Would you recommend openSuse?

[wersdaluv]

It's good and I was tempted to use it. What keeps me from leaving Ubuntu are its philosophy, its huge helpful community (probably the easiest distro to get support for), and because its easiest to install on Ubuntu because Ubuntu debs are most abundant.

[LuisAugusto]

Just as a clarification, BuildService and packman poop on all debs Ubuntu may have around the world.

[Dragonbite]

Just as a clarification, BuildService and packman poop on all debs Ubuntu may have around the world.

And this is different than people complaining about RPMs?

[LuisAugusto]

And this is different than people complaining about RPMs?

I'm not sure what you meant. DEBs and RPM are easily installable in any modern distro. 1 click install, BuildService, and packman, offer a hell lot more packages (and more up-to-date) than Ubuntu repos and debs spread everywhere together.

[Dragonbite]

I'm not sure what you meant. DEBs and RPM are easily installable in any modern distro. 1 click install, BuildService, and packman, offer a hell lot more packages (and more up-to-date) than Ubuntu repos and debs spread everywhere together.

Sorry, I thought your

BuildService and packman poop on all debs Ubuntu may have around the world.

was saying that they said bad things about debs and Ubuntu debs, not taht they offer more applications.

[Vorian Grey]

I have to agree on 1 click install and the Build service. It's an cool and easy way to get up to date software. The one thing that has always bothered me about Ubuntu and Debian is a lot of their software is old.

[RS3York]

...BuildService and packman poop on all debs Ubuntu may have around the world.

The Build Service actually can build packages not only for openSUSE but also for Ubuntu, Mandriva, Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise, CentOS and SUSE Linux Enterprise. It's just up to the packager/repo owner to choose which platforms to build on and prepare their package(s) accordingly.

It's true that the majority of packages being built in the OBS are for openSUSE only, but the advantage of the OBS for openSUSE is a temporary one since Novell has been so generous with it (well it's not completely altruistic, but it does benefit the greater community).

The packman repo is great but let's be clear: Packman is needed to help an openSUSE install catch up to the software selection of the default repositories in Ubuntu (or Debian).

As a mechanism for backports the OBS is awesome, but again it's not openSUSE exclusive and Ubuntu has PPAs popping up as well to serve a similar purpose.


I'm not knocking the OBS, beyond the default repos I have another 17 OBS repos in use on my openSUSE install, but the OBS isn't a magic bullet.

---

To answer the OP (many months later), yes I wholeheartedly recommend openSUSE. OpenSUSE is my first choice for an OS. Don't worry about package management, openSUSE 11.x has closed the book on the old complaints about speed and dependency resolution. The one thing package management is lacking in openSUSE is a cache that will let you resume a download if you lose your connection. Rather than resuming, the download will be restarted from the beginning (and this is being worked on for future releases).

One thing that openSUSE really has is momentum. They really seem to be trying hard to eliminate the big complaints against the distro. From slow package management to getting rid of the EULA to having their own board to assert some measure of independence from Novell to starting a community "Contrib" repo, to giving spreading the love to multiple DEs...11.1 is still fresh and I already can't wait to see what they pull together for 11.2

[LuisAugusto]

The Build Service actually can build packages not only for openSUSE but also for Ubuntu, Mandriva, Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise, CentOS and SUSE Linux Enterprise. It's just up to the packager/repo owner to choose which platforms to build on and prepare their package(s) accordingly.

I know, I even posted a brainstorm idea about it:

http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/14901/

Which clearly reflects the open mind of the community. Brainstorm is broken by design. What most people want has very little to do with what's right.

It's true that the majority of packages being built in the OBS are for openSUSE only, but the advantage of the OBS for openSUSE is a temporary one since Novell has been so generous with it (well it's not completely altruistic, but it does benefit the greater community).

As you see, it isn't just about it being open.

The packman repo is great but let's be clear: Packman is needed to help an openSUSE install catch up to the software selection of the default repositories in Ubuntu (or Debian).

Yeah, but you can add community packages and the most used buildservice repos right from yast, with 2 clicks.

As a mechanism for backports the OBS is awesome, but again it's not openSUSE exclusive and Ubuntu has PPAs popping up as well to serve a similar purpose.

Ubuntu PPA isn't nearly as good as OBS.

I'm not knocking the OBS, beyond the default repos I have another 17 OBS repos in use on my openSUSE install, but the OBS isn't a magic bullet.

OBS and Packman offer much more packages than all Ubuntu repos spread in the wild, plus getdeb.net and all debs around this forum.

---

To answer the OP (many months later), yes I wholeheartedly recommend openSUSE. OpenSUSE is my first choice for an OS. Don't worry about package management, openSUSE 11.x has closed the book on the old complaints about speed and dependency resolution. The one thing package management is lacking in openSUSE is a cache that will let you resume a download if you lose your connection. Rather than resuming, the download will be restarted from the beginning (and this is being worked on for future releases).

I couldn't agree more. And, actually, I was the one who filled the bug report asking for "download first, install after" since is more secure and has the "cache" advantage (while you lose the install as you download speed feature, but the difference is negligible, and the problems it causes are mayor).

One thing that openSUSE really has is momentum. They really seem to be trying hard to eliminate the big complaints against the distro. From slow package management to getting rid of the EULA to having their own board to assert some measure of independence from Novell to starting a community "Contrib" repo, to giving spreading the love to multiple DEs...11.1 is still fresh and I already can't wait to see what they pull together for 11.2

Yep. But I'm dying to see SLED 11 (SLED 10 wiped out the floor with every distro when it was released).

[Rawit]

I've been using different distros for quite some time, and I can recommend openSuse. We Linux users should be happy that we have so much choice in distros. From my experience:

Why you should try Ubuntu:
- Fast;
- Huge community;
- Easiest distro;
- Long Term Support;
- Package management is fast and good;
- Using CLI is easier then on openSuse;
- Better support for soundcards;
- More vendor support;

Why you should try openSuse:
- Better suited for developers (during install lots of packages available, like Mono)
- More secure (AppArmor);
- Better integration with some Microsoft products (file formats, services);
- More business oriented;
- The best KDE implementation (and a customized Gnome);
- Looks more polished;
- 1 click Install;

The cons for Ubuntu:
- The Human theme (the look can be boring);
- Standard install is not as complete as openSuse;

The cons for openSuse:
- Feels a bit slower then Ubuntu;
- The 64 bit edition gave me more library issues then the 64 bit version of Ubuntu;
- The standard install might be overcomplete compared to Ubuntu;
- Package management is slower, sometimes harder to use;
- Customizing things in openSuse is more difficult then in Ubuntu;
- Soundcard issues on multiple systems;

This is what I experienced over time. I used openSuse from version 10.2 to 11.1, and Ubuntu 6.06 to 8.10. Right now I'm sticking to Ubuntu 8.04, because of the speed, ease of use, long term support and because I'm able to customize it easily. openSuse however is improving fast, and I like the fact that they contribute to the Linux community so much. I always install every new release on my hobby computer.

[Dragonbite]

Why you should try openSuse:
- Better suited for developers (during install lots of packages available, like Mono)
- More secure (AppArmor);

Actually Ubuntu includes AppArmor be default.