Anyone here use OpenSUSE?

Number_25 · 1 Apr 2013 at 22:08

Good evening,

I was told last week that OpenSUSE is one of the best kept secrets in terms of stable Linux-based distros.

Anyone here care to share their experiences with using OpenSUSE?

uniQ · 1 Apr 2013 at 22:20

I used to use SuSe many moons ago. Distro choice is pretty subjective but I think SuSe whilst still good has been overtaken and surpassed by Debian, Fedora, Mint etc

Currently playing with ElementaryOS in a VM and it's very good. Otherwise I like anything with XFCE.

biron_w · 1 Apr 2013 at 22:46

I've tried Open SUSE. I wouldn't say it was a bad distro. I just prefer other distro's to it.

FirebarUK · 2 Apr 2013 at 09:24

I've been using it for about 7 years now. Currently on 12.3, always enjoyed the experience

A.N.Other · 3 Apr 2013 at 17:25

I used OpenSUSE 12 (KDE) for a while on my workstation but couldn't really get on with it. Probably mostly KDE that I wasn't keen on, but I've replaced it all with Mint XFCE, which is better for me.

Smit · 8 Apr 2013 at 12:34

I've used openSuse for a few years, it does everything that I need it to do although it's not as streamlined as a number of other distros.

Used SUSE back in 2004 and just stuck with suse and then openSuse ever since.

OhEsEcks · 8 Apr 2013 at 19:16

I used SuSE back in the days before Novell bought it. SuSE 9.0 was a nightmare. But most Linux at the time was a nightmare. Then Ubuntu came along and I jumped on that and then Debian and then occasionally tried out OpenSUSE releases as they happened, but inevitably stuck with debian based. The latest release is the first time I've tried it and thought "I could tolerate this for everyday use, but I won't because I'm stuck in my ways", because I pretty much loath *.rpm based package management compared to *.deb and source archives. But I really like the latest release for an *.rpm based release. I still think YAST is trying to be an overly complicated Swiss Army Knife of a settings manager. But I guess if you're coming from Windows or you want something in an office and school environment it's a bonus.

FatRakoon · 24 Apr 2013 at 10:21

Im mostly a Sabayon user, but I have to admit that Mint is perheps the best distro out there AFAIGAS

SuSe however is a distro that I have chucked onto my laptop more times than is natural, and I do keep going back to it for one reason or another ( usually simply cos I want to feel more of a nerd ? ) but the simple fact is that apt is a relatively new thing to me and so I keep getting drawn back to debian/mint.

I will add however, that while I have found my love for KDE again, I am still a mate user, and if SuSe threw away Gnome and supported Mate, Id be on it like a shot, and heck, if Mandriva threw away that ... stupid interface and went with gnome, Id go with Mandriva instead.

But alas, Sabayon or MiNT only for me.

biron_w · 24 Apr 2013 at 19:00

I've actually just installed OpenSUSE 12.3 KDE today. And I really quite like it.

memyselfandi · 24 Apr 2013 at 22:01

I used various versions of SuSE (pre-Novell) from 5.3 through to OpenSUSE 10.x and really had no major issues with it for all that time, in fact I used to get all the boxed releases with manuals for the earlier versions. The distribution does have a reasonably active mailing list as well.

I don't run it now as I only have a single Linux server at home now which just acts as a backup location and doesn't run any form of desktop and just sits there quietly.

annaharris · 16 May 2013 at 13:46

I've tried Open SUSE. It is not as effective as xFire.

Blackjack Davy · 19 May 2013 at 03:31

I've tried it in the past, 10.2 I think it was, I really,really liked the UI, it was let down by the lack of updates/software for it, compared with Ubuntu it just seemed a dead distro... pity really as I never cared much for Ubuntu as a UI and I positively loathe Unity... much happier with MInt now.

FatRakoon · 19 May 2013 at 10:19

My own issue with SuSE is the fact that putting it onto a USB stick has proven a PITA.

Sure, I downloaded their special app for it, but recently, after trying it again, it failed to go on.. Again!

Why it seems to do this when absolutely every other distro is perfectly happy to go onto one, I dont know, but its a big annoyance for me.

Im quite happy with KDE now too, but Unity... God its pathetic. Mate is the way to go there.

So for me, its Sabayon KDE on my main Laptop, and Mint Mate on the families lappies.

melvis · 19 May 2013 at 15:28

i always had minor niggles with suse, even the latest 12.3 is the only distro ive tried that wont sort my wireless automatically, not a problem for me to do manually, but its a pain when the other nine out of ten distros do it for me.

Rainmaker · 26 May 2013 at 19:05

melvis said:
i always had minor niggles with suse, even the latest 12.3 is the only distro ive tried that wont sort my wireless automatically, not a problem for me to do manually, but its a pain when the other nine out of ten distros do it for me.

Are you referring to the 12.3 quirk posted in known issues where network-manager doesn't enable properly on first boot after installation? If you reboot a second time everything works automatically as usual after that, though like you I didn't know at first and also did it manually.

As always seems to be the case with OpenSUSE though, I only kept it a couple of days and wiped it. The GUI (Gnome 3 in this case) is as polished and nicely laid out as ever, but the back end and especially the repos, let it down. Even with Pacman it just isn't the same as Debian derived distros and just doesn't have the stuff I want or need without resorting to compiling. If I'm going to do that I'd rather do it on Arch and do it properly.

As a daily driver I tend to stick to Mint these days because it 'just works', though I've upgraded 14/Nadia to a 3.9 kernel and LibreOffice 4 - both of which are way speedier than the default 3.5 and 3.9 versions respectively.

Edward78 · 27 May 2013 at 16:12

Only thing I miss about it is YaST2, it is odd Ubuntu/Mint brags about ease of use, but doesn't have a tool like YaST2.

Rainmaker · 27 May 2013 at 16:34

Edward78 said:
Only thing I miss about it is YaST2, it is odd Ubuntu/Mint brags about ease of use, but doesn't have a tool like YaST2.

The new Mint 15 has an integrated control centre a la Yast2, with everything in one place. At least in the Cinnamon version (I bug tested the x64), not sure about Mate.

melvis · 27 May 2013 at 17:31

Are you referring to the 12.3 quirk posted in known issues where network-manager doesn't enable properly on first boot after installation? If you reboot a second time everything works automatically as usual after that, though like you I didn't know at first and also did it manually.

might be, i didnt read into it too much, i just did it manually straight away.

Edward78 said:
Only thing I miss about it is YaST2, it is odd Ubuntu/Mint brags about ease of use, but doesn't have a tool like YaST2.

i used to find yast2 was great in concept but it tended to crash a lot corrupting the package manager, though granted i havent used suse for any length of time since version 10, i do tend to try each major version at least for a few days.

FirebarUK · 27 May 2013 at 20:55

Rainmaker said:
The new Mint 15 has an integrated control centre a la Yast2, with everything in one place. At least in the Cinnamon version (I bug tested the x64), not sure about Mate.

The Control Center is not even remotely like YaST/YaST2.

Rainmaker · 27 May 2013 at 23:17

FirebarUK said:
The Control Center is not even remotely like YaST/YaST2.

I meant more in the fact it's an integrated system-wide control centre which ends the fragmentation of three different tools in three different places for the same job. TBH not being exactly like YaST is a bonus for me as I found YaST overly slow, buggy and annoying in comparison and I've been using OpenSUSE and SLED since v10. Horses for courses.