Suse + (k)ubuntu dual boot

[GrantRocksIt]

Hello, here i go into the land of linux! i'm going to jump into this but i have some questions that hopefully you can help me out with:

1) should i install openSUSE first or ubuntu first?
i searched on here and i read that SUSE's partition tool is easier to deal with but is there a major difference between installing one over the other?

2) i'm only somewhat familiar with all of the partitions, can the drives share a swap directory? what are all the partitions that i would need? also, can i save a file (OOo file for example) on one distro's drive and have it accessible on both? what would be the partitioning needed for that?

3)Ubuntu or Kubuntu?
i've tried ubuntu twice and the only reason i haven't continued with it was that i haven't let go of windows yet so it's not really an issue. the bigger issue for me is style vs. usability. how much would i be losing going to kubuntu over ubuntu or am i confused and i wouldn't lose any function.

4) i checked their sites and they've both had recent releases but am i missing something that i would be better off waiting a couple weeks for a newer version of one of the distros?


if anyone could give me ANY input on this, i'd really appreciate it. in the meantime, i'm going to be downloading the kubuntu and openSUSE live CDs to make sure that my hardware is compatible.

[devils casper]

Hi GrantRocksIt !!

Welcome to the Forums !

1) should i install openSUSE first or ubuntu first?
i searched on here and i read that SUSE's partition tool is easier to deal with but is there a major difference between installing one over the other?

there isn't any difference. SuSe's Partitioner is good but Ubuntu also has one of the best Partition Manager, GParted.

2) i'm only somewhat familiar with all of the partitions, can the drives share a swap directory? what are all the partitions that i would need? also, can i save a file (OOo file for example) on one distro's drive and have it accessible on both? what would be the partitioning needed for that?

you can share data between two OS'. SuSe and Ubuntu will recognize each others partitions and will mount those at boot up.

3)Ubuntu or Kubuntu?
i've tried ubuntu twice and the only reason i haven't continued with it was that i haven't let go of windows yet so it's not really an issue. the bigger issue for me is style vs. usability. how much would i be losing going to kubuntu over ubuntu or am i confused and i wouldn't lose any function.

it depends on you. Kubuntu has KDE and Ubuntu has Gnome Desktop Manager. try LiveCDs of both and check what you like the most.

4) i checked their sites and they've both had recent releases but am i missing something that i would be better off waiting a couple weeks for a newer version of one of the distros?

SuSe's latest version is 10.2 and i dont think 10.3 will be released in next 7-8 months. Ubuntu/Kubuntu latest version is 6.10 ( Edgy Eft ) and next version 7.04 (Feista Fawn) will be released in April this year.



Casper