not quite sure if this is the right forum spot, so please displace if wanted. (for admins)
I decided to switch to Linux Mint for three reasons:
I am not as good a techie as I thought
I use old hardware nvidia 340xx, not supported in manjaro, but in mint.
I have very limited time ressources
But I didn want to disappear without giving a feedback.
Whats great about manjaro:
Cutting edge software, ideal if you want to be on the forefront of software testing
the forum and design of the distro is very good looking
install once and don` t bother installing every versions again and again
fast support if answers needed
What I would suggest, if Manjaro want`s to cater also non techies:
A guided tour of making snapshots, or different backup possibilities.
In my year with manjaro I saw four black screens after update. Probably because of my low experience or my hardware. I had to reinstall manjaro three times anew, with my settings gone. An autobackup for non techies would save a lot of stress for newbies.
the manjaro application menu is only accessible via manjaro hello. It would be nice to have this platform available as a menue in the starter list, or somewhere where it is more apparent.
I will come back to manjaro if I have newer hardware and my kids are grown up to an age where they don`t need that much time anymore.
All the best, your squirrel
ratatosk
Thereās a script in the official repos that will automatically take a timeshift backup everytime you update making restoring a backup a breeze.
Mint is great and a rock stable distro, personally I prefer rolling release and arch/manjaro package management.
I do get your point about older nvidia hardware though. Itās a tough one with support for older nvidia drivers. But the beauty of linux is choice, we get to choose the best DE and distro for us rather than having it forced upon us by Microsoft or apple
Those are some firm and valid reasons to switch to Mint, but Invalid feature requests āfor non techiesā, since those two features are already well documented and they do exist, as per Fabbyās response + point 2 could be also achieved by utilizing widgets (i.e. Launchpad Plasma, Application Launcher).
However, it may be useful if it would be possible to update all of my widgets, themes, etc. (that I installed from GUI/System Settings) - directly from my terminal/CLI.
So we could extend our up alias not only to update our Official/AUR packages that we installed from pamac, but also our widgets, themes, etc. (that we installed outside pamac) in one go. That would be nice.
IMHO, Manjaro is not for everyone: I install and configure Debian for Family & Friends and upgrade them every 4 years, but my little cousin and me are on Manjaro and love it and wouldnāt want anything else!
Just like LXDE, Xfce, KDE, Gnome, ā¦ : Itās a matter of taste and ease of use just like the distro youāre using.
im on older hardware too, and had problems with xfce after updates, sometimes had to re-install the graphics for nvidia. that can be fixed with a few lines typed in the terminal. if you boot into a blank screen just jump into a different tty: CTRL + ALT + F2. theres a graphics settings listed in the manjaro wiki
Indeed, rolling distros in general are not for everybody. Iād say the main issues with rolling distros are:
a) you start using package A, but its dependencies are Bv5, Cv7 and Dv2; after the next major update B goes to v6, but A is still not ready for it and you could choose:
to downgrade B and risk some issues with other apps that may rely on new version of B, or
just wait for another update when A will support Bv6 (until then, you canāt use A - which becomes a major frustration)
b) your nVidia GPU (or any other piece of hardware) becomes unsupported which may be a good reason to consider another distro I guess
c) do-it-yourself approach, which is not appropriate for beginners, specially when things go funky
Recently, my laptop gone. I took the HD and put in another laptop. Then, I re-installed Manjaro, formatting the root partition, and leaving the /home untouched.
I was very surprised that almost all of my customization remained in place!
I only had to perform a few things, e.g.,
customize grub, edit the fstab file and reinstall the programs I had in the old manjaro (in this regard, all the options and customization of these programs were intact), modified the mirrorlist and installed a spare kernel.
That is, I think that backing up the operating system (ie / root) before each update is useless and it is a waste of time, while it is indisputable for the data and for the /home.
In case an update knocked Manjaro out, with a āUSB Liveā you can try with a chroot or, if it is not sufficient, with a reinstallation of the S.O. (no more than ten minutes).
My two cents.
As far as I know, Timeshift is already installed by default, user just has to click CREATE button to make its first backup, and make other later on when he feels like it. Maybe an option in the installer could help to add the package that creates backup before each update, that the user need to install manually for now.
I did this and also tried using older kernels aswell. I got to a point where even the graphic drivers were working quite good, but after the last update I ended in a black desktop and problems with update authentification. I also sought help in this forum, but didnāt managed.
So I decided to switch.
If I understand correctly, this is the script we are talking about here: timeshift-autosnap 0.9-1
(Timeshift auto-snapshot script which runs before package upgrade using Pacman hook)
You can install it with pacman or Pamac: there are two occourrences. You should choose the āOfficial repositoriesā version.
Thank you for your detailed reply. As a beginner I didnāt ever backup. Now that I use a different distro I think a suggested GUI backup program like snaphot, would be a nice addition during, or after installation.
Of course your solution will work as well, but itās just something that an average user coming directly from windows probably wonāt think about and has to be directed to. Just a thought.
First I want to congratulate @Fabby for his attention and education towards everyone here and I take my hat off to him.
As you may have noticed, Iām Brazilian and I donāt speak any English without Google, but Iāve been a user of Manjaro since its first version 0.8.XX (the XX is because I donāt remember the rest), but I also use another Linux that is BigLinux.
This one uses the BTRFS installation by default and has a timeshift with daily snapshots and nowadays the ātechnicalā or non-technical user is the user-end, whatever the use of most distros and manjaro would be no different, as it is the distribution that, in my humble view of the ātechnicalā question, is the distro that has evolved the most in such a short time.
Summary in a nutshell: Manjaro Linux is an incredible distribution not only by itself, but also by its users here on this forum.
Congratulations to everyone and congratulations in particular to @Fabby for his education and assistance to everyone here making this forum a familiar place.
Bye bye Ratatosk, it is with sadness that we see fellow Manjaroists depart. One of the best things about Linux is that you have the freedom to try different distributions if the one youāre currently using doesnāt fulfill your needs. My personal venture started with Fedora (probably not the best choice), then Mint, followed by Arch, Gentoo (for lightweight customisation with an ageing machine), and lastly Manjaro where Iāve settled for about 5 years or so (this is my second Manjaro machine). Good luck with your venture, and maybe weāll see you back again one day.
I see Manjaro as a good glass of wine :
you start to sip it and, at the beginning, you find it slightly bitter, but at the end you knock back the whole bottle.
The more you go on, the more you learn to appreciate it.
I also start my ālife on linuxā with Mint, imho perfect for a linux-beginner.
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