Newbie trying to install 18.04.1 LTS

[Thomas00]

...One very strong recommendation is to make a SWAP partition. Your 2GIG of RAM needs some help, so having a 2GB SWAP partition on disk will help with memory management...

Why? Given that for Newbies we want to keep it simple, are there any issues with the swap file?

“For new installs, a swap file will be used by default instead of a swap partition”
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BionicBeaver...ince_16.04_LTS

[MadMage999]

Why? Given that for Newbies we want to keep it simple, are there any issues with the swap file?

“For new installs, a swap file will be used by default instead of a swap partition”
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BionicBeaver...ince_16.04_LTS

Because your ram is pretty small, the swap partition acts as additional memory for the OS to shuffle things to as needed. Windows uses a swap file to do the same thing.

--EDIT-- In windows it's called a pagefile, sorry. Same thing.

[Thomas00]

Understood, and like Windows, Ubuntu now creates a pagefile as well which is why I would say you don’t need a swap partition.

[MadMage999]

Ah, I see. I hadn't seen or heard that before. Thanks for pointing that out.

[GreyGeek]

I don't agree that the filesystem btrfs is for beginners or casual users. I'd stick with vanilla-flavored, standard ext4. There's only a few people here who can help with btrfs.

But then beginners would have to wrap their heads around tar or zip or rsync or trust TimeShift or Bacula. Isn't that the Windows black box approach? Install a program and click a button without understanding what is going wrong or knowing how to fix it if something does go wrong?

I'm 77 and according to most medical sites my brain has lost 10-15% of its peak volume and I'm losing a neuron per second, 31 million per year. I reached 33 Billion neurons when I was 28 but lately I've been feeling like the HAL 9000 as his memory core is being yanked. My memory is so bad I keep a sheet of BTFS commands on the wall next to my computer so I can consult them every time I do BTRFS maintenance work.

Doesn't learning how to install Linux take some effort and learning if you do it yourself? No one was born knowing how to burn an ISO, mount external drives, or how to use EXT4 backup tools. They had to learn how. Just installing TimeFrame doesn't give you instant knowledge. You still have to learn how to use it. Learning how to resize a partition or burn an ISO is more complicated than using BTRFS.

Besides, what's so bad about being able to backup your entire system in a few seconds, or restoring it to reverse a disaster in under 3 minutes, as apposed to putzing around for hours or days trying to recover a failed update or an installation of an NVidia driver that one took from site XYS instead of the repository? How many times have we seen 1st posts on this forum from folks who encountered such disasters and spent hours or days, or longer, trying to "fix" things? Sometimes they report that they even re-installed and got tripped up again by that or another disaster.

Am I going to continue to evangelize and spread the good news of BTRFS? You betcha! I want to save folks from the purgatory of EXT4. Hallelujah!

[GreyGeek]

Ah, I see. I hadn't seen or heard that before. Thanks for pointing that out.

One should also know that BTRFS does not use a swapfile or a pagefile, so if applications one installs on a BTRFS system want to use a swapfile the BTRFS user should create a swapfile PARTITION at least twice as big as their RAM +5%

[Qqmike]

GG;

re btrfs ... I think by now, we all understand the sales pitch in favor. Vinny put it best: Not fair to slip this into some unsuspecting new/casual user's system as if it were a routine, standard Kubuntu thing.

re brain cells: According to a recent article in Discover, there are proponents on both sides of the lose versus gain argument; however, yes, traditionally, the sing-song has been that we lose brain cells at a fast rate after a point. I don't know enough to argue, only that I skimmed that recent article and see there are serious advocates on both sides, though the jury is out on many issues. There may be hope! Just keeping one's fingers pounding a keyboard at this forum must be good, one would think, one would hope.

[Snowhog]

Just keeping one's fingers pounding a keyboard at this forum must be good, one would think, one would hope.

Infinite monkey theorem - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem
(I simply couldn't resist!)

[GreyGeek]

This monkey keeps pounding on the keyboard in the hope that it will in some way maintain, if not improve, my memory and my mind. So far, it doesn't seem to be working ...

[Snowhog]

This monkey keeps pounding on the keyboard in the hope that it will in some way maintain, if not improve, my memory and my mind. So far, it doesn't seem to be working ...

That's just the monkey talking. Ignore him.

[GreyGeek]

(At least he's not flinging feces!)

[vinnywright]

(At least he's not flinging feces!)

yet

VINNY

[GreyGeek]

He's studying the techniques of the master flingers!
This master flinger is both fast and accurate!

[Qqmike]

Keep typing. According to the theorem, ANY good story you wish to hear will emerge at some point. Hopefully, soon.

[Qqmike]

We are only here to entertain ourselves until the successful return of Marty0750.