So after being not too happy with fedora 9 ( Dont know why, but fedora 9 just doesnt cut it, I have been a fedora user since FC6), I was looking for an alternative OS. Somehow Ubuntu didnt quite interest me. So heading to http://www.distrowatch.com . I found openSUSE as second most talked about (after Ubuntu). So I headed straight to www.opensuse.org.I saw that SUSE 11 was to be launched on a few days time.. So I waited.
When it was lauched the suse site was down due to traffic, and finally when it did become accessible, I had scheduled a download on friday 11PM on my office machine. Since I couldnt wait till monday ( I was too eager), I downloaded the liveCD version (KDE one) to give it a test run.
So what are my first thoughts? Awesome!!! The polishness and refinement of Suse is simply amazing. One finds it hard to believe that this is a free OS!!
Right from the simple green startup screen, to carbon fibre finish terminal screen, everything is beautifully crafted. YaST2 is ultra simple, and I was up and running with very very minimal efforts!
Sticking with Fedora all along, I was more of a GNOME person, everytime I tried KDE, I was forced back to gnome because of the simplicity and crispness (for the lack of better words =) ). However, SUSE with KDE4 is very usable and stable. Im still in the process of bringing up with the required packages, since the liveCD have very few stuff.
Oh, did I mention? I installed the LiveCD to the HDD, it was really simple, once the liveCD was up and running, u just need to click ‘install’ on desktop, and in 15 odd mins (on my lappy) , it made a copy of SUSE in my HDD.
For all the guys who are fans of ubuntu and fedora’s give SUSE a go, u will be impressed. This one OS which I feel , has the beauty and the brains….
June 23, 2008 at 5:29 am
Great Distro, but installing software is a bad, for starters very little software, not all the applications that I need (example Mandvd, and many others) and yes I have included all the community repositories. second to many errors an dependency an possible braking other packages, never had this problems on debian testing or PclinuxOs or other distros. But yes Open suse is a very Nice looking Distro, but what can I do with That?
June 23, 2008 at 9:11 am
I installed a new dual boot on the weekend, I was going to use Open SUSE, I had the Gnome LiveCD as I also am a Gnome fan.
However the install hung halfway (repeatedly) so I ended up installing PCLOS instead
I was impressed by the LivCD for OpenSUSE, I’d even convinced myself to ignore their deal with the devil (MS) while I tried to install it…
June 23, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Beauty and the brains ….
I am loving the 11.0 release, with blazing fast package management, and better overall experience with 4.0, compared on 10.3.
Can’t wait to see final release of KDE 4.1. I’ll also have soon a small review on 11.0, once my new blog version is deployed.
June 23, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I am happy to hear that you like SUSE this much.
I have played around with the most popular distros and still keep coming back to Suse every time.
I suggest you use a DVD installation for a bigger variety of software, however if you have a fast stable internet connection, you can get everything through online repositories.
June 23, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Hey guys, Thanks for the quick response!
, But I was put off for some reason.. The same way as fedora9 did this time… ).
@xploited : I had scheduled a download of openSUSE 11 DVD on my office network at 11PM friday. So I could retrive it only today.. I will putting the DVD image to my Vaio today.
@E@zyVG : I never tried 10.3 (The last version I have had hands on, on suse was 8..
@wolfric : Try the full installer, LiveCD is more of testdrive, I found livecd lacking a lot of stuff. As for the MS affliations, trust me, there is nothing microsofty (again, for the lack of better words.. =) ) in SUSE.
@Frank : Did u try the liveCD or the DVD install, I guess DVD should have most of the stuff u need (atleast I could find all the things i used to use/ substitute in SUSE so far). But then again, I have used it for like 24hrs so far.. so I need to use some more to figure out how much will I gain/lose switching from Fedora…. Stay tuned for more updates on that front..
June 24, 2008 at 5:07 am
I have try the DVD and I have installed with the KDE4. I’ll give Gnome a try, but so far I do not Like it. sorry
June 24, 2008 at 8:49 am
@Frank : Understandable, I couldn’t stand the older SUSE’s, I still don’t like Ubuntu
. I loved Fedoras (at least till version 8). What fun would it be, if everyone liked the same distro’s. That would make Linux go the Windows way… 