Linux for Dummies

[Ballenxj]

I mentioned Linux in another topic and was told it deserved it's own thread.
Does it work well with email surfing the web and posting images etc? Haven't tried it yet, but was told by a friend that there are virtually no viruses or hackers etc. Any experienced Linux users here?

 

[tx2sturgis]

I've installed and used many flavors (distros) of Linux.

Linux can do almost everything that other OS'es can do, and some things you can only do in Linux.

Any of the basic activities you normally do on your windows or mac computer, you can do on Linux, such as web surfing, email, social media, forums, banking, youtube, etc etc etc.

And Linux tends to be very resistant to virus and malware attacks. This does NOT mean impervious...just that there are fewer attacks on Linux.

There are a few apps or programs that require Windows or Mac. But these tend to be specific pieces of software, and if you have paid lets say, $249 for Version 9.73 of XYZ-Super-Dooper CAD-SKYVIEW-STARMOVER Software Suite, (as an example) then that one will probably NOT run on your latest Linux Laptop.

Linux is ideal for loading on an older PC or laptop, maybe one that came with windows 7 or windows 10, and give it a few more years of life. Most of the modern Linux 'distros' have a free demo version, you can download it and burn it to a CD or thumbdrive, and then load it in what is called 'Live Mode' and try out the features, see if you like the way it looks, etc. If you do like it, you can install it from that CD or thumbdrive. If you dont like it, you just reboot the computer and poof, you're back to your original operating system.

There are a lot of good reasons to try Linux, especially if you kinda like fiddling around with the 'guts' of an operating system, tweaking it so it works exactly like you want it to.

If you don't know a 'file' from a 'folder', and you've never even heard of a 'command line'...then it will probably not be your cup of tea.

 

[SLB_SA]

All of my computers run Linux. Linux is free. ("Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free and open-source software collaboration. The source code may be used, modified and distributed commercially or non-commercially by anyone under the terms of its respective licenses, such as the GNU General Public License.") My son is more of an expert on Linux than am I but I have used Kubuntu, Arch, Gentoo, some version of Red Hat, etc. while my son has 11 different laptop computers, each running a different Linux distribution.

Linux does almost everything an Apple or MS computer does but may not be compatable with many/most online games. A lightweight distribution like Arch Linux can bring an older computer back to life. Different distributions use different package managers (e.g. rpm, apt, portage, etc.) but they are usually easy to use. For Ubuntu/Kubuntu updates, for example, one can use a few simple commands (e.g. sudo apt-get update & sudo apt-get upgrade & sudo apt-get dist-upgrade) to keep your computer up to date (with the latest security upgrades).