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Download an excerpt from the book. Click here

SuSE Software Package Installs

SuSE certainly did some things right in what they decided to include on the default desktop. One of the things I really thought was a great addition was a quick-install launcher (look for the green ball icon, with the lightning bold across it). A SuSE boxed set comes with thousands of applications, so much so that you may not have to look anywhere for some time. Let's say you wanted to install a package under the Multimedia, CD menu -- I'll choose one I know about called Kover, a CD cover printing program. By clicking that button, clicking on "Administration" then, selecting "Install software package", you'll find an extensive menu of other applications which aren't already installed. New users (heck, old users) will love this. Have a look a the image to the right (click for a full-sized version).

This software install menu is just another way into the YaST2 administration tool, particularly the software installation module. Since YAsT2 needs to run as root, a popup window appears asking for the password. It also displays the command that it is about to execute (/sbin/yast2 -i kover). With my new program installed, I clicked on the main menu (the leftmost button on the panel), chose Multimedia, CD, and Kover.

Remember that everything you install takes disk space. I know it sounds obvious, but when you are madly and happily installing software, you can get carried away. I speak from experience. So, go ahead. Explore! Or as they say on the SuSE login screen, "Have a lot of fun."

We now return you to our regularly scheduled Linux work.