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  • So buckle up, it’s story time.

    Your computer needs to run software like any other computer does for it to do what you want it to do. There are lots of different parts that do the same thing in different ways and so there are lots of ways to make a computer.

    Once upon a time people would write software for specific machines. Anytime a new machine was released, they had to change the software to work on the newer machine. This got real old real fast.

    Operating systems come between your software and your hardware. Rather than release a version of your software for each individual type of computer, you just have to release software that works on a specific operating system. So if I sell a program that draws red squares, I would have to release tons of different versions for different machines. That’s expensive and a pain in the ass to maintain. So instead I release my red square program for windows. Now, I describe to windows how to draw that red square with my program and windows handles the task of telling all those different types of computers to do what my program wants it to do.

    Microsoft makes windows. Apple makes macOS. But there are others that exist with a different business model. Linux is free and exists under a different philosophy, that a community can share knowledge to replace the locked down and expensive offerings from Microsoft and Apple. To fund this, they may charge for support of the product instead of or in addition to the operating system itself.

    When people talk about Linux they are typically referring to a Linux distro that can make up an entire operating system, oftentimes a full replacement of windows or macOS. But technically Linux is just a part of what makes the entire operating system. It’s arguably the most important part, the kernel. Think of the kernel as the core of the operating system. Everything else an operating system does is built on top of the kernel. Linus Torvalds maintains the Linux kernel and he just gives it away.

    Linux doesn’t really do a hell if a lot by itself, but a kernel is an incredibly complicated thing to create. So others contribute not just to improving the kernel but making other things that use it to do other things. Because Linus already has a kernel he released for others do what they want with it, it makes things a LOT easier to develop since a huge part of the work has already been done.

    All operating systems have kernels and they are the probably the biggest pain the ass part to make. Linus created a simple one years ago and shared it with everyone, who contributed their ideas over the years to enable it to do all sorts of things it couldn’t before.

    Now here’s the interesting part: all those people who contributed to developing this thing have day jobs and their employers really don’t want to pay them to reinvent the wheel. So all the big, heavy, expensive, vital stuff that happens behind the scenes that makes our world work needs experienced people to make it work and it doesn’t want to make something only a few people can make work. It would be a catastrophe if the only guy who knew how your shit worked retires, dies, or, dare I say it, asks for a raise. -wilhelm scream-

    So if a big company uses Linux, they have an enormous community of talented people they can hire at any time, they aren’t locked into a way of doing things that can request a ransom to continue working (ahem, adobe), and their start up costs are lower.

    So who uses Linux? Almost everybody. If it’s online, there’s Linux backing it. Meta (Facebook), Google, Amazon, Apple, even fucking Microsoft uses Linux, and most of the companies using it also contribute back into Linux development because it’s much cheaper than doing it all by themselves.

    Now how does this affect you? Linux isn’t just for highly skilled tech professionals running major operations. It’s for that little computer in your desk that just looks at Facebook and internet porn too! Many people are looking for alternatives since their perfectly working windows 10 computer won’t be supported past October anymore and not all of them can upgrade to windows 11. But you can install Linux for free and you’ll be fine.

  • Every desktop computer has an operating system. Most of them run Windows. Some run MacOS, this is why the software on Macs and other PCs is different.

    Linux is another operating system, its free and anyone can see the code its written in.

    Linux is popular with nerds and programmers since its easier to do some advanced stuff in. Its popular as an alternative to windows since Windows is progressively getting more annoying to use (updates, popups etc).

    Linux is used by servers (computers that run websites, like lemmy), and other stuff like smart appliances.
    The android Operating System (used by android phones, like Samsung phones) is based on linux.

    • Is there a Best of Lemmy community? Cause this belongs there.

    • This is an amazing explanation, and you also managed to keep it relatively short.

      • Yes but you missed a lot of things of course.

        Linux is free software, unlike MacOS or Windows. That means that the software is given users for free, and they can mostly also change it and redistribute it as their own.

        This is why there are so many varieties of Linux Distributions, as the used software components are often the same, but they are released in different cadences, have different configurations and behaviors, or different focuses (for example Gaming, Server, Workstation, Lightweight, System rescue, hacking, anonymity).

        Free software means that everyone can use it, how they want. Nobody needs to pay, but donations and contributions are crucial. While many big components like the core part "Linux" and others are developed and maintained by bigger corporations (which sell support or systems to mostly enterprise customers), a lot of the Linux software is fully done by people out of love, in their free time.

  • Since there's already a bunch of people explaining it I'll explain why it's so loved by the users and the hype around it.

    Linux has a copy left license meaning no one person or entity owns Linux. It's open-source which allows any company to modify how it works or just a random person can change the code or fix it. The only restriction on this license is that anyone that makes changes have to share those changes if asked, this why everyone benefits. Anyone can submit those changes willingly to be approved and help contribute. This means that Linux is built and maintained by thousands of companies and 10s of thousands of people all across the world, not for a profit or bottom line (well for the companies like Google it's probably for profit). But to make something that works the best they can make it out of their passion.

    I personally love Linux because I'm sick and tired of fighting my computer and phone to do what I want when all it does is force ads and pop ups down my throat and track my every move. Linux doesn't have any of that because the people that make it use it and don't want that, no one does. Since there's no profit motive we don't have shit like that.

    • Ah so it protects your data?

      • Beware, things are not that easy with Linux. If you use Windows, you use Windows. There are different versions but they are just differently old versions of the same thing. Same company, same people, same stuff. So you can say things like "Windows shares your data with Microsoft", because there's only 1-2 current versions of Windows at a time.

        Since Linux is so open, there are thousands of different distributions created by thousands of different companies or even hobbyists doing that on their own time. And since it's so open, it can be configured any which way.

        For example, ChromeOS and Android are two Linux distributions created by Google, and both of them collect and share your data like crazy.

        Some of the more classical Linux distributions (like e.g. Ubuntu) also ask you if you want to share data with them, but most of them allow you do decline and many of them really don't share data at all (unless you run programs that do share data again).

        So what you can say about data protection in regards to Linux is:

        • It's not Windows/Microsoft, which shares a lot
        • Depending on the distro, it can share just as much as Windows, or nothing at all, or a configurable amount
        • There are Linux distros that are very privacy focussed and share little to no data

        But no, using any Linux doesn't necessarily mean your data is protected in any special way.

      • It's not "protecting your data" in a literal sense, it just doesn't collect and share it. Your data isn't specially protected in Linux, it's just that Windows and MacOS do collect data from your PC and sent it to their owners. So it's only better for your data protection, because it doesn't actively share your data.

        That's another thing, with Windows or MacOS installed on your PC, you do not own your operating system, you just bought a license to use it. But you DO OWN the Linux on your PC, it's yours and you are legally allowed to do with it as you please. And thus, the only master that it serves are you. Not the corporations trying to exploit you for profit.

      • It's not just protecting your data. You can inspect the source code. It's open source after all. People can fork it or create new distributions. There are tons of distributions available for Linux. Like a distribution is combination of software, so linux is officially only the kernel. But the operating system 'Linux' is much more. Like tools and commands. And user interfaces.

        Try to search for terms like: Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint. And so much more. You will see screenshot on the internet how those distributions are looking. And you can customize everything.

        And all the software is also free. Free in terms of money and free in terms like freedom of creating a copy inspect the code, change the code etc. See also gnu philosophy : http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html

  • Just adding to this, Linux is pretty ubiquitous these days, with it being found running billboards, menus, information screens, and many machines and appliances.

    Though these versions are stripped down and no what you are used to from a desktop. They just have the kernel and a few services for the task at hand.

  • Lots of great explanations, but something I didn’t see, or missed:

    • If it’s free, how do the companies making it stay in business? Not all Linux variants, or distributions/distros (there are a lot), are backed up by a company. The ones that are offer an enterprise version (like Microsoft sells Windows Server) for a price. Since “Linux” refers to the core of the OS, and its license dictates that it must be offered for free, you can get these enterprise versions for free. They charge for updates, levels of support, and some in-house developed solutions that work well with their distributed.
    • If the source code is open and maintained by a community for free, how is that better that something made by professionals at a company? This is a huge topic, but to boil it down: First, the projects responsible for Linux distros and most of the utilities found within are run quite competently. It’s quite difficult for some random person to insert janky code. Second, most of the people contributing to these projects are often professional coders in their “day job,” or their “day job” includes contributing & maintaining this project. Third, when some random person finds a bug or exploit in these utilities and operating systems, the process for reporting and resolving it is pretty transparent compared to what you’ll find with for-profit software companies. Because the code isn’t proprietary, processes involved in auditing it tend to be open to the public.

  • In summary, Linux is and Operating System that gives you control over your machine - not the other way around coughwindowscough. With that power, however, you can also do a lot more harm to your machine if you don't continuously keep learning and stay curious.

    It's high risk, but high reward (especially as a new user). There's something about learning how your computer works (via Linux) that continues to captivate me after many years of use.

  • When you have a computer, you have hardware which is the box in front of you but on that box you can install different software. E.g. windows, macos or Linux.

    Linux got its name from Linus Torvalds who was what I'll say the architect and substantial worker of the kernel, ther very core of the operating system

    The computer has a few layers. If you write a program, it may do something like let you read emails,but this program is at the top layer and when you do something like save a picture to your desktop, it tells the operating system that the email attachment is to be written to the disk.

    Now the hard drive of the computer is managed but the operating system, and the operating system negotiates with the hard drive on where to actually store it on the hard drive.

    In a sense the operating system is like a person you give a photo to and say file this away for later.

    That person was there when you got the hard drive/filing cabinet and keeps track of what sin which draw and in which removable folders.

    Later when you ask the operating system to show it again, it goes back to the filing cabinet and gets the picture without you or the email program having to know the nitty gritty of it was in the 2nd draw , nearly all the way up the back.

    The operating system also does thing like operate a the WiFi a bit like a radio and schedules when tasks run on the computer.

    Im stretching the analogy here but imaging an office where only one to four people work there. the operating system keeps track of all the things they need to do and make the system function well.

    Microsoft made Dos (disc operating system) and windows. Apple made Macos , a long time ago on early mainframe computers there was Unix and Linux is an operating system originally made to replicate the look and feel of Unix.

    But it's build under an open source licence so you can download and see all the internals and change them if you want.

    Android phones and tablets run Linux.

    It's versatile and can be adapted. I've got some 10 year old computers I've reconfigured as a server running Linux that wouldn't be able to run modern windows operating systems.

    Edited to add People make up different distributions like flavours of Linux.

    Debian is a version which is old and stable. It's not bleeding edge, but their releases are tried and tested.

    Ubuntu is one which Ive bee using for a while and I'd call it user friendly.

    Gentoo is a distribution which the installation compiles it's source code optimized for each computer it's installed on to be as fast as possible.

    Kali is a distribution focusing on network security.

    Arch is another distribution.

    I hope it helps.

  • You can think of Linux as the underlying engine that runs your computer just like Windows 10/11 or MacOS.

    Thankfully just like a car you don't need to fully understand the intricacies in order a Linux desktop🤗

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