openSUSE Leap is a conservative distribution that opts for stable packages over the latest and greatest. The latest release of Leap, version 42.3, ships with version 4.4 of the Linux kernel, but with many features backported from newer releases of the kernel. GNOME 3.20 and KDE Plasma 5.8 are the main desktops offered, but Xfce and LXDE can also be installed from the install media, with other options available post-install or via net-install. Firefox 52 ESR is the default browser in both GNOME and KDE and LibreOffice 5.3 serves as the default office suite.

As someone who appreciates a slower, more cautious update cadence, I was intrigued by openSUSE Leap 42.3's package selection. A slightly older desktop environment paired with an ESR Firefox and a recent release of LibreOffice is something I could find myself using as my main distribution, so I downloaded the 4.6GB ISO to give openSUSE Leap 42.3 a trail run. Below, I take a look at openSUSE's installation process, the KDE Plasma desktop, and more before sharing my final thoughts.

The Budgie desktop lacks the glitz and glitter found in more seasoned desktop environments. Animation is nonexistent.

That said, Budgie is an ideal desktop environment that is very user-friendly. Its customization options and ease-of-use make it a great trade-off.

Still, its design seems a bit too simplified for seasoned Linux users.

Canonical's Ubuntu Linux distro also offers users a Budgie desktop release. Do not confuse that Ubuntu flavor with the Ubuntu Budgie distro. The two desktop integrations have different appearances and feature sets.

The Libreboot T400 doesn’t look like much. It’s basically a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad with the traditional Lenovo/IBM pointer nubbin and a small touchpad. It’s a plain black laptop, as familiar as any luggable assigned to a cubicle warrior on the road. But, under the hood, you have a machine that fights for freedom.

The T400 runs Libreboot, a free and open BIOS and the Trisquel GNU/Linux OS. Both of these tools should render the Libreboot T400 as secure from tampering as can be. “Your Libreboot T400 obeys you, and nobody else!” write its creators, and that seems to be the case.

How does it work? And should you spend about $300 on a refurbished Thinkpad with Linux installed? That depends on what you’re trying to do. The model I tested was on the low end with enough speed and performance to count but Trisquel tended to bog down a bit and the secure browser, “an unbranded Mozilla based browser that never recommends non-free software,” was a little too locked down for its own good. I was able to work around a number of the issues I had but this is definitely not for the faint of heart.

SwagArch GNU/Linux is a relatively new addition to the DistroWatch database. The distribution is based on Arch Linux and is developed for 64-bit x86 computers exclusively. Like its parent, SwagArch is a rolling release distribution. Unlike its parent, SwagArch's installation media ships with a live desktop environment and a graphical system installer which should make it a lot easier to set up the distribution quickly.

I downloaded the distribution's sole edition which is available as a 1.1GB download. Booting from the downloaded image launches the Xfce desktop environment. The desktop is arranged with a panel at the top of the screen which holds an application menu and system tray. At the bottom of the screen is a panel containing quick-launch buttons and icons representing open windows. Once the Xfce desktop finishes loading, the distribution automatically launches the Calamares system installer to assist us in setting up our new copy of SwagArch.