Hello,
I would like to suggest a useful improvement for “Try Zorin OS” live mode in Zorin OS 18 Core.
I practically verified that in the live session started from the installation USB, without installing the system to the internal drive, Timeshift is not available. It is not present in the application menu, it cannot be found in Software, and I was also unable to locate it using commands such as find or apt search timeshift.
In the installed version of Zorin OS 18 Core, Timeshift is available in the repository as an APT package. However, it is not available in the “Try Zorin OS” live session.
From the point of view of an ordinary user, this is unfortunate, because the live system cannot then be used easily for restoring a damaged system from a Timeshift snapshot.
Live mode is especially important when the system no longer boots after a crash, a failed update, or a problematic upgrade. In such a situation, it would be very useful to be able to launch Timeshift directly from the live environment and restore the system to a previous working state.
In Linux Mint Cinnamon, in my experience, Timeshift is directly available in the live session, and this is very practical for system recovery.
Therefore, I would like to suggest:
adding Timeshift directly to “Try Zorin OS”
or at least making it easy to use in the live session without complicated manual installation
or possibly adding a visible restore from snapshot option to the live environment
I think this would be a very useful feature, especially for home users and beginners, who are an important part of the Zorin OS target audience.
Thank you, yes, this solution works, and I have practically verified that running sudo apt update and then installing timeshift in the live session does indeed work.
However, my suggestion is aimed more at the convenience of ordinary users and beginners. They will usually first look for the needed application in the app menu or in Software. Only if they cannot find it there will they start looking for help elsewhere. Without specific guidance, most regular users will not discover that they first need to run sudo apt update and then manually install Timeshift.
That is why I think it would be useful to have Timeshift directly available in the live session, or at least made much more readily accessible. In a situation where the user is dealing with a broken system, having this application immediately available can significantly reduce the time needed to restore the system to a working state.
Timeshift, even if included in the ISO, if run from a LiveUSB session only has a reference point of that LiveUSB session.
It cannot meaningfully restore a snapshot in that state, since it expects the proper filesystem with /etc//usr//var...
So a user using the LiveUSB with Timeshift installed would still need to navigate a series of tricky hoops to perform a restoration.
Since Timeshift is configured to the storage location, the user must manually insert that path for the LiveUSB application - as well as mount that partition or drive manually, as well.
Can it be done? Yes, Mint has done it - albeit with a few faults. It is a general helpful failsafe, even if imperfect. And Mint needed to rather deeply integrate it for it to work.
Interesting. Where it works really well is if you endeavour to partition your drive with a separate '/home'. I store my snapshots in /home so that if the system goes west I put a live copy of LM in the DVD burner and restore '/'.
I keep my number of snapshots to a maximum of three.
I have today used a live USB to install Zorin 18 to a new PC, then installed timeshift during a live USB environment, directed it to my storage drive where my snapshots are this restored my Zorin 18 to the new PC
You are experienced and I agree that adds to ease. For many new migrants - that is not so easy.
Also, configurations must exactly match. In your case, clearly they did so you had no problems. This is not always the case... quite often there will be a mismatch due to the LiveUSB loading environment, even if not always - even if you did not experience that.
Further, it grows far more complex when we factor in whether the user installed Zorin OS but used BRTFS. Or opted into the Full Disk Encryption.
Or if the reason that the snapshot restoration was needed was due to disk failure.
