Linux

47955 readers

1153 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

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

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

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Linux and being speedy (self.linux)

submitted 3 months ago by Tekkip20 to c/[email protected]

44 comments fedilink hide all child comments

After doing some google-fu, I've been puzzled further as to how the finnish man has done it.

What I mean is, Linux is widely known and praised for being more efficient and lighter on resources than the greasy obese N.T. slog that is Windows 10/11

To the big brained ones out there, was this because the Linux Kernel more "stripped down" than a Windows bases kernel? Removing bits of bloated code that could affect speed and operations?

I'm no OS expert or comp sci graduate, but I'm guessing it has a better handle of processes, the CPU tasks it gets given and "more refined programming" under the hood?

If I remember rightly, Linux was more a server/enterprise OS first than before shipping with desktop approaches hence it's used in a lot of institutions and educational sectors due to it being efficient as a server OS.

Hell, despite GNOME and Ubuntu getting flak for being chubby RAM hog bois, they're still snappier than Windows 11.

MacOS? I mean, it's snappy because it's a descendant of UNIX which sorta bled to Linux.

Maybe that's why? All of the snappiness and concepts were taken out of the UNIX playbook in designing a kernel and OS that isn't a fat RAM hog that gobbles your system resources the minute you wake it up.

I apologise in advance for any possible techno gibberish but I would really like to know the "Linux is faster than a speeding bullet" phenomenon.

Cheers!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Eheran 3 points 3 months ago (3 children)

If there is free RAM, is there a reason not to use it?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Well, true up to the point where the OS itself uses up most of the available RAM just for basic processes (like tracking and reporting the users' data to the manufacturer's data centre).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

A few versions back Windows started profiling app loading after startup so that it could pre-load the apps most frequently used after startup into cached memory, along with linked libraries. It drastically improved app startup time.

People lost their minds. "I just rebooted and the free memory is already down to <some small number>." Online experts loudly bemoaned the bloat to drive views. They showed people how to disable it so that there was more free RAM after boot. 🤦

Microsoft does a lot of dumb things, but that wasn't one of them.

[–] Eheran 1 points 3 months ago

But mah free RAM!! That's what makes my computer good, right?!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yes, caches. Lots of caches.