I’m old. I don’t understand it.
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It’s kinda similar to Unix.
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.
What makes the kernel such a PITA?
Per se, it’s actually not. There are thousands and thousands of hobby-level kernels floating around. Many university courses actually include making your own simple kernel.
The big issue is that the kernel is the core of the whole ecosystem. Everything builds upon it. So if you build a new kernel, you pretty much need to rebuild everything built on top of it.
As a bad comparison, imagine you came up with a genious new shape for a car fuel hose nozzle. You know, the thing you plug into your car to refuel it. Designing a new nozzle is easy. Getting it made isn’t much harder either. Retrofitting billions of cars to work with that new shape is an almost impossible amount of work. So while making a new nozzle is no problem at all, actually implementing it is almost impossible.
The same holds true for the kernel. Making “a kernel” isn’t a big issue. Getting it to work with all PCs with all their diverse hardware and software is close to impossible.
The Linux kernel and the drivers running in it easily have billions of work hours invested into it, and still it doesn’t work perfectly with every piece of hardware you might have in your PC.
Programming is a balance of compromises, one has to define a balance between optimisation, maintainability, legibility, security and much more.
The kernel handles a bunch of different ‘low level’ things that are quite complicated (Allocating memory to programs, scheduling what programs the CPU needs to run, creating security layers for users, handling temperature and performance throttling, peripherals etc)
Due to its pivotal role in an operating system, the kernel developers walk a very thin line of compromises to ensure that it can be maintained and still remain performant.
They do all of this while ensuring that any updates to the Kernel do not break older systems when they update (fingers crossed) or they do not break programs specific to the user (Userspace programs)
Literally everything depends on it. It has to account for a lot of variables. It has to be compatible forward and backward. There’s also a lot of personalities involved in its development and they all need to get along.
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.
I was too afraid to ask, thanks…
You know how a lot of computers use windows? And a lot are macs? And there’s a difference between the way you have menus and apps and stuff? Linux is a third way to use your computer. But there’s a lot of versions of it. It doesn’t matter what kind of computer you put it on either. New, old, windows, Mac, mini computers, old laptops. Linux is simply another way to use your computer. It’s really cool if you’re into that kind of thing.
That sounds very clever
A computer has hardware (your hard drive, memory, screen, processor) and software (a web browser, Discord, apps, etc.). Your operating system is what manages your hardware and software, and provides a user interface for you to interact with. Microsoft Windows, IOS and Android are all types of operating systems. They allow you to run software, change your display settings, connect to the Internet and do anything else that your hardware and software allow.
Linux is an operating system, or more accurately, a collection of operating systems that are free and open source. This means that anyone can take the Linux kernel (the base of the operating system), and create their own distribution, or distro for short. There are dozens of Linux distros out there, each serving different users or different purposes. For this reason, Linux is used on a wide variety of devices. Android on smartphones and tablets, steam OS on gaming handhelds, and the software that powers most smart home appliances, these are all different types of Linux distros!
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.
I appreciate the reminder about donations; just went to drop a little money on Mint as thanks to them!
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.
I hope it helps.
There have been some great answers already but there are some things I’d like to add: all commercial operating systems (especially Windows and Chrome OS, but MacOS is not at all innocent in that regard) are becoming increasingly focused on data harvesting, advertising and controlling what the user can do with their computer. Linux doesn’t do any of that. Your computer is yours and nobody tries to control what you do with it. And if you use a beginner friendly distribution, it’s not really more difficult to use.
Free as in freedom!
Freedom to do whatever you want, however you want. Including brick your computer.
But honestly, modern distros are really smooth feeling. If you slapped Mint on just about any computer today it will run better and longer, and you’ll quickly find that it’s just as easy - if not easier - to use as Windows or MacOS.
Also its worth noting that MacOS and Linux share genetics that don’t really matter to 99% of users, but if you want your Linux to look and feel like a Mac, you can do that very very easily.
Also the KDE Plasma DE is super fun and I’m addicted to it now
I would argue it’s easier to use than Windows at least, but it is different from Windows so moving from Windows to Linux can be challenging and you have to be willing to adapt. Package managers make the experience so much better for users though, and you don’t have to hunt down random executable online for installs or updates (usually). There’s also no mucking about with a thing like registries in Windows to make it work how you want, which you don’t have to do on Windows but to make it less annoying you do.
Your computer is a bunch of parts that need software to make them work. The “operating system” handles talking to the hardware directly, while the programs you run only talk to the operating system. Talking to the operating system is easy, talking to the hardware is difficult, since you may need to speak a hundred different languages to work with every possible network card, sound card, graphics card, etc.
The operating systems you have probably heard of are windows and macOS. Linux is a 3rd one.
Windows is owned by Microsoft, macOS is owned by Apple, and Linux is developed by the community and (typically) released for free. Since anyone can work on Linux, there are tons of different versions of it floating around, that are all slightly different from one another.
4/10. No mention of TempleOS.
Nah, this is a really good explanation.
TempleOS is not Linux!
Dude may have been nuts, but he did do something quite impressive for his time.
Omg this us an amazing explanation thanks
Fun fact: Android is one of those Linux variants. It is, however, so highly modified, that we usually don’t really call it ‘Linux’ anymore. But the core components of Android are most certainly Linux components. So in a pedantic way, way more people directly use Linux than you would think.
Simplified explanation (shut up, Richard Stallman) : It’s an operating system. In the same way a PC (or any other computer) has Windows (or OsX, android, et. Al) being the connecting layer between the hardware and individual programs.
Linux can serve this role as well, and as it’s free and open source, it’s particularly popular among the tech and privacy enthusiasts here on Lemmy. Some use it for everything, some use it alongside windows (dualbooting), and some use it in a professional setting.
Linux is especially common on servers, but it’s also gaining a lot of ground in the desktop space as well. Since Linux is free to distribute, many have over the years made lots of nux distributions specifically tailored towards particular use cases.
Source: Linux user of 25ish years.
Tip: The Linux mint installer can boot into a fully fledged Linux without touching anything on your hard-drive, so if you want to check it out without installing, you can.
Okay, imagine your computer is like a big playground.
Linux is like a really cool, free, and super customizable manager for that playground.
- Manager (Operating System): Just like Windows or macOS, Linux is the main software that runs your computer, manages all its parts (like the screen, keyboard, and internet), and lets you run other programs (like a web browser or games).
- Free: Most of the time, Linux doesn’t cost any money to use.
- Customizable: Unlike some other managers that have strict rules for how the playground is set up, Linux lets you (or people who know how) change almost anything about how it looks and works. This is why there are many different “flavors” of Linux (called distributions or “distros” like Ubuntu or Mint), each with a slightly different setup.
In short: Linux is a free, open-source operating system that gives you a lot of control over your computer. Many phones (Android is based on Linux!), servers that run websites, and supercomputers use it because it’s powerful and flexible
Yes I use AI
Yes I use AI
No you don’t.
You used a large language model, which is a very fancy statistics based autocomplete algorithm, but has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with artificial intelligence, other than by harming public opinion of it and sucking off all the funding that could be used on actual AI research.
Good luck convincing the general population. Better to just accept AGI is the new term for what you’re referring to.
It’s neither general nor intelligence.
You misunderstand me.
AGI doesn’t exist.
Of course it doesn’t, everyone is wasting time and money on LLMs instead of on proper AI research.
That’s not a reason to call them AI or AGI, though. On the contrary, it’s poisoning the term, because once the LLM bubble bursts no one will want to invest in AI research for decades, because they’ll associate it with LLMs. (Not to mention how hard it’ll be to research anything when all sources of information have been poisoned with LLM slop.)
Yes I use AI
For this comment? Why?
Low effort question, get a low effort answer. Google do still exist. :)
I think you miss the point of this community
imagine your computer is like a big playground
… goes on to do nothing with that analogy.
Just like Windows (95, Me,Vista,XP, 10, 11)OS and macOS (Mountain Lion, Yosemite, El Capita) there is a 3rd option. Linux! It’s free and available to anyone and is highly compatible with most if not all types of hardware. Like all things in life, there are caveats and ability to customize to your discretion. Do not be intimidated by the flavors that exist, such as Ubuntu, Mint, Arch and many many more! As an example there is steamOS used on the Steam Deck. This a a divergent version of another open source OS, that is compatible in using for mobile gaming. My verbiage is limited and very very broad and brief. The history of it all stems from one singularity, the kernel or the “brains” of the computer. All variants of operating systems stem from Unix. This is particularly due to use cases of specificity task, or goal of the program to accomplish.
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?
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.
Ahhhhh thanks for explaining
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
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.
