Incomplete, taking a fat nap before I continue writing
Heckraising
What's Linux? Can I use it? Should I use it? Can I read this for like 10 minutes?
Introduction
Picture this, right? You're watching tech YouTubers or reading some tech articles on how to get more life out of your old computer, or how to be more secure and private on the web, even just desktop customization. The word "Linux" will be thrown guaranteed. Then all a sudden these names get thrown around you don't get like Ubuntu, Manjaro, Distro, Desktop Environment, and you instantly just say no to Linux because it just sounds too messy
Been there. But the fact that I'm writing this shows that I am certainly not "there" anymore. It's surprisingly easy to wrap your head around when it's just explained to you like you're a normal person instead of like a computer wizard. Using actual words instead of linux-lingo. That's what I kind of want to accomplish here, explain what linux is, how to use it, what you can do, all that. In the TStyleXDDD way where we keep things as unprofessional as possible
So explain it to me Mr. Know-it-all
Explain what? You need to be more specific. But I'm assuming you just mean all the goofy words with desktop Linux. Ask a tech expert or a youtuber and you'll get a multi-hour read. But there's only a small amount that a casual desktop user should care about
Linux - Not actually the Operating System, it's the kernal it uses! A kernal is usually associated with being the thing that deals with interactions between software and hardware. Though check this wiki page for a more indepth explanation if you truly care it doesn't matter to you
Distro - THIS is your Operating System, it HAS the Linux kernal so we call them Linux Distributions or just distros. Popular examples include Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop OS, Manjaro
Desktop Environment - Referred to as DE for the rest of this article, Linux users call it that too. affectively how your computer looks and feels. examples would be KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, Gnome, XFCE. Great video showing them off
Package Manager - Okay, we'll talk about this later, I'll explain it when it makes sense to
Terminal - Well, it's a terminal. Access it using ctrl+alt+t on most distros, a lot of actions can be quickly performed with the terminal, but a lot of distros are fully functional with GUIs
Benefits of linux
Far greater stability (with a few exceptions that will be mentioned later, but can be easily avoided.)
Better desktop performance - Programs open faster, things load quicker. Helps you be productive instead of waiting around
Built in App Store - Windows 10 has one but most if not all software most people use is not available on the store
Customization - Being able to change everything even down to the DE truly lets you make your computer "your's"
Terminal - It's truly a positive. It's easy to learn and makes performing certain actions twice, if not insanely quicker. Is only optional for pretty much all casual users so you don't even need it in most cases
Freedom - Free as in free, like, costs 0 dollars and 0 cents. But also free as in open source. even free as in these companies or users behind these distros can't get away with spying on you
This sounds great! I want to start using it now!1!!1!!!1!