EDIT ::
This comparison is between OpenSUSE 10.2 and Ubuntu 6.10.
I have written a similar comparison between OpenSUSE 10.3 and Ubuntu 7.10 ( Gutsy) and you may read it Here. However, please do read the comments in both of these comparisons as they provide views of many other users who have read this and are quiet interesting.
I have used Ubuntu for almost 2 years and was completely in love with Ubuntu. One fine day my UPS gave up and my lazy self never allowed me to buy another. The result, after 5-6 power offs, my root file system was corrupted. I had to do a manual “fsck -y” to bring it up. I thought all is normal now, but after the second normal reboot, the files system completely gave up and no amount of fsck would help. It clearly means a re-install. It should have been OK in normal circumstances, but I was in the middle of a release at office and had no time for even small configurations. Hence instead of using my favorite Automatix, I went ahead with Ubuntu Mint. Oh that was a changing point. Mint is Ubuntu modified and Mint'ified. I have KDE on my Arch Thinkpad, so the greenish theme of mint was a welcome change from the brown Ubuntu. Mint had installed almost all the required software and codecs for me and enjoyed Mint for one month. I thought now I have Ubuntu + all the codecs, without and configurations. What else could I ask for ?
But installing Mint had stirred the urge to try other distros. My criteria was simple, I should be able to install over Internet, the distro should be well polished, have huge number of applications, be very stable and configurations should be easy. In other words, I wanted another Ubuntu.
I already have Arch, so I tried the other famous ones. I began with Fedora -> Gentoo and then landed with OpenSUSE. Fedora was too sluggish and Arch is anytime better than Gentoo. OpenSUSE, however, is another story. I did a network install using instLinux and it took me a whooping 48 hours. Yes, I know 48 hours is too much by any standards but after the install , I have no regrets. SUSE is the most amazing distribution I have seen as yet. It appears as if it is designed keeping ease of use and stability in mind.
Now that I have used OpenSUSE for 2 months, here is a brief comparison between my experiences with Ubuntu and OpenSUSE. I will only take things which either come out of box, or have to be installed/configured on both of them.
Installation: Lets begin with the very beginning. I used instLinux for installing both of them. On Ubuntu it took me just 5-6 hours to get a shiny Gnome desktop. On OpenSUSE it took me 48 hours. I had to first install in text mode, ran into installation breakage, did some hacking to get a new root password and finally installed Gnome. Sometimes I feel, that if I did not had an alternate working thinkpad with Arch Linux, I would have quit halfway and installed Ubuntu.
Advantage :: Ubuntu
The initial Grub Screen: Ubuntu has a black brown screen, on the other hand SUSE has a bluish screen. Added to that sometimes SUSE displays a super cool Penguin themed grub boot screen. Now I know that is this nothing big and we can configure any boot screen, but on OpenSUSE it comes as default.
Advantage :: OpenSUSE
Boot Speed: OpenSUSE had installed too many applications, so I believed that it will take too much time to boot up and get a GUI login menu, however, it surprised me with a very quick boot time. Ubuntu on the other hand has upstart, which makes it boot really fast. Overall Ubuntu was the quicker of the two, though SUSE falls short by a small margin.
Advantage :: Ubuntu
GDM login Menu : Ubuntu has a human brown theme whereas SUSE has a blue theme. Its a matter of personal preference, in my case I like blue theme.
Advantage :: OpenSUSE
Gnome Menu: Ubuntu has an almost default Gnome menu. The menu is on the top starter bar and drops down. There is another bar at the bottom, which takes care of minimized applications. Its an arrangement I have been comfortable with since two years. People at OpenSUSE have taken pains to give a new look to the Gnome menu, they have made it very KDE like. There is a computer Icon on the left most side of the bottom panel – clicking it open a very neat and intuitive menu. This menu is getting good recognition from linux community, to the extent that the new versions of Mint have adopted it. I just hope that it becomes a default with most distros.
Advantage :: OpenSUSE
OpenOffice: Novell has made some changes to openoffice (VBA integration etc), which should be part of openSUSE. Though they are not very apparent. One thing is very clear, that openoffice loads very fast in SUSE, not sure why. Also the document recovery in openoffice really works very efficiently. It blends well with the overall theme. Its a little baffling, but this is the same system on which I had Ubuntu. In Ubuntu openoffice appears a big memory hog and is very slow but in SUSE openoffice flies.
Advantage :: OpenSUSE
Theme: This brings me to overall theme. In Ubuntu the theme is human brown and is pleasing to eyes, however, not all applications fully follow the theme and many look out of the context. It appears the Ubuntu developers missed blending all the default applications with the human theme. OpenSUSE has a blue theme, which is good to look, but the best part is that this theme is integrated into all the applications. Be it firefox, Banshee, Fspot or openoffice the same theme is there. This results in a more similar looking desktop.
Advantage :: OpenSUSE.
Default Applications: The default applications in the Gnome menu of SUSE includes Banshee and Fspot. Likewise tomboy is there on the starter bar itself. These are next generation applications using Mono library. Ok I agree that mono is promoted by Novell, none the less, these applications are really useful. What more they are installed by default. I am not merely saying that SUSE installs more applications, yes it does. Here I am referring to the default music, photo and notes taking applications. I used the term next generation applications, to substantiate that, lets look at Banshee. Banshee can play and import audio CDs and play and synchronize music with iPods, as well as Creative Zen players. I can easily sync with my iPod and export my playlist to last.fm. Here I would like to mention that applications in OpenSUSE are not to their latest version ( it came in December), but they use good applications as default.
Advantage :: OpenSUSE
Stability: I use Firefox, Totem, OpenOffice and Gaim 2.0. On Ubuntu Gaim and openoffice crashed once in a week, OpenSUSE, yet to happen.
Why just these applications, I never had a single application crash and yes I have installed some beta appilcations like Gaim 2.0 also.
Advantage :: OpenSUSE
Installing Java, Codecs etc: Automatix is my friend. Just fire it up and it added the required repository and installed all the apps. On SUSE each single application is to be installed separately and takes a huge time. (I found konvinientSUSE very late and thats a KDE application.)
Advantage :: Ubuntu
Package management:
Ubuntu --- deb, apptitude and the state of art Synaptic make a rare combination, making package management a breeze. Its very easy to restrict the version of installed application.
OpenSUSE --- package management, do you mean you want to install a new application. Does SUSE not install enough already. SUSE really does not believe in package management. Yast is at least 4 generations inferior to Synaptic. I also tried smart package manager, its better than Yast, but still not as polished or informative as Synaptic.
Advantage :: Ubuntu
System configurations:
Ubuntu has good GUI tools for system configurations. They are intuitive and all are under the system menu. It has too many tools and I can perform system administration and change configurations easily. However, there is no distro specific tool.
OpenSUSE :: just one word – Yast. Yast is capable of doing all the system admin work and much more. I could hardly believe that such an integrated tool exists. Though Ubuntu provides good tools, but Yast is un-paralled.
Advantage :: OpenSUSE
Security: Though I believe that Linux is secure by default, adding a little more security always helps. Redhat has SELinux in their enterprise offering and SUSE has the much acclaimed AppArmor - a security pack focusing on “mandatory access control for programs, protecting against the exploitation of software flaws and compromised systems”. Sadly no such security pack is installed by default in Ubuntu. I think like me Ubuntu developers also do not see any need for adding more security to Linux.
Advantage :: OpenSUSE
Fonts: In both the distributions, I had to install MS and Apple fonts. I thought as on both the distros the fonts are same so they will look similar. However, the fonts on SUSE appear much better than those on Ubuntu. Reason, yet unknown to me.
Advantage :: OpenSUSE
Community Support: SUSE is a very mature distribution and enjoys a good community support, however, that dwarfs in comparison to Ubuntu community. If you post a single thread to Ubuntu forums, there will be multiple instant replies. The Ubuntu community is huge and very active. Best part is that they are very helpful. The Ubuntu forums are full of HOWTOs and various tips and tricks. In terms of technical knowledge Ubuntu forums can easily rival Gentoo forums.
Advantage :: Ubuntu
Conclusion: I must say that both of these distros have pleased me a lot and completely suffice my requirement of a home desktop system. Both automatically detected all my hardware and had installed the drivers required. However, when it comes to comparing the two, I get a little biased towards the more polished distro -OpenSUSE. SUSE shines as desktop OS. Like my above article demonstrates, SUSE wins the battle 11-3. Though package management is a very big factor, where OpenSUSE requires modification, at the same time the system stability, system responsiveness and the overall performance also play a big role in I just hope that Ubuntu devs take this as a positive criticism and try to improve upon the mentioned grey areas. SUSE simply shines in comparison. It feels like a desktop ready distro, while Ubuntu merely strives to be a desktop oriented distribution. I just wish that OpenSUSE improves their package management, then it can easily become the best desktop Linux distribution.
104 comments:
seems like Kubuntu is the right distro for you.
I don't know what you were doing with the Package Manager in Suse but, all you have to do is add an "Installation Source" - in this case Packman - and all the goodies are there for installation. Just thought i would let you know :-)
Try FreeSpire if you want a jolt.
Has the polish of SuSE, with the commercial feel, only with the Linsprire aging (like wine) you get codecs, and all the automatix stuff already installed.
AND it is KDE too.
You like blue over brown as overstated many times. Your blog is brown. I'm confused?
Which version of Ubuntu and OpenSUSE where you using? Feisty is coming out and it may deal with some of the issues you are talking about.
agree, but give yourself sometime to get used to smart, it's a great tool, and under constant developing, yast package manager is an embarrassment, hopefully they'll fix it in 10.3. well, good luck with your new SuSE =)
Excellent and concise review. I have been using openSUSE for years now and am continuing to use it. Ubuntu is nice distro, but not for me.
Um... 11-5, not 11-3...
Good comparison, although I feel you fell in love with Opensuse, and let it show. But, what to say about distros, we love and hate them, and there is nothing we can do about it.
I used to have suse on my notebook when they were on 9.3, and I felt exactly that: while Mandrake was very good, SuSe made me feel it had no sharp points, a solid distribution. I now use Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Mint Bianca (depends on my mood), but sometimes I miss SuSe. You gave me what I needed to buy the DVD. Thanks.
By the way, if you like the blue more than the brown, why do you use this background in your blog? :)
Sorry about my poor english... portuguese is my default language. :)
OpenSUSE by Novell
Advantage :: Ubuntu
I agree. After spending a month with Ubuntu I decided to install SuSE as my Ubuntu box tended to play nasty tricks with me. As soon as I installed SuSE I was stunned by the polish of this distribution and I was confused about the popularity of Ubuntu. Don't get me wrong. Ubuntu is great, but not that shiny as SuSE. However there are still some problems - for me SuSE is bot too sluggish. Package managment is bad. Moreover, for some unknown reasons wine worked bad for me in SuSE but I badly need that. Now I am runnung PCLOS - everything ok (except fonts - they look like crap) and waiting for the new SuSE. Hope they will solve those problems.
I heartily agree. Having tried several distros including Ubuntu, I too settled on openSUSE10.2. For all the reasons you mention, plus I can use Novell iFolder with it to keep all my documents synchronised between several PCs.
I would just state that I found your conclusions right on the mark. Though I've minimal experience with Ubuntu and am a KDE'er your comments echo my own experiences and what I've gleaned on the web.
Would just like to emphasis 2 of your points
Package management in openSuse is way behind other distributions. One shouldn't be required to add repositories, especially ones like kde and gnome upgrades. Smart's gui is slow, lacking functionality and I've found in not that stable. KonviententSuse's funtionality should be included as part of the distro. Package management development in Suse seems to be focused on enterprise wide deployment and not the casual user.
openSuse forums and the home page are ok but as you said there's just so much available from the Ubuntu community that I've found myself using some of their howto's and discussion threads because of the breadth and currentness of them.
Of course I still think openSuse is the best but it doesn't seem to understand (or want to)the needs of the casual desktop user. And because of its package management I would never recommend it to a noobie.
You can always use Synaptic in openSUSE: http://ftp1.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/rbos/openSUSE_10.2/repodata/repoview/synaptic-0-0.57.2-11.5.html
Just install apt from:
http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/opensuse/repositories/home:/rbos/openSUSE_10.2/repodata/
Synaptic there is as well.
Include the packman package repository and installing codecs is just a single command ;)
sources.list:
# repomd ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc packman/suse/10.2
Find many more packages at:
http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/opensuse/repositories/
Most of the items you have rated in the OpenSuse column are eye candy. The most important aspect which OpenSuse is horrific is package management. I used OpenSuse 10 and then made the mistake of upgrading to 10.1. Total nightmare!! OpenSuse just kept freezing whenever updates were attempted. Looked nice and polished all right but Linux distros ABSOLUTELY require a good package to -- at the very least -- provide needed security patches and application upgrades. After being EXTREMELY frustrated and with no answer in sight from Novell or the OpenSuse forums, I installed Ubuntu. Have never looked back. Try upgrading OpenSuse over the internet using a simple command. You can with Ubuntu. Upgraded from 6.06 to 6.10 (Edgy)in very short order. If you are going to do a serious comparison of distros, there should be a weighting of factors with package management probably receiving a HIGH weighting.
Sweet! I'm glad you like openSUSE. I use both openSUSE and ubuntu. Both have there pros and cons.
BTW, many openSUSE users use the Smart Package Manager (get it from guru's repo) in place of the Advanced Packaging Tool (apt). In many ways smart is an improvement over apt.
Just another boring pro/con for beginners... sorry, try to go inside Suse and you should see, what is really bad with Suse...
I dont understand your comments regarding package management - you can add package repositories (which are similar to apt sources, see http://en.opensuse.org/Package_Repositories for details), and as soon you have added these, they will be integrated to package management like the original installation media. You can install packages as you like, have automatic dependency resolution, all the package information is there, and if you want to install a specific version (instead of the newest, which is default for update), just go to the "Versions" tab. I may be a bit sluggish, yes, but otherwise ...
Are you serious, you were not able to do a fsck on your Ubuntu?Pretty weird it seems. You can always do a fsck no matter what happens, provided you are quite well acquainted with fsck.
I hope you were not using ext2?:)If you were then,bad choice led you to trouble i guess.
On the other hand i think OpenSUSE is heavy.Ubuntu works better for me ;).
Just to add, try reiser(and not reiser 4) fs.It will save you your fscks .
Good luck.
~psr
I have tried Smart. Smart is much better than Yast, but sometimes misses some files. For eg. right now I cannot download and install K3b. Smart says that it is available in pacman repository but cannot download it.
Similarly, Samrt does not give that much information about the packages as Synaptic does.
My biggest problem is no mirror in India and I thought that India is soon becoming Software Hub. The downloads are very slow.
As for the versions.
Ubuntu/Kubuntu 6.10, Mint Binaca
SUSE 10.2
I have nothing against Novel. Actually I can never have. They gave mono, are big time supporter of OpenOffice and make this excellent distro. A deal with MS can not make me change my opinion. Lets not forget that even after the deal, or specially after the deal , they are getting a bigger user base ( Credit Suise). SLES getting more user base directly translates into Linux getting more user base.
Oops,
Thanks for the remarks. I have changed my default template to a blue based.
I've tried both Ubuntu and OpenSuse. I too think OpenSuse is a better desktop system, however the package management system is downright terrible. If OpenSuse were to switch over to apt, I'd probably jump ship in a heartbeat. Otherwise, I'm really content running Feisty Fawn and wouldn't consider a switch unless Suse were to drop Yast.
Try PCLinuxOS. Or at least compare a really 'free' distribution along with these. It might surprise you!
i see, that you are person, who have not much time, just like me. why dont you keep things fast and simple with pclinuxos?:)
Advantage :: PCLinuxOS
I like your review. However I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Simply Mepis 6.5. Mepis just works. All the eyecandy and 3D effects work on just about any computer and it is lightning fast. The configuration tools are top notch and conveniently located. It's a variation of Kbuntu but it's so much smoother..and with "onthego" usb support I can just boot from the live cd anywhere I go and have my complete desktop and programs available to me... Just my two cents :)
Oh I almost forgot to mention. The install from the liveCD is extremely fast with almost no need for interaction. I've installed it in under 20min on many machines.
We set up computers to give to those that cannot afford a computer. (computers4all.org) We have tested both Ubuntu and OpenSuSE - We went with OpenSuSE The main reason YAST!.
I have seen complete newbies set up their DSL connection with almost no help using Yast. The average Joe does not even know where to start this process on Ubuntu.
We are plannning to test the new version of Freespire and will retry Ubuntu against OpenSuSE again in the future.
speedygeo said...
OpenSUSE by Novell
Advantage :: Ubuntu
i second that!
i had suse as the default linux distro on my pc (suse 8/9/10).
after installing debian i never looked back.
never again will i look into a novell offering after their being a m$ puppet.
I really think you should try Kubuntu, it is 1000 times more polished and nice to use as ubuntu. I don't understand why someone can try ubuntu instead of Kubuntu. Kubuntu can be compared to Suse easily, and it has a blue theme!!
Cheers!
olimpico
well how about this:
NOVELL: ok guys, thank you for supporting suse/opensuse thus far, but now we like our MS buddies more.
they are an infection to the open-source community just like apple is a parasite
"SUSE wins the battle 11-3"
I've counted the score myself and I see that it's 10-5, not 11-3. See again how many time you wrote that Ubuntu has an advantage over openSUSE.
People,dont worry.YAST-Package management and boot time will be faster in openSUSE 10.3:-)
Developers communicate and they know about it.I look forward to new openSUSE.
People,dont worry.YAST-Package management and boot time will be faster in openSUSE 10.3:-)
Developers communicate and know about it.
I look forward to new openSUSE.
Btw, as date for the final release of openSUSE 10.3 the end of September is considered.
Package Management on openSUSE is very good if you add Packman on your "Yast Installation Source".
Just take a look on this guide and all codecs, DVD, flash 9, etc. will be automatically installed on your openSUSE box :
http://www.softwareinreview.com/cms/content/view/60/
While I appreciate your opinions, I find your comparison a bit superficial and lacking in any real technical merit. Your comments about the Ubuntu vs. openSuSE theme is quite irrelevant (hint: Gnome Theme Manager). The fact that Ubuntu may not have the number of 'default' applications is a matter of choice/convenience (1 install CD vs 5). And as you've stated, with superior package management, getting whatever new application you want/need is a prety trivial matter. As for stability, I have had Ubuntu 6.10 installed as my main system for almost a year and have not had an OS crash yet (computer on 24x7). Sure, an occasional buggy app may crash the X server and require a 'CTL-ALT-BKSP' but I don't blame the distro for that. Your only complaint involved OpenOffice.. perhaps you should fault them, not Ubuntu. Two of the most critical areas, package management and support you already give the nod to Ubuntu! Don't get me wrong, I was a SuSE fan way back before version 7.0. I still run a version of 10.2 inside a VM (running on my Ubuntu host)! Ubuntu is just the better all around distro for me.
Like I said in the very beginning of the article. I loved Ubuntu and Mint before installing OpenSUSE. Ubuntu ruled my desktop for 2 long years, though on thinkpad I always had Arch. I tried Kubuntu too, but the default package manager is Adept, which is no way comparable to Synaptic. If in KDE I have to use a Gnome application -- its pure bad. In Kubuntu, most of the applications are Gnome centric eg ndiswrapper. YAST is much easier to use and blends well with KDE theme in SUSE.
I am trying KDE on SUSE and its fantastic. The applications are better integrated to the theme, load much faster and are more usable.
I think even on windows we do not have equivalent of KTorrent, simply amazing software.
I am waiting for some GIMP type software in KDE, that might make a perfect KDE SUSE.
Maybe you should look at Mandriva for comparison next time, i don't know how good package management is, though i've heard good things, but installation and provision of Distro specific admin tools, in the shape of their control centre, is worth a look.
I'd love to see someone review an old mandrake release, 7.2 maybe, in a modern context too.
I'm curious as to why issues like brown vs. blue are mentioned as positive aspects of a distribution. What about more serious issues like release engineering, quality assurance, and usability tweaks? Are the default desktops in either distribution more appropriately configured to their target audience?
Brown vs. Blue?
Lots of negative commentary about Gentoo sprinkled in there, not sure why. Random hate? Not indicative of fair and balanced writing or a thought process that fairly compares the main two distributions in the article.
"I am waiting for some GIMP type software in KDE, that might make a perfect KDE SUSE." - try Krita, though i don't understand the avoidance of Gnome apps under KDE and the reverse, especially with an app like Gimp where the interface is so not standard.
Ktorrent is ok, better than the other torrent clients, but Azureus is just so much better (and heavier). Interesting note is that uTorrent runs great under Wine and is very light on resources.
PS - Gnome vrs KDE, why even bring it up as it just opens the same old flame wars
I'm left somewhat disappointed after seeing this review, especially after having been noted on OWSNews.com. The reason I'm disappointed is because, as with many blog[ger] reviews, so many of the points are based on personal preference. From the fact that he didn't like the brown theme (which is easily changed), to the system setup tools available (Depends on your needs, do you need a swiss army knife - I.E. Yast - or do you need basic simple tools). Not to mention my feeling that the reviewer didn't know that much about the opposing product. The reason I call Ubuntu the opposing product, is that it also seems like the reviewer has already made up their mind which one they liked ahead of time, making the review a justification as to why. Don't get me wrong, the article was articulate and descriptive, just too much of it was based on personal preference...
With regard to your Package Management woes, see http://opensuse-community.org/Package_Sources
I agree with most of what you've said, to a curtain degree (themes can be easily changed - this shouldn't be a valid point).
Me too use Arch on both my laptop and desktop, though i also have ubuntu installed (on both) on another partition, just for the kick. I did try SUSE couple of months ago, but didn't like the bloat and slugginesh feeling, though i admire yast for delivering a complete control-panel to the system. I wish Arch would have this (i actually started coding such an application... but it will take sometime...).
I do find it suprising that you state some applications run faster on SUSE than on ubuntu - i might try to install SUSE soon (when i'll have a free 48 hours... :-) ) and see what you're talking about...
Enjoy your new desktop, and ofcourse, your old Arch :)
I don't see how an OS with buggy package management can get the nod over one that uses apt. All the eyecandy won't mean zilch if you can't install/update apps. As for DSL connection setup, I never had any issues with Ubuntu and my DHCP based high speed internet. Just plugin and I'm good to go. Uniformity of the theme is the only issue worth talking about in Ubuntu. No one has posted the specs on the pc they used so how can some of you nitpick about the speed of the OS. Eyecandy is a non-issue. Most people will change their wallpaper and window behavior eventually.
Try Solaris 10.
Go can download it at http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/get.jsp, or ask them to send a free dvd.
Or maybe you can try Solaris Express Developer Edition where you have a excelent C, C++, Fortran and Java IDEs and compilers.
Regards,
Lorenzo
This might be the most ridiculous comparison I've ever seen. Most of your dislikes stem from theme integration or coloration. And you comment that you can't use a "gnome" app in a "kde" environment??? That's possibly one of the silliest things I've ever heard. The beauty of any distro is the end-user's ability to tweak, configure and change everything to their heart's content. Go ahead, install synaptic on kubuntu. Install GIMP wherever you please. Hey, let's install k3b onto gnome...!!! We can do that, we have the technology!!! As for openoffice speed... I ran across a post about tweaking it's config that sped up it's required start time that helped immensely... The greatest asset to linux is a connection to the internet and a search engine! If you can think of it, chances are that someone has beaten you to it. Good luck with whichever distro you ulitmately choose!
It all depends upon how you take it - the looks, the response time, the hardware compatibility, etc. As always Linux provides the best of options in its various distros. I'm a Kubuntu user for a year now, and I'm eagerly awaiting Feisty Fawn. Before that I was using Mandriva. The huge community support got me hooked onto Ubuntu (and later Kubuntu). It still is the best distro as far as hardware identification and speed in my laptop goes. I have to say SuSE does look cool by default, and much better than Ubuntu by default. For those who like to build a 'beautiful' desktop, both distros are equal as far as my experience goes. Last of all, the package management is superb via apt. Have heard from a friend that you can use apt (and Synaptic) in SuSE too.
I thing that the grub screen and default theme are not important for normal user.
Lol
OpenSUSE will kick major ass when they decide to switch Yast for Synaptic. PCLinuxOS already uses both RPMs and Synaptic, why can't they?
" Your blog is brown"
Looks pink to me.
Your comparison is both insightful and interesting. Perhaps the GNU/Linux distributions mentioned could learn from the mistakes you have pointed out - I am especially interested in the fonts issue. Could you perhaps post screenshots with the appropriate fonts and sizes so we can see what is wrong with them? Thank you.
Nice Review! SUSE Rules! go Novell!
@openoffice: Probably Java support is turned off in openSUSE. Goto Tools->Options-> Java and turn it off. Then test the start times of openoffice again.
Personally I respect a sturdier and more polished distro but over the years I have found myself flocking toward the distro that has the larger and more involved user community. After all thats what open source is about... Plus it doesn't hurt that almost every package known to man and woman is available from the ubuntu reps...
Big On UBUNTU!
Nice article!!
I hate to say it but most of your discussion and comparisons really seem quite petty as criteria to evaluate an Operating System.
And you can install Gimp in KDE, Gnome, XFCE, etc.
Repository.
Strong advantage: Ubuntu.Reason: Ubuntu does not abuses open source principles and not tries to make decisions instead of me.
Take a look, there is note o http://ktorrent.org/index.php?page=downloads
---begin---
Note : official SUSE packages for ktorrent >= 2.0 are crippled, SUSE disables DHT functionality for legal reasons (see https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=205390)
---end-----
So, Novell is silently cripples some software.I know no any laws prohibiting DHT algo itself, like there is no laws prohibiting kitchen knives.Law may prohibit some specific use of DHT algo (i.e. spreading copyrighted materials, as well as law prohibits killing someone by kitchen knives).It is up to user how legal his actions are.He may use DHT to download Ubuntu ISO.Or to pirate something.As well as user can use kitchen knife as expected.Or he can use it to kill someone.
As for me, attempt to decide instead of me and instead of laws which algos are "legal" makes Novell not better than well-known evil, M$.
P.S. There is Kubuntu, it's KDE based.I'm personally prefer KDE ;)
P.P.S. sorry if this post duplicate.Connection has timed out when attempted to post before this.
Tried SuSE @ 10.1 and say that over all it was impressive. However I am a musician and recording software is a must for having good realtime/ low lat preformance. I whirlwind for Ubuntu got me interested. My wife runs Mepis 6.0 on her machine, my son uses Ubuntu 6.10 and i was using Ubuntu with latency patches for recording till i found 64 Studio (which came out a short while back). straight Debian and lovin it. If you are a serious music recorder and want great response form your system...try 64 Studio. there is also JackLab for the SuSE in you.
Sorry, but you guys are like bad dream, well...some of you. The original post does lack any real technical comparsion at all. Got your filesystem crashed? What the heck did you do to it? I haven't lost any data over the years I use Linux on my servers, and some of them were actually using ext2 once upon a time and did crash numerous times over the powerdown. Those were uninportant ones, and yet they still boot and run. Installation taking 48 hours? Well, if you cared to download the dvd, it might install much faster. Or perhalps you have added lot more packages than you did with Ubuntu? Comparing distros according to their default theme choice is plain nonsense. You can compare them based on hardware support, ease of installation, number of app's offered during installation, extra stuff for suspend support etc, but not theme. The theme is not hardcoded, and you can change it, you know. I do not get it what you guys love so much on Ubuntu package manager, and hate on SUSE one. Should you guys say "YAST is terrible memory hog, and starts slow", I'd second that. But saying it is unstable, and is just "bad"...that is no real reason. Haven't got to crash ever-unlike for example KNetworkManager, which is also in SUSE, and which I sincerely hate for not being able to activate my wireless (have to use command line, but nevermind that). "Why" is YAST so bad then?? It does handle your basic config and dependencies pretty nicely, especially for those unable to dig in config scripts. Package manager start...if you have got slow connection, and lots of sources, it can take a while to start. But then...why would you start it to install every single program? Just add them all at once (or couple of times if you forget something), and leave it alone after that. There is this auto-update proggy which will remind you of new versions. How often you need to really add something? Big superiority of SUSE comes from ease of automated and remote deployment. You don't even need to sit at your pc to install it. Did you know that? You can actually control it remotely, and its very easy to setup. What made me abandon Ubuntu after first test was that i wanted to logon as 'root', and it wouldnt let me..."If you want to setup something, do it as user.", it said. Oh what the heck, plain UNIX user doing system setup?? Yeah, right. Very clever idea. Ended up as average Joe logging as "Administrator" in Windows with the exception, that Windows wouldn't let you do just pretty much anything like "root" access will. Some of the comments here seriously remind me of youngsters boasting about installing beta version of Windows Vista, and saying how great it is with all the new look, yeah sure.
K/Ubuntu community can´t accept if somebody likes other distro.And you can say what you want.
This is ridiculous.This is reason why i won´t use K/Ubuntu.Never!!!
People, it is only person opinion/experience of Abhay Srivastava.Nobody order you use openSUSE.
I've used Suse(old versions) and Ubuntu(KUbuntu in fact). I have difficulties finding some packages for Suse, and often i was required to compile sources. I think that Suse has a more polished UI, but this didn't help me to run the application i want. The updates and the last versions for a package are more easy to find in KUbuntu and this is why i have choosed this version. Their repos(i've added some manually) are impressive, you can install almost any soft and the last updates without spending time to search.
My criteria was simple, I should be able to install over Internet, the distro should be well polished, have huge number of applications, be very stable and configurations should be easy. In other words, I wanted another Ubuntu.
No, you wanted Debian. Drop your misconceptions, throw out the FUD, and try Etch. Ubuntu does not meet the criteria that you set as it does not have a huge number of packages (the *verse repo's are not officially supported and shouldn't be counted). Debian Etch has over 18,000 packages that are officially supported.
AnonCwrd is totally right about openSUSE and DHT.
OpenSUSE really starts looking/behaving itself like M$:
-it has a built-in sax2 app that won't let you make changes to your system, like editing your xorg.conf file makes sax re-write back the code (the system narrows users choice to act).
-it's bloated and slow, this might change soon or might not.
-its new software upgrade in the enterprise area is/will be called as "Service Pack1".
-they push forward Mono (the M$ clone and future patent pain), when soon Java will be available under GPL.
Azureus is way more usable than KTorrent. It's not that heavy as ppl say/think, it doesn't show up instantly cause it first loads Java.
I used openSuse 10.2 till I got sick of it, now using KUbuntu Feisty and it's everything I wanted.
All nice and dandy, but then comes upgrade time. Yesterday I upgraded my server from edgy to feisty (have been running feisty on my laptop for 1,5 months), it upgraded 1600+ packages without a hitch. sudo update-manager -d, wait, reboot, ready. Try that with fedora/suse.
I used Suse for 6 years and it was the only one on multiple machines. I stopped using it after the latest viasco with MS.
For the last year, I have tried Kubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Mepis and others. Over all PClinuxOS is the winner for me.
Mepis is excellent but my issue is related to compliance with the GPL, and the dependeance on and dominance by a single person.
Kubuntu is good and has good potential because of funding, but has no advantages over other distros.
PCLinuxOS is dependent on one person but contrary to Mepis, he is leading a good group of people to produce the best excellent distro. I am surprised you didn't include it in your comparison.
No this is not a review by any standards.You are comparing colours man.Grow up!
It's right decision to test openSUSE, I am an openSUSE user since 2004 and I love it. But I like openSUSE's KDE than GNOME. I love the kickstart applet of KDE in openSUSE. It rocks!!!
I am not sure why you don't like KDE (though I have no hatred against GNome), but I guess, you should give a try with KDE, Compiz in openSuSE..
Have good day.
Your scoring scheme has no weighting factor applied. Are you suggesting that the colour of the login screen is of equal importance to the quality of the package managers? Many of the points against Ubuntu are rather trivial, but are given equal weight in the conclusion.
For example, from my experience the package management of OpenSUSE is extremely slow and unreliable. OpenSUSE may well pre load many apps (presumably for that reason), but if even one of the apps you use isnt in that list, then you are done for.
As others have said, I think you are right and the only disagreement I have is your OpenSuse install time...that is not normal. Use the DVD and it it is really fast.
I was originally a Mandrake user, but switched to Suse and was impressed with how so many things just worked. I connected by laptop to a projector and was amazed that it worked with a simple click in Yast.
I tried Kubuntu about a year ago and was not impressed. Adept was just crap...needs to be more like synaptic. Even if Ubuntu was better than Kubuntu, it doesn't do a KDE user much good.
One more thing, since 10.0 beta4, Opensuse uses preloading to improve the speed of open office, firefox, the gimp, and others. You can read about it here:
http://en.opensuse.org/SUPER_preloading
One of the other comments said that your criteria were petty...but since when is application speed petty?
A void, as to your thoughts on Arch Linux.
You only talk about it in passing. But you trust it, as your backup OS. It is my primary OS, and I think it is an amazing distro.
I want to know what you think, Arch must particularly contrast with Ubuntu.
(Too much fun trying to pick good words.)
have fun with suse, your fonts are going to SUCK soon since novell is pulling cleartype from openSuSE. You're dealing with the devil man. Novell is under MS' thumb.
just one remark for people who have not a direct connexion to the internet, opensuse rock, all you have to do is go to build service and you can get what you want.
try to do that with ubuntu fedora debian etc....
so suse thanks very much
Where are the Developers Community of the Ubuntu? Ubuntu is not an independent Distribution!(Debian)
For who it desires to improve the problem of the slowness in the updates, it follows information
http://peqno.com/?TQLPfBTrKg
or
http://my.opera.com/Ricardo%20Belfiglio/blog/show.dml/647105
Links forgives some above is not functional, below the correct ones
http://tinyurl.com/yus4yc
http://my.opera.com/Ricardo%20Belfiglio/blog/show.dml/647105
About 2 months ago, I decided to get a laptop for myself with the ulterior motive of presenting linux desktop features at work. The requirements for the distro was: Xen support, 64 bit, minimal time spent configuring things, stability, full AES hard disk encryption option during install, and to some extent, commercially oriented distro (fedora, opensuse, ubuntu) as these 3 have commercial counterparts/support that present the most probable candidates to be used in an enterprise desktop solution. The laptop I tested on was made by Alienware (also tested the big 3 on various desktops gaming rigs).
Ubuntu: Nice. Package management really nice. Things just seemed to work, that is, until I started configuring things...ubuntu ended up aggravating me extensively with extremely bizzare behavior (e.g.: Installed a new GPU, I can no longer configure X to start even tho I had no problems doing the same with fedora/suse on the same hardware). A lot of pollution with 32 bit apps. Security features were lacking. Sudo set-up like the Mac's...not secure, not sudo's intended use, administratively nothing short of nightmarish. Overall, I didn't have the sense that there was any real innovation, just repackaging (yet somehow better). Needless to say, I dropped ubuntu because drinking bleach sounded better then administering a bunch of em.
Fedora: Bundled with the livna repository, I had a xen kernel, a nifty applet for managing my VM's, nvidia drivers for the Xen kernel, beryl, all the important office & dev apps I needed and gaming on Xen with AIXGL to boot. One massive problem, something was unstable while running the Xen kernel. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what it was. Along with that show-stopper, Package management is unfathomable slow. Gnome/KDE layout is not as cleanly put together as other distro's and little things like not upgrading to firefox 2 because they believed it wasn't really worthy of being a 2 added further aggravations. After a month of trying to resolve the hard-locking of Xen, I dropped F6. Kudos to livna tho, they rock. Best quality repo out there.
Opensuse: Default patch set-up was broke, yet again. Wireless configuration was the worst of any distro tested. On multiple machines, suse didn't configure the supported wireless card correctly or got confused by the non-supported wireless card being installed. Intel ipw3945 drivers included (nice), although the config looks sound, it simply didn't work. Default font setup was horrid (on the laptop, fine on other systems). Other then that, Xen was stable, the default KDE implementation was done better then any other distro, many administrative tasks/configurations handled easily with yast. Security features were good (at least I could encrypt /home at install whereas many other distros have zero install options for encryption). Overall, opensuse provided the best hardware support for the latest and greatest toys I use, the system has been suburbly stable, 64-bit support awesome, administration is much easier then many other distros. Some rethinking/design of yast would be nice tho...like configuring xen vm's through yast really sucks. The fedora way (for desktop usage) is much better.
So, for now, I'm sticking with opensuse. They have the coolest mascot anyway =D
Read almost all the comments, I have never used OpenSUSE, but i used Gentoo, Fedora, Ubuntu, Arch, mandriva.. I was thinking about using OpenSUSE, but downloading those 6CDs in India is a nightmere. 1 CD download would take almost 14hours here. Anyway, coming to the discussion,
Most of the comments here are written by the people who are geek, who dont take a desktop as a desktop, but by own means make them good. Now ask yourself, what really a desktop is (for whole humans , not aliens or geeks).
Package management is only one important part of a distro, there are many other part which you people really didnt care of. Its User Interface, performance, security, features, hardware support, usability, overall system control and configuration etc.
Why don't you look at those corners, Linux really lack them. I am not a windows fan (probably you will start finding this point as a weakness).
Have you seen the applications in closed sources,. MacOSX is parasite, one told that, but did he even know what MacOSX is, and which technology they developed. UI and desktop wise, OSX is considered as most eveolved (experts says, you be just side).
Windows has performance, and getting good looks with every release. I may show my friends the cool beryl, but when it comes to install it to them, removing their windows, the reality comes in real space. We then have to tell them, ok beryl is in development, and still needs to fix this corner and workspace problems. The windows are not properly handled and those app windows doesnt focus good at all.
Well, its us who enjoys Linux, but for other people who are using WIndows or mac, and who they are not geeks, Linux seems probelematic.
Ubuntu has got good development, but there still is no centralized control center, no security and desktop integration. Gnome has evolved, but it lacks many features than it has. KDE is better but is slow. Everything in OSS is just lacking perfectness.
Why then Ubuntu and Novell, what reasons you got to fire anyone. Its just taste, what the current author got.
I am Ubuntu Feisty user, just using it cuz I like Linux, is much familiar with it, and my works are really easy on Linux, cuz I know typing in commanline. For windows or mac users, it would be a nightmere. Consider you dad or mom, will you install Linux and be happy with their learning on it.
Novell has given much thing to OSS, mono, beagle, Xen, AppArmor etc, it did deal with MS for something else, to prtotect its user base, read the