OpenSUSE vs Ubuntu for small office

Allamgir · 2009-07-25 18:40:53

Definitely Ubuntu. OpenSUSE is not as good.

Go with an Ubuntu LTS version if the curren't isn't too old (Idk how long 8.04 is being supported) or just get the current/wait for 9.10 and then stick with it. Ubuntu is really stable and when I used it I often skipped releases because I was fine with the current. They offer bug fixes and security updates for a long time for their releases.

Idk, I would use it.

stefan1975 · 2009-07-25 21:57:50

imho there is one option here that has not been mentioned yet that imho is the smartest thing to do. If you really need/want to go with linux I would really definitely go with RHEL5 or if you do not want to pay $$ go with CentOS which is a free clone of RHEL and identical. It is supported until 2020 or so and insanely stable, easy to set up and administer and being RHEL it is the most widely used, best documented enterprise linux there is. running circles around SuSe and ubuntu.

Trent · 2009-07-25 22:30:05

stefan1975 wrote:

imho there is one option here that has not been mentioned yet that imho is the smartest thing to do. If you really need/want to go with linux I would really definitely go with RHEL5 or if you do not want to pay $$ go with CentOS which is a free clone of RHEL and identical. It is supported until 2020 or so and insanely stable, easy to set up and administer and being RHEL it is the most widely used, best documented enterprise linux there is. running circles around SuSe and ubuntu.

(emphasis mine)

Can you document that? All the metrics I can seem to find, elusive and immaterial as they may be, point to Ubuntu as most popular distro nowadays. As for best documented... well, I don't know about that.

In any case, in the intervening 3 weeks since the last post, Cosmin has probably made a decision, which would be interesting to hear... ?

stefan1975 · 2009-07-25 23:02:20

well i might be biased by being a RHEL / CentOS sysadmin but from what i have found lots of n00b related searches (compiz, themes, and whatnot) indeed lead to ubuntu but searching for server stuff and setting up a solid configuration tends to lead to the redhat family as opposed to suse or debian.

Last edited by stefan1975 (2009-07-25 23:02:56)

ahndoruuu · 2009-07-26 02:22:42

you really can't go wrong with Debian/Ubuntu.

I've used Ubuntu myself for several months and didn't have a single problem with it, other than an issue with my graphics card that had a comprehensive solution stickied in the forums.

Cosmin · 2009-07-26 08:33:40

I go with ubuntu because
- it provides a nice base: I just like the package collection from ubuntu-desktop or how is called the meta package
- it is quick to install/configure
- I like that printers auto install

Sigi · 2009-07-26 11:45:27

Allamgir wrote:

Definitely Ubuntu. OpenSUSE is not as good.
Go with an Ubuntu LTS version if the curren't isn't too old (Idk how long 8.04 is being supported) or just get the current/wait for 9.10 and then stick with it. Ubuntu is really stable and when I used it I often skipped releases because I was fine with the current. They offer bug fixes and security updates for a long time for their releases.
Idk, I would use it.

Nice to see that you like my avatar...

tomd123 · 2009-07-27 02:09:01

Cosmin wrote:

openSUSE and Mandriva seems bloated to me, but with some nice tools
Mint would look nice ...

openSUSE has some very horrible, outdated software with lots of bugs for the desktop. Not long ago (after kde 4.2 came out) they were still using kde 4.0 can you say horrible experience?

edit: typo

Last edited by tomd123 (2009-07-27 02:09:35)

urist · 2009-07-27 02:34:49

openSUSE wasn't all that bad on my laptop. My hand was forced, though. It was the only distro I found that my laptop could run without resorting to an ancient version of Ubuntu. Like with Windows, you eventually settle for what you have. When I go back to college in a month, I'm installing Arch on my two new PCs.

The repos were terrible. They had their special branded version of OO.o 2.x that was installed by default. You had to go through some series of tabs and bubble selectors to get the unbranded 3.x. Their reasoning? They added Super Awesome!!!™ stuffs to the old version, none of which were the docx support I required. Just about everything seemed to be branded.

andre.ramaciotti · 2009-07-27 13:34:02

Well, I had bad experiences both with Ubuntu and OpenSuse. Then I gave up installing new distros before I could try Fedora or Mandriva.

esters · 2009-07-27 13:43:59

PCLinuxOS

alienman · 2009-07-27 16:08:15

I know nobody will agree with me, but I found fedora always a very good alternative. I hated fedora for years, but recently I've found that this is an excellent distro and with a lot of support.

But at the end I love the Arch way, so after many, debians base distros I found in fedora my second distro just behind Arch.

Cosmin · 2009-07-27 16:54:42

PCLinuxOS is indeed very nice and user-friendly, but I am more familiar with ubuntu and ubuntu has more packages.

I love arch, but it's not for everyone and is a little more work to setup and mantain stable.

funkyou · 2009-07-28 08:40:23

Why i use debian...

10:28:19 up 636 days, 17:39,  2 users,  load average: 0.33, 0.25, 0.25

Never reached such an uptime on other distros, especially openSUSE sometimes needs a lot of fiddling (on servers) and their documentation can be vague. One of the biggest ISP's in germany switched from openSUSE to CentOS some time ago (for their root servers), seems they had the same experience like me (or too many users having strange problems).

When it comes to desktops:
- Ubuntu for the newbies, because nearly everything is integrated nicely and just works
- Debian for the intermediate, if you can master Ubuntu then you are ready for Debian
- Arch for the pro's and ninja's

With everything else i just had some bad experiences, let it be stuff that just didnt work or other minor details.

cryticfarm · 2009-07-30 22:23:51

If you're gonna get ubuntu you might as well get linux mint instead.

houms · 2009-09-24 21:57:54

cryticfarm wrote:

If you're gonna get ubuntu you might as well get linux mint instead.

+1 for mint. Really its ubuntu done right. It will allow you to deploy quickly with minimal intervention by you. Plus it is livecd like ubuntu so users can test it out. All codecs out the box and some other very nice tweaks that will make your life and your users conversion easier.

tomd123 · 2009-09-25 03:26:50

As some others have previously mentioned, I also tried for a long time to like opensuse. I installed it on my laptop and forced myself to use it. I lasted about 3 months on it before I was back in Arch land begging for forgiveness.

toasty_ghosty · 2009-09-28 06:07:59

I installed Linux on my dad's computer for various office duties and this is what I have found:

openSUSE tends to break for weird reasons. The sound stopped working after a week and lately, it has become very bloated. While it isn't a totally bad distro, as far as stability goes, I wouldn't use it.

Ubuntu out of the box isn't a bad choice as long as you don't do anything crazy to it. It always seemed decently stable if you didn't tweak it too much. Also, setting up printers isn't a huge pain.

If you don't mind putting some time into it, Debian is a great choice. Stable and tons of packages.

-Ghosty

orasis · 2009-12-25 07:06:05

Peasantoid wrote:

OpenSUSE sucks like nobody's business. Go for Ubuntu.
Chakra might also be a good idea, since it's Arch-based. (Assuming it's mature enough.)

Damn right!

I decided a few days ago to give OpenSUSE a try for the first time ever... I chose the Gnome version of the distro.

What a load of rancid rat droppings.

Expandable menu? No, no no - it opens a whole massive f'en window with a giant list of apps.

I was sitting there like wtf... who the &*#! thought that this was a good idea.

It was terrible.

sHyLoCk · 2009-12-25 07:40:30

openSUSE simply coz it's done well and doesn't b0rk your system every 10minutes.
openSUSE's KDE >> all
Everything works ootb, starting from LUKS LVM to xen hypervisor. It's a great distro.

Last edited by sHyLoCk (2009-12-25 07:41:46)

Allan · 2009-12-25 08:09:11

Lets just close this under this rule:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/For … ng_Systems

Arch Linux

#26 2009-07-25 18:40:53

Re: OpenSUSE vs Ubuntu for small office

#27 2009-07-25 21:57:50

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#28 2009-07-25 22:30:05

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#29 2009-07-25 23:02:20

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#30 2009-07-26 02:22:42

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#31 2009-07-26 08:33:40

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#32 2009-07-26 11:45:27

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#33 2009-07-27 02:09:01

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#34 2009-07-27 02:34:49

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#35 2009-07-27 13:34:02

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#36 2009-07-27 13:43:59

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#37 2009-07-27 16:08:15

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#38 2009-07-27 16:54:42

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#39 2009-07-28 08:40:23

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#40 2009-07-30 22:23:51

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#41 2009-09-24 21:57:54

Re: OpenSUSE vs Ubuntu for small office

#42 2009-09-25 03:26:50

Re: OpenSUSE vs Ubuntu for small office

#43 2009-09-28 06:07:59

Re: OpenSUSE vs Ubuntu for small office

#44 2009-12-25 07:06:05

Re: OpenSUSE vs Ubuntu for small office

#45 2009-12-25 07:40:30

Re: OpenSUSE vs Ubuntu for small office

#46 2009-12-25 08:09:11

Re: OpenSUSE vs Ubuntu for small office

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