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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Successful move over after years of trial and error (feddit.uk)

submitted 3 weeks ago by heythatsprettygood@feddit.uk to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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Finally got tired of my Windows 11 install, and I considered a Linux move. For years and years, I tried to move over, even all the way back in the Ubuntu 16.04 days, even daily drove for a few months, but there would always be something that would make me move back (including but not limited to HDR, support for my old iPod, Outlook calendars, so on). However, on my most recent attempt (running Arch and KDE) things just... work? Yeah, some command line trickery is needed for stuff like HDR gaming (and turns out the screenshots work now, they just get downsampled to SDR by Steam), but this works so so much better than my previous attempts to move over. In recent years, the experience is just so much more polished than it used to be. The situation is no longer "that won't work", it is "you can do that, with some minor tweaks". All my Steam games work nearly perfectly, with only a few changes like Proton GE needed. There are now even improvements like how text on my QD-OLED monitor (which is notoriously fuzzy on Windows) is crisp and clear, or how my Xbox controller's screenshot button works over Bluetooth on Steam unlike Windows which ignores the button entirely over Bluetooth. Things are really looking up!

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[–] Guenther_Amanita@slrpnk.net 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Image based distros are only complicated if you come from traditional distros, because they're different.

If you come from Windows or another OS, then having "The whole OS is one thing" instead of "A huge collection of packages and directories" makes everything simpler to understand, because you don't mess with anything except /home/. You don't have to care about anything else.

And if you want to do something more fancy, like using a CLI tool, then having to enter a Distrobox container isn't complicated.

For casual use, like gaming, browsing or image editing, everything is just as usual. Nobody, except us Linux nerds, actually cares about the underlying system. Casual users just want the OS to be a tool for their programs they use, and for that, it's ideal, because it just works and doesn't bork itself.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Until something goes wrong or they want to customize the system. It will backfire quickly.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@slrpnk.net 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Then you can always rollback in case you don't have a working image.

I had to do that once. On a non-atomic install, this would have meant a completely broken system. In my case, this was one reboot away and it worked again.

And in case you don't like the direction of your image project going, you can also always rebase to another one in less than 5 minutes, download time and reboot included.

uBlue for example starts with a very basic Fedora Silverblue image, which you can fork easily yourself. I have zero experience in coding or other stuff, and even I managed to get my own custom image working.

There are already a couple of people around who started with Aurora, Secureblue or Bazzite, but then found them too opinionated, and went back to Vanilla Kinoite for example.
It's extremely simple to switch out the base OS to something almost completely different.

And, you don't loose any customisability. You can still do everything you want, take a look at Bazzite or Secureblue. Completely different kernel, additional modifications and packages, and much much more. Feels completely different than Vanilla Kinoite for example.