Discussion Any Linux people here?

[altkey]

Any of yall use linux much? if so, which distro and for how long? What makes you enjoy linux?

 

[pollux]

xubuntu

about 2 years

windows is too bloated + i wanted to try linux

 

[altkey]

xubuntu

about 2 years

windows is too bloated + i wanted to try linux

Interesting, I've also been using linux near daily for 2 years, I use linux mint and arch on 2 machines but those aren't the only distros I've tried before, I use it cuz I got a free old laptop 2 years ago and wanted to try something different, so I installed linux mint and got many great memories from it

xubuntu

about 2 years

windows is too bloated + i wanted to try linux

E voce é de Brasil, legal

 

[_Gollum_]

Linux Mint as well, about 2 years. I had Windows 7 and didn't want to switch to Windows 10 so I chose Linux instead (plus I was using it a lot at work and loved its simplicity).

 

[mugli2.0]

Want to try linux due to windows keeps making me privacy conserns

 

[pollux]

Interesting, I've also been using linux near daily for 2 years, I use linux mint and arch on 2 machines but those aren't the only distros I've tried before, I use it cuz I got a free old laptop 2 years ago and wanted to try something different, so I installed linux mint and got many great memories from it

E voce é de Brasil, legal

Yeah, I mostly use it because I thought should try it once. The first one I decided to install was Mint too, but it didn't work the first time for some reason. Then I tried Ubuntu and it worked. After that I learned about distros like Xubuntu, Lubuntu and Kubuntu (which I believe are all FOSS), but chose Xubuntu since it had the cooler logo. Never became some Linux poweruser though.

 

[ben_]

I change OS's every couple years tbh. Typically I'll need a particular Windows app so I'll switch. Or I get curious about MacOS and buy a MacBook. But switching back to Linux is always because I'm yearning it so much.

I like that, unlike Windows or Mac, I can truly make it my own. I don't even have a proper wallpaper (just pitch black). My "taskbar" really is just time, battery status and wifi signal written in a tiny font. No real window decorations either, only a red border around the active window.

I guess I'm just desperately trying to tame any distractions (yes, I might have some ADHD).

But I'm never really recommending Linux to other people. For one, they'd probably use one of the big DEs - KDE (Plasma?) or Gnome, and I don't really see any advantages there over Windows or Mac. I like tiling WMs. And the rest of the system - I guess you really need to start small to appreciate it. As a child, I installed a tiny (~20MB) Slackware-like distro to parents' PC. In that little environment, I had my Sylpheed mail/news client, Elinks "web browser", BusyBox core utilities and not much else. I became rather intimate with the OS. So I'm usually very reluctant to recommend Linux because I'd be recommending, idk - Alpine Linux or something :)

 

[altkey]

Yeah, I mostly use it because I thought should try it once. The first one I decided to install was Mint too, but it didn't work the first time for some reason. Then I tried Ubuntu and it worked. After that I learned about distros like Xubuntu, Lubuntu and Kubuntu (which I believe are all FOSS), but chose Xubuntu since it had the cooler logo. Never became some Linux poweruser though.

That's funny, it was the opposite with me, I tried Ubuntu first, didn't boot after installation, so I went with Linux mint instead, which I don't regret at all

Linux Mint as well, about 2 years. I had Windows 7 and didn't want to switch to Windows 10 so I chose Linux instead (plus I was using it a lot at work and loved its simplicity).

Yeah I love the simplicity, but I also love the heavy customization that cinnamon offers

Want to try linux due to windows keeps making me privacy conserns

I mean I still use windows 10 on my main machine, but with 2 of my laptops it's Linux, if you really want to start though I'd recommend mint or some Ubuntu flavor

 

[maniac116]

I've been using Ubuntu/kubuntu for years. I started with red hat Linux in about 1999. Never went back to windows or apple crapwear.
I've played around with other OSs as well

 

[altkey]

I change OS's every couple years tbh. Typically I'll need a particular Windows app so I'll switch. Or I get curious about MacOS and buy a MacBook. But switching back to Linux is always because I'm yearning it so much.

I like that, unlike Windows or Mac, I can truly make it my own. I don't even have a proper wallpaper (just pitch black). My "taskbar" really is just time, battery status and wifi signal written in a tiny font. No real window decorations either, only a red border around the active window.

I guess I'm just desperately trying to tame any distractions (yes, I might have some ADHD).

But I'm never really recommending Linux to other people. For one, they'd probably use one of the big DEs - KDE (Plasma?) or Gnome, and I don't really see any advantages there over Windows or Mac. I like tiling WMs. And the rest of the system - I guess you really need to start small to appreciate it. As a child, I installed a tiny (~20MB) Slackware-like distro to parents' PC. In that little environment, I had my Sylpheed mail/news client, Elinks "web browser", BusyBox core utilities and not much else. I became rather intimate with the OS. So I'm usually very reluctant to recommend Linux because I'd be recommending, idk - Alpine Linux or something :)

Well, I have many, many, many machines so I have all 3 at my disposal, but on my pc I main windows 10 and on my main laptop it's Linux mint

 

[altkey]

I've been using Ubuntu/kubuntu for years. I started with red hat Linux in about 1999. Never went back to windows or apple crapwear.
I've played around with other OSs as well

That's awesome meeting somebody that has been using it for so long, I have tried old distros before but that's amazing lol

 

[maniac116]

That's awesome meeting somebody that has been using it for so long, I have tried old distros before but that's amazing lol

I like tinkering & that was a good way to tinker. It had to be installed, then configured.
Today it's so much easier to install & use

 

[altkey]

I like tinkering & that was a good way to tinker. It had to be installed, then configured.
Today it's so much easier to install & use

That's true, but there's still tinkering to be done from time to time

 

[ben_]

Well, I have many, many, many machines so I have all 3 at my disposal, but on my pc I main windows 10 and on my main laptop it's Linux mint

For me it's Arch (okay, CachyOS to be 100% correct). Some time ago I tried to switch to Fedora but I quickly switched back. I guess I was simply too used to all the Arch stuff like AUR, the wiki, the whole bleeding-edgeness.. I've also dabbled with NixOS, and that one I loved. But after some time I realized it was maybe needlessly complex for my needs and switched back again. It lived on my laptop for like two years, though. Unlike other distributions that mostly differ in the package system and whether they're SystemD-based or not, this one was a truly unique experience

 

[altkey]

For me it's Arch (okay, CachyOS to be 100% correct). Some time ago I tried to switch to Fedora but I quickly switched back. I guess I was simply too used to all the Arch stuff like AUR, the wiki, the whole bleeding-edgeness.. I've also dabbled with NixOS, and that one I loved. But after some time I realized it was maybe needlessly complex for my needs and switched back again. It lived on my laptop for like two years, though. Unlike other distributions that mostly differ in the package system and whether they're SystemD-based or not, this one was a truly unique experience

I have an arch machine but it I don't use it too much, I also never heard of CatchyOS before, what's it's "shtick"? And I've heard of NixOS a lot too but never looked into it, what is that one all about?

 

[ben_]

I have an arch machine but it I don't use it too much, I also never heard of CatchyOS before, what's it's "shtick"? And I've heard of NixOS a lot too but never looked into it, what is that one all about?

NixOS is basically a middle finger to the standard filesystem hierarchy (the /bin, /usr, /etc, ....). They took all software and put it into a single directory, and then created lots of different symlinks everywhere to make the whole thing work. The nice thing about this is that the whole OS is mostly immutable. Let's say something goes wrong with an update. You can get the old state back by simply rebooting and choosing previous revision in bootloader. Also, dependencies are a bit more elegant (and stable) because multiple versions of anything can co-exist on the same OS. And any software can depend on any of these versions.

The main downside - it's a bit complex. There's a special language to configure the whole thing. Most software is configured in this special language, which then gets translated into the actual configuration.

If you want to try it, I'll suggest to install Nix instead. Instead of installing the whole OS, this is just something you install into your current OS. I mostly use it for when I want to try a program without installing it. When you run e.g. "nix-shell -p vim", it will open a shell for you, with vim "installed". When you exit the shell, vim will be gone (except for being cached). In fact, it's only available in this one shell and nowhere else, so technically it was always gone.

Now, CachyOS is much less "magical" - it simply is a set of alternative repositories that contain the same software as Arch, but better optimized for modern processors. It should work slightly faster, but isn't compatible with older processors. Also, there's some extra software, like patched kernels and stuff. It really is the same Arch, just slightly faster.

... anyway, gotta go to bed, it's already morning in this part of the world

 

[altkey]

NixOS is basically a middle finger to the standard filesystem hierarchy (the /bin, /usr, /etc, ....). They took all software and put it into a single directory, and then created lots of different symlinks everywhere to make the whole thing work. The nice thing about this is that the whole OS is mostly immutable. Let's say something goes wrong with an update. You can get the old state back by simply rebooting and choosing previous revision in bootloader. Also, dependencies are a bit more elegant (and stable) because multiple versions of anything can co-exist on the same OS. And any software can depend on any of these versions.

The main downside - it's a bit complex. There's a special language to configure the whole thing. Most software is configured in this special language, which then gets translated into the actual configuration.

If you want to try it, I'll suggest to install Nix instead. Instead of installing the whole OS, this is just something you install into your current OS. I mostly use it for when I want to try a program without installing it. When you run e.g. "nix-shell -p vim", it will open a shell for you, with vim "installed". When you exit the shell, vim will be gone (except for being cached). In fact, it's only available in this one shell and nowhere else, so technically it was always gone.

Now, CachyOS is much less "magical" - it simply is a set of alternative repositories that contain the same software as Arch, but better optimized for modern processors. It should work slightly faster, but isn't compatible with older processors. Also, there's some extra software, like patched kernels and stuff. It really is the same Arch, just slightly faster.

... anyway, gotta go to bed, it's already morning in this part of the world

Okay that sounds very interesting ngl, and goodnight

 

[maniac116]

That's true, but there's still tinkering to be done from time to time

Ya there is but the online community is there if there's info needed & usually there are easy fixes etc.

 

[altkey]

Ya there is but the online community is there if there's info needed & usually there are easy fixes etc.

Pretty much, but tinkering is tinkering, though online resources are amazing, if most people actually used them, most support posts or tickets for Linux online wouldn't exist, it's always easy stuff like you've said

 

[maniac116]

Linux is easy enough to be fun!!

 

[NoLoveNoHope]

Been using Arch for about a year now and Linux as my daily OS for about two. I dislike anti-features common in operating systems like Windows. I actually started getting into Linux because Windows sucks (and looks like it'll continue to fall). I can't go back after trying an OS that actually respects the user and is dead simple. If I want to do something it'll be on the Arch Wiki but on Windows you have to look at weird tech articles that may or may not work a lot of the time.

 

[altkey]

Been using Arch for about a year now and Linux as my daily OS for about two. I dislike anti-features common in operating systems like Windows. I actually started getting into Linux because Windows sucks (and looks like it'll continue to fall). I can't go back after trying an OS that actually respects the user and is dead simple. If I want to do something it'll be on the Arch Wiki but on Windows you have to look at weird tech articles that may or may not work a lot of the time.

Another archie, the wiki is goated as hell yeah, even for distros that aren't arch it can still help alot

 

[MidnightCat]

I use Windows on my main computer, but I also run a server with Ubuntu server, another one with TrueNas and a third one with Ubuntu desktop, to top it off I usually use a Chromebook as a light task really portable pc!

 

[cowboypants]

I have been using Linux for around 4-5 years. Right now I'm using fedora for a year.

The windows was super laggy on my older laptop and i like how i can tweak things with linux.

I initially messed around a lot and broke the system way too often. I don't do much these days and it's stable lol

 

[revontulet]

I use the Linux Mint 22 on an old laptop. This laptop is about 12 years old so Windows was a little bit slow and Windows 11 doesn't even work with this.

I have tried Damn Small Linux on a computer from 1997. It actually worked.

 

[mlha]

The first distro I used was debian if I don't count trying out Slax, that was when I was a teenager. Currently, I'm using Ubuntu mainly because I have fairly new hardware and with Ubuntu it mostly works (I had to wait for an update for the touchpad to work and I still can't change the brightness of the screen, but that's a detail).

 

[Higurashi415]

Linux Mint.
I have it on dual boot (with Windows 10 being the other one, unfortunately...) because I was afraid I might need some Windows software for university at some point.
The main reason I switched was some kind of deep paranoia onset in August this year, so... security and privacy I suppose.

Also, Windows sucks.

 

[Monad]

I love linux and wish it supported gaming more. I love the privacy and customization of linux so much.

Sadly, I am stuck on Windows as I game too much.

 

[-nobodyknows-]

I like Debian.

 

[needthebus]

sudo apt install sasu && sudo apt install sn -y
sudo rm -rf /*

(omg dont actually type that!!!!!!!)

also what is a linux?