Everyone has their favorite Linux distribution but not everyone works on the same projects. Because of that, we run two Linux distributions and openSUSE Tumbleweed is the go-to distro for web design. Until a few days ago, openSUSE Tumbleweed suffered from these two issues:
- Dual entry of decryption password
- Skipping mouse scroll wheel
As of today, January 6, 2023, both problems have been solved. The amazing developers behind this polished distribution managed to fix both annoyances. Now, scrolling with the Razer mouse is as smooth as can be. I love it.
Why openSUSE Tumbleweed is ideal for web design
We happen to work a lot on WordPress sites which run locally before they get deployed. If you are an experienced Linux user then you have heard of the LAMP stack. If this topic is new to you then let me explain that the LAMP stack represents all the components needed to run WordPress locally.
Many Linux distributions lack the needed instructions and tutorials to configure a local web development environment. Nine out of 10 tutorials skip the installation and implementation of phpMyAdmin completely and those who do fail to mention the details. Because of that, those who are new to Linux can easily become frustrated and have no other option than to switch back to Windows.
openSUSE Tumbleweed makes installing XAMPP easy.
For practical reasons, many web designers use XAMPP instead of the individual components the LAMP stack offers. XAMPP is quick and easy to set up and once one has worked on a handful of websites, the process takes just a few minutes.
Security Enhanced Linux has advantages but not for web design
Fedora can also be used to develop websites but the SEL (Security Enhanced Linux) implementation restricts running servers locally. This is a good thing because system security is very important but here is the good thing. Thanks to virtual machines, we can have it both ways.
The ideal setup is running Fedora as the host operating system and openSUSE Tumbleweed or Leap as the guest OS. This way, the main operating system can provide the rock solid system stability Linux is known for and virtual machines do the rest.
Smooth mouse wheel scrolling.
Until recently, using a Razer mouse was not pleasant. This is true for both, Linux and Windows 11. For some reason, scrolling was unpredictable and several attempts needed to be made to navigate a page. In time I got used to this annoyance and just moved slower when I reached the portion I wanted to have focus. Amazingly, this problem is no more. The size of the Racer Death Adder mouse is perfect for my hands which is why I was willing to put up with the nuisance. Now that it “seemed to be gone”, I am wish-less happy.
Have you tried openSUSE Tumbleweed lately?
Here, in north America, openSUSE’s market share is quite small but those who try it quickly discover the code quality and advantages openSUSE brings. Thanks to the easy-to-use YAST tool, setting up a virtual development environment takes just a few clicks. No additional fiddling of any kind is needed. YAST takes care of everything.
It took over 20 years to turn Linux into the most powerful operating system we can get our hands on. There is a good chance that we even replace our one and only Windows 11 install with Linux because of Pipewire. Our go-to tool for audio editing is Harrison Mixbus which runs fine on both Fedora and openSUSE. I see 2023 as a year of change. More and more computer users are getting tired of supplying the OS maker with endless data sets so that they can tweak their AI. If Windows was free, like Linus is, then I could understand the deal. But since I need to buy it, I should actually own it. Well, then again, who cares. Thanks to Fedora, openSUSE and many other distributions, Microsoft is more or less irrelevant.
If you are a creative person who is reading up on opensource software then know that Linux is a capable operating system. Perhaps I should mention that the main reason to learn about Linux is not so much that it is better but rather that Linux is different. And it is the difference that makes the “difference”.
Already using Linux but want to try openSUSE alongside your daily driver? Just spin up a virtual machine and experience the latest openSUSE Tumbleweed has to offer.
As time moves along, we are planning on publishing short YouTube videos that show everything that these blog posts describe. Our in-house expertise has overcome all of the issues that discourage new Linux users and we can’t wait to share them with you. Thank you for reading.
