"Auto Update" vs "Breaking after long time without updates"

here is some more info …

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Or, there is always Windows Home Edition [enter colour preference here].

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Haha, me too.

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Your grandparents do not need a rolling release distro. Just use an Ubuntu LTS release or something like that. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS will be supported until April 2027, no major update required until then.

The current Debian 12 will arguably be stable until the next major release. However, there are always issues to resolve between major releases, or major updates. Debian is easy enough to maintain, and has the widest availability of Linux applications. In general, a rock solid system; but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it in the OP’s situation.

Simply indicating a support cycle might suggest a distribution will be trouble-free; while potentially leading the OP up the proverbial creek without a paddle at some future date; if regular maintenance isn’t carried out.

Also, grandparents are often more savvy than they are given credit for. It’s possible they have the aptitude but not the patience to bother with updating their systems; when they have grandchildren to do it for them.

It’s very simple. If they’re not capable of maintaining a rolling release system like Manjaro themselves then it’s not for them. If they are then why is he asking these questions?

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That much isn’t in dispute. Why do you suggest it was?

Perhaps to avoid extra work; I don’t know; anything is possible, and we have no information to the contrary except that the maintenance isn’t being done. In any case, the comment was anecdotal at best; surely you recognized that.

I’m rather skeptical if such version of Manjaro would work or that it would live long. The nature of Manjaro is to be changeable, and any versions that try to artificially solidify it come at a heavy cost. Such distro wouldn’t be Manjaro anymore. But that is my personal take.

I also maintain systems on various family computers, and decided to install Mint on my dad’s PC, because I also had issues after forgetting to update it for a longer time. Additionally, there were often some minor things to tweak or repair. Those are fine on my computer, but I don’t want to be bothered with them, when I’m maintaining someone else’s computer.

Mint is easy to update and doesn’t break easily, even if you forget to update it for a year or two. If you want the newest version, there are typically ways to upgrade it too, I made it several times and had no issues, but such upgrade is risky, so having a backup is a must.

Basically, you need an OS that is for dummies, and Mint is one. It’s a low maintenance system. Alternatively, you can use one of those immutable distros – those seem to be a good choice for grandparents and alike.

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This seems reminiscent of Windows Update; at least, in recent years.

/me wonders how OpenSuse slowroll would do in these cases.

There is a Docker version of Manjaro which (as I understand it) is frozen between releases. The concept isn’t much different from having a curated or managed release cycle, in my opinion.

Before anyone jumps in to try and trash that comment, I’ll just say that I’m aware they are not stictly the same. However, a standard major release cycle isn’t much different, when you think about it.

Sure, it would probably need to be another stream rather than the typical Manjaro rolling release; but doesn’t Arch already do this to some extent with the monthly ISO release? With Manjaro, I imagine it would just need to be locked down a little more, and it would likely be a little less current, to maintain stability.

Debian has managed this for many years with varying degrees of success, and public criticism. I don’t see why Manjaro could not; albeit requiring additional resources to bring such a project to fruition.

I would just like to add that if you have to do few manual interventions that doesn’t equal to “Breaking after long time without updates”.

So for exercise I suggest someone links a 2018 or so manjaro iso so we can all download it, install it in a VM and then update it. :stuck_out_tongue:

(Could even create a new “genre”: [Exercise], where someone posts some conundrum, ie. breaks something and then you have to fix it.)

At least in one of the previous forums we had a few sperlunkers that had been around a while and dug up old machines with old installs and tried to update them.
By and large they seemed to be successful.
I had an old netbook that survived something like a 2 or 3 year hiatus.

PS. It looks like sourceforge might be a viable option for those old ISOs:

Though only as far back as 2021.

So here is the real master challenge and its checksum. If you manage that to update anyhow you’re a Linux Legend …

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“No bootfile found for UEFI! Maybe the image does not support X64 UEFI”
First pass = fail. :frowning:

I might be able to update it to brick status.

It’s not worse than rolling release, it’s just different in where/how your time is spent.

For fixed release distros like Mint, every 4 or 5 years, you spend say 3 to 4 hours installing a fresh iso on your grandparents’ computer and setting it up the way they want. But remember, you get to choose and plan when you want to do it. And if you plan it correctly, [eg, you have placed all their data, media and document files in a separate drive/partition which is regularly backed up, make timeshift snapshots of their system, save their config files somewhere before you carry out the fresh install so you can copy them back after install], the fresh install will not be complex.

Normal day to day updates are generally click and forget. Your grandparents should be able to do that from Mint’s updater.

That time spent on this fresh install? Probably shouldn’t be much more than the accumulated time you spend over 4 to 5 years on Manjaro updates – checking the forum’s update announcements, carrying out any manual intervention, doing system maintenance (pacnew files, changes in file permissions etc), rebuilding say python packages or AUR stuff.

The download size of 1 Mint iso? Tons smaller than the Manjaro updates you download in 4 to 5 years! :grin:

IMO, an easy to use fixed release distro is a better solution when you are expected to maintain someone else’s computer and you can’t be there often.

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“Manjaro was first released on July 10, 2011” – from Wikipedia.

Or, on the cusp with repect the dawn of UEFI.

Support was widely non-existent at the time for UEFI systems (apart from Intel’s excursion with Tiano core on Itanium, for example). I recall having a 6th generation system that supported UEFI via an experimental dualBIOS upgrade (which was flaky, at best).

I imagine Grub 1999 (or whatever it’s called retroactively) will produce better results.

Does anyone happen to know the first Manjaro version that fully supported UEFI?

As I understand it correctly, there would be issues with AUR packages on such distro and face it, if Manjaro would have no AUR, we wouldn’t be using it. This is why I am skeptical.

We’ll live and see.

I am pretty sure the majority of users of manjaro are not using aur.