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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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Looking for a distribution that I could replicate from one computer to another (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hi everyone,

I’ve been a happy user of Fedora Workstation since Fedora 36 on my Surface Go 1.

I really enjoy Gnome and everything is set up the way I want to.

Since I was really happy with my setup I just wanted to be able to replicate it easily through Clonezilla so that I could port it on any future computer I’d get.

Sadly, even with the help of really helpful and knowledgeable users on Lemmy, it hasn’t worked (https://sh.itjust.works/post/25963065).

So now I’m left wondering if there could be a distribution that I’d enjoy and which would be easy to deploy on another computer as I’d hate to have to configure everything on every computer I’d get.

I love Gnome but I wouldn’t be against trying something else if necessary.

What distribution could meet my needs?

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago (1 children)

For reproducibility, nothing really beats NixOS. That's not really what you're asking for, as that would not involve Clonezilla.

If you're frequently switching hardware, and want to have everything up and running, configured to your liking, in minutes, you're gonna have fun with NixOS in the long term. But I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, it has a steep learning curve and does require you to enjoy some tinkering. Worth it, imo

Otherwise, just pick a distro that you enjoy and create a separate home partition, when it's time to switch you do a fresh install and clone only the home partition. That'll get you 90% of the way to have your old setup on the new device

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

But what is a home partition?

I mean for me the problem is backing up my settings (including for every app) and I don't know where they are saved.

Backing up my pictures, documents and others isn't a problem.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Your settings for the most part are in your home directory, generally when you install a Linux system everything that isn't the bootloader is on one partition (system, installed applications, etc)

Your home directory is for anything specific to your user, meaning your downloads folder, your pictures, documents and also your .config folder which holds 90% of the config files

There are some weird ones that have directories outside of home, afaik that's stuff like network manager remembering your saved networks that runs outside of your user context

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Usually your settings are saved under ~/.config