KDE, Stability of Manjaro

[Mirdarthos]

@owburp

I spend so much time on the forum that I probably catch the update posting before matray ever has a chance to pop up.

Same. But not taking chances.

[oldtux]

@owburp

truly is!

@owburp

Just before I ended my distro hopping with Manjaro,

It seems that I will end my distro hoping. Why?
Generally speaking distro hoping I found Arch (and Arch based, being rolling) to be good for me. The longest distro I used was EndeavourOS and I really enjoyed.

To be honest Debian and MX Linux were really good and stable, but for me the “taste” of Arch based, customisability, responsiveness was better for me.

Maybe was on Endeavour because it was a bit higher on distrowatch.

But as I always distro hop and reading a bit more about Manjaro, and discovering that Manjaro has different repos (unstable, testing and stable) as Debian, while Arch/Endeavour don’t have, and as I care about stability in the first place and I really liked how Debian attend to stability and really liked it so I thought Manjaro will give me Debian stability (sort of) with the pros of a rolling release. My latest Debian I converted to Testing as I like the concept of a rolling release.

Fortunately I found Manjaro giving me the best of both worlds. And the community here is another big pro.

I wish I knew about Manjaro stable long time ago.

[oldtux]

@oldtux

Well. I am back, but from my Manjaro system.
The first thing I do is to say thank you for all your guidance and help.

Celebrating 24 hours exactly on Manjaro🥰
I wonder if I will be around to celebrate a10 years install!

I never learned in any forum that much in just less than 24 hours.

But I have a feeling I will celebrate quitting distro hoping in 6 months😊

[Mirdarthos]

Well, I was never a big distro-hopper, but I never felt at home, the distro fit me, until I met Manjaro. Manjaro helped me kick the Winbloze-habbit. Me and my budget is Manjaro ever so grateful.

And now I’ll not turn away easily.

[oldtux]

@Mirdarthos

Well, I was never a big distro-hopper, but I never felt at home, the distro fit me, until I met Manjaro.

Same here. I started with Suse back then in 2000 and I never tried another distro (maybe I tried red hat for a day then back to suse) till like 2005/2006. By 2003/2004 I was Linux only at home. Then Suse did something then made me switch to Linux mint Debian Edition.

Just recently after I retired early 2021 I distro hoped a lot and installed almost everything out there (deb, rpm, slackware, … you name it, even BSD)

To be honest generally Debian and Debian based were OK (but not Ubuntus, I don’t know why exactly).

Arch based as said before was impressive for me (Endeavour, I really liked it), but Manjaro Stable seems the best of both worlds for me, a rolling release and stability like Debian.

I wish I knew what I knew about Manjaro long time ago (Stable, Testing, unstable repos) which I didn’t find in any other Arch based.

[linux-aarhus]

@oldtux

How to do that?

The above link describes how to have a rescue ISO at hand simply by adding it grub

@oldtux

Would it automatically detect new iso files and boot from them?

Nah - that would require some extra work - but it is doable - before ventoy there was a project which made it possible to add ISO and they would be detected.

I wrote a guide long time ago - I think it is doable - [root tip] [How To] Multi ISO USB with storage partition

The original project referenced in the topic is https://mbusb.aguslr.com/ and the sources is at GitHub - aguslr/multibootusb: A collection of GRUB files and scripts that will allow you to create a pendrive capable of booting different ISO files - it is no longer maintained but that doesn’t imply it is dysfunctional.

As I recall it is crazy simple to use - it works much like ventoy

[oldtux]

@linux-aarhus

Nah - that would require some extra work

I read the link on how to do it.
I understand it has only one ISO in the file to boot from, not several ISOs.

UPDATE:
I searched and I found the file can actually have more than one ISO file.
I will look at it again.

UPDATE 2:
I looked at [HowTo] Boot Manjaro ISO directly with GRUB
I just didn’t like the “or” in

@Chrysostomus

Create the file /boot/grub/custom.cfg or /etc/grub.d/40_custom file with the following contents:

But anyway, I better keep this to another specific thread.
I wonder if I can reply to that same thread or create a new thread?
(I do not want to mess with the forum)

[linux-aarhus]

@oldtux

I just didn’t like the “or” in

Using 40_custom file then you better be sure it is correct and you need to rebuild grub config on every change.

Using custom.cfg - does not require rebuild config nor does it break your boot on bad config.

[Mirdarthos]

Is it not the other way 'round? (40_custom being in a drop-in directory, after all)

@Chrysostomus

Create the file /boot/grub/custom.cfg or /etc/grub.d/40_custom file with the following contents:

[oldtux]

@linux-aarhus

Using custom.cfg - does not require rebuild config nor does it break your boot on bad config.

This sounds much better and safer.

[linux-aarhus]

@Mirdarthos

Is it not the other way 'round? (40_custom being in a drop-in directory, after all)

40_custom is not a drop-in in the same sense as e.g. sudoers.d or sddm.conf.d where it just works or it don’t.

40_custom requires correct configuration and a rebuild of grub.cfg.

the custom.cfg is more relaxed - if it works great - if it doesn’t - no problem - at least that is how I remember it.

@oldtux

a rolling release and stability like Debian

I wouldn’t push Manjaro that far as to compare with Debian - that is a stretch I think.

But - if you are not using Nvidia - and has no need for applications which is only available as custom buildscripts - then I think you are in the right place.

Also be careful with the Get New… in Colors & Themes section in System Settings - there is a reason this box is displayed.

They may look nice - but may not work so well - especially the sddm theming tend to cause issues - my favorite greeter theme is acting up so I applied my wall to the default - to work around it.

[oldtux]

Just to update you guys how I am doing.
I was searching for how to clean the system, remove orphans,… the normal maintenance, I found and liked this cheetsheet My Manjaro cheatsheet in a menu form done by @Teo.

Thank you @Teo
Thank you all, developers, moderators, everybody.

[beermad]

Some of those (fstrim and updatedb immediately stand out) will already be done automatically via systemd timers.

[Teo]

As well as cleaning the coredumps and refreshing the mirrors, but one might want to trigger them manually sometimes instead of waiting 1-2 weeks (like if a game coredumps 4 GB at once for example). You are free to add or remove stuff, this is my current collection.
The first 10 about updating are however pretty much universal and useful esp. for beginners.

[beermad]

@Teo

As well as cleaning the coredumps and refreshing the mirrors, but one might want to trigger them manually sometimes instead of waiting 1-2 weeks (like if a game coredumps 4 GB at once for example).

Alternatively, if you’re unlikely to want to analyse coredumps (or send them to developers), you can add a file in /etc/systemd/coredump.conf.d containing:

[Coredump]
Storage=none

Call it something.conf

[Teo]

That is what i actually did at the end

[straycat]

manjaro-pacnew-checker also works pretty well and it’s in the repo’s

[oldtux]

@linux-aarhus

I wouldn’t push Manjaro that far as to compare with Debian - that is a stretch

Sure! I never meant it is as stable as Debian, I just meant stability in general and having unstable, testing and stable as Debian has sid, testing and stable.

Manjaro is unique in having different repos for different stabilities being Arch based.

This is what I meant.

[oldtux]

@linux-aarhus

But - if you are not using Nvidia - and has no need for applications which is only available as custom buildscripts - then I think you are in the right place.

Also be careful with the Get New… in Colors & Themes section in System Settings

I am OK. I never go for Nvidia.
My use case is just very simple as I mentioned above. I installed only Libreoffice and pCloud.

I never care about new themes or such stuff, I even have AUR disabled. I care about stability in the first place.

Thanks for all your valuable guidance and inputs @linux-aarhus

[Takakage]

@oldtux

Manjaro is unique in having different repos for different stabilities being Arch based.

I think there is a common misunderstanding of the meaning of the word “stable”.

The word “stable” has many definitions, but the two that are relevant here are:

1. Unlikely to fail
2. Unlikely to change

When we talk about software, “stable” generally means that it is unlikely to crash or have problems (definition 1). But when we talk about a Linux distribution and/or its various channels, the word “stable” generally refers to how often it changes (definition 2).

This may make more sense for a distribution like Debian: once released, the versions of software available in the Debian repositories do not change. This is why in the current (as of 2024-08-25) version of Debian 12, KDE Plasma is still at version 5.27.5 (Manjaro is at 6.0.5), and Gnome is at version 43.9 (Manjaro is at 46.4). Naturally, Debian’s stable (def. 2) channel’s software will tend to be more stable (def. 1), because they will receive only backported bug and security fixes over their supported lifetimes; but that stability (def. 1) is just a side effect.

The name “stable” makes a little less sense in the context of a rolling-release distribution like Manjaro. But in the context of Manjaro’s channels, we can clearly see the difference in the relative rate of change between “unstable” (changes every few hours) and “stable” (changes every few weeks). There is no guarantee that stable (def. 2) channel software will be bug-free; the only guarantee is that such software will not change as frequently.

Therefore, there is nothing inherently contradictory about a stable (def. 2) channel containing unstable (def. 1) software. Or an unstable (def. 2) channel containing stable (def. 1) software, for that matter.