To be honest, I rarely use the terminal.
Sure, users should learn to use the terminal when there’s a need. But, the entire experience is no longer entirely terminal-centric.
Of course, depends on what distro you pick 
3 Likes
Interesting, that makes sense. For older hardware, they need to know options like Linux Lite and similar.
1 Like
That’s true, the hardware selection really is significant for a good Linux experience.
I’m not impressed with Windows 11, though. So, I immediately installed Ubuntu setting up a dual-boot system as soon as I got the laptop 
Similar case for my desktop, Windows 10, and won’t be upgrading to 11 unless the support for it ends 
I’ve run into several issues for games on Win 11… Oh wait, I’m going offtopic now 
It is tricky. For Linux , hardware can be
- too new (ie lacking firmware)
- too old ( ie lacking support)
- too special ( ie never had any linux support and never will)
Then there is the issue of wrong distro for the given hardware.
That is even more difficult for a beginner because reliable information is scarce.
Reviews sometimes put a gloss on everything wben really what is needed is a critique.
2 Likes
Not reading the documentation that is on the website.
Thinking that Linux will run all their Windows software, then get annoyed when it doesn’t.
Not understanding as to why they have to keep putting in their password.
Being scared of the Terminal. I hate this because when I started using Linux Ubuntu 10.04, was chucked in the deep end, so why can’t everyone else be, instead of all this babying rubbish??
Not realizing that Linux is a DIM (Do It Myself) They still want it to be like Windows.
Try to make their Linux look like their last operating system, mainly Windows.
Installing other environment dependencies and breaking their OS.
Installing everything in Synaptic
Relying on Snap packages and wondering why their drive is filling up.
Like Shamu said installing Ubuntu only and not ever trying anything else Ubuntu based or Debian.
Hopping looking for something that isn’t there, that they thought was there, that never was there, because it does not exist, hard to describe what, why, when explaining Linux Hopping.
Never learning from their mistakes.
5 Likes
I believe not setting up a separate /Home partition.
Having a separate Home partition allows a user to backup their personal data without having to backup the system data too. If the root become corrupt for some reason, it can be restored without losing the home data.
It also allows a user to have different backup schedules for the 2 areas depending on their needs.
Also new user might not take advantage / setup TimeShift. I place my Timeshift files on it’s own partition.
2 Likes
I thought this was Windows 8. 
The installing distro software used to offer that option then it just faded away for the sake of convenience for the distro devs
Did you mean separate ExtHD, if the distro install drive screws up your screwed.
You can take a live cd navigate to that timeshift and install it to any drive you may have.
If your /home is on the same drive and your tmeshift is on that partition, and the drive gives
up the ghost, then you are looking at a clean install.
on a new HD if the old HD is bluh dead given up totally screwed. and there goes your Timeshift.
edit
just remembered also very well documented in the Timeshift Instructions goto an external HD.
True, but unlikely. Timeshift is for recovery of the root and having both root and the HDD / SSD go bad at the same time would be very rare.
In any case, for recovery of the root partition on the HDD / SSD and the entire disk drive, yes, I have an external CloneZilla backup performed regularly. Backup of /home and any other personal files are backup separately and more often to external device.
Phew I knew my first read was a bit off.
2 x Q
I’ve read where Clonezilla can be difficult until it’s been used a few times
and is it really as good as they say
What you really mean is not having a backup strategy… getting the partitions right is essential for setting up backups, as you say.
Yes that is a big mistake, and unfortunately a common one.
I use Clonezilla. Have used it for years. Have tested recovery. Never had a problem.
It even detected when one of my external backup disks was failing.
Use Clonezilla from a usb drive… you want all the disks unmounted.
Yes it does take a few tries to get used to the steps it takes and how to respond. Write your steps down as you go… develop recipe… then follow it pedantically.
1 Like
Well, it is a standalone backup program which I like. And I also like the idea I can backup both my EFI and root partitions at the same time. I backup those 2 partitions with CloneZilla, not the entire HDD / SSD.
I trust it for the root backup of both my desktop and laptop. So far, it has not fail me.
Difficult? — Gee, that a hard one to answer. It depends on your skill set and how familiar you are with partitions. CloneZilla does ask about 6 or 8 questions each time, but it is the same questions each time. I believe there is a way to streamline it, but I have not try it. I also have not perform a full backup of a disk with CloneZilla, just individual partitions.
1 Like
IF I do remember correctly years ago it was common for the distro install software to have an option for just that a separate / & /home
then devs took a shortcut and that option is not on the menu anymore
so this part of the install has to be done manually setting up the partitions with / and /home
if someone does know how to do that
or worst that it can be done
then the new Linux user is already at a disadvantage as distro hopping is a rite of passage in LinuxLand so to able to find what suit you and suits your hardware.
then yes that does becomes the big mistake Neville mentions.
Not from the part of the Linux user though
It’s the Install software that got modernized, went backwards actually.
1 Like
I always use device-image (not device-device) so the backup files are image files of partitions
I use both savedisk ( image all partitions on a disk)
and saveparts ( image nominated partitions)
depending on what I want.
Savedisk is for hdd failure protection… it saves everything
Saveparts is more like timeshift… extra protection for some partition(s)
The device-device option is not for backup . It is for when you want to clone a whole disk directly to another disk. I have never done that.
You choose not to use savedisk, to only use clonezilla for some system partitions, and to backup your data partitions some other way. Thats a fine method too. I actually do extra more frequent backups of data with rsync. That works for me.
And while we are at it, as you say, the backup files should be on an external disk, or on an internet site.
1 Like
Fedora still does it, by default - and guess what? I F–KING HATE that!
I just want ALL of my main ext/xfs partition to be a SINGLE partition so I don’t have to jockey around assorted odd sized partitions… Micromanaging shonky sized multiple partitions is the bane of my life (my job). Some “capacity planners / architects” (the inverted commas imply they’re NOTHING of the sort) still think in the 3rd decade, of the 3rd millennium, that it’s still the early 1990’s and that storage is expensive and “design” platforms with 4 GB for /var (when the system has 2 TB of RAID storage!). I understand on servers about keeping applications from filling up “/” (and /var) but don’t be so stingy with /var, because that filling up will probably crash the system…
It makes sense if you’re a dual, or multi-booter. But not me. I refused to dual or multi-boot…
I just plonk EVERYTHING on “/”. Including $HOME. I use Resilio Sync to keep the same data on my various systems (2 x Linux, 2 x MacOS, plus other Linux like a Pi4, and my FreeNAS [it’s actually TrueNAS now]).
1 Like
First time I’ve read about Resilio Sync had a look and seems interesting wonder does that mean you just have the distro install plus software and all your personal data is stored off on Resilio
These days, /home has really become part of the system files, because so many apps pollute it with dot files that are really system files .
So one really needs to put one’s data somewhere else.
Because I multiboot, I have one common data partition that all distros mount, and my /home in each distro is empty except for dot files and a few things like Downloads. So it does not really matter to me whether /home is a separate partition or not. I treat it as a system partition.
For a new Linux user, however, that is not an easy option. A traditional /home partition is still the safest bet.
2 Likes