When comparing OpenSUSE vs LinHES, the Slant community recommends LinHES for most people. In the question“What are the best operating systems for a Home Theatre PC?” LinHES is ranked 6th while OpenSUSE is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose LinHES is:
The first time LinHES is launched, you are prompted by the configuration tool which is built using the same toolkit as MythTV itself. This allows for a seamless setup experience since LinHES automatically detects and configures the necessary settings correctly. This means that things like recording hardware, infrared receivers and remote controls are all configured automatically.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Extremely reliable
The packaging team is dependable resulting in system updates that come in a timely fashion and systems which rarely, if ever, break due to packaging. The versions of software that are selected and the configuration of them is typically extremely high quality.
Pro Easy installation and administration
openSUSE makes use of a GUI tool called YaST to install and setup an openSUSE system.
YaST is very easy to use and makes the process of installing and maintaining an openSUSE installation a breeze.
Pro Easily get packages from other sources
SUSE Build Service offers packages from the same sources as Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE Linux Enterprise and other distributions. This is the most underused package tool in Linux today.
Pro Probably the best KDE desktop experience
Both Gnome and KDE desktop options are well polished to fit with the opensuse theme and environement, so either desktop is a great choice.
Pro Very stable
Stable, reliable, rock solid.
Pro Amazing choice for both newbies and power users
OpenSUSE is very easy in terms of installing packages, administration and customization, yet very powerful in the same. Every user should find his own piece of cake in this OS.
Pro Supports RPM packages
Popular format shared with distros like Fedora, RHEL, Scientific Linux, Mageia etc.
Pro Built-in drivers
Does the job needed and has the hardware drivers for the application built-in by the H/W supplier.
Pro Dedicated professional community
Directions on other desktop Linux's often force you to use GUI packages or have steps that introduce security issues.
OpenSUSE has a professional community and directions are usually geared toward GUI and CLI with similar steps.
Pro Feature rich
It comes standard with a large number of pre-added applications that sort out your day-to-day use.
Pro "Tumbleweed" Rolling Release
Regular and easy upgrades to stable and well tested software.
Pro One-Click install
Much better system then other distros for installing any package. It is as simple as clicking on one button and typing in your password. Adds a repo to your system keeping everything updated at the same time.
Pro YaST
Best administration and setup tool.
Pro Fast
Applications feel fast.
Pro Convenient package management with Zypper
Fast, reliable, powerful and almost impossible to leave a broken system.
The Yast interface will also give you access to a Zypper GUI if you are uncomfortable with the command line.
Pro Outstanding community support
OpenSUSE has a VERY active user community. Questions on forums are generally answered in minutes.
Pro Seamless setup
The first time LinHES is launched, you are prompted by the configuration tool which is built using the same toolkit as MythTV itself. This allows for a seamless setup experience since LinHES automatically detects and configures the necessary settings correctly. This means that things like recording hardware, infrared receivers and remote controls are all configured automatically.
Pro Great functionality out of the box
LinHES comes with a suite of programs already preconfigured to make it function as a media-centric appliance. Stuff like NFS and Samba are included for sharing files, Webmin and VNC provide remote administration capabilities, furthermore there are various remote system monitoring tools and packages for supporting file-transfer methods (one of them is Bittorrent).
Cons
Con Some clear differences from other Linux distros
This might be a systemd issue or OpenSUSE specific, but changing certain text files does not update things. They must be edited in YaST, or in /etc/sysconfig/
Con Old kernel by the Leap version
Kernel in Leap 42.3 is in version 4.4, that's pretty old.
Con Poor support for nVidia drivers in Tumbleweed
No native driver support and nouveau may be broken, especially for KDE, and not suitable for some GPUs.
Con Bloated and slow
Con Short lived distro
Every release lasts 18 months only before needing a major upgrade.
Con Updates
Not a huge problem, but Tumbleweed is better updated via the command line.
Con Massive ISO download
The base ISOs are over 4 gigs, so be prepared for a very long DL if you have slow internet. There's a network installer version, but that just delays the long DL.
Con Bad support to NTFS fotmat.
Con Limited community support
The community is fairly small, and there is no indication on the forums regarding when a issues will be solved.
Con Packman repository has to be added to have good software support
Con Startup takes a long time
Con Updates
Not a huge problem, but Tubleweed is better updated via the command line.
Con Complex permissions policy
Con Support only for 64-bit Intel architecture
The latest releases of LinHES only have support for 64-bit Intel architectures. While it's not worth it to worry about 32-bit Intel systems it's worth noting that the absence of an ARM release is problematic.