[opensuse] Is openSUSE for the common man?
I liked Ubuntu because after installing off a CD, everything could be loaded off the internet. I am now starting to uses openSUSE, and have so far been installing stuff from the CD's. My understanding is that openSUSE is community supported, so I was curious if there is some "standard software repo" where everyone got their software. Is their some standard http YAST resource that everyone adds? It's very convenient to pull everything off the internet. The commercial version of SLED is about $50 a year I think, which is fine if you are going to make it your primary desktop at work. I am hoping that the community offers roughly the equivelant of SLED, without the price and of course without any promises. For an amateur or temporary desktop, that would be fine. My view of Ubuntu is that the started off "completely free" and are now working their way in to a position of making money, while SUSE started off making money and are now working on being completely free (via community support). I read a webpage called "The Jem Report" which talked about how to set up online repos for SUSE 10.0 and 10.1, but I wondered if openSUSE already had some semi-official community repos. Of course if they did, they wouldn't need 5 CD's to install. Ubuntu does a good job making it easy to add new software. So far with openSUSE, it appears I have to manually add repos that exactly match the version I am running. I am hoping openSUSE has a way similar to Ubuntu, where I can just pick software and have it be installed off the net. openSUSE is a really nice distro!
The best repository I've found is located here: ftp://ftp4.gwdg.de/linux/suse/apt/SuSE you can use smart or apt-get to use this repo. Also you can see here: http://en.opensuse.org/Additional_YaST_Package_Repositories There are many repositories David. Xn Nooby wrote:
I liked Ubuntu because after installing off a CD, everything could be loaded off the internet. I am now starting to uses openSUSE, and have so far been installing stuff from the CD's. My understanding is that openSUSE is community supported, so I was curious if there is some "standard software repo" where everyone got their software. Is their some standard http YAST resource that everyone adds? It's very convenient to pull everything off the internet.
The commercial version of SLED is about $50 a year I think, which is fine if you are going to make it your primary desktop at work. I am hoping that the community offers roughly the equivelant of SLED, without the price and of course without any promises. For an amateur or temporary desktop, that would be fine.
My view of Ubuntu is that the started off "completely free" and are now working their way in to a position of making money, while SUSE started off making money and are now working on being completely free (via community support). I read a webpage called "The Jem Report" which talked about how to set up online repos for SUSE 10.0 and 10.1, but I wondered if openSUSE already had some semi-official community repos. Of course if they did, they wouldn't need 5 CD's to install. Ubuntu does a good job making it easy to add new software. So far with openSUSE, it appears I have to manually add repos that exactly match the version I am running. I am hoping openSUSE has a way similar to Ubuntu, where I can just pick software and have it be installed off the net.
openSUSE is a really nice distro! ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Xn Nooby wrote:
I liked Ubuntu because after installing off a CD, everything could be loaded off the internet. I am now starting to uses openSUSE, and have so far been installing stuff from the CD's. My understanding is that openSUSE is community supported, so I was curious if there is some "standard software repo" where everyone got their software. Is their some standard http YAST resource that everyone adds? It's very convenient to pull everything off the internet.
The commercial version of SLED is about $50 a year I think, which is fine if you are going to make it your primary desktop at work. I am hoping that the community offers roughly the equivelant of SLED, without the price and of course without any promises. For an amateur or temporary desktop, that would be fine.
I was impressed with how smooth SLED10 is, but I grew impatient as a power user, wanting to run servers and do dev work, but finding that SLED is targeted at the desktop only. So, I wiped SLED10 from my laptop and installed SuSE 10.1, which is pretty much the same code base, but you get the whole enchilada without having to choose between just a desktop, or just a server. Of course Suse 10.1 shipped with 2 irritating bugs, easy to fix but enough to drive a newbie away. The suse 10.1 remastered is lots better, and that's a distro I could recommend. As for software repos, packman, guru and others are the standard in the suse world. If you install the "smart" package manager, it comes with the useful channels already configured. You can do it with yast as well, and suse also includes apt if you prefer. smart is like a variant of apt, and inherited a lot of the same concepts. J --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Thanks for the excellent advice! I have one question - is it safe to mix packages from different package managers? For example, do I need to pick one and stick with it - or do they work together?
Xn Nooby wrote:
Thanks for the excellent advice!
I have one question - is it safe to mix packages from different package managers?
For example, do I need to pick one and stick with it - or do they work together?
I've never had any problem mixing and matching - I usually do system updates with yast, then turn around and add/update the multimedia goodies and whatnot, with apt or smart. Joe --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Xn Nooby wrote:
I have one question - is it safe to mix packages from different package managers?
Yes, as all of them are just frontends to RPM.
For example, do I need to pick one and stick with it - or do they work together?
They work together, just don't run them at the same time (i.e. don't
have apt-get install a few packages and exactly the same time, have
smart install a few others - the RPM database has locking so it should
avoid problems, but better don't do it just to make sure ;)).
But you can e.g. install a few packages with yast2 and once yast2 is
finished, install a few others with apt and then with smart, etc...
It all boils down to the RPM database and the RPM library in the end.
All those package managers are just front-ends that compute
dependencies, pull dependencies automatically but in the end, they all
do the same call to librpm to install/upgrade/remove/query packages.
cheers
- --
-o) Pascal Bleser http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/
/\\
One of the reasons I am using openSUSE now, is because I am also using SLES 9 at work. SLES9 seems a little dated, and I have been having a difficult time updating certain packages for it, currently Apache 2.2. I am using the "smart" package manager on SUSE 10 now (thanks!), but its website says its only tested on 10 and 10.1. It is also not in YAST on SLES9. Is there an easy to use package manager that will work with SLES9, which I believe is based on SUSE 9.1? While trying to install Apache 2.2 (so I can use it's load balancing module for ruby/rails), I ended up having to install several rpms - one of which was apparently the wrong version (9.3 instead of 9.1). One of the links posted here was for a repo that seemed to include 9.1 rpms, and I can probally manually install "smart" - but should it work? At work we have a SLES9 contract, but the online update didn't seem to have the latest version of Apache. As a side question, is SLES9 supposed to be up-to-date, or would they mostly just have security fixes nowadays? It has a really long lifespan, but I can't imagine they would backport all the latest packages (though it would be nice if so!). I'm kind of locked in to SLES9 for work use. I've been warned about using the wrong rpms on SLES9, which is why I'm so apprehensive about it. thanks!
J Sloan wrote:
I was impressed with how smooth SLED10 is, but I grew impatient as a power user, wanting to run servers and do dev work, but finding that SLED is targeted at the desktop only.
Isn't that exactly what the 'D' means?? /Per Jessen, Zürich -- http://www.spamchek.com/ - managed email security. Starting at SFr5/month/user. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Per Jessen wrote:
J Sloan wrote:
I was impressed with how smooth SLED10 is, but I grew impatient as a power user, wanting to run servers and do dev work, but finding that SLED is targeted at the desktop only.
Isn't that exactly what the 'D' means??
Yep, and we're finding that, ironically, the power users don't like it for that reason. It's great for the secretarial types, but the techies want their web servers, j2ee, databases etc on their workstations. Joe --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Mon, Nov 13, 2006 at 02:06:45PM -0800, J Sloan wrote:
Per Jessen wrote:
J Sloan wrote:
I was impressed with how smooth SLED10 is, but I grew impatient as a power user, wanting to run servers and do dev work, but finding that SLED is targeted at the desktop only.
Isn't that exactly what the 'D' means??
Yep, and we're finding that, ironically, the power users don't like it for that reason. It's great for the secretarial types, but the techies want their web servers, j2ee, databases etc on their workstations.
Well, if only there was a Server one where the D would be replaced by and S. :-D I would say however that SLES and SLED are directed at companies. openSUSE and SUSE are directed at users and powerusers.. houghi -- To have a nice mailinglist experience, follow the guidelines below:
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houghi wrote:
On Mon, Nov 13, 2006 at 02:06:45PM -0800, J Sloan wrote:
Per Jessen wrote:
J Sloan wrote:
I was impressed with how smooth SLED10 is, but I grew impatient as a power user, wanting to run servers and do dev work, but finding that SLED is targeted at the desktop only. Isn't that exactly what the 'D' means?? Yep, and we're finding that, ironically, the power users don't like it for that reason. It's great for the secretarial types, but the techies want their web servers, j2ee, databases etc on their workstations.
Well, if only there was a Server one where the D would be replaced by and S. :-D
That was naturally a first thought, but for one, the price per seat is no longer $50 with SLED, and also, isn't SLED just a bit light on the desktop apps side of things? I haven't verified, but I got the feeling it wasn't quite the same. What they really want is not SLES10, but rather SLEDS10 but at a SLED10 price. J --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
J Sloan wrote:
That was naturally a first thought, but for one, the price per seat is no longer $50 with SLED, and also, isn't SLED just a bit light on the desktop apps side of things? I haven't verified, but I got the feeling it wasn't quite the same.
What they really want is not SLES10, but rather SLEDS10 but at a SLED10 price.
If price is a significant criteria - which I wouldn't have thought when you're looking at supported corporate solutions (the SLEx series) - what you want is openSUSE. That's SLEDS in a nutshell. /Per Jessen, Zürich -- http://www.spamchek.com/ - managed email security. Starting at SFr5/month/user. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Per Jessen wrote:
J Sloan wrote:
That was naturally a first thought, but for one, the price per seat is no longer $50 with SLED, and also, isn't SLED just a bit light on the desktop apps side of things? I haven't verified, but I got the feeling it wasn't quite the same.
What they really want is not SLES10, but rather SLEDS10 but at a SLED10 price.
If price is a significant criteria - which I wouldn't have thought when you're looking at supported corporate solutions (the SLEx series) - what you want is openSUSE. That's SLEDS in a nutshell.
That's pretty much the consensus view among the linux-using techies I know - i.e SLED10 is really nice, we'd even recommend it to aunt mildred, but for our own workstations we'd rather go for the full monty in opensuse. IMHO If price *isn't* a criteria, you're mismanaging your resources. J --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Monday 13 November 2006 23:06, J Sloan wrote:
Per Jessen wrote:
J Sloan wrote:
I was impressed with how smooth SLED10 is, but I grew impatient as a power user, wanting to run servers and do dev work, but finding that SLED is targeted at the desktop only.
Isn't that exactly what the 'D' means??
Yep, and we're finding that, ironically, the power users don't like it for that reason. It's great for the secretarial types, but the techies want their web servers, j2ee, databases etc on their workstations.
You might want to have a look at the SLE10 SDK. It includes much of what you talk about Anders --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Anders Johansson wrote:
On Monday 13 November 2006 23:06, J Sloan wrote:
Per Jessen wrote:
J Sloan wrote:
I was impressed with how smooth SLED10 is, but I grew impatient as a power user, wanting to run servers and do dev work, but finding that SLED is targeted at the desktop only. Isn't that exactly what the 'D' means?? Yep, and we're finding that, ironically, the power users don't like it for that reason. It's great for the secretarial types, but the techies want their web servers, j2ee, databases etc on their workstations.
You might want to have a look at the SLE10 SDK. It includes much of what you talk about
Ah, thanks for the tip, I will look into that - Joe --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Xn Nooby wrote:
The commercial version of SLED is about $50 a year I think, which is fine if you are going to make it your primary desktop at work. I am hoping that the community offers roughly the equivelant of SLED, without the price and of course without any promises.
It's called openSUSE. We're testing beta2 right now.
My view of Ubuntu is that the started off "completely free" and are now working their way in to a position of making money, while SUSE started off making money and are now working on being completely free
AFAIK, SUSE was always free, unless you bought the boxed set. openSUSE is still available as a free download, as a boxed set and in the SLES and SLED derivatives. /Per Jessen, Zürich -- http://www.spamchek.com/ - managed email security. Starting at SFr5/month/user. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (7)
-
Anders Johansson -
David Canar -
houghi -
J Sloan -
Pascal Bleser -
Per Jessen -
Xn Nooby