This is your annual reminder to do a snapshot (timeshift or whatever you prefer) before doing relatively minor changes to your system.

I was supposed to be in bed now, but instead I am stuck troubleshooting xorg refusing to start after an apt-get dist-upgrade.

And as far as friendly reminders go, I should've given myself an unfriendly reminder beforehand, as it's not the first time....

UPDATE: Fuck nvidia 545. All my homies hate nvidia 545. 535 4 lyf!

  • buh [any]
    ·
    8 months ago

    nvidia torvalds-nvidia mentioned

  • fl42v@lemmy.ml
    ·
    8 months ago

    BTW, nixos allows you to easily roll back to a previous generation on boot in case an update breaks something.

    Just sayin' 😁

  • antsu@lemmy.wtf
    ·
    8 months ago

    Timeshift with BTRFS kicks ass. I have mine set for daily snapshots, retained for a week. Only the changes between snapshots are stored, so the extra disk usage is minimal, and easily justified by the peace of mind in case of fuck-ups or broken updates.

  • Shinji_Ikari [he/him]
    ·
    8 months ago

    Sorry cant hear you, too busy computing with the safety switched off and the action set to full auto.

  • Stillhart@lemm.ee
    ·
    8 months ago

    Linux noobie here. Any tips on what to search for for instructions on how to do this? Bonus points if it has a GUI and is easy to use.

    • neidu2@feddit.nl
      ·
      8 months ago

      Timeshift. It has an easy to understand GUI that doesn't really need much of an intro: You create snapshots of your system files and configs that can be restored if/when you bungle it up.

      • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de
        ·
        8 months ago

        Timeshift works best if you use BTRFS for your root partition because snapshots can be taken instantly. I have mine setup to automatically take a snapshot every day.

      • Catsrules@lemmy.ml
        ·
        8 months ago

        Never used it myself and i am still a linix noob but what is the restore process if your OS isnt bootable?

        If their like a rescue environment you boot into or something?

        • neidu2@feddit.nl
          ·
          8 months ago

          There are many approaches, depending on what broke. In my case the system was fine, just xorg being completely borked. So I logged into the console and fixed it.

          If regular console doesn't work, something really went bad during boot, for which there's single-user mode which is kind of similar to safe mode from Windows 98 (I'm sure there's something similar in newer windows versions).

          And of that doesn't work, there's the minimalistic rescue shell.

          And if that doesn't work, you can boot from a USB or some other external media and try to fix your system from that, maybe even using chroot to use the system somewhat normally.

    • JJLinux@lemmy.ml
      ·
      8 months ago

      As long as your file system is on BTRFS, timeshift is, I O, the easiest backup app for Linux, specially if you're just getting your feet wet in it.

  • Extras@lemmy.today
    ·
    8 months ago

    Is it dumb that I only backup my docs and anything else I think is important? I can rebuild fairly quickly if something would happen. I ask since I know that people backup a variety of their directories

    • CalicoJack@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      ·
      8 months ago

      If you're comfortable, you're fine. Anything more would just be to speed up the rebuild, so it's less important if you don't mind taking the time.

  • imnapr@discuss.tchncs.de
    ·
    8 months ago

    The nvidia 545 drivers are an absolute dumpster fire. Even for beta drivers they are easily the worst drivers I've ever used. They claim to fix the vrr gsync bug tho... so as soon as they fix gestures broadly everything else, maybe they'll be good

  • minimalfootprint@discuss.tchncs.de
    ·
    8 months ago

    Neat little guide (Arch, systemd) to set up automatic snapshots when you run a pacman/yay update and the option to chose snapshots in grub during startup. Really useful.

  • PseudoSpock@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    ·
    8 months ago

    I will never install a Linux desktop without a snapshotting root filesystem ever again. Nvidia driver updates, /boot getting too full during kernel or driver updates, a bad update of pipewire half a year ago, and more I can't remember. Was always able to boot to previous snapshot of the OS, and address whatever it was. Some ZFS here, some BTRFS there... and my small fleet of Linux desktops are as easy to recover as any immutable OS. Better even, because snapshots allow me to pull individual items or things between states easily, too.

  • lemmyvore@feddit.nl
    ·
    8 months ago

    I'm on 545 and I have no issues. But I'm also not using Ubuntu...

    Maybe it's the distro that's the problem not the backup. I mean I'd rather have a distro with smooth updates than one that makes me need snapshots.

    What's even the point with such a distro, ok so I restore previous working state, then what, I can't do updates anymore? Living in fear of official updates sounds terrible.