SUSEMandrivaUbuntu

Okay, this is not a 'my distro is better than your distro' post, just a brief comparison of three good and currently very popular distros, Mandriva, SUSE and Ubuntu. It's not going to be very technical, either, just some personal impressions.

First, I should say that I've had more experience of being a Mandriva-Mandrake user than of the other two, and least of all of Ubuntu. Madriva is still my overall favourite, but I like all three.

IMO, one of the best things about Mandriva is the brilliant EasyUrpmi, which makes it a breeze to set up software repositories (kudos to the bloke-blokes-blokesses who maintain the page). Surprises me that something similar hasn't been set up for other distros (or maybe it has).

Ubuntu scores well here, too, as it's just a matter of uncommenting some lines in the sources list to access the whole range of Debian software.

SUSE lags behind just slightly, but it is not difficult to get apt4rpm installed, and Synaptic, etc, and use that. I've only done it for 9.2, but it works well there.

In terms of documentation for the three distros, I think that both SUSE and Ubuntu come out ahead of Mandriva, particularly with Ubuntu's unofficial user guide, which seems to cover just about anything a new user would need to know.

As regards look-feel-polish, the latest SUSE is a very good-looking product, and probably has the edge. The default look of each (considering only Gnome) is distinctive. Although I am personally fond of the standard Mandriva look, I would put it third behind SUSE and Ubuntu. It is somewhat improved in the latest release, though :-)

Most important is ease of use. All three are, IMO, easy to use. Also, they are all not too difficult to set up, though they all have their quirks in that regard. I would mark SUSE down because of its policy of crippling some media functions, rather than just leaving them out, although I understand the legal situation is a touch difficult for them. Both Mandriva and Ubuntu do better here.

Which might best suit a beginnner? This is quite difficult to answer. Installed and configured correctly, any sensible person should be able to use Linux effectively. It may not be 'idiot-proof', but in fact, most users aren't really idiots. What's generally needed is straight-forward instructions for beginners which neither patronise nor buttume too much knowledge. Maybe when I am a bit more experienced I'll write some myself :-)

Each of the three has something to offer, and would appeal to different types of users. For someone wanting all the bells and whistles, SUSE might be considered a good choice, but I would perhaps favour Ubuntu or Mandriva otherwise. For someone doing their own install and set-up, Mandriva has the edge just slightly, IMO, partly due to the excellent GUI partioning tool and EasyUrpmi resource. Other than that, I have found SUSE to be quite straightforward to install, and the current release easy to configure (although I've not yet tackled the DVD problem). Once installed and set up, Ubuntu could easily match either one,amd its enthusiastic community is a great buttet.

-- Kier