[lug] SUSE- comments

[J. Wayde Allen]

On Thu, 18 Jan 2001, Deva Samartha wrote:

> >friendly is in the eye of the beholder.  Perhaps, they've improved on it
> >...?
> 
> Yast interface has changed significantly since 6.1. 6.4 introduced 
> graphical (X) interface Yast 2 which I experienced as in need of ironing 
> out bugs.

Sounds good!  I'd like to see what it looks like now.  SuSE is actually
pretty slick.

> one can "drill down" in SuSE to the individual package. You can also
> get the rpm, source rpm and do it from the commandline on everyone of
> those levels.

In theory that is supposedly the case in most distributions.  I find that
I have an easier time with some systems than others.  I think it is kind
of a personal preference/familiarity/mentality issue.  They make different
flavors of ice cream for a reason <smile>.

> But, as I hear, Debian seems to be superior having more automatism to
> upgrades.

It works for me.  Whether that means overall "superior" I can't really
say.

> if you change configuration, like /etc/rc.config, you need to run
> /sbin/SuSEconfig
> 
> otherwise with the next run of Yast your changes are undone.

Yes I know.  However, I still had some problems.  I have my problems with
Debian too.  Like I said before, by biggest frustration was figuring out
how to tear something appart to build in something new.  Very possibly
operator error ...

> Basic things - adding users, network cards, printers, upgrading, installing 
> can be done nicely in Yast (1). It is helpful for "deeper" stuff, like 
> multiple network cards, firewall but you gotta know (or learn) what you are 
> doing and make a backup of every conf file before you change it and after 
> you change it.

Yes, but at this point in time, each distribution has mechanisms for
making these sorts of things easier.  I agree that the YAST system makes
this pretty nicely integrated.

Just figured I'd add some balance to the SuSE discussion.  Hey, I kind of
liked the old SLS distro.  Anyone remember that one?  That was
pre-Slackware if I remember correctly.  Yes, Linux has come a long way,
and it is really cool that we have these kinds of choices.

- Wayde
  (wallen at lug.boulder.co.us)