DistroWatch Weekly |
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1023, 12 June 2023 |
Welcome to this year's 24th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
This past week saw the release of openSUSE's latest Leap release, a fixed distribution which shares its code with SUSE Linux Enterprise. We begin this week's edition with a look at openSUSE 15.5 Leap as Jesse Smith explores the distribution and reports on his experiences. openSUSE is one of several independently developed distributions - independent distributions are projects which do not have parent distributions which provide tools and packages. In our Questions and Answers column we discuss independent distributions, like openSUSE, and talk about what sets them apart from each other. In our News section we continue talking about openSUSE and report on the project extending the life span of the Leap branch, originally scheduled to be discontinued in 2024, by an extra year. We also report on improvements coming to the Tails project, which should especially benefit users in Latin America while Murena releases a new phone for North American users. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: openSUSE 15.5 Leap
- News: openSUSE lengthens the life of Leap, Tails polishes experience for Latin America users, Murena offers new phone option for North America
- Questions and answers: The differences between independent distributions
- Released last week: openSUSE 15.5, Debian 12, postmarketOS 23.06, Ultramarine Linux 38, EasyOS 5.4
- Torrent corner: Debian, Debian Edu, GhostBSD, KDE neon
- Upcoming releases: FreeBSD 14.0-RC1
- Opinion poll: When openSUSE Leap ends, will you stick with another openSUSE edition?
- Reader comments
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Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
openSUSE 15.5 Leap
openSUSE is a community-run distribution which shares a code base with SUSE Linux Enterprise. The openSUSE team offers approximately 18 months of security updates for each release, with a new point version coming out each year. The latest release of openSUSE's fixed edition (called Leap) is version 15.5.
The new 15.5 release doesn't offer much in the way of new features, instead it focuses on bug fixes, security updates, and minor updates. There is an updated version of the 5.14 Linux kernel, the distribution ships with Plasma 5.27, and there is a repository for Open H.264 codecs which is automatically enabled. Otherwise the release announcement for the new version is fairly tame.
Earlier it was thought version 15.5 might be the final release of openSUSE Leap, with support ending at the end of the 2024 calendar year. However, openSUSE announced this month there will be at least one more point release of Leap with 15.6 coming out next year and supported through to the end of 2025.
openSUSE is available for multiple architectures, including x86_64, zSystems, PowerPC, and Aarch64. Each build is offered in two editions, a full DVD flavour (4.1GB) with an off-line installer and a small edition which can fit on a CD (203MB) which installs packages over the network. I opted to use the off-line edition.
Installing
Booting from the install media brings up a menu offering us some choices. We can begin a fresh install, update an existing install of openSUSE, perform a media self-test, or boot from the local hard drive. I dived straight into the installer.
openSUSE uses a graphical installer which begins by showing us the project's license agreement. We're also given the opportunity to change our preferred language and keyboard layout on this first screen. If we have an active network connection we're given the option of enabling on-line repositories and then asked to select which openSUSE package repositories we want to access. These include the main, non-free, updates, debugging, and source packages. All but the latter two groups are enabled by default. When we don't have a network connection the installer offers to help us set up a connection using an unusually (and unnecessarily) complex networking tool.
The next screen asks us to select a role for openSUSE. Available roles include four desktop options (Plasma, GNOME, Xfce, and generic desktop) along with a Server configuration, and a Transaction Server. The last option sets up a Server role with read-only root filesystem.
The following section of the installer offers to automatically handle partitioning or allows us to manually partition the drive. The automated approach takes over the space on the disk with a Btrfs root filesystem and a swap partition. The manual approach uses a graphical, oddly flexible and complex partition manager.
The last few screens ask us to select our timezone from a map, optionally make up a username and password for ourselves, and then we are shown a summary of actions the installer will take. Next to each option is a link which can be used to toggle the option on/off or jump to a configuration screen where we can change the settings. I like this summary screen as it's fairly detailed and makes it easy to toggle the firewall, background services, and the location of the boot loader.
When the installer finishes copying packages to our hard drive it automatically reboots the computer for us and launches the new copy of openSUSE.
Early impressions
openSUSE boots to a graphical login screen where we can sign into one of three session options: Plasma on X11 (which is the default), Plasma on Wayland, or IceWM. I spent most of my time with the default option, but it's nice to have the other two to either experiment with new technologies or as backup options.
openSUSE 15.5 -- The Plasma desktop and welcome window
(full image size: 112kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The Plasma desktop is arranged with two icons on the desktop for launching the Dolphin file manager and with a thick panel placed across the bottom of the screen. The desktop features a light theme, though there are dark theme options available in the KDE System Settings panel. Upon signing in a welcome window appears and offers to connect us with release notes and other documentation.
Hardware
I tested openSUSE 15.5 in a VirtualBox environment and on a laptop. When run in VirtualBox the system performed well, Plasma automatically integrated with the VirtualBox window, and performance was quite good. When running on my laptop the distribution performed well. All of my hardware was detected, performance was good (maybe a little better than average), and the system was stable.
I found when logged into Plasma the distribution used about 840MB of RAM (950MB with the welcome window open). A fresh install of the distribution consumed about 7.9GB of disk space, plus the swap partition. This puts openSUSE a little over the average size of most mainstream distributions running Plasma, but not by much.
Included software
Digging through the application menu, located in the bottom-left corner of the screen, I found a wide variety of software. The Firefox web browser was included along with LibreOffice. The TigerVNC remote desktop viewer was included along with the Okular document viewer, the KMail e-mail client, and a system monitor. There were a few games and a handful of common desktop utilities.
openSUSE 15.5 -- Trying Plasma with a dark theme
(full image size: 105kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Plasma ships with a very detailed control centre called System Settings which allows us to adjust the behaviour, look, and performance of the desktop in great detail. I also noted that, while on some other distributions, System Settings has been crashing frequently during my trials, on openSUSE the settings panel remained stable the entire time.
The distribution ships with some codecs and was able to play audio files out of the box. Video files were another matter and did not play with the version of VLC which openSUSE ships. We can work around this by either tracking down and installing video codecs from a community repository or removing the default version of VLC and replacing it with the Flatpak VLC bundle available via the Discover software center. (I'll share more on package management in a moment.)
openSUSE includes the GNU command line tools and manual pages. The man command has an unusual quirk in that, by default, when we ask it for a page it will present us with a list of potentially matching pages and ask us to select one. This behaviour can be changed by setting a shell environment variable (MAN_POSIXLY_CORRECT) which will allow us to jump straight to the desired page. I haven't encountered this behaviour before on a Linux distribution and feel it's an unusual, unhelpful choice. The distribution uses the systemd init software and version 5.14 of the Linux kernel.
openSUSE 15.5 -- Searching for manual pages
(full image size: 76kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Software management
Software management is primarily handled through the Discover software centre. Discover provides a modern interface for browsing categories and sub-categories of software, checking for updates, and performing searches. When we see a package we might want to install, we can click on its entry to see a full page description. On the full information page a drop-down menu appears in the upper-right corner of the window which allows us to select the source repository. This allows us to switch back and forth between RPM packages (openSUSE's native format) and Flatpak packages.
openSUSE 15.5 -- Exploring the Discover software centre
(full image size: 175kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Discover worked well for me. I was able to hunt down and install both RPM and Flatpak packages as well as remove old packages I didn't want. The one issue I ran into was Discover was unable to launch, from within its own window, Flatpak packages I had installed. Clicking Discover's Launch button on a page describing an application provided by the RPM repositories worked to open the application.
YaST
The YaST system administration panel is the cornerstone of openSUSE and probably the main attraction of the distribution, in my opinion. YaST provides a central, point-n-click interface for managing virtually all aspects of the underlying operating system. YaST offers a lot of functionality, probably enough for its own, stand-alone review.
At a quick glance YaST provides desktop configuration modules for managing software and repositories, setting up printers and scanners, managing user accounts, and toggling background services. There are also modules for disk partitioning, handling firewall rules, and browsing filesystem snapshots.
openSUSE 15.5 -- Exploring the YaST configuration panel
(full image size: 203kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
This last feature is especially interesting. openSUSE, by default, uses the Btr filesystem which offers snapshots. Each time we open a YaST configuration tool, the system takes a snapshot. This allows us to see the modifications made to files after each configuration change and rollback any changes we don't like. In addition, openSUSE enables boot environments. This means, when the system powers on, we can select old snapshots of openSUSE to load at boot time. This makes openSUSE pretty much foolproof because any configuration change we make or any package we install which breaks the operating system can be reverted by booting into an older snapshot.
Conclusions
This release of openSUSE is relatively tame, it's a minor evolution from the previous 15.4 version from last year. Which is to be expected, this release is supposed to offer minor improvements and bug fixes, not exciting new features. In other words, this release does what it says on the label.
Of note, I think it's worth pointing out both Discover and System Settings work better on openSUSE than most other distributions I've tried recently. Both were more stable and performed faster. In fact, the entire Plasma experience feels a little more responsive on openSUSE than on most other distributions I've tried recently.
openSUSE 15.5 -- The Plasma System Settings panel
(full image size: 112kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
This distribution works more smoothly and reliably for me than most other distributions I've tried so far in 2023. Apart from the screen locking once, early in my trial, and refusing to give me the password prompt to sign back in (a problem which only happened once), my trial with openSUSE was bug-free. I would go so far as to say I was impressed with how well everything, especially YaST, worked.
I also like how openSUSE, unlike many other distributions, feels like it has a unified design, like it was created with a top-down vision in mind. Many distributions are clearly collections of separate packages which just all happen to be running on the same system. In contrast, openSUSE feels like a single, integrated product with the various tools working together and complimenting each other. Sometimes this works well for a project and sometimes it doesn't; with openSUSE the overall design feels polished and helpful. This especially shines through when YaST automatically takes filesystem snapshots which are then available through the boot loader and can be browsed in the Snapper utility.
I do have two warnings to share about using openSUSE. The first is that Leap appears to be reaching the end of its life, so if you're not already a Leap user, this probably isn't the time to start. Earlier, it looked like 15.5 would be the last version of Leap, but its life has been extended for an extra year/version with 15.6. In other words, existing Leap users will probably appreciate this new update, but it's unlikely new users will want to switch to Leap only to have it discontinued in two years.
The other concern new users might face is openSUSE is clearly targeting more experienced users. The distribution has a lot of powerful, flexible tools, and a lot of great administrative utilities. This seems to be the main draw. Browsing the configuration tools (System Settings and YaST) as well as the installer regularly reveal complex, powerful utilities. These tools are much more flexible and more complex than the equivalent tools you'd find when running Linux Mint, Zorin OS, or other beginner-friendly operating systems. openSUSE is catering to people who want power and control with a fairly friendly user interface, not people who need beginner-friendly tools and a streamlined experience.
In other words, I'd happily use openSUSE and enjoy it, I wouldn't install it for non-techie members of my family.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an HP DY2048CA laptop with the following
specifications:
- Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz
- Display: Intel integrated video
- Storage: Western Digital 512GB solid state drive
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Wireless network device: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 + BT Wireless network card
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Visitor supplied rating
openSUSE has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.7/10 from 437 review(s).
Have you used openSUSE? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
openSUSE lengthens the life of Leap, Tails polishes experience for Latin America users, Murena offers new phone option for North America
About a year ago we reported on speculation the openSUSE project would be dropping its fixed-release Leap edition after version 15.5. The openSUSE project announced this week there are now plans to publish one more point release, openSUSE 15.6, which will be supported through to the end of the 2025 calendar year. "We'd like to announce that the openSUSE Release team plans to work on openSUSE Leap 15.6. openSUSE Leap 15.6 is expected to be released in early June 2024 and would reach its end of life by the end of the year 2025. This decision was based on recent discussions at SUSE Labs and openSUSE Conference, and it reflects recent changes, progress on individual projects, and our new distribution architect." Additional details are provided in the project's announcement.
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The Tails developers have been focusing on improving the usability of the distribution's tools and setup documentation. Some trials over the past few years have yielded helpful feedback and focused development in key areas. "Between 2021 and 2023 Tails, Tor, and the Guardian Project partnered to organize training and usability tests in Ecuador, Mexico, and Brazil. Our goals were to: Promote our digital security tools and train human rights defenders in the Global South; learn from their experiences and needs to help us prioritize future work; improve the usability of our tools based on their feedback. We conducted four rounds of in-person moderated usability tests in Mexico, Brazil, and Ecuador to identify usability issues in the features of Tails that are most important to new users." Details on the trails and improvements are covered in the project's news post.
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The Murena team provide an open source, de-Googled smart phone operating system based on Android. The Murena team also sells phones with their operating system pre-installed. A new phone has been added to the Murena line-up of devices, the Murena Pixel 5. "Our goal is to enable the widest amount of people to regain control over their data, wherever they are across the globe. And today, we are truly excited to let you know that US and Canadian customers can now own a great smartphone with /e/OS: the Murena Pixel 5 refurbished. The device is compact, completely de-Googled, compatible with 5G networks and the largest carriers in the USA (T-Mobile, AT&T and supported MNVOs). Not only a powerful phone, this is the most compact model available at murena.com. Boasting a 6-inch OLED display which makes it very comfortable to use." Additional information on the phone can be found in Murena's release announcement while specifications and purchasing options are presented in the Murena store.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
The differences between independent distributions
Digging-deeper asks: One thing I haven't really learned along the way is the difference between the base, independent, Linux distros. For example, how do the Debian, Arch, and Fedora base systems compare (not looking at desktop environments)? Seems like every Linux reviewer will compare Mint, Ubuntu, EndeavourOS, etc, but I want to know the strengths of their bases.
DistroWatch answers: When comparing independent, parent Linux distributions (such as Debian, Arch Linux, Fedora, openSUSE, Void, Alpine Linux, and about 40 others) it might be easier to describe what the projects have in common rather than what they do differently. Each of the operating systems runs on a build of the Linux kernel, and most of them use a similar filesystem layout, but beyond that they're mostly different.
It's a bit like doing a comparison between a car, a bicycle, and an airplane. They all have wheels, seats, and can carry people to new locations, but beyond that they are quite different. They mostly have different purposes, styles, and approaches to accomplishing tasks. For example, most Linux distributions run GNU command line utilities and libraries, but Alpine Linux does not. Instead, Alpine uses lightweight alternatives such as the musl C library and the BusyBox command line tools. If you're running Fedora then you have the SELinux mandatory access control software enabled, while if you're running openSUSE then AppArmor performs a similar function.
Even when they are running the same components, most of the distributions I've listed above use different versions of the same software which can result in different features and performance. Most of the major parent distributions use different package managers too, though they perform approximately the same functions.
While there are dozens of little differences, the three main features new users will likely notice are the system installer, the release cycle, and the overall philosophy.
The system installer will be the most visible and probably the first notable difference. Each of the major independent distributions have their own system installer. Some are graphical and some are text-focused, some pull in packages from on-line repositories while others install local packages from the install media, some are streamlined while others are more verbose. Debian is special in this case as its installer matches all six of the above descriptions while Arch Linux is special in that it is usually set up without the aid of a system installer.
Release cycles are a major factor and will likely be one of the key considerations when planning to use a distribution long-term. A lot of smaller, community distributions (such as Arch and Void) use a rolling release. In other words, they are constantly being updated with the latest versions of software. Meanwhile, commercially sponsored distributions (like Fedora and openSUSE) use fixed releases where packages mostly stay pinned at a fixed version and just receive security updates.
While rolling distributions are constantly updated, removing the concept of a life span for each version, fixed releases have quite a range in terms of how long they are supported. Fedora offers 13 months of support for each release while Debian stretches support to about five years.
While a project's philosophy is not immediately visible, and some might argue not a practical concern, it does affect all aspects of a distribution. Whether the project is experimental and likely to adopt new technologies early (the way Fedora and Arch do), or tend toward conservative changes (the way Debian and Slackware do) will have an impact over time. Similarly, projects which strive to offer a lot of features, like openSUSE, will feel a lot different in day to day usage than minimal, lightweight projects like Alpine and Void.
In the same way, there will be practical side effects to projects which ship free and open source packages exclusively (the way Debian does and the way Fedora mostly does) as opposed to projects which take a more practical approach to software packaging (as most other distributions do). You'll also notice little differences in policy over time, depending on the focus and backing of a project. Fedora and openSUSE, for instance, are sponsored by commercial companies and will be more likely to experiment with new technologies which will be useful to those companies. Community backed projects (such as Debian, Void, and Slackware) tend to take the approach of "If it's not broke, then don't fix it." Again, these philosophical views may not be immediately visible, but they will colour each aspect of the distribution.
In the end, I often find the projects I end up using the most are not the ones with a specific desktop environment or package manager. They are usually the projects with developers who share my ideals as to what an operating system should be - how it works, how it changes, and how it should solve problems.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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Released Last Week |
postmarketOS 23.06
postmarketOS is an Alpine-based Linux distribution for mobile devices. The project offers three mobile interfaces: Phosh, Plasma Mobile, and Simple Mobile X Interface (Sxmo). The project's latest release is version 23.06 introduces the GNOME Mobile interface, a mobile version of GNOME Shell. "For the first time, this stable release includes GNOME Mobile! If you haven't followed the amazing progress that was made to bring GNOME to phones and tablets, see Towards GNOME Shell on Mobile, GNOME Shell on mobile: An update and GNOME Mobile Show & Tell (video). Lots of improvements to GNOME Software. Translations (lang) is installed by default now, and the default locale is en_US.UTF-8 instead of C.UTF-8. USB tethering is now functional. Minimum password length in installer images has been changed from 8 to 6. PineBook Pro: backlight control and audio works by default." Additional information is provided in the project's release announcement.
openSUSE 15.5
The openSUSE team has announced the release of openSUSE 15.5 Leap, a minor update to the project's 15.x series. The new version mostly offers small updates and security fixes for the 15.x branch of the distribution. "This release brings newer packages like Mesa and others, but Leap 15.5 is a non-feature release. Some of these newer packages to highlight include KDE Plasma 5.27, which is a Plasma Long Term Support version until the next one rolls out in 2024. Konqi lovers will enjoy a new welcome wizard, dynamic customization of desktop workspaces and more functionality with KRunner that includes a full desktop search, unit and currency exchange rate conversions, dictionary definitions, calculator features, and it shows graphical representations of mathematical functions. The Color Picker had a few improvements and added the possibility of displaying another preview color circle. KDE Gear 22.12.3 will be a new package in the release and complement the use of Plasma 5.27. The update fixes bugs with the Desktop Environment applications and highlights the enhancement of compression/decompression utility ark, improvements to text editor Kate and fixes some crashing of the video editor Kdenlive. Qt 5.15 LTS is available with the KDE Qt 5 patch collection." Additional information can be found in the distribution's release announcement.
Ultramarine Linux 38
Ultramarine Linux is a Fedora-based distribution featuring extra package repositories such as RPM Fusion. The project's latest release, Ultramarine Linux 38, introdces a new desktop scheduler, GNOME 44, and faster shutdown times. "We're sure you've noticed that Ultramarine takes a long time to shut down, but not anymore! We've limited how long services can take to stop, getting you powered down faster. Noto Fonts have been fixed! Our Thai and Khmer speaking users should feel more at home now. Ultramarine 38 comes with System76's Scheduler. It prioritizes certain processes to make your device snappier. All editions include it, but only GNOME Edition will automatically detect the app currently in use (for now). Ultramarine now features GNOME 44, get ready for improved quick settings and a new file picker. Ultramarine 38 comes with a familiar and powerful KDE experience." Additional details and screenshots can be found in the project's release announcement.
Ultramarine Linux 38 -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
(full image size: 710kB, resolution: 1920x1200 pixels)
EasyOS 5.4
Barry Kauler has announced the release of EasyOS 5.4. EasyOS is an experimental Linux distribution which uses many of the technologies and package formats pioneered by Puppy Linux. "EasyOS Kirkstone-series version 5.4 has undergone many changes since 5.0. There are now four package managers: PKGget, SFSget, Flapi and Appi -- the latter two are for installing and managing Flatpaks and AppImages. Each app runs as its own user; for example, Kdenlive video editor runs as user 'kdenlive', providing isolation from other apps. The packages in EasyOS are compiled from source, now at the OpenEmbedded/Yocto Kirkstone 4.0.10 release. Greatly improved international language support for French, Spanish and Russian. The default built-in browser is Chromium; however, menu entries are provided to download Firefox and Vivaldi, and also update them. They also run as their own user!" Additional information is offered in the project's release announcement and in the release notes.
Debian 12
The Debian project has announced the release of Debian 12 "Bookworm", a new stable version which will receive five years of security updates. The new version shifts the way the project handles non-free firmware in an attempt to make Debian more compatible with a range of consumer hardware. "Bookworm will be supported for the next 5 years thanks to the combined work of the Debian Security team and the Debian Long Term Support team. Following the 2022 General Resolution about non-free firmware, we have introduced a new archive area making it possible to separate non-free firmware from the other non-free packages: non-free-firmware. Most non-free firmware packages have been moved from non-free to non-free-firmware. This separation makes it possible to build a variety of official installation images. Debian 12 Bookworm ships with several desktop environments, such as: GNOME 43, KDE Plasma 5.27, LXDE 11, LXQt 1.2.0, MATE 1.26, Xfce 4.18. This release contains over 11,089 new packages for a total count of 64,419 packages, while over 6,296 packages have been removed as obsolete." Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement.
Debian 12 -- Running the GNOME desktop
(full image size: 227kB, resolution: 1920x1200 pixels)
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,877
- Total data uploaded: 43.3TB
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Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Summary of expected upcoming releases
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Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
When openSUSE Leap ends, will you stick with another openSUSE edition?
In this week's review of openSUSE we talked about how the distribution's fixed edition, Leap, will probably reach the end of its supported life at the end of 2025. openSUSE's fixed releases have been fairly popular for nearly three decades and the project has observed a surge in interest over the past year.
For our readers who currently run openSUSE Leap, what are your plans when Leap reaches the end of its life? Will you switch to another branch of the openSUSE family (such as Tumbleweed or Aeon) or will you migrate to another distribution?
You can see the results of our previous poll on openSUSE's editions in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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When openSUSE Leap ends, I will migrate to...
Aeon: | 46 (4%) |
Tumbleweed: | 169 (14%) |
SUSE Linux Enterprise: | 12 (1%) |
Another distro: | 132 (11%) |
I do not use openSUSE Leap: | 863 (71%) |
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Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 19 June 2023. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
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Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • gnome mobile (by dave on 2023-06-12 02:58:02 GMT from United States)
As an old fan of Gnome 2 and a longtime hater of Gnome 3+, it is good to see Gnome Shell on a mobile device where it actually belongs. I remember being initially optimistic, thinking, "Wow this is going to be so cool to be able to install Linux on phones and tablets.." and then not only did it just not happen, but it ruined the best DE in the process.
Been a long time since those dark days and I although I haven't been following this stuff at all, I sincerely hope to see Gnome Mobile inspire some wider adoption of Linux across the mobile landscape. Though I've steeled my optimism, I'm still hopeful.
2 • OpenSUSE Leap : no future ? (by Microlinux on 2023-06-12 06:54:40 GMT from France)
I've been a happy OpenSUSE Leap user since 2017. I've been running it on my desktop and on my workstation, as well as all my clients' installations (local school, handful of local companies). So I've been quite frustrated when OpenSUSE Leap announced that they would eventually drop Leap. I tried to go with Tumbleweed, which comes with a weekly - if not daily - tsunami of updates, and which has proven to be unmanageable, at least on modest hardware and modest bandwidth. And the alternative ALP or whatever is currently in something like pre-alpha state. So I decided to switch all desktop clients to a personal blend of Rocky Linux with KDE from EPEL and quite a few tweaks. Runs perfectly, every release gets ten years of support, and I don't have to think about the distributor eventually pulling the rug out from under my feet. If ALP is the future, then I'll gladly use it in the future. In the meantime I need something reliable. The OpenSUSE distributors have yet to discover that concept.
3 • Base independent Linux distros: Debian, Arch, and Fedora base systems (by Greg Zeng on 2023-06-12 07:40:28 GMT from Australia)
Google AI gives different answers to this week's Distrowatch reader's question. The hundreds of coding teams behind the distros on the Distrowatch have their 'answers'.
One way to understand these data-engine brand names to compare with mechanical-engines used in cars & trucks.
BSD is similar to Wankel and other two-stroke engines. Get the horse-power out, with fewer parts. Linux Arch is similar to the other Linus From Scratch (LFS) engines. As much as possible is compiled from raw source code, regardless of the fuel injector carburettor and fuel type. No systemd, no forced Wayland and avoiding GUI compilations.
Arch's "AUR" is similar to relatively unprocessed fuels, like diesel oil, with it's easily unresolved pollutants. Both the Red Hat and Debian have compiled 'fuels' with fuel injection of more costly created petroleum. These are four-stroke engines, compared to the two-stroke engines of the earlier RPM and smaller family groups. These smaller family groups include SUSE, Solaris, PCLOS, puppy and other minority settings that rely on various virtual containers to run applications.
Fedora is the official testing version of the few official versions of the Red Hat corporation. Both Red Hat and Debian have their base core versions. These base cores are in various official versions: Stable, Main & Testing. The base-cores of Arch, Red Hat & Debian are used to derive many corporate and community brand names. Manjaro, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora and Peppermint are such derivatives.
These five derived 'data-engines' are similar to Ferari, VW, Toyota, Nissan, & MG, respectively. These derivations may try the newest and beta-tested innovations like GUI-Calamari, systemd, xWayland, Nvidia sensitivity, BTRFS, etc (self-starter, automatic transmission, ABS, Lane-warnings).
Some Linux distros try to be simple tools, with limited power, & limited flexibility. The Puppy and PCLOS families fit this motor-home description. There are also scooter, motorcycle (BSD), omnibus, truck, semi-trailer, service, emergency vehicle versions of Linux operating systems.
By comparison, Microsoft Windows 11 is an aircraft carrier, or an enormous motor-home demanding very many highly trained technicians & secret robots.
4 • Re: 2 – the sad demise of openSUSE Leap (by SuperOscar on 2023-06-12 08:49:40 GMT from Finland)
I quite agree, @MicroLinux. Having tens of updates daily and thousands of them weekly is no way to actually be using a computer! But that’s the rolling way of Tumbleweed.
I also tried Rocky Linux, but it lacks so much I need – most unfortunately a usable TeXLive packaging. The only way to get it seems to be to install the whole shebang from CPAN which is a h*** of a lot of work.
So, Debian it is, for now.
5 • Debian 12 (by Torsten on 2023-06-12 10:03:24 GMT from Germany)
I downloaded the recent Debian 12 and installed it. Wow! It's really the best Debian version so far. I've not discovered any errors or bugs at all and everything works fine and well with Debian 12. An excellent edition. When you're sick and tired of Ubuntu, then I only can recommend Debian for you!
6 • When OpenSUSE Leap ends (by tolea on 2023-06-12 10:21:06 GMT from Moldova)
When OpenSUSE Leap ends, if they will make an immutable os based on Flatpak, I will migrate to another distro or will try new Ubuntu 24.04 immutable.
Cause I don't like Flatpak, it is limited to GUI apps only, and has really stupid SDKs idea. I use a lot of command line apps & compilers, which are not available on flatpak. And I dunno understand people who use immutable systems, but override defaults with a lot of new packages (cause Flatpak doesn't provide some apps).
So until someone will make an immutable OS based on Snap (which doesn't have Flatpak limitations), I am good with OpenSUSE Leap (or any other classic distribution)
7 • Opensuse Leap (by kc1di on 2023-06-12 10:40:17 GMT from United States)
I have to admit I'm not understanding Suse's desire to end leap. I used it off and on but it's the one that is the stable dependable Suse release. I have not followed this that closely. But I have installed Debian 12 (bookworm) and find it fills the need nicely and is in my opinion as good as Suse. I remember Suse of old, It was always a top contender. I'm not thrilled with either flatpaks or snaps. as a package management system Appimages are good but no update process available except deleting the old and downloading the new. So I'm not sure they have come up with the best system for us that want just a stable, solid distro. that is predictable. For now Debian meets that need here. I've used Mint for many years also. It's stable most of the time but with it being based on Ubuntu, I'm not sure how long that is going to last, Maybe LMDE? But which they offered more DE with it. In any event if your disappointed with Suse for now give Debian Bookworm a spin see what you think.
8 • OpenSUSE 15.5 .... Kernel Panic (by Scott M. Allen on 2023-06-12 11:14:27 GMT from United States)
OpenSUSE - is a variable Linux version. I guess that all linux distros - have good releases and releases that have problems. OPENSUSE 15.5 - kernel panics when I try to install it. I've tried at least four times. Even tried manually setting up partions. It will run in a virt-manager install. I don't know how to troubleshoot this. I would certianly think OPENSUSE can do better than this !!!!
9 • Leap 15.6 (by qwertz on 2023-06-12 12:27:48 GMT from Germany)
Leap was and is a very pleasant base for sophisticated work, I stayed there despite occasional distrohopping. I'm sure you can get by with Ubuntu LTS or Debian as well. The news that Leap 15.6 guarantees the preparation of a successor until January 2026 is very welcome.
10 • Independent distros (by David on 2023-06-12 15:35:39 GMT from United Kingdom)
One feature to consider is how easy it is to get your preferred GUI. The whole Red Hat family works on the assumption that Gnome will be present — you can choose a different desktop but don't expect everything to be as easy. One feature of PCLinuxOS is that, although KDE Plasma is the flagship edition, everything else seems to work well — certainly Xfce does.
11 • Debian 12 (by Carlo Alessandro Verre on 2023-06-12 15:41:16 GMT from Italy)
Finally a Debian release with out-of-the-box wifi support! What a wonderful news!
12 • openSUSE (by Kazlu on 2023-06-12 15:46:01 GMT from France)
A decade os so ago, when I was used to distro-hop often, searching my way out of Xubuntu, I was only trying five distros at a time. openSUSE was always 2nd best. The best one would rorate, but openSUSE would always be 2nd! Has always had things I admired but showstoppers that eventually discouraged me.
I always had huge respect for the quality work they produced, but I feel like openSUSE and its relationship with SUSE cause the release strategy t shift every five years or so lately... I need more predictability than that in my daily driver, especially when the flagship openSUSE Leap pushed you to you upgrade every year or so...
13 • Base independent Linux distros: Debian, Arch, and Fedora base systems (by Roger Brown on 2023-06-12 16:21:21 GMT from Australia)
@3 I'm sorry but I have to point out out that this post is utter nonsense.
> Arch is similar to the other Linus From Scratch (LFS) engines. As much as possible is compiled from raw source code.No systemd, no forced Wayland and avoiding GUI compilations
Totally incorrect - Arch is a binary distro - albeit a rolling one. Arch most definitely uses systemd and Wayland is available where appropriate, as are all the major GUI desktop managers.
> Arch's "AUR" is similar to relatively unprocessed fuels, like diesel oil, with it's easily unresolved pollutants.
Again incorrect - AUR build scripts generally work quite well with Arch based distros - and if occasionally they don't, there is always a maintainer to contact for assistance.
> Red Hat & Debian are used to derive many corporate and community brand names. Manjaro, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora and Peppermint are such derivatives.
Wrong again - Manjaro is a derivative of Archlinux
Do not rely on this posting
14 • A respectful correction. (by R. Cain on 2023-06-12 16:59:05 GMT from United States)
@ 3--"Base-independent...(...from Australia)"
"...is similar to Wankel and other two-stroke engines...".
The Wankel is a four-stroke engine.
Otherwise, "Good on you, mate."
15 • @3: Hilarious! (by Matt on 2023-06-13 02:21:28 GMT from United States)
If that was really written by GoogleAI, it is ever funnier.
For 10+ years I have chosen the hostname for all my computers (and I've manage a lot of them over the years) based on the model name of a car or truck. My full tower desktop at work is Unimog. My ultraportable is Supra. My portable workstation is Tundra.
I have a couple of very old Linux systems used to control equipment in the lab. They are named Pinto and Pacer. Too dangerous to get either of them out on the highway.
16 • engines & kernels (by anon coward on 2023-06-13 05:28:16 GMT from United States)
@14 That's almost as bad as thinking a Wankel engine has a stroke, or a Linux distro has a micro-kernel.
17 • Debian Elves (by MInuxLintEbianDedition on 2023-06-13 09:10:47 GMT from United Kingdom)
I will still be starting fresh installs from stretch and upgrading.
18 • Dedian based distro. (by Roger on 2023-06-13 09:12:24 GMT from France)
As a user of GNU-Linux from 1997, I use Linux Mint Mate now for years. I went for stability in the OS I use daily, used SUSE in the beginning of the 2000's, changed to PCLinuxOS and jumped on the Ubuntu train like many in those years but always there was something. Linux Mint was a breath of fresh air and never a problem, never liked Cinnamon always liked Gnome and Mate become my stable. Like the many windows versions, 2000 Sp4 is my favorite, Linux Mint is simply the best one. Maybe not the newest, but then I don't need it, I support Linux Mint by donations because if you are willing to fork out for MS or Apple why than not support them.
www.gnu-linuxwerkgroep.eu
19 • openSUSE Leap (by Jake on 2023-06-13 13:28:44 GMT from Canada)
I am already using MicroOS Kalpa and its been amazing, all my favourite apps are installed through discover, and it updates automatically. If an update fails, it reverts. I love it
20 • Rocky + KDE (by Daniel on 2023-06-13 19:18:23 GMT from Czechia)
@2 Beware that Rocky + KDE is not tested together as Leap + KDE. They introduced already multiple times breaking bugs in minor releases. Leap KDE variant is tested together automaticaly by openQA
21 • openSUSE Leap (by Ex-distrohopper on 2023-06-14 11:37:35 GMT from Brazil)
*** When openSUSE Leap ends, will you stick with another openSUSE edition? ***
No way! I`ve never been a fan of anyone distro that uses RPM packaging because they all seem to be not as good as their DEB based siblings. But since I knew GeckoLinux, it was clear to me that openSUSE Leap is a solid foundation to build a distro from.
And now that the author of GeckoLinux is about to replace it with SpiralLinux (made from my beloved Debian, as userfriendly as MX Linux, and even faster than SparkyLinux), I can finally say that my distrohopping days are gone.
When compared to the most popular Debian derivatives, SpiralLinux is simply the best. Long live to such a marvelous distro!
22 • At the end of Leap (by Robert on 2023-06-14 18:16:06 GMT from United States)
I don't know what I'm going to do.
I only run Leap on a server, so Tumbleweed is a nogo. If they provide an easy upgrade path to either MicroOS or even ALP AND get around to documenting those variants properly I'll probably switch to one of those. Otherwise I'll have to start looking at other distros, but they all have downsides compared to Leap.
23 • Fedora (by Fedora User on 2023-06-15 06:04:03 GMT from Canada)
"Meanwhile, commercially sponsored distributions (like Fedora and openSUSE) use fixed releases where packages mostly stay pinned at a fixed version and just receive security updates."
As a Fedora user, I disagree with this statement. When I do a system update, all sorts of packages get major updates, from the Linux kernel to desktop environment components to obscure apps that I installed. Fedora has a reputation for being pretty cutting-edge.
24 • Debian 12 (by Titus Groan on 2023-06-16 04:42:01 GMT from New Zealand)
@ 5. look harder.
Debian 12 mate 32bit install.
improbable copy values when copying large files.
I guess, not a Debian bug, per se, but it can be demonstrated repeatedly in their product.
Number of Comments: 24
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