SuSE 9.1 Pro on a T41

[dkpw]

I've just installed the newly released SuSE 9.1 Pro on my T41 and thought a quick resume might be helpful.

I decided to perform a clean install as its only been a couple of weeks since I bought the ThinkPad and so data back up was easy and quick.

The first thing I did wrong was put the DVD in upside down and receive the disheartening, blunt message “This computer is a 32 bit device and cannot run 64 bit software. Reboot now.” I had of course used the version of SuSE version for 64 bit AMD processors which comes on Side B of the DVD. Doh!

One reboot later and I had the DVD in the right side up. Things looked good as the installer recognised the precise model of ThinkPad down to the 2372 family and 3JG type. I was also pleased to note the 6.4 kernel saw and correctly identified the wireless card. I have yet to configure it but hope that it’ll be okay connecting with the Apple AirportExtreme Base Station.

Strangely, having identified a ThinkPad, the installer picked a generic monitor type, so I had to manually set the 1024x768 ThinkPad TFT LCD screen driver. As with version 9.0 the card seemingly only works with 3D acceleration when set to 16bit colour (thousands) but not millions.

After package and software selection, the installer ran and concluded with the on-line update which included a kernel update and good number of package updates and font installations. So far so good. SuSE 9.1 usefully includes the latest version of OpenOffice 1.1.1 with a SuSE make-over. It now looks much more Mac OS X or XP than the previous version - this is a good thing. Also up to date is Apache 2 which is at 2.0.49 and Mozilla 1.6.

The release notes make mention that the sound card might have to be reconfigured if performing an update. I had configure it even when performing a clean install. This was not too much trouble and one restart later Mr. Hendrix was playing at Berkeley once more.

So far 9.1 looks good, is fast and has some good things to try - like the wireless networking. The only fly in the ointment is that my USB flash drive seems not to be detected by the OS. This is irritating but as I have not yet spent any time trying to fix it I don’t know how irritating. Other things to try will be NetWare and GroupWise clients, FireFox, and Evolution.

Regards,

dkpw