When I installed Solus, which I am once again personally very satisfied with, I discovered the Solus "Software Center", written in Python 2, which I found really well done (even if the fact that you can only do one installation at a time was a little frustrating). When I still had an Nvidia graphics card, I was also able to install the driver easily thanks to DoFlicky.
Since then, with the update to Solus 4.8, I've had to welcome Discover to replace the "Software Center", and I also have the impression that DoFlicky has literally disappeared.
As for DoFlicky, I find it very difficult to understand the decision to remove it. Without it, installing the proprietary Nvidia drivers, even if it's not extremely difficult, is really inconvenient for new Linux users who want to try Solus.
(Plus, DoFlicky is still mentioned as the way to install Nvidia Drivers in the Solus Help Center -> Hardware -> Proprietary drivers. So it needs to be updated.) <- This explains the "feedback - Documentation tags)
As for Discover, I thought it was fine as a replacement for the "Software Center", but over time, I realized something that I personally find quite bothersome. Discover is NOT a package manager. It is an application manager. At one point, for example, I wanted to find the Nvidia's Beta proprietary driver (which I had installed with the previous "Software Center" for certain reasons) in order to uninstall it.
Discover didn't have it.
I also wanted to search for other packages. Such as dependencies, packages needed to run Wine, or printers (like "Cups" for example), specific packages that I found in the previous Solus "Software Center".
Nothing.
Discover does not allow me to install (or check if it's already installed) many packages that I have used in the past to ensure optimal installation of my system, because it cannot find them.
It's true that it's better to find flatpak applications, though, I have to admit. But we could already search those in the flathub's website and install those with a simple copy/paste in terminal.
So, even though I understand the desire to get rid of Python 2 (which is the explanation given in the blog post for Solus 4.8), I find it hard to understand the decisions. And even if I don't hate Discover... I kinda miss the old "Software Center".
I have always seen Solus as the first and only true rolling release suitable for beginners, designed to work almost out of the box for everyday desktop/gaming use, with a minimum of steps to follow. And while I can still consider this to be the case on my system as it stands, I feel that perhaps premature choices have changed the situation in this regard for fresh new installs since version 4.8.
So, I wonder, am I the only one who thinks this? Do I perhaps need to install something in addition to Discover, as a complement, to have a real operational Package Manager? What's the others' opinions about it?
