this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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I just discovered something I did so idiotic I need a stronger adjective that what is in my name.

For one of my installs, I accidentally overwrote my 1TB HDD. A few minutes ago I wanted to put back some files... and all I saw was a distro.

It confused me because I was not sure if I was on my solid state drive or the HDD.

So, those files are gone. A lot is gone. Nothing too precious, I think... It might be a tremendous fuck up.

See kids, this is why you back up. Off the computer. Oh well.

EDIT: Recovering files using Photorec. Everyone who recommended this to me is a hero. Also a hero is the person who recommended FTK, but I was too eager to use something now than to sign up to download. I still should though...

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

dd'ed an ISO onto the system drive instead of a USB stick. Luckily, the first partition was the Windows one, so not too important; and the rest I recovered from the GPT backup table.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Nice! I need to learn recovery methods. I am so used to scorch earthing an install when it goes wrong, which is not useful.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nothing special, I just kept distrohopping and backing up my home folder to a seperate drive each time via rsync. Eventually I messed that up somewhere, some data was lost. I think that was early this year.
Nothing to major, bit of a nuisance is all. And a grim reminder that eventually you WILL mess up. It's just a matter of time really. So try to minimize the factors that lead to mishaps like distrohopping and be diligent with your backups.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Hah. That was my strategy, but manually.

I need to learn backup tools proper.

Of course, it happens when your data is at its most valuable.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Those aren't fuckups they are learning experiences. Now you know what that does in that situation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes! I am becoming more careful. I am definitely getting deeper in my knowledge of programs and linux. The stuff to learn is immense. But, it makes my life so much better.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I tried dual-booting Manjaro from my Ubuntu install, since VMs were slow on my machine at the time and I wanted to give Manjaro a try.

Manjaro wouldn't boot (X11 sessions crashes on boot), and then when I returned to Ubuntu, I got dropped straight to the GRUB rescue shell because I had shrunk the partition from the Manjaro installer, and it had fucked up the Ubuntu install :/ so instead of two OSes I had none

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I feel like I have done that too, but long time ago. I always got confused with dual booting. I get weird trying to calculate how much to space to give each partition.

Making partitions by hand is a pain though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Wrecked my first Ubuntu install over the course of 2 years, wanted something new and tried Arch. The 4th time pacman wrecked my system I moved to Fedora at around F20 and have been happy ever since. I tried Gentoo in there somewhere, and managed to install it, but just the install burned me out. That was back when the Sakaki guide was one of the only ways to install on UEFI except with Fedora.

I would say my biggest mistake was not understanding the scope of Linux and that something like Arch and Gentoo are more for a CS grad student level of user.

I have a much better understanding of operating system design principals and architectures now, but I still prefer Fedora, really because the Anaconda system, Nvidia kernel driver build system, and UEFI shim are the best system for Linux I have encountered. The bootloader is one of the largest vulnerabilities in modern computers.

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[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The first dumb thing is distro hopping to start with.

Distro are not that different in practice, just pick one and go on with your life.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

You are right. I was happy with linux mint, and before that MX Linux. This is all just bike shedding. I spend a lot of time setting things up Hell, I spend too much time just downloading crap because I have not bothered to make a script that would automate installation of the apps I use.

Yeah, I think I will.

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