Let's talk about Linux

I absolutely love Linux! The fact that there is a distro for every use case is amazing. If there isn't an option out there, you can create it yourself. Linux to me puts the "personal" back into PC. I own my hardware and I decide what software I want I'm there. I have full control over my workflow and it's not forced into me like how I personally experienced Windows.

I'm not putting Windows down though. If it works for you and it does what you need, use it! Use the right tools for the job and for me that happens to be a variety of Linux distros!

Here are my favorites:

• Ubuntu (going strong for 4 years)
• Peppermint OS (wow it makes me productive)
• EndeavourOS (makes the first experience with Arch very light hearted)

I use arch btw (I don't, I'm just always looking for opportunity to say this though).

I think Pop_OS! is dope

The best part of Linux according to me is the alternatives are so much that it literally spoils you :P

Don't want to use KDE, you might like Gnome, Cinnamon or XFCE. Text Editors, loads of them! The amount of choice that we have and the customizability that it provides is truly amazing.

Another point that I think is great is the development experience that Linux provides. Bash/Zsh is an absolute beast and the utility it provides is awesome! Windows just launced a new CMD with features that were in Linux 1 years ago. The forceful updates and the baggage that comes with Windows is completely gone with Linux. I use a rolling release distro and the only thing that I have to do to update my system is sudo pacman -Syyu.

Also another advantage is building for CI. Building native modules and being able to test them is simply easy and you can match the CI environment as you're using the same native modules that the CI server uses i.e. Linux :)

Has anyone here considered installing a linux distro on their aging parents' computers to protect them from the exploit-happy Windows environment?

I was thinking about this recently for my dad who keeps getting "hacked" and only really uses his PC for a lightweight gaming client so he can play backgammon online (and an additional add-on utility that analyzes his gameplay).

He absolutely won't use anything that requires learning something new, but I could probably simulate his Windows experience with the gaming app in Wine, if the rest of the OS had a Windows-like interface.

What do y'all think?

If I had to pick one feature, compared to Windows: the fact that you can (and should) install every software you want from package repositories, providing a unified update for the entire system; vs each soft having to phone home to check for updates and bother you with popups, or implementing autoupdating by themselves, or just let users down and they never update after the initial install, becoming vulnerable as security bugs are fixed in newer versions.
Things might have changed with the Windows Store and/or NuGet, but I'd bet it's still true for many Windows users, including tech-savvy ones.

I completely agree with all the people writing here Linux is love 😍 ever since I started using Linux I have felt so freakin powerful. finally in years I have all the power I want over my computer. also AUR is amazing
my fav distros
1.Arch
2.Fedora
3.Opensuse

I love Linux as a development environment, and I really like tools like Multipass or Docker that let you pop up a quick Ubuntu VM regardless of what OS I'm running.

I've created scripts to install all of my favorite programming languages and tools, so I can have a fresh Linux install up and running for development in about 20 minutes. Linux is great because it gets out of your way and lets you build great things.

The biggest downside for me is software support. There are so many amazing games that only run on Windows, and the best writing tools are either Mac or Windows. I've found myself dual-booting Linux/Windows on nearly all of my personal computers so that I can have the best of both worlds.

I'm using manjaro, but its too heavy, even heavy on my ryzen 7 16 gb ram and ssd, i have no clue why.

I've tried mx, kali, ubuntu.(distro jumperrr)

What do you'll use for web development? I'm thinking of pop os now.... Should i?

You can borrow Windows or iOS, you can learn how to use them, the overlords may even let you change somethings like the wallpaper, maybe tell you what is inside and how it works, maybe. Is never yours, you paid for a house with locked closets, a car with a GPS you don't control and a engine you cannot see. Try to open a panel, to open the trunk or look at it from below and you are breaking the law.

Linux and BSD (and others like Haiku and Redox) are, currently, the only way to own your computer and the only way to really learn about it, free to do what you want with it, others praise themselves because the can change fonts and UI colors; we know better.

I used MS OS from DOS 6.0 to Win XP and after all those years I learned close to nothing, I was very proficient with Windows yet I knew nothing, just the "cute" "user friendly" pseudo-technical terms given by MS, I knew the location of every checkbox and icon, even knew a bunch of useful registry entries; I knew nothing. After a week using Mandrake Linux my world opened, not longer after I installed Gentoo, a week banging my head against the desk (it was in the dark ages) I messed up the installation 6 times, but after that week I learned so much, not Linux stuff, real technical knowledge, no more "home networks" or internet thingies: LANs, TCP/IP stack, DNS, etc. No more useless computer baby talk. I would still use computers as microwaves, as appliances and I would still be frightful of them like mysterious blackboxes if it hadn't been for Linux.

This is so cool!

You can add Opensource.com to that list of communities. We write a lot about Linux, and I especially love the stories people share about falling in love with Linux.

If you're interested in sharing your story, shoot me a message here or matt @opensource.com 🐧