I've been trying a lot of Linux Distros over the past year or so, trying to find one that I'm comfortable enough with to give up Win XP.

One of the distros that I found better than most was Suse 10.0, mostly because of it's "look and feel".

So far, I've only tried the "Eval" version of it (since it already had some of the non-free packages installed).

But, it's my understanding that the installation of some of the plugins (Flash, etc.) isn't that difficult, and that it may even be easier in Open Suse by following the "Hacking Open Suse" articles on the net.

I'd still prefer a distro that had most commonly used non-free applications already isntalled though, and i understand that Novell is not going to offer a version of Suse that way anymore. Personally, I consider that a downside to this distro over some of the others, since newbies are not going to want to be Linux experts, just to get the same functionality they can get with a click or two under Windows.

Right this minute, I'm running under SimplyMEPIS 6.0, and I can use Automatix with it (http://www.getautomatix.com), making this process a bit easier (and it's got more non-free packages installed compared to most other distros anyway, even without Automatix).

However, one thing that impressed me was that Suse (at least the 10.0 Eval Version) was that it's more "polished" compared to most distros I've tried (fonts, menu layout, etc.).

I downloaded Suse 10.1 when it went Final. But, I have not gotten around to trying it yet, primarily because of posts I saw in forums concerning performance versus Suse 10.0, and also because there is no "Eval" version of it with popular plugins already installed (not to mention that it's 5 CDs versus 1 CD for many other distros like SimplyMEPIS, PCLinuxOS, Kanotix, Vector, Ubuntu, etc.

In any event, I've been noticing reviews for SLED lately, and it looks like SLED 10.0 is up to RC3 now. Does this Eval expire in 60 days (or even sooner if a newer RC or Final comes out)?

It's my understanding that the Suse 10.0 Eval doesn't expire (you just don't get any support, which is fine with me). I don't know how Novell works SLED though.

What are the pros and cons to Suse 10.0 versus Suse 10.1 versus SLED 10.0 (which I guess is still in the Release Candidate Stage of development)?

Thanks in advance.

this argument makes no sense really, after you install OS from one CD, you will connect to internet to install the rest. Suse allow to install all crap on any computer not connected to internet or on several computers in the case link is slow.


Performance? Unless you customize distro, all have the same speed. Some like Arch are really faster after first install, but as soon as you add required software you will see slowdown. People complaining about suse speed usually have some sort of software/hardware issues, as soon as you fix the problems speed is similar.

You will find people with fast ubuntu and slow suse or reverse. This says enough about configs. Someone better configure one distro than another. One distro better recognized one hardware setup. If Vector recognized all hardware and lets say ubuntu had problems this does not mean that vector is better handling hardware. This means that specific hardware is better recognized by one distro than another, change hardware and this will change.

So try suse, if you like it great, if not, then delete it.

Suse 10.1 after update will recognize better hardware than suse 10.0
Without update suse 10.0 is better.
If you like customizing setup during installation then forget about SLED. If you have no idea how to customize installer, then SLD may be good choice.

I couldn't figure out how to get the network install CD working on Suse 10.0 (figuring out the right IP address to point to, etc.). They should make it easier to figure out how to do this part for newbies.

So, I needed to go through the multiple CDs, unless I'm missing something, and it's a much longer install than I'm used to with other distros I've tried.

It took hours and hours on my wife's laptop (she's got a slow laptop with a very slow CD Reader in it). Out of many distros I've tried, Suse was by far the slowest install (although after installation, performance with 10.0 was actually pretty good compared to most). Look and feel was also better than most (with the 10.0 Eval version anyway).

I never did get all web based media playing correctly (trying to follow the "hacking open suse" articles around). But, perhaps that had something to do with the Eval version (I remember reading that I may have needed to remove some existing packages first or something since they were crippled in some way).

The articles on hacking Open Suse appear to work for others with 10.0. So, maybe I just need to try the Open Source version instead, or perhaps I missed some steps.

But, then I'd have more packages to install (since the Eval has some non-free stuff already in it). lol

It would sure be nice if more stuff worked straight from the box with more Linux distros. But, it looks like they're going in the opposite direction now (apparently to keep GPL advocates happy). SimplyMEPIS is even leaving out functionality that worked in earlier versions now (but, at least there is Automatix to help with that).

I gave up on Suse 10.0 due to issues trying to get media playing in my browsers and haven't tried it since.

So, I'm not so sure I want to go through that much hassle compared to other distros with her machine unless there are some new improvements that make it worth trying again.

My PC is faster than my wife's (but, it's still a much longer process to install Suse compared other distros I usually try).

Perhaps 10.1 is better (I haven't decided if I'll try it yet or not, which is why I'm asking some questions about it to decide if I'll try it or SLED next).

What other advantages does SLED offer (does it already have the plugins for flash, realplayer, etc. installed)?

I remember seeing a hacking SLED article specifically for it. So, maybe I could get it working right. I guess the only way to tell would be to try. But, the need to have these "hacking" articles is a huge drawback from my perspective.

More distros should have this stuff working to begin with to attract more users to Linux (or maybe they don't want to attract anyone that doesn't want to spend hours and hours reading through forums, wikis, setting up additional repositories, etc.).

I can imagine that many users wouldn't mind paying a small license fee to get more things working straight from the box. Not everyone wants to become a Linux expert just to get basic functionality needed to view web content on sites they visit often.

I did like the "polished" look of the Suse 10.0 Eval version if SLED is designed in a similar way. Look and feel is important to me, and the better a distro is "straight from the box" without me needing to spend a lot of time trying to get readable fonts in Firefox (a problem with the vast majority of distros I try), the better it is from my perspective.

Is there anything similar to Automatix for Suse or SLED to help with non-free plugins, etc.?

Software management module in YAST in 10.1 OSS will get your commercial apps and plugins installed pretty easily. Once you have an update repository added as an install source just open the software mgmt and look for packages that are blue. Those are the ones that there are updates for. Get that done before you start tinkering with the non-oss stuff! 10.1 is a joke until you get it patched!

10.1 is a joke period. The fact that some systems will connect to the Online Updates server and some won't (It's happened to me and has been documented by others) makes this OS less then useful. One thing that frustrates me is the fact that they decided to make a major change in a minor release. That major change was going from YaST Online Updates to ZENManager. This is broken.

My recommendation? Use 10.0 until at least the 10.2 release assuming that one fixes the problems with 10.1 (of which there are more than just the updates). You won't notice much in the way of difference.


Mathew

I just switched to SLDE 10 SDK (I read about the SDK here and ti NEED Eclipse, APache, Etc)

It rocks, although I'm getting used to Gnome. KDE gives more flexibility.

SuSE 10.1 sucked, the software updater never worked properly, even after all of the hacke and frustrations posted here...

Basically SLED is worth the 50.00 because I can't spend all day on these forums, I need to work, listen to tunes and communicate with no hacks and SLED 10 does it for me. I only wish my Laptop video card supporte dthe COOL 3-D cube desktop switcher!

Anyone know how to get multiple desktops running in SLED without the 3-D desktop feature?

After a month of intensiv investigation on this topic, I still have the feeling not knowing all the subtle differences between opensuse 10.1, suse 10.1, sled 10.0 eval and sled 10.0 full edition. Four versions with the same basics. Are there any software differences between sled evaluation version and sled full version? Who knows really about all these dark sides of the suseglobe? Who has experience? In which version is the kde-scan-program kooka linked with the kadmos OCR library? Not in opensuse 10.1 nor in sled 10 eval (kadmos is ghosted in the kooka menus). To know what I mean see http://www.novell.com/products/linux...ics3-scan.html.

There are no differences in the SLED 10 Eval and Full versions.

If you download the Eval after 60 days it will no longer connect to Novell for patches and security updates.

THAT, is one of the main reasons I'm more that willing to pay 50.00 a year. I have to have the most secure system available and Novell got very high marks on the speed which they post security updates. That with AppArmor going for me make a very strong case in my opinion. Heck I spend more that 50.00 every time I go out for Sushi!

One more note: If you need developer tools (Eclipse, Apache, JSP, PHP, Etc.) Get the SLED 10 SDK available at: http://developer.novell.com/wiki/ind...Developer_Home
Download and burn the .iso images and at the start of the install check the box for adding additional vendor CD's (or whatever it says exactly) and have the CD there because it'll ask for it and read the catalog. It went perfectly on my Panasonic Toughbook and all of the servers worked perfectly.

This SDK edition is NOT getting the attention is deserves.

The SDK version sounds interesting. The only thing I see on that link you posted is the SLES SDK. Is this the same thing as the SLED SDK that you mentioned in your post? I just want to make sure before I spend time downloading those iso's. Thanks.

Woa !

I think that's a weird typo on the site. I swear it used to say SLED......... GOtta stop drinking.........

Yup that's the site, give it a go.

My 2 cents in the topic

The instant SLED 10.1 is on pre release order i'm buying it

Does that help?

Oh,

Forgot to mention, the SDK listed in the URL above is ONLY the Dev. tools. You STILL need the Eval. version of SLED 10. It's a lot of CD's but what the heck...... Or, burn 2 DVD's ;-)