Manjaro vs openSUSE Tumbleweed
Boy, I don’t think I’ve ever done a Linux distribution “comparison” piece before. I decided to do this one because I was already planning on doing a video to compare system resource usage between the distros, so why not compare the distros directly and include resource usage on top?
I produced the companion video prior to writing this article so the content here mostly mirrors what is in the video. That being said, the spirit of this article is not to prove which distro is “best”. Instead, we’ll look at a short list of differences between the distributions and that’s pretty much it. Here we go!
Upstreams & Downstreams
Linux distributions have a tendency of being based or built on the shoulders of other Linux distributions. Ubuntu is a great example of this — it’s based on the venerable Debian. How does Manjaro and openSUSE Tumbleweed compare in this regard?
Manjaro
Manjaro is based on Arch Linux. It is, in effect, a pre-built “tested” Arch system with it’s own software repositories. However it’s important to point out that the Manjaro repositories are basically the Arch repositories that have been held back a week or more for “testing” purposes.
That being said, Manjaro is a downstream distribution from Arch which means it is heavily dictated by the decisions made by the Arch Linux project.
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed
OpenSUSE is a Linux distribution that is built from sources from SUSE Linux Enterprise. In this regard, openSUSE is somewhat of a hybrid; SLE isn’t really the upstream for openSUSE but the two distributions are loosely coupled.
OpenSUSE is an independent distribution that isn’t dictated by an upstream project. OpenSUSE could happily live on it’s own even if SLE ceased to exist.
Administration Tools
Both openSUSE and Manjaro have their own unique set of administration and power user tools.
Manjaro
Manjaro has the Manjaro Settings Manager which allows non-technical users to modify various parts of their system such as:
- Kernel version
- Hardware drivers
- Time & Date settings
MSM allows users to easily lock their kernel versions and install proprietary drivers for graphics cards and wifi adapters.
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed
OpenSUSE has YaST which stands for Yet another Setup Tool. YaST is incredibly powerful and allows users to view and modify virtually every aspect of their system.
I think it’s worth pointing out that while the Manjaro Settings Manager is much more limited in scope, it’s very easy to use and there’s not much in there that can break your system. YaST, on the other hand, is a system administration tool and isn’t a tool for the Linux newbie.
Disk Space & Partition Setup
Manjaro and openSUSE have very different philosophies when it comes to disk partitioning.
Manjaro
The default install for Manjaro provides one giant EXT4 partition for everything under root (including /boot/, /home/, etc), and another partition for the Linux swap.
After a fresh install, a Manjaro KDE install will take up about 7gb of disk space.
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed
By default, openSUSE will use the Btrfs file system for root, XFS for the home partition, and a regular Linux swap. It’s worth pointing out that the openSUSE installer allows users to choose from multiple partition setups without having to dig into the manual partitioner.
After a fresh install, openSUSE Tumbleweed KDE will take up about 5.5gb.
Desktop Versions
Since openSUSE and Manjaro are rolling releases, users expect to get the latest software after each update. Since the target desktop for this comparison was KDE, we’re going to focus on the KDE desktop stack.
Since it’s difficult to write a section showcasing the driver and framework versions, here’s the tl;dr:
- Both distros had the same KDE & Qt versions.
- Manjaro had a slightly newer Mesa stack.
- OpenSUSE had a newer Kernel.
- OpenSUSE had a newer X Server.
Default Applications
For whatever reason, people seem to be most interested in the standard set of default apps for Linux distributions. It would be terribly tedious to list out what the default applications are so instead I’ll give you the highlights:
Manjaro
- No desktop icons
- Taskbar was transparent with more icons & widgets
- Full-featured “Application Launcher” was used
- Two different office suites (Microsoft Office Web App & LibreOffice)
- Two versions of the Qt Interface designer
- Assortment of non-standard apps (Steam, Skype, SUSE image writer, etc)
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed
- Desktop icons
- Smaller, solid Taskbar
- Simpler “Application Menu” was used
- Firewall installed & running
- KDE Games
- LibreOffice & Kontact
System Resource Usage
This is the section that I’m most interested in. Which distro has the lowest overhead? Keep in mind that I’m only testing the resource usage at idle after a fresh boot. Things change once the system has been running for a while and applications have be started and stopped.
Manjaro
Manjaro clocked in at about 570mb of memory usage at idle. The average CPU usage seemed to hover just below about 19% usage.
openSUSE Tumbleweed
OpenSUSE clocked just over 640mb of memory in use at idle. The average CPU usage averaged around 12%, which is interestingly lower than Manjaro.
It’s worth pointing out that openSUSE has several utilities installed and running by default such as a Firewall and the btrfs utilities which Manjaro does not have. This may explain why the memory usage was almost 100mb higher with Tumbleweed.
Summary
In the grand scheme of things, the two distros are very similar and either make a great choice for users looking for a rolling release style of Linux distribution.
In my opinion, Manjaro is more geared towards the every-day user with more applications installed out of the box and easy access to the AUR (which was not covered in this article).
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is geared toward veteran Linux users and power users who want full access and control to their systems but also want enterprise-grade security and reliability.
