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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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Why did you move from Windows to Linux? (leminal.space)

submitted 1 month ago by umbrellacloud@leminal.space to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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Personally, I’m not brand loyal to any particular OS. There are good things about a lot of different operating systems, and I even have good things to say about ChromeOS. It just depends on what a user needs from an operating system.

Most Windows-only users I am acquainted with seem to want a device that mostly “just works” out of the box, whereas Linux requires a nonzero amount of tinkering for most distributions. I’ve never encountered a machine for sale with Linux pre-installed outside of niche small businesses selling pre-built PCs.

Windows users seem to want to just buy, have, and use a computer, whereas Linux users seem to enjoy problem solving and tinkering for fun. These two groups of people seem as if they’re very fundamentally different in what they want from a machine, so a user who solely uses Windows moving over to Linux never made much sense to me.

Why did you switch, and what was your process like? What made you choose Linux for your primary computing device, rather than macOS for example?

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[–] Peffse@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

I had used Lubuntu to rescue an underpowered laptop back in community college. At university, I was on the campus tech support team... and ended up "the Linux guy" for the few foreigners who had installations (I knew how to run apt and that's about it). Out of uni, I ended up in a career supporting RHEL. Of course Raspberry Pis skyrocketed in popularity as well, so I got to sink my teeth into a Debian-derivative and blow up a few installs without having to worry about change management.

When time came to build a system in 2025, I figured I'd try it as an experiment. I stumbled at first and learned Debian does not play well with new hardware, but after switching to Linux Mint it's been nearly painless. Most of the software I had been using in Windows was already open source (because I couldn't afford to buy software), so almost everything migrated 1:1. Excluding Winamp... :(