SLED 10 or Opensuse 10.2
 

Having installed SLED10 (KDE option) and got wireless and DVD playing to work (both Mplayer and Kaffeine) I´m wondering if I should stay with SLED 10 or change all my machines to OpenSuse 10.2.

I´ve installed FUSE and NTFS-3G on SLED 10 (gives NTFS WRITE capability) and everything works fine. I´m even firing up a MySQL server on it as well. I also am a big user of VMWARE.

There are a number of USB issues when running VMware with OpenSUSE 10.2 which aren't a problem with SLED10.

I tend not to mess around too much with my Linux systems and running VMWARE is a MUST as I deploy a few WINDOWS XP machines.

I made a few adjustments to SLED so I can install stuff from Pacman, and some OSS sources etc. but otherwise the system is as STABLE as a rock. CUPS remote printing issues I had in 10.2 have also gone away. However Vmware is addressing the USB issues with VMWARE workstation rel 6 (now in beta testing) and I´m sure the CUPS issues will be fixed soon anyway.

Opensuse 10.2 is also on the whole great but I'm just wondering if I stay with SLED will I lock myself into a "Corporate" type of environment with a totally different OS to the Opensuse stuff. So far the two systems are reasonably similar.

Currently SLED10 is still available FREE (you don´t need to always download the updates) but another question in using Corporate type software will it suddenly cost money.

Perhaps I'll wait until OPENSUSE 11.0 appears.

I like the whole idea of open source so long as it is stable but I don't want to upgrade frequently. I've only just converted from SUSE 10.0 (the last "SUSE" release) which was also a winner.

Any comments.

Cheers

-K

Well, if you have everything working fine on SLED 10, then I don't really see the point of changing. Yes in the long run, it may cost you some money, which is not a lot really for desktop users. Personally I would have gone for openSUSE 10.2, but thats only because I like bleeding edge stuff. Since you don't want to continuously upgrade, then I think you have made the right choice by choosing something stable like SLED.

SLED 10 vs openSUSE 10.2
 

Well, first off, SLED 10 was built on SUSE 10.1. So it is already built off a slightly older operating system than 10.2. Generally, however, the not-so-bleeding edge version of an OS is usually more stable, as what you are describing. Because SLED 10 is designed to be an enterprise desktop (the ED of SLED), it will have to be quite stable, otherwise Novell will be flooded with tech support requests. It will be generally more stable with less hassle, which is perfect for a sys admin with 50 seats he has to maintain in a corporate environment.

However...

If you like the latest and greatest, and don't mind beating on stuff a bit to make it work, openSUSE 10.2 is worth your time. It's loads of improvement over 10.1 and I use it at work on several servers and my desktop machine.

In other words, if you don't want to screw with it and you want it to just work, go SLED 10. If you like to play in it and want to get your hands dirty and see all the latest toys, do openSUSE 10.2.

deleted duplicate post --hit Enter twice by mistake

Thanks for the suggestions

I think I've found now the best solution where I can have the best of BOTH worlds.

I'm going to use SLED 10 as my daily work machine. With Vmware (or Parallels) I can install 10.2 as a Guest OS and tinker around with this when I want to. If stuff doesn't work I just trash the VM and start again --keeping the normal SLED 10 for "production" type work.

I've added the OSS 10.1 repos to the SLED sources so if I have to install extra software it will work fine.

If the next version of SLED is anything like this one it should be a real winner in the OS desktop stakes.

Even my Mum had no problems at all using Open Office (she's used Word for years). She Hated Office 2007 on Vista preferring the Office on XP but found Open Office on SLED 10 more than acceptable. In anycase the VISTA version ran on her machine as slow as molasses.

I think we've another "Penguin" convert. :D

Thanks again

Cheers

-J