I have been using SuSe Linux since version 6.4 and I applaud the fine job they have done with 10. Sadly my applause are muted by the very disappointing performance of the 64 bit distro.

I found the 64 bit distro to be a poor performer in every way and IMHO should be limited to experimentation. As for the 32 bit distro, it is no doubt their finest effort to date with one minor exception.

I have not yet discovered the reason (beyond poor tuning or bad drivers), but the system gets i/o bound when transferring large files (>1gb) and you can lose all keyboard control for long periods (>2 minutes). Oddly, on the machine that was upgraded from 9.2, this is does not happen. Minus one point. Also, it is not particularly friendly when it comes to sharing USB hardware with VMWare clients. For this, I deduct an extra point.

Overall, hardware recognition and stability are both excellent. The Firefox download manager finally works 100%, Amarok is GREATLY improved (now better than XMMS - especially the real-time lyrics) and overall, the Linux community finally has a product that can supplant the the Redmond product on the desktop.

Congratulations to Novell on a job well done.

SuSE is a distribution that is very user-friendly and works very well overall.

One thing that makes SuSE stand out for me is YaST (Yet Another System Tool), which is a very user-friendly graphical control center, much like the control panel in Windows, letting you configure various aspects of the system from one central place.

I'm also impressed with how smoothly the system works. In some distros I've used, I'd have trouble installing software because some library wasn't included in the distro, and some problems I've had with other distros aren't even consistent between installations. But I haven't had any problems getting software to work in SuSE; it all works well. SuSE also has a relatively polished, professional look - something that isn't really required, but it does say that they put a lot of effort into it.

Another nice touch that SuSE's installer has, that I haven't seen in another Linux distro, is that you can save your package list onto a disk so that if you have to re-install SuSE, you can load your package list and don't have to spend time choosing which packages you want to install. This saves time, since SuSE comes with a fairly large number of packages to choose from.

As for the cons, SuSE doesn't include much support for multimedia codecs out of the box (such as MP3, divx, etc.). But you can install support for these things afterward. Also, SuSE uses YOU (an online update service) for its updates, which is somewhat proprietary. However, you can install other installer programs such as apt-get. I'd recommend installing and using apt-get - I've been using it to install/upgrade packages on my SuSE boxes, and it works very well.

SuSE used to be my favorite distribution around version 6.1. I haven't used it in a while until recently because they started only offering an evaluation version for download. I've used RedHat, Fedora, and Gentoo since then. But since downloading and installing SuSE 10.0 just a week ago, I've been sold on SuSE again for how well it works, its large selection of packages, and ease of use.

I really like this distribution over others I have tried. I have been using Linux for about a year now. I have never liked upgrading my operating systems until I found Suse. Suse makes upgrading really easy and fairly harmless. Of course, it is still recommended to backup everything before you upgrade.

For more information on upgrading to Suse 10.0 you can see my weblog.

http://larrydag.dyndns.org/weblog/index.php?/archives/47-Review-Suse-10.0-OSS-Install.html

Yes, I searched the web up to smoking lines for acceptable multimedia pack for OSS Linux 10.0. Yesterday I found a great site with precompiled packages not only for multimedia, not only for OSS 10.0, not only for 32 bit systems!

Visit http://packman.links2linux.org/ and you will not have any questions about wy this does not run or that did'nt compile!

Good Luck to all.

idefix

use it it's really the best till now
i 've used rh7.3,rh 8.0,rh9.0,xandros 3.0
mandrake 10.0, mepis, knoppix & more....

Hello :)

I am using SuSE 10.0.0 since litle over a week on two machines, at the office (Compaq Crap Deskpro) and at home (home made box). Even on the Compaq (600 MHz, 128 MB RAM) It runs great, fast and stable. At home it outright flies (Athlon XP 1.800+, 786 MB RAM). All hardware was detected except (on both machines!) the internal modem (Compaq: On-board, home: Connexant). But the ethernet worked right out of the box, and ADSL modem config was easy even for a newbie like me (home, in office not required since always-on).

SuSE doesn't play just about anything to do with "video" because of "legal restrictions", yet downloading a better (?) version of Xine and a bunch of codecs "fixed" that. Also i can't get it to auto-mount any of my USB storage devices at home (external HDD, 4-in-1 card reader with MMC or Memory Stick) while at the office it works, and at home it works as "Root". This is a setup-thing and i am sure at some stage i'll get it working, not SuSE's fault really.

I recommend SuSE for newbies too because installation is dead easy and fast too - about 1 hour on the office machine and little over 25 minutes at home. (Windows XP >1 1/2 hours, 45 minutes)

Regards....

Thanh

I am a new user of Linux, bought the 32bit 5xcd set from a mag. Installation was easy, if you can read you can do it. Installed alongside Windows XP no bother and made an attractive boot loader. I also installed it on another PC with 2 hard drives and 4 operating systems 2x winxp Suse and Mandriva 2005 only tweak I had to do was change both boot loaders to match (Grub or Lilo)forum help did this no problem. Found a web page called the "Jem Report" this showed me how to put in mirrors and I downloaded all the latest stuff like Adobe Accrobat and Opera, Java,Firefox etc, although theses are on the CDs.
It detected all hardware no bother only install I had manualy was the USB modem from Tiscali, downloaded a few files and followed the steps and that was it. I have XP on the same drive and Suse allows me to access it and move files to Suse (doesn't work other way round, windows pretends Linux isnt there) I can highly recomend this o/s what have you got to loose? its free or very cheap to buy and looks like its here to stay. Also I must mention Yast, it has taken care of the installation side of things smoothly. Linux does do some things slightly different from XP ( not better or worse just different) but no great changes for desktop users like me, I like the one click to get in and out of programs and the start menu is catagorised so all your apps are where they should be, not all over the shop like Windows. I hope this was convincing enough for you to give it a whirl? Adrian

I have tried Fedora Core 3 and 4, Ubuntu 5.04 and now SuSE 10. Fedora Core had roughly the same polished look to it but let me tell you it was a pain to run. You had to go all over the OS to configure stuff. This is why I really like YAST. Basically one place to go to configure stuff.

Also tried Ubuntu. Now Ubuntu IS faster than SuSE. I can say that because I have installed both on the same computer (albeit not together). That is, each distro has had the whole computer to itself. That said, Ubuntu is snappier. However, Ubuntu had its own problems. Could never get it to print..at all...not even locally. Also had to mess around with /etc/fstab to get my USB flashdrive to be recognized. AND (like SuSE) had to google extensively to download and then compile (make anyone?) the OS to be able to watch movies. While gratifying to be able to accomplish, I got a lot of "gee, in Windows all I had to do was slap in the DVD and it worked". Sigh. Ubuntu also looks ugly. I know that should be the least of anyone's concerns but it really does. I did LOVE apt and synaptic package manager, however. Man, that worked soooo well!! Incredibly easy to use.

The MAJOR complaint I have with ALL the distros is SAMBA. What a pain in the butt, that is. You know, if LINUX is to make headway in the Windows universe, it must be EASY (read INCREDIBLY EASY) to be able to access a LINUX box from a Windows client. Alternatively, it should be EASY to access resouces from a LINUX box from a Windows client. I have had limited success with the different distros. Ubuntu was good (not great) at accessing files from Windows servers (aka, network shares). But it couldn't print to a network (or any other) printer to save its life. Something broke somewhere, obviously. Network printing (windows network) for Fedora was a snap to setup and it always worked. Kudos for Red Hat. However, try getting the box to access Windows shares or vice-versa. No go, Joe. SuSE was a bit tougher to setup for network printing but I finally accomplished it. However, still can't access Windows shares. Can see them, just can't open them (I am the administrator and I have every right known to man..).

The point here is that this is a REAL IMPORTANT NEED to be addressed. I WANT Linux to be implemented where I work but it has to be a viable network citizen. It would be great to phase it in, for example.

Lastly, I finally got to see DVDs (movies, that is) by googling and finding a valuable resouce called The JEM Report. Not only did I find the software I need to add, it told me how to configure it. Talk about a maze-like configuration process...ugh. Also, the Jem Report alerted me to some online software repository sources to add (in YAST). Naturally, these sources should be implemented from the start, but hey...what would be the fun in that?? (sigh).

Last point. There is a known problem with mounting DVD drives. I found the workaround via the NOVELL website. Novell techs have confirmed that it is a problem with the distro and -- hopefully -- 10.1 will fix it. Anyway, after configuring (sorry, the fix is on my home computer and I am at work..), the directory file, I have to go to YAST, click on Hardware, click on CD ROM, do the "apply' function to get the hardware setting correct, stick in the DVD, then reboot. The DVD will then be mounted and I can use Totem to see the movie. THAT is the workaround. UGH. Obviously needs to be fixed.

Over last year, I have tried serval flavors of linux on several different machines, some with weird hardware, and in the end I always came to Suse. I tried to go hardcore with Slackware, wasted just too much time on the OS when I could do some real work, tried Mandriva, the setup program couldn't finish loading on one of my machine. And a couple of others, nothing came close to SUSE. I do notice that SUSE uses a lot of memory in comparison to other distributions, but all my machines have at least 512MB, so I don't care about that.

My upgrade from SUSE 9.2 to 9.3 was a disaster, I ended up reinstalling everything, but upgrading from 9.3 to 10.0 was so smooth. The system has been through a couple of blackouts, no problem there. It only crashed on me once when I tried to run a program that ate up more than 2 GB memory.

Yast2 control panel is also very friendly and easy to use.

I got it for free from open suse.
I tried Mandrake and Ubuntu. I like Suse 10.0 better. It is easy to install and is faster than Mandrake, Windows 2000 and suse 9.3 on the same computer. It is more complete than ubuntu and more beautifull. It detected my hardware without any problem. Except ... the scanner (hp 5370c). No way to get that running, not even after several hours searching on the net for a solution. For a newbee like me it is an ideal distro, easy and nice. Yast is understandable even for me. I know the die hards among us need the hokus pokus but I think that if linux wants the future it has to be easier (not as easy) as Windows. I also like the software that is included. Kopete is a good alternative for msn, and not so dangerous for the health of your pc (my pc crashed due to a msn-virus)and my son is crazy about it. I like the agenda included. short : Suse is the best for me. But to many things dont work out of the box, like the games and films,and I cannot fix them since I am a newbee, and therefore I still have to use my ... windows 2000 in Dual boot.

I just switched to SuSE from Fedora 4 and the Installation was fast. I loved how it detected my wireless card without having to install anything else. I love YaST, and SuSE is a lot easier to use than other distro's out there.

I switched again to SuSE 9.3, as it is more polished than 10.0

I will probably wait until 10.1 is officially out.

Installation was pretty much a breeze. Main issues were making sure it didn't format those partitions where my /home, sources and music were.

Biggest problems to date have been getting Mozilla's Thunderbird and FireFox installed and playing together. Even after their installation Tbird wasn't passing embedded URL's properly to FireFox. Finally learned to go to FireFox and have it make itself the default browser which fixed the problem.

Multi-media is another problem which I'm still resolving. But the lack of information on what they left out regarding the problem is irritating. I've finally found a couple of sites that seem to address the problem and I'll be working it as soon as I've time.

Overall, it is a good distro. Certainly easier to work with than Debian and Fedora. Both of which I've tried. Just an aside but Fedora is close to the bleeding edge as I care to go. Debian may cover more territory than other distro's but it has it's quirks as well. Not to mention that it's package manager drives me totally over the edge.

I have been forced to install something because my laptop with Ubuntu in it was hacked and made unusable.

I tried Slackware, but its just not for laptops,and failed totally.

Suse's installer was the best I ve seen so far, very comforting after my unbootable vanilla slackware attempts.

I don't have too many complaints. Hardware has generally been detected well. My computer can sleep, and it is quite impressive that it shuts down instead of turning itself off when there is no battery.

Like Ubuntu, they don't have Gcc. I find it a bit odd to use the Yast for everything; its fat and does not replace command line tools. But again, new users should have life easy. Synaptic felt much better to install packages. It somehow feels limiting.

Unlike Ubuntu, here, both KDE and Gnome work harmoniously. In Ubuntu, KDE would crash all the time. Although Suse seems to like KDE, Gnome is not badly done. The sounds are integrated well between the desktops. One doesn't have k3b's sound muted while in Gnome.

I had a very hard time with multimedia. The usual trick of getting things from freshrpms failed. I had to get it from some very obscure forum and feed Yast, which was far from intuitive.

Wireless works well. Firmware had to be downloaded from somewhere.

Their fonts are very well thought of. They have large and friendly fonts for this high resolution moniter (1400x1024).

Overall, I think it is one of the best distros around, with Fedora, Mandrake and Ubuntu, notwithstanding multimedai.

When installing, it kept saying my internet connection wasn't working. But everything worked fine in the end.

on the eval DVD, there's TONS of great software.

mp3's, commercial DVD's, and lots of video types won't play right off the bat, thought the necessary stuff can be acquired for it all to work.

For some reason, when I click "safely remove" on a USB stick, it won't do it and gives an error message. they must be unmounted from comand-line.

using hte KDE desktop is simply intuitive. I spent no time wondering how to do something, it's all there plain as day. Everything you can think of can be customized to your liking.

Boot and logon time are slower than winXP, though perfectly respectable.

Everything that comes with it, which is quite a lot, works marvelously. Your grandma would be able to do eveything she wants to easily, quickly and painlessly.