# Linux **URL:** \ **Category:** Chatting over the Back Fence\ **Created:** [April 22, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428 "2014-04-22T20:11:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![System1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@System1](https://forums.suse.com/u/System1)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/1 "2014-04-22T20:11:02Z")
What distributions of Linux would you recommend. Does it provide free security updates? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/2 "2014-04-22T20:16:10Z")
> [@](#): > > On Tue 22 Apr 2014 05:11:02 PM CDT, Arthur wrote: > > What distributions of Linux would you recommend. Does it provide free > security updates? LOL, SLE for sure but a cost for updates (well worth it for the lifetime) else as per my signature openSUSE but the update cycle is every eight months… There is also [http://susestudio.com](http://susestudio.com) where you can roll your own versions of SLE or openSUSE, then [https://build.opensuse.org/](https://build.opensuse.org/) to roll your own packages as well… Is this a server or desktop? – Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890) openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86\_64) GNOME 3.10.1 Kernel 3.11.10-7-desktop If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface, please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/3 "2014-04-22T20:30:11Z")
Thank you for your reply. This is for a desktop. “malcolmlewis” [malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.novell.com](mailto:malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.novell.com) wrote in message [news:20140422121610.08581440@gekkota.dyndns.org](mailto:news:20140422121610.08581440@gekkota.dyndns.org)…[color=blue] > > [@](#): > > > > On Tue 22 Apr 2014 05:11:02 PM CDT, Arthur wrote: > > > > What distributions of Linux would you recommend. Does it provide free > > security updates? > > LOL, SLE for sure but a cost for updates (well worth it for the > lifetime) else as per my signature openSUSE but the update cycle is > every eight months… > > There is also [http://susestudio.com](http://susestudio.com) where you can roll your own > versions of SLE or openSUSE, then [https://build.opensuse.org/](https://build.opensuse.org/) to roll > your own packages as well… > > Is this a server or desktop? > > – > Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890) > openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86\_64) GNOME 3.10.1 Kernel 3.11.10-7-desktop > If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface, > please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks! > [/color] ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/4 "2014-04-22T21:02:08Z")
Agreed w/malcolmlewis. I like openSUSE for all of my systems (VM hosts, laptops, desktops) but run SLES as my servers that actually do something important. More software is certified on SUSE’s stuff than any other distro, at least per the numbers I’ve checked on the enterprise-grade distros, which can be nice for working in an enterprise where support matters, and Yast is a great configuration tool letting you do simple stuff simply, and advanced stuff without having a PhD in the topic. – Good luck. If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface, show your appreciation and click on the star below… ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/5 "2014-04-22T21:43:42Z")
> [@](#): > > On Tue 22 Apr 2014 05:30:11 PM CDT, Arthur wrote: > > Thank you for your reply. This is for a desktop. Hi What sort of hardware specs does the system have, I’m guessing this might be a system that had XP on it? If it is an older system, I wouldn’t use any linux desktop without a minimum of 2GB, and reasonable graphics… – Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890) openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86\_64) GNOME 3.10.1 Kernel 3.11.10-7-desktop If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface, please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 9:50pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/6 "2014-04-22T21:50:26Z")
On Tue, 22 Apr 2014 17:11:02 +0000, Arthur wrote: [color=blue] > What distributions of Linux would you recommend. Does it provide free > security updates?[/color] openSUSE, but I’m pretty biased. Novell bought SUSE back in 2003, and I’m an admin on the openSUSE forums. It’s running on 3/4 of the systems I own in the house (the fourth runs SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and I presently have a Mac on loan for work that runs OSX/Mavericks). I also occasionally run openSUSE on my Raspberry Pi, when it’s not running OpenELEC. openSUSE, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, etc - all will provide no-cost security updates. Commercial distributions like SLE, RHEL, and others provide updates as part of a maintenance subscription - they provide integration testing and paid support options typically as part of the subscription, so there is value in paying for the subscription if you’re running a business and need access to phone support for rapid problem resolution. So it depends on what your use case is as to whether you’d choose openSUSE vs. SLE. 🙂 Jim – Jim Henderson, CNA6, CDE, CNI, LPIC-1, CLA10, CLP10 Novell/SUSE/NetIQ Knowledge Partner ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/7 "2014-04-23T00:11:22Z")
Arthur wrote: [color=blue] > Thank you for your reply. This is for a desktop.[/color] SLED! – Does this washcloth smell like chloroform? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/8 "2014-04-23T19:20:13Z")
Thanks for your response. Yes it is an XP replacement - it has 2GB RAM. “malcolmlewis” [malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.novell.com](mailto:malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.novell.com) wrote in message [news:20140422134342.5e3fe3e0@gekkota.dyndns.org](mailto:news:20140422134342.5e3fe3e0@gekkota.dyndns.org)…[color=blue] > > [@](#): > > > > On Tue 22 Apr 2014 05:30:11 PM CDT, Arthur wrote: > > > > Thank you for your reply. This is for a desktop. > > Hi > What sort of hardware specs does the system have, I’m guessing this > might be a system that had XP on it? If it is an older system, I wouldn’t > use any linux > desktop without a minimum of 2GB, and reasonable graphics… > > – > Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890) > openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86\_64) GNOME 3.10.1 Kernel 3.11.10-7-desktop > If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface, > please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks! > [/color] ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/9 "2014-04-23T19:40:16Z")
> [@](#): > > On Wed 23 Apr 2014 04:20:13 PM CDT, Arthur wrote: > > Thanks for your response. Yes it is an XP replacement - it has 2GB RAM. Hi What about the graphics card? I would suggest you grab one of the Live images and pop it onto a USB device or dvd and try it out. [http://software.opensuse.org/131/en](http://software.opensuse.org/131/en) – Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890) openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86\_64) GNOME 3.10.1 Kernel 3.11.10-7-desktop If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface, please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/10 "2014-04-23T20:07:02Z")
On Wed, 23 Apr 2014 16:20:13 +0000, Arthur wrote: [color=blue] > Thanks for your response. Yes it is an XP replacement - it has 2GB RAM.[/color] That is generally considered a little low for memory, but running XFCE or LXDE, it should perform pretty well, unless you’re running apps that require a lot of memory. If it’s just web browsing, LibreOffice, and other similar stuff, that should be fine. ## Jim Jim Henderson, CNA6, CDE, CNI, LPIC-1, CLA10, CLP10 Novell/SUSE/NetIQ Knowledge Partner ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/11 "2014-04-25T19:29:20Z")
Thanks for your reply. The graphics card is an Intel G41 Express Chipset 1325 MB. “malcolmlewis” [malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.novell.com](mailto:malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.novell.com) wrote in message [news:20140423114017.58254c51@gekkota.dyndns.org](mailto:news:20140423114017.58254c51@gekkota.dyndns.org)…[color=blue] > > [@](#): > > > > On Wed 23 Apr 2014 04:20:13 PM CDT, Arthur wrote: > > > > Thanks for your response. Yes it is an XP replacement - it has 2GB RAM. > > Hi > What about the graphics card? I would suggest you grab one of the Live > images and pop it onto a USB device or dvd and try it out. > [http://software.opensuse.org/131/en](http://software.opensuse.org/131/en) > > – > Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890) > openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86\_64) GNOME 3.10.1 Kernel 3.11.10-7-desktop > If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface, > please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks! > [/color] ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/12 "2014-05-06T16:16:01Z")
I run openSUSE on my Lenovo ThinkPad X220 and have been very happy. I’ll try out SLED 12 when it is released (or they get a public beta out). SLES 11 is for anything worth a darn at work. I’m really hoping that some more discussion comes up around rolling an openSUSE SE (Server Edition) with extended security updates, much like Ubuntu’s LTS. THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE! ## – boblmartens boblmartens’s Profile: [https://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=128929](https://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=128929) View this thread: [https://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=476409](https://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=476409) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/13 "2014-05-06T17:10:37Z")
> [@](#): > > On Tue 06 May 2014 01:16:01 PM CDT, boblmartens wrote: > > I run openSUSE on my Lenovo ThinkPad X220 and have been very happy. I’ll > try out SLED 12 when it is released (or they get a public beta out). > SLES 11 is for anything worth a darn at work. > > I’m really hoping that some more discussion comes up around rolling an > openSUSE SE (Server Edition) with extended security updates, much like > Ubuntu’s LTS. THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE! Hi It’s already being done with Evergreen? [http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Evergreen](http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Evergreen) Then on the rolling release side with Tumblewwed; [http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Tumbleweed](http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Tumbleweed) – Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890) openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86\_64) GNOME 3.10.1 Kernel 3.11.10-7-desktop If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface, please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/14 "2014-05-06T19:59:42Z")
On Tue, 06 May 2014 13:16:01 +0000, boblmartens wrote: [color=blue] > I run openSUSE on my Lenovo ThinkPad X220 and have been very happy. I’ll > try out SLED 12 when it is released (or they get a public beta out). > SLES 11 is for anything worth a darn at work. > > I’m really hoping that some more discussion comes up around rolling an > openSUSE SE (Server Edition) with extended security updates, much like > Ubuntu’s LTS. THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE![/color] As Malcolm said, Evergreen/Tumbleweed are what you’re looking for in that regard, and they’ve been around for a while. 🙂 Jim – Jim Henderson, CNA6, CDE, CNI, LPIC-1, CLA10, CLP10 Novell/SUSE/NetIQ Knowledge Partner ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/15 "2014-05-07T17:06:01Z")
If I’m reading that correctly, it would provide 3 years of updates instead of the normal 18 months? I’ll need to bring that up in my discussions here at work, that might fit the bill for some less-vital things in our office. I know if had been around for a while, just never looked into it because it looked less “official” than how Ubuntu handles things. ## – boblmartens boblmartens’s Profile: [https://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=128929](https://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=128929) View this thread: [https://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=476409](https://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=476409) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2014, 8:49am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/16 "2014-05-08T08:49:23Z")
On Wed, 07 May 2014 14:06:01 +0000, boblmartens wrote: [color=blue] > If I’m reading that correctly, it would provide 3 years of updates > instead of the normal 18 months? I’ll need to bring that up in my > discussions here at work, that might fit the bill for some less-vital > things in our office.[/color] 3 years sounds about right from what I recall. [color=blue] > I know if had been around for a while, just never looked into it because > it looked less “official” than how Ubuntu handles things.[/color] Tumbleweed in particular is spearheaded by Greg K-H, and he’s pretty serious about it. 🙂 ## Jim Jim Henderson, CNA6, CDE, CNI, LPIC-1, CLA10, CLP10 Novell/SUSE/NetIQ Knowledge Partner ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/linux/25428/17 "2014-05-16T18:56:01Z")
There are a lot of great replies here already, but here is my opinion: openSuse is great especially if you are using SLES/OES on your servers because they are very similar. There are many great Linux desktop distros out there to choose from any many different reasons you would pick one. -Marty- ## – mmccaffe mmccaffe’s Profile: [https://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=25004](https://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=25004) View this thread: [https://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=476409](https://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=476409)