I installed Ubuntu 12.04 Beta 1 on my old laptop just to see what the state of Unity was. The things I missed most were zypper and YaST, the system installer specifically. Unity doesn’t suck as hard as it used to and it’s actually kinda cool, but it’s still has graphical glitches. I still prefer KDE on openSUSE.
I already had openSUSE and Arch installed in an LVM volume group with Windows XP and 8 on the first and fourth primary partitions respectively. I intended to wipe out the Arch LVM volumes and use the space fro Ubuntu, forgetting that they don’t support or even detect LVM in their basic GUI installer. If you want to do anything with lvm, raid or dmcrypt you are forced to use the alternate install media, which uses the full features text based Debian installer. I know they are focused on making a distro for “human beings”, and their installer is pretty slick. However they don’t even give users who need extra features the option of doing more complex things. The YaST installer is fantastic and is exactly the same whether you use the GUI or text mode version, it’s easy enough for a novice to use, but an advanced user can configure to his/her hearts content. I do like the way they start copying to disk as soon as possible and apply everything else, like the account information and timezone at the end.
Out of pure curiosity I installed OpenLP, which I package for openSUSE using the fantastic openSUSE Build Service. In openSUSE, I just have to search for it at software.opensuse.org, download the one-click install file and run through the wizard and I’m done. In Ubuntu I had to configure the repo in the very nice looking software center. The trouble came in getting the software center to rescan the repos so I could install the package. Apparently the Ubuntu Software Center has no way to trigger a refresh, unlike YaST. The OpenLP manual says to close and reopen it, which I did several times and still couldn’t find the package. I resorted to trying to search for the package with apt-get, but apparently it doesn’t support searching like Zypper does. Apparently there is a tool called apt-cache that can do it, but I didn’t try it. Also as far as I can tell, there is no equivalent of ‘zypper lr’, so I couldn’t verify that the repos were being seen by the package manager. Eventually it somehow turned up in the Software Center.
I had used Kubuntu for about a year and a half before I switched to openSUSE right after the release of 11.3. Before that I used Gentoo for about 4-5 years. The big thing that pushed me to leave Gentoo was getting a 64-bit laptop and not wanting to have to rebuild from scratch. The main thing that pushed me over the edge with Kubuntu was that on the current version of Kubuntu, Xorg wouldn’t come up half the time and I’d have to reboot a few times. My laptop has an Intel 4500HD, so the support should have been fantastic. I still had the same problem on the latest alpha/beta. The other big thing was that it was pretty clear that Ubuntu didn’t really care at all about KDE. Sure they shipped it and I appreciate the volunteers that work on it. However the QT versions of any new distro features or utilities were always at least a release or two behind in existance and/or functionality. A little before the release of 11.3, the openSUSE project had announced that they would be defaulting to KDE in the installer, which was a signal to me that openSUSE actually cared about KDE. I’ve been using openSUSE ever since and while it may have some shortcomings compared to other distros, it really shines for me overall. Plus because of OBS, the low barrier to entry for new developers and the overall friendliness of the openSUSE community, I can help make openSUSE better and fix the deficiencies.
Thanks, I was thinking to install Kubuntu the next, gnome I don’t like, and you confirmed me that wasn’t a good idea, but I know myself and I know that I will try anyway
Agreed. I spend most of my time on openSUSE with KDE 4.8, switching off to Arch, also with KDE 4.8 and sometimes Gnome shell. I’ve spent many hours trying other distros and have settled on these two. I also tried Ubuntu 12.04 but was un-amazed with it, too slow, don’t like Unity at all. I gave up on Ubuntu after 10.04 LTS.
I also have toyed with ubuntu in the past. I started my linux journey with suse and after playing with other distros I always end up back here. Yast is awsome (especially the ncurses version) for a cli idiot like me, and KDE on anything else just seems “a bit thin” in comparison. I really don’t get the gnome thing, just seems like too many extra steps to do anything. My only complaint is that things move too quickly, a new release every 5 years would suit me (as long as they didn’t change much). But hey, I still wear OpenSuse like a pair of comfy old slippers, all be it with a little more glitter than I remember.
There is an interesting new distribution based on Kubuntu. It was my plan B, if I didn’t like openSUSE, so I haven’t tried it myself. Netrunner — KDE GNU/LINUX DISTRIBUTION
I’m not into the current trend for having a pop at Ubuntu. It’s very cool at the moment to get on their case and have a go at Unity etc, but I have to wholeheartedly agree with the OP. It’s not until you use other distros that you realise just how superb openSUSE is. It may have it’s own funny ways, but I can be confident that once I’ve got it set up, it’s fast, attractive, stable and safe, and especially now with the new desktops like Gnome 3 and KDE4.8, it’s more fun to use than ever. The only couple of niggles I’ve ever had have been ironed out easily with the help of the support here. Granted I am not a programmer, just a regular home user, but to me this is easily the best Linux I’ve ever used in my admittedly humble 6 years of home use.
I did recently install Ubuntu 12.04 to see where it’s at, and while I quite like Unity, I find it overall too clicky and fussy, and often a wee bit confusing. I did note too that performance isn’t really very good at all with the latest release. Compiz is very demanding and I frequently found the system slow to respond. They seem to be blaming the Nvidia driver but I’m not sure it isn’t Compiz that’s at fault. Whatever, I hope they get it together for the final release and wish them well.
I am a long time ubuntu user and I switched to openSUSE w/ KDE a couple days ago. I use my laptop primarily for video and graphic editing. Honestly, my laptop just seems to like it better. Everything seems to run more fast and smoothly and if my laptop likes it better I like it it better. The issues that plagued me on ubuntu that made me want to switch are non-existent now. I am happy and glad I made the change so far.
1.Because you know Ubuntu, don’t assume you know openSUSE.
2.When you have learned openSUSE, don’t assume you know Red Hat.
or the more generic:
When you have seen one Linux, you have seen one Linux.
there is safety and security in diversity. (ask any society which
routinely marries only their blood relatives…oh wait, they don’t
understand language any more…)
true, but don’t get confused and think i originated it (even if just
now, Google only finds mine)…far from it, but i may have heard it
from the guy who did coin it (i didn’t ask him)…he wrote it to me when
i complained that a detail of Mandrake 8.1 (or earlier–one Mandrake box
is within sight) was different from Red Hat 7.1 (or earlier [another box
on the shelf], i hit RH first about 4.something)…
anyway, i was very new to Linux and dismayed that what i had just
learned in RH, didn’t apply to Mandrake (or vice versa)…
and, the wise old man said:
When you have seen one Linux, you have seen one Linux.
that was sometime around '98 (plus or minus a year or so) and he was an
expert Unix Administrator and hacker making BIG money in that place
called “Silicon Valley”…
he is also the one of several who said to me in about the same time
frame (something like):
i used openSUSE 11.4 and 12.1 in past and i really liked them. after a while, i decided to giva ubuntu 12.04 a chance, and i’m glad with ubuntu too (also i tested other distroes such as chakra and bodhi). now after this journey, i love only two distro: ubuntu and openSUSE.
i like ubuntu brcause i think it is professionaly desined, desiners have thought about any aspect of it such as the colors, fonts etc and the psychologyical ffect of them on users (Microsoft and apple do this too).
Hi,
I used openSuse since 11.04, then 12.1 then Tumbleweed, but last time when I tried openSuse 12.2 (KDE) it was horribly buggy and I’m disappointed. This is the reason to stick to Kubuntu and it really runs well. Kubuntu 12.04 LTS has some advantages over Ubuntu and I explained them here : Five reasons I would preffer KDE over Unity ~ Rolling Ubuntu. Not only it is very responsive and stable, but it has veeery long suport - 5 years. You should try Kubuntu 12.04 and you’ll see the difference - Kubuntu is not Ubuntu, it is far better.
i hate some aspects of opensuse. for example if you start updating openSUSE using online update, and in the middle of process if you decide to cancel it, it is no way to cancel. you click on skip or abort buttons but it does not respond you. infact you should click that buttons several times to cancel it (this problem exist atleast from opensuse 11.4 until now). also some softwares are a little slow in openSUSE (compare to ubuntu), for example firefox.
with these reasons, i am using ubuntu now and i’m happy with it (although it has some shortcomings).
I have a System76 Lemur Ultra Thin (lemu4) notebook PC and it is certified to run Ubuntu 64 bit. Originally, I used Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP-3 and I upgraded to Microsoft Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 and Office 2010 32 bit Professional Plus Service Pack 1. I used Microsoft Windows and Office since Windows 3.1.
I tried to like Ubuntu 12.04.1 64 bit LTS, but I just couldn’t. It’s not that reliable or stable. Software keeps breaking and crashing randomly which interrupts my digital work flow. In my opinion, Canonical is taking their Ubuntu brand in a direction that I just can’t follow along with anymore. They are making it a commercial product and they want to expand Ubuntu to HDTVs, tablets, and smart phones in the next two years. The Ubuntu Software Center has more paid commercial apps now. Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit Release Candidate now includes Amazon searches and they get a kick back for every order to generate more revenues. Canonical asks users to make a donation to Ubuntu to download it on their website. See the pattern here? In the long term future, Ubuntu is going to become a commercial platform for enterprise customers and developers along with home users. Canonical is following the Apple and Microsoft strategy to commercialize Ubuntu to generate revenues and profits. I just can’t be a part of that.
Ubuntu is getting slower and more bugs are popping up with each successive release. Right now, it’s not that bad, but it will consume more PC hardware resources and it will get slower and it will crash more frequently and more software packages will break easily and randomly in the next few years.
I installed OpenSUSE 12.2 64 bit yesterday and I like it so far. OpenSUSE is much much faster than Ubuntu and it is extremely stable and reliable. YaST alone is worth the switch from Ubuntu. I like K Desktop Environment more than GNOME although I switch between both of them periodically.
and you confirmed me that wasn’t a good idea, but I know myself and I know that I will try anyway