[CS-FSLUG] Another SUSE complaint

[Jukka]

2005/10/15, Nathan T. <celerate at gmail.com>:
[snip]
>  Actually I thought the reason SUSE couldn't include the codecs was because
> they didn't have the licenses, I had not idea it had to do with the
> distribution being freely available as a download. Can you do me a favor and
> ask if the codecs are in the box set, also I would like to know if the
> codecs (all of them, I want full mm support) are only in RealPlayer or if
> they are actually available to better programs like Xine or mplayer and Juk.
>
>  If SUSE has all the codecs in the boxed set then that's brilliant, it would
> also justify buying a box if I don't come across any other problems. I've
> managed to get the rpms from packman to work and now I can play mp3's in
> Amarok through Xine which doesn't have that huge lag the Helix backend has,
> but I still can't play mp3's from juk or the rest of KDE and it's
> applications. I haven't yet tested video support but since I have installed
> the win32 codecs it should work, I'll give kaffeine a try later to make
> sure.

Hi!

I did send a question into opensuse mailing list and thus far it
really looks like that only non-free multimedia support boxed version
has is through Realplayer :
http://lists.opensuse.org/archive/opensuse/2005-Oct/1476.html

...so - it looks like you cannot get better "non-free" multimedia
support even if you buy a boxed set.. :(

I noticed that you asked also if difference between downloadable
version and boxed set has changed ("...however, it was my
understanding that the upgrade version was the same thing as the
normal professional version except that the manuals didn't come with
it. Has this changed?).

Since OpenSuse came into a picture, things may have changed a bit...
Not only there is more than one downloadable versions, they also have
different software selections. First there is Novell's "boxed"
version. It includes full FOSS-software selection, printed manuals, 90
days of end-user installation support and some non-free software. It
is possible to evaluate a boxed set before buying by downloading a
live-cd or installable iso-image. In evaluation you don't get manuals
or installation support, and software selection is limited (I am not
sure if any non-free software is included - probably not). Secondly -
if you are not interested getting printed manuals, personal end-user
support - there is several downloadable "community driven" "OpenSuse"
versions (different by their sofware selection and/or someway
optimized) under development. They do not include any non-free
software and all documentation/support comes only from other users
(web-sites/mailing lists/user forums).

...I hope this description was not too messy...:)

Blessings,
Jukka