this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2024
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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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[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago (6 children)

I wonder what percentage of desktop users still use Ubuntu nowadays. Seems like there’s no way to have a clear picture, besides DistroWatch which is more like “interest” and not actual usage?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 months ago

At my work, Ubuntu was the only Linux distro that was used on the desktop.
Some of my relatives use Linux, all Ubuntu.
The only other person I know who uses something else is also a hardcore nerd and professional sysadmin. He uses OpenSUSE.

Outside of the tech bubble, Ubuntu is still synonymous with Linux.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Everyone I know IRL who uses Linux uses Ubuntu. Sample size of 5.

The corpo I work for uses both Windows and Ubuntu for software development workstations. Lately a lot more Ubuntu than Windows. That's a sample size of a thousand.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The official distro at my job is rhel.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, that's pretty much the only other option for corpos.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Suse? No evil dipshits and on par with RHEL, at least how far i can see

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I still use it. With all its faults, I still think it's the best distro out there.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

As a fellow Ubuntu user, I think there are distros that are technically superior. But at some point I just got tired of chasing the best option. I just want an operating system that works on all devices I install it to, and that listens to my commands. Ubuntu does that just fine. I love what they've done with GNOME, its ram usage is minimal (1.4GB), apps launch fast, snap is nicer to use than flatpak (which I can install with a single command), and if I wanted to I can stick to an LTS for up to 12 years.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

I'm not a big fan of snaps myself. While it's being used for desktop apps, it was originally intended for system or server apps. And I don't like that it automatically updates applications. I'm sure there are scenarios where using snaps make sense, but I prefer to be in control of my servers and what's running in them.

FlatpaksI think are more practical. It's easier to install desktop apps with flatpaks. However there are some technical limitations apparently. You can lose some functionalities due to how it's implemented.

But for everything else, yeah. Ubuntu works ootb with practically every hardware out there and there is a huge library and community of support.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Out of genuine curiosity, what makes you think so?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It's just so easy to use. Supports many devices and has lots of documentation.

Whatever system I've found. Whatever the scenario. I install Ubuntu and it just works ootb. It supports practically all hardware with some rare exceptions. It has great documentation and a large community of users to help fix problems. And when problems happen it's mostly because I fucked up doing something wrong.

And I like that is backed by a company that takes Linux seriously and works hard at making it an actual solution for both desktops and servers. Fedora would come as a very close second in my opinion.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah ngl Ubuntu is so much easier to get up and running than other distros. It’s fast and reasonably up to date. I will say I’ve found the LTS version to be disappointingly buggy compared to other long term releases like Debian and Leap, but nothing that would motivate me to move to another distro. Just annoying audio related bugs that are easy to fix or get around.

Leap was so solid I wished I could’ve stayed with it, but I didn’t want to commit to a distro with an uncertain future.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Debian 12 is incredibly solid with a relatively current Gnome 43. I like that it is ran by a community instead of big corpa and I can install Flatpaks.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

what does this mean?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It's the universal operating system, with long term support (10 years 🤯) and a few quality of life improvements. It runs well on all my hardware, VMs and containers (that I build). It's got perfect desktop defaults for me. It's the defacto standard Linux OS. It's supported by every software developer or vendor who supports Linux. The corpo behind it is not public (yet) and not hell bent on profit extraction. There's an obvious migration path from it to the universal operating system (Debian), should something terrible happen.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I personally have Xubuntu on multiple machines (I think 3 currently?) And Ubuntu server with i3wm on a 4th.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I haven't touched Ubuntu for years, but I bet it's still popular with new linux users and there are probably plenty other people who don't care about the snap issues.