openSUSE: Linux for the Lazy

There was a time when I would spend hours, even days, exploring all the ins-n-outs, chasing down the various slick tricks and secrets of an operating system. I’ve run a half-dozen brands of Linux and four different versions of FreeBSD. I’ve tested Haiku, FreeDOS and eComStation (previously OS/2). Of course, like every one else, I’ve never been able to escape knowing something about Windows, from 3.1 up to XP. I hope I never encounter Vista, but there was a time I would relish the challenge.

Those days are gone. I know I prefer Open Source implementations of Unix. I know how it works and there are few surprises, because it works the way I do. There are several types of Linux which are a mountain of work, the same as FreeBSD, but you always get exactly what you want. Lately, I’ve grown weary of the chase. I had really thought I was home running Debian Lenny, because I knew it would go stable any day now. But stuff was broken, and it got tiring.

I gave PC-BSD a shot. Few things are easier to install, but they made a huge mistake jumping to KDE 4.x too soon. Parts of this new desktop just crashed all too often. At one point, the entire screen grayed out and neither mouse nor keyboard would work. I had to reboot. I tried regular FreeBSD, but it refused to mount my Linux USB drive. That was my entire backup, so it was a show-stopper.

Finally, I went back to openSUSE 11.0. I did a network install. I still have one minor glitch: the GRUB installer did not remove the FreeBSD Boot Manager, and I can’t get the system past that. I have to boot from CD, then use the “Boot from Hard Drive” option. It’s okay for now, but I need to find out how to clean that up. Since rebooting Linux is pretty rare, it’s not a major problem right now.

The point is, I’m too lazy to mess with a lot of things these days. I want it to work really soon and get back to my research and writing. That’s the nice thing about SUSE. There are some minor glitches, but most everything works and immediately. I love that. SUSE has become Linux for the lazy.

Update: I just learned there was some feature left out of the 11.0 release of SUSE which caused the boot issue, but it should be fixed in 11.1. I’ll probably upgrade for that reason alone. However, I will miss KDE 3.x. After reading quite a bit about 4.x, and having tested it, I think KDE developers made some huge mistakes. I also am convinced they are absolutely on the wrong track and it won’t ever be good again. Too many features I found necessary were removed, and junk for which I have no use has been made default, even mandatory, in a sense. How sad to see a good project become so utterly useless. I still hate GNOME, but don’t have much choice in the future, because it’s not as crazy as the new KDE.