About suse linux didn't know where to post.

[thenetduck]

Hi,
I was looking through the openSuse and their SLED and was wondering if I could get the option or some good information about the difference between suse and ubuntu linux. Who has more support for drivers and wireless cards and other such things. What I mean is, are they able to get driver other open source communities can't get for their hardware to work better? Or is it just shared around the Open source community. I am confused on why one distro would be better than another. Also really, what is the difference between all of the linux distros? I am asking this because I am thinking of making all of my business use Ubuntu now Microsoft is coming out with their ultra expensive software. Thanks,

The Net Duck

[Garyu]

I tried SuSE 1,5 years ago. Then it was like this, you have to pay to get good support. It is possible to download SuSE for free, but support was bad and community was not very friendly. I tried Ubuntu and found great support, I don't have to pay for anything and the community is amazing. SuSE has it's strong points, like a more professional design of user-interface and graphics, since they charge people and companies and so make more money from their product than Ubuntu does. But I would never choose SuSE over Ubuntu. The community here is worth more than I could ever pay for at another place. But that is just my opinion. There are lots of users who choose SuSE over Ubuntu and I'm sure they have some sort of reason, even though I can't imagine what reason that would be. ;)

[Error1312]

I've worked with SuSe in the past, but I always ran into troubles with installing packages and such. Also, I feel it works kinda slow for a linux desktop. Ubuntu feels much faster.
The fact that you have to pay for support is annoying too and their forums weren't of much use to me.

[happy-and-lost]

I liked OpenSUSE 10, and am currently downlading 10.2 (At the same tume as the FC6 ISOs, may take a long time). I'll give you the verdict on it once it's done :)

[feest]

i've tried suse linux in the past but i found my self getting stuck on a windows looking desk... ... :S
okay, i accidentally installed kde but ok, linux worked and yeah well, it was linux but the default package repo was not very interesting and didn't like the rpm system,

happy ubuntu user :)

[happy-and-lost]

Got bored of downloading. Bought this month's LF mag instead. Didn't like SUSE one bit. It didn't work well with my laptop's hardware at all.

[kpkeerthi]

I tend to break my packages often and more easily in SUSE. Other than that I've had no regrets. But I quit using SUSE after I discovered Ubuntu,

[houstonbofh]

There are basically three differences between distributions; Mindshare, support, and community.

Mindshare - This is how likely people are to think of your distribution when you say "Linux." Right now the mindshare king goes to Red Hat, but Ubuntu is getting close. What mindshare gets is native packages, and drivers. A distribution with small mindshare will have to port apps from other distributions. This can cause support issues. :)

Support - When the stuff is broke, who do you call? Red Hat has a very good paid support option. (from both Red Hat and Oracle) It is also very expensive. Suse has some good paid support, and so does Ubuntu from Conical. However, the community support (here) is some of the best I have seen for ANY software. Also, since it is a world wide community, you can often get an answer at 3:00am. This is tougher with Red Hat. :)

Community - The soft support... These are the web pages, forums, howtos, and cool third party tools. (Like Automatix or easyubuntu) Again, Red Hat and Ubuntu win this hands down. SUSE has a good community, but it is just so much smaller than Red Hat and Ubuntu that it can't compete.

But this is just my opnion...

[thenetduck]

Why doesn't Ubuntu make their own version of Open Office (kind of like Suse)? Because they brag that their's works better than normal? I i would have to say, a lot of the time the type setting is a little screwy when using Open Office with Ubuntu getting a .doc file from somone. (Please note not bashing, I do like ubuntu just had to ask the question) Thanks for all your help,

The Net Duck

[aysiu]

I've moved the thread to Other Distro Talk.

[Quillz]

I tried SuSE 1,5 years ago. Then it was like this, you have to pay to get good support. It is possible to download SuSE for free, but support was bad and community was not very friendly. I tried Ubuntu and found great support, I don't have to pay for anything and the community is amazing. SuSE has it's strong points, like a more professional design of user-interface and graphics, since they charge people and companies and so make more money from their product than Ubuntu does. But I would never choose SuSE over Ubuntu. The community here is worth more than I could ever pay for at another place. But that is just my opinion. There are lots of users who choose SuSE over Ubuntu and I'm sure they have some sort of reason, even though I can't imagine what reason that would be. ;)
For me, I just prefer the way openSUSE operates. I just like the UI, the way it's laid out. I know most of this can be replicated in Ubuntu (or any KDE distro, for that matter,) but to me, it's just not the same as the real thing.

Yes, Ubuntu has the best community around, but considering there's an openSUSE forum here, I can still take advantage of a great community when I use openSUSE.

[Hendrixski]

I dunno, I just installed SuSe 10.2 and I'm not impressed. I'm going to work with it for a while, but I still prefer debian based distro's like Ubuntu.