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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Where, and when, did you start using Linux? Where are you now? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I started fairly recently (probably somewhere between nine and seven years ago; time isn’t my strong suit, cut me some slack) on Debian. Now I’m on Arch Linux.

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[–] harsh3466 1 points 10 months ago

I’ve dabbled with Linux here annd there since 1999 when I installed Caldera Open Linux 2.2 on a pos desktop I had at the time.

Caldera ran pretty well on that machine for about six months, until the machine up and died. IIRC, the motherboard fried.

My next foray was around 2007ish when I had a dell laptop that was struggling to run windows. I was also interested in tinkering, so I installed Ubuntu for the first time. I think it was Hardy Heron (8.04).

I ran that for a good year or so, until the charging port on the laptop took a shit, but I didn’t really get deep into Linux. I just used it for general computing.

My next computer was a MacBook Pro 2009 13”. This began a long relationship with Macs and macOS that continues to this day, though I am far less enamored of Apple and macOS now than I was in the past.

What was great about Macs and osx/macos over that period was that by and large it did what Apple promised. It just worked. The hardware was powerful and reliable, and the software let me get my work done (photo and video production), and so I had no desire to use anything else.

During this time period I also built a windows pc dedicated to live streaming as part of my production work, which is relevant, because about four years ago, right before the pandemic hit, I quit photo and video production.

So I had this pc sitting around, and I once again decided it was time to give Linux a spin, and now I’m all in. For three years running, that pc has been my home server running Ubuntu (just updated it to 22.04). With that server I’ve really been learning about Linux, and it’s been a lot of fun.

I’d love to put Asahi on the m1 Mac mini that is our main household computer, but my wife wouldn’t be too happy with me if I did that, so I’m still using macOS. I spend a lot of time at the terminal, often working on the server over ssh, but also just working with my files locally.

Since macOS is bsd based I’ve run across a number of cli tools that work just different enough from their Linux counterparts. I found that frustrating and confusing, and decided I wanted consistency in my cli tools. Since I can’t install Asahi, I found Multipass and installed that on the Mac mini. So now I have an Ubuntu vm with my pertinent local drives mounted to give me a consistent experience with shell whether I’m working on the server or working on the Mac.