Fwd: [SLE] which suse distrib do you prefer?

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Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 19:34:23 -0500
To: SLE <suse-linux-e@suse.com>

Johannes Cloete asked:

>which distrib of suse is better?

>is 9.2 & 9.1 truly superior, faster and more stable than suse 9.0?

>does the 2.6.x kernel shipped with the later models outperform suse 9.0 that
>shipped with kernel 2.4.21?

I started at 8.0 Professional, and bought every SuSE Professional version
since. I use the most peculiar hardware I have -- my HP5295 laptop -- as the
index of success for the distro.

With 8.0 Pro hardly anything worked on the laptop. No sound, the CD burner
wouldn't burn, USB wasn't functioning worth a darn, and the LAN wasn't
working. At that time I had just bought into running Linux after
experiencing the third Windows implosion on the laptop in a year. So, the
lack of working stuff in 8.0 left me slightly disappointed. But, I managed
to eventually make the LAN work, and figured that sooner or later I or
someone else would figure out how to get the rest of the hardware running in
this or the next version of SuSE.

8.1 Pro and 8.2 Pro saw progressive improvements. In 8.1 the LAN worked
immediately after the install, sound and the CD-Burner also started working,
tough sound was sometimes sporadic. USB required some personal hacking on a
device by device basis. In 8.2, the sound stopped working, but USB support
increased dramatically. Most thing I shoved into the USB port would mount
without magic incantations.

I think 9.0 Pro was really intended to be 8.3 Pro, but SuSE appeared to need
to engage in Version Number Wars with other distros. That was the BEST
version so far. Everything worked on the laptop. Sound was working without
issue this time, and everything I needed was working happily. Some of the
power management things didn't work so well, but I wasn't concerned with
that, since I don't normally use the laptop without the AC power plugged in.

I think 9.1 Pro is the originally intended 9.0 Pro. I get the "dot oh"
feeling of being used as someone's unpaid beta tester. Everything is
working, but sometimes it works strangely. USB is the biggest problem: USB
devices sometimes move locations, so I end up having to remove and recreate
icons on the desktop to make mounting/opening/browsing the devices
convenient. Hotplugging USB devices often takes an irritatingly long time to
recognize that something was plugged in. USB performance and reliability
also took a nosedive. Devices that were working fine with 9.0 have
intermittent I/O errors. Most annoying. Some recent patches and updates
have fixed something, because I'm having far fewer I/O errors. (USB
throughput still stinks.) Otherwise, the only improvement I see in 9.1 is
that the power management features (that I don't care about) appear to be
functioning much better.

I just picked up SuSE Pro 9.2 yesterday at CompUSA and it is still on the
floor next to my desk. Various computer parts are winging their way to me
from a variety of Internet sellers as I write this. In the next week I plan
to use 9.2 to build a file and print server for my personal linux boxes in
the house (and my wife's nasty Win 98 box.) When that is done I'll start
upgrading the other linux systems. to 9.2.

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