Although sponsored by Novell and used as the base for its Suse Linux Enterprise products, Opensuse is a community-developed Linux distribution, available free for use on servers or desktops.

The Opensuse software is available for 32-bit and 64-bit Intel/AMD processors plus PowerPC systems with, in the latest 10.3 release, specific support for a Linux/Windows dual-boot setup, enabling both operating systems to be installed on the same PC.

It also includes version 2.3 of the Openoffice.org desktop productivity suite, which makes life a lot easier when sharing files with Microsoft Office users. This release includes numerous performance and interface enhancements, plus simpler software setup.

We downloaded the product direct from the Opensuse website and burned it to CD for installation; a DVD download is also available. Alternatively, you can purchase a retail pack from sponsor Novell, containing the software with documentation and 90 days’ installation support.

You don’t need the latest and greatest hardware to run Opensuse and most options will be detected and configured automatically during setup. As such we found the Opensuse distro no harder to install than Windows and a lot easier than some of the server versions.

You will need to decide on what desktop to use. KDE is the default desktop and a preview of the upcoming KDE 4 implementation is included, as well as the current 3.5.7 version. The classic all-green Suse colour scheme is employed, with the enterprise version of Kontact now also included.

Gnome users get version 2.20 of the desktop complete with an implementation of the Yast management tool that looks and feels just like that for KDE.

A number of new management modules have been added to Yast and there’s a really neat new feature called one-click install which makes software installation and maintenance a lot easier. Rather than have to find out which Linux repositories have the required code and its dependencies, this will do all the hard work for you, making the whole process a lot easier and quicker.

Regardless of desktop, you get the same 2.6.22.5 Linux kernel with much-improved boot times. It’s also easier to integrate the Opensuse software with Windows in this release and there’s a huge range of virtualisation options.

These include the latest Xen 3.1 software with support for both full and para-virtualisation configurations, Intel VT and AMD-V processor extensions, and an enhanced graphical management tool.

Kernel extensions to better support VMware are another inclusion in the 10.3 distro, along with a number of other virtualisation tools including Virtualbox 1.5, QEMU and the experimental Kernel-based Virtualisation (KVM) project.

Popular with enthusiasts, Linux is still something of an acquired taste as a business tool. And it’s important to understand that despite being compatible with Windows, Opensuse is a different platform and a fair amount of learning and re-training will be needed for those thinking of switching.

On the plus side, you can save a lot of money by making that move and if you want to give it a try, the Opensuse distro is easy to install and use, well supported and a good introduction to the open source platform. Should you get the Linux bug, it makes it easy to switch to the fully supported Novell product too.