Hello everyone,
I am a new Linux user currently evaluating which distribution I want to use long term. Over the past two weeks I have been performing full installations of several distributions to get a realistic impression, including Mint, Fedora, CachyOS, and openSUSE Tumbleweed with both GNOME and KDE.
Tumbleweed makes a very strong impression. First of all, thank you to everyone who contributes or has contributed. It is obvious how much effort and lifetime has gone into this project. I truly appreciate that this option exists.I would like to share a few observations from a newcomer perspective. Please let me know if there is a more appropriate place for this type of feedback or if you would prefer a different format.
Installer
The installer is excellent. Being able to select software packages during installation and clearly see that essential components such as the firewall are enabled is very helpful. I also like the approach of selecting an image first and then choosing the desktop environment. The entire installation process worked flawlessly for me and it’s so fast.
Welcome window and documentation
The first point of confusion for me was the documentation link in the welcome window. When clicking on readme or documentation, I was redirected to the Leap documentation. As a new user it was not clear whether the Leap documentation fully applies to Tumbleweed, partially applies, or differs significantly.
A short Tumbleweed specific quick start guide would be very helpful. Even a short explanation such as: “This is Tumbleweed, we are a rolling release distribution, therefore features change to frequently to provide seperate documentation, but the Leap documentation should apply in most common scenarios.”, would provide helpful orientation for new users.
Network Printer installation
This has been the most frustrating part so far. On the other distributions I tested, my network printer/scanner was detected automatically. On Tumbleweed it was not discovered until I found in the forum that mDNS must be allowed in the firewall.The graphical interfaces did not provide a clear hint about this dependency. After enabling mDNS, the printer was detected, although I have not yet successfully printed a test page. Please don’t provide support at the moment, I like to continue troubleshooting it myself.
While writing this text, I found the following note in the Leap 15.6 documentation:
“When firewalld is active, you may need to configure it to allow clients to browse network printers by allowing mdns and ipp through the internal network zone. The public zone should never expose printer queues.”
As a new user, this information was not easy to discover. Maybe IPP is the missing piece (or taking the time to read the full documentation). We will see.
It is also somewhat confusing that there are multiple graphical tools such as YaST and the desktop specific configuration tools from KDE or GNOME. It is not obvious which one should be used or if both work.
At one point I encountered an error message stating that the URI contains invalid characters when trying to add the printer. I had not modified any URI manually, and I do not recall seeing a field explicitly labeled “URI”, which made it difficult to interpret the error.
Software installation and updates
There are several graphical front ends available such as YaST and Myrlyn, in addition to the web interface at software.opensuse.org. KDE (Discover?) and GNOME also provide their own installation and update mechanisms.
In some other distributions there is usually a very clear recommendation which method should be used for installation/updates (becuse not all are safe) or only one package manager interface is installed by default. For new users it might be easier if only one primary software management tool is preinstalled, with others as optional components. Experienced users will assemble their preferred toolchain anyway. Another option would be to clearly state which is the prefered option.
On a side note, regarding software.opensuse.org: when searching for “Steam” and filtering by all releases, I can find it. When filtering explicitly for Tumbleweed, Steam does not appear in the search results (even if there is a package for Tumbleweed). In the official release section for Steam there is a button labeled Expert Download, which can be intimidating for newcomers. Behind that button there is fortunately also a standard option, but at first glance the wording may discourage less experienced users, if the 1-click method isn’t offered.
It would also be helpful to provide clearer guidance on whether Flatpak or native packages from the openSUSE repositories are the preferred approach for common desktop applications (and which packetmanager to use). Both options seem to be valid and have advantages and disadvantages, but many new users like myself would likely appreciate a clearer recommendation.
YaST and Control Center
Yesterday I learned that YaST is being replaced by the new Control Center. For now at least in Leap and that this transition has generated mixed reactions. From my perspective (again: new user, minimal experience), I found the Control Center clearer and easier to navigate for the tasks I needed. I installed it on Tumbleweed for testing, after reading about it.
I would personally prefer if a fresh Tumbleweed installation offered the new Control Center by default, with YaST as an optional legacy component. Experienced users who value specific YaST functionality could still enable it explicitly.
These are just a few impressions from short and relatively superficial usage of Tumbleweed. (In a few days I like to test Leap, too.) Once again, thank you to everyone who makes this possible. I am genuinely impressed by the overall out of the box experience. Compared to my previous Windows installations, I spent more time exploring and learning on Tumbleweed (or other Linux distros) than installing drivers, debloating or troubleshooting basic setup issues.
Apart from the network printer experience, most things worked immediately. As a new Linux user, I would simply have appreciated a bit more structured guidance to find the right information and use the intended tools.
Wish I was more knowledgeable, though!
).