Just wanted to say a big thanks to all the dev for EndeavorOS… I have been running Linux on and off for a couple of months. I am not really a big linux fan but more of a privacy and security advocate.
I wonder if anyone has run Linux for a couple of years without reinstalling their systems ?
I find that when something goes wrong (for whatever reason), its, in many cases, faster to simply reinstall my system… Most of the time, I cannot seem to solve my issues then for the sake of time, I just reinstall my system. Is it me or is anyone out there the same ?
Hello! 
Glad to meet you! Since 1998, I’ve had some machines that went a long time without reinstalls 
For example: around 90% of my calculating PCs with EndeavourOS are still on my original install since April of this year. I do the software updates of course … for security and bug corrections. Sometimes, on two of them recently, I corrected a crash, and some errors by updating the BIOS.
Glad your interested in security 
The world needs more people like you !!!
From a regular user 
May you have the best of good times with this great Free software 
,
François
Most of us just fix them. Lots of people here with 5+ year old installs.
It’s much easier to fix than to setup and reinstall everything.
Welcome! Use btrfs for your filesystem and then configure daily automatic snapshots, so that you can recover your sysstem to a previous working snapshot if your system breaks.
Thanks for your replies.
Then I must be really bad at this !!
Its kind of strange as I have put the effort (learning curve) to secure myself… ‘Linux is as secure as you can make it to be’ but I am stopped at bugs and whatnot with many times the impossibility to figure out what is happening under the hood.
I do put the effort but, as said, the fastest for me would be a fresh install …
What can I do to improve myself as far as learning what is happening under the hood !! (don’t know if this is the route I have to take)
I think the easiest and fastest way to solve any problem (which you can’t solve alone) is to come here and ask for help. This way you’ll get the best possible solutions, and people here are willing to give answers.
That way you’ll learn too!
Reinstalling the system each time you encounter a problem won’t definitely advance you on your endeavour to improve your skill for troubleshooting and problemsolving.
Reading documentation, wiki articles, searching the forum(s) for similar issues and ultimately posting about your problem here on the forum and ask for help is the way to go.
Learning to master an operating system takes time and effort. We are all somewhere on the learning curve. Unless we are willing to dedicate some time and put in some effort, the progress from square one to square two will be a very slow process, if possible at all.
I do spend a lot of time reading wiki and the most reading the arch wiki. I do and did solve many issues that way. I rarely post. I have a frame of mind where bugging people with my issue should not be the way forward.
I suppose I am stuck in a loop - “if cannot solve the issue, then do a fresh install”
I have even invested my time in scripting in Bash.
In any case, Endeavor community is one of the best. Friendly and ready to help all the time. Non judgmental. I find the Linux community on other forums very toxic !!
Many thanks for all you do to provide people like me an alternative to main stream
Since installing EOS only to fix things quickly that I have broke experimenting with stuff. I ised to duel boot but these days most of my games run on linux with very little extra work so these days
Every time something goes wrong, that’s a good opportunity to learn about your OS. Yes, it is true that when you’re a newbie, troubleshooting a problem might take a bit longer than reinstalling – but you gain no knowledge from reinstalling, and thus you ensure that you remain a newbie.
Any time and effort you spend on fixing problems yourself, rather than reinstalling the OS, is making you more knowledgeable. At a certain point, you will find that it is much easier to fix most issues yourself than to reinstall, and at that point, you won’t be a newbie any more.
All it takes is some experience and practice, and fixing issues is the best way to get there. If you just reinstall the OS at the slightest problem, the only thing you’ll be good at is installing the OS. So my advice is to have some discipline and resist the urge to reinstall: in the long run, that will actually save you time and effort and make you more comfortable with your OS.
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