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?
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