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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"This Linux thing is better than normal computers" (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

49 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A few years ago my wife and I built a computer out of old parts for her friend's then 10 years old son. Last month we were visiting them, and I heard the wife's friend say something funny that I thought I'd share with you.

They live on the other side of the city, this was the kid's first computer, and his mom doesn't have much computer experience either, so our goal was to build something that was easy to use and hard to break from the beginning. Originally I choose ElementaryOS since it seemed to fit the bill, but after a year or two it turned out that it couldn't be upgraded to a new major version without a full reinstall so it got stuck with an older version. We didn't visit that often, and the kid's games still worked so it wasn't a major issue until Factorio broke due to glibc incompatibility.

When his birthday was coming up last month we bought him a SSD to make the computer a little bit zippier without a major upgrade, and I thought I'd give him a brand new Linux experience too, so I asked for advice here and in the end chose Bazzite. While I was helping the kid with the installation, I overheard his mom saying in the other room:

This Linux thing.. We've never had any problems with it, he just clicks something to install it and it works. Unlike normal computers, where you always have to do things and fix them.

Perhaps not the most eloquent, but I consider it a very good review.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Glad you enjoyed it!

As for the choice of distribution, the installation of Bazzite was actually far from trouble free. The precise issue and its solution escapes my mind at the moment, but it refused to boot at first, and I had to spend more hours than I had hoped for before it was up and running. But after that it seems to be stable, the only question the kid has sent me was "can it break my computer if I switch Project Zomboid to the beta branch?" so I assume everything is working well now :D (There was a warning about switching to beta, saying that you should make a backup because things could break, and he wasn't sure what they meant)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

Sorry to hear you had trouble with the installation. Since we have such a vast variety of hardware, you will always find a person having trouble with a specific distro I believe. That's why having so many to choose from is awesome - but also a bit daunting at the start. Glad it's working now, hope it stays that way.