As probably most of you I have been long using Ubuntu. I'm not an expert, but I have been using different distros until I settled with Ubuntu. I started using SuSE 5.x, Conectiva (that later became Mandriva, so it seems), RedHat, Mac OS X (yeah, I know, not Linux) and Ubuntu running mostly as a VM in the last couple of years.But ever since SUSE released the SUSE Studio I was tempted to switch back to it. It is way too convenient to keep your installation in the cloud and download your system ready to go.Here is my question. What to expect from the switch. I know that SUSE uses RPM as its package manager, and I have no idea of the completeness of its repository compared to Ubuntu.When trying openSUSE on a VM I also miss the sudo command, but I am sure that it must have been some lack of configuration on my part. So, what else would be different? My main use for Linux is as a desktop and a bit of Java and Ruby programming.
What should I expect if I switch from Ubuntu to openSuse
linux;distros;ubuntu;opensuse
I have use openSUSE for several years and have dabbled in Ubuntu and other distributions.What to expect:Centralised configuration is possible using Yast. You may or may not like this - it seems to generate quite strong opinions in a  lot of people but I don't care about it much.Different desktops which work. The openSUSE DVD includes several desktops, and each one seems to work properly. I have seen people having problems about programs which work in Ubuntu but not in Kubuntu etc. This may be relevant if you are using virtual machines over the could and want a lighter desktop.sudo works differently (as you seem to have noticed). The most obvious point is that root has a password in openSUSE, and you use that rather than the user password (although the root password is usually the same as the first user). A less obvious point is that the path (or permissions or something?) is not changed to be root's rather than the user's. (If you want to run ifconfig for example you have to su then ifconfig rather than sudo ifconfig.)There seems to be less stuff in the repositories; but there is everything I want, so I don't know what isn't there. Perhaps there are only 50 text editors rather than 100.