edit: for anyone curious, the problem was Xorg wasnt loading or something (stuck on systemd ‘graphical interface target reached’ with no graphical interface). because of a typo in a config file.

  • archchan@lemmy.ml
    37·
    1 year ago

    I did that as a beginner a few times but now I’m able to resolve everything I need to with the good old terminal.

    • darcy@sh.itjust.worksOP
      194·
      1 year ago

      sometimes i just cant be bothered figuring out why systemd isnt starting a graphical interface, or whatever, and reinstalling doesnt take very long if you have a home partition

      • Ddhuud@lemmy.world
        102·
        1 year ago

        Figuring out? It’s right there in the logs.

        Fast disks are spoiling the next generation. Back in the day, 2 minutes reading could save you half an hour of reinstalling. But if reinstalling takes about the same amount of time, I guess there’s no more incentive to actually learn something.

    • Haui@discuss.tchncs.de
      8·
      1 year ago

      I am new to desktop linux. It is a pain to not know certain troubleshooting steps as I do mostly for server linux.

      For example, not knowing what the gui consists of, which applications are essential and which are not.

      • brakenium@lemm.ee
        4·
        1 year ago

        In that case I would like to recommend you install Arch at least once. Not to actually use in production, but it made a lot of things click for me that help me with server stuff too. Just follow along with the install guide on the wiki inside of a VM.

        If you really want to know what applications are essential I’d install a window manager and not just install the gnome package. Though even just installing your favourite DE will work fine.

        I’ve heard other people recommend Gentoo and Linux from scratch as well for this purpose since they go even deeper, but that may be too much to start off with and I haven’t done that myself

    • NikkiNikkiNikki@kbin.social
      3·
      1 year ago

      The real terminal fun comes from accidentally entering grub’s rescue mode when you fuck the config up, and then having to frantically remember how to boot linux manually

      • uranibaba@lemmy.world
        4·
        1 year ago

        I’m just glad I have more than one device with internet access in my home. The one time a vm update was pushed to desktop users on Linux Mint, killing the desktop for anyone who got the update. I had to use my phone to find out what how to restore my pc.

      • NikkiNikkiNikki@kbin.social
        1·
        1 year ago

        2 reinstalls now* I had to upgrade my NVME drive and the old one shit the bed while I was moving data, so everything on this system is fresh now… At least I keep the important stuff backed up in git haha

    • ccdfa@lemm.ee
      1·
      1 year ago

      I was definitely scared if Arch before trying it. Seemed like the general consensus was that it wasn’t a matter of if Arch would break, but when. I heard that updating everything will eventually break the system. Well, I figured, I’d like to try it just to see. I haven’t had a single problem and it’s the setup I’m most proud of l, having spent the most amount of time building it up to exactly how I like it.

        • cybersandwich@lemmy.world
          2·
          1 year ago

          I have nix on a VM where I am tuning a config. It seems like a total pain in the ass to have to get everything set up using their scripting language. Things you just take for granted with a normal distro now require you to know the arcane language of Nix to get running.

          I can absolutely see the advantage of it though. I would love nothing more than to take my current popOS install, settings, configs, etc and be able to port that literally anywhere.

          • fuck_u_spez_in_particular@lemmy.worldEnglish
            4·
            1 year ago

            It’s not for everyone. I think it’s almost a requirement to be a programmer, and to be familiar with functional programming. It also has quite a few (necessary?) quirks/magic (module system, overlays, typing, config overrides etc.).

            Actually one of my colleagues just switched from Pop OS! since System76 put all focus into their new desktop environment (while the current distro is barely maintained), which will be available on NixOS too, when it’s ready (which is his plan to use, and mine too).

          • dukk@programming.dev
            3·
            1 year ago

            I mean, I use NixOS daily, and aside from installing the occasional package or setting up some dot files, I don’t really touch my Nix config. NixOS was my first daily driver Linux distro and it has a lot of features that I probably take for granted. Early on, I felt like switching from GNOME to KDE. Two lines. Later on installed Hyprland, no problem, then switched to XMonad(had some Wayland issues) and it was stupidly painless.

            Sure, Nix has its “fuck you” moments too, but those are usually never anything truly system-breaking, and can be fixed after an hour or two of Discord support chats. In my eyes, the benefits of Nix definitely outweigh the flaws. Do I wish it was a slightly more sane language? Perhaps. But it’s really when you start using it that you learn to appreciate everything you get. Seriously, I much prefer editing a couple of lines in a config file to pasting commands off the Internet in hopes to achieve what I’m looking for.

            NixOS is, imho, the best Linux distro for programmers or anyone with a decent understanding of Linux (obviously not for computer noobs, and that’s totally fine).

            • fuck_u_spez_in_particular@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              1 year ago

              Wow first Linux distro, not bad, it’s not particularly beginner friendly (you’ll have to know how linux works and learn all the Nix related stuff), for me it’s the last distro though^^

              • dukk@programming.dev
                2·
                1 year ago

                I’d had a decent understanding of Linux going in, tbf. Mostly from hanging out on Discord with tons of Linux users. My Nix system is still quite young (a little over 2 months old), but it’s great.

                Getting off the ground was kinda hard though. Luckily, I’ve been using flakes from the very beginning and always setup my dot files with home manager, so I’ve kept the system nice and reproducible.

                For those interested, here’s my dot files.

          • adept@programming.dev
            1·
            1 year ago

            As long as you arent doing anything to advanced nix is basically only a configuration languages. You probably have to make heavy use of the option search to know where and what to configure

            • rastilin@kbin.social
              1·
              1 year ago

              I didn’t even know the option search existed. I just asked ChatGPT and it just tells me the option I need.

              • fuck_u_spez_in_particular@lemmy.worldEnglish
                2·
                1 year ago

                ChatGPT is not yet really good for Nix, probably because the training set consists of not that much nix yet. So yeah browsing in nixpkgs and either the options or package search is the way to go IMO.

  • Kool_Newt@lemm.eeEnglish
    281·
    1 year ago

    In enterprise, this usually is the way. No sense wasting engineer hours troubleshooting something in prod when you can use Ansible to replace the system and restore data in 10 minutes (while your redundant system handles the load of course).

    • toy_boat_toy_boat@lemmy.world
      71·
      1 year ago

      Additionally, going full Linux and then trying to install Windows again is a nightmare (but I guess that’s not really what we’re talking about here).

      • okamiueru@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 year ago

        I learned the hard way to never trust windows to not destroy other disks. One time it decided to place the boot partition on a disk it saw having a unknown file system. Turns out it was a disk on a raid-array. After that I physically unpower all other disks before installing windows.

    • WereCat@lemmy.world
      113·
      1 year ago

      I really had to chuckle when reading the comments.

      Linux broke, had to reinstall: -“we do this in bussiness too!”

      Windows broke. had to reinstall: -“LOL! Shitty Windows, install Linux!”

      • utopiah@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 year ago

        Makes me curious, can you have a Windows image leading you to work without any interaction? (e.g no activation, mounted data partition, etc)

        • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
          2·
          1 year ago

          Of course. Windows is the most widely used business OS for a reason.

          They have options to manage anything, even reinstall Windows every time you open your laptop if you so wish. With preinstalled software, activation, mounting drives, specialised settings through GPO, … and fully automated.

  • umbrella@lemmy.ml
    171·
    1 year ago

    my current install is 3 yrs old, if you select a decent distro and dont fuck with its internals it works pretty well.

    i suspect most of the people complaining are either on a meme distro or they poke too much into the system

    • Madex@lemm.ee
      3·
      1 year ago

      What would you suggest is a meme distro, I’m using endeavour os, it is imo perfection almost.

      Whatever distribution I tried something didn’t work or failed to boot

      • radix@lemm.ee
        2·
        1 year ago

        I don’t know what they meant by “meme distros”, but I can say that the thing that immediately comes to mind is TempleOS.

  • linearchaos@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15·
    1 year ago

    The only time I’ve ever done this on Linux was 20 years ago, trying to f with XF86 before I understood it.

  • Bonehead@kbin.social
    12·
    1 year ago

    You need to rethink your reinstall process. My root is on a separate drive from my home directory. My home directory has a script that installs all of my basic software, along with any specific config files that don’t reside in my home directory naturally. I can reinstall the system in about an hour.

    • Klaymore@sh.itjust.works
      6·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, I use NixOS so my whole system is defined in a couple config files, so when reinstalling I can just point the installer at my config and get (pretty much) the exact same system. Same packages, git config, aliases, package versions, firewall rules, kernel version, etc, only thing missing is a couple dotfiles I haven’t switched over yet but those are synced using Syncthing anyways.

    • mihnt@kbin.social
      3·
      1 year ago

      This is basically what I used to do with Windows before I switched. All my document, picture, videos, music links pointed to my storage drive and I had a ninite installer with all my required programs ready to go. Plus my barebones microsoft account I used to save all my Windows settings so they just loaded right up when logging in after the new install.

      Do you have/know of a guide to pull this kind of thing off on Mint?

      • brakenium@lemm.ee
        1·
        1 year ago

        I used to use Ninite, but Chocolatey has so many more packages. These days I only have to export my package list to a file, reinstall windows, install chocolatey and install the packages by importing the file. That just leaves my favourite debloat script, some light setting changes and maybe the one or two programs that aren’t on Chocolatey

      • Bonehead@kbin.social
        21·
        1 year ago

        Honestly, unfortunately no. I’ve been doing this since before Redhat split off Fedora. All my scripts are custom. I just rewrite them as new distros are released.

  • SwingingKoala@discuss.tchncs.de
    9·
    1 year ago

    Dunno, a reinstall takes a few minutes of active work for me. Then I run the config management tool. Then I restore backups. Should take 1 hr max start to end, and the system is in a fully working state.

  • utopiah@lemmy.world
    101·
    1 year ago

    Surprising to me so I must do some things right :

    • dedicated /home partition
    • OS on SSD, new OS on fast USB stick
    • backup on another physical disk of important data (usually a subset of /home )
    • other partition for OS testing
    • other working device for instructions and search online (mobile phone is usually enough)
    • documented setup for complex tools, e.g /home/Prototypes where you might have container setups, e.g docker-compose.yml

    Usually if you have this in place its a matter of hour, at most. Sure in 1h you will not have ALL the apps you need perfectly configured but, for me at least, enough to feel at “home” again. It’s usually about having ~/.bashrc or ~/.tridactilrc in place but if you do have /home on another partition, it’s basically “free”.