this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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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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Hello I'm Doctor_Rex I'm the OP of this post:

My Windows 10 install broke, but I'm hesitant to switch to Linux.

I'd like to start by thanking everybody who responded to my questions. Your answers have helped a lot when it came to my worries on switching to Linux.

I've taken in a lot of your recommendations: Fedora, Fedora Kinoite, Nobara, Bazzite Linux, VanillaOS,

I've decided on Fedora Kinoite, as it has everything I want from a distro.

It was very kind of you all to answer my questions but after making that post and reading your answers new questions propped up.

These questions are a little more opinionated than the last ones, and a little better thought out, but please take some time to answer them.

Questions:

  • Is Wayland worth using? Especially when you consider all the issues that may come from using an NVIDIA card.

Are there any real noticeable advantages/improvements to using Wayland over Xorg.

  • Does bloat actually matter or is it just a meme?

Does bloat actually have a noticeable negative impact on your system or are people just over reacting/joking.

  • What are some habits I should practice in order to keep my system organized and manageable?

Any habits or standards that I should abide by in order to save myself headaches in the future?

  • Any other resources besides the Arch Wiki that I should be aware of?

Self explanatory.

  • What do you wish you knew when you first started using Linux that would have saved you a headache in the future?

I'm not referring to some skill but instead something pertaining to Linux itself. Feel free to skip this question.

I'll be going to sleep soon, so apologies if I don't reply but please take a moment answer any questions you think you can.

Thank You!

Edit: ~~AUR~~ = Arch Wiki. Fixed a typo

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Sure. So a snapshot in itself doesn't consume more than a few KB. The filesystem has a Copy On Write (COW) behavior, meaning it doesn't overwrite edits on files by default. It moves the pointer to the file to a new location and writes the new version there. If there is nothing still pointing to the old data, that space is now considered free and can be overwritten.

A snapshot basically keeps pointers to data in the past. So it's not entirely free, in the sense that older versions of files will remain and therefore not free up disk space as long as that snapshot exists. But it's free in the sense that no data is copied to create a snapshot. Your filesystem is always only writing the difference to the last snapshot.

If you configure snapshots at small intervals and configure them not to be erased, you'll compile the history for all the changes in all your files since ever. And that will definitely cost you space.

Typical scenarios are a daily snapshot that you keep for a week and a weekly snapshot that you keep for a month. That will cost you very little space (again in typical desktop use cases). If you have a streaming folder, a COW filesystem might not be the best idea. Or at least create a subvolume that doesn't get snapshots.

Snapshots don't replace backups and if you need older data that a month, that's what backups are for.

[–] JustUseMint 2 points 9 months ago