OpenSUSE 11.1 and KDE 4.2

I decided to upgrade my work/main computer yesterday (IBM T61p with an Nvidia Quadro FX 570M affectionately called “the_brick”). Because I’m installing a non-stable desktop, I wanted to make sure that I budgeted in a fair amount of time to conquer any issues I might run across.

Here are some of the issues I faced:

1. The Nvidia 1-click install requires a newer version of the Kernel than the one available on the Live CD. I found the most recent kernel for OpenSUSE, 2.6.27.18, in a repository. BTW, I found the solution here.

Also, you need to use nvidia-xconfig in order to generate a new Xorg.conf. And of course, you need to run “Sax2 -r -m 0=nvi” to configure X – double check the “nvi” piece from the Xorg.conf file. I was unable to get composite working, and to be honest with you, I’m sort of happy going without this.

2. The default Live CD installs OpenSUSE 11.1 and KDE 4.1.3. In order to install KDE 4.2, you need to use the 1-click Factory install to update to KDE 4.2. All the repos are located here. Because this is a Factory install, there are probably bugs and other issues – you have been warned.

3. KDE 4.2 requires the latest version of QT libraries. I don’t remember the 1-click install warning me about that. So when it booted to a command line, I was stumped. Luckily, I figured out that I could use Yast to configure my network and add packages/repositories. I was able to find the latest Trolltech libraries here

I don’t think that this configuration is for the faint of heart. I’m not all that tech-savvy, granted, but I did blow 8 or 9 hours on this yesterday. On the bright side, I have a working install, and KDE 4.2 is really beautiful…lots of eye candy, even without compositing and compiz.