my (very) brief experience of OpenSuse Linux.

...well, i was bored of XP and Ubuntu, so i went ahead and got this OpenSUSE X64 to disc and installed it.

the first thing it screwed with was my partitions - it deleted the partition i allocated it, and then made a logical drive, and cut a chunk out of my XP partition.

next, it took over the windows boot manager, and refused to let me return it to default, so when i eventually got back into XP, i had to format my OS partitions and reinstall windows.

i did try to save XP, but when i attempted to rid my laptop of OpenSUSE, as soon as i turned it on, i get the bootloader error that tells you it cant find the kernel, well, obviously it wouldnt, because i just deleted it.

once i eventually got XP back on again, and was rid of OpenSUSE, i got a load of emails that followed the theme of HOWCOMEZ UR NOT ON OUR OS?!.

and ontop of this, the OS itself was absolutely god-awful.

unless you want a whole loada trouble, id avoid OpenSuse.


~drkskr

I've had great luck with OpenSUSE on both a desktop and laptop and find KDE quite usable. However, I installed it to be the single OS on those platforms, no sharing the resources. Sorry your experience was unsatisfactory, but I don't think it's representative of the majority.

I see where openSUSE has dropped to the number 4 spot on DistroWatch. Ubuntu is still number one. I just really like Ubuntu best. Easy to install, drivers galore, great support and friendly forums.

Regards.

~Darkseeker~ said:

the first thing it screwed with was my partitions - it deleted the partition i allocated it, and then made a logical drive, and cut a chunk out of my XP partition.

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openSUSE suggests a partition layout and unless you change it, it goes with it. You have ample opportunity to change the partition scheme. I admit that Yast makes some odd choices when it comes to partitioning but you have an opportunity to change it. The fact that you didn't do so is your fault.

~Darkseeker~ said:

next, it took over the windows boot manager, and refused to let me return it to default, so when i eventually got back into XP, i had to format my OS partitions and reinstall windows.

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Most Linux distributions automatically install a bootloader and most don't give you a choice (Ubuntu included). IIRC, you can change the bootloader settings during the install, something Ubuntu does not allow you to do. And what do you mean "default"? If you mean the Windows bootloader, I return to my previous point - 95% of Linux distributions install a bootloader whether or not you want to. I fail to see how openSUSE is somehow special in this instance. And let me get this straight - you reinstalled Windows so you could use the Windows bootloader again? Perhaps you should have done some research as you can fix the MBR without reinstalling Windows. From where I'm sitting, your overzealous approach to "fixing" your computer is the real problem here.

~Darkseeker~ said:

i did try to save XP, but when i attempted to rid my laptop of OpenSUSE, as soon as i turned it on, i get the bootloader error that tells you it cant find the kernel, well, obviously it wouldnt, because i just deleted it.

Click to expand...

That is entirely your fault (which you alluded to) and in no way is this openSUSE's fault. The same thing would have happened if you had an Ubuntu install and you tried to get rid of it without remembering to fix the MBR.

~Darkseeker~ said:

once i eventually got XP back on again, and was rid of OpenSUSE, i got a load of emails that followed the theme of HOWCOMEZ UR NOT ON OUR OS?!.

Click to expand...

What?

~Darkseeker~ said:

and ontop of this, the OS itself was absolutely god-awful.

Click to expand...

How so? I'm inclined to believe that your problems with openSUSE had nothing to do with it and more to do with your inability to refrain from drastic action when something goes wrong.

Listen, I am by no means an openSUSE zealot but I will defend what is widely acknowledged as a stable and reputable Linux distribution. Your critique of openSUSE is groundless. Many of your complaints seem to stem from either your lack of awareness of what was occurring during the install or your apparent need to react hastily to problems. If you have problems with openSUSE, I would be more that willing to hear them and acknowledge that there could be issues. As it stands now though, there is very little reason to believe that any difficulties you had were because of openSUSE. As an aside, anything that can be done in Ubuntu or any other distribution can be done in openSUSE. They're both Linux distributions and therefore, both use the same kernel and userland (albeit different versions) programs.

chscag said:

I see where openSUSE has dropped to the number 4 spot on DistroWatch. Ubuntu is still number one.

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The Distrowatch page ranking is by no means an accurate metric of the quality of a Linux distribution. If it were, I find it hard to believe that Debian would be 6th (known for it's high level of quality and stability) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux would be 38th. If DistroWatch's PHR were somehow a metric for quality and overall "goodness", I'd say that 4th out of 100 is pretty darn good.

Oh, I know that. DistroWatch ratings are "popularity" ratings rather than an actual measure of quality. Back in the "old days" Linux users were geeks and could talk "terminal talk" back and forth with each other. Those days are pretty much gone.

Still some of the good old days around but not in the Linux forums. You have to join a FIDO echo or a usenet newsgroup to find the geeks.

Regards.

chscag said:

Oh, I know that. DistroWatch ratings are "popularity" ratings rather than an actual measure of quality. Back in the "old days" Linux users were geeks and could talk "terminal talk" back and forth with each other. Those days are pretty much gone.

Still some of the good old days around but not in the Linux forums. You have to join a FIDO echo or a usenet newsgroup to find the geeks.

Regards.

Click to expand...

I'm glad you know that - many people don't. And "best" really is subjective as some people like "it's all setup for me" (Ubuntu, openSUSE, Mandriva...) and some like "I want to do it all" (Arch, Gentoo...).

Ahh, "*nix speak". Some people can still talk that way but I believe that the increase in more user friendly distros is starting to threaten that. Whether or not that is a good thing is again subjective.

Open Suse is an excellent distro. Ubuntu is great also.

I remember back when I was given this Acer Aspire Netbook. It came with Limpus Linux. It was horrible. You could not even upgrade Firefox without many Terminal tricks and the OS reminded me of Google Chrome OS! Simple menu with icons and so dumbed down you could not change anything.

I tried XP and did not like it on that Netbook so tried Ubuntu. The WiFi did not work and one other thing. I looked around the net and at the time had problems finding a working driver, so I tried Open Suse as I have always loved Suse anyway. Worked right out of the install and worked great. No issues for 6 month of usage till I went with a RC of Windows 7 for testing.

No linux distro is perfect with all hardware out there. Open Suse has always been a great distro as well as Ubuntu. They are both very solid.

dtravis7 said:

Open Suse is an excellent distro. Ubuntu is great also. [...] It came with No linux distro is perfect with all hardware out there.

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Correct on both points. More than one distro can be great and each admittedly has their strengths and weaknesses out of the box (you can of course make each do the same things just as well but it might take more work with some). No distro is perfect and the fact that the OP has problems with openSUSE doesn't negate the fact that he could have had the exact same problems with another distro.

I have Suse Enterprise on a stand alone PC and I like it.

Through my Linux travels, I've tried Redhat, Fedora, Slackware, SuSE, Mint, Ubuntu, Arch and Debian..at least the ones that are still around..

Everything that caused the OP problems are most likely related to not knowing what is being chosen and done. YAST is a VERY capable installer and has been for a very long time, if anything most of the recent Distro's try to mimic it at some level.

Either way..bashing OpenSuSE for what was a flawed experience isn't really the right thing to do..

Regards