Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

OpenSUSE 13.1 Released and Reviewed

Posted by Soulskill on from the onward-and-upward dept.

sfcrazy writes "The openSUSE team just announced the release of openSUSE 13.1. There are some core points which set openSUSE apart from the popular Ubuntu distro. While Ubuntu has become a more or less Canonical-owned project, openSUSE is becoming more and more community-driven. Looking at the recent controversies around Ubuntu and their move toward mobile platforms, openSUSE seems to be a great option for desktop users."

11 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Third party software by msobkow · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder what the status is on third-party software like DB/2 LUW, Oracle, and Sybase ASE. I know Ubuntu can only handle DB/2 LUW. Oracle and Sybase want a RedHat core.

    Ah well, it doesn't matter. I've got DB/2 LUW, PostgreSQL, and MySQL running under Debian, and Oracle, Sybase ASE, and SQL Server on a Win7 box, so my database needs are covered.

    I've run SuSE in the past though, and did like it. To be honest I can't remember why I switched. I think that was an actual dead machine issue -- I lost a couple of boxen in a car accident about 10 years ago.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:Third party software by cold+fjord · · Score: 5, Interesting

      From what I've seen in the past, if you're looking to run big "name brand" software, your only real Linux choices are Red Hat and Suse if you want to run on a certified OS. It makes no sense to run software costing $100k+ on uncertified platforms.

      I've always preferred Suse to Red Hat myself. Suse was always much closer to other Unix releases in the way it did things compared to Red hat which tended to go off in its own direction. Unfortunately I almost always end up having to deal with Red Hat anyway.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    2. Re:Third party software by LDAPMAN · · Score: 5, Informative

      There is more to support than being stable. With SLES/SLED and RHES there is a level of engineering support you just can't get with the others. They actually pay people to help you get your app running right and they answer the phone when something breaks.

    3. Re:Third party software by Billly+Gates · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I would not bet my job on a non certified OS though.

      If an update to Ubuntu brings down the warehouse and it is found that you were the one who approved the non supported platform where Sybase wont even return your phone calls to restart your business, then do not be surprised if a VP leaves a nice boot imprint on your buttocks as he pushed you out the door after his flight from corporate headquarters.

      SuSE enterprise support many of these products (not all). Of course Oracle wants you to use Solaris or at least Oracle Linux so they have a financial incentive to screw you by only supporting Redhat (because they have too.)

      I run CentOS in a VM at home for this reason as it is very close to what they use at work which is thankfully free. Would not put it on a real server though doing anything important. :-)

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
  2. (Six months from now) by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Funny

    sfcrazy writes:

    Hi, it's sfcrazy. Funny story, but after my OpenSuSE submission, I got a job offer from Microsoft. Anyway, Windows 8.2 is out. It's a little more stable than Ubuntu, so if you've been thinking of switching from Ubuntu you might want to give Windows 8.2 a spin. Go on.

    (Twelve months from now)

    sfcrazy writes:

    Hi there, sfcrazy again. Apple's PR department kindly offered me a job a few months ago. Anyway, Mac OS X 10.11 is out, and it's very Unixy. If you're getting fed up with Ubuntu, you might want switch to Mac OS X 10.11 because it's even more Unixy.

    (Continued...)

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  3. Re:Why switch? by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 5, Funny

    For starters, OpenSUSE has the GEICO lizard on the box.

    This gives you a calming feeling of security and road-testedness. Plus because SUSE is an acronym.

    --
    Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
  4. Re:Yet Another Stupid Tool by cbhacking · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I actually consider YAST2 (the "s" stands for "Setup", by the way, though it does much more than OS installation and package management) one of the key reasons to use [open]Suse. All-in-one-place administration of the system, available through several different UIs (QT/KDE3, QT/KDE4, GTK, ncurses, and probably more), is nice. It provides pretty extensive help information explaining each of the options even in the "Advanced" panels. It lets you view the config files it's changing right in the tool, including editing them yourself (in case you can't find the option you're looking for in the UI). It tells you what it's doing at every step (writing this file, running that tool, disabling or enabling interfaces, loading or unloading drivers, etc.).

    It's actually helped me become better at *nix administration in general, because it gives me the ability to see what's possible (not literally every option, but far more than the typical ~20% that is all that 80% of users ever need), and to see what changes it makes to the system when I select those options (so I can duplicate them myself, including on other distros or even on non-Linux POSIX systems in many cases). The preponderance of UIs (more accurately, of UI toolkits; the actual UI always looks about the same) means that even if the X server won't start, or I'm SSHed into the box and don't want to deal with X forwarding, or I'm on the machine of somebody who uses GNOME (I prefer KDE), I can sudo yast2 and get a familiar set of tools. It's a truly handy utility.

    And, as the AC parent indicates, it is of course optional and open-source. If you don't like it, don't use it. If you think there's a problem, file a bug report, or patch it yourself, maybe submit your patch if you want to. But believe me, it beats all the other distros' admin tools (at least, among the many versions of 8 or so reasonably popular distros that I've tried, including quite a few versions of Ubuntu) hands down.

    --
    There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
  5. OpenSuzzy! by Tailhook · · Score: 5, Funny

    I switched! Yes, I did. OMGITSOCOOL!!!1 But the Kay Dee Eee is so busy. Too busy for me. But at least it composites. Not like that Mint+Mate stuff. I got AMD but those drivers suck so I got NVidia after I tried the Intel driver on my laptop and the graphics were good but I could not get fast frames so I put in the NVidia 743 Ti X v2 and IT. WAS. SO. FAST. but then the dual heads would not work and I had to make the xorg.conf thing from a poast but it worked so do You Want To Buy My AMD card? it's really good but the X stuff LOL not so great. Zypper is weird and I like debs more but hey it works and the RPMS don't have any stinky Unity LOL that is some major fail and now I have the LXDE with openSuSE and it's nice with fluxbox BUT remember don't try rat poison I couldn't use that one LOL it had no themes and it covers my whole backgrounds WTF??. The LXDE isn't over busy like the KDE buzzz buzzz buzzzz in my HEAD with all those BUTTONS omg and tabs EveryWhere like wtf I need two mice just to configure this thing. BTW what is Akonadi?? It's trying to get my PIMS? and I had to remove it but now I get errors when I start the KDE but that's ok because I use LXDE LOL. Oh yeah and Klipper. But I tried it cuz some body on SlashDOT told me OPENsuse is for grownups and I was like YEAH that's me way grownup in fact I'm old and can't see good so use BIGGER FONTS please kthx. Can someone tell me what AKANODI is?? oh and Nepomuk. There are MILLIONS of pages on how to remove Nepomuk and Akanodi and I think I need to get them off my OPeNsuse fast or my memory and stuff will be gone..... is it OpenSUse or OPenSUSE or Opensuse or OpensusE or OPENSUSE or openSuse or what? wtf is akanodi? come on guys what is it for? google doesn't know and that's weird because google know everything and all I can find is how to remove it but someone said it would mess up my OPenSUse and I like it so I don't know what to do??????? oh right I already removed it this morning gawd its so hard to remember what I did back then but I remember it tried Kali last night and wow that is creepy its got all this cr4ckzor stuff for breaking passwords which is good because I forget them a lot so yea, just don't get spooked by the black theme and all but yeah try openSUse because I did and I did it before you noob LOL and its good stuff.

    Lates.

    --
    Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
  6. Still no MonoDevelop 4.2 by KlomDark · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When are we gonna get a Linux distro with the modern version of MonoDevelop.

    Call it a trap all you want, it's still a dream of mine to write MVC 4 apps under Linux, using the most recent version of MonoDevelop.

  7. "An OS for grown-ups"? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    openSUSE 13.1 review – an OS for grown-ups

    If you have to call it "an OS for grown-ups" it makes it sound like it really isn't.

    Did you mean hipsters?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  8. Excellent installer! by emblemparade · · Score: 4, Interesting

    openSUSE's brilliance is that it allows to choose the desktop you want during installation. This is vastly preferable to Ubuntu's requirement of downloading different flavors (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, GNOME Remix). I also imagine that it's easier for devs, because it involves less packaging and distribution work.

    I'm sticking with Xubuntu myself, because I much prefer the Debian way of doing things. Still, it's heartwarming to see that some things *can* be done better.