I've just given opensuse 10.1 a try...

[garba]

I've just given opensuse 10.1 a try... I think that it's when you come across distros like these that you understand why we love ubuntu so much. I must confess the first impression was quite like woow!: nice and clean installer, very good hardware detection, awesome artwork...

... and a lot of useless stuff that got installed along the way

but boy... usability wise it doesn't even come close to Ubuntu. The KDE menu is something which gives you an headache just by looking at it: total lack of separation between personal preferences and system wide settings, items scattered all over the place, but what i loved most was the software section in yast, where you could find, among the others:

system update
online update
online update setup
online update configuration

what each of those things did is beyond me, don't even bother with asking me what the difference is... but wait, there's more to it, there were even another few extra system updaters here and there (gtk apps) buried deep somewhere in the kde menu...

The next thing I clicked on was the reboot button to get back to my beloved dapper.

Damn too funny. If the ubuntu devs came up with a menu like that, there would be popular unrest here in the forums.

[BarfBag]

SUSE was my first distro. I used it for over 2 years and loved it. Even converted a couple friends with it. It started going downhill with 9.3. 9.2 was the most stable release and I still recommend it (sometimes).

I tested out 10.1 and it was a horrible waste of CD's. I would go on to list the many problems I had, but I don't feel like re-wording the post I wrote here.

[david.vikstrom]

Tried it myself about a week ago, didn't want to waste to many cds so I tried the online installation which failed out after about half, then everything just went bonkers. After about six seven hours of work I had a mediocre KDE system with the strangest of updates, as described above. I really love (K)ubuntu, right now I run it with KDE, Gnome, E17 and a separate XGL setting, the only thing not working smothly is the XGL, but thats just expected.

I've probably tried about 20-25 distros now, the only ones I'd recommend is ubuntu, slackware or for the hardcore hackers LFS. Maybe DSL on a USB-pen...

Thanks Mark and the community for ubuntu...

[garba]

i read your other post and "slow as molass" sums it up pretty nicely there's just one thing I'd like to borrow from opensuse 10.1: its superb artwork. And for what concerns their yast installer: well, we have espresso here, and it simply kicks ***, not only does it just take 10 minutes to setup a fully working system, you can even go about your business while it's doing its thing enjoying a fully-blown linux desktop.

And all of this fits on one simple, cheap CD.

Let's give ubuntu another couple of years friends and in the end there'll be no room left for other distros, they just don't even come close. Our community is something the other distros can only dream of.

[ComplexNumber]

The KDE menu is something which gives you an headache just by looking at it: total lack of separation between personal preferences and system wide settings, items scattered all over the place

thats a KDE fault rather than a suse fault. its the same on almost all distros with KDE. the KDE on suse is light years ahead of kubuntu.

[garba]

thats a KDE fault rather than a suse fault. its the same on almost all distros with KDE. the KDE on suse is light years ahead of kubuntu.

I disagree, menus can be easily customized, and the update 'sta fungia thing is something that concerns yast alone: that display of lack of common sense is laughable. I think of myself as a quite experienced linux user, but I was unable to make anything out of their updater-madness.

[r4ik]

I am running SuSE on an AMD900 512mb and it works well.
Detected my hardware without any problems the only thing i did whas turn off some services i did not need and installed another kernel.
Yast wont get a speeding ticket but every dist has its cons.
As soon as Dapper goes final i am planning a dual-boot and have a look at both.
Time will tell what OS fits my hardware and skills the best.
Its the freedom of choise, i think i am a lucky person.

[ComplexNumber]

I disagree, menus can be easily customized, and the update 'sta fungia thing is something that concerns yast alone: that display of lack of common sense is laughable. I think of myself as a quite experienced linux user, but I was unable to make anything out of their updater-madness.

yes, of course menus can be easily customised. but what i'm saying is that you'll find the default menu to be exactly the same as that found on suse in almost every distribution that ships KDE. for example, mandriva has its own menu's, but using the mandriva control centre, you can chosse the KDE specific menu, the gnome specific, or mandrivas own. guess what? the KDE menu is exactly the same as it is in suse. what you describe as "something which gives you an headache just by looking at it: total lack of separation between personal preferences and system wide settings, items scattered all over the place" is the standard KDE menu. fedora is the same. so is mephis, and all the rest. there'e only kubuntu which does things different in this respect.
btw what updater madness?

[helpme]

system update
online update
online update setup
online update configuration

From my experience, package management in 10.1 is a mess, to put it mildly. They are trying to totally overhaul how package management in Suse works and while it sure sounds like a good thing and probably will be a good thing, it's simply broken right now.
That is, the new tools don't work and they exist toghether with the old tools which adds to the confusion.

About the items you mention, system update is a means to update your system from say 10.1 to 10.2, while the online update stuff is meant for online updates, that is bug fixes and security fixes.

About the menus, yes, they really aren't something to write home about, I agree. The sad thing is, the menus in the Gnome setup aren't any better than the menus in the KDE setup. The clutter seems to be Suse specific.

P.S.: The best way I have found to make package management not suck on Suse 10.1 is to use smart. It's the first time I really gave smart a spin and so far, I'm impressed.

[jonathansizz]

... and a lot of useless stuff that got installed along the way

So don't install it - you can choose individual packages during install, rather than going with the default selections.

but boy... usability wise it doesn't even come close to Ubuntu. The KDE menu is something which gives you an headache just by looking at it: total lack of separation between personal preferences and system wide settings, items scattered all over the place,

This is KDE - it's the same in Kubuntu. The solution is to use the menu editor to delete the stuff you don't want. This actually takes less time than having to add extra entries when you use GNOME with Ubuntu.

but what i loved most was the software section in yast, where you could find, among the others:

system update
online update
online update setup
online update configuration

what each of those things did is beyond me, don't even bother with asking me what the difference is...

So you don't immediately understand the things that are different than the OS you're used to - and this is a fault of SUSE? Maybe you should try them out before dismissing them...? Windows users who try linux also often complain about things being different. It's a different way of doing things, so of course it will appear unfamiliar initially.

I love both Ubuntu and SUSE and dual-boot them. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. Agreed that YaST is the major weakness of SUSE right now, and it needs a lot of work in the package installation and updating departments, but it works fine for system admin tasks (once you learn it!) and you can use smart in the meantime for package management & updates.

The next thing I clicked on was the reboot button to get back to my beloved dapper.

So you gave SUSE about 5 minutes before writing it off? Why did you even bother installing it if you weren't prepared to give it a chance?