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> I use it for (non-German) computational physics and various sciency stuff. It strikes a nice balance between stability and updates. It just gets out of the wa

> I use it for (non-German) computational physics and various sciency stuff. It strikes a nice balance between stability and updates. It just gets out of the way and does not need babysitting. It’s great. This is true for most distros though, so when I people see that as the reasoning for using a niche distro, I always think the reason is more because they like using a niche distro.

kergonath 2y ago
> This is true for most distros though Not with secure boot (which I forgot to mention but I have to enable). AFAIK today there is OpenSuse, Ubuntu and RHEL. Last time I checked (about a year ago) there was OpenSuse and that was it. > I always think the reason is more because they like using a niche distro. Not at all. First, OpenSuse is not really niche. I don’t care about being edgy (or I would run something like Arch or Gentoo). It just is solid and works well. Again, it’s the robustness-updates balance.
- DEADMINCE 2y ago
  > Not with secure boot (which I forgot to mention but I have to enable). AFAIK today there is OpenSuse, Ubuntu and RHEL. Last time I checked (about a year ago) there was OpenSuse and that was it. They're all just using the same MS signed loader are they not? And even if not, you certainly can on any distro. Secure boot and linux isn't a problem that ties you to a specific distro. > Not at all. First, OpenSuse is not really niche. It sure is, especially if you're not German or even European. > It just is solid and works well. Right, but so do most distros. Computing has advanced a lot so stability is the norm, there isn't anything special about OpenSuse.
pxc 2y ago
> niche distro By 'niche distro' do you just mean 'not Ubuntu or RHEL'? openSUSE is neither unconventional nor obscure.
- DEADMINCE 2y ago
  > By 'niche distro' do you just mean 'not Ubuntu or RHEL'? Well, no, I specifically mean niche. > openSUSE is neither unconventional nor obscure. Outside of Europe it sure is.
  - spookie 2y ago
    Europe is a big place. Either way, it's the most rock solid distro in my personal experience. YaST, their system configuration tool, is the best there is. It has a GUI, TUI, and sets of commands that let you configure everything without having to guess much of anything. I am often tinkering too much with my system, and have been burned a lot in other distros, but somehow openSUSE always has my back. Not to mention the great docs, great community and their open build system. I run Leap, but those that want something more "up to date" can choose Tumbleweed. If you want a rolling distro but are more cautious about it, you can run Tumbleweed Slowroll. Their NVIDIA support is great as well, as others have pointed out. It's not just the fact that you can secure boot, it also allows you to easily add an official NVIDIA repo for anything CUDA, profilling, container and video game development related (NVIDIA's texture tools). Sure there is Ubuntu and Redhat, but the former is quite opinionated, and the latter's community version is a bit too flaky for my taste given it runs the latest and "greatest" of everything.
    - DEADMINCE 2y ago
      Relative to the rest of the world, Europe is pretty small. And even then, OpenSUSE being used more often in Europe doesn't mean it's more popular than the other big distros in Europe. Besides all that though, my point was non europeneans runnin it outside of europe are doing so liekly because it's niche. You've given some good points about OpenSUSE, but my point is there is nothing special about those points and OpenSUSE. All the main distros are stable and handle whatever issues you think they might not. Dependency hells are no longer a thing, hardware not working, software not being available or being buggy etc. These are all solved issues on every main distro. > but somehow openSUSE always has my back This has to be nothing more than confirmation bias. There's nothing really different about OpenSUSE over Ubuntu or Debian except preference. There is certainly no objective advantage outside of happiness that comes from a user using something they are familiar with. > but the former is quite opinionated, and the latter's community version is a bit too flaky for my taste given it runs the latest and "greatest" of everything. Just like openSUSE has variants so do these, and you can certainly find one that matches your preferences for stability and bleeding edge, or whatever else balance.

kergonath 2y ago

> This is true for most distros though Not with secure boot (which I forgot to mention but I have to enable). AFAIK today there is OpenSuse, Ubuntu and RHEL. Last time I checked (about a year ago) there was OpenSuse and that was it. > I always think the reason is more because they like using a niche distro. Not at all. First, OpenSuse is not really niche. I don’t care about being edgy (or I would run something like Arch or Gentoo). It just is solid and works well. Again, it’s the robustness-updates balance.

DEADMINCE 2y ago
> Not with secure boot (which I forgot to mention but I have to enable). AFAIK today there is OpenSuse, Ubuntu and RHEL. Last time I checked (about a year ago) there was OpenSuse and that was it. They're all just using the same MS signed loader are they not? And even if not, you certainly can on any distro. Secure boot and linux isn't a problem that ties you to a specific distro. > Not at all. First, OpenSuse is not really niche. It sure is, especially if you're not German or even European. > It just is solid and works well. Right, but so do most distros. Computing has advanced a lot so stability is the norm, there isn't anything special about OpenSuse.

pxc 2y ago

> niche distro By 'niche distro' do you just mean 'not Ubuntu or RHEL'? openSUSE is neither unconventional nor obscure.

DEADMINCE 2y ago
> By 'niche distro' do you just mean 'not Ubuntu or RHEL'? Well, no, I specifically mean niche. > openSUSE is neither unconventional nor obscure. Outside of Europe it sure is.
- spookie 2y ago
  Europe is a big place. Either way, it's the most rock solid distro in my personal experience. YaST, their system configuration tool, is the best there is. It has a GUI, TUI, and sets of commands that let you configure everything without having to guess much of anything. I am often tinkering too much with my system, and have been burned a lot in other distros, but somehow openSUSE always has my back. Not to mention the great docs, great community and their open build system. I run Leap, but those that want something more "up to date" can choose Tumbleweed. If you want a rolling distro but are more cautious about it, you can run Tumbleweed Slowroll. Their NVIDIA support is great as well, as others have pointed out. It's not just the fact that you can secure boot, it also allows you to easily add an official NVIDIA repo for anything CUDA, profilling, container and video game development related (NVIDIA's texture tools). Sure there is Ubuntu and Redhat, but the former is quite opinionated, and the latter's community version is a bit too flaky for my taste given it runs the latest and "greatest" of everything.
  - DEADMINCE 2y ago
    Relative to the rest of the world, Europe is pretty small. And even then, OpenSUSE being used more often in Europe doesn't mean it's more popular than the other big distros in Europe. Besides all that though, my point was non europeneans runnin it outside of europe are doing so liekly because it's niche. You've given some good points about OpenSUSE, but my point is there is nothing special about those points and OpenSUSE. All the main distros are stable and handle whatever issues you think they might not. Dependency hells are no longer a thing, hardware not working, software not being available or being buggy etc. These are all solved issues on every main distro. > but somehow openSUSE always has my back This has to be nothing more than confirmation bias. There's nothing really different about OpenSUSE over Ubuntu or Debian except preference. There is certainly no objective advantage outside of happiness that comes from a user using something they are familiar with. > but the former is quite opinionated, and the latter's community version is a bit too flaky for my taste given it runs the latest and "greatest" of everything. Just like openSUSE has variants so do these, and you can certainly find one that matches your preferences for stability and bleeding edge, or whatever else balance.