Goodbye Manjaro, we had our highs and lows

[Fabby]

@ratatosk

A guided tour of making snapshots, or different backup possibilities.

Please read this:

[HowTo] make a crash-proof backup for Manjaro

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆ A few things you need to know about backups: One copy does not constitute a good backup! Backing up is not about the backup itself, it’s all about the easy and fast restore! Backup files should be stored on an external disk that gets connected to the system only during a backup or restore cycle so that RansomWare cannot encrypt your backup when it stumbles into your system through wine ¹ Alternatively, you can use a NAS directory that is protected by a password and that get…

(Works for Mint too!)

@ratatosk

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.

That is a “feature” of the Linux architecture and you can always put “Hello” in your favourites…

@ratatosk

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.

We will welcome you back with open arms and we’re sad to see you go, but happy to keep you in the Linux family!

[sawdoctor]

@ratatosk

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.

There’s 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. It’s 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

[Jazz]

Those are some firm and valid reasons to switch to Mint, but Invalid feature requests “for non techies”, since those two features are already well documented and they do exist, as per Fabby’s 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.

[Fabby]

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 wouldn’t want anything else!

Just like LXDE, Xfce, KDE, Gnome, … : It’s a matter of taste and ease of use just like the distro you’re using.

[jam7]

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

[flipper]

@ratatosk

I use old hardware nvidia 350xx, not supported in manjaro, but in mint.

It’s still possible

[Support/How-To] Compile old/legacy Nvidia Proprietary Drivers [2020-12-30 Update Issue]

With the Stable-Update on the 2020-12-30 we decided to Remove outdated Nvidia Drivers. This resulted in a massive negative feedback and broken systems. [image] Nvidia informed about their support timeframes a while ago. 390xx will be supported through the end of 2022. However they are slow in providing needed patches. The Linux community patched them so far. 340xx got dropped already. Officially they only support till Kernel 5.4 and Xorg-Server 1.20 series. In AUR you may find patches till 5.…

[Jazz]

Indeed, rolling distros in general are not for everybody. I’d 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:

1. to downgrade B and risk some issues with other apps that may rely on new version of B, or
2. just wait for another update when A will support Bv6 (until then, you can’t 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

[Pippin]

In my view, snapshot, f.e. Timeshift, by default and including Timeshift by default on the live ISO.

[gan]

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 “USB Live” 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.

[omano]

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.

[ratatosk]

I tried this solution, but I failed probably due to lack of experience and time. A bad composition I know.

[ratatosk]

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 didn’t managed.
So I decided to switch.

The sudo fu is sadly not strong enough in me.

[ratatosk]

Is this script highlighted after a fresh install, or somewhere in the “Hello” GUI?

[omano]

No, see my reply above.

//EDIT: here is the package in question Package - timeshift-autosnap - Discover Packages On Manjaro Linux

[gan]

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 “Official repositories” version.

[ratatosk]

Thank you for your detailed reply. As a beginner I didn’t 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 it’s just something that an average user coming directly from windows probably won’t think about and has to be directed to. Just a thought.

[Creto]

I’ll go where I haven’t been called.

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, I’m Brazilian and I don’t speak any English without Google, but I’ve been a user of Manjaro since its first version 0.8.XX (the XX is because I don’t 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 “technical” 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 “technical” 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.

I apologize for the long text and my bad English.

Best regards,
Paulo Creto

T+ = So long

[Marcoose777]

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 you’re currently using doesn’t 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 I’ve settled for about 5 years or so (this is my second Manjaro machine). Good luck with your venture, and maybe we’ll see you back again one day.

[gan]

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 ‘life on linux’ with Mint, imho perfect for a linux-beginner.

[moson]

@gan

but at the end you knock back the whole bottle.
The more you go on, the more you learn to appreciate it.

Or you get completely drunk (screw up the system) and go to another distro.