I have been using openSUSE for a long time — basically, for as long as there has been an openSUSE. I used the “stable” numbered releases at first, but that was a typical “point-release” distribution, which got major updates in complete new releases which were made every six months or so. I like to keep up with the latest Linux developments, so when the original (unofficial) Tumbleweed distribution came along, I gave it a try — and I have never gone back.
I usually write about a specific Linux distribution when there is some event related to it which gets my attention — most often when there is a new point release, or a new set of installation images for a rolling release.
Tumbleweed is at a real disadvantage in this respect, because they don’t have point releases (duh), and they make new ISO installation image available at least every few days. I’m just looking at the Tumbleweed download directory, and so far this month the installation images have already been updated 14 times. The ISO updates are so frequent and so routine, there is basically never an “event” that would prompt me to write about Tumbleweed.
So I am here now to make amends for that.
I have Tumbleweed installed as the default boot on every computer I own. Every last one, no exceptions — that’s how much I like it, trust it and depend on it. All of my computers have other Linux distributions installed as well, of course – anywhere from three or four up to as many as 10 others. But Tumbleweed is always installed, and is always the default. Even Manjaro hasn’t been able to push it aside.
The reason I have it this way is that I want to stay as close as possible to the latest releases of the Linux kernel, the various different desktops that I frequently use, the other major parts of the core Linux distribution, and the major packages that I use. No other distribution that I have tried has stayed as close to the leading edge as Tumbleweed and given me the stability that I want.
The one situation in which you should not use Tumbleweed is if you need proprietary drivers for some part of your computer. This is most commonly graphic display drivers, for adapters from nVidia and ATI/Radeon. It can also include certain WiFi adapters (Broadcom), and other very new or special-purpose hardware. The problem is not so much that these drivers won’t work, it is that the Linux kernel in Tumbleweed is updated so often that it can be difficult to keep the integration of the proprietary drivers working properly.
Since I started this post by saying that Tumbleweed’s major advantage is staying current with the latest updates, let show what I mean by that. The following table shows the current version of various parts of the Linux distribution in Tumbleweed and in openSUSE Leap 42.2. I made sure that both of these were completely updated immediately before writing this comparison: