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Beginner's Guides for Switching to Linux?
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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Linux
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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.
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It's complicated. Linux is extremely diverse, so there's basically every desktop layout you can think of and many that you can't. Some are similar to Windows by default (KDE, Cinnamon, sometimes XFCE or LXDE), others are similar to MacOS (Pantheon), and many are totally different from anything you've used before (GNOME, MATE, tiling window managers like Sway, Hyprland, or i3). However, almost all of them can be customized to work however you want. For example, GNOME is very unique by default (look at Fedora), but it can be changed to be a bit more traditional (Ubuntu) or heavily Windows-inspired (Zorin OS) by adding a few extensions. This is all while being known as one of the least customizable desktop environments, far surpassed by something like KDE.