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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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My wife uses Arch (actually). She calls it the internet, when she really means Facebook. She knows it isn't Apple but it gets a bit vague after that!
The last time I had to fire up the Mesh Central client to sort something out on her desktop from work was around three months ago. Every couple of weeks I ssh into it, update it and schedule a reboot for 03:00.
why arch and not something with more stable updates like debian?
I've spent over 25 years with Linux. With multiple distros and a lot of that with Gentoo and Arch. At work I specify Ubuntu or Debian, for simplicity and stability. I always used to use the minimal Ubuntu, because it was tiny with no frills. For quite a few years I managed a fleet of Gentoo systems across multiple customers - with Puppet. Those have quietly gone away. I've dallied with SuSE (all varieties), Mandrake, Mandriva, RedHat, Slackware, Yggdrassil and more.
Arch is surprisingly stable and being a rolling job there are no big jumps. When I replace one of our laptops, I simply clone the old one to it and crack on. I used to do the same with Gentoo - my Gentoo laptops went from an OpenRC job with dual Nokia N95 ppp connections around 2007 to through to around 2018 with systemd and decent wifi when I switched to Arch to allow the burns on my lap to heal. I still have a Gentoo VM running (amongst friends) on the esxi in my attic.
It was installed in 2006 according to some of the kernel config files. I left it for way too long and had to use git to make Portage advance forwards in time and fix around a decade of neglect. It would have been too easy to wipe and start again. It took about a fortnight to sort out. At one point I even fixed an issue following a forum post I made myself years ago.
Anyway, Arch is pretty stable.
At one point I even fixed an issue following a forum post I made myself years ago.
I love when that happens lmao, it's the best. Thank you past me.
I know this was a long comment and I'm only reacting to 1 word, so, I'm sorry in advance... But man, your mention of Mandrake really brought me back... I couldn't for the life of me remember the distro I used to use all the time and this just clicked it all back into place. So much nostalgia, switching from like red hat 5 or 6 (not rhel, old plain red hat) to mandrake and being so happy.
because Arch is more lightwheight than Debian, and also more stable than non-arch users think it is
Arch has rolling releases and is super stable.
Opened the post for this comment, wasn't disappointed!
That's torture and is outlawed by the geneva convention (btw)
If she only does basic web browsing, why not something more stable like Ubuntu or Debian?
Define stable! Both are non rolling distros so that means that you have the upgrade jolt every few years. I have several VMs that started off life as Ubuntu LTS around 16 so from 2016 and are still running but now on 2022.04. Those are servers so relatively simple - web, PHP, Samba, DBs, etc. PHP is a pain to fix up. Ubuntu doesn't have the rather neat slotting feature that Gentoo has so you get to do quite a lot of detective work to put it back together again. Debian is similar - again I have several systems that I manage that have gone through at least three or four Toy Story names.
Arch is rolling so there is no break and continue point. There have been some packages that have broken or been broken but not the entire system and that suits me. The QA is surprisingly good from the devs. Arch really isn't the bugbear, nightmare super ricer thingie that it is sometimes painted out to be. I find it a very thoughtfully put together distro with an awful lot of moving parts that are well integrated and a great toolset. Choice is paramount and delivered in spades without the micro management that Gentoo requires.
It also helps that I have been doing this stuff for well over two decades so some challenges are no longer the challenge they once were.
Absolutely one of my favorite james acaster quotes! His whole Netflix special, "Repertoire" is just fantastic
As if apple users had no fuckin clue
Worked in a repair shop long enough to know that a whole lot of mac users just know they bought a "better computer" without any idea of what an operating system is, someone showed them that the photo they took on their phone magically appeared on their computer and that was all the info they needed to pay 2 grand for it
My mom is tech illiterate and I buy all her devices for her. If I gave her a Mac she'll just use it without knowing what OS it is.
There are some tech illiterate people, who use Linux without knowing it, because their child set it up for them.
80% of people using Android.
You're being generous.
98%
I literally bought the wrong version of a game called Heretic on Amazon in the early 2000s because it "had a cool penguin on it" lmao
So not the fantasy shooter based on the Doom engine? :(
Oh it was we just had to return it and buy the right one haha the shareware copy held me over for a bit longer
Heh, nowadays Shadow of The Serpent Riders is the only version worth having these days, unless you're a glitch hunter.
Does anyone really not know if they have an apple or windows device...?
I'm sure my grandma does not give a shit
Personally, if you can't tell me if you are running Windows or MacOS, I don't really want you downloading my software
Penguin fellas only download software from package managers and official repos tho
You mean, there are still websites that don't auto-detect what OS you're running and make you actually choose?
I actually hate it when a website does that, especially when it doesn't let you download the application you want because your OS is not compatible. For example you wanna download some windows software to run it with Wine/Proton and the website detects you are running linux and does not let you download. I always need to spoof my User-Agent string to get access.
The correct solution (as with languages on websites) is to auto-detect but then make it super easy and obvious how to change if the auto detected version is not what the user wants.
Also if any web developers out there are reading - don't use the user's location to determine the language/region they want, and especially don't force it. I have no idea why so many websites do this but those responsible deserve to permanently have small amounts of sand in all their socks.
The kind of website that distributes linux stuff is going to know most linux distros ship with Firefox set up to not report OS
Does librewolf do that too? I didn't realize that was a feature of firefox
Librewolf reports as Firefox on Win 10.
And this is why stats showing how prevalent Linux users are on a site are pretty useless.
Penguin people for sure know theirs
And they'll tell you about it every time.
Arch btw ;)
Kid named Chromebook
If you don't know what OS you're using, how likely are you to know or understand what this app is?