Not always, I have one with an amd chipset that I can’t get Linux on (last time I checked).
You have to open them up and remove a screw then install different firmware.
The dell Chromebook 11 I got from eBay for under £20 was easy to get it working on though.
It’s just a general system setup and config tool. I’m assuming that, like me, you already know how to do all that stuff without yast but it’s good for newbies and people that aren’t super nerds. With all of the anti terminal stuff I always read about on the internet you’d think at least ubuntu would have their own version of it or something similar.
“YaST is a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server tool that provides a graphical interface for all essential installation and system configuration tasks. Whether you need to update packages, configure a printer, modify firewall settings, set up an FTP server, or partition a hard disk—you can do it using YaST.”
But yeah, I actually hardly ever use it myself.
I’m always shocked that other distros haven’t made their own version of Yast from opensuse
I’d have £120, but it would mean i can pay my water bill today.
Org mode changed my fucking life! I looked into using emacs as a simple markdown editor when I was doing a creative writing course and discovered org mode. 4 years later and I never leave emacs, everything is done through emacs and org mode. I even use it as my window manager (exwm). I bought an old chromebook to turn into an emacs machine and it’s so good. It’s an operating system and I don’t like using a computer without it.
Some things for you to look into that I now can’t live without:
Elfeed
Org-capture and capture templates
Dired
EXWM
Syncthing (not a part of emacs but means I don’t have to use closed source cloud backups)
I passionately love emacs. At first I thought all they shortcuts and keybindings were a bit insane but they are second nature to me at this point. Emacs has also saved me lots of money that I would have spent on silly writing apps and aids.
90s was Mandrake, early 2000s was all about Ubuntu.
Since then I’ve tried just about everything including BSDs. It’s all pretty much the same thing, as long as you like the package manager and release schedule. I don’t like snap or flatpak so avoid distros that use them a lot.
These days I mainly just use opensuse leap, although I love arch etc but it’s just too much work for me now.
I only really need a terminal, firefox and emacs and I’m happy.