this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
55 points (92.3% liked)
Linux
48157 readers
622 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The best way is to try it out yourself. Download a random Linux distribution (distro), such as Pop!_OS, elementary OS or Feren OS, and give it a try in a virtual machine (VM) such as VirtualBox. Testing it inside a VM is risk-free, and it will not affect your Windows installation.
Be warned that running Linux inside a VM may be a bit slower than trying it out on an actual PC, so if you'd like, you can also put all the ISO files into a Ventoy-formatted USB drive, boot the drive and check out all ISOs you've downloaded. The good thing is most Linux distros are provided as a "live" ISO, meaning you can use and try out the OS without actually installing it to the disk (this is one example of things that Linux does better - you can actually use the OS, connect to the web and do stuff while the install is going on in the background, how cool is that?)