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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.
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So I got this weird bug – I updated my Pop_OS install and now Linux doesn't boot anymore. I should probably boot from USB and fix this. I could figure it out on my own, but maybe it will be good knowledge for people searching on engines so any advice is welcome. Windows still boots properly. Let's give people some alternatives to reddit :)
My common solution to boot issues that lock me out is,
Get a USB Live distro (always good to have a backup lying around)
Boot into live distro
Chroot into the broken distro (Arch wiki has an article on this)
Fix any bugs that I can find and/or reinstall the bootloader
Test, repeat until the problem has been found and fixed
Hope it helps any newcomers!
you don't have to follow a wiki anymore; there are distro's out there that specialize in repairing broken bootloaders using a point-and-click interface and they're great if you're as lazy as i am. lol
I'd add :
This may work in 99% of the cases, but not in my situation since I've tried 5 distros and none of them boot. I'm pretty sure there are deeper issues, but they are clearly beyond my level of knowledge.
Popos also has specific guides for these common errors:
https://support.system76.com/articles/bootloader