Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Brand Logo

agnos.is Forums

  1. Home
  2. Linux
  3. A big part of learning Linux is screwing up computers and starting over.

A big part of learning Linux is screwing up computers and starting over.

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Linux
linux
119 Posts 70 Posters 1.2k Views
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • S [email protected]

    They died for a reason, for yor growth

    B This user is from outside of this forum
    B This user is from outside of this forum
    [email protected]
    wrote on last edited by
    #14

    True, sacrifices on the altar of the God Sysadmin, and their divine mount Er'orreport

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • badbrainstorm@lemmy.worldB [email protected]

      Timeshift was a gamechanger

      O This user is from outside of this forum
      O This user is from outside of this forum
      [email protected]
      wrote on last edited by
      #15

      Timeshift itself borked my shit up. I had to reinstall all registered packages to fix its fuckups..

      sudo aptitude reinstall '~i'

      B L 2 Replies Last reply
      0
      • O [email protected]

        Timeshift itself borked my shit up. I had to reinstall all registered packages to fix its fuckups..

        sudo aptitude reinstall '~i'

        B This user is from outside of this forum
        B This user is from outside of this forum
        [email protected]
        wrote on last edited by
        #16

        While only once, timeshift destroyed my bootloader. Don't update and reboot before a meeting, kids

        O 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • S [email protected]

          My crippled kernel count is around 6, how about yours?

          circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.orgC This user is from outside of this forum
          circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.orgC This user is from outside of this forum
          [email protected]
          wrote on last edited by
          #17

          I used to have a side system with /home on its own partition precisely to learn different distros and setups. It makes it much easier having a partition which is retained.

          These days, qemu is your friend for playing around with random Linux stuff.

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • B [email protected]

            While only once, timeshift destroyed my bootloader. Don't update and reboot before a meeting, kids

            O This user is from outside of this forum
            O This user is from outside of this forum
            [email protected]
            wrote on last edited by
            #18

            My test of Timeshift was pretty simple and straightforward.

            1. Fresh install Linux Mint

            2. Install most of the main software I wanted.

            3. Do a Timeshift backup.

            4. Install some extra software I didn't necessarily need, but might want to use someday.

            5. Restore the backup from step 3.

            Results: Everything from step 4 was still registered as installed, but almost nothing from step 4 actually worked.

            So I brute force reinstalled everything in place, and haven't used Timeshift since. I'm perfectly comfortable using the terminal, and at worst a live boot media, to fix any issues that might come up.

            F 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • O [email protected]

              Timeshift itself borked my shit up. I had to reinstall all registered packages to fix its fuckups..

              sudo aptitude reinstall '~i'

              L This user is from outside of this forum
              L This user is from outside of this forum
              [email protected]
              wrote on last edited by
              #19

              I also can't get over the fact that it doesn't understand RAID or filesystems somehow.

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • ada@lemmy.blahaj.zoneA [email protected]

                The "starting over" part is what made it take so long for linux to "stick" with me.

                Once it became "restore from an earlier image", it was a game changer!

                sharkfucker420@lemmy.mlS This user is from outside of this forum
                sharkfucker420@lemmy.mlS This user is from outside of this forum
                [email protected]
                wrote on last edited by
                #20

                The starting over part actually contributed to me continuing to use linux tbh. Trying out a new distro, figuring out how to use it, and building a new user interface each time I killed my system kept me engaged with linux beyond its utility. It functioned essentially as a way to learn about computers and as a creative outlet. I don't fuck around and find out as much as I used to but I still swap distro every year or so.

                ada@lemmy.blahaj.zoneA 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • timesquirrel@kbin.melroy.orgT [email protected]

                  Another big part is learning how to set it up in a way that it's functional and productive the first time and then STOP FUCKING WITH IT.

                  ada@lemmy.blahaj.zoneA This user is from outside of this forum
                  ada@lemmy.blahaj.zoneA This user is from outside of this forum
                  [email protected]
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #21

                  That also sounds like a good way to stop learning!

                  D umbrella@lemmy.mlU 2 Replies Last reply
                  0
                  • S [email protected]

                    My crippled kernel count is around 6, how about yours?

                    F This user is from outside of this forum
                    F This user is from outside of this forum
                    [email protected]
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #22

                    Bricking hardware is a form of enrichment for me.

                    C 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • sharkfucker420@lemmy.mlS [email protected]

                      The starting over part actually contributed to me continuing to use linux tbh. Trying out a new distro, figuring out how to use it, and building a new user interface each time I killed my system kept me engaged with linux beyond its utility. It functioned essentially as a way to learn about computers and as a creative outlet. I don't fuck around and find out as much as I used to but I still swap distro every year or so.

                      ada@lemmy.blahaj.zoneA This user is from outside of this forum
                      ada@lemmy.blahaj.zoneA This user is from outside of this forum
                      [email protected]
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #23

                      It was similar for me, but not quite the same. The thing I hated was starting from scratch. I'm very much not a distro hopper. Back in the day, I enjoyed the challenge of trying to troubleshoot issues and get the system working again, and that kept me interested, but eventually, I'd hit a problem I couldn't resolve, and I'd have to start again from scratch, and at that point, I'd just go back to Windows.

                      Now, I still get to do the same thing. If I break it, I get to learn how I broke it and try and fix it, and I find that process compelling. But because I'm using btrfs restore points now, I don't get to the point where I have to start again from scratch. So I can work at solving it to the limit of my abilities, with confidence that if I can't work it out, it's not a huge issue.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • ada@lemmy.blahaj.zoneA [email protected]

                        The "starting over" part is what made it take so long for linux to "stick" with me.

                        Once it became "restore from an earlier image", it was a game changer!

                        A This user is from outside of this forum
                        A This user is from outside of this forum
                        [email protected]
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #24

                        My game changer was circa 2014 when I broke something and got dropped to a basic shell and for the first time instead of panicking and immediately reinstalling I thought for a moment about what I had just done to break it, and undid the change manually. Wouldn't you know it booted right up like normal.

                        The lesson here: if it broke, you probably broke it, and if you know how you broke it, you know how to fix it.

                        D 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • S [email protected]

                          My crippled kernel count is around 6, how about yours?

                          ? Offline
                          ? Offline
                          Guest
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #25

                          I am very happy I am doing this on a ProxMox machine. So fast to flip them up again

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • S [email protected]

                            My crippled kernel count is around 6, how about yours?

                            F This user is from outside of this forum
                            F This user is from outside of this forum
                            [email protected]
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #26

                            OpenSuse Tumbleweed helps because you can create a btrfs snapshot at any moment and then roll back to it if you get in trouble. And it does this automatically whenever you update the packages.

                            P isaac@waterloolemmy.caI O H 4 Replies Last reply
                            0
                            • S [email protected]

                              My crippled kernel count is around 6, how about yours?

                              O This user is from outside of this forum
                              O This user is from outside of this forum
                              [email protected]
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #27

                              I always think of Kiwi / Ozzie slang when I type chroot.

                              Of course that's after consulting the ArchKiwi to remember how to mount it

                              fizz@lemmy.nzF 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • A [email protected]

                                My game changer was circa 2014 when I broke something and got dropped to a basic shell and for the first time instead of panicking and immediately reinstalling I thought for a moment about what I had just done to break it, and undid the change manually. Wouldn't you know it booted right up like normal.

                                The lesson here: if it broke, you probably broke it, and if you know how you broke it, you know how to fix it.

                                D This user is from outside of this forum
                                D This user is from outside of this forum
                                [email protected]
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #28

                                100%

                                The alternative being variations on:

                                years experience.

                                Please run sfc /scannow.

                                You can find more help at [Irrelevant KB URL].

                                Please rank me 5 stars.

                                Ticket closed

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • ada@lemmy.blahaj.zoneA [email protected]

                                  That also sounds like a good way to stop learning!

                                  D This user is from outside of this forum
                                  D This user is from outside of this forum
                                  [email protected]
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #29

                                  Not quite. But sorta, yeah.

                                  Learning to "not fuck with it" or ways to do so and rollback are valid lessons themselves.

                                  Being able to segregate "production" and "development" environments is very valuable.

                                  F 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • S [email protected]

                                    My crippled kernel count is around 6, how about yours?

                                    dan@upvote.auD This user is from outside of this forum
                                    dan@upvote.auD This user is from outside of this forum
                                    [email protected]
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #30

                                    Once you break it a few times, you start to understand the value of btrfs or ZFS snapshots.

                                    O 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • S [email protected]

                                      My crippled kernel count is around 6, how about yours?

                                      K This user is from outside of this forum
                                      K This user is from outside of this forum
                                      [email protected]
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #31

                                      Just did a fresh install after attempting to migrate from a proxmox VM to baremetal (turns out my mobo only supports UEFI and after spending an hr trying to convert I just gave up and reinstalled)

                                      O 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • F [email protected]

                                        OpenSuse Tumbleweed helps because you can create a btrfs snapshot at any moment and then roll back to it if you get in trouble. And it does this automatically whenever you update the packages.

                                        P This user is from outside of this forum
                                        P This user is from outside of this forum
                                        [email protected]
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #32

                                        👍 never had to start over

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • S [email protected]

                                          My crippled kernel count is around 6, how about yours?

                                          D This user is from outside of this forum
                                          D This user is from outside of this forum
                                          [email protected]
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #33

                                          Making errors and analysing them to figure out what went wrong and why is a huge part of learning. You can only learn so much from theory, some things can be learned best by trial and error and the experience gained from it.

                                          When I started with Linux I did choose to use Gentoo Linux because it was the most complex and complicated option, so I had the most opportunities to learn something by ducking up!

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups