Before I finally chose OpenSUSE I was deciding whether to try Fedora as well. However UI of Fedora was rather similar to Ubuntu so I tried OpenSUSE instead.
The Green Theme of OpenSUSE will match the Green Tag of Aspire 4530 (just below the keyboard) very well. Owners of Aspire 4530 will know what I mean. LOL
Lets get started:
First go to OpenSUSE to download their Live CD for 32/64bit according to your needs.
The LiveCD is the size of a Normal CD and just what you need to install OpenSUSE, the DVD format is a waste of bandwidth and a overkill.
Everything works out of box except the display driver.
Things that need tweaking:
- Nvidia Propriety Drivers.
Other Distro like Ubuntu has a 3rd party maintaining the driver but not OpenSUSE however due to licensing issues they cannnot include it in the default install.
After installing add the Nvidia Server to the repository
SYSTEM, SYSTEM ,YAST
Software,Software Repo
Add
Protocol:HTTPAccept the Server Key (because you trust the server)
Server:download.nvidia.com (See Nvidia provides the direct package)
Directory on Server: /opensuse/11.2
From the YAST Menu, Select Software Management search for the Nvidia Driver and install it.
The kicker is that OpenSUSE software updates is IRRITATINGLY SLOW.
So bear with it.
After installing and rebooting it will be automatically activated.
- Restricted Formats
Edit: To prevent breaking of the cheese webcam functionality do the following:
Add VLC to the software repository(Use VLC to play all your future videos)
Then use Fluedo Codec for Banshee
After this the webcam functionality will be preserved.
You might also want to do the following configuration of the conf files below.
Edit: /etc/sudoers
Append "DISPLAY" as shown below
Defaults env_keep = "LANG LC_ADDRESS LC_CTYPE LC_COLLATE LC_IDENTIFICATION LC_MEASUREMENT LC_MESSAGES LC_MONETARY LC_NAME LC_NUMERIC LC_PAPER LC_TELEPHONE LC_TIME LC_ALL LANGUAGE LINGUAS XDG_SESSION_COOKIE DISPLAY"
The reason so you can sudo something in GNOME Desktop Mode.
Edit /etc/fstab
Add noatime to the line of your main disk partition so it will not write last modified date to your Harddisk (Less unnnessary harddisk operations)
Open YAST select bootloader
Rename the Windows 7 Entry to something you like.
Rename the OpenSUSE Entry to something you like.
Set the default OS to something you use more often.
Add acpi_osi=Linux to the end of the OpenSUSE boot parameters (If you used my Modded BIOS with Linux in the ACPI)
Overall I like OpenSUSE a lot.
The fonts and themes are much better than Ubuntu.
The laptop is running cooler than Ubuntu for some reason I don't know.
WebCam runs as well with the default cheese application.
Adobe Flash runs well.
Batterylife is good as well (the same as Windows 7) previously on Ubuntu it had shorter batterylife.
Other Cool Features:
SYSTEM, YAST,Kernel Settings
You can adjust the CPU scheduling algo as shown below.
If you installed it on the same harddisk as your Windows OS, the Windows OS is accessible in the following folder
/windows/
For best Font Display use the following Settings in Appearance:
Select Detail
Select Slight Hinting instead of Full
In conclusion this is an awesome OS on Aspire 4530, you should try it!
