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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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If you've no prior experience with Linux, I'd say just try using it. For the average computer user, the overall experience will be very similar to Windows or Mac.
Go easy on yourself, and don't try to do/learn everything all at once. Just use the system like you would any other. Once you're comfortable with the overall experience, you can then tackle more complex stuff if/when you feel the need.
Edit: Just wanted to add that Fedora, Linux Mint, and Ubuntu are all solid choices for beginners.
As in part of a review process?
Things like:
Installing software which isn't in a repository
This is a massive one that's often overlooked. For example, I love Bazzite, but it's nigh impossible to install Private Internet Access's client on it. On the other hand, installing the VPN my work requires is trivially easy, but you'd have to build it manually for any non-RPM-based distro.
It sounds as you want to evaluate different Linux Distributions.
DE/GUI is a good one, terminal commands is a bit useless since the vast majority of Linux systems use Bash as default.
This is what I would look into on a new distro:
UI - What DE or WM is it using, what is the default config like, and try to learn from that. How is the terminal prompt configured (the default Ubuntu and Debian prompts are terrible, I allways change them)
Package Manager - how does it work, what software is available?
Unique software - Does the distribution include some tools, applications or games I haven't heard about? If so, what do they do, and how do they work.
This gives me a feel for the distribution and how to use it.
I disagree that the UI/DE/WM is a good way to evaluate a distro. One could make any distro look and feel like any other.
In my opinion one should look primarily at three factors:
From there just choose either Debian or Arch and install the UI you want with the DE/WM
You are technically correct (I know) but I would argue that distros that come with a certain DE usually have their experience built into it. Sure you can install gnome in kde neon but don’t expect anything to work, if it does it’s mostly by accident.
This is true for distros that cater to “simple” users that want to install and be productive of course, not for those like Debian or arch which cater to users who want to build their own experience.
Also check hardware support.
Doesn't that solely depend on how new the included kernel is?
Please notice that I spoke about the configuration of the DE/VM, I have learned a lot about DE/VM confug from looking at different distros
I'd say it depends if you are a technical user or not.
I agree on the package manager. I got so used to rpm style from SuSE that I have a hard time with Debian based systems.
How do you like Manjaro? I am on normal arch with kde and I love it. Manjaro's own repos scare me.
@ccdfa
I like it quite a bit. I've been using it for about 2 years; one machine as a every day work station that I use for everything and a laptop with a cracked screen that I use as my Jellyfin server. I have no issues at all with the repos but that is the one area I know the least about. Since you mentioned it, I think I do some learning this week.
Nice! Good luck!
As well as the package manager (and release type/schedule as mentioned in a different reply) you might want to look at the overall structure.
Does the distro use selinux or app armor (you probably want at least one)? Does it follow traditional distro structure like Ubuntu/Debian or is it weird like atomic (ex Silverblue) or declarative (ex Nixos) distro? Is it a minimalist distro (Arch is the big modern one) it maximalist (Suse)? Those kinds of things can also be informative.
While it's a bit off topic regarding the question, if you want a quick glimpse of what's out there, try https://distrosea.com/
I actually use it
Sweet! Although I do wish they could expand the access, at least give read-write access even if it is only for that session.
First and foremost, that my hardware peripherals work with it (wifi card, camera, bt stuff if you have it...) - if not (and hope you don't nor would be frustrated by it happens), that there's a way to make it work
Naaah... you know enough by now. Just try to replace Windows from your friends' PCs with Linux. And tell them to do the same soon too.
Unfortunately it won't work , everybody I know run apps that isn't available on Linux. .. I know alternatives exist but it's not enough for everybody , especially college students who are training on important apps in their feilds.
It depends on your goals with linux.
If your goals are on devops, you may find a good idea learn about docker, ansible and other tools to make your life easier. If you're a home user, maybe it's a good idea try flatpaks, for example. And there is much more, but you need to define your goals.
“If you don't know where you want to go, then it doesn't matter which path you take.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Terminal stuff. I change from bash to fish and love fish. Although I believe it's not posix compliant or something
I know bash but what is fish ?
It's a other shell, like zsh or bash. I like that by default, it comes with a lot of nice functionalities.
Spin up a VM in the distro of your choice and try to install everything you might need or want (like VPN clients, remote desktop software, gaming platforms, video production stuff, etc.). See if you can do everything you need, and highlight any problem areas to see if you need to explore alternatives or if there's things you can live without.
The DE is pretty surface level, these days, since they all work pretty well for most people, and the terminal apps are pretty standardized. Focus on how you might use your computer from day to day.
Try in what way?
Couple of things that might be useful:
I would recommend against Manjaro for messing with the Arch packages & other weird decisions that anger that community, Fedora for not having LTS kernels, & sadly base Debian for desktop with the apps often being stable but way out of date.
Most distros operate about the same as far as software & will as a result likely feel more or less the same. The biggest exceptions are how GuixOS & NixOS do declarative, stateless config symlinking in config/executables from the store. If you wanna get into dev, these will force you into the right mindset & are worth checking eut, but will definitely be too cumbersome for someone that isn’t committing the steeper learning curve & ‘just wants to run things’.
things that differ between distros, because everyone thinks they can do it better than others: multimedia and sound, firewall config, service management, different init systems, switching default when multiple packages provide the same feature and are installed in parallel, config file migration during updates, making and installing your own custom kernel, selection of free games available.
So pretty much everything. That's the beauty and the plight of Linux, because there are so many variations of pretty much everything.
Try doing everything you would normally do with a computer and see how you would do it on linux.
If so , then I feel at home in Linux
If you mean for picking which distro you like, assuming you don't want something unique like qubes or nixos the only thing that really matters is DE and package manager, everything else you can install/uninstall as you see fit (if you really want to you can change the DE yourself too)
Every Debian based distro is the same operating system underneath with different stuff installed, every redhat based system is the same story
That said certain distros come with a lot more pre installed that you probably want (for example the zip command)
Do you have a couple of machines or is your pc pretty good. Get into containerisation VMS, docker start running some self hosted services.
Ask an LLM this
You mean AI ? I rarely use it
AI is a broad term that is mostly marketing fluff. I am talking about a language model you can run locally.
You can install Alpaca which is now an official gnome app and then download the Mistral model. Once it downloads you can ask it things about what to do with the OS. It all runs local so you need enough ram and storage. 8gb of ram and then a few gigs of storage
I'm indeed open to the idea if it's locally hosted but ollama isn't available in my country... I'll search if there's a LLM that isn't an ollama fork
Ollama is run locally. It can be available in any country
I know, but won't I need to download the models in the app in order to run it locally ?
Yes but that's pretty minor. You can just run ollama pull
spin up a vm with i3wm and rice the shit out of it