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Yes, I used to use Ubuntu occasionally because packages weren't as available on OpenSUSE. However, that's really changed over the last decade. With OBS (open build services), you can find most packages in a repo.

Three reasons I really prefer OpenSUSE:
1 - Hardware support is unsurpassed, better then any other linux distro I've tried.
2 - OBS ecosystem
3 - Community help appears to be higher caliber then Ubuntu and professional pages are more open then RH (no paywall). If I look up a howto, at least half the time the Ubuntu directions will use some GUI tool I don't have on the cli, or include something suspicious like chmod 777. The directions you find on OpenSUSE usually don't have this problem, and YAST on GUI is the same as YAST on cli.

That's what package mangers are for, but it's completely ridiculous to expect an ecosystem to work like it does on Linux. People submit applications to the distro, and the distro people are expected to build and maintain tens of thousands of packages.Try installing something that isn't built into the distro repository and nothing works. I hear the concept of "3rd party" is popular on desktop machines, but you really can't expect anything to work if it comes outside from the distro, and even then things break for the most idiotic of reasons.

Have you ever heard of the open build service? Maintainers can set up virtual build hosts for different distros/distro versions to build their packages. Complete with dependencies. That's one way how you could do it: use one of the community repos. Compiling an application yourself is usually not a problem given you have the correct dev packages installed, but even if you haven't: there are good online help resources and often helpful people on the respective IRC channels.

Try installing something that isn't built into the distro repository and nothing works. I hear the concept of "3rd party" is popular on desktop machines, but you really can't expect anything to work if it comes outside from the distro, and even then things break for the most idiotic of reasons.

If it comes from outside of your distro, you need either the source code or the program including its library dependencies. I personally know snap only from hearsay but I have had good experiences with AppImage.

I could not have imagined using Linux exclusively 15 years ago. But so much has changed for the better since I began using it. Now I feel amputated when I have to use a Windows machine (for the lack of a decent command line, configurability, accessability features, performance, privacy, security and so much more)

Not the first, far from it. There have been various paid-for boxed set Linux offerings, including Xandros, Suse and even Red Hat before they went all weak kneed on the desktop.

Possibly the most successful? Well, the price is right. I seem to recall Xandros was $200 at the time. I can see numerous Windows users who previously swallowed the company line of Linux as cancer doing a 180 at this point for a tryout. Whether Microsoft is sincere in offering a polished product or whether their real goal is to make Linux look bad on the desktop, hence keeping their sheep in the flock, remains to be seen.

Once into a boxed set, it's easy to imagine most making the move to "real Linux".

You need ONE deb and ONE rpm.
So basically using something like OBS

As evinced above, http and ftp serve the same purpose. Although, http is a clearly better choice.

Note, this page has mirrors using both http and ftp.

Starting from Raspberry Pi 3 (can't find any information about Raspberry Pi 2 version 1.2 which use the same CPU as Pi3, not as earlier Pi2s), the U-boot bootloader is UEFI compliant and several Linux distributions's (such as, for example, openSUSE Tumbleweed) AArch64 image can be run in 64bits mode.

source: tumbleweed's wiki entry about Raspberry Pi 3.

So there should be a way to load Debian AArch64 on your Pi.
(But of course it will be less optimized/geared toward Pi than a real Raspbian 64)

From what I've read in forums and interviews, there isn't a plan to do Raspbian64 in the immediate future, due to lots of 32bits (ARM6 or 7) Pis still in the wild, and the Rasberry Pi Foundation wanting not to dilute their resources over too many goals.

(Then I'm sure that the gentoo people have their own flavour completely optimized to the bone for 64bit Pi)

it uses GNOME 3

No. The default desktop is KDE. See

https://en.opensuse.org/KDE

And German companies, such as SUSE, are required to have stricter privacy protections than American companies, such as Red Hat.

https://omnia.turris.cz/

Specs: 1.6 GHz dual-core ARM, 2 GB DDR3, 8 GB flash, 5 Gbit LAN, 1 Gbit WAN, 2 USB 3.0, 2 Mini PCI Express, 1 mSATA / mini PCI Express, 3x3 MIMO 802.11ac, 2x2 MIMO 802.11b/g/n

I use it together with two hard drives attached via SATA.

It ships with a custom version of OpenWRT but you can also install other stuff on it like Debian:

https://wiki.debian.org/Instal...

Or openSUSE:

https://en.opensuse.org/HCL:Tu...

Let's not forget SuSE making a Leap, too

OpenSuSE Build System found at https://build.opensuse.org/

The better multi-function printers and copiers support a few different options for transferring scans, such as sending to email or FTP or a Samba share. Again, if you buy cheap crap, then you get what you paid for.

And then sometimes you have bad surprises.

We've bought a network connected Cannon i-SENSYS mf8550Cdw Laserprinter/Scanner multifunction. (with support for Google Print and Air Print)
In my opinion Cannon is supposed to be a more or less reliable brandname.

Big surprise:
the thing doesn't speak Postscript.

It only speaks UFR (an obscure proprietary format of Cannon) for which the drivers are a bit PITA to get to compile (cannon provides a mixed binary and source-code components)
and PCL - for which luckily there's a driver, requiring only to manually craft a PPD (sorry, no links yet).

Note that, Mac OS X is similarily left in the dust (the official Canon driver fails to install, I can't get pxlcolor to work), luckily at leat AirPrint seems to work (and let the printer's firmware rasterize the PDF documents).

Google Print still doesn't function - the steps described in the manual just fail.

When opponents to sth have to lie through their teeth, hoping that noone will go read and understand their links, they're immediately disqualified in my view.
You clearly are not qualified to understand what you're talking about, but at least you made the work to fool people that won't ever read the links provided because they're not qualified either. Unfortunately for you, some people will read them. And they'll see your lies, which explains why you posted as AC.

Let's run down the list of "why":

- Systemd contains an unchecked null reference pointer that segfaults PID 1.
Lennart Poettering states he won't fix it
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/s...

No, systemd doesn't have such a thing, and LP never said what you're saying. The link show a very non civil hater (the systemd devs kept their cool), that wants the devs to tackle at high priority an unsupported setup, which became badly handled by systemd because of a kernel change. One thing that is legitimate, is that systemd should at least gracefully quit when in such an unsupported setup. Which has been done and fixed by the systemd devs. They asked for a patch from the guys who insist on using an unsupported setup, and of course, never got anyhting, and had to do it themselves. Classic "the setup you told me won't work, that's what I want to use, or systemd is crap". Why a sysadmin would do that, I can't understand.

- Systemd and Gnome allow bypassing gnome-shell password prompts granting root
Left unfixed for over a year
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.p...

Another big lie, systemd has nothing to do with this problem, it's only Gnome Shell that is the problem in some distro setups, and that was introduced because users were locked out of their desktop. To sum it up, Gnome-shell made a kludge to remove the security systemd provides, so as not to lockup users.

- Systemd segfaults during upgrades of itself, combined with the new log files that can't be retrieved Mr Poettering says are required to fix the bug, but he will not provide any method for Systemd to generate the logs he demands from it.
https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/...
https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/...

Yet, the true sysadmins that reported it managed to provide logs and debug the systemd-208 version, which is the version we're talking about here, which is an arbitrary version that some distros took as a supported one in their distro. LP never said anything of what you're lying about here, especially as what you say makes no sense when PID one segfaults, then the core deump is important, and that's one of the thing that has been provided by competent sysadmins, not by incompetent whiners. This bug has been fixed in the 208 version used by this distro, using true debug means recommended by systemd devs or distro maintainers, not your nonsense. The upgrade was also fixed by the distros, as they were in charge of supporting the version, with the help of systemd devs.
And yes, it happened once with a systemd version, that it crashed on live updating itself.

- Systemd distros can not boot if no ethernet link is present
https://lists.debian.org/debia...

Actually that's not true at all, it will boot just fine. It's just a clueless user there that tuned his laptop with an antiquated configuration that is static instead of dynamic, and perhaps that's Debian's fault. There must be a long timeout, but eventually, he would have arrived to emergency console.
Systemd is dynamic if you use its native tools, not if you use the compatibility static tools of Debian. But it boots

If you're allergic to trimming your neckbeard and running a modern init, just switch to *BSD where they adopted the features that people are whining about decades ago. ;)

Haters hate, but do they know why? Do they have a choice? Do they have Free Will, or were they born unable to tell the difference between choosing software they want to run, and being forced to run software that... they chose?

Let's run down the list of "why":

- Systemd contains an unchecked null reference pointer that segfaults PID 1.
Lennart Poettering states he won't fix it
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/s...

- Systemd and Gnome allow bypassing gnome-shell password prompts granting root
Left unfixed for over a year
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.p...

- Systemd segfaults during upgrades of itself, combined with the new log files that can't be retrieved Mr Poettering says are required to fix the bug, but he will not provide any method for Systemd to generate the logs he demands from it.
https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/...
https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/...

- Systemd distros can not boot if no ethernet link is present
https://lists.debian.org/debia...

- Systemd distros can not boot if using certain DNS servers
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bi...

- Systemd distros can not boot if using certain NTP servers
https://github.com/systemd/sys...

- Enabling the kernel "debug" command line option results in boot storage being filled with thousands of dmesg log entries per second from Systemd, and a non-booting system results
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/s...

- Systemd disables SysRq keys to ensure data loss after any of the many many instances it is coded to fail under
https://lists.debian.org/debia...

The 10" 2-in-1s [like ASUS Transformer Book T100] have a whole bunch of things not working in Debian

Debian is but one choice. Linux Mint or Ubuntu or openSUSE work with about everything

Key word: "about". I looked at the instructions for getting Linux Mint up on a Transformer Book, and it appears you have to buy a compatible USB NIC and plug it in so that you can download the driver for the built-in Wi-Fi. I looked up Ubuntu, and Wi-Fi is "buggy" and suspend is "not working". Nor has anyone had luck with openSUSE. Google couldn't turn up anything about PC-BSD on the T100; I can't tell whether this means it "just works" or just that nobody has tried it. I wouldn't bet on the former.

I've been reading a lot of economics the last few years, trying to figure out why it's so full of shit.
It seems mainstream (neoclassical/keynesian synthesis) economists believe in mathematics but don't believe in reality.
Their close kin the Austrians don't believe in mathematics either.
They both believe economies are in equilibrium, this is a fundamental assumption, and other nonsense like 'people behave rationally', 'people have perfect information' etc.
These are not a priori assumptions like a physicist might make but come out of their theories and without which they do not work. This does not phase them.

Along the way I have discovered System Dynamics, a way of modeling complex dynamic systems which seems well suited to studying economics. There is an economist using this, he has designed his own System Dynamics software called Minsky, and unlike Krugman, Rogoff et al. he makes a lot of sense.
His name is Steve Keen and you can get Minsky from here: Windows, Mac or here: Linux.
He has an excellent book: Debunking Economics and you will find him on YouTube too.

Go here or here or here or here.

All have excellent upgrades available to any version of Windows.

... Not opensuse

As another poster has already pointed out - that's incorrect.

But interesting anyway. Maybe Open SUSE is just a little slow because of a trickle-down from SUSE? Regardless of the reason you might consider subscribing to the opensuse-security-announce mailing list.

. At least you don't have to wait until Patch Tuesday.

eh? http://lists.opensuse.org/open...

Ever tried Konqueror (under KDE) ? Support local files, http, ftp, sftp, ssh, smb, etc
https://tr.opensuse.org/Konque...

If you have a basic SuSE install, you can go to http://www.opensuse.org/ click the "get it" button. Then you can search for any package and install with a 1 click installation. It will also give you the option to add the repository so you can get future updates.

They do have the most available packages, and the best hardware support, IMHO.

I use OpenSUSE. The few things I've not been able to find in their stock repos (most notably a non-braindead version of VLC) have always been available in the alternative repos which can be located simply by searching http://software.opensuse.org/ (Packman rocks, BTW). The only stuff I ever *have* to compile on anything like a regular basis is for work.

Why shouldn't they? If you want it included in the distro, why is it the distro's responsibility for maintaining the package?

Considering they already have one, why can't they simply submit the updated 7.x version to Ubuntu?

http://download.opensuse.org/r...

The package is already built... just upload. Or fuck off.

No, they're responsible for maintaining their packages in every repository they wish to add their package to, though. If they want to be part of the Ubuntu repo, rather than hosting their own repository, they play by Ubuntu's rules. Don't like it? Run your own repository.

They do: http://software.opensuse.org/d...

They're not the ones maintaining the packages in Ubuntu's repos, that's Ubuntu-folks' own doing.

They *DO* provide repos for multiple distros: http://software.opensuse.org/d...

Providing repos, however, does not fix this. If Ubuntu decides to carry packages for ownCloud on their on repos then keeping those packages up-to-date and secure is their responsibility.

You still get the choice between:

- keeping GNOME and SystemD.
- throwing away GNOME + SystemD

You still get the choice between engaging your brain or leaving it idle. This is about distributions adopting systemd, not about me adopting systemd.

GNOME is *NOT* a absolute requirement for Linux.
And several distros *DID* switch away from it

At least some of the distributions you mention still support normal GNOME.

openSUSE has been systemd-powered for the past 4 releases (~3 years ago, ~1.5 year after the systemd launch) . Yet, opensuse *IS NOT* a GNOME-based distro

GNOME-based? "As one of the two default desktop environments of openSUSE, GNOME can be easily installed via various methods." Guess what? Distributions aren't based on GUIs.

Apparently, systemd might be useful enough

systemd is not the only way to provide any of its features. In many cases, other daemons already had some of the functionality. In other cases, the functionality is actually fairly irrelevant. In some cases, the functionality is abhorrent, such as what has been done to logging.

So far, nobody has given a good reason why init needs to have so much more responsibility, or why all these daemons we've been using need to be replaced with one daemon that fails a lot because it's brand new code with no maturity written by a developer with no maturity.

> ...my advice will be to switch to something else unless Red Hat gets their heads out of their asses, and gets rid of systemd

--You might want to look into SuSE; a bit of googling found me this:

https://en.opensuse.org/openSU...
^ Tells you how to get rid of it ;-)

I have an Internet connection and have installed OpenBSD multiple times using just a single floppy disc.

But yeah, there was other solutions too. I don't remember whatever it was obvious how limited the live discs was.

Google download fedora:
http://fedoraproject.org/en_GB...
Only live CD listed there, doesn't mention anything about the installer being crippled and limit your options.

Pick desktop and nothing improves:
http://fedoraproject.org/en_GB...

Formats have both the DVD and Network Install CDs which imho is more useful, both of these likely work but since none of the limits of the previous is clearly stated I don't really see why one would go there if one didn't knew that was what one wanted. I have no real need for all the packages on the installation media and if I'm going to burn a CD anyway given a choice about network installer only or installer with a live copy of the OS I may pick the later because that give me a functioning machine now (and the number of MBs downloaded is close to completely irrelevant to me.)

Here the live CDs clearly state they are installed as is and can't be upgraded:
http://software.opensuse.org/1...
And that the DVD and Network mediums are suitable for installation.

If it looks terrible then change it. All I usually do is change everything over to oxygen, but thats just the way I like it......IMO it wasn't really usable until about 4.6 or so but that was a problem the distros/me caused by using a desktop that wasn't ready for what we wanted to use it for. It was my choice to install it. I could have just stuck with KDE 3. If I want to go back I still can in fact.

Try using a media player like SMPlayer for your copying to /tmp woes. That has worked for me. Kaffiene has never appealed. VLC I like, but SMPlayer just seems to be better for me.

Unsure about the kde.org comment. If I want to look at other desktops I go menu/Configure_Desktop/Workspace_Appearance/Desktop_Theme and then click on Get_New_Themes.

As for updating the codebase. Well, if they didn't do that then our desktops would still look like this. Which is fine but I prefer this.

As for usability. I use it every day and I am not a linux guru.

The forums were not hacked. They upgraded to latest OpenSuSE Factory, which includes cdrtools again.

And guess what, this time the Anti-SuSE message in cdrtools really went big time.

Simple. Stop using Gnome shit.

How can I store passphrases associated with encrypted wireless networks?
The first time KNetworkManager is used, it will try to set up the KDE Wallet (encrypted password storage) to save wireless network passphrases and other passwords. If you choose not to use KWallet, KNetworkManager will store passwords in its configuration files, only readable by the logged in user.

http://old-en.opensuse.org/Projects/KNetworkManager#Wireless_LAN

These configuration files are only readable by root on my opensuse box (specifically NOT by the logged in user). NetworkManager uses a privileged back end to read these files. (That's another issue, obsessed over up-thread).

So realistically, the story is pretty much a bunch of FUD. (In fact, if you read the article they pretty much discredit any of their recommended solutions by pointing out how easy it is to get around them).

True, if someone gets your laptop and puts in linux boot/recovery CD, they can get at your wifi passwords. But they already have your MACHINE IN HAND, so that war is already lost.

When you consider how easy it is to crack a wifi password the specter of any one stealing your laptop to get them seems a bit over the top.

Ok, sure, they should be stored encrypted, but if you wanted that option you could have and / should have chosen to store them in your wallet.
And in this day and age, you could have and should have used an encrypted hard disk. Either way, there is going to be another password you will need to remember somewhere.

Simple. Stop using Gnome shit.

How can I store passphrases associated with encrypted wireless networks?
The first time KNetworkManager is used, it will try to set up the KDE Wallet (encrypted password storage) to save wireless network passphrases and other passwords. If you choose not to use KWallet, KNetworkManager will store passwords in its configuration files, only readable by the logged in user.

http://old-en.opensuse.org/Projects/KNetworkManager#Wireless_LAN

Ubuntu isn't especially bloated. It runs at least as good as WindowsXP out of the box, as far as performance is concerned.

To my layman's eyes, Linux has been suffering from a bit of "X distro is/once was good and is slowly dying from lack of funds or internal politics".

Then your layman's eyes are suffering from selection bias (a common problem). There are several distros that have been running solid for a very long time. Such distros are Ubuntu's own granddaddy, Fedora, Gentoo, Arch, and more recently SUSE.

Not the GP and can't speak for them but I agree with you on your statements. Proportionality does matter and the reason for this response is a request for those who are acquainted with the necessary facts and the ability and interest in doing the math: what is the cost to those who have to pay for their bandwidth at assorted rates (seperate please for hosted services, privately maintained services or possibly even individuals not hosting web pages but gets charged per data sent/received) if they happen to have the misfortune of being targeted by a botnet DDOS? After all, there are some services for individuals where it can cost some ISP customers up to $100 or more just to download OpenSUSE for example. And yes, I realize I maybe asking what many will consider a "stupid question" even though we were all told "there are no STUPID questions". Or will all service providers automatically make allowances for that sort of thing?

The disadvantage of YaST used to be that it had its own language. With that being solved and YaST written in ruby it would be great if other distro's start using it.

Even if only for some tasks it would be great to see what others can do with it.

Also adding your own modules is a lot simpler because of ruby.

I use XFCE. I never like GNOME or KDE.
Thar does not mean I don't use any GNOME or KDE programs, because I do.
When I install openSUSE 13.1 (as Evergreen) I might even go back to Windowmaker. I want the Window Manager back. I do not like the Window Desktop. One of the reasons I use Linux is because I want everything separated from other things. The desktop should just tell me where things show up on my screen.

What you have now is separation of development of many programs. Instead of having a choice of differnt terminal programs, I can select the one for GNOME, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, ...
Instead of having several File Managers, I can use the one for KDE, GNOME, LXDE, XFCE, ...

The same for many other programs.

Sure, there are some exceptions out there still, but I think it is a terrible waste of human productivity.

First: you should try a KDE-specific distro like SimplyMepis or OpenSUSE, as they focus on integrating & polishing -- Debian deliberately leaves environments in their default state for users to customize/integrate. Debian is also famously *not* for newbies; if you want your father to give Linux a try, put him in front of a distro that specializes in the environment, is user-friendly and has a newbie-welcoming community. (SimplyMepis again is what I strongly recommend for KDE 4 -- you'd have to ask around for suggestions regarding other environments.)

90% of your rant didn't actually apply to KDE (I'm not even sure how much it applied to recent releases of the other environments)... However, the only reason "Activities" popped up because you evidently clicked on the wrong button. (That I feel is the KDE team's fault; I did the same thing, since they have it in the corner and the normal menu off by one space.) That said, when I did a new install to test SimplyMepis 12 a few months ago, I noticed the "activities" icon in the panel alongside the normal menu, deleted it, and moved on.

Looking at my desktop, which is pretty standard for KDE 4.5+, it's no more complex or confusing than Windows 7 is: all of the windows follow the same visual theme, icons are consistent; the programs/windows have the same sorts of titles that they would in any OS: System Settings, Firefox, Open Office. You won't find anything different from Windows 7 or OS X in that department. LXRandR isn't in KDE -- we control our monitors through System Settings, and optionally can run a utility specific to KDE that lets us do it from the system tray if we want to.

*Any* operating system or environment a person sits down to that's markedly different from the one(s) they're used to is going to require some degree of adjustment & learning new terms. That said, most of your reported conversation with your father could just as easily apply to Ubuntu/Unity:

"...you're using Ubuntu." "I though I was using Linux." "You are, it's the Ubuntu distribution." "[What is Unity, then?]" "That's the desktop environment."

"This says I'm using X windows" "That's the underlying display architecture..." Users of Windows don't know what GDI is unless they're looking for it. Same with Quartz and Mac OS X.

Average/non-geek users of KDE 4 don't know about it either, because terms like "X-Windows" don't appear -- just ones like "display" or "monitors." Relatively few technical terms appear these days, for that matter.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "modern" as you claim the term applies to Ubuntu when colorful looks have been trending. Similar for your use of "unified," considering KDE, Trinity, MATE, etc each apply a color scheme & theme to virtually all windows. (Snarky aside: "unless by 'unified' you mean all users locked to the devs' preferred look?") Just as importantly, they let their userbase share themes regardless of what distro we're in, helping ensure that all users of an environment can have the desktops be as modern, retro, colorful, or drab as we wish... After all, we're all Linux OS users first & foremost, and which distro (customized copy of Linux) we use is and should be secondary.

I didn't wanted to waste time migrating Desktop, that's was the problem.

Your argument is that it was too difficult to switch to a different linux desktop but then you switched to a Mac with OS X?

Yes. Switching to Mac OS X was almost as difficult as switching to KDE (that I don't like), but less difficult than switching to Gnome 3, this last one I still abhor with all my guts.

Cinnamon was still too green at that time (and frankly, it's not a 100% replacement), and OpenSUSE took almost 2 years to deliver MATE in a usable and maintainable state, so at that time my only choice to use MATE was switching distros - a pain in the arse, as YAST2 is second to no one.

So, basically, yes. My argument is that it would be (and, in fact, it was) easier to switch to MacOS than switch to MATE/Any Other Distro or even KDE (that I hate) on the same OpenSUSE. Gnome 3 just isn't an option.

Mac OS X gives me a User Interface that I think is usable, it's stable and consistent for years and its easily maintainable (as it was my OpenSUSE box with YAST2).

You are plain wrong. People use computers to solve problems, not to get problems.

If switching to MacOS X is easier and less painful than switching a Desktop, people will do it.

In what universe is it easier to switch from Gnome 2 to Mac OS X versus a different linux desktop, say XFCE which was already 90% configured like Gnome 2 out of the box?

On mine, and that's the only one that matters to me.

I don't know your I.T. background, but mine is measured by decades. I used GEOS on an Apple II, and MacOS on the first Macs. I missed the Xerox's STAR wagon, however... :-D

Anyway, I used a lot of U.I. paradigms (damn! I used AmigaOS' WorkBench!!), and it happened that I settled with Gnome 2 on a way it didn't happened for a long time.

XFCE is good, it reminds me OS/2 Warp, that I enjoyed very much. But it's more a Shell than a Desktop - doesn't have full support from the main development tools I use, neither allows the same level of integration between applications (or if it does, nobody tolds me). Shell for a Shell, I would use WindowMaker instead - I like the OpenSTEP metaphors, it's a shame it didn't became more mainstream (perhaps being this the reason I enjoyed Mac OS? - it's a, now remote, descendent of the NextSTEP that Jobs brought to Apple in the 90's).

Let me get this straight, other than the desktop interface, all of your applications and data would be the same if you stuck with linux. With a Mac, you had to transfer data and learn new apps. As for the interface, you stated that

Again, you're wrong! :-)

Other that the price of the box, I had no (too much big) problems with the switch. Eclipse, OpenOffice, Thunderbird (well, almost - I was getting pretty used to use Evolution), GCC and Chrome works perfectly to me, the same way it worked on Linux. I had to install some Linux utils on my Mac Box, but Mac Ports does a beautiful job here. For general text editing Text Wrangler does a nice job (it's even better than the editor I used on Linux, but still behind Notepad++ on Windows).

Aquamacs is very nice, by the way. And GIMP works flawlessly.

One serious drawback is the absolute absence of support to anything that is not sold by Apple. Secondary boot is a nightmare, thanks God for Sun's OpenBOX but for gaming, I had to keep an old AthlonXP desktop here, under my desk. Not a problem, as my favorite games are all from the last decade... =D

That thing was working fine, working well and I was satisfied. My working-flow just works, and the (very few) quirks on Gnome 2 was already know and workarounded. My Gnome 2 Desktop machine was simply the best user experience I ever had on a professional machine, it suited perfec

It should be this easy on ALL linux distros. Here's a screencap of me installing the latest NVidia drivers on Lubuntu the other day:
http://youtu.be/49iq5A8d0e4

Yeah. That was like super-easy and I'm sure many Windows or OS X users would be impressed..

Also what's up with the lack of usage of the tab key, the multiple clears and I guess it would had helped if you had made sure the commands actually gave the results you where after in the first place + the warning at the beginning about a distribution specific pre-installation script failing.

As for FreeBSD:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/articles/compiz-fusion/nvidia-setup.html

Or openSUSE:
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_drivers#Easy_way_to_get_NVIDIA_drivers

Ubuntu:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia

Fedora don't seem to be all that user friendly in this regard:
http://www.if-not-true-then-false.com/2013/fedora-18-nvidia-guide/
http://rpmfusion.org/Howto/nVidia#GeForce_8_and_newer

Archlinux guide is a little longer.. But also cover much more:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA
Like I remember a recent thread on Slashdot where this likely would had been helpful:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA#Base_mosaic

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=99890

http://fixunix.com/redhat/489285-rhel-5-1-rhel-5-2-dependency-hell.html

http://www.freelists.org/post/oracle-l/Linux-X86-26-Oracle-9204-and-RPM-Dependency-Hell

http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/53077/firefox-circular-dependency-hell-on-linux-mint-13

http://linuxgazette.net/issue71/tag/3.html

http://lwn.net/Articles/198455/

http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/applications/406017-does-dependency-hell-still-exist-2.html
* "The best (worst) way to get dependency hell is to add too many repositories. Eventually one will find the right combination of conflicting repositories to create a situation of dependency hell."
* "The problem is the more repositories that are added, the less and less likely that applications are built against the same set. "
* "Dependency hell ALWAYS exists. ALWAYS (Yes, Debian users, I'm talking to YOU). The question is whether or not if somebody tries to NOT go to dependency hell, is the system going to take them there anyway."

http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/32594/fedora-16-dependency-hell

http://www.eonlinegratis.com/2013/dependency-hell-trying-to-install-gcc-on-centos4/

Oh, dependency hell is real alright!

Really, that isn't specific to debian.
https://build.opensuse.org/
http://koji.fedoraproject.org/

Same here. The last version I used was 95 and I sorta liked it. I started to use Linux, because I wanted to learn more by myself.

The main thing now is that I have 24 workspaces (6 on each of the 4 screens) and I do not use Xinerama (I want to switch them individually)

Not sure if this would be possible with http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/ or http://www.dexpot.de/index.php?id=home or others.
As it is not even easy to do under Linux (GNOME and KDE use Xinerama by default) I would not dare to try it.

Another thing is the ease of installing programs. I use YaST or just go to http://software.opensuse.org/ and I have almost anything I would need. In very seldom cases I do `sudo rpm -Uvh http://example.com/program.rpm` and be done with it. I have nothing that I compile myself. Updates are done from one place that is already configured from the start.

When I do a new installation, all the software that I need is already there right at my fingertips in one location. If I want to be a noob, it works. If I want to be a ubergeek, I have the tools to do anything I desire.

And last, but certainly not least, I am in control. I decide what I want. If I do not like it, I change. I do not like KDE or GNOME, so I use XFCE. If I want, I can use something else. And all that available without really searching the web for it.

So for me 1997 has been the year of the Linux desktop. The sole thing that keeps it from becoming it for everybody is pre-instalation. Have it pre-installed and people will use it. They use Android. They use MacOS. Why? Because it is pre-installed. Many people do not even know what Windows is. They don't care. They have their computer and they click on Internet and they can send a mail to friends and family, play a game, watch Youtube, use Facebook and search for free porn.

But install software in openSUSE on 3rd party repo is even more easy than add PPA, IMO. Go to build.opensuse.go, search a package, and with one-click-install, you got it. Check it out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hmW0156G810 And, about nes emulators, a quick search in the web gave me this result: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators/ My point is... ok, maybe Ubuntu has a greater official repository, but when I've search a tool or a program that I need or want to test in openSUSE, I've always found it in other opensuse repositories (like pacman) or in 3rd party repos, like your emulators. ;)

with KDE 4, You never NEED to use the cli but you can do everything from the cli if you want to.
OpenSuSE
OpenSuSE Guide helps you to a good start.
Ubuntu is imho the Windows of the Linux world, they do much noise and the do very much to look nice and shiny...

Sure it is possible, but i can cause problems. So the best thing to do is to first have a partition available. A dedicated HD is even easier.
Then download something lik the openSUSE DVD, boot from that and away you go.

What can be even better is a dedicated machine. If you have a bit older machine (some 3-5 years old) you can use that and not worry about breaking stuff.

But there is a trap. You will be tempted to go back to the other faster machine, so perhaps install Windows on the slower machine and Linux on the fast one.

Also give yourself several months and don't forget linux is not windows

http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:System_upgrade
Same as above post. Handy URL when upgrade time comes.

They have been tailored towards 1GB USB keys. I personally use the network install without the use of media.

1) Download linux and initrd from
http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/12.3/repo/oss/boot/x86_64/loader/ and save them as install.linux and install.initrd
2) Edit grub1 so the entry reads

title SSH-Install
  root
  kernel /boot/install.linux install=http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/12.3/repo/oss hostip=192.168.1.200 netmask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.1.1 nameserver=192.168.1.3 showopts
  initrd /boot/install.initrd

Then boot from that. (Be sure to edit the IP adresses to yours).
If you add the following to the kernel line, you can even do the install via ssh. Be aware that it will take a time till your ssh is accesible:
textmode=1 usessh=1 sshpassword="semi-secret"

Next start with ssh -X -o "UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null" root@[Server to install] and launch yast.
After the reboot, login again and launch /usr/lib/YaST2/startup/YaST2.ssh for the second stage.

Great way to install a great XFCE based distribution.

From https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:System_upgrade :

Take a look at all repos you have
zypper lr
and remove all third party/OBS repos you no longer needs
zypper rr
Change all remaining repo URLs to the new version of the distribution (needs to be run as root)
sed -i 's/12.2/12.3/g' /etc/zypp/repos.d/*
If you are upgrading from 12.1 or older, add non-oss-update repo
zypper ar -f http://download.opensuse.org/update/12.3-non-oss/ repo-update-non-oss
Refresh new repositories (you might be asked to accept new gpg key)
zypper ref
If you haven't removed third party/OBS repositories you may encounter some errors as these repositories may not exist yet or they may have different unguessable URL. It is always recommended to remove them and add their newer version after upgrade.
Now execute the full distribution upgrade. It is strongly recommended that you run this inside GNU screen or tmux to protect the upgrade process in case anything should go wrong with the X session during the upgrade. Packages for both screen and tmux are available in the main openSUSE repositories. tmux is probably a safer bet, because for example if upgrading from 12.1 to 12.2, you would go from a version of GNU screen which uses FIFO pipes to a version which uses UNIX sockets, and GNU screen has a bug which breaks compatibility between these two approaches, which means that you cannot resume a screen session created in 12.1 using the version of screen from 12.2.
zypper dup
With the above command zypper will download all required packages and install them in heaps. To download all packages in advance, use:
zypper dup --download "in-advance"

From https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:System_upgrade :

Take a look at all repos you have
zypper lr
and remove all third party/OBS repos you no longer needs
zypper rr
Change all remaining repo URLs to the new version of the distribution (needs to be run as root)
sed -i 's/12.2/12.3/g' /etc/zypp/repos.d/*
If you are upgrading from 12.1 or older, add non-oss-update repo
zypper ar -f http://download.opensuse.org/update/12.3-non-oss/ repo-update-non-oss
Refresh new repositories (you might be asked to accept new gpg key)
zypper ref
If you haven't removed third party/OBS repositories you may encounter some errors as these repositories may not exist yet or they may have different unguessable URL. It is always recommended to remove them and add their newer version after upgrade.
Now execute the full distribution upgrade. It is strongly recommended that you run this inside GNU screen or tmux to protect the upgrade process in case anything should go wrong with the X session during the upgrade. Packages for both screen and tmux are available in the main openSUSE repositories. tmux is probably a safer bet, because for example if upgrading from 12.1 to 12.2, you would go from a version of GNU screen which uses FIFO pipes to a version which uses UNIX sockets, and GNU screen has a bug which breaks compatibility between these two approaches, which means that you cannot resume a screen session created in 12.1 using the version of screen from 12.2.
zypper dup
With the above command zypper will download all required packages and install them in heaps. To download all packages in advance, use:
zypper dup --download "in-advance"

http://www.opensuse.org/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAST2

Most people don't install packages directly from the KDE Looks website I imagine.

My distro has a package for it in their main repository. I assume most do.

http://software.opensuse.org/package/plasmoid-smooth-tasks2

And KDE allows you to browse for an install plasmoids right from your desktop.