this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2025
103 points (96.4% liked)

Linux

55678 readers
646 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 6 years ago
MODERATORS
AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml
nooter692@lemmy.ml
MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml
cypherpunks@lemmy.ml
cyclohexane@lemmy.ml
d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz
103
Alright fine I admit it, I want to learn Linux (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) by TimewornTraveler@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/linux@lemmy.ml
60 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm just so sick of Microsoft and Google. But there's two things holding me back:

  1. I wanna play Steam games on my PC

  2. I am just an amateur hobbyist, not a tech wizard

Is there any hope for me?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 14 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (14 children)

I was you 18 months ago. It's certainly achievable, even with a crazy busy schedule. Highly recommended that you go for it.

Here are the unpopular opinions that attract downvotes:

  • adopting Linux is painful. Stuff breaks. Stuff doesnt work. You will be battling uphill, but hopefully you'll find it worthwhile in the end.
  • moving to Linux permanently wouldn't have been possible for me without AI. Now you can ask AI and it will almost always solve the problem for you. In the old days, you'd just have forum posts saying "just compile the driver and do a 10 step process with terminal that you need to figure out from the wiki....noob". But now, these previously system breaking problems are now easily solvable without spending the whole weekend on a single issue.
  • don't let go of Windows to start with. Put Linux on a secondary machine. Do not dual boot, you will break your installation and won't be able to troubleshoot it and will have to do a full wipe (along with the time and data loss that comes with that).
  • Don't get caught up in the distro wars. Pick Linux Mint, or a similar very beginner friendly distro. I prefer KDE desktop so I would recommend something else..... But don't go for anything with even moderate difficulty.
  • Check protondB.com for the games you play. Some don't work on Linux (e.g. Apex Legends).
[–] TimewornTraveler@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

whelp, I've got a laptop and a desktop. the desktop is old as hell, maybe it's time for a new start. I could set up a new machine to run with Linux

[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 9 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Linux is perfect for hardware that is old as hell.

[–] everett@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 hours ago

Yeah, this. In fact, going with hardware that's too-too new can lead to a different problem on Linux.

OP, if you're buying hardware, it's worth web searching to make sure people have tried it on Linux and are having good experiences with it. Since most manufacturers only care if their stuff works on Windows, it can take a little while for Linux devs to write drivers and get them shipped in Linux distros.

load more comments (12 replies)