Temporary Switch to OpenSUSE

Hey there...writing another post after a long time. Well a lot of things happened within this interval. Firstly I decided to give OpenSUSE 13.1 a try, and I was pretty well satisfied with the OS, what I can call a complete OS.

The features which I liked in OpenSUSE 13.1 :

• Rock hard stability: Well I am a big fan of KDE and sadly I must admit that Kubuntu can't manage KDE well. This is where OpenSUSE 13.1 excels. During the installation it asks you to choose the DE, and after choosing KDE, I didn't
  repent. All KDE software were running like charm, without crashing even for once. In Kubuntu I hated when DigiKam, Amarok, the Network Manager system tray icon and other important software crashed frequently.
  
• Software: I installed OpenSUSE from its complete installation disc. This DVD image with approx. 4.5 gigs in size, is not meant for live-session. The best thing is you get most of your software preinstalled. After installation, I found that DigiKam, Gimp, and other main software were installed already. So it works out of the box, you just need to install the codecs.
• LibreOffice: Yes, before trying OpenSUSE, I was not a very big fan of LibreOffice. In Kubuntu (and Ubuntu too), you can never get the spell-check work correctly. Also LibreOffice crashed frequently in Kubuntu. OpenSUSE assures you that you will get complete freedom in LibreOffice. The welcome screen and loading-screen tweaks are eye-candy, and the spell-check works like charm, not to mention the stability, making it never annoy you by crashing again and again.
• YaST : The central configuration manager for OpenSUSE gives you the option to do everything with your OS. You can install or remove software, change the Desktop appearance, and much more. Take it as the “Control Panel” equivalent (though much more than that!) for Windows.
• Package Management: Kubuntu's Muon package manager and Muon Discover are terrible. Most of the time I used to miss synaptic package manager, until I finally had to install it. The package manager of OpenSUSE is as good as synaptic, and the “zypper” command line utility for installation or removal of packages is very simple yet powerful.
• The OpenSUSE community: The community is very helpful and you can get help anytime if you are stuck. It feels like being a part of the OpenSUSE family. Updates are readily available and can be easily downloaded just from the Update system tray. Also check out there channel in YouTube to get tonnes of helpful videos.

Although having countless number of features, I had to revert back, luckily not to Kubuntu, but to Ubuntu, once again, just because of these two reasons:

• Laptop overheating: This haunted me every time I worked. In Kubuntu 14.04 LTS, this overheating problem doesn't even exist. But in OpenSUSE, I was troubled all the time with my noisy fan and increased temperatures. The average temperature remained at >95°C. I had to install TLP for this, but of no use. TLP hardly reduced some of the noise and lowered the temperature to 90°C. This was the main reason that made me switch back to the Ubuntu family.
  

• Software Installation: Frankly speaking, software installation was never a bad point. I admit that being from the .deb family it takes a bit time to get adjusted to the .rpm family. I liked zypper, and I must agree that software installation is much faster in OpenSUSE. But being from the Ubuntu family, I was missing the “sudo apt-get install” line. Also you won't get a “Software Center” in OpenSUSE, but they have the “One Click Install” feature in their website, from where you can install software with a single click.
  Each time you start YaST2 to install a software, it tries to refresh the list first by downloading content. You can always skip this option though.

I must appreciate the stability provided by OpenSUSE, but would recommend OpenSUSE only for desktops, where overheating is not an issue to worry about. I hope they fix this problem soon, but till then, I must say good-bye to OpenSUSE, of course with a heavy heart... :(

In the next post, I will be discussing about a fresh new Ubuntu installation. And, please don't forget to share your views about OpenSUSE in the comment box.