Is There A SUSE In Your Future?
Jun 15th, 2008 by Don Ray
I have been putting the pre-release of openSUSE 11.0 through its paces on my backup PC. To this point, it appears that I will be a convert. SUSE was one of the first Linux distributions I used when I first started playing around with Linux back in 2000.
I have been using both the Gnome and the KDE 4.0 desktops. This release really has put together an elegant presentation. I have been running KUBUNTU on my primary PC, but not the KDE 4.0 (bleeding edge version). I thought maybe KUBUNTU 4.0 would be equivalent. It wasn’t.
The openSUSE 11.0 version of Gnome and KDE 4.0 are both superior (in my opinion) to the corresponding versions in UBUNTU. My impressions will be those of a novice’s impressions. The underlying technology of both distributions is the same Linux technology. It is the difference in the packaging that will be of interest to the users.
There are three items in the Gnome distribution of openSUSE that I like better than UBUNTU’s.
The first is appearance. The new green desktop of openSUSE is very elegant. My personal opinion of UBUNTU’s desktop is that it is just plain UGLY.
The second thing I like is the smart menu that openSUSE has implemented. This is similar to the one used by Linux Mint. It is clean and makes migration from a Window’s platform much easier.
The third item is that openSUSE starts up with its own firewall active. With UBUNTU, you have to decide on a firewall, download it and activate it.
In the KDE version there are also some small things I like better. Again, I like the appearance of openSUSE’s green background. The new plasma features of KDE 4.0 is very nice and one of the basic features of KDE 4.0
On KDE 4.0, you can add widgets (desk clock, newsreaders, etc). Currently, openSUSE comes with more widgets. It also provided a handy gadget of locking the widgets in place, that I didn’t find in KUBUNTU KDE 4.0.
Once more, openSUSE KDE, comes with it’s firewall active. KUBUNTU’s standard firewall is Guard Dog. It comes with the distribution, but you have to configure it and activate it. This is not all that easy for a novice.
KDE 4.0 is intended to be a platform that will provide the framework for a very sophisticated desktop. To this point, I am very impressed, even if it is a little “bleeding” edge.
The installation of UBUNTU, openSUSE gnome and openSUSE KDE, was very straight forward and easy. However, when I installed KUBUNTU on my primary PC, I had about a day’s worth of problems before I had it running in an acceptable way. Also, I am running the KUBUNTU stable version and not the bleeding edge version.
I think that the UBUNTU, openSUSE, and Linux Mint distributions are really going to start having an impact on Microsoft and Apple. All three of these distributions are polished and the need to be a technician is almost a thing of the past. Websites that demand that you use Internet Explorer had better wise up.
My current plan is to wait the next three days for the openSUSE production date. I will then download the current version of openSUSE KDE 4.0 and install it on my backup PC. I will migrate all of my files over to the new system and run it for enough days to prove that it is production ready. Then I will install it on my primary PC.
Stay tuned. Maybe you need a SUSE in your future.
