this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2024
48 points (94.4% liked)

Linux

47678 readers
1042 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] data1701d@startrek.website 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I just discovered the source of all your problems by reading your previous post.

The Surface Go 1 is a UEFI system. The Acer Aspire 5737z is a legacy BIOS system and thus can't boot UEFI partitions. If your Aspire was a UEFI system, what you did probably would have worked just fine - no need for a special snazzy distro (no offense, NixOS users).

I'm actually extremely surprised no one noticed this before me.

From here, you have a few routes:

  • Flash the install to the drive, and try to downgrade it to a legacy BIOS system.
  • Reinstall Fedora and copy just your Gnome config over - from what I can tell, it's just a few directories.
  • Buy a slightly newer device (maybe 2012/2013-ish at the earlist, probably originally designed for Windows 8.x) that support UEFI so you could just use the image.
    • Honestly, I am a bit conflicted on this option, as I don't exactly like not reusing the Aspire. However, this may be the easiest way out, and maybe you could put the Aspire to use as a server in a home lab instead.
  • Try NixOS like others have been saying. Learning things is fun when you have the time - I don't, and so stick with Debian.

Oh well thanks for this information. I’ll see what I’ll do but I’m determined to keep using the Aspire for a few things.