I have a question before i try opensuse 13.2. Is it anything like ubuntu in some ways? I tryed linux mint 3 times and was not for me. Ubuntu studio 14.04 i use and very happy with that. I would like to use suse on other computer and would like to know first before install. Trying to get away from windows. Thank you for any help on this.
Hello and welcome! This is more of a troubleshooting forum than a general question subforum and you might get better
answers posting there (or if this post was moved there). Your questions are quite difficult to answer without some
details trying to work out what is you are looking to get out openSUSE.
On 2015-02-18, jamesc2015 <jamesc2015@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> I have a question before i try opensuse 13.2. Is it anything like ubuntu
> in some ways?
Yes it is. It is like most distributions:
GNU/Linux distribution = Linux Kernel + GNU + Package Manager +/- Desktop Enviroment
The kernel and GNU components are somewhat different (e.g. `sudo’ uses) but for most people are minor. The package
manager is different (zypper vs apt-get), but essentially perform the same functions (installing rpm vs deb binary
packages and dependencies). Like Ubuntu, openSUSE can be used with different DEs (e.g. KDE/GNOME/etc…), but official
support for the various desktops is native to openSUSE whereas Ubuntu variants require you to install different flavours
(e.g. Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc…).
> I tryed linux mint 3 times and was not for me. Ubuntu studio 14.04 i use and very happy with that.
If you happy with Ubuntu 14.04, it might be helpful to know why you don’t want to stick with it. And when you say Linux
Mint wasn’t for you, can you elaborate why?
> I would like to use suse on
> other computer and would like to know first before install.
SUSE and openSUSE are not the same operating system so it’s worth distinguishing them by name.
> Trying to
> get away from windows. Thank you for any help on this.
It might also be helpful to know what it is about Windows you are trying to get away from. Sorry to answer your
questions with more questions but it’s easier to give you useful answers with a clearer idea of your expectations.
Welcome aboard.
IMHO yours is one of those questions that will elict as many different opinions as there are replies. There can never be a firm answer to any question based on so many highly personal and quite subjective factors. For instance: I love openSUSE and despise Ubuntu. I’m not really sure why, but it is what it is. On the other hand I know many folk who swear by Ubuntu and can’t stand openSUSE, and then there are a whole lot more who prefer some other distro like Mint or…
The only way you will ever know will be to give each a try… Not just install, play for an hour and uninstall. Give each a week to get used to it, then decide.
Speaking very much in generalities, and of course IMO
openSUSE better at…
The zypper (and YAST) utilities IMO far superior for finding apps. You may need, though to install special repos beyond OSS to get the wider variety and capability.
YAST is “the” tool unique to openSUSE and nothing comparable can be found in any other distro. Similar idea to the Windows Control Panel where you have a single place to go to for plenty of GUI tools to make almost anything common easy to configure (you may need to install the config applet). Solves many of those problems of “How can I set this app up? Is it secure or did I make a really bad mistake? Where are the files I need to edit (typically none if configured in the applet)”
Text editor enhancements… Things like auto color coding in command line editors (like vim) as well as GUI (depending on Desktop might be Kate or Leafpad, etc).
openSUSE is also one of those distros with a reputation for being one of the earlier to integrate new upstream technologies as they become available. I don’t think many openSUSE Users have experienced too many app integration issues because of this, but you do have options like installing and freezing specific libraries, patching instead of updating, etc. But, these steps are rare. The benefits include better kernel performance, latest app features, etc.
Ubuntu LTS (specifically since you specified) is better at…
There are many complex app solutions I’ve run into that are written almost entirely for Ubuntu (and Debian). For what I use, this is primarily Pen-test suites.
LTS means that Ubuntu will ensure support far longer than a typical upgrade cycle. With openSUSE, the upgrade cycle (time between versions) is approx every 18 mths. For some people, upgrading every 18 mths is still too often and when you decide to upgrade it’s generally advised to upgrade to every intermediate version in sequence. With LTS (or openSUSE Evergreen) you can plan on upgrading every 3+ years instead.
Misc other issues
Maybe you can live with the Ubuntu Unity desktop. I tried, but can’t stand various “features” including most of all its window behavior. So, when I deploy an Ubuntu distro, since my personal lightweight Desktop is LXDE, I typically install Lubuntu. With openSUSE, I don’t have any similar strong dissatisfaction with any Desktop, I feel practically all are extremely usable for various situations (except for the bugginess of the Minimal X Desktop).
So, In almost every way I personally feel that openSUSE is far more friendlier and usable than Ubuntu, but User-friendliness is only one factor I use when deciding which distro to use for a speciic situation.
TSU
Thank you for reply - I have used windows from win 3.1. I have ubuntu studio 14.04 on laptop. I want to put OpenSUSE 13.2 KDE on a desktop pc. For Linux mint 16 - I could not get around or find to many things,Is very hard to learn at lease for me. where 2 weeks with ubuntu and i felt comfy with it. (not lost). Ubuntu was fast to learn, get around desktop, hook up camera, printer and do the things i did on windows xp or 7. Win 98 and win xp i think was microsofts best. Some may think the newer is better, everyone is diffurent. I will try other linux os but not mint. Try to get away - BUGS-ADWARE-VIRISES - Thats all you get. $100. a yr. for nortons and you still get infected. Want to try opensuse 13.2 or a other linux os. Hope this helps.
I have used openSUSE for many years. I install other Linuxes several times each year just to see if there is anything new that I could use. I recently installed Ubuntu 14.04 on my Chromebook and I must admit that the applications I use were easily installed and mostly pre-configured. But I still prefer openSUSE, the software managers YaST and zypper being two reasons. For me the most important difference is that when I run into a problem in Ubuntu, Debian, Mint etc. it remains largely unsolved, perhaps because I use older hardware and older methods. But when I ask for help on this forum I get excellent, speedy help and solutions I can understand.
Best solution - try both and keep the one you like.
The # 1 reason why I am not likely to desert openSUSE.
Thank you ionmick - Thats helpful. I,m going to try opensuse 13.2 and zorin 9.1. I have laptops, netbooks and some desktops, so i will give them a try for a month an see.
This. Exactly. :good:
No expert here, I am probably a lot more like you.
I am a long-time (since DOS 2) Microsoft user who is trying to get my footing here in 13.2/KDE.
After dabbling with Ubuntu/Gnome (and eventually Unity) for about 5 years, and becoming fairly comfortable with it after only a couple of months, I will have to say that I am having a lot of trouble here, most particularly in finding my way around YaST and zypper. Once I crack that nut, I expect the sailing to smooth out quite a bit.
I have picked up a few Unix/Linux/SUSE books and they are OK, but always seem to be thin on explaining the crucial key and fundamental concepts. In all fairness, I must say that there is probably a stumbling block in my own mind fabricated by past experiences and preconceived notions that are hard for me to get around.
Having said that, it is very liberating to explore the new world of FOSS after swimming in the Microsoft ecosystem for so long, but I expect the full transition to take a long time.
Yast is dead simple you have a big menu with options for most system related things. Zypper is a bit more complex if you look at all the options but for every day you just really need up and in for version upgrades and Tumbleweed you use dup. I find it easier to use Yast for install but to explain a GUI is hard so to have a person install something the command line zypper is easier for support since they cna just copy and paste the command.
To see all the possibilities type man zypper.
Given that you have already found a distro you like in Ubuntu, it can sometimes be difficult to settle on something different.
Because openSUSE is different.
Yes, they are both Linux, but there are aspects to the *buntu distros that make them simpler to use.
On 2015-02-18, jamesc2015 <jamesc2015@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> Thank you for reply - I have used windows from win 3.1. I have ubuntu
> studio 14.04 on laptop. I want to put OpenSUSE 13.2 KDE on a desktop
> pc. For Linux mint 16 - I could not get around or find to many things,Is
> very hard to learn at lease for me. where 2 weeks with ubuntu and i felt
> comfy with it. (not lost). Ubuntu was fast to learn, get around desktop,
> hook up camera, printer and do the things i did on windows xp or 7.
Thanks for the information. However you still have not told us why you are looking to trying to seek alternatives to
Ubuntu. Many newcomers to GNU/Linux find Linux Mint than Ubuntu so your experiences is not typical. When you say things
were difficult to find, it may have not be the distribution that is important but your choice of desktop. If you
preferred Unity to Cinnamon, I am not confident you will find KDE easier. Fortunately in openSUSE, you can install
more than one desktop (e.g. KDE + GNOME). Or you may find XFCE or LXDE better meets your needs.
On 2015-02-18, jamesc2015 <jamesc2015@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> Win 98 and win xp i think was microsofts best. Some may think the newer is better, everyone is diffurent. I will try
> other linux os but not mint.
My personal favourite of all Windows versions is Windows 7 64-bit.
On 2015-02-18, jamesc2015 <jamesc2015@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> Try to get away - BUGS-ADWARE-VIRISES - Thats all you get. $100. a yr.
> for nortons and you still get infected. Want to try opensuse 13.2 or a
> other linux os. Hope this helps.
For Windows versions before version 8, Microsoft’s security essentials is all you needed for AV and it’s free. Although
it’s true to say Windows had many bugs, there are also bugs in GNU/Linux that will affect every distribution. As others
have mentioned, there are particular features of openSUSE that are make it unique-ish in its attraction:
- YaST.
- OBS.
- DE multivalence.
as ionmich and you me too one of the best reasons why I am not likely to desert openSUSE …and linux in spite of all software and hardware problems 
I use opensuse from version7, and I tried ubuntu several times, the biggest differences are:
KDE, ubuntu hasnt KDE but only gnome, I never used to gnome, and kubuntu was very poor respect to opensuse KDE
yast is easy to use and works and anything similar is on ubuntu
I never used to the use of sudo in ubuntu
I would ask just what it is that you want to be able to do in Yast/zypper that you are finding confusing?
I use Yast to install software, and that seems pretty straightforward to me. Type the name into the search box and click on it. I use zypper to update packages, but that is simply the entry of two short lines at the command line (“zypper ref” and then “zypper up”). This constitues more than 98% of my use of these two programs. Is there something more that you want?
…Is there any differences on using “zypper ref” and then “zypper up” and yast>software management>repositories tab>system section>rightclick on list>all in this list>update if there is a new version?
P.S. .:)first or later we should find a standard and easyly understandable way to give instructions in a graphic environment with tabs sections icons and other things …
LOL. Didn’t even know you could do that.
“zypper up” will attempt to update all packages from all repositories. This may or may not be what you want to do. I don’t use Yast for updates, but my (perhaps dated or incomplete) understanding is that Yast tends to install only security patches (same as “zypper patch”?), although going repository by repositoy and updating all will likely get it all done.
Hi,
congrats to your decision to leave the MS path. Did that 2 years ago, but still run Win7 64 in a Virtual Box as there are some software packages which do not run in Linux / OpenSuse. This solution, once installed, gives you also some security if something does not work at all in OpenSuse - install it in the virtual box Win guest. I run OpenSuse 13.2 on an AMD FX 6300 (6 core) with 16GB Ram and an SSD 128GB as Boot/Systemdisk. The virtual machine works well on top of it.
-
Two years ago I installed Ubuntu and other Linux distros on an old PC just to play around with those OS’s and get a feeling for them. Making a real test is not possible, if you don’t want to invest the next 1-2 years to find out what’s best for you. At the end it was a “stomache” decision - I had the feeling that OpenSuse was better for me. Full-stop.
-
You will often come in Linux to a point, where you will have to go down to the command line level, as there is no GUI option for what you wanto do. As old windows user you are most probably used to handle that in the GUI or th registry. But most of the time you have to find out - the GUI will even give you no hints/advise about other available options - you are forced to search and read a lot, if you want to use the full spectrum that Linux / OpenSuse offers you on command line level. It takes much more time.
-
The system is on the GUI level also not very verbose. Programs may not be able to start, may have a problem, but no message box appears, they simply … don’t inform you and disappear from the screen, let you alone. They don’t ? No, they don’t! But now its time for you to look into the log files ! Yes, they contain a lot of information, but they contain so much often redundable information and present it in a way that is not suitable for a normal human. I so often missed to see the one important entry because I simply have overread it. You have to have a several year long expierience in forcing your brain to read some kind of logs to be able to find what you are looking for. Unfortunately most of the logs do not have a format description and you have to puzzle out the meanings of those values which are not so obviously clear to you. Could not find yet a software that displays logs in a better way. Yast2 offers you a systemlog window. Have a look on it. This one is, from the Linux point of view, a relativ simple understandable log.
I think on the long run it is a good decision to use Linux instead of Windows, but it sometimes is a stony way (i.e. be carefull with buying the printers - inform yourself about compatible printers, before you end up with a printer that does not work well or at all with Linux. )
Good luck,
Joe
I know I am a month late on this reply but:
About a month ago I decided to give Ubuntu a test drive, as I often hear how happy people are with it and the ease of use. It was nice, fun, and something a little different. I re-installed OpenSuSE 13.2 about a week later, as I have been using the SuSE product line for a very long time, mostly as a hobby on my home PC due to the fact that my work requires a windows PC.
I have worked with just about every version of windows that has come out, and have always had the same feelings about each one: “I can’t do what I would like to do, as I can with Linux”. That’s just my personal preference though, I know that there is software out there that allows a user to manipulate the OS and the DE to act/work more to their liking, but I personally had always felt very restricted when it came to windows. I personally liked windows 3.1 (don’t laugh) as it felt more like a menuing system for my DOS programs, from win95 on up, it felt more like I was being told what I wanted and what to do.
These reasons are why I went with OpenSuSE, I tried a couple of other flavors of linux prior, but settled on the SuSE line as it just “felt right”, kinda hard to explain that last point. Ubuntu as I said was nice, but using it gave me a similar feeling I get when using windows. Something just did not “feel right” about it, which is why I quickly (and happily) re-installed OpenSuSE.
I guess the point I am trying to make (long windedly), is that linux has many flavors and there probably is going to be one out there that just “feels right”, and it may take some trial and error to find it. Good news is, allot of distributions have Live CD’s that allow you to test drive them without having to install them. My personal opinion: I think OpenSuSE is a very polished and stable distro, with allot of fantastic support (especially here) that you can’t go wrong with. Are there problems? Sure, some hardware, some software, but in all the years I have been using it, I have yet to not find a solution.
I started with DOS (not 2,3,4,…, just DOS). Learned a little about Linux when in college (thought it was very cool). Couple of years after win95 came out, I purchased a copy of SuSE 6.3 from the store for about $40 if I remember right, and never looked back. That was back before there was an OpenSuSE, I think maybe even before Novell bought them??? So yes, I am heavily in favor of OpenSuSE.
Just for fun, my first system ever since reading some of the responses brought up the memories:
PC (Brand name???): 8086
Memory: 512K
Hard drive: 30 Meg (that’s right I said MEG)
2 - 5 1/4 inch floppy disk drives
Graphics card: VGA
Sound: pc speaker