this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2025
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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 have used Windows all my life, and I have some questions. (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 days ago by ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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Basically the forced shift to the enshittified Windows 11 in october has me eyeing the fence a lot. But all I know about Linux is 1: it's a cantankerous beast that can smell your fear and lack of computer skills and 2: that's apparently not true any more? Making the change has slowly become a more real possibility for me, though I'm pretty much a fairly casual PC-user, I don't do much more than play games. So I wrote down some questions I had about Linux.

Will my ability to play games be significantly affected compared to Windows?

Can I mod games as freely and as easily as I do on Windows?

If a program has no Linux version, is it unusable, or are there workarounds?

Can Linux run programs that rely on frameworks like .NET or other Windows-specific libraries?

How do OS updates work in Linux? Is there a "Linux Update" program like what Windows has?

How does digital security work on Linux? Is it more vulnerable due to being open source? Is there integrated antivirus software, or will I have to source that myself?

Are GPU drivers reliable on Linux?

Can Linux (in the case of a misconfiguration or serious failure) potentially damage hardware?

And also, what distro might be best for me?

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[–] GoodEye8@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=213095

https://discuss.getsol.us/d/6564-cant-boot-into-the-lts-kernel/3

https://discuss.getsol.us/d/4899-let-s-talk-about-the-lts-kernels

lts kernels should not be used with newer hardware… because they don’t have modern software support, anyone that uses modern hardware risks being unable to boot with them. I shouldn’t have said crashes but the issues are numerous.

So you don't have stats you have anecdotal evidence.

The second thing doesn’t require a source, they don’t have the manpower to implement it in cinnamon, look at the github pulse: https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/pulse

It clearly requires a source because Cinnamon 6.0 has Wayland as an experimental support and Mint team has said they are planning to eventually move to Wayland.

https://wiki.debian.org/Wayland debian, notorious for being the most stable distro by far already uses it by default…

For Gnome. You've been pretty much talking about KDE (unless you're now magically going to do a 180 and start saying how Windows users would have a better time learning GNOME), which if you bothered to actually check what you're saying would have noticed the

however you are recommended to read the detailed wiki section for KDE on Wayland, especially if you are using an NVIDIA GPU.

Clearly implying you should expect running into issues.

i have only used industry standard terminology and what I said is straightforward…

Somehow the things you say are straight-forward seem to be nothing but.

kernel has drivers, old kernel no has new drivers, new drivers needed for hardware support, lts kernel old.

In theory. Except in practice we're not talking about kernels that are 5+ years old. Latest Mint version is running on Ubuntu Noble which is using Kernel version 6.8 which supports all the latest CPU-s and GPU-s. Just because it's not using the very latest kernel version doesn't mean it's not capable of supporting the latest hardware.

[–] communist@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

So you don’t have stats you have anecdotal evidence.

Actually, these are appeals to authority, a major distro is telling you not to use LTS kernel versions... people who y'know, have stats

"Recently we have had a number of issues with hardware regressions on the LTS kernels, rendering systems with newer hardware unbootable."

Directly from the source of a major distro... I don't think you actually read my sources.

It clearly requires a source because Cinnamon 6.0 has Wayland as an experimental support and Mint team has said they are planning to eventually move to Wayland[5].

that's exactly what i've said... nothing i've said contradicts that, just that it's going to take forever for that to get good. Gnome and KDE already have full proper support and have for ages. Cinnamon will take FOREVER. Notice they only extremely recently launched EXPERIMENTAL support, it's not even supported yet. Cinnamon development is incredibly slow: https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/pulse/monthly

compare that to JUST the kde text editor: https://github.com/KDE/kate/pulse/monthly

Clearly implying you should expect running into issues.

The hilarity of this is that those issues are BECAUSE of their choice to be insanely stable (note: this yet again means UNCHANGING)... modern KDE versions have minimal such issues. You just accidentally made yet another point AGAINST your case.

In theory. Except in practice we’re not talking about kernels that are 5+ years old. Latest Mint version is running on Ubuntu Noble which is using Kernel version 6.8 which supports all the latest CPU-s and GPU-s. Just because it’s not using the very latest kernel version doesn’t mean it’s not capable of supporting the latest hardware.

Actually, the problem is more fundamental: https://lwn.net/Articles/700530/

And maybe it supports the hardware, but there are performance and instability issues that can't or haven't been backported... honestly, don't you think all stable distros would only be using LTS kernels if there weren't issues with them?