Update your computer!

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AvengerZap
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by AvengerZap »

:lol: True, when I used windows earlier, would pray that nothing would break when a new update installs. In Linux each update improves something (which is what updates are meant for :wink: )
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by HaveaMint »

Thanks for the hard work and great product Mint Team!
"Tune for maximum Smoke and then read the Instructions".
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by Cubby »

Don't think so on cellular data here out in the country. It would go like that. Yeah, normally I would (using Linux Mint 20 XFCE desktop), but the past year we haven't been able to visit my husband's Dad who has fast cable wifi connection. Our library would be another option, but I can't afford to replace my dead laptop battery at the moment, and they are still in lockdown mode, with parking lot vicinity wifi, so will have to stay with 20 release for now.
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by AZgl1800 »

Cubby wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:25 pm Don't think so on cellular data here out in the country. It would go like that. Yeah, normally I would (using Linux Mint 20 XFCE desktop), but the past year we haven't been able to visit my husband's Dad who has fast cable wifi connection. Our library would be another option, but I can't afford to replace my dead laptop battery at the moment, and they are still in lockdown mode, with parking lot vicinity wifi, so will have to stay with 20 release for now.

yeah,
Windows breaks my daughter's Win10 every time it runs....

all we have, and are grateful to even have it, is Wireless Hotspots with minimal data/month...
screw their updates, they are useless, if it ain't broke, don't be breaking it, by updating it.
I have Win10 Updates disabled on both of our laptops.

Mine is used for Tax purposes once a year, hers is used in her business... sigh, in ACCESS, so she can't use Linux.
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Cubby
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by Cubby »

AZgl1500 wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:21 pm
Cubby wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:25 pm Don't think so on cellular data here out in the country. It would go like that. Yeah, normally I would (using Linux Mint 20 XFCE desktop), but the past year we haven't been able to visit my husband's Dad who has fast cable wifi connection. Our library would be another option, but I can't afford to replace my dead laptop battery at the moment, and they are still in lockdown mode, with parking lot vicinity wifi, so will have to stay with 20 release for now.

yeah,
Windows breaks my daughter's Win10 every time it runs....

all we have, and are grateful to even have it, is Wireless Hotspots with minimal data/month...
screw their updates, they are useless, if it ain't broke, don't be breaking it, by updating it.
I have Win10 Updates disabled on both of our laptops.

Mine is used for Tax purposes once a year, hers is used in her business... sigh, in ACCESS, so she can't use Linux.
Hi AZgl1500,
My husband never updates his laptop if he can help it. He uses Mint XFCE and as you says if it ain't broke, don't fix it. He's had no problems with it and is thankful for the long term release periods. He occasionally gets messages from certain websites that his browser is old and that he needs to update it. I have two used laptops and both have windows 10 on them. I've broken two hotspot devices while trying to do 10 updates. When I did them at the library my bum would get numb just wondering and waiting for the updates to download and then install. I finally found a way to disable updates for 10. Surprise, surprise when I found that both laptops ran normally instead of slow after doing so. I'm still somewhat reluctant to do updates even when I do have the fast wifi connection. I remember the day back in '07 when Firefox Mozilla suddenly needed nearly bi-weekly updates. What? And they would always say for security purposes. :roll:
Athlon 64 FX-57, Asus A8N-E, nForce4 chipset, video card NX8500GT GeForce, sound card bGears b-Enspirer w/ audio contlr: CMI8788 [Oxygen], 4G RAM, Sata WD hd 160G + 320G. Boot XP Pro nLite and a few other Linux distros.
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Moem
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by Moem »

Cubby wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:23 pm My husband never updates his laptop if he can help it. He uses Mint XFCE and as you says if it ain't broke, don't fix it. He's had no problems with it and is thankful for the long term release periods. He occasionally gets messages from certain websites that his browser is old and that he needs to update it.
That is... not smart. Developers don't bring out updates just because they're bored. Using an outdated browser is insecure.
In other words, it is 'broke' and he just doesn't know it.
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by Cubby »

Hi Moem,
I agree that they are not updating because they are bored. On the contrary, they are busy as bees.
My husband has updated his browser since then, especially as he couldn't use the current version for online banking.
Athlon 64 FX-57, Asus A8N-E, nForce4 chipset, video card NX8500GT GeForce, sound card bGears b-Enspirer w/ audio contlr: CMI8788 [Oxygen], 4G RAM, Sata WD hd 160G + 320G. Boot XP Pro nLite and a few other Linux distros.
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Moem
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by Moem »

Cubby wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:52 pm My husband has updated his browser since then, especially as he couldn't use the current version for online banking.
I'm glad to hear it!
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MurphCID
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by MurphCID »

Religiously updated. Every single time I boot, I check for updates.
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AZgl1800
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by AZgl1800 »

MurphCID wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 3:10 pm Religiously updated. Every single time I boot, I check for updates.
I have that handled by setting Update Manager to ONLY APPEAR if there are Updates, which it did just today.
it has been absent for about 3 weeks.



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GELvdH
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by GELvdH »

A couple of the comments hit the nail on the head, Windows users are reluctant to update because of the experience with Windows updates/upgrades. My experience with LM and the Clem crew has been nothing but favourable, if anyone is hesitant look at the experience of us who have been using LM for a while.
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by Tolayon »

My approach to that topic:

Web browsers and software like Flash Player - when the latter one was still a thing - I update pretty much immediately; the rest I let pile up until the total number of available updates reaches around 50, which to my experience is about every 2 months (hence I update at least Firefox more often, of which new versions come out every month). Once the rest has piled up sufficiently, I manually run timeshift and after that immediately update.

Some might say that the two-month interval ist too long and I should at least apply updates every month. But so far nothing went wrong and I basically never need to revert my system via timeshift. Which is great, when you consider that these updates also include critical components like the kernel, systemd, and sometimes also grub and/ or xorg, which can cause serious problems when something goes wrong with either one.

Now on more rolling-relase oriented distros things look different; if I ever were to run something Arch-based, I would go either weekly or every other week (which in Arch terms sometimes can already be critical, I mean the two-week interval).
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Moem
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by Moem »

Tolayon wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:54 am Some might say that the two-month interval ist too long and I should at least apply updates every month. But so far nothing went wrong and I basically never need to revert my system via timeshift.
I update everything the same day the notification arrives, since years, and I have never needed to use Timeshift at all.
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Lady Fitzgerald
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by Lady Fitzgerald »

Moem wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 11:08 am
Tolayon wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:54 am Some might say that the two-month interval ist too long and I should at least apply updates every month. But so far nothing went wrong and I basically never need to revert my system via timeshift.
I update everything the same day the notification arrives, since years, and I have never needed to use Timeshift at all.
I've had to use Timeshift many times but I do not recall ever using it to correct an update.
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by cliffcoggin »

Tolayon wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:54 am My approach to that topic:

the rest I let pile up until the total number of available updates reaches around 50, which to my experience is about every 2 months
I am curious to know your reasons for delaying updates when they are so quick and easy to install.
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by DPM »

I have a user in my family whom I installed Mint for. He usually forgets to update despite the tray icon, and everytime I'm there, there's a ton of updates piled up. So we agreed that it makes sense to just have Mint update itself fully automatically every day, with Timeshift properly set up in case something should go wrong. That's what I like - you can configure Mint to auto-update, but it's your free choice.

On my own machine, I just don't want automatic updates, but I have the update manager configured to check once per day, and then I apply the updates.
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by AZgl1800 »

DPM wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 4:29 pm I have a user in my family whom I installed Mint for. He usually forgets to update despite the tray icon, and everytime I'm there, there's a ton of updates piled up. So we agreed that it makes sense to just have Mint update itself fully automatically every day, with Timeshift properly set up in case something should go wrong. That's what I like - you can configure Mint to auto-update, but it's your free choice.

On my own machine, I just don't want automatic updates, but I have the update manager configured to check once per day, and then I apply the updates.
On my 18.3 laptop, Update manager is set to AutoUpdate, and Timeshift is there as a 'ah crap' repair solution.... never needed to repair any updates. ( looks like this will have to be moved to 20.x someday )

on my current daily driver, 19.3 Cinnamon, I defaulted back to looking to see what is going on, and accepting everything displayed... Timeshift is a backup in case something goes wrong, so far, it is just an Insurance Policy.
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by Cassandra »

MurphCID wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 3:10 pm Religiously updated.
Isn't that the modus operandi for updating MS Windows?
You know, click to install the 'update', and then pray that it doesn't break anything? :wink:

I personally have set the Update Manager on my Mint machine to notify me whenever an update is available.
So far, I have applied each update as soon as I have seen it, and have not yet had any problems (thank Cthulhu!).

But: I am only a 'basic user' - a total newbie who has zero coding skills; I haven't started experimenting with my system, or creating my own customisations of it.
I appreciate that, for the more-expert users who understand Linux well, and not only know how to do those things but actually enjoy doing them, it might not be appropriate to just apply every update as soon as it arrives.

One of the things that I love about Linux is that it is explicitly designed in such a way that the expert user can 'tinker around under the hood' of the system.
And I love Mint because it's also really user-friendly for 'clueless' people, such as me :D
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by Glamtrains »

With some distro's, it can be a bit risky to just update, as they run at the bleeding edge. Mint, however, always intentionally lags behind as they generally don't release updates unless rather extensive testing was done. Over the past two decades, I only once got my Mint Cinnamon broken through updates. With Xfce, my luck ran out when an update killed the .ICE file(s) and I had to reinstall.

Mint generally can be trusted and I usually set my system to auto-update, checking for updates every half an hour or so. I do that so as not to miss out on browser updates, as I run three of them - and a browser is an attack vector nowadays more than the system itself. I have had less luck with some Arch-based distros, as some of them were prone to boot into a black screen after updates, especially Manjaro KDE but also others such as RebornOS, to mention but one. I also had trouble with the Ubuntu-ish distros, as they run on newer kernels than Mint usually does. And newer kernels mean less testing prior to release.

I am more wary of some desktop environments and I decided to avoid the eye candy KDE, due to trouble it had brought to my door. Mint Cinnamon is light and fast, stable, reliable, dependable, predictable - it is like a Toyota Camry. It will neither excite nor disappoint.
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AZgl1800
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Re: Update your computer!

Post by AZgl1800 »

Glamtrains wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 11:32 am
I am more wary of some desktop environments and I decided to avoid the eye candy KDE, due to trouble it had brought to my door. Mint Cinnamon is light and fast, stable, reliable, dependable, predictable - it is like a Toyota Camry. It will neither excite nor disappoint.
I agree,
I use Mint Cinnamon exclusively, and no other distro.

I have never had a problem with a crash:
the crashes that I have invoked were my doing.

and I use TimeShift to back me up to yesterday, once every 24 hours is enough for me.
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