Portal:12.2

tagline: From openSUSE

openSUSE 12.2 Release information edit

openSUSE 12.2 was released on Wednesday September 5th 2012 and brought the best of Free Software in the familiar openSUSE package: stable and complete.

12.2 can be downloaded from software.opensuse.org. Also available was a German 12.2 boxed retail edition. Retail editions boast a complete printed user manual, physical installation media, and include exciting money-off vouchers. Note openSUSE 12.2 has been succeeded by openSUSE 12.3.

Feature highlights edit

Performance

From the kernel to the desktop, openSUSE 12.2 brings you speed-ups: Linux 3.4 has a faster storage layer to prevent blocking during large transfers. glibc 2.15, the basic library, improves the performance of many functions especially on 64 bit systems. Systemd 44 enables faster booting. And KDE’s 4.8.4 releases build on Qt 4.8.1 to make the desktop and applications more responsive.

Evolution

openSUSE adopts the latest developments in Linux distribution technology as they mature. The GRUB2 bootloader is now the default, binaries are now located under /usr/bin, and during boot and shutdown Plymouth 0.8.6.1 provides flicker-free transitions and attractive animations.

Polish

GNOME 3.4 introduces smooth scrolling in all applications, a reworked System Settings app, and a polished Contacts manager. Xfce 4.10 has an improved application finder and allows vertical panels. The Dolphin file manager is both prettier and faster.

Innovation

X.Org 1.12 introduces support for multitouch input devices and multi-seat deployments. Mozilla Firefox supports the latest Web technologies. The llvmpipe software 3D renderer enables GNOME Shell and virtual machines to use compositing even where no 3D hardware is present. GIMP 2.8 and Krita 2.4 make Free image processing and natural media painting competitive with proprietary tools. Tomahawk Player promises to make listening to music on your computer a social experience.

Stability

LibreOffice 3.5 continues to refine the Free office suite experience with many additions and improvements. Kontact Suite 4.8.4’s e-mail and calendaring applications have increased stability, while the next-generation btrfs filesystem now has improved error handling and recovery tools.

Management

The 3.4 kernel allows the capping of CPU usage across entire groups of processes. The new version of systemd offers a watchdog function for supervising services under its control, as well as a new process management tool. Sysadmins will benefit from a new suite of Digital Forensics/Incident Response tools.

Novelty

A set of heavyweight scientific tools brings math applications such as numeric computation, plotting, and visualization to openSUSE. The Stellarium astronomical simulator lets you explore the night sky without a telescope. Programmers will enjoy version 1.0.2 of Google's Go language, as well as the latest C++ language standards implemented in GCC 4.7.1 and Qt Creator 2.5.

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