this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
546 points (94.6% liked)

Linux

48364 readers
626 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

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I was using Windows for a long time, from 95, XP, 7 and 10. Games just worked out fine, software that I needed I pirated. But I was annoyed from updates, (cannot turn off MY pc, just update and turn off option) bing, fokin bing and oh the best - F1 binded to it.

On parent’s pc is 7 still installed lol, not gonna change soon, anyway, my old laptop(server since 2017) wasn’t working properly with win, so only option to save it was Linux. Ubuntu was my choice in few years back, That was the moment I discovered open source software (head exploding image).

Recently i switched my main computer into PopOs, since I worked on it I was ,,scared,, to do it, because of some windows specific software. (I’m still able to boot into win, I kept it for some programs that I need once per year).

But I will never go back to windows as a main. First month was little bit stressful, configuring things and getting used to new workflows, but it is just a pleasure to use. No annoying popups, no preinstalled spyware, no stress related to running unknown .exe files, no bing. I just went from small dark closed box to a nice huge green open(source) forest..

Everything just works. If not, I still can fix it (mostly). I’ve got better with security, I understand more how things works generally. I found my peace in getting to know more how things works, not just guessing what it can do and never actually find out.

So if there is some one that is disgusted with how windows pc works, and is still using it, just switch it for Linux. Just do it, it will bring joy into using your machine as you need to and want to.

Just wanted to say this…

…and share the software, you’ll be free… https://youtu.be/9sJUDx7iEJw

(page 2) 42 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] PZK@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

I have been enjoying pop os. A lot more plug and play than I was expecting.

[–] DarkenLM@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The only thing currently stopping me from using *nix as my main OS is the fact that my wireless card does not work with linux distros, and the graphics driver sometimes decides to commit Seppuku.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Presi300@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Switched like 2 almost 3 years ago now, was rough at 1st but once I got used to it, I never looked back

[–] Simplesyrup@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Still dule booting win and Ubuntu but ony using Windows for Vr, most of my gaming and time is spent on Ubuntu, best switch I've ever done, really makes you love your PC so much more <3 Linux

[–] warmaster@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What software do you need that you keep Windows alive for?

[–] yanutta@mastodonapp.uk 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@warmaster @BigChungus am thinking of ditching windows for Linux based, maybe kubuntu distro..??

[–] warmaster@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Best advice I can give you is don't take advice. There's a perfect distro for you, but only you know what you like, and you have preferences that you aren't even aware of, so... you need to walk that path on your own to find your perfect distro.

Best you can do with the recommendations is put them on a list of distros to try and settle for nothing. Try them all, you'll fall in love with one of them. If you like two, find out how to add those features you like to the other one, the easiest wins.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] crac_roc@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Great! Congrats on hopping from windows to linux. now the distro hopping begins.

[–] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 1 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/9sJUDx7iEJw

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] davetansley@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's interesting how far Linux desktop has progressed recently... I don't hate Windows, in fact I think it's a great OS for most purposes. But I happened to try Linux Mint a few years ago in a fit of pique about being excluded from the Win11 upgrade for spurious reasons... and it just kind of stuck.

Two years later and I am full on Linux now. Don't even have a Windows partition (though I do keep a VM). And I'm about to buy a new laptop that I intend to buy without an OS, it will never be touched by Windows, there's just no need.

For my purposes, Linux does everything now. OS, software, the games I want to play... I never even think about it. Also, everywhere I look, I see Linux - my Steamdeck, my MiSTer, my Pis, my Miyoo Mini. It's everywhere...

[–] nexussapphire@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your not missing much with window 11. It's like moving from a toxic relationship to an abusive one. Your constantly second guessing yourself on what your still allowed to do on it while you question if you actually own the os you spent $200 on.

[–] davetansley@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I use it for work. Other than having to think for a second to find weirdly hidden menu items, it's fine. At least for my purposes, as a .NET dev. One thing I love about it is Windows Sandbox... really wish Linux would could up something similar.

[–] Anemervi@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

As far as I'm aware WS is pretty close to what you get by just using virtalbox (with an easier setup) so you could do that on Linux. With Linux you also have more advanced solutions though like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qubes_OS

[–] tool@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

really wish Linux would could up something similar.

I mean, it kinda already exists. Just run it in a Docker container and remap the users in the container to non-existent uids/gids on the host.

[–] Limit@lemm.ee -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I get it for personal or even business use on a small scale is great. I use Linux daily, I'm a sysadmin and manage windows and Linux servers. My main desktop is windows. I'm considering switching my home pc over to Linux again since generally (from what I hear) gaming works mostly and that was what used to always bring me back to windows. Now I don't really game that much anymore anyway so it may not even really matter that much for me.

But for a business that has hundreds or thousands of user devices that they need to secure, configure, meet compliance, etc, how would they do that with a Linux distribution? Microsoft has active directory and group policy to manage this kind of thing (and now moving toward AAD and intune to manage device configuration) but I have yet to see any kind of Linux desktop distribution that has a central configuration management, patch management and security management. Sure you can configure it to auto update and send it out hoping for the best, but what happens when a device stops checking in, or the VPN client breaks, or there is some software we need to push out to all our users immediately? What choice do we have?

[–] lukas@lemmy.haigner.me 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes, it's possible to deploy Linux in enterprise. Google even develops ChromeOS for that purpose, deploys Chromebooks in-house, and sells Chromebooks. Heck, you can enroll your Linux boxes into Active Directory with SSSD if you want to. You can use pull-based configuration management tools to configure workstations. Albeit rare, there're MDM solutions similar to Windows ones with Linux support, such as Kolide and Scalefusion. I agree that the Windows sysadmin experience is seamless if you fit into Microsoft's model, compared to Linux. Linux sysadmins must know how to write scripts to bridge the gap. Although I suspect the Microsoft experience will get worse as Microsoft deprecates older solutions in favor of Azure.

[–] ndsvw@feddit.de -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Switched from MacOS to Debian (with KDE Plasma UI) a year ago. Best decision ever.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works -5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If your parents don't have any Windows specific software, you can quietly switch their PC to Linux.

Use Linux Mint Cinnamon, as it is really close to Win 7 interface, and they got one of the best out-of-box experience as well as hardware support (especially for aging devices).

You can either tell them you installed a new theme, or you can have a theme that mimics Windows 7. In my case, I opted for the latter, fooling a friend who needed to use it in the process.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›