Linux distro-hopping is here again, just like how Android gets flashed once or twice a year. Distro-hopping has made me put all important computer files on an HDD and in the cloud, so I can reinstall the computer at any time.
1. Arch Linux Is Not for Me#
I used Ubuntu on and off for four years. I once distro-hopped to Arch Linux, but just setting up the desktop caused all kinds of crashes, and I did not know how to set up the input method either. So I switched back to Ubuntu 20.04, and upgraded to 22.04 in 2022.
Later, after learning some system concepts, I realized the crashes were probably the fault of Nvidia’s open source driver, and I also learned to switch the input method to Fcitx5. However, on Arch-based systems, even Manjaro, when software is missing you have to install it through the AUR. There was even a situation where SELinux functionality affected Virt Manager’s access to an NTFS hard drive, requiring a manual switch to another kernel to solve it.
So Arch-based systems are probably not suitable for me. I tried Debian in 2022. Too old school. Even USB drives had to be mounted manually. On Android’s Termux, because there are many packages, Ubuntu and Debian are still suitable for testing all kinds of miscellaneous things, and many lazy scripts are also designed around Ubuntu.
But on the computer side, I wanted to switch again. The main reason is that Ubuntu aggressively pushes Snap. I prefer Flatpak and AppImage, and forcibly uninstalling Snap can make the system unstable. In search of excitement, the next thing to look for was a distribution from a different family, rather than one based on Debian or Ubuntu.
Now my desktop uses openSUSE Tumbleweed (KDE), and my laptop uses Fedora 36 (Gnome).
Because I have become familiar with the concept of package managers, jumping between common commands is not a big problem. There is also no situation where common software is unavailable on some platform. If you ask, Flatpak solves it. These two distributions are both very close to the rolling distro model, but they are not as aggressive as Arch-based systems, because they are mainly maintained by commercial companies.
Also, even without an Nvidia graphics card, Wayland still has piles of problems under the tuning of these two companies, so I will keep watching for now.
2. Review of openSUSE on the Desktop#
Originally I used Leap first, but this stable release model is just like Ubuntu. I did not think that would work, so I jumped to Tumbleweed. Every few weeks when I boot and see that the kernel version is always the latest, it feels great. Also, I heard that SUSE plans to end Leap’s release model and replace it with ALP.
openSUSE is ready to use after installation, and the file system is Btrfs. I think it integrates well with KDE. However, the default looks too much like Windows, so I put the panel at the top, making it look like XFCE. But I was probably influenced by Windows color schemes; I think the combination of white application colors + a black panel is the most harmonious. Also, KDE lets you switch to the next virtual desktop by scrolling the mouse wheel over the panel, which is very useful.
Only KDE has poor support for dual monitors. If one monitor is plugged into the integrated GPU and the other into the discrete GPU, it crashes badly, whether on X11 or Wayland. Both monitors have to be plugged into the same graphics card. By comparison, Gnome handles this very well.
The graphical tool YaST is also very convenient for installing updates, and it has a graphical installer for switching between desktop environments. Its interface for managing Nvidia’s closed source driver is no worse than Ubuntu’s software center.
The KDE Discovery software store responds much faster than Gnome Software. But I have to manually mount the HDD after login, and the KDE Wallet password is also annoying.
But openSUSE’s biggest problem is that its software sources are very slow. Downloading files from servers far away in Germany made the first automated installation take twice as long as Ubuntu. After installation, I changed the main repositories to the NCHC mirror, but there are still many packages that can only be downloaded from slow-as-hell foreign servers.
Installing software sometimes requires manually downloading RPM or YMP files, which is more troublesome. But clicking once brings up a graphical interface that installs automatically, so it is still fairly friendly.
Coming from Ubuntu, I think openSUSE is a pretty good alternative choice. The games I often play and virtual machines can all run normally. At most, GPU permissions for Flatpak-packaged applications occasionally have small bugs after updates, and shutdown or boot time is sometimes affected too.
3. Review of Fedora on the Laptop#
Fedora can be considered Red Hat’s beta system. It is very close to upstream, though kernel updates are a little slower than openSUSE Tumbleweed. The file system I installed is Btrfs.
For a more complex laptop situation (with Intel integrated graphics and Nvidia discrete graphics), Fedora is also ready to use after installation. It immediately recognized my MSI Modern 15 laptop model and automatically downloaded the keyboard lighting driver, screen color calibration, and WIFI network card driver. Only the screen color issue still cannot be solved. Under Windows there is MSI True Color, which can make the color closer to NTSC 72% color accuracy, but Fedora just looks yellowish and cannot adjust display modes.
Also, the Nvidia graphics card has never been able to wake up. Following the Fedora WIKI to force it as the primary graphics card did not help. The Wiki’s steps are very strange. It actually asks you to enable the kernel module and then wait for the Nvidia graphics card to come online by itself?
Since the laptop is not used for gaming, leaving it alone does not matter. The downside is that when exporting edited videos with Kdenlive, the fan becomes extremely loud because only the i5-10210u can compute, wasting the MX350’s performance. In addition, my Fedora causes the laptop to sleep to death after entering sleep mode, which is also a pity.
The desktop uses the default Gnome. I am really not used to windows having no three-dot menu in the upper-left corner by default. Even Ubuntu is not that extreme. It seems Gnome really wants you to “focus” on one window and drag anything extra to the “workspace” beside it. Gnome font scaling is not flexible either. You can only enlarge through accessibility features, but some APPs ignore system settings, so the text is still tiny as hell.
Fedora’s Gnome Software seems to respond a bit faster than Ubuntu’s, but Fedora lacks a front-end interface for managing Nvidia’s closed source driver.
Fedora is fairly considerate when installing software. After boot, it automatically downloads in the background and displays updates in Gnome Software. If the terminal cannot find a command, it also guides the user to install it. But I do not really like how Fedora, like Windows, still has to install updates when shutting down (the checkbox text for confirming installation is very small). Fortunately, doing this many times has not caused any major trouble.
Because Fedora’s software is very new, small bugs also occasionally appear. For example, Kdenlive settings can get reset, so you have to pay special attention. The Java version is too new, and Minecraft’s MultiMC may even fail to open. Also, for some reason Fedora locks down ADB and Fastboot permissions by default, causing them to require sudo to run.
Although performance is lost because the graphics card cannot be handled properly, using Fedora on the laptop is broadly not much of a problem.
4. Conclusion#
Distro-hopping is truly interesting. Now the computer is openSUSE, the laptop is Fedora, the PinePhone is postmarketOS (Alpine Linux), and Termux on the Android phone is Proot Ubuntu.
Is it confusing? Actually, it is fine. I am not some very impressive developer; I only use Linux distributions as ordinary daily main systems. The concepts across distributions are shared, so once you start playing with them, it becomes easy.
