Linux

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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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Linux for the Airheaded Layman? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have tried to learn Linux for ages, and have experimented with installing Arch and Ubuntu. Usually something goes wrong when I try to set up a desktop environment after installing Arch in VirtualBox. KDE gave me a problem where I couldn't log in after getting to the point where my username was displayed in a similar format to how it is for Windows. My end use case is to help keep my workflow more organized than haphazardly throwing files somewhere on my desktop or in a folder nested somewhere that I'll just inevitably lose :(

Somehow after all this time, I feel like I actually understand less about my computer and what I need to understand regarding its facets. Is it an unrealistic goal to want to eventually run a computer with coreboot and a more cybersecurity heavy emphasis? I'm still a noob at this and any advice would be appreciated!

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[–] fubo 2 points 1 year ago

I've been using GNU/Linux and similar systems on-and-off since the late '90s. I have no patience for debugging driver problems or anything else anymore.

I'm typing this on a desktop running Pop!_OS ... where I have spent exactly no time debugging driver problems or anything else.

It just freakin' works.

Mind you, my use case is pretty straightforward. The software I use is pretty much:

A web browser (currently Chrome)
A terminal, in which I run vim, a MUD client, coding tools for Python and Go, etc.
Signal Desktop
Steam, including Windows games via Proton & WINE
Transmission and VLC for "arrr" purposes.

Full-disk encryption just works out of the box. Steam games are sometimes a little hinky and I have to pull out my old Unix knowledge and run commands like killall pressure-vessel to shut down borked Steam stuff.

Here are some things I never do:

Compile my own kernel (or any other code I'm not working on personally — I compile my own keyboard firmware, but that's because I build my own keyboards)
Read system logs
Care about which desktop environment, window manager, etc. I'm using