May 1, 2009, 1:57 pm
While 11.2 is still months away there’s still plenty of activity going on with openSUSE. In addition to last week’s milestone release, you can also get your hands on openSUSE 11.1 Reloaded. This is a respin of openSUSE 11.1, including KDE 4.2.2 packages and updates to 11.1.
This is an installable live CD that features the KDE 4.2.2 packages from the openSUSE Build Service repo. The live CD was created by Stephan ‘Beineri’ Binner, and is useful for people who want to test out KDE 4.2 and users who are doing new installs and want the most recent openSUSE updates straight out of the box.
See the KDE 4.2.2 announcement for more information on the improvements and new features in KDE 4.2.2.
Some features in openSUSE’s distribution of KDE differ slightly from a stock install of KDE. The “cashew” (Toolbox) is not enabled by default. It ships with the “Aya” theme and includes some bugfixes and enhancements over the stock 4.2.2 release. The Reloaded live CD also defaults to the KDE4 versions of Amarok (2.0.2) and Digikam (0.10).
A Note of Caution
Please note that this is not an “official” openSUSE release, and has not undergone the same kind of testing that stable releases receive.
Additional openSUSE KDE News
As Will Stephenson points out, if you’re following the KDE:KDE4:Factory:Desktop repository, you’ll soon start getting KDE 4.3 packages. If you want to keep on with the KDE 4.2 packages, use the new KDE:42 repo. The live CD is pre-configured to use this repository, so no need to worry about getting moved to 4.3 unless you change it.
See Important news for openSUSE KDE4 users for more information about KDE repos in the openSUSE Build Service and package naming changes.