What is Linux And Why I Switched to it.

First of all do not get overwhelmed if you are new to Linux. We will go slow, and take it easy.

A few years back I bought a cheap laptop. Although it was expensive for me, it was still the cheapest laptop I could afford. A simple laptop with a low end processor and HDD was enough for basic coding, or that’s what I thought. Like most people, it came with Windows installed and I will never forget the problems I had with it. My laptop started lagging, and It took nearly 15 minutes just to become usable after turning it on.

I worked with it somehow until one day my patience broke. I was furious and then I started searching for alternatives. I knew about Linux from before and then I decided that I was going to switch.

Fast forward two years, 60+ programme written, 20+ designs made, 2 old games played all while being on the same slow laptop but significantly faster. If you ask me do I need a new laptop I would say yes but do I need it urgently, well I don’t think so. The hardware never changed. The operating system did.

Some basics we need to know before understanding what Linux is. OS means operating system. In this system you operate and do your work. Windows is a OS. Hardware is all the chips and components that we have and software is the system we see on our monitor. OS is also a software. The kernel is the part of an operating system that acts as a bridge between the hardware and the software.

Linux is a kernel. So you might question, “ Hey then did you change your kernel?”. Well technically yes but I also changed my OS. Because Linux kernel supports Linux OS.

Now now do not worry, this is going to be easy. Say, I give you an ice cream. What is the ice cream made of ?

Milk and sugar. So milk and sugar are the kernel and we have different flavors, like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and similar to that Linux has different flavors called distributions.

Now you would not eat milk and sugar on the name of ice cream. You would obviously want a flavor. And this flavor is the OS or simply The Linux kernel is like the ice cream base, while Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, and Arch are different flavors built using that same base.

Linux flavor or distribution (short form distro) are many, for example Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop Os, Kali Linux, Arch Linux, Bazzite, Nobara etc.

If you still did not understand here’s another analogy:

Think of the kernel as the engine inside a car.

The engine makes everything work.

But different companies build different cars around that engine.

Linux distributions are those different cars.

Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint, Arch, Pop! OS — all use the Linux kernel but provide different experiences.

Easy right.

So does windows have a kernel? Yes and it is called Windows NT kernel and its OS is called Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows 11 etc.

Why you might need Linux?

You don’t need Linux because it’s cool.

  1. You need Linux because sooner or later you’ll encounter it.
  2. Almost every cloud server runs Linux.
  3. Most cybersecurity professionals use Linux.
  4. Android phones are built on the Linux kernel.
  5. Supercomputers use Linux.
  6. Developers frequently deploy their applications to Linux servers.

So what makes Linux unique?

Like,

  1. It’s free and open source
  2. It is very lightweight
  3. It gives you complete freedom which has it’s own disadvantages
  4. Many distributions support system snapshots or rollback features, making it easier to recover from mistakes
  5. Most needs and apps are covered
  6. Strong built-in security features when configured properly.

Why is it lightweight?

Linux is lightweight because it usually runs fewer background services than many desktop operating systems. Most distributions also let you install only the software you actually need. This means lower RAM usage, lower CPU usage, and faster boot times, especially on older hardware.

See I was struggling financially so I needed a cheap option and I got a free option. That saved me. My ram is low, so I have Ubuntu, which needs only 2gb ram and 64gb storage, the last time I saw it. So yeah its lightweight. Well different distro’s have different features and tasks so yeah you will need to research what you need but if you are starting out I recommend use Ubuntu.

What is the biggest disadvantage?

The learning curve is different. And like I don’t mean to demotivate you but yes you need to work a little at the first days to understand.

At the start most people struggle. I did too. I had taken help from AI, documentation, you tube tutorials and other stuff to get into the flow. But once I got it there was no going back. You will find yourself going forward and backward but you will get stable in some weeks.

Why Linux?

See, Linux powers:

  1. Most web servers
  2. Cloud platforms
  3. Android phones
  4. Raspberry Pi
  5. Supercomputers
  6. Many IoT devices
  7. Cybersecurity labs
  8. Software development environments

And that is why it’s not any other OS. You were always using it without knowing it.

Linux has it’s own GUI and it is highly customizable so yeah you need not worry about writing codes for shutting down your laptop — actually I did that.

Yeah I wrote code to shutdown my computer.

Funny right? Think about it a coder running codes to shut down a laptop, and after few days I got to know that it had a switch off button. Fair enough, we learn something new every day.

See millions of people use Linux. It might not be perfect for you if you are trying to get the complete windows experience because some games and apps are only for windows and that changes the situation a little. And there is a huge community support. So, if you are having problems with a slow laptop, I recommend you should try Linux at least once!

Lastly what distro should you pick?

If you are a complete beginner and you are starting as a programmer or normal user I recommend, Ubuntu. I still work on Ubuntu and believe me many people jump from one distro to another and after trying everything, they come back to Ubuntu.

Linux is not magic and it is not guaranteed that it will make your computer fast but from my experience and by seeing what worked for me I can say that giving it a try is not useless

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