GeckoLinux Tumbleweed KDE newcomer friendly?

[Cyber-Typhoon]

Hi -

I'm interested to install Linux in a new Asus Intel laptop with Nvidia card and was thinking if GeckoLinux may be a good option. I'm interested in the Tumbleweed KDE version. I have some questions.

It seems that GeckoLinux address some little annoyances out of the box such having support to h.264/h.265 ffmpeg codecs that are not installed in OpenSuse because of licencing reasons. There are other things also that are listed in the GeckoLinux website. It seems a relative experience to what Ubuntu offers from Debian. Here are the questions:

1. What are the advantages of GeckoLinux over Kubuntu?

2. If we remove the Google repository will it break something? Is there privacy concerns about repos that come with this distro (Google and Skype, why?) ?

3. When installing applications can we add flathub/appimage/snaps as the primary repository to install apps if available using Discovery?

4. During the installation do we have an option for storage encryption using LUKS?

5. Are there drawbacks for someone that would need digital content creation applications Blender, Nuke, Maya, etc for VFX or VR/AR/XR work?

6. Does it comes with Wayland pre-intalled in the KDE spin? If I want to use wayland, keep secure boot shim enabled and install nvidia proprietary drivers do I need to manually sign the drivers keys on every kernel update?

7. Are there issues, bugs, problems, glitches etc that you can comment about?

Sorry the many questions trying to find if we are a match 😁

Thank you for any inputs

[Rerum02]

1. You will get the news version of KDE plasma, as soon as plasma 6 comes out you will have it, that's due to tumbleweed being a rolling release. And that is with all packages, as soon as the newest comes out you will have it.

2. No, it will not break anything, there are no privacy concerned with the repost themselves, it is the products that they have, Google Chrome collecting data, as well Skype. If you do have concerns but still need to use these, using a flatpak is the best, because it limits what they are allowed to access. You could also use alternatives like Brave for Chrome, and Element for Skype.

3. Yes, but You will need to install some stuff using the terminal (or Yast) with 'Sudo zypper in PackageKit' then follow flathubs instructions for installing flatpaks (I personally do not use snaps for many small reasons that build up, if you can try to stick with flatpaks). Although to install other programs that are not on flathub I would use the terminal or Yast software, and to update you MUST use the terminal and put in 'sudo zypper dup'. You can update whenever but, I update every 3 days.

4.I do not know

5. The only drawback is that if you need color accurate for printing out art, if all your art stays digital then you're good. Also, because it is a rolling release, sometimes the newest updates aren't the best, but you can always roll back using snapper.

6. Yes, it has Wayland, if you do use Nvidia drivers, you should probably have secure boot off, and no, you do not need to sign your kernel keys every time. You can add Nvidia drivers by using Yast

(Open YaST, then click Software Repositories.
Click Add (in the bottom left), then select Community Repositories.
Select NVIDIA Graphics Drivers, then click OK.)

To install the drivers You may also use Yast (Go to the YaST Control Center and click Software Management.
View > Repositories > NVIDIA
Choose the appropriate driver, nvidia-video-G06 (the correct driver if your laptop is from 2014 or later)
Optionally choose OpenGL acceleration libraries nvidia-gl-G06.
Press Accept.
Restart your computer.)

8. Like I said, it's a rolling release, sometimes the newest update isn't the best, but that's why I use snapper, basically every time that you do 'zypper dup' the system will pre-save how everything is, and so if stuff breaks you can rewind, I will use it to roll back and wait a couple days to upgrade.

I wouldn't say that a tumbleweed is the most beginner friendly, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend it, if you're willing to learn a little bit. Yast is great tool if you don't like using the command line, you can basically do everything in there, it just may take a little longer. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask!

[Rerum02]

P.S if this seems like maybe a bit too much, another great alternative is Nobara. Wonderful distribution that is based off of fedora, which updates more quickly than Ubuntu, but not as fast as tumbleweed.