I have been a big fan of OpenSUSE 13.1 KDE, and I have been using 13.2 for the past year. I have a Lenovo T420 as a mainstay work laptop. Running 13.2.
It has 2 SSD, one dedicated for W7Pro, and the other OpenSuse13.2 64 bit KDE(I have it set up such that I have to interrupt boot to be able to access W7, it’s a pseudo dual boot, it turned out much easier and better than I hoped for).
My 2OS’s on T420 are just about as stable and efficient as they can get. This lead me to believe that the worst thing that can and has happened in the past is that if I fall on my backpack and break the laptop. Thanks to swapping to SSD, I was able to replace my T410 with T420 with a simple HDD/SSD swap.
Now, I’ve purchased a second T420, with a little bit better processor and a dedicated video card. I’ll probably keep it kicking around as a back-up. I also have an excess of SSD and a HDD.
While it’s kicking around as a backup, I’d like to take advantage of its idle-ness and experiment with Windows10Pro and OpenSuse Tumbleweed. It will have SSD with Tumbleweed and HDD with W10Pro. Similar setup as my main T420. In case of failure/break, I’ll simply swap out the SSD’s and after dealing with graphics driver issue, It’ll be good to go(I hope).
Are there any concerns, warnings, and etc. I should be aware about?
What would be advantage/disadvantage of Tumbleweed v.s. Fixed distribution(Besides the fact that it is a rolling distribution)?
Again, I will be experimenting with it, so, stability is not the top priority at least for now. Later, if I find it stable enough, I will make it my go to OS. This would solve the issue of having to re-install OS occasionally.
Rolling means it changes a lot. A lot of changes my uncover problems that you would not see in a more static distro. IMO you should have a bit more understanding and trouble shooting ability to embrace any rolling distro. I would not use a rolling distro for a profession desktop or server. Not all need a Ferrari some people need a pickup truck.
In that sense, I’ve already got a Pickup, and I’m seeking to get a Ferrari, but I could use any heads up on challenges.
I.e. I HAD to fight with Ubuntu 14.04, Linux Mint 17.1 almost daily to keep my OS running without breaking my customization. I have read the less-stableness so far, but I want to know how extreme it is.
maybe many challenges. the most obvious is the proprietary video drivers. You will need to install via the hard way and reinstall in any change in kernel and/or Xstack. Lots more tinkering with a Ferrari
Breakage seems rare for me and when it does happen a fix is usually out that day or within a couple of days. Breakage has never been severe and I have always been able to continue working under Tumbleweed.
I have had a wonderful experience with Tumblweed in the last few months.
Changes are fast but sane in my opinion. I use it as my everyday distro currently coming from Mepis which I used for the last 10 yrs.
In the beginning I used Redhat first then Mandrake and Suse ( first copy of Suse was bought at a best buy for the excellent books), after a couple yrs or so I was a chronic distro hopper before the 12 step distro hoppers program settling on Mepis and now Tumbleweed.
I tried gnome once in the early days and after that I am a confirmed kde user.
What brought me back to Suse was the experience I had in the early yrs and the fact it is a rolling release.
No special video drivers used with 4 monitors (monitors being all the same brand (samsung) and same model/resolution)
The only thing special is bluetooth which isn’t all that special but a must for my hearing aids and has been usable to rock solid.
The firewall configuration took some getting used to but there are good how to’s. That was the hardest which wasn’t so hard.
Very well, after battling with Windows 10’s glitchyness, I’ve remembered how little I have time to fiddle with the OS. I’ve decided to ditch the Tumbleweed and W10 idea.
I plan to upgrade one of my 13.2 machines to TW, but I also have a plan of a dedicated partition to mirror root before a TW upgrade, so I can revert if something critical breaks. A little time consuming, but a life saver if the machine won’t boot.