Normally I always forget why I still keep thinking about switching back to Windows. Today was a great reminder. Linux can be frustrating. This post is somewhat about awareness and partly about me learning about other peoples experiences. I updated my CachyOS as usual. There were some system packages upgraded and I got the notification to reboot. Figuring I’d do it later I left after some time and the PC went to sleep. Upon returning the screen stayed black. Even upon forced reboot. Remembering I was using Limine with BTRFS snapshots I tried multiple previous snapshots but to no avail. I remember this happened before. So now I face another reinstall… This and having to dive into the deep end of terminal commands to get drivers, programs or games working can be quite frustrating. I understand why people are turned off and go back to Windows…
Onto NixOS for me. A big dive but it seems very stable which might be just what i need. I feel like the philosophy of NixOS combined with a graphical store to install programs and what not seems like a great solution.
What would your ultimate distro be like?
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This will sound like heresy to some, but get away from the bleeding edge. You probably don’t need the absolute latest version of every little thing. It can feel cool knowing you know how to fix a borked install but actually having to do so sucks. Dump the hype and get to something stable for your daily driver. If you want to experiment, do it on another drive/machine. Building a custom rocketship is cool, but you should probably build it without breaking the truck you use to go get parts.
So first of all, you could likely still access your drives when you boot from a USB. Goes for any OS
secondly: if you play with fire, don’t complain about the blisters. And yo be clear, with fire I don’t mean Linux, with fire I mean specialty distro
You need to ask yourself what you want. If you want something shiny and cool that does certain security things that are awesome but not really that needed for the average Joe, then fine, go with whatever.
I on the other hand need a Linux distro that works, that I can trust. I have been using Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE UI) for over the last 20. There are bugs, like everywhere, but bugs like “this little widget doesn’t respond right”, not “oh my OS suicided again”
True. Emergency mode or something similar might also be an option. But a live USB certainly is a good method. It’s just frustrating that it’s needed.
I don’t see how using an OS is playing with fire. I understand that sometimes comparability issues arise but on the other hand it’s not like I’m on a release candidate kernel or trying to slim down my OS to a single megabyte by removing stuff. Sometimes bleeding edge can actually be needed when installing new hardware. When stuff is released it should just work I think?
Linux has emergency modes for booting as well. The old ways would work with run levels, and the newer ways (through systemd) I honestly don’t know. However, a bootable USB is usually the best solution because it won’t boot a drive with a possibly damaged filesystem that needs repairs before accessing it, that sort of stuff. There is a reason why it is a separate storage device to boot from.
I’m just saying that if you take an experimental or very hard to master OS for your day to day work, or storing your family photo albums, then yeah, you’re playing with fire, because the OS can trip you up in many ways. Linux is great, but potentially unforgiving when you make mistakes. Ubuntu Linux is at the point where normal users need to work hard to mess stuff up, but if you go for gentoo or something else experimental or DIY, then yeah, you better be prepared to take the consequences when things go down south
NixOS paired with an LLM gives you a customized PC that won’t change. There isn’t a better option for longevity + hands off user experience than NixOS. The only downside is the big initial time investment.
True, but isn’t that a risk too? LLM’s can be powerful but also produce garbage sometimes. Especially with niche stuff?
It depends on how you use the LLM and I personally think it helped me learn NixOS/Nix/Flakes much faster than without it. You can choose to not use LLMs if you’re worried though.
Seems fair. Can always test too
