this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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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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stolen from linux memes at Deltachat

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[–] turbowafflz@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I had a friend who wanted to try linux but insisted on arch because it's what I used at the time even though I said they shouldn't and gave many suggestions for better distros. They gave up after about a day and went back to windows. I don't know what they expected, multiple people warned them not to use arch.

[–] Vegoon@feddit.de 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

multiple people warned them not to use arch.

My IT Bros said the same back when I had to choose W10 or Linux, they haven't used arch and I had 0 Linux experience. I messed up every single step of the installation to a point where I knew from the problems I created what I did wrong. After many tries and a week later I had a working installation with dual boot. Never used windows and removed it a year later. It was rough but I learned how to recover from most errors a user can create.

If learning is the goal arch and arch-wiki is great.

[–] racsol@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's right. It's a great recommendation for learning about Linux.

For anyone who needs something that just works, there's a lot better options.

[–] s38b35M5@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I've been off windows for a long time, and when I was forced to use it, it was enterprise, locked down and stripped by knowledgeable IT teams.

Yesterday, I had my first exposure to Win 11 S mode. What a piece of crap. Not just the way its locked down, but the incessant Onedrive ads, broken settings app with missing features, AI buzzword addons, sloppy UI and general lack of control over your own computer.

Recommending my friend install Linux ASAP with my support. Nobody should have to endure that much cruft and garbage on their owned computer. They can't even install software outside of the MS store? Gross.

[–] turbowafflz@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Oh yeah no I was not at all saying windows was better, I was just saying arch was definitely not a good distribution for beginners and it was weird how one just insisted on using it. I use arch on my laptop and opensuse tumbleweed on my desktop and have not used windows for anything serious in years because it is so unbearable.

[–] s38b35M5@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I understood you weren't advocating for Windows (as an Arch user? The very idea!), but your mention of your friend returning to Windows got me thinking about my friends laptop and how icky it felt.

Glad there are fewer and fewer barriers to using Linux full time these days.

[–] derpgon@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Should've recommended Arch-based distro like Manjaro. It's Arch, and you don't need to use TTY for installation. And they can claim they use Arch btw.

[–] turbowafflz@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

I actually recommended endeavor as an option if I remember correctly but they wouldn't try it

[–] ultra@feddit.ro 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Manjaro has some issues, endeavourOS is better

[–] derpgon@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ive been using Manjaro for 5 years now, I'll try Endevour when I upgrade my laptop. Thanks for the tip!

[–] d0ntpan1c@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 year ago

I'm switching from manjaro to endeavour atm, and i am liking endeavour a lot. I kept having issues with manjaro boot after every kernel update, but otherwise didnt mind it. Probably whatever manjaros build chain for boot is just wasn't working with my hardware, but also the attitude on the forum is that you are stupid if you have to roll the kernel back.

Endeavour really just provides you arch with some maintenance utilities and otherwise lets you do your thing.

No more firefox home page getting constantly reset to the manajro home page so they can market you their laptop partnerships either 😉

[–] oktupol@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love Arch but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. In my eyes, the only way one should choose Arch is despite all warnings against it, because they feel confident enough to deal with all the problems they encounter.

[–] turbowafflz@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Honestly I've had so little trouble with arch compared to other things, so I would definitely recommend it to experienced linux users, just definitely not unexperienced users. The aur is amazing and rolling release means you don't have to deal with the horrors of major updates breaking packages. OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is also a great candidate though for people who don't want to set as many things up themself, I'm currently using both arch and tumbleweed on different computers

[–] oktupol@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago

Yup! Same here. Once I've got everything set up, it has been running smoothly and without any issues for more than 5 years in my case. It's literally the most reliable system I've ever set up, but I understand that the entry hurdle is pretty high.