SuSE vs. Ubuntu

[Castar]

Just a question. Is it easy to have up-to-date versions of programs in openSUSE? The inability to do so really bugs me in Ubuntu...

[joplass]

Yes, Ubuntu is better than SUSE.

For one reason, and one reason only.

Ubuntu doesn't deal with Microsoft.

That would have been my answer.

[d3v1ant_0n3]

In my experience (limited) Ubuntu is better than SUSE for one reason only.

I couldn't get Suse to boot into X. Admittedly thats more ignorance on my part, but still. It just wouldn't play nicely for me. Took about 3 hrs to install too.

[RAV TUX]

merging this thread here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...35#post1847635

[julian67]

Just a question. Is it easy to have up-to-date versions of programs in openSUSE? The inability to do so really bugs me in Ubuntu...

Yes, it's easy. Like Ubuntu there are official stable repositories full of all the usual stuff you need. There are also suse approved community repositories and lots of 3rd party ones too, specialising in different areas. You can find pretty much everything in latest or recent versions. The two most important repos are Packman and Guru. There will always be the odd thing you need to compile from source but not much and not too often. If you want to investigate further I'd suggest go to some of the suse forums and check out the howto sections on smart package manager and repositories. Make sure you use the latest version of openSuse 10.1 (it was remastered to solve package management problems) or use the latest 10.2 beta which is now approved for official 10.2 release.

[Castar]

openSUSE 10.2 is out.

[Eddie Wilson]

Not many people seem to care about the Novell-Microsoft deal. OpenSuse had just passed Ubuntu on Distrowatch. I believe people are tired of using outdated software in Ubuntu 6.06.

[Lster]

Suse never works well for me... Ubuntu always works brilliant though !

[FLPCGuy]

This is of course going to be an opinion but I like the way Ubuntu is setup better. I like that the root account is disabled and I just sudo for everything. Really though it is mainly because I put alot of effort to get Ubuntu working the way I like it. I have a pretty good feel for the way things work with Debian/Ubuntu and SuSE is enough different I just doesn't "feel" right. I am generally impressed with SuSE. If Debian and Ubuntu disappeared I would most likely move to OpenSuSE.

I started with SuSe (9.1 Personal, single CD) first so my impression was just the opposite. While I like both distros, I prefer the root acct to sudo and find Debian and GNOME awkward since I started with KDE and the great YAST graphical utils.

Now that I have managed to get both SuSe 9.1 and Ubuntu 6.10 on my PC along with it's original ME which I never bother to run anymore, I find myself using Ubuntu most often. I have both configured with KDE-look wallpaper photos and transparent bottom taskbar. Fortunately, I don't know enough terminal commands to have a problem switching to a Debian based system at this point. I think the support forums and documentation of both are better than for Windows.

I'm impressed with the flawless dial-up updates and software installs I've gotten so far in Ubuntu, though most of what I'm downloading seems to be KDE stuff (maybe I should have started with Kubuntu) but I like GNOME too. My SuSe 9.1 never updated well via dial-up and is no longer a supported distro. I'd like to try OpenSuse 10.1 but I'm balking at the hassle of six CDs and of course some expense to buy them. The frequent, single live CD approach suits me, though I haven't tried an upgrade yet.

Ubuntu 6.10 packs a lot into a single CD including Firefox 2 and the latest OpenOfc. Ubuntu probably has a better selection of open software, but I haven't spent much time with SuSe since the OpenSuSe project took off.

Still, I'd recommend SuSe for the timid just switching from Windows unless they are financially strapped. Ubuntu seems to be more for hard core UNIX fans though it also has a polished GUI desktop and many utils any idiot can use. If you spend more time under the hood in a terminal window, go with Ubuntu (assuming you don't find sudo awkward as I do).

If you are dial-up, go with Open SuSe or Kubuntu since I couldn't get any GNOME GUI utils to see or use my external serial full modem. I had to run PPP config from a terminal window and download KPPP. A lot of the software seems to be for KDE as well.

Otherwise, my experience with Ubuntu and SuSe have been quite enjoyable with easy installs and configuration even for a beginner. It is a tough choice. Both have package managers for sw installation. RPMs seem more common than DEBs for the stuff I use, but Apt/Synaptic can install either. Both distros are excellent and popular...no clear leader IMHO. That's why I'm running both.

[Slammer64]

I agree FLPCGuy, I am running openSUSE 10.2 x86_64 on my desktop and Kubuntu 6.10 Edgy on my x86 laptop. I love openSUSE, especially now that they have fixed YaST and it's updater, works like a charm, but Kubuntu 6.10 works great on my Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop, so I'll keep both. After all, nothing keeps you from running more than one *Nix distro LOL