this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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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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An interesting trend graph of the most diffused distros and their adoption by users over time.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (15 children)

Pop is stagnant while they work on Cosmic. I'm one of the people who left because of that.

[–] mmstick 25 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I am still actively maintaining Pop!_OS. COSMIC has not changed that aspect of my job. Just within the last week I packaged Linux 6.6.8, Mesa 23.3.2, Just 1.22, Rust 1.75.0, and updated Popsicle's dependencies to fix a bindgen build error with recent versions of Clang. We have a systemd update that was packaged today, and I'll be doing another linux-firmware backport soon. So I don't understand why you'd think it is stagnant. We're even shipping Pipewire 1.0.0 by default, which Ubuntu hasn't yet done in the latest version. People usually complain that we update too often.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

You dropped this 👑

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Stagnant was probably the wrong choice of word. Perhaps "stable" (in the Debian sense) would be more apt, and that isn't for everybody. I think you will see a HUGE influx once Cosmic launches.

[–] mmstick 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

It's not stable in the Debian sense. We've always had rolling release updates for the system base; and people often complain about regressions in Linux, Pipewire, Mesa, and NVIDIA updates. I get them packaged shortly after they're released. As long as they pass QA tests in the System76 hardware lab, they get released within a week.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Well, there must still be a reason that people are going to other distros... I don't think Pop has any inherent problems (unlike Manjaro for example) so perhaps the average user (counting myself in there) simply considers those under-the-hood changes less appealing than new GUI stuff, especially when the demographic is gamers. Things like Cosmic's improved tiling and the built-in theming support will be a major attraction, I think.

[–] mmstick 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

You are misunderstanding the data. It is not the number of users, but a percent of posts to ProtonDB, which only applies to PC gamers. There can be a disproportionately larger number of reports from those who need to spend time tweaking their system as opposed to using it, or that are particularly vocal about sharing their tweaks.

The total number of users playing games on Linux is rising each year. Pop!_OS was the first OS that a lot of people tried a few years ago, and so you'll see a lot more diversity in choice now. People who are new to Linux, yet particularly heavily invested in it, tend to like to try out a lot of different distributions in the following years.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

What you said makes sense. It is like that metaphor with the planes and bullet holes you know?

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