works well, it is good for getting the latest Firefox updates very soon after Mozilla release them and it is not on ESR, which is even better! Oh and the installer gives you a clear choice of GNOME or KDE which is also nice. Most of the installs I have done are in a VM running on VirtualBox. Helpfully the openSUSE installer detects this and installs the VirtualBox Guest Additions, which is nice for the out of box experience but they are old, which then makes updating to the latest slightly more complex, so this is what I have to do:

  • Create a blank VM and hook up the openSUSE ISO
  • Power up the VM
  • Set the language when you boot from ISO, I chose English (UK) and the subsequent defaults were UK not US, which was very nice
  • If you are doing LibreOffice development or Firefox development then consider whether you want to install the standard distribution builds!
  • Run "Apper Software Management" from "System Settings"
  • Search for "virtualbox", there should be three items installed, remove them
  • Then apply all updates, which takes some time, longer than the install!
  • Shutdown the machine
  • Unmount the install ISO
  • Start up again
  • Login
  • Use the Virtual Box "Device" menu to "Load Guest Additions ISO"
  • Start a Terminal Session
  • Enter: cd /var/run/media/<username> then type ls to see the CD name to change into, something like VBOXADDITIONS_4.3.10_93012 (this needs to be as current user not su)
  • Enter: su - root
  • Enter: zypper update (this is important, to get latest kernel, otherwise a latter step will get kernel source for a different kernel version!)
  • Enter: zypper install make gcc cd
  • Enter: zypper install kernel-desktop-devel (you might need a different kernel, check with uname -a)
  • Enter: cd /run/media/<username> then cd to VBoxAdditions directory as above
  • Enter: sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
  • Enter: usermod -a -G vboxsf <username>
  • exit all terminal sessions
  • logout completely terminal and gui
  • login
  • rock and roll!
  • see Chapter 4. Guest Additions