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Changes After Installing openSUSE Tumbleweed

Posted
By Manuel Laggner
6 min read
Changes After Installing openSUSE Tumbleweed

In this post, I will outline the changes and configurations I made after installing openSUSE Tumbleweed on my system. Certainly! Here’s the updated markdown template that includes Vorta for BorgBackup as part of the changes made after installing openSUSE Tumbleweed.

Changes After Installing openSUSE Tumbleweed

Introduction

In this post, I will outline the changes and configurations I made after installing openSUSE Tumbleweed on my system. openSUSE Tumbleweed is a rolling release distribution, meaning that it gets continuous updates and new features. Below are the steps and modifications I made to tailor the system to my needs.

1. Setup sudo

First, ensure that the sudo package is installed on your system. Most openSUSE installations should have this by default, but if it’s missing, you can install it using zypper.

Install an configure

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sudo zypper install sudo

Next, you need to add your user account to the sudo group (or wheel group, which is the default group for administrative privileges in many Linux distributions, including openSUSE). Users in this group can run commands with elevated privileges using sudo.

To add your user to the wheel group, use the following command:

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sudo usermod -aG wheel your_username

The sudo configuration file (/etc/sudoers) defines the rules for granting sudo access. The wheel group is typically already configured to have full access to sudo. However, if you’re unsure or if you want to double-check, you can edit the sudoers file safely using the visudo command. The visudo command ensures the file is edited safely (it checks for syntax errors when saving).

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sudo visudo

Look for a line like this, which grants sudo privileges to members of the wheel group:

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%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Save and exit visudo (for nano, it’s Ctrl + O to save and Ctrl + X to exit).

2. Set up fingerprint authentication via PAM

To set up fingerprint authentication via PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) on openSUSE, you’ll need to follow these steps:

Install Required Packages

First, you need to install the necessary packages for fingerprint authentication support. These packages include fprintd (a daemon to interact with fingerprint scanners) and libpam-fprintd (to integrate with PAM).

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sudo zypper install fprintd libpam-fprintd

Start and Enable the Fingerprint Daemon

Next, you need to start the fprintd daemon, which manages fingerprint authentication.

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sudo systemctl start fprintd
sudo systemctl enable fprintd

Enroll Your Fingerprint

You’ll need to enroll your fingerprint so that it can be used for authentication. Enroll a fingerprint using the fprintd-enroll command. Run this command in the terminal and follow the instructions:

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fprintd-enroll

It will prompt you to scan your finger several times. Make sure you scan the same finger multiple times for a more accurate enrollment.

If you have multiple fingers you’d like to register, you can repeat the fprintd-enroll process for each finger.

Configure PAM to Use Fingerprint Authentication

Now that your fingerprint is enrolled, you need to configure PAM to allow fingerprint authentication. This involves editing the PAM configuration files. Edit the PAM configuration for sudo:

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sudo nano /etc/pam.d/sudo

Add the following line to the top of the file (before any other lines) to enable fingerprint authentication for sudo:

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auth required pam_fprintd.so

Edit the PAM configuration for login:

To enable fingerprint authentication during login, you’ll need to modify the /etc/pam.d/login file:

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sudo nano /etc/pam.d/login

Add the same line to the login file (just like in the sudo configuration file) to enable fingerprint authentication for login:

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auth required pam_fprintd.so

Optional: If you want to enable fingerprint authentication for graphical login (e.g., LightDM or GDM), edit the corresponding PAM file.

  • For GDM (GNOME Display Manager), edit:

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    sudo nano /etc/pam.d/gdm

  • For LightDM (if you’re using it as the display manager), edit:

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    sudo nano /etc/pam.d/lightdm

In both cases, add the following line at the top of the file:

3. Installing Zsh and Powerlevel10k

One of the key changes I made was switching from the default Bash shell to Zsh and using the Powerlevel10k theme for a more efficient and visually appealing terminal experience.

Install Zsh:

First, I installed Zsh:

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sudo zypper install zsh

Set Zsh as the Default Shell:

To set Zsh as the default shell for my user:

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chsh -s $(which zsh)

Install Powerlevel10k Theme:

Next, I installed Powerlevel10k, which is a popular theme for Zsh that provides a beautiful and highly customizable prompt.

Install Git (if not already installed):

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sudo zypper install git

Clone the Powerlevel10k repository:

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git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ~/.zsh/powerlevel10k

Configure Zsh to use Powerlevel10k:

  • Add the following to the .zshrc file to source the Powerlevel10k theme:
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echo 'source ~/.zsh/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme' >> ~/.zshrc

Install Nerd Fonts:

  • Powerlevel10k relies on Nerd Fonts for special icons. To install them, follow the instructions on Nerd Fonts GitHub.

Apply the Powerlevel10k Configuration:

  • Restart the terminal, and Powerlevel10k will prompt you to configure the theme. Follow the prompts to customize your prompt.

Final Configuration:

After installing Powerlevel10k, I tweaked a few settings in the .zshrc file to make sure everything runs smoothly, like enabling autosuggestions, syntax highlighting, and history search:

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# Enable Zsh autosuggestions and syntax highlighting
source $ZSH/custom/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions/zsh-autosuggestions.zsh
source $ZSH/custom/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting/zsh-syntax-highlighting.zsh

4. System Tweaks and Customization

Power Management:

To improve battery life on my laptop, I installed TLP, a tool to optimize power usage:

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sudo zypper install tlp
sudo systemctl enable tlp
sudo systemctl start tlp

5. Backup

Vorta with BorgBackup for Home Folder Backups:

To install Vorta, I added the necessary repository and then installed it using zypper:

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sudo zypper addrepo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/om26er/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/home:om26er.repo
sudo zypper install vorta
  1. Launch Vorta:
    • Once installed, I launched Vorta from the application menu or by running vorta in the terminal.
  2. Configure Repository:
    • In Vorta, I created a new backup repository. Vorta allows me to either create a local repository or connect to a remote server (e.g., via SSH or SFTP). I followed the steps to configure it according to my backup needs.
  3. Schedule Backups:
    • Vorta offers scheduling options to run backups automatically. I set up a daily backup schedule and enabled encryption for my backups to ensure security.
  4. Monitoring and Restoring Backups:
    • Vorta makes it easy to monitor the status of my backups and restore files whenever needed.

BorgBackup CLI Usage:

Additionally, I installed the BorgBackup CLI utility in case I need to manually interact with my backups:

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sudo zypper install borgbackup

Final words

Overall, my experience with openSUSE Tumbleweed has been positive. The rolling release model gives me access to the latest software, and with a few tweaks, I’ve optimized the system to fit my needs. The transition from the default GNOME to KDE Plasma was smooth, and I’ve been able to configure all my hardware and software without any major issues. Additionally, switching to Zsh with the Powerlevel10k theme and setting up Vorta for BorgBackup has significantly improved my terminal experience and backup management.

linux, opensuse
linux opensuse
This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.