this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
22 points (76.2% liked)
Linux
48328 readers
78 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
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
As others have said, Ubuntu is great for non-technical users. The only issue I could forsee is drivers. Apt loves to brick itself after 1 mistake. Since apt lags behind it may not support new hardware, forcing you to download drivers elsewhere, which is a recipe for disaster.
apt doesnt lag behind. The software packagers for whatever software you're looking for are lagging behind.
Drivers are packaged with the kernel. The kernel doesn't update between Ubuntu and Debian major releases.
What? Modules (drivers) are absolutely updated all the time. What do you mean between major versions? Of the distro or the kernel? The distros generally choose a specific kernel (lts or otherwise) for their release cycle, but to think it's static or that backports isn't a thing isn't true.
This is all from the POV of a person who just installs Ubuntu and expects it to work. So yes. I meant major releases of the distro and I assumed they weren't going to fuss with backports.
I figured modules that already exist in the kernel would be updated, but I've seen new modules added in later versions of the kernel. And since distro releases seem to stick with a specific kernel version, you would need to completely update your distro to get that support.
Genuinely curious since I haven't used Debian-based distros in a while, I always thought new modules are installed via the l
inux-kernel
package. Are kernel modules installed separately?