The Perfect Desktop - OpenSUSE 12.3 (GNOME Desktop)

This tutorial exists for these OS versions

The Perfect Desktop - OpenSUSE 12.3 (GNOME Desktop)

Version 1.0
Author: Falko Timme , Christian Schmalfeld <c [dot] schmalfeld [at] projektfarm [dot] de>
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This tutorial shows how you can set up an OpenSUSE 12.3 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

The software I propose as default is the one I found easiest to use and best in their functionality - this won't necessarily be true for your needs, thus you are welcome to try out the applications listed as alternatives.

I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

1 Preliminary Note

To fully replace a Windows desktop, I want the OpenSUSE 12.3 desktop to have the following software installed:

Graphics:

Pinta - open source drawing application modeled after Paint.NET

KolourPaint - paint application with elemental functions

The GIMP - free software replacement for Adobe Photoshop
Shotwell Photo Manager - full-featured personal photo management application for the GNOME desktop

Internet:

Firefox

Opera
Chromium - Google's open-source browser

Thunderbird - email and news client

Evolution - combines e-mail, calendar, address book, and task list management functions

Deluge - free cross-platform BitTorrent client

Transmission BitTorrent Client - Bittorrent client
qBittorrent - free alternative to µtorrent

Marble - desktop globe similar to google earth

GoogleEarth - Google's desktop globe

Flash Player 11
FileZilla - multithreaded FTP client
Pidgin IM Client - multi-platform instant messaging client
Skype (only for 32 bit systems)
Dropbox Client - cloud storage
Gwibber Social Client - open-source microblogging client (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Office:

Adobe Reader

Evince - document viewer
Okular - document viewer

LibreOffice Writer - replacement for Microsoft Word
LibreOffice Calc - replacement for Microsoft Excel
GnuCash - double-entry book-keeping personal finance system, similar to Quicken
Scribus - open source desktop publishing (DTP) application

Sound & Video:

Banshee - audio player, can encode/decode various formats and synchronize music with Apple iPods

Amarok - audio player
MPlayer - media player (video/audio), supports WMA
Rhythmbox Music Player - audio player, similar to Apple's iTunes, with support for iPods
gtkPod - software similar to Apple's iTunes, supports iPod, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, iPod photo, and iPod mini
Sound Juicer CD Extractor - CD ripping tool, supports various audio codecs
XMMS - audio player similar to Winamp
Clementine - Amarok 1.4 fork

VLC Media Player - media player, plays all kinds of videos (video/audio)

Totem - media player (video/audio)
Xine - media player, supports various formats; can play DVDs

Winff - free video converter

SoundConverter - free audio converter
Soundkonverter - free audio converter

K3B - CD/DVD burning program

Brasero - CD/DVD burning program

Audacity - free, open source, cross platform digital audio editor
Kino - free digital video editor
dvd::rip - full featured DVD copy program
Multimedia Codecs

Programming:

Bluefish - text editor, suitable for many programming and markup languages
Eclipse - Extensible Tool Platform and Java IDE

Other:

VirtualBox - lets you run your old Windows desktop as a virtual machine under your Linux desktop, so you don't have to entirely abandon Windows
TrueType fonts
Java
gedit - simple text editor

The software provided in the above list covers most of the basic tasks one might need to do on their desktop computers, sometimes there are multiple choices for same functionality. If you know which one you like best, you obviously don't need to install and test the other applications, however if you like choice, then of course you can install more than one.

I'm using the OpenSUSE 12.3 Live-DVD in this tutorial to set up the system. You can download it from here: http://software.opensuse.org/123/en

I will use the username howtoforge in this tutorial, and I will download all necessary files to howtoforge's desktop which is equivalent to the directory /home/howtoforge/Desktop. If you use another username, please replace howtoforge with your own username. So when I use a command such as

cd /home/howtoforge/Desktop

you must replace howtoforge.

2 Installing The Base System

Download the OpenSUSE 12.3 Live-DVD iso image, burn it onto a DVD, and boot your computer from it. Select Installation.

The installer starts. Select your language and keyboard layout and click on Next:

If you are installing OpenSUSE for the first time, choose New Installation on the next screen:

Select your time zone:

Select your desktop layout here - in the tutorial, I will use the GNOME Desktop. However, if you know what you like better, you can also pick KDE and install other desktops later as well.