linux Arch vs OpenSUSE Tumbleweed

[bugs399]

I'm torn between the two and want to know what you guys think. Thanks!

[AustinJ]

Just now, bugs399 said:

I'm torn between the two and want to know what you guys think. Thanks!

Do you need the aur?

[bugs399]

11 minutes ago, AustinJ said:

Do you need the aur?

Good point. I see you have void linux as your icon. What do you think of that, should I try it out. I wanted to try it in a VM but had no luck.

[AustinJ]

3 hours ago, bugs399 said:

Good point. I see you have void linux as your icon. What do you think of that, should I try it out. I wanted to try it in a VM but had no luck.

Been a little while since I have used Void personally. A pain to install from what I remember but when it is was running it was very reliable. OpenSSL and RunIt are a huge plus. I personally am a "systemd hater" if you would call me that. Systemd I have found works fine until something messes something up. So many months down in an install it will no longer shutdown for example. It will always hang on something.

 

Reason for switching is that I was using arch packages on void. Yes very hacky . Basically turn off dependencies on pacman to install packages from the aur or just untar them onto root. I found making xbps packages to be rather clunky compared to the Arch's PKGBUILD's. I make packages from my kernel mainly as I need the acs patch and as of lately I also use agd5f's kernel as base for better support for my old 4k monitor.

 

Someday Arch will break as it always does and I will be motivated to switch back. But in general, Void is a great choice assuming you don't need some weird package on the aur. And if you really need it you can always untar it onto your root

[noahdvs]

openSUSE is more stable than Arch because packages are tested with http://open.qa and it's supported by SUSE, but it's a little more complicated to get some proprietary software or software with licensing issues. You'll probably have to add some 3rd party repositories like the Packman repository right off the bat. The Open Build Service is kind of like the AUR. Some AUR packages are actually hosted on the OBS, but it still doesn't have as much variety as the AUR. It has this thing called Snapper that allows you to automatically make snapshots of your systems so you can rollback if anything is screwed up in an update. If you want more stability than Arch, but don't want to give up having the latest software, openSUSE Tumbleweed is a good choice. I use it and I like it, but sometimes I wish I didn't need any 3rd party repositories. It's better than instability though.

[AustinJ]

3 hours ago, noahdvs said:

openSUSE is more stable than Arch because packages are tested with http://open.qa and it's supported by SUSE, but it's a little more complicated to get some proprietary software or software with licensing issues. You'll probably have to add some 3rd party repositories like the Packman repository right off the bat. The Open Build Service is kind of like the AUR. Some AUR packages are actually hosted on the OBS, but it still doesn't have as much variety as the AUR. It has this thing called Snapper that allows you to automatically make snapshots of your systems so you can rollback if anything is screwed up in an update. If you want more stability than Arch, but don't want to give up having the latest software, openSUSE Tumbleweed is a good choice. I use it and I like it, but sometimes I wish I didn't need any 3rd party repositories. It's better than instability though.

 

How are the proprietary nvidia drivers on tumbleweed? That may be something to consider if @bugs399 is using nvidia. I am aware you can use dkms and such, but not sure I'd feel if one day my system didn't launch Xorg.

 

https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_drivers

Quote

It is not recommended to use NVIDIA drivers for openSUSE Leap on Tumbleweed.

 

Last time I used opensuse as my main install was back in the day of opensuse 10. The new things they are doing are kind of cool. As for the snapshotting thing, if only that used zfs instead of btrfs. As many btrfs bugs out there as there is, it makes me feel uncomfortable using that feature that relies on btrfs.

[noahdvs]

27 minutes ago, AustinJ said:

 

How are the proprietary nvidia drivers on tumbleweed? That may be something to consider if @bugs399 is using nvidia. I am aware you can use dkms and such, but not sure I'd feel if one day my system didn't launch Xorg.

 

https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_drivers

 

Last time I used opensuse as my main install was back in the day of opensuse 10. The new things they are doing are kind of cool. As for the snapshotting thing, if only that used zfs instead of btrfs. As many btrfs bugs out there as there is, it makes me feel uncomfortable using that feature that relies on btrfs.

I use the Nvidia driver from the X11:Bumblebee repository and it seems to work fine so far. I'm using a laptop with an Intel 520 integrated GPU and a GTX 960m. My laptop only uses the iGPU unless I run `optirun theprogram`. Many Steam games only work with optirun when I use `optirun -b primus %command%` in the launch options.

 

https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_Bumblebee

 

 

[AustinJ]

1 hour ago, noahdvs said:

I use the Nvidia driver from the X11:Bumblebee repository and it seems to work fine so far. I'm using a laptop with an Intel 520 integrated GPU and a GTX 960m. My laptop only uses the iGPU unless I run `optirun theprogram`. Many Steam games only work with optirun when I use `optirun -b primus %command%` in the launch options.

 

https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_Bumblebee

 

 

Ah so it isn't that big of a deal. I don't think you can go wrong with any distro these days. It is more about package selection and how close do you want to follow the bleeding edge.

[SCHISCHKA]

5 hours ago, AustinJ said:

I am aware you can use dkms and such, but not sure I'd feel if one day my system didn't launch Xorg.

This is why I stopped using arch. Xorg updated to a new version that there was no nvidia driver for. Another time it was something else. Now I stick to LTS releases. If I really need the latest version of some software I will compile it myself or install it manually, this is easier than having the entire system bleeding edge