biology

OpenSUSE

OpenSUSE is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand OpenSUSE rather than just read about it. In short: openSUSE ( ) is a free and open-source Linux distribution developed by the openSUSE Project. It is offered in two main variations: Tumbleweed, an upstream rolling release distribution, and Leap, a stable release distribution which is sourced from SUSE Linux Enterprise.

Key takeaways

OpenSUSE belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect OpenSUSE to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of OpenSUSE from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

openSUSE ( ) is a free and open-source Linux distribution developed by the openSUSE Project. It is offered in two main variations: Tumbleweed, an upstream rolling release distribution, and Leap, a stable release distribution which is sourced from SUSE Linux Enterprise. The openSUSE project is sponsored by SUSE of Germany. The company released the first version as SUSE Linux in 1994. Its development was opened up to the community in 2005, which marked the creation of openSUSE. The focus of the developers is on creating a stable and user-friendly RPM-based operating system with a large target group for workstations and servers. Additionally, the project creates a variety of related tools, such as Agama, Myrlyn, YaST, Open Build Service, openQA, Snapper, Portus, KIWI, and OSEM.

Product history

SUSE Linux In the past, the SUSE Linux company has focused on releasing the SUSE Linux Personal and SUSE Linux Professional box sets which included extensive printed documentation that was available for sale in retail stores. The company's ability to sell an open-source product was largely due to the closed-source development process used. Although SUSE Linux had always been a free software product licensed with the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), it was only freely possible to retrieve the source code of the next release 2 months after it was ready for purchase. SUSE Linux' strategy was to create a technically superior Linux distribution with a large number of employed engineers, that would make users willing to pay for their distribution in retail stores. SUSE Linux is of German origin, its name being an acronym of "Software und System-Entwicklung" (software and systems development), and it was mainly developed in Europe. The first version appeared in early 1994, making SUSE one of the oldest existing commercial distributions. It is known for its YaST configuration tool.

openSUSE Since the acquisition by Novell in 2004 and with the advent of openSUSE, this has been reversed: starting with version 9.2, an unsupported one-DVD ISO image of SUSE Professional was made available for download. The FTP server continues to operate and has the advantage of "streamlined" installs, allowing the user to download only the packages the user feels they need. The ISO has the advantages of an easy install package, the ability to operate even if the user's network card does not work "out of the box", and less experience needed (i.e., an inexperienced Linux user may not know whether or not to install a certain package, and the ISO offers several preselected sets of packages).

The initial stable release from the openSUSE Project, SUSE Linux 10.0, was available for download just before the retail release of SUSE Linux 10.0. In addition, Novell discontinued the Personal version, renaming the Professional version to simply "SUSE Linux," and repricing "SUSE Linux" to about the same as the old Personal version. In 2006, with version 10.2, the SUSE Linux distribution was officially renamed to openSUSE, as it is pronounced similarly to "open source". Until version 13.2, stable fixed releases with separate maintenance streams from SLE (SUSE Linux Enterprise) were the project's main offering. Since late 2015, openSUSE has been split into two main offerings, Leap, the more conservative fixed release Leap distribution based on SLE, and Tumbleweed, the rolling release distribution focused on integrating the latest stable packages from upstream projects. Over the years, SUSE Linux has gone from a status of a distribution with restrictive, delayed publications (2 months of waiting for those who had not bought the box, without ISOs available, but installation available via FTP) and a closed development model to a free distribution model with immediate and free availability for all and transparent and open development. On 27 April 2011, Attachmate completed its acquisition of Novell. Attachmate split Novell into two autonomous business units, Novell and SUSE. Attachmate made no changes to the relationship between SUSE (formerly Novell) and the openSUSE project. After the 2014 merger of the Attachmate Group with Micro Focus, SUSE reaffirmed its commitment to openSUSE. EQT AB announced their intent to acquire SUSE on 2 July 2018. There were no expected changes in the relationship between SUSE and openSUSE. This acquisition was the third acquisition of SUSE Linux since the founding of the openSUSE Project and closed on 15 March 2019.

The openSUSE Project

The openSUSE Project is a community project to create, promote, improve, and document the openSUSE Linux distribution. The openSUSE Project community, sponsored by SUSE and others, develops and maintains various distributions based on Linux. Beyond the distributions and tools, the openSUSE Project provides a web portal for community involvement. The community develops openSUSE collaboratively with its corporate sponsors through the Open Build Service, openQA, writing documentation, designing artwork, fostering discussions on open mailing lists and in Internet Relay Chat channels, and improving the openSUSE site through its wiki interface. The openSUSE Project develops free software and tools and has two main Linux distributions named openSUSE Leap and openSUSE Tumbleweed. The project has several distributions for specific purposes like MicroOS, which is an immutable operating system that hosts container workloads, and the Kubernetes certified distribution Kubic, which is a multi-purpose standalone and Kubernetes container operating system based on openSUSE MicroOS. The project is sponsored by a number of companies and individuals, most notably SUSE, AMD, B1 Systems, Heinlein Support, and TUXEDO Computers. The first indication that there should be a community-based Linux distribution called OpenSuSE goes back to an email of 3 August 2005, in which at the same time the launch of the website opensuse.org was announced. This page was available a few days later. One day later the launch of the community project was officially announced. According to its own understanding, openSUSE is a community that propagates the use of Linux and free software wherever possible. Besides a Linux-based distribution, it develops tools like the Open Build Service and YaST. Collaboration is open to everyone.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

openSUSE Tumbleweed Logo

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with OpenSUSE

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what OpenSUSE claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to OpenSUSE before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about OpenSUSE ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of OpenSUSE

In research: OpenSUSE appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses OpenSUSE in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: OpenSUSE is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics ARM Linux distributions, Independent Linux distributions, Linux distributions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for OpenSUSE outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study OpenSUSE in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what OpenSUSE means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain OpenSUSE out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is OpenSUSE in simple terms?

Why does OpenSUSE matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study OpenSUSE?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on OpenSUSE.