OpenSUSE Tumbleweed Part 2

 So I had been using Tumbleweed for a week or so and ran into some issues because when I first configured it I made a couple of mistakes.

So I went to MX Linux KDE and quickly learned that MX Linux is not as super-duper-awesome as everyone makes it out to be.  From there I jumped (after a day) to Linux Mint again.  But I found myself longing for the KDE interface (I cannot even BELIEVE I am writing this, I really disliked KDE for a minimum of a 14 years) that OpenSUSE delivered.

So guess what.  Lessons learned, I reinstalled OpenSUSE KDE and started configuring and installing software in small steps.  First thing was to make sure I installed the NVidia drivers the right way, first time around, installed codecs, got the base system the way I wanted it.  Then I moved onto installing Wine, Steam and other components useful for gaming.

So far so good, knock on wood.  I've been through my first update with no issues.  The one thing I did install that, while it makes me nervous I still love it, is Kvantum and the Irixium theme.  So love that.

So anyway, I have the most important things to me installed:

1) Nvidia drivers

2) Video and music codecs

3) Google Chrome

4) Thunderbird

5) KDE Irixium theme

6) Wine (so I can run VTMB without issue)

7) Steam (so I can play at least SOME of my steam games, and GE Proton)

8) Some fonts I like for programming

9) MS VS Code

10) compilers...

With these things I am pretty satisfied.  I can do the things I like to do on my personal computer, watch videos, game, program...

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed

 I tried openSUSE before, not sure if I blogged about it at the time.  The first time I tried SUSE I was sorely disappointed and struggled with a number of configuration issues.

But, it had been awhile and distros generally continue to get better and better with time so I thought what the hey, I'll give it another shot.  Not only that, but I decided to install the KDE version.  Normally I am all about GTK/GNOME but, I always read people's posts raving wildly about KDE so I thought, again, what the hey, I will give it a shot.

So here I am rocking KDE on openSUSE Tumbleweed linux.  So far it has been pretty rock solid.  No major issues.  Well, one issue:  do not install the 535 version of the NVIDIA driver... it is imperfect to say the least.  I actually installed it first and had to contend with frequent artifacts flashing across the top of my monitor.  So I backed it out and installed the 470 series and it has been fine, no artifacts.  Beware, backing out NVIDIA drivers, while not super difficult, does take a little time, at least in my case, because not all of the old components were removed correctly and I had to boot into terminal mode and continue the process there.  Again, not a huge deal but, just beware... if you are installing NVIDIA drivers, avoid 535 (recommended for G06 GPUS) driver...

I was able to get steam and wine installed and able to play my usual games.  Although minor complaint, that has NOTHING TO DO WITH OPENSUSE:  Flipping world of warships has broken my ability to play the game on linux AGAIN.  They do this with updates that break your ability to log in or do other things with a fair amount of frequency... you can find the people who complain about on reddit.  :)  But aside from that the system has been solid.

The Chrome and Thunderbird both seem sharper and nicer on OpenSUSE/KDE... I don't know if it is the distro or KDE, but they seem more slick than usual.

Font rendering has been very nice; in older versions (awhile back) of KDE the font rendering always annoyed me (one of the reasons I stayed with GTK UIs).

Oh, if you think my screenshot is ugly, that's just because I am old and have a "thing" for 80s-like UIs and installed UI components that are supposed to resemble IRIX.  I love it!

I would love to get the dock looking more like CDE... but... unlikely.

So I am actually quite enjoying this so far.  I will probably shift back to a GTK-based system (most likely Mint but...) like Pop OS once their new interface is released in January, or when the next Linux Mint DE version arrives, based on Debian 12!

But for now let's see how long I can stick with a much lauded distro like OpenSUSE.

A few days with Debian 12...

 I'd like to say it is earth shatteringly wonderful, but it really is just another gnome spin of linux... the satisfaction lies in knowing that the heart is Debian.

I've tweaked the UI a tad, to suit it to my liking.  Otherwise I am still running the gnome desktop.  While steam works very well, I've been struggling with Wine and PlayOnLinux quite a bit.  Can't seem to get it right.

Everything else has been rock solid.

OH!  I did run into the irritating Logitech MX mouse issue.  Freezes up, dies.  Have to reboot to get your mouse back.  I executed the steps that I have always done for Linux Mint or for Ubuntu-based distros to more or less improve upon the mouse-freeze issue, so far it seems to be working.  Not sure whose fault it is:  Linux (drivers/kernel) or Logitech.  Some people think it has something to do with the innate power saving logic of the mouse, others think it is some short-fall of the bluetooth drivers in linux.

But, it has been good so far!  Working as well as Mint for sure.

Change up! Playing with Debian 12

 Mint has been serving me well, of course.  But recently I saw a number of videos singing the praises of Debian 12.  It was "the best version of Debian, ever."

So of course I had to try it.

After several false starts and re-installs, I got it down.  Yeah, the latest version of Debian has a pretty good installer and it now has opened up NON-FREE repos.  AND the even included Nvida drivers!  W00t!1!!

Unfortunately the driver install fails if you try it out of the box because those non-free repos have to be manually added.  AND, if you do not add them while disabling their FREE counterpart it won't work.

I found instructions on the internet but they were mostly wrong, so I went back to the instructions from Debian and did what THEY said, then when I got the error I went to the internet, found one person who stated it plainly what needed to be done, did it, worked.

So now I have my Nvidia drivers!  Next I installed Steam from the repos.  BZZZZT!  It did not work as expected, so I installed flatpak, and in flatpak I installed Steam.  With a little hiccup of having to add access to the non-system disk where I keep my libraries, it worked well.

Finally, I needed to risk having to re-install yet another time :D  so I installed the LTS version of the XANMOD kernel (v3 for my threadripper first gen).  I expected some sort of massive failure but lo and behold (as you can see in the screenshot) it worked!  First try!

So I am running Debian 12.  And, I have to say it is pretty darn good!  I am wondering at this point are Ubuntu-based distros even needed when you can go to the source of Ubuntu, Debian.  I am also wondering how this will change Linux Mint and Ubuntu.

One final note, I went with the GNOME version since I have heard a lot of good reviews of the latest version[s] of gnome, regarding performance and stability.  I did do the "dash to dock" tweak, but other than that it has been solid.  And I do believe it really is pretty performant.  

I have to say though, if Linux Mint LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) is updated to Debian 12, I just might go back.

Ahhhh. Back on Linux Mint.

I won't leave it again.  I think I have learned my lesson.

Mint is FAR SUPERIOR to many other distributions.  MX Linux and Pop OS have been pretty decent, but OpenSuse, Manjaro, Fedora... none of them hold a candle to Mint.

Hats off to the Linux Mint team.

Decided to broaden my horizons and tried openSuse Tumbleweed...

So far it has been a huge mistake.

It works.  But it is full of graphical artifacts, odd occurrences, mouse driver freezing... etc.

Not very fun.

Before I reinstall Linux Mint, I am going to try a few games to see how they perform (World of Warships, VTMB).  I should upload the video of it.  Screen completely pixelated.  Done with this crap.  Going back to linux mint.

Oof. Been awhile!

 So this will be a brief update.

Work has been busy.

I am still on Linux Mint.

Not much else.