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Review: Linux Kamarada 15.6
Quoting: DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. —
Let's talk about how Kamarada performs as a desktop distribution and what it bring to the table compared to its parent, openSUSE Leap. Generally speaking, Linux Kamarada is a functional desktop operating system. It has a working live session (with a few quirks), a working installer (with some minor limitations), a focus on providing GNOME sessions (most of which work), and provides a collection of applications (which mostly work). Software management generally works okay (despite system updates being hidden behind a complex package manager), desktop performance is about average, and the interface layout (while unusual) is functional.
As you've probably noticed, I really need to hedge my observations and praise for Kamarada. The main reason for this is that, while the distribution performs mostly well as a desktop distribution (broken sound system aside), it makes a number of unfortunate design choices. Further, each design choice which separates it from its openSUSE parent, is (in my opinion) a step in the wrong direction.
The openSUSE distribution provides Btrfs, automatic filesystem snapshots, and boot environments by default - Kamarada does not, defaulting to ext4 instead. openSUSE offers support several CPU architectures - Kamarada focuses on x86_64 only. openSUSE provides multiple desktop environments - Kamarada offers one. openSUSE mostly offers one application per task while Kamarada occasionally doubles down and features a few odd choices like a terminal-based FTP client in the application menu. In short, to me, Kamarada feels like running openSUSE with fewer features, duplication of applications, less functional hardware support, and more rough edges.
Looking through the project's custom repository, apart from some branding and extensions to customize the desktop, I didn't find much, which raise the question of why would I pick Kamarada over openSUSE Leap? The distribution, on its own, offers a decent (though not exceptional) experience, but it regularly falls short of its parent.