this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023
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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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I'm going to replace my host os on my shitty laptop with Linux specifically puppy Linux or alpine Linux from scratch and I need to know how will I get started and make it easier for myself, I use a HP notebook 540

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[–] wfh@lemm.ee 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

May I ask why you, as a beginner, specifically chose one of those distros instead of more "mainstream" ones?

Puppy Linux's main use-case is to be a live ISO, that doesn't need to be installed to run. It doesn't mean it's not a good idea to install it, but I think if you want to use an Ubuntu derivative, there are better options for a beginner like Pop or Mint that would let you install a lightweight desktop environment like XFCE, LXDE, LXQt and so on.

Alpine Linux is specifically designed to avoid all the core system tools that are pretty much universal on most other distros like glibc, systemd or GNU tools and libraries, which will make your life hell as a beginner if you need to troubleshoot anything as most "universal" documentation like the Arch wiki would be at best partially relevant, at worst useless.

[–] embed_me@programming.dev 3 points 11 months ago

Xubuntu rocks. Used it throughout college on my cheap laptop