Open SUSE Tumbleweed reviewed unfavourably in Distrowatch

[buster]

Note first that I have been using OpenSUSE Leap happily for quite awhile now, so i was disappointed with this review. But Jesse is usually fair, just maybe unlucky in what he did. (My theory is that many 'problems' occur just from unfortunate choices we make as we install.)

Anyway, while my Leap works well, his Tumbleweed didn't. See the full review here:

https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20181210#opensuse

[Jason]

The issue had had trying to install codecs for proprietary formats and the tearing under Wayland are likely both related to this found on the Portal:Tumbleweed wiki page under "Who should use openSUSE Leap instead of Tumbleweed?":

And while the Packman Tumbleweed Essential repository attempts to deliver them there is no guarantee they will always succeed due to the incompatibilities with the quickly advancing Linux Kernel. The problems with proprietary graphics drivers are similar and there is no guarantee they will work tomorrow, even if they do today. If you don't know how to compile your own additional kernel modules and you don't wish to learn or keep a very close eye on what is being updated, please don't use Tumbleweed.

The codecs in the one-click installer use the Packman repo if I recall correctly. And he's using a Radeon card so not having the proper driver for it could have caused the issue he had with using Wayland.

I was considering trying this on my laptop which uses Intel graphics. Can't use it on my desktop since I depend on an nVidia-based card. But not being able to use the Packman repository is definitely a downer.

[fox]

Jesse also had a few instances of bad updates. I tried Tumbleweed for awhile, and I also borked an installation with a bad update. Got rid of it afterwards. I also have openSUSE Leap 15 installed on a partition on my desktop computer. It has been fine since I installed it, although I don't test it often.

Not to crit Jesse, because I think his reviews are fair, it's noteworthy that he uses an AMD laptop for his reviews. While there is nothing inherently wrong with AMD processors, I notice that he seems to have more issues with distros than I do and I do wonder if AMD has anything to do with it.

[buster]

"I do wonder if AMD has anything to do with it."

I have both Intel and AMD and I've never noticed any difference. I can't see that particular hardware affecting media files software downloads. Btrfs was the problem according to one poster, but I suspect Jason might be right with the Wayland choice at the beginning.

I also wonder if a new install might  solve it. I've done that and solved a problem that just appeared out of the malignant universe of computer glitches - that's how I view it anyway.

It doesn't matter a lot to me. I love Suse Leap. And it just keeps updating and chugging along like Old Man River.

[Jason]

I think you were just replying to fox, buster, but to be clear, I didn't mean that AMD is bad in anyway or that it has anything to do with playing various video formats. My point is that the Packman repo is going to have trouble keeping up with a distro that is constantly changing. That's where the codecs come from. And probably why he encountered the dependency issue.

The btrfs plays a part in why his install size is growing faster but I can't see it causing any other problems. Definitely don't use btrfs if you don't have much room, I'd say at least 20 GB but 40 GB be better if you're not just testing it. It will grow fast and you won't notice anything until your system suddenly starts behaving weirdly because it's ran out of room. I had windows refusing to open up or taking long times to open up. It was really bizarre.