Can someone explain what linux is

google it

>>58559718
People still play tf2?

>>58559735
No, just my mental illness made me post this 4 years too late

>>58559718

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/LInux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

>>58559718
It's like a good windows.

>>58560904
This. Use either Linux Lite or Linux Mint.

Also search in youtube for videos.

>>58559718
Linux is a kernel, and that's all there is to it. But I'm sure you're looking for more.
>inb4 what is a kernel
It's a program that manages your computers hardware and memory, which is what NT and Darwin do as well.
>inb4 why change that?
Operating systems with Linux onboard usually contain GNU core utilities and a package manager to let you work with your computer. Most of these programs respect the user's freedom, and so the programs are owned by users, rather than users are getting owned by the programs, like it is with OSX and Windows sometimes.
>what does that mean? users are getting pwned by their computers?
Kinda so. If you consider the fact that
>OSX's filesystem is designed such that it corrupts on power loss, so it needs to run a 40 minute scandisk upon next boot. God did not intend man to waste time on scandisk.
>Windows has so many services enabled by default that it's appearing to be slow. There's a thread here where someone got their i7 to cool by 10C by turning off automatic updates, for example.
>Windows needs to defrag its magnetic drives every once in a while, because its only filesystems, NTFS and FAT32, are designed that badly
>Getting a new driver built into a Windows release costs $10 000, from what I head from a friend working at nVidia, so just imagine how much you'd need to pay to get an ext4 driver into NT
>OSX and Windows are known to contain backdoors for feds, even before Windows 10 did all the spy shit. Smoking weed? Jaywalking? Made a mention of it on your computer? There's already dirt on you.
Most of these shortcomings are mitigated by Linux.
>I heard something about freedom
Linux is licensed under GPLv3, which means
>you may use Linux however you like
>you may share Linux as much as you want
>you may modify Linux as much as you want
>you may share your modified versions of Linux as much as you want
>your release must also permit the above 4 actions and bear this reminder

It's the defacto standard Unix of the 2010's

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>>58561850
>Linux is licensed under GPLv3

>>58561895
GNU's not Unix, retard.

>>58561896
>implying this is bad
FreeBSD wasn't licensed under GPL and allowed everyone to develop the kernel without sharing it back. This is why FreeBSD is so underdeveloped compared to Linux.

>>58562049
It's licensed under the GPLv2 you fucking retard.

>>58562049
it's not bad, it's simply wrong.
Linux is GPLv2 and Linus explicitly stated he has no intention of ever switching to v3.

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>>58562049
>FreeBSD
>underdeveloped compared to Linux

>>58562114
How many supercomputers are running *BSD compared to Linux?

>>58562114
>FreeBSD core utils
>ls -l /path
>works
>ls /path -l
>fuck you it don't work that way
>GNU core utils
>ls -l /path
>works
>ls /path -l
>works
Just an example how GNU is superior to BSD.

>>58562163
Supporting wrong syntax isn't being superior, it's being incorrect. That's a fruit of thousands of compatibility and interoperability problems between Linux and other operating systems.

>>58562143
>muh marketshare
That's no proof of superiority. Try harder.

>>58562114
>FreeBSD
>default shell is some shit SH or TCSH that nobody uses and nobody wants to use, enjoy reloading the shell when you install new software
>Linux distros
>default shell is Bash, enables the user to create amazing scripts

>>58562234
Bash is bloated crapware. I use zsh.

Your default shell is supposed to be correct, and scripts created with bash specific features are non-interoperable.

Your default shell is also supposed to be lightweight, and bash is not.

Why don't you fucks use Windows already if all you care about is cosmetics?

>>58560904
*a really shitty version of Windows

>>58562283
Y-yeah, because bash is all about the visual flair.

>>58562283
>I use zsh.
Good for you. Most distros however don't include it out of the box, so don't expect too many ZSH-specific things doing important things in a distro.
>Your default shell is supposed to be correct
Bash is correct.
>Your default shell is also supposed to be lightweight
How is Bash not? It runs fine on my 200MB VM.
>Why don't you fucks use Windows already if all you care about is cosmetics?
What? If I was a homosexual fawning over cosmetics I'd be using Gnome3.

>>58559718
It's the truly free OS

which means it's great and no one will spy on you or collect your keystrokes, but if shit breaks you're fucked and have to fix it all yourself.