openSUSE is always work in progress, much like everything else. While Novell warns against using their factory builds for anything but testing, sometimes the factory build has great advantages over the stable release. That’s the case with the released milestones of openSUSE 11.2, which introduce ext4, kernel 2.6.30 and 15 second boot times. One way of not having to reinstall the system again when 11.2 finally comes out in november is to grab the milestone and roll with the punches.
Substitution is the key to success here. Replace broken bits (after you report them as bugs of course). Here’s what I had to do to get milestone 4 working:
1. Review and manually fix partitioning scheme if needed (I have to keep adding my swap partition each time)
2. Review GRUB settings, if they’re worng you’re in for trouble. I have to keep pointing my install to the MBR in a RAID 0 setup.
3. Replace broken bits:
– Compiz is a write-off? (for some configurations that’s the case for a final release as well.) Scrap the OSS packages (I mean uninstall everyting with Compiz on it) and add the X11:XGL/openSUSE_Factory repo. Re-install compiz, emerald (yes it IS working!) and the old-school fusion-icon suse dichted… as per CyberOrg (here: http://dev.compiz-fusion.org/~cyberorg/category/compiz-fusion/page/2/), just remember to replace “openSUSE_11.1” with the above mentioned factory repo.
– Banshee wont play propriety? Add PACKMAN repo from community repositories and install gnome-mplayer. Alternatively get the decoder from fluendo http://fluendo.com
Tricks and Ticks 