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Linux saved me today (anarchist.nexus)
submitted 15 hours ago by to c/linux@lemmy.world
45 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm an educator, and my Windows PC crashed during my first period class.

I had a cinnamon mint USB drive in my bag. I booted to it, and it saved the day!

I don't have anybody to tell just how much of a godsend that was, but I figured you guys might appreciate it!

all 45 comments

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[–] 22 points 7 hours ago (15 children)

Don't tell @madthumbs@lemmy.world he has such a hateboner for Linux he runs !linuxsucks@lemmy.world and will think you are lying or paid shill.

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  • [–] 14 points 4 hours ago* (3 children)

    Wait, linuxsucks isn't a joke community?

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  • [–] 3 points 4 hours ago (7 children)

    As someone who is only starting to delve into Linux recently I must admit it's not as great as you guys make it all seem. Maybe I'm just having lots of issues cause I missed some wiki or chose the wrong distro or something

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  • [–] 1 point 47 minutes ago

    I don't get this at all. im in IT but im an old guy who does not have the patience for mucking about. If you can install windows on a machine then you can install linux and zorin installed and ran and did not really need anything special. Then since it comes with so much out of the box pre installed software I would call it a bit easier than windows. more akin to a mac.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 hours ago (4 children)

    What kinds of issues have you had? I haven't had a single problem since switching a couple years ago. Sometimes there are driver issues with specific hardware.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 hours ago (3 children)

    Yesterday I downloaded a mod manager for Valheim and it opened to a blank screen so I had to google around and find out I need to set an environment variable. Then how to do that via terminal but I also wanted a way to automate it and so I found out about .bashrc and alias. And there's probably easier or better ways but like half the crap I find online feels like I'm trying to decipher another language and/or its a 15 year old post so idk if it's even valid anymore.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 hours ago*

    I play Valheim on Linux and have hosted a server before.

    Easiest way is just to use R2 Mod Manager. It's available for Linux too. You just launch the game through it instead of Steam / wherever you launch it. I use PikaOS now which is based on Debian but had Bazzite in the past and it worked there too.

    You do have to tell it where Steam / the game is installed though, but that's true of it even in Windows.

    PS: fastest way to get help is probably venting/ saying something isn't working in a Linux community lol. It's a useful thing to know. That's how I sometimes get my answers too.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 hours ago

    environment variables are a thing on windows as well. I grew up with windows and had to set environment variables for random stuff there as well. That is just a (depending on what you do) fairly normal thing. i hate to say it because obviously we all want people to switch to linux and have a good time and want to be helpful but … that’s just a skill issue

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  • [–] 1 point 3 hours ago*

    Well that would depend on what you use to run that mod manager, as that's probably a Windows application using wine (or proton, which is still based on wine). If you always just launch it from bash, .bashrc is the easiest. Launchers like Bottles or Steam will let you configure launch options per program/game. e.g ENVVAR=value %command% (%command% is a standin for the actual launch command, you leave that as is - it's necessary because you can add things both before and after the command)

    But yes, overall, running Windows software is still the most annoying part of using Linux. At least usually for games run from Steam there's not much tinkering needed assuming the game works (so no kernel level anticheat games)

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    • [–] 10 points 7 hours ago

    Running from USB is extremely cool as a feature.

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    [–] [S] 105 points 15 hours ago (8 children)

    I know that story doesn't really go anywhere, but it was a big deal to me!

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  • [–] 69 points 14 hours ago (6 children)

    Might be worth permanently defenestrating, if possible.

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  • [–] 21 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

    Haven't seen getting off Windows referred to that way before, but I love it.

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  • [–] 23 points 12 hours ago (1 child)

    Richard Stallman said it best:

    Now of course people who want freedom shouldn't use Windows at all, you've got to defenestrate your computer, which means either you throw Windows out of the computer, or you throw the computer out the window.

    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/defenestrate#Verb

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    • [–] 13 points 11 hours ago (3 children)

    That's pretty cool!

    Reminds me of when the Windows podium computer decided to randomly update during a student presentation in my college class, no word of warning or anything. A crash would have been preferable! At least in both cases, we get to preach the gospel of FOSS, lol.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

    Windows in general is pretty good at warning before running updates, you usually get a few days before being forced to run the updates.

    There is much to blame Windows for, but if it forces a reboot on you, it is because it was ignored it earlier.

    You mention this being a "podium computer", so probably a shared machine that no one cares about updating.

    For future reference, if you are using a shared computer for presentations, you can see the update status in the system tray, Windows will show the update icon with an orange or red dot if it is waiting for a reboot.

    I am an IT guy and I often get tasked with preparing the presentation computer for large presentations, I will go down to the event room an hour before and boot up the computer to check the status of it so I have time to deal with the shit it might throw up.

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  • [–] 8 points 6 hours ago

    Sure, if you spend a lot of time coddling a windows computer it will usually work somewhat okay, but a linux machine on the other hand just works without any of the hassle, such as having to remember to check in on it before you are going to use it

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    • [–] 18 points 11 hours ago

    I always keep a bootable drive in my bag. It has come in handy many, many times

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    [–] 5 points 9 hours ago

    This is me, but it's Kali.

    So many useful apps bundled makes it a great live distro to keep in the bag just in case.

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    [–] 25 points 14 hours ago (5 children)

    Glad to hear it saved the day and that you're trying Linux full time. Love a good success story!

    For you or anyone else who want to keep an emergency kit on a USB drive on hand, I recommend checking into Ventoy. With it, you can keep multiple ISOs on a single bootable USB drive and choose which one you want at boot time. Keep an emergency Linux desktop, rescue disks, etc on it and you'll be good to go. You can easily add more or update existing images just by writing files to the drive. No reformatting required.

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  • [–] 13 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

    yeah ventoy has been a life saver for me. I have multipe linux distros and BSDs on there as well as important immediate files I need access to on a fresh install. I know it's "shoddy or sketchy" but it's the only tool out there that does exactly what I need it to do. i.e. save my ass.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 hours ago (1 child)

    I've never heard of this tool before, but it looks useful. What's shoddy or sketchy about it? Is something up with the developer?

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  • [–] 2 points 3 hours ago

    I can't remember all the details but it's not so much the developer but rather rumors being that it's potentially malware, issues with the AUR version in the same regard, concerns about certain lines of code, etc, etc, etc. nothing really defacto proven but "worries" about it.

    I personally have never had issues with ventoy and i've been using it for years.

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    • [–] 30 points 15 hours ago (4 children)

    I keep a live usb in my bag just in case as well. Glad to hear it saved the day for you.

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  • [–] [S] 24 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

    I have been testing the waters on my home PC, and was thrilled to see the live USB in my bag.

    It might be time for me to bite the bullet and load it on my laptop too. I am beyond fed up with Windows at this point.

    The minimal software compatibility issues were the only thing holding me back. (and GeForce drivers...)

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  • [–] 3 points 13 hours ago

    I'm with /u/Lka1988, rip the bandaid off and don't look back. Linux is getting better and better so fast these days, it's wild. You can probably ride that bootable thumbdrive for a good while. Once you get things sorted out, six months from now, you'll wonder how you ever lived without Linux.

    In any case, glad to see Linux saving the day. If anything, Linux should be a tool that you familiarize yourself with so you can use it when you need or in a pinch.

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  • [–] 2 points 12 hours ago

    I’ve been on a straight Linux laptop for a while now. So far, the one major issue is getting Scrivener to work. Everything else is fine.

    Minor self tech support getting Calibre loaded. And working GOG games (pathfinder) onto the machine. As an IT noob though, it’s not bad. I liken it to suddenly learning browsers and the internet alongside windows back on the 90s, in terms of difficulty. Steam games are a click and go so far.

    Granted I bought an S76, so I’m starting with a base that is supposed to work right out of the box. It mostly does.

    The most major hiccup is mods for games. My partner is still into DDO, for example, but needs a windows partition to run his favorite mod.

    My only issue is fan noise. So I just use the Sony corded headset and it works. Yeah, I know, but they’re the industry standard for sound and purchased before the shitstorm re ownership of games.

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    • [–] 7 points 12 hours ago

    Could you tell more about the story? I also love Linux but I'd probably just restart a windows pc if it crashed as a first step

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    [–] 14 points 14 hours ago

    Literally is a big deal! I carried around an ubuntu usb for so long when I tried to use it to save someones old laptop, it was already corrupted. >.<

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