In my never-ending quest to find the perfect Linux distribution, I’m planning this weekend to overwrite my Garuda Linux installation on my main PC with another alternative operating system I’ve not given a fair shot before, openSUSE. I’ll explain why I’m making a switch and why I was drawn to openSUSE specifically.
My PC Is Due for a Refresh
I’ve had Garuda installed for several months now, and during that time I’ve loaded up my file system with mountains of packages for testing, plus a bevy ofvirtual machines. To be honest about my poor software hygiene, I rarely remember to uninstall something when I’m through with it, even if I only needed it for a few seconds. That’s especially the case with command line software, which doesn’t appear as an icon in my desktop or application launcher. Given enough time, I also forget what packages were installed by me on a whim and which ones are system-critical. All cruft builds up, and eventually it easier to nuke it than to attempt to reverse-engineer a clean and lean operating system.
So the time has come for a nuking. I’m not unhappy with Garuda Linux; I’d be mostly satisfied with just downloading the latest ISO and starting anew with it. Unfortunately, Linux distroFOMOhas gotten the best of me, though, and I can’t help but wonder what else is out there.
openSUSE’s Release Cycles Have Caught My Eye
Among the many Linux distros out there, openSUSE stands out for its dual release cycles. you may get a rolling release version of openSUSE, called Tumbleweed, or a more traditional point release edition called Leap. For context, Arch Linux is famous for its rolling release model while in contrast Ubuntu Linux has long stuck to regular point releases.
I have mixed feelings about distros usingthe rolling release model. On the one hand, I love getting the latest software updates as soon as they’re ready. It’s helpful for my work as I’m reporting on update announcements, likewhen Plasma 6.4 dropped, orthe recent Geany release. I’m often able to test new software and get screenshots just as it’s making the news.
On the other hand, it’s happened more than once that an update came too early and caused a minor headache or gave me a new feature or redesign that I was not excited about. I’m especially wary of getting too bleeding-edge when it comes to my homelab setup; I need my servers to always work.
The rolling release model’s trade-off of occasional annoyances for bleeding edge software I think is worth it on my desktop PC, which is why I have Garuda installed, but openSUSE’s option to use a separate stable edition for a server has a unique appeal to me. It means, in theory, I’ll be able to use both a forward-facing desktop and a highly stable server without having to memorize separate commands for maintaining them. Right now, Garuda’s package manager and the package manager on my DietPi OS where some ofmy self-hosted homelab serviceslive are completely different`. The idea of unifying the user experience without sacrificing my software preferences for each device is really what’s tempting me over to openSUSE.
YaST Sounds Like a Linux Power User’s Dream
I’ve heard a lot about openSUSE’s bizarrely named YaST software, which is apparently something like Windows' famed Control Panel. The layout is certainly reminiscent, and upon trying it out in a VM I immediately eyed some useful tools like a systemd journal viewer and a boot loader manager. I’m excited to dig into the graphical configuration options here, just like I’ve enjoyed playing around with Garuda’s RANI settings manager.
To be fair, there are other reasons to install openSUSE besides the ones I’ve listed here. If you have an old i686 processor, for example, openSUSE is one of the shrinking list ofLinux distros that still offer 32-bit CPU images. I’ll point out though that my colleague Corbin Davinport had trouble getting the 32-bit openSUSE installer to work, so I can’t guarantee it’s great for that purpose.
How I’ll Install and Test openSUSE
I’m going to get the Tumbleweed edition, aka the rolling release version of openSUSE, and I’ll install it directly on top of my Garuda Linux operating system in my dual-boot setup with Windows. This sounds destructive, and it is, but I’ve learned to be agile in my distro-hopping. I keep my important files stored on my Nextcloud instance, so whenever I wipe an operating system, the first move I make is to install Nextcloud, log in, and sync the files I need. I alsokeep a backup of everything using Back in Time.
After that, I’ll start going through my list of software I need and installing it all on openSUSE, assuming it’s available through their repositories. Sometimes I’m able to avoid repository issues and skip software installation entirely by using the distro-agnostic AppImages. Ikeep several AppImages on a USB drivefor this purpose.
Unlike many popular distros, there aren’t separate openSUSE images for separate desktop environment (DE) options. Instead, as I learned while spinning up the VM, you choose the DE you want at installation. Your options are GNOME, KDE Plasma, and Xfce. Interestingly, there’s a “generic desktop” option, too. I tried that out in my VM out of curiosity, and it turned out to be icewm, a minimalist desktop environment.
Let’s be honest, though. I’m a sucker for KDE Plasma. I’ve never been able to enjoy using GNOME, and while I don’t mind Xfce, I feel its emphasis on efficiency is unnecessary on my well-resourced desktop. Anyway, I’m used to Plasma after spending a long time with Garuda Dragonized edition and Kubuntu Linux. While it was a fun romp playing around with icewm in the virtualized openSUSE instance, to really get a good comparison, I’m going to have to install Plasma and see what’s different.
If you want to give openSUSE a go yourself this weekend, you may follow in my footsteps and go to eitherthe Tumbleweed download pageorthe Leap download page. You have to choose between an offline image and “network” image. You should choose the offline one unless you have significant internet bandwidth limitations. Once you have it, you can followour general guide to installing Linux, or usethe official openSUSE documentation.
