Linux

Not knowing where to find anything. Of course, coming from Windows I’m used to there being a program files folder with my programs’ folders, and a documents folder with (often) user settings for those programs. In Linux, everything just seems to be everywhere. What seems to be the ‘documents’ equivalent for the game Factorio is in my user folder in a hidden .factorio, but I’ve to no avail been trying to find out where my ‘documents’ for Workers and Resources are. I’ll find them eventually, I’m sure. In general, I’m looking around a lot, though.

Most of your user's files will be in your home directory: /home/username (or ~ for short).

Inside of that, some more or less popular programs litter into the root of your directory (like ~/.mozilla), but the more behaved ones store config files in ~/.config, and data in ~/.local (mostly ~/.local/share).

Flatpak will place data of its apps in ~/.var.

Other then your home directory, /etc contains config files for programs across the system (but mostly for background services and admin tools). If you want to make changes, most of them supports putting comments to lines starting with #. Use that to keep notes on why you changed something, and to keep the previous version of the changed line so that you can more easily recover a bad change.

/usr contains software, but in a very broad sense because manuals and default congigs often get placed here too. The doesn't have anything to do with users, it's an acronym for a different thing. All directories here are managed by your package manager (zypper on suse), if you edit or delete something zypper will probably undo it at some point. An exception is /usr/local, it's the same structure but for programs that you install without a package manager, perhaps you built it from source fode, sometimes that's useful too.

/run is in memory, subdird by user id, programs often put runtime data here. It's lost on reboot.

/tmp is for temporary files. if it's a tmpfs filesystem (check with running df -h) then it's also in memory (and thus very fast, but consumes RAM) and lost on reboot, but I think by default it's persistent on disk without auto cleanup on suse.

/var holds data for the system. like varoius logs are in /var/log. those are mostly text files, but systemd's journal is not.

/mnt and /media is where other filesystems are mounted. the former is for temporary mounts, but I also mount my other disks and partitions there, and the latter is for e.g. your USB connected portable storage.
Portable storage mounting is often handled by the system, like KDE should show an icon on the taskbar when something is connected, but internal storage mounting is set up in /etc/fstab. You can read man fstab if you want to learn how that file works, and feel free to try running man with other technical keywords you find because chances are good it has a man page. Finally, don't attempt to mount filesystems that were being used by a currently hibernated windows.

Not knowing how to install programs. This is more of a learning-curve thing, obviously. The software centre didn’t contain everything I could find online - for some programs, you could use ‘one click’ in OpenSUSE, but that seems to work more like a self-destruct button: I’ve tried those several times and have always had bad results >.>. I’ve found it’s easiest to install programs just using flatpaks.

Mostly with zypper or YaST Software Management, which are different frontends for the same. If you don't find something, or want to have newer versions, there is Flatpak. Flatpak provides some level of permissions control, but there are leaks especially with an X11 session, so don't install something you don't trust.

If you don't find something in default repos, you can add new ones but be very careful with that, and set repo priorities sensibly, more important repos with a lower number. SUSE has some additional half-official repos on OBS, but there's also a bunch of community repositories managed by a random person on the internet. Be especially careful with the latter because no one officially test these or checks for malware.

OpenSUSE's package management uses RPM packages. Sometimes when a package is not on the main repos, your only choice is to download an .rpm file and install it with rpm -i filename.

Lastly, for statically built software, you may see that they are available in a tar.gz or tar.xz file (similar to a .zip but more modern). You can just unpack them wherever you see fit and run them, but it's better to have them longer term in subdirs of /usr/local/lib/, with symlinks to the executables in /usr/local/bin/.

I have been using suse for a few years now and I also find their oneclick .ymp files very confusing. Firefox cannot open them, you have to download it and open separately.
But then it will offer you to add 2 dozen repositories that you better not add to the system, but it also won't allow selecting one, it will want to add all or nothing.
At this point what I don't understand is what is its purpose, if not fucking up the system?

That Caps lock thing is a bug. It is not supposed to happen. Something is wrong in your system

That firefox not restoring session is also a bug, it does not happen in most cases

You could add the following

• Pinch to zoom in laptop touchpad is not a thing

• Some programs will not play nicely with themes, like title bar and menu bar following dark mode, most apps not following dark mode followed by the bottom most part of UI in dark mode. Its honestly frustrating

Not wanting to break your system is quiet a common wish of most people. Good news is, you are on OpenSUSE and that thing is supposed to be stable. Bad news is, you are new to linux and will inevitably break things. Here are few tips from my side to help you not break things

1: When you are asked to modify system file by deleting some other file, do not delete the old file, rather, rename it to something else, change its extension or move it outside

2: Try to find fix that is least complicated, often times you will have many solutions with different pros and cons. If you can help yourself, try the change that is easiest to revert

3: Always take notes, if you had a problem and you did some things, note what you did and why/how you did it. What was in your mind when you did it.

4: Understand why a setting is the way it is before changing. I see alot of guides that teach you to make your system fast or make it lightweight, etc by changing some default settings. Before changing them, ask why they were the way they were. Somone at OpenSUSE probably decided to set it that way for a reason. Try to understand why and what are the consequences of changing them. Now, I am not saying you should not change it. Often times, distro maintainers try to be as generalist as possible to support as many hardware as possible like installing all kinds of drivers. You may get away removing support for things you dont actually need.

I'm here, l'll help you solve your issue.

mostly everything will be downloaded in your /home folder and apps that ask for where to save files you can tell where to save.

wait for some time ask for help don't fresh install just because you run into some issue, ik you wanna get your work done asap but it happens to the best of us, btw you'll learn to fix issues.

Never knew until you told me that capslock works different on linux.

try removing the panel and add new one, and if happenes again then it's definitely a bug.

check ff settings that you've enabled restore previous session or open previous windows or tabs something like that and checkout firefox/tweaks

I'm not against flatpaks at all but if you have the same program/app in official repos then use package manager cuz if u use flatpaks then you've to mess with permission or you've to theme them and you'll need apps like flatseal or warehouse to manage flatpaks.

also checkout Open Build Service (OBS) it's for opensuse

First and foremost, welcome to Linux!

Few pointers to hopefully help the process :

• "Not knowing where to find anything." indeed, it's disorienting but it will come. You can find actual "maps" but honestly, just as you would do in other operating system, use the search function. If it's not obvious this way, search online. The first few times it will be weird then each time it does become easier until it actually makes sense!
• "The lingering feeling of instability." have a /home directory (not "folder", that's funnily enough a Windows term as they tried to be different, going from the unanimously used / to their own C:\ things) so that you can actually go "nuts" with your installation, actually messing things up but without the fear of losing your precious data! Each new install is an occasion to learn. That being said, Linux is very VERY stable. I've been running the same installation for years, on desktop and servers alike. If something goes wrong it can usually be fixed and it's, again, an occasion to learn. That being said, having a dedicated /home directory on its own partition or even disk gives you the opportunity for a low effort low risk blank slate.
• "The capslock works differently" ... well this one is quick, you're looking for the SHIFT key if you only want to type few characters in uppercase ;)
• "Every once in a while, my desktop icons get rearranged." yet another occasion to learn. What's the bug from? Is there an issue open? Is it being worked on? By whom? How? Why? You might even be able to fix it!
• "It seems impossible to get Firefox to not restore sessions after shutting down the computer with it still open." it's in the Firefox preference : Settings -> Startup -> untick "Open previous windows and tabs", literally the first option.
• "The above all add to a bit of a general ‘stuck together with adhesive tape and love’ feeling." nice, and that's just the surface, it's now YOUR system so you can do whatever you want, even if everybody else disagree.
• "Not knowing how to install programs." well that loops back to all the learning opportunities above and the last remark, it's YOUR system so you can use whatever you prefer, both in terms of apps, settings or even how to install (or not! Check e.g. Nix) apps. There are even "weirder" things like https://github.com/ivan-hc/AM but the point is, you decide, again, always!

I will answer to your annoyances from my context: I use Bazzite on my gaming rig and Aurora on my work laptop.

1. I only use Flatpaks for GUI apps and Homebrew for CLI apps, things are stored in their respective folders.

2. My chosen distros are atomic / immutable, only user files can be changed, the system is shielded from breakage. You just can't brick it unless you really want to.

3. Caps lock works the same as windows.

4. Desktop shortcuts rearranging, didn't happen to me / haven't noticed.

5. Firefox restoring session no matter what: I'll try that and get back to you.

6. Bazzite & Aurora are very polished.

7. Flatpaks are the best, for CLI apps I use homebrew.

8. Bazzite / Aurora have automatically generated rollback images.

Honestly, if you want something that works for you and not the other way around, I suggest you use an Universal Blue distro.

The capslock works differently, apparently. I’m used to writing every capital letter using the capslock key, meaning if I write a capital at the beginning of a word, I press capslock, then type the first letter, then quickly press capslock again and type the rest.

Pressing caps lock for a single capital letter should be outlawed or be painful or something. That’s just weird.

The caps lock thing hurts my feelings (ಥ_ʖಥ)

Welcome to Linux. You'll learn, and for the better, by using it more. Like picking up anything new there will be difficulties at times, but well worth it. The first positive on your list is good enough reason that makes any difficulties worth surpassing.

The lingering feeling of instability. This is my second install of OpenSUSE, after I messed up something leading to my computer having some files which it wanted to update, but using urls which didn’t exist. After this, I’ve been feeling a bit insecure and afraid of doing something that ruins my installation. I know there’s the saying that Linux ‘just works’, but I’ve never messed up a Windows installation…

IMO this is a right of passage. Sure, windows babies you to the point where you can't really mess much up, but that doesn't mean its impossible to mess up. I've also borked Windows installs just by using them over long periods of time. You bork linux a few times and learn what not to do.

As for it feeling quicker due to it being a fresh install, don’t really expect it to slow down. Windows always slows down over time because its Registry is clogged, the code gets more bloated over time with updates, and the filesystem is kind of trash.

Linux generally stays quite nimble and quick in the long-term. It’s why you can take a decade old computer and still accomplish quite a bit on it with Linux.

ive been using linux for about 4 years now and I still have no idea where the things are kept. Im getting the feel for it slowly like everything flatpak is in a hidden folder .var my solution is to just make a simlink to folders I want to vist and put them in my home folder.

@DonAntonioMagino making backups of your home folder (/home/username) is a great ways to survive reinstalls. also install discovery if you don't have it. its an easy way to install and find software... i dont know opensuse package manager... but it should be a simple command

The lingering feeling of instability. This is my second install of OpenSUSE, after I messed up something leading to my computer having some files which it wanted to update, but using urls which didn’t exist. After this, I’ve been feeling a bit insecure and afraid of doing something that ruins my installation. I know there’s the saying that Linux ‘just works’, but I’ve never messed up a Windows installation...

Regarding this. How often did you mess your windows installation when you started? Because I started around 8 years old with MSDOS and I screwed Windows many times, eventually I learnt what to do and what not.

Regarding software today it's easier than it's ever been in Linux. With flatpack, appimages and the different repos.

Anyway there is this scene in the show "Bojack Horseman" where the titular character was trying to do some exercise by running up a hill and he is tired, exhausted, another characters pass by and says: "It gets easier", "uh?" answers Bojack, "It gets easier but you have to do it every day, that's the hard part".

What that means is, it will get easier, specially when you are young, but you have to be constant, you have to keep messing around and do backups.

Here is the scene from Bojack

That being said, I am huge fan of opensuse and debian but eventually on my desktop I went with endeavour-os, the only time I screwed it up it was easy to fix it by using the live-iso editing the config files and fixed, now I keep a journal when I change anything :)

Zypper (openSUSE's package manager) is what I use for installing programs and its relatively easy. Find the package name on openSUSE.org, then put "sudo zypper in [package-name]" into the terminal.

Do you need Timeshift on an opensuse system? I haven’t used Leap, but had a Tumbleweed install for years which has Snapper pre installed.

You can install btrfs-assistant to help you manage snapper. You could have it create backups of your /home, then you can rollback if you think you’ve messed up too much.

The firefox thing seems just firefox behaviour to me. Does it not do that in Windows? But you could use a firefox based browser that respects privacy more. Librewolf and zen browser you can install via Flathub or an appimage from their website. Librewolf at least will by default end and forget a session when you close the browser.

(FYI - best way to deal with appimages is to install Gearlever from flathub, then when you download an appimage you open gearlever and “install” the appimage. Gearlever is just for better integrating appimages into your system but also for keeping them updated).

My last Tumbleweed install I ran from 2019 to 2023. During this time flatpaks got a lot better and flathub got a lot more programs available. Now I use flatpaks as my first option for software, unless I think it’s something that will give me problems being containerised.

Opensuse 1-click… you’re right, those can be a pain. You often end up adding additional repos, and it’s never fun trying to clean up the problems that come with that after a while.

My suggestion is search for “opensuse ‘programs name’” and see if they maintain it in their repository first. (You can use Opensuse’s preinstalled Yast to search for it even to keep it simple). If no, look for it on flathub, remember to look to see when the flatpak was last built, in case it’s been unmaintained for a while. Failing that, check the developers page (usually GitHub or gitlab or similar) to see if they have recommended steps for install.

The system seems quite a bit quicker than it was in Windows - though in all honesty this will also be because I’m still on a fairly fresh install.

I don't think your Linux install is likely to slow down the way Win does.

The little icon jumping next to your cursor when opening a program (I know, I’m easily amused).

I consider Win unique as an OS that doesn't provide feedback when something is happening in the background. It's infuriating.

The lingering feeling of instability.

You've spent decades on the other system and when you started, you were too young to feel anxiety about it. You'll get used to it.

The capslock works differently, apparently. I’m used to writing every capital letter using the capslock key, meaning if I write a capital at the beginning of a word, I press capslock, then type the first letter, then quickly press capslock again and type the rest.

I don't understand why you don't use the Shift key. I'm not trying to be an ass; why not use Shift?

I say all of this as a Mac guy who uses Linux for servers and such. I don't daily-drive Linux as a desktop platform. But I greatly respect Linux and pay to support the Asahi Linux project (they are building Linux for Apple Silicon). I wish you all the best finding your way in a Windows-free world.

No workee?

• Can't find anything: everything is meant to be searchable in lieu of having a programs menu and such. Hit your meta key (Winkey) and start typing to find or launch something, use URL bar in your file manager to search for names or content of files...etc. You can also just set icons for things if you wish.
• Instability: there is almost zero chance of you being able to destroy your environment so bad that it would require a reinstall of the OS. Since it's just flat files on a disk and no central registry like Windows, everything can be repaired quite simply, you just need to be familiar with how.
• Capslock: unfamiliar with your intended behavior as I've never used Capslock like that before, but I bet there is a solution for this if you just search around. Input behavior is totally customizable.
• Desktop icons: no idea what that could be, but as mentioned above, most DE's have or are moving away from desktop as a launch source.
• Firefox: 'about:config' has these settings
• Software center is just one GUI for finding things. You can install whatever you want however you want, and that's just up to you. If you find some piece of something you want to run, the preferred method is also using a package for your OS's package manager, but that's just for convenience and not a hard rule. There is no "best" solution, just good habits.

Good luck!

For backing up my home folder, I just plug in my external drive and use rsync from the terminal, like so (change to your user name; mine is gecko. Double check the paths and edit as necessary)

rsync -av /home/gecko/ /media/gecko/media/emmahomebackup/ --delete --dry-run (test first, check for errors at the end of output, there shouldn't be any unless you messed up the paths)

then,

rsync -av /home/gecko/ /media/gecko/media/emmahomebackup/ --delete

This command will back up your home folder the first time you run it, and on subsequent runs will sync any changes that have occured since the last run.

To restore, reverse the paths.

For backing up my system files (basically, everything outside of my home folder) I just use Timeshift.

I haven't used OpenSUSE before, but I don't really experience those issues, though I don't use caps lock that way. I use Fedora with Plasma for desktop these days since Ubuntu is heading too corporate for my taste and plain Debian is missing too much hardware support. I'm sure Fedora will eventually, too, but I also use Rocky on all of my server installs so I prefer RHEL-based over Debian-based, for consistency anyway. Install and setup has always been smooth for me. The Discover app is there for installing stuff. It lags a lot, but otherwise makes installing things pretty easy. I'm sure there must be an equivalent for OpenSUSE. That said, Linux does rely on the command line a lot more than windows. In Windows the command line is bolted on, but in Linux it's more that the GUI is bolted on, though that has smoothed quite a bit and even on Windows the v7 powershell has smoothed out command line a little bit even if powershell commands aren't that intuitive IMHO. At least this version understands some dos formatted commands. I use Windows 11 for work.

I know the feeling that it seems to be duct taped together (makes sense since there's thousands of developers working independently and collaboratively, unlike under Microsoft or Apple) and it sometimes infuriates me how each and every distribution has their easy install points, and yet confound certain other points.

For instance I want a Chinese IME? Fedora will get that done in a minute, but Arch varying results from install from terminal of fcitx and adding lines to a config. On the other hand Arch AUR has optimised software and mirrors for my region of the world.

Don't know if you tried Gnome but I love it for some reason, maybe because it's so different and customisable via extensions. So yeah, enjoy the ride!

For the issue finding certain folders have you turned on show hidden files? The .local file is generally where a lot of that stuff is held but it's generally hidden by default to prevent the home directory from looking bloated.

Also if you have a spare hard drive laying around you could use timeshift to snapshot your install with an easy restore method to give you some confort