Questions and suggestions from a 1st time user

[Rik44444]

Hello all,
excited to be using Geckolinux. Thanks heaps to the dev for making it more user-friendly for a newbie, like me, to start using Opensuse. So far I am liking it better than Kubuntu.
I have a few questions and suggestions:

Questions:

• is there a "search function" in Yast for adding new repositories? Eg I wanted to add the Brave repository, could I have search for that inside Yast somewhere and added with the press of a button?
• I tried adding the Brave repository by going to Yast --> Repositories --> Add --> Specificu URL and then trying the 2 URLs mentioned on this page under OpenSuse: https://brave-browser-rpm-release.s3.brave.com/brave-browser.repo and https://brave-browser-rpm-release.s3.brave.com/brave-core.asc . But this did not work. (I like using GUI). In the end I installed it using the command line commands listed on the same page and this worked fine. Brave repo is now listed also in Yast. But idk what i did wrong in adding the repo in the GUI? Can someone explain?
• Is it correct that we cannot access Flatpak via Yast? (I am used to being able to do this in Discover in Kubuntu)
• What is the default keyring used in GeckoLinux? I kept pressing "save password" but neither WIfi passwords or email account password (in Evolution) were being saved. Email now seems to be working after installing the Gnome Keyring packages listed here: https://forums.opensuse.org/t/evolution-insists-on-password-every-time/148709/8

Suggestions:

• to add Flatpak pre-installed. Several applications I needed were not available via Yast. It would be especially good if Flatpak was integrated into Yast (so users only have 1 app store), like is possible with Discover on Kubuntu. But as noted above from a quick search I don't believe that is possible.
• to add a selection window after installation where the new user can select which repositories she/he wants to have preinstalled. The list could then be much bigger+we could not opt for repositories we don't need. Eg i wanted the Brave browser repository, but not Google Chrome etc.

thanks in advance and again especially to the dev of this distro!
Rik

[geckolinux]

Hi there, thanks a lot for your post, and I'm glad you're enjoying GeckoLinux.

is there a "search function" in Yast for adding new repositories?

Not in YaST, but you can find a huge selection of additional non-commercial repositories here:
https://software.opensuse.org/search
I recommend not using the misnamed "1-click" installer files that they offer there, as they make a mess of your repositories and generally don't work well. Instead just manually add the repo URL to the YaST Repositories GUI and set it to a slightly lower priority (higher repository number) than the Packman and official openSUSE repos.
In the case of most commercial and/or proprietary software you'll need to Google for it and install the RPM version of the package by simply double-clicking on it and following the steps in YaST Software. This will usually result in the repository for that package being automatically installed.

I tried adding the Brave repository by going to Yast --> Repositories .... But this did not work

I suspect that it probably would have worked, it's just that YaST tends to throw warning messages about missing or new keys that look like error messages. It will usually allow you to proceed if you carefully read the popup message and select the right option. Additionally, as mentioned above, the easiest method is to usually download and install the RPM package for proprietary software, and it will usually add its repo automatically.

Is it correct that we cannot access Flatpak via Yast?

Correct. The only GUI way to browse and manage Flatpaks in openSUSE is via Gnome Software and KDE Discover, and I strongly discourage installing those because they depend on the PackageKit framework, which causes all sorts of problems and conflicts with openSUSE's low-level Zypp package manager. If you really need Flatpaks and you can't find what you need on the above mentioned openSUSE OBS Search page or an RPM package from the vendor's website, then you can install just the CLI functionality of Flatpak:
https://flatpak.org/setup/openSUSE

I kept pressing "save password" but neither WIfi passwords or email account password (in Evolution) were being saved. Email now seems to be working after installing the Gnome Keyring packages listed here

I recommend leaving a blank Gnome Keyring password and simply clicking Continue the first time it prompts you, and it won't bother you anymore. There may be a few quirks depending on which desktop environment you're using. Please open a bug report if necessary.

It would be especially good if Flatpak was integrated into Yast

This won't be possible unless openSUSE were to add that functionality.

add a selection window after installation where the new user can select which repositories she/he wants to have preinstalled

This also won't be implemented because it would require coding custom packages for GeckoLinux. I'm not a developer, and one of the most important goal of GeckoLinux is to remain completely dependent on the upstream development resources of the openSUSE project, with no dependence at all on me to keep your installation running. Once installed to the disk, GeckoLinux becomes a customized legitimate openSUSE installation. I just provide a faster method to get there.

Thanks again! Best regards.