I’m sure this has been discussed a few times, but I cant seem to get a definitive answer. I always run into people who want linux installed on their computer, but I have a hard choice. Should I install Ubuntu or openSUSE? I’ve been running different linux distros for the past 2-3 years, but I do not consider myself a power user. I wouldn’t know how one could benefit a new user over the other, except for feel of the os. I’m kind of leaning towards openSUSE…
Since you’re asking it in a SUSE forum, we all recommend SUSE over Ubuntu. On the other side, it’s a personal preference which you like/use the most so it’s up to you to make the choice.
That is why I posted in here. I had posted the same thread in the Ubuntu forums, and the majority said Ubuntu. Just to conclude that it is personal preferences, and one does not stand out to be easier then the other, I would post in openSUSE forums.
Even though most people here would say its personal preference, I still say openSUSE.
Why?
Alright the first time I installed SUSE linux 9.2 when I was 13 without anyone’s help 
Now I wanted to create a dsl connection and started looking for a control center and found Yast and immediately with the help of a wizard I had a DSL connection setup and I saw kinternet appear at the bottom and I connected with ease.
The first time I tried Ubuntu (yuck) was when I was 16 or 17 maybe, not sure 
but anyway I had quite a time trying to setup a DSL connection there until I went through their help center and found I have to type in commands like
sudo pppoeconf
sudo pon dsl-provider
and to check whether its connected or type in “plog”
that was more difficult for me rather than clicking on a kinternet icon and connecting, don’t u think? 
This is just one example but it shows how openSUSE is easier for most things and most of my friends who use OS X would rather die than use the command line, they want everything point and click and thats what suse gives a GUI tool for everything
The decision is up to though
Did u check out my signature?
damphoud wrote:
>
> That is why I posted in here. I had posted the same thread in the Ubuntu
> forums, and the majority said Ubuntu. Just to conclude that it is
> personal preferences, and one does not stand out to be easier then the
> other, I would post in openSUSE forums.
>
>
I thought this “blog” summed up things really well
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8988
Suse 11.0 x64, Kde 3.5.9, Gnome 2.20, Opera 9.x weekly
for absolute beginners? mmm, I would probably suggest either Mint5 or pardus2008. Those truly are plug’n’play distros that work out of the box without any knowledge of *ux required.
For someone wanting to learn linux I’d say Opensuse or Fedora would be better.
stefan
I installed Gutsy and got help in the UbuForums. About 70 posts in all – enough to form a valid opinion.
I like Ubuntu, look, feel, what it does for a user behind the scenes. And it’s hard to make an objective comparison with openSUSE – but FWIW I see them as on a par in the new user sense.
What I don’t like is the Ubuntu Forum support for new users. I would ask a question and often get well meaning but misguided answers from the folk there. That would have been very frustrating if I had been a new Linuxer. There is a lot of that there. It doesn’t happen much here; the advice is nearly always sound.
And people here are technically savvy and supportive. There’s the occasional person seeking a boost at someone’s expense but that’s quite rare here.
On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:36:04 GMT
damphoud <damphoud@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
>I’m sure this has been discussed a few times, but I cant seem to get a
>definitive answer. I always run into people who want linux installed on
>their computer, but I have a hard choice. Should I install Ubuntu or
>openSUSE? I’ve been running different linux distros for the past 2-3
>years, but I do not consider myself a power user. I wouldn’t know how
>one could benefit a new user over the other, except for feel of the os.
>I’m kind of leaning towards openSUSE…
>
From personal experience at work, Kubuntu seems to be preferred by
users coming from Windows and not knowing about Linux or caring what
the OS is. We tried Ubuntu, but most thought it ‘too different’. Of
course, I suppose that could be worked around, but KDE is still the
most like Windows.
The majority of our clients are on Kubuntu (we do not support Windows
any more) and I am the only one in the office that uses openSUSE. Most
of the others use Gentoo and all of our servers are Gentoo except for
one openSUSE 10.1 (we lost our last slackware server to massive
hardware failure – 1000+ days uptime!).
As others have said, it’s more of a personal choice but Kubuntu seems
pretty solid and handles everything the users need in our clients
offices, as would openSUSE of course, but we chose Kubuntu for speed
of install, ease of use and low maintenance.
For all installations I do on my own time, for family/friends, it’s
openSUSE all the way. I’m most familiar with it now, of course, but it
also has a pretty impressive list of available programs (thank you,
Packman, in addition to all the others!) that make it easy for you to
give the user the most compatibility with Windows. And, since most of
the people they know use Windows, that is most important.
Also keep in mind: if you are going to do the install, it doesn’t
matter what distro you use as long as you set it up to be comfortable
for the user. If they are going to do the install, without your help, I
would probably lean towards Kubuntu rather than openSUSE – six or
eight mouse clicks and they’re done. (But, from what I have heard of
openSUSE 11, that might change; I will be doing my 11 install in the
next few hours.)
–
Kevin Nathan (Arizona, USA)
Linux is not a destination, it’s a journey – enjoy the trip!
Linux 2.6.22.18-0.2-default
11:54am up 3 days 14:11, 21 users, load average: 0.68, 0.65, 0.68
I’ve used Ubuntu for about three years and overall I’ve had a good experience with it. Yes, I did have problems but most were solved. Just started using openSuse for the first time, and I am impressed.
have been using:
PCLOS
sidux
Mint
and now, openSuse
I submit and chat in all the forums and I would agree that Ubuntu’s forum is less responsive to answering questions. PCLOS and sidux have very helpful and informative forums. It’s looking like openSuse is also a very good forum.
After going to back to KDE 3 (until KDE 4.1 comes out) I’ve been very impressed with opensuse 11. Very responsive and even though I haven’t configured my nvidia card yet, it’s still very sharp and clear fonts and images.
Thanks for a great distro. 
On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:46:04 +0000, damphoud wrote:
> That is why I posted in here. I had posted the same thread in the Ubuntu
> forums, and the majority said Ubuntu.
If you go to a Ford dealership and ask if you should buy a Ford or a
Toyota, why would you be surprised that they said “a Ford, of course”?
This type of thing has always puzzled me.
Jim
I run Linux Mint, openSUSE11, and Mandriva 2008. I keep Live CDs handy for each distro. When someone asks about Linux, I give them discs. Depending on their hardware, and their initial impressions, that makes determinations. Whichever distro is the winner, then I assist in further setup and adjustments. I have not used Ubuntu, per se. Each distro has merit. Just like vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, no matter which ice cream flavor you choose, chances are it is good.
Well, I’m going to say openSUSE but I’m going to give reasons and personal experience of having other family members use both who are less-experienced with computers.
The entire family now is happy with openSUSE because they find it more friendly and can more easily accomplish tasks with YaST, for example. Until recently Ubuntu had no graphical tool to configure the display! If the monitor didn’t detect your settings appropriately, you would have to sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg on the terminal – not exactly my idea of intuitive. What would you have to do on openSUSE? Simple: YaST → Hardware → Monitor and change it from there.
YaST is really great for new users. A central administration tool is precisely what they need and want. I agree that overall there’s not much in it or anything inherently preventing new users from using Ubuntu (quite the contrary), but YaST from my experience has just made things an awful lot easier.
Let me put it this way.
I’d take Windows over Ubuntu.
I completely agree. YaST is a hands-down winner.
lol, I would stop using computers if I had no choice other than ubuntu
There’s really no need to put someone else’s product in the toilet in order to make a case for a different alternative.
do you have a vendetta against Ubuntu or something? I would get you signature if you were a debian sysadmin but as an opensuse user I do not get it, nor the ubuntu bashing.
I think ubuntu server a very good purpose. It is doing good commercially and gets a lot of press, it gets preinstalled on more and more systems and introduces tons of M$ converts to the wonders of FOSS, which s great in whichever flavor or color it comes, beit green or brown.
Lots of the issues with it that I read about are merely skin deep and can be altered by a mouseclick whereas it has definite technical merits (upstart, brainstorm, shipit cd’s, launchpad) plus a solid foundation in debian.
I think it is a great posterboy for the FOSS community and although brown is not My particular taste I do appreciate what they do for all of us since linux is linux no matter the color AND they did not sign off to M$ with redhat and some others.
So I am really rather interested in what it is that bugs you about ubuntu so rather then it being the most popular kid in school and ranked #1 at distrowatch?
stefan
Don’t get me started on the Ubuntu rant.
It isn’t pretty. Let’s just say it was by far the worst Linux community I’ve ever dealt with, and the worst distro I’ve ever tested. To each their own. If you want to run it, and enjoy it, so be it. However, I would honestly take Windows over Ubuntu.
I first started on openSUSE 10.1 and I think that I learned a great deal from openSUSE. I believe ubuntu is very good, especially for my laptop. openSUSE requires more configuration when installed on my laptop. I like Mint because it takes Ubuntu, and makes it better, by adding all codecs (…etc…) OOTB, and gives a nice menu - the best menu of any distro.
Another post said if you want to learn linux, try Fedora or openSUSE. I would agree. I like the pace of opensuse; ubuntu seems to fast for me (6 months releases).
Actually I started hating it cause it was horribly buggy on most machines I tried it on, I can guarantee u its not cause its number 1 on distrowatch, I don’t care about rankings one bit.