Serious Reasons why you should use Linux and how to get started

The market share is pretty dire for Linux, despite it being free and open-source, and generally good software. People are under the impression that Linux is for programmers, hackers, and tech-savvy people, but that claim is complete bunk. There are Linux distributions (Operating systems) that are well-tailored to complete novices for use. There have already been many videos on Why you should use Linux, but most of these are things that people who aren't well versed in computers will care about.

All it takes is a flashdrive to boot up Linux.

Now, why *should* you use Linux?

1. It's free. Nothing beats free.
   
   
2. It's constantly being updated by the community, so updates are only accepted if the people agree.
   
   
3. You seldom need an antivirus for it. Linux is generally secure for the average user because you have to authenticate and allow everything that happens in your system before it happens. It's more cumbersome, but it's your first and best layer of protection.
   
   
4. Linux gaming has been on the rise. Steam is on maximum overdrive when it comes to supporting Linux. You can even a list of some 13 thousand games that work fine with Proton. Games that work with Steam Proton.Linus Tech tips on Linux Gaming More on Gaming on Linux here.
   
   
5. The only downside being the multiplayer games that have invasive anti-cheat which also happens to ban or disallow Linux players from playing, but that's more of a fault on devs over the actual Linux kernel. However, many multiplayer games work just fine, like DOTA 2, CSGO, and if you're a *rEaL* gAmEr, Minecraft works beautifully.
   
   
6. It'll run on a toaster. Many Distributions like Zorin OS Lite, MX Linux, Bodhi Linux, can run on hardware as old as from 2000, so for the average use who doesn't really do much besides web browsing, and word processing, this is perfectly acceptable. And for people in the third world, it's far easier to supply people in need with cheap working laptops for work and educational purposes.
   
   
7. Many of the software is pay-what-you-want and libre software. The community is mostly driven through donations and company backing.
   
   
8. Microsoft, Oracle, hell, even military organizations from Korea, US, Russia, among the many others back the Linux project, so you can be sure that Linux isn't going to be dying any time soon.
   
   
9. As a software developer that creates applications, it's easier for you to distribute your applications because of the package managing systems in each distro.
   
   
10. You can make your system look exactly how you want it to, depending on your technical skill. That said, many have already done the hard work for you, and all you have to do is pick the theme you want and follow the author's instructions. See:https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/
    
    
11. Most of the Linux community is more than happy to help you with your technical problems, should they ever arise, as long as you're willing to put in work yourself; but if all you're doing is browsing the internet and writing documents, those shouldn't be regular occurrences.
    
    
12. The more people start supporting Linux, the more software companies, (Looking at you, Adobe), will start supporting Linux too, because as it stand. Linux has a desktop(normal user) market share of 2.35% as of November 2020, which is up from 1.3% from July 2020 (Source), and it's on an upward trend. This might seem insignificant compared to Windows's 87.6%, but keep in mind that Linux runs almost 96% of the world's servers (Source)
    
    
13. By using any Linux distribution, you are already supporting it by increasing the market share. The more people use Linux, the better support for it will get!
    
    

I can already hear you ask, "This sounds neat! How do I get started?"

All you need is a flashdrive, and an hour of your time--10 minutes if you're used to it. And watch this video from Chris Titus Tech, which may be a bit dated, but the process hasn't changed much. Other distributions will commonly have their installation process written down, or someone will have made a video on it on YouTube. $searchengine is key here.

Which distro do I get started with?

Honestly, it doesn't really matter. The big daddies are Debian, Arch, and Fedora, which have thousands of different distributions. The biggest difference in distributions is how user-friendly (system is already set up for you) and user-centric (you set up your system) it is, and how it handles package installations. If you want to just get a taste of Linux to boot up and start working, you can go for Ubuntu download or Ubuntu based distros like PopOS! which is touted as a Linux distro for gamers, Zorin OS, Linux Mint, MX Linux, etc.

So, have fun trying out Linux, if you want to, and do some of your own research. If you have any questions, just post them here, and if I ever come back to this forum, I'll see if I can't help you.


Please like the post if you think it's been helpful so that everyone else can see it too. I don't know how the algorithm works, but I assume liked posts get bumped.





Edit 1: I know there are formatting problems. I don't know why. It looked fine when i was writing this post, but when I posted it, the post generated a lot of new lines. I tried to remove them and repost, but it didn't work. Sorry about the inconvenience.

Edit 2: Fixed the excessive lines. I got a few good questions that got me thinking, so Part 2 about the limitations of Linux, and Part 3 about how Linux compares with the app installation process of Windows and Mac coming soon.

Edit 3: I have been consistently answering questions from other users, so if you have a question, I have probably answered it in the next few posts. If I haven't, ask away!

Switching to linux is worth the effort, although there's probably always going to be driver problems if you're into gaming.

I 've tried quite a few distros and stopped at Fedora / CentOS. There are many desktops to try out. My favourite is cinnamon on Fedora.

I really like Linux Mint. It has the most simpleand similar enough UI to Windows. The problem with Linux in general is that there is a lack of supported apps like Adobe CC.

13-12-2020, 12:52 PM

mack108 Wrote: Switching to linux is worth the effort, although there's probably always going to be driver problems if you're into gaming.

I 've tried quite a few distros and stopped at Fedora / CentOS. There are many desktops to try out. My favourite is cinnamon on Fedora.

That is true, but generally, the community has really gotten a lot of the kinks worked out. Intel integrated has the mess driver package, Nvidia has both the open source nouveau drivers, and their own proprietary driver, and amd has it's own Mesa packages. So, gaming is going to be a lot easier to transition to. And, thanks to Steam Proton, dev's have more incentive to start working on support for Linux.

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13-12-2020, 06:08 PM

jnk121 Wrote: I really like Linux Mint. It has the most simpleand similar enough UI to Windows. The problem with Linux in general is that there is a lack of supported apps like Adobe CC.

Adobe has been pretty ass about Linux support, but that's not because Linux is bad software. It's because of the mere 2.35% market share. That's why the more people that use Linux, the better the software support will get.

Great post. Tons of valid reasons to use Linux. Linux Mint is my favorite has even though it isn't the most flashy. It is a stable OS that won't have me itchy to distro hop after a couple of months. Even though gaming on Linux has improved significantly in the previous years, there's still issues with anti cheats. This has caused games that should be able to run on Linux fine (Valorant, League of Legends, etc) to be incompatible. Unfortunate that companies do not have the foresight to design their anticheats with Linux in mind. With the tiny market share though, it is hard to blame them.

Linux Mint is great. Why I choose Cinnamon on Fedora is that I get the Linux Mint desktop on a more secure foundation. I got started on rhel so I'm more familiar with using yum / dnf than apt-get.

Another great independent distro I would recommend is KaOS, which uses KDE. MX Linux was also very good.

Credits to: wontonmanjj. this is an great Post. I do like the static he post (Nr. 12).

i3 was an epiphany for my workflow honestly, anyone who is on the fence with linux should try tiling window managers for productivity even if they're just starting out on linux

I use linux in past, So many programs have no support for Linux if it has usually programs don't work probably also Linux sometimes don't work well with some systems but Linux good for work and etc. but in gaming and game development it is not
But I don't like windows but it is good with someway like reliability. Also Thanks for this thread.

14-12-2020, 11:39 PM

electwix3 Wrote: I use linux in past, So many programs have no support for Linux if it has usually programs don't work probably also Linux sometimes don't work well with some systems but Linux good for work and etc. but in gaming and game development it is not
But I don't like windows but it is good with someway like reliability. Also Thanks for this thread.

Well, I addressed the gaming aspect for Linux, and if you're playing singleplayer games, you're not going to be left wanting for more because the WINE community along with Proton have done a lot of work to make sure the compatibility layers work. Again, the only reason why some multiplayer games are unplayable on Linux is because of the Kernel level anticheat those games impose. But I say, if those companies need to invade my computer's privacy and introduce possible attack vectors in my system, I say good riddance to those multiplayer games. I'm looking at you, Riot.

As for game development, I will concur that it has not been a pleasant experience, but again, that's because of the lack of support for its low market share. However, there are game engines such as the Godot engine that work immaculately on Linux, Mac, and Winblows.

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14-12-2020, 07:52 PM

JBLuvr Wrote: Deberas intentarlo con TAILS. Es un sistema operativo basado en Linux que es amnsico, lo que significa que cada vez que lo enciendes es como la primera vez. Se ejecuta slo en tu RAM y nunca se retuerce en tu disco.
taiils.boum.org

I'm using a translator for this, but I think it's got the gist down.
I do know of Tails, and I have used it. I often bring it with me if I'm traveling and I want to use the public computers in lounges. It's a good OS, and great for minor browsing and word processing. I have not, however, used it as my daily driver.

If you're really paranoid about being monitored, you can use Qubes OS, which runs every single window you have in a virtual machine. That means that all of your processes are isolated from each other, and will not spread a compromised system, if it happens. I haven't used it before, though, so take my words with a grain of salt.