OpenSUSE Leap and Fedora Workstation

[Eraph]

I've been using Cinnamon on Mint for a wee while now, and it's good an' all, but now I'm keen to give Gnome 3 a bash. I know Gnome 3 has been getting a lot of flak for the total change in paradigm, but y'see, I'm one of those weirdos who actually liked the Windows 8 Start menu *gasp!*

Anyways, this isn't a topic about the merits of Gnome 3 over other desktop environments or vice-versa. It's my understanding that Gnome 3 doesn't play particularly well with Mint, so I'm looking at other distros. In the past I have worked with both Fedora and OpenSUSE, but we're talking about 8+ years ago now.

What I'd like to know now is why would I be inclined to pick one over the other? What are their respective strengths/weaknesses/focuses?

I know I could download them both and give them a go, but free time is not entirely on my side, so I'm looking for some insightful advice from people who know better

[BigEasy]

Short answer: they both bring you extra problems. Mint doesn't. I don't say it is nessesary a big problem, but time to solve is nessesary.
Isn't you said "free time is not entirely on my side" ?

[Eraph]

Haha, yep! But I do like the look of Gnome 3.

Are you talking about problems with hardware/software compatibility, or something else entirely?

[Pjotr]

Go for openSUSE Leap. It's supported longer than Fedora, and it's not as bleeding edge as Fedora. Which means more stable.

Interesting fact: openSUSE has the new filesystem BTRFS by default.

Note that neither openSUSE nor Fedora are as user-friendly as Mint.

[BigEasy]

I don't found BTRFS useful for desktop system (advantages never actualy neded) but disadvantage is BTRFS noticeably slow.

[Pjotr]

I don't found BTRFS useful for desktop system (advantages never actualy neded) but disadvantage is BTRFS noticeably slow.

Well, during installation of openSUSE you can change the default BTRFS to EXT4. But I must say that I have noticed no speed differences between EXT4 and BTRFS myself...

[marouane87]

Hello,

I've been a Mint user myself for long time now. But, with all the problems I'm facing specially with the updates and internet connection that are corrupted (even a fresh install didn't solve the problem). I'm thinking about trying something else.

With OpenSuse leap release, I was tempted specially that I will learn new stuff (rpm packages, KDE interface, Yast etc...). But I've read above about "problems". I hope for more explanation because I really want a stable distribution for every day use.

Thank you

[Pjotr]

No problems. They are just somewhat less user-friendly than Mint.

A bit harder to configure, a bit harder to install some non-default software. That's all. They are both fine distro's; they're just not the best choice for Linux beginners.

[Eraph]

Well, I did give the Fedora live USB a spin and I have to say I mostly really like the Gnome interface. I love the Activities screen, the overview of what's currently going on in your computer and all that. I've since discovered 'Toggle Scale' on the Cinnamon desktop, which does kind of the same thing (stumbled across it when I was mucking about with screen corners, and since set keybindings to activate it on Super+Tab). The other thing I love is account integration, particularly with Google. Syncing my Google calendar entries with my Linux calendar is a real boon, not to mention Google Drive integration. I'm quite keen on the minimalist UI aesthetic, although the lack of a 'minimize' button I found to be rather unsettling when the desktop got cluttered. Maybe a good argument for getting the hang of workspaces better.
The rest was largely as you'd expect. Apart from those things (one of which I can mostly replicate now), I don't see any compelling reason to switch. I didn't run into any difficulties, even though I had to manually download and install Chrome and Skype, of which neither are in the software repositories. All in all, not a terrible experience.

[austin.texas]

Well, I did give the Fedora live USB a spin and I have to say I mostly really like the Gnome interface.

Being from Down Under, you should give Korora a spin. It is much more user-friendly than straight Fedora. And it has the Gnome 3 desktop.
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=korora
http://www.hecticgeek.com/2015/08/koror ... e3-review/
I installed Korora with the Cinnamon desktop on one computer to test, and I really liked it. I would say it would be my second choice after Linux Mint Cinnamon.

[Eraph]

Being from Down Under, you should give Korora a spin.

Very cool find! Looks excellent, to Fedora what Mint is to Debian, I suppose. I'll have to give it a go.

[austin.texas]

Very cool find! Looks excellent, to Fedora what Mint is to Debian,.

That is what I thought about Korora. It is to Fedora as Mint is to Ubuntu.

[chrissuninchina]

Well, I did give the Fedora live USB a spin and I have to say I mostly really like the Gnome interface. I love the Activities screen, the overview of what's currently going on in your computer and all that. I've since discovered 'Toggle Scale' on the Cinnamon desktop, which does kind of the same thing (stumbled across it when I was mucking about with screen corners, and since set keybindings to activate it on Super+Tab). The other thing I love is account integration, particularly with Google. Syncing my Google calendar entries with my Linux calendar is a real boon, not to mention Google Drive integration. I'm quite keen on the minimalist UI aesthetic, although the lack of a 'minimize' button I found to be rather unsettling when the desktop got cluttered. Maybe a good argument for getting the hang of workspaces better.
The rest was largely as you'd expect. Apart from those things (one of which I can mostly replicate now), I don't see any compelling reason to switch. I didn't run into any difficulties, even though I had to manually download and install Chrome and Skype, of which neither are in the software repositories. All in all, not a terrible experience.

Just for the sake of being helpful...You can resolve the "no minimize button" issue in Gnome 3 with the Gnome Tweak Tool.

sudo dnf install gnome-tweak-tool

I've recently tried extremely hard a few times to get into Fedora and like it. I really like the idea that it's the future of Red Hat as far as packages go and that it's supported by such a big company but doesn't seem to be as "sold-out" (can't think of a better word right now) as Ubuntu is. Plus, I like the name, and, yes, I know how superficial that is.

Anyway, in the end, I just decided to stick with Mint because it just works for the most part with very few bugs. I'm not a Linux power user yet, and I'm all about learning new stuff, but I also want my primary OS to be relatively trouble-free so I can get work done and learn when I want to/have time to, not because something has crapped out again.

I may check out Korora some day, too, but I'm a huge fan of Mint Cinnamon Edition! Clem and the gang deserve huge kudos for their work.

Chris

[The Dark Side]

I think that the worst mistake you could make the OpenSuse Team, was leaving the OpenSuse LiveDVD in Leap. I think (again), that users lost with this change. To many, it likes to prove how it answers the new distribution Linux before installing it. Bad decision of the people of OpenSuse Leap. Not to remain with the desires, I proved OpenSuse Tumbleweed with KDE 5, what I found really too unstable. I did not like this. OpenSuse can do better.

Asking for Fedora 23 Workstation, different sensations according to their spin's. In my computer the Cinnamon spin and the Mate spin worked almost perfectly. But the XFCE spin walked regularly, with random crashes in both how the live session, and how in Virtual. And the KDE 5 spin better let's not even speak, it's an absolute disaster !!!! I cannot recommend this to anybody !!!! It is noted that Fedora or Red Hat, want nothing to do to KDE.

Korora it's really an excellent distribution. Korora 22 (at least the versions: KDE, Cinnamon, Mate and XFCE - Gnome 3 is not for me, sorry) it's really excellent. It comes with great software already installed by default, almost ready to use for the end user. What Linux Mint is to Ubuntu, Korora it is to Fedora. I am waiting to try Korora 23, it is about to leave (at this time, the Beta is available for those who want to try it). Sorry for my regular english.... Regards.

[Joss]

Why not Ubuntu Gnome?

[xenopeek]

Gnome doesn't play nice on Linux Mint because both Linux Mint and Ubuntu (which Linux Mint uses as a package base) hold back Gnome packages to different versions. You don't get all the software that belongs with one Gnome release. Besides that, Linux Mint 17.x are based on Ubuntu 14.04 and thus the Gnome versions on it are quite old (mix of 3.8 and 3.10 IIRC, while we're are 3.18 today).

If you want to try Gnome I'd say you have 3 good options:

• Debian Jessie; this is rock-solid stable though a little less user friendly than Linux Mint due to its principled stance on non-free software. It has Gnome 3.14 and support till May 2020 (normal support till May 2018; long-term support to May 2020). Most similar to Linux Mint as Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu which in turn is based on Debian.
• Fedora 23; this is where innovation happens and the best place to use Gnome. It has Gnome 3.18 and support for a year (support till one month after the next to next release; so one month after release 25 as roughly a release is done every 6 months). It has even stronger stance on non-free software. If you'll use Fedora you'll probably want to add RPMFusion and Fedy to install what non-free codecs and programs you need. You'll also want to look in COPR for any other software you need. COPR is to Fedora what PPAs are to Linux Mint/Ubuntu. A good article on some of these things for Fedora 22 (mostly applies as is to Fedora 23 or with minor adjustment) is https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/8 ... -fedora-22. I forgot how to do it, but fonts are noticable harsher on Fedora and there is a fix for that you can install from one of those to make fonts anti-aliasing be as nice as on other distros.
• Ubuntu GNOME 15.10. This has Gnome 3.16 but support for just 7 more months (as Ubuntu development release are supported just for 9 months from release). It's fine for test-driving but as a Gnome aficionado I wouldn't recommend it (due to held back / patched packages). Nor do I like the short support period.

I have no experience with OpenSUSE Leap. It has Gnome 3.16 in its repositories. I think an almost 5 GB ISO is over the top. I think the live image is using KDE.

Korora was already mentioned. I'd not go as far as call it bloated but it installs a lot of software by default. Much more than other distros. It's also rather "colourful" with default theme and icon selection. I prefer the more distraction-free defaults of Gnome (though you can easily change back of course). IIRC it has fixed the font issue so text at least looks good and not harsh like on Fedora.

I'm using Gnome on my main system which has Arch Linux. Unlike on Ubuntu, Gnome is a first class citizen on Arch Linux like on Fedora. Arch Linux is more involved to install though maintenance of the system is simpler. It's a rolling-release based distro so it is often the first to get a new Gnome release. I mention it is a fit for me but it certainly is not for everybody. My dad uses Debian Jessie with Gnome with automatic updates so he has no maintenance. (There is a topic here somewhere of me letting him try Cinnamon and MATE but he preferred Gnome because it was so unlike Windows )

[Joss]

@xenopeek thanks for your thorough insight.

but fonts are noticable harsher on Fedora and there is a fix for that you can install from one of those to make fonts anti-aliasing be as nice as on other distros.

This is one of those things that make Linux so far away from being a mainstream solution.

[Pjotr]

@xenopeek thanks for your thorough insight.

but fonts are noticable harsher on Fedora and there is a fix for that you can install from one of those to make fonts anti-aliasing be as nice as on other distros.

This is one of those things that make Linux so far away from being a mainstream solution.

Substitute "Fedora" for "Linux" and you're right. But this font problem is *not* present in Ubuntu or Linux Mint, nor are several other shortcomings in user-friendliness. So I fail to see the general validity of your statement.

[Fragezeichen]

I've been using Cinnamon on Mint for a wee while now, and it's good an' all, but now I'm keen to give Gnome 3 a bash. I know Gnome 3 has been getting a lot of flak for the total change in paradigm, but y'see, I'm one of those weirdos who actually liked the Windows 8 Start menu *gasp!*

Gnome 3 looks so cool but I somehow just can't get used to it. It's just completely different and confusing to me, like for example the lack of desktop shortcuts. Is there any special way of looking at it so it suddenly all makes sense? Because I also would like to try it again...


Well, back to the actual topic:

I would recommend OpenSuse Leap 42.1. Tried it out and it made a pretty solid impression to me. Also YaST is great.

[Joss]

@xenopeek thanks for your thorough insight.

but fonts are noticable harsher on Fedora and there is a fix for that you can install from one of those to make fonts anti-aliasing be as nice as on other distros.

This is one of those things that make Linux so far away from being a mainstream solution.

Substitute "Fedora" for "Linux" and you're right. But this font problem is *not* present in Ubuntu or Linux Mint, nor are several other shortcomings in user-friendliness. So I fail to see the general validity of your statement.

Fonts, DPI scaling, drivers, games,
fonts are one of those things