this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
350 points (97.0% liked)

Linux

48365 readers
490 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

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
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I’m not a programmer at all, so anything that involves typing commands is going to baffle me!

When I was in college in the 1990s, non-STEM students regularly learned enough of the Unix command-line to:

  • check their email with pine
  • chat with talk or on IRC
  • write their home page in HTML using pico or joe editors

The command line is something that millions of people have learned; and you can, too!

Go subscribe to Julia Evans' newsletter.