I have been using OpenSuse Linux the past few weeks and the more that I use it the more that I love it.
“Oh, this is the guy who said not to be a vendor cheerleader. What a hypocrite.” Just a brief reminder of what I called a vendor cheerleader. Someone who supports a vendor excessively when cheaper, easier, and more suitable solutions exist. This is a fair criticism. There are cheaper, easier, and more suitable solutions than OpenSuse Linux. One solution doesn’t fix all problems. However compared to Windows/Mac, it certainly has the right to be considered and that’s why I am bringing it up.
This isn’t to convince anyone to switch to OpenSuse Linux or buy it. This is only written to share my joy in using it, and how it has improved my life in countless ways both large and small. I must admit that I didn’t follow Linux as closely as I should have. I was wrong about that. I was focused on Windows/Mac and now that they are slipping, and interest in Linux is increasing I want to be aware of the options. This article is primarily about why we choose the operating systems we do.
Here are the top 5 reasons that I love it.
- Ease of use. Almost in every aspect, OpenSuse is easier to use than Mac/Windows. The one exception to this is printer management where you have to turn off the firewall and go to More Devices in the printer setup window to see your printer device. Other than this, it is more reliable when switching between sound sources, looks nicer on a secondary screen/projector, and has the default apps that you need already installed so you don’t need to download and install them. After I installed it, I could immediately start working. This is not the case for the average person when they get a new Windows/Mac system at home. They have to download apps, put in serial numbers, configure email, and so on. Not with OpenSuse. It was ready to go as soon as it was installed.
- Superior device support. This is tied to the ease of use above. It recognized all of my external devices and worked with them more beautifully and easily than Mac/Windows ever did. I get automatic notifications when the battery is low on my headphones! I never had Mac/Windows notifications tell me that. I had all of my hardware recognized on a high-end gaming machine! Even Windows fails to do that properly and it was designed for Windows! Using an OS that wasn’t designed for this machine it supports it better than the default/any version of upgraded Windows 11 Pro that I put on it. That is frankly sad for Windows and great for Linux.
- Incredible development options. I wrote yesterday about Distrobox, but I also configured hypervisors and all kinds of system admin stuff like Podman so easily! It literally couldn’t be easier. When half of the development functionality is already included then as a developer I wouldn’t use anything other than Linux. Mac has some neat features but it can’t support Distrobox that I am aware. At least when I searched now I didn’t find it supported it. Hopefully, that will change in the future.
- Refuge from Mac/Windows. I wrote earlier that when you have spent all of your life using Mac/Windows it can be a little boring. I want to learn every day as I use something. I don’t do that with Windows/Mac anymore. I am not saying I know everything about that, but the daily use has no challenges for me. However, with OpenSuse, I ask myself I wonder if it can do X? Then I research it and find out not only does it do it, but it does it better than Mac/Windows. I have picked my jaw up off the floor so many times I am not surprised being surprised anymore. Yes, I still have a Windows/Mac laptop on my desktop I haven’t thrown them away and I use them for work.
- Ability to easily return to an earlier snapshot. I wrote yesterday about how OpenSuse has snapshots enabled by default which is the most powerful single feature it has. This will prevent you from having to reinstall ever again. If you make a mistake that you can’t boot you simply go to the startup menu choose your older snapshot and then put a single line of code to say this is the version you want to be the current one. It is an amazing feature. Now no matter what happens and even if you don’t have your installation media with you or the internet, you can continue to use your computer. This is going to be standard in the future but OpenSuse has it today.
You only have so much time in life. Why waste your time with an Operating system that isn’t giving you everything that OpenSuse does?