Unbuntu vs. SuSE

[Parthenolide]

I recently had to reinstall the OS for a clunker of a laptop. I couldn't get SuSE 11.1 to install at all, so I tried Ubuntu 9. It worked wonderfully. Here are a few pros and cons of Ubuntu vs. SuSE that I thought the community might be interested in reading.

RAM requirements:
Ubuntu can get along just fine with 1/4 Gig. SuSE live will not install on my clunker with 1/4G. SuSE may want to offer a stripped down version to work on older hardware.

Installing from a live CD:
Unbuntu has the option of a live install, or direct installation from the CD. Live installs are notoriously slow, especially with clunker hardware. SuSE should consider the option of direct install from CD as well as the install from live.

Laptop batter monitor
Ubuntu indicates the health of your battery, versus its percentage of charge. For example, Ubuntu indicated that my battery was working to 16% of capacity, even though it was fully charged. This is a nice feature that should be incorporated into SuSE.

Wireless card driver
Installing the wireless driver in Ubuntu is trivial. If you try to connect to a wireless connection, a window pops up and queries the operator if they want the driver installed.

YaST
Ubuntu doesn't have YaST. YaST is one of the best setup tools there is.

Adding new users
Ubuntu appears to be designed for a single user platform. I couldn't readily find way to add new users.

[TaraIkeda]

Originally Posted by Parthenolide

Wireless card driver
Installing the wireless driver in Ubuntu is trivial. If you try to connect to a wireless connection, a window pops up and queries the operator if they want the driver installed.

Yeh it can be annoying getting wireless in Ubuntu, but Ubuntu's wireless support seems to get better with each release.
I dare say though that Ubuntu is perhaps one the best of the major distros for wireless, though openSUSE seems to do fine too

Adding new users
Ubuntu appears to be designed for a single user platform. I couldn't readily find way to add new users.

No you can add new users in ubuntu:
go to:
System -> Administration -> User Management -> Administrator Mode
then follow this guide:
Ubuntu:Jaunty -

[caf4926]

There are more discussions on this subject in the forum than I've had hot dinners!
And they often end up in flames.

Seriously though, there is nothing unusual about finding Pro's and Con's between Distro's.

[TaraIkeda]

Originally Posted by caf4926

There are more discussions on this subject in the forum than I've had hot dinners!
And they often end up in flames.

Well Ubuntu is popular, cant deny it and its easy to see why flames come up:
Distro envy

[caf4926]

I have tried the most recent Ub* release and it runs beautifully on my Laptop no denying it! I have to work hard with it during install to get the advanced config I want for partitioning and booting, but once installed it's great. But then so is openSUSE and for me at least, openSUSE = home

[TaraIkeda]

Originally Posted by caf4926

I have tried the most recent Ub* release and it runs beautifully on my Laptop no denying it! I have to work hard with it during install to get the advanced config I want for partitioning and booting, but once installed it's great. But then so is openSUSE and for me at least, openSUSE = home

Yeh Ubuntu does not separate root from home for its main partition, but its easy enough to set up a seperate home partition

[malcolmlewis]

Originally Posted by TaraIkeda

caf4926;2027525 Wrote:
> I have tried the most recent Ub* release and it runs beautifully on my
> Laptop no denying it! I have to work hard with it during install to
> get the advanced config I want for partitioning and booting, but once
> installed it's great. But then so is openSUSE and for me at least,
> openSUSE = home

Yeh Ubuntu does not separate root from home for its main partition, but
its easy enough to set up a seperate home partition

Hi
I don't either, I have a data partition and then softlinks to my
config files and directories that don't change per release. I also use
a separate /boot

It means I can run a multiboot system of different releases and DE's
to leave the release specific stuff in /home (eg those .files/directories)

--
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 5 (i586) Kernel 2.6.31-rc5-git3-2-desktop
up 1:53, 2 users, load average: 0.13, 0.09, 0.08
ASUS eeePC 1000HE ATOM N280 1.66GHz | GPU Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME

[growbag]

Laptop batter(y) monitor
Ubuntu indicates the health of your battery, versus its percentage of charge. For example, Ubuntu indicated that my battery was working to 16% of capacity, even though it was fully charged. This is a nice feature that should be incorporated into SuSE.

I think that's part of Gnome's battery monitor, and not distro specific though. Although I haven't used Gnome under suse so I can't be exact.

But it must get it's information from HAL or something anyway, I'm sure there is a simple way of reading that info.

EDIT -

Found it:

linux-5obh:/ # cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info
present:                 yes
design capacity:         6000 mAh
last full capacity:      3424 mAh
battery technology:      rechargeable
design voltage:          14800 mV
design capacity warning: 177 mAh
design capacity low:     107 mAh
capacity granularity 1:  10 mAh
capacity granularity 2:  25 mAh
model number:            Primary
serial number:
battery type:            LION
OEM info:                Hewlett-Packard
linux-5obh:/ #

From that I can deduce that my battery is only about 57% healthy, although this is a nearly new battery and HP seem to play silly games with their battery info so I know it's not accurate.

Something to do with different battery capacities and models.

Maybe that's why it isn't such a good idea to have that info, because people would always assume their batteries were faulty when there is actually another reason.

[sir_sane]

I've enjoyed Ubuntu in the past, but the forum community over there has gotten to be honestly the most depressing types I've ever seen.

It's an odd thing to shun a distro for its community, but with Ubuntu I think I have a case here. A large chunk of their userbase seems to be stuck in a time warp. What's worse, sites like Boycott Novell brainwash them with self-citing garbage about Mono and how companies work.

I've come to believe that a distro is only as good as the community around it.

[cjcox]

On Tue, 2009-08-18 at 01:56 +0000, Parthenolide wrote:
> I recently had to reinstall the OS for a clunker of a laptop. I couldn't
> get SuSE 11.1 to install at all, so I tried Ubuntu 9. It worked
> wonderfully. Here are a few pros and cons of Ubuntu vs. SuSE that I
> thought the community might be interested in reading.
>
> RAM REQUIREMENTS:
> Ubuntu can get along just fine with 1/4 Gig. SuSE live will not install
> on my clunker with 1/4G. SuSE may want to offer a stripped down version
> to work on older hardware.

??? I think what you are meaning to say is that the arbitrary choice of
defaut install from Ubuntu better meets your expectation than the
arbitrary choice of default install under openSUSE. openSUSE can very
easily be installed into less than 1G of disk space. I have done this
many times.

....snip...
>
> YAST
> Ubuntu doesn't have YaST. YaST is one of the best setup tools there
> is.

Agreed... but some of the evolution of YaST is going BACKWARDS instead
of forwards. There are some at Novell that don't understand just what
it is and ... in a way... are seeking its destruction.

I would love to have the old partioner back (new one is gross). Would
love to see YaST extended to handle more and make what it can handle now
better. IMHO, we shouldn't dumb down YaST, but rather, include an
Advanced button on the panels. Currently, YaST's evolution is in the
direction of making assumptions to simply things, but it also makes it
less flexible and frustrating. That's a slam to whoever keeps removing
options for the sake of simplifying the interface. Whoever you are, you
don't know diddly about i/f design.


>
> ADDING NEW USERS
> Ubuntu appears to be designed for a single user platform. I couldn't
> readily find way to add new users.

Most would diagree.. but I'll agree with that one as well.