I’ve loved Ubuntu. Back when I first started running Linux, Ubuntu was my saving grace. It just worked. Everything, right out of ‘box’ just WORKED! I’ve promoted Ubuntu to dozens of friends/family and converted a few. I even give Ubuntu free advertising on my website and blog.

But, suddenly I felt the urge to try something new. Not to mention the fact that my Ubuntu install was starting to get slower for some reason. I had never experienced such slowness with a previous Ubuntu release. I was running 8.04.

So, this begins day 1 of my experience with openSUSE 11. So far I’ve had to customize my xorg.conf, enable desktop effects, lower the font dpi, customize the repo’s, run updates, install mp3/mpeg/dvd support, install all my favorite apps like Inkscape/Gimp/Skype. I’ve ran into a couple issues I’d like to get resolved today: I love the SLED menu, but whenever I open the applications menu through SLED, it starts eating the CPU and I have to kill the process. Also, when on battery power, every minute or so, the computer will freeze for about 3 seconds.

In conclusion, Ubuntu still reigns top penguin in the ‘just works’ category for me. I am noticing that SUSE 11 is A LOT faster than Ubuntu 8.04, both in boot times and overall quickness to open various windows and apps. I am impressed despite the problems I had or am having.

UPDATE: NO