this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2025
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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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Hello, I got almost for free a Lenovo laptop: CPU Intel i3 8130, 4Gb RAM. I would like to use It to learn Linux. I saw some people using Arch to learn the inside out of Linux, but I'm afraid It could be to challenging. What do you suggest? What Is the best way to learn? Thank you. Edit: First of all I thank you all for your suggestions, I think that this is what makes this community special. I installed Fedora Xfce for now and I worked all evening to male it work and customize it. I'm learning a lot already. I'll move to Arch as soon I'll feel comfortable with Fedora. Thank you all again.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Sounds like OP might be at a point where they could use a little more information.

OP, what you could do is get yourself a small USB memory stick - 8 GB should be fine - and flash different distributions on it, boot into them without installing, and find one you like and install that one. There's a tool called Ventoy that will make it really easy: especially if you have a larger USB stick, you could put several different distributions on the stick and choose which one you boot into at boot time.

My only suggestion when you do the install is to partition the hard drive and put /home on its own partition. If you decide later you want to use a different distribution, you don't have to backup and restore your user data.