chronohart
and 4 others
boosted
Cecelia
boosted
There's been a really cool increase of interest in switching to #Linux over the last year.
But, almost certainly, the first problem you run into after deciding you'd like to try it is "holy shit...wait, what's a distro? And how many of them are there? Oh god...I just hate Windows/MacOS and would like something that I can use....what do I pick??"
And, let's say you make it through that problem, the very next one is a bunch of well-meaning people on the internet saying "You should pick Mint!" and "Nah, fuck Mint...you should use Kubuntu!" and "You're both slathering idiots. They should choose Arch obviously!" and then they all start fighting with each other, and now you just need to go outside and get some fresh air.
If this looks familiar, I would like to help you out friend.
After enjoying the sunshine, close your Reddit tab, take a deep breath, and let's start over.
You have two distros to pick from:
- Fedora
- Debian
That's it.
And, it really doesn't matter which. Flip a coin. They both work great, and there's a ton of help online. There's no wrong choice.
When you see:
- #Debian
- #PopOS
- #Ubuntu
- #Mint
- #Kubuntu
- #ElementaryOS
- etc.
Just pretend like those are all just "Debian." Don't worry about it too much. Any of those are fine.
And when you see:
- #Fedora
- #Bazzite
- #Aurora
- #UniversalBlue
- #Nobara
- #Alma
- #Rocky
Just pretend like those are all "Fedora." It doesn't matter. Any of those are fine.
Make sense so far?
Ok, so you flipped your coin. You picked Debian or Fedora.
- Don't worry, you picked correctly.
- No, you're not missing out on some cool feature in the other one.
Now, the thing about Linux is that your Desktop GUI is actually interchangeable....without having to switch to a different distro!
Pretend like you were on Windows, but you could actually just make it *look* like MacOS, but still be Windows. That would be pretty cool right? (Or, maybe not, since you want to switch in the first place. But you get my point.)
Well, that's exactly how Linux actually works. So you picked Fedora or Debian, right? Good choice!
So, now, here are your *actual* choices that actually impact your day to day Linux experience. Take a look at these:
- #GNOME https://www.gnome.org/
- #KDE Plasma https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/
- #Cinnamon https://projects.linuxmint.com/cinnamon/
- #COSMIC https://system76.com/cosmic
- #Budgie https://buddiesofbudgie.org/
Found the one you like best? Sweet! Good choice! Don't worry, you made the right call. No, you're not missing out by skipping the other ones.
All you have to do now is search for "<my distro choice> <my desktop choice>". (e.g. "Ubuntu Cinnamon" or "Fedora Budgie") and install it.
Congrats! You've successfully switched to Linux!
After enjoying your brand new, free desktop, and the fact that you made the right choice...go back outside and enjoy the fresh air again.
(And honestly, why not keep that Reddit tab closed a little while longer. Treat yourself.)
Seth of the Fediverse
boosted
Ubuntu Studio is Linux's best-kept secret for creators https://www.howtogeek.com/ubuntu-studio-is-linuxs-best-kept-secret-for-creators/?user=dGVjaGxpZmVibG9nZ2VkQGdtYWlsLmNvbQ&lctg=2017937f2fb2d980da3058d6c9dda2222bab2e1719987346cffd9c1c28a5bb83 "Ubuntu Studio is an official variant of the Ubuntu Linux distribution specifically engineered for creative professionals and hobbyists. You can think of it as an open-source workstation designed to replace expensive proprietary software suites for audio production, video editing, graphic design, photography, and desktop publishing."
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Found an old Christmas Card I made during my Computer Science studies on my old laptop! 🎄🎁
Ubuntu Studio is Linux's best-kept secret for creators https://www.howtogeek.com/ubuntu-studio-is-linuxs-best-kept-secret-for-creators/?user=dGVjaGxpZmVibG9nZ2VkQGdtYWlsLmNvbQ&lctg=2017937f2fb2d980da3058d6c9dda2222bab2e1719987346cffd9c1c28a5bb83 "Ubuntu Studio is an official variant of the Ubuntu Linux distribution specifically engineered for creative professionals and hobbyists. You can think of it as an open-source workstation designed to replace expensive proprietary software suites for audio production, video editing, graphic design, photography, and desktop publishing."
G. Gibson
boosted
Comparing apples to stars: the iPad Pro 13-inch with the StarLabs Lite tablet.
* Dimensions: almost the same.
* Weight: iPad 0.5 kg vs Lite 0.9 kg (2x! Why so much heavier?)
* Battery: same, both have a 38 W lithium-polymer.
* CPU: M5 10-core vs Intel N350 8 core, but benchmarks are dramatically different:
- iPad: Multithread Rating of 28,370 and Single Thread Rating of 5,959.
- Lite: Multithread Rating 7,336 and Single Thread Rating 1,938.
* CPU power use (typical TDP): 28 W vs 7 W (!). 4x less for the Lite.
* RAM: iPad 12 GB vs Lite 16 GB. Why does the iPad have so little RAM?
* NVMe: both 2 TB.
* ports: iPad has essentially none (why?) whereas the Lite has 2 USB-c and 1 mini-HDMI port.
* microSD card: none for iPad, yes for Lite.
* cameras: both have front and back; iPad 12 MP, Lite 5 MP rear and 2 MP front.
* repairable, upgradable: not really for the iPad, yes for the Lite (but then it's not waterproof).
* price: iPad £2,500 vs Lite £900 at these specs and dimensions.
Plus the Lite runs Ubuntu 24.04 excellently, with a long battery life (it really is well over 10 hours with the Power Mode "balanced, presumably more with the "saver"), with Xournalpp for handwriting notes with a stylus and annotating PDFs (and Firefox and Evince for also editing PDFs), Write (had to compile it) for handwriting, Inkscape, Krita, GIMP. Runs Blender well, surprisingly (I hear Blender finally runs on iPads too), and I get a full, proper computer with which I can do just about anything.
Chapeau, @starlabssystems
By the way your keyboard is better than the FrameWork laptop's. Now if only the hinge was strong rather than floppy, would enable safer use of the Lite as a laptop.
Comparing apples to stars: the iPad Pro 13-inch with the StarLabs Lite tablet.
* Dimensions: almost the same.
* Weight: iPad 0.5 kg vs Lite 0.9 kg (2x! Why so much heavier?)
* Battery: same, both have a 38 W lithium-polymer.
* CPU: M5 10-core vs Intel N350 8 core, but benchmarks are dramatically different:
- iPad: Multithread Rating of 28,370 and Single Thread Rating of 5,959.
- Lite: Multithread Rating 7,336 and Single Thread Rating 1,938.
* CPU power use (typical TDP): 28 W vs 7 W (!). 4x less for the Lite.
* RAM: iPad 12 GB vs Lite 16 GB. Why does the iPad have so little RAM?
* NVMe: both 2 TB.
* ports: iPad has essentially none (why?) whereas the Lite has 2 USB-c and 1 mini-HDMI port.
* microSD card: none for iPad, yes for Lite.
* cameras: both have front and back; iPad 12 MP, Lite 5 MP rear and 2 MP front.
* repairable, upgradable: not really for the iPad, yes for the Lite (but then it's not waterproof).
* price: iPad £2,500 vs Lite £900 at these specs and dimensions.
Plus the Lite runs Ubuntu 24.04 excellently, with a long battery life (it really is well over 10 hours with the Power Mode "balanced, presumably more with the "saver"), with Xournalpp for handwriting notes with a stylus and annotating PDFs (and Firefox and Evince for also editing PDFs), Write (had to compile it) for handwriting, Inkscape, Krita, GIMP. Runs Blender well, surprisingly (I hear Blender finally runs on iPads too), and I get a full, proper computer with which I can do just about anything.
Chapeau, @starlabssystems
By the way your keyboard is better than the FrameWork laptop's. Now if only the hinge was strong rather than floppy, would enable safer use of the Lite as a laptop.
There's been a really cool increase of interest in switching to #Linux over the last year.
But, almost certainly, the first problem you run into after deciding you'd like to try it is "holy shit...wait, what's a distro? And how many of them are there? Oh god...I just hate Windows/MacOS and would like something that I can use....what do I pick??"
And, let's say you make it through that problem, the very next one is a bunch of well-meaning people on the internet saying "You should pick Mint!" and "Nah, fuck Mint...you should use Kubuntu!" and "You're both slathering idiots. They should choose Arch obviously!" and then they all start fighting with each other, and now you just need to go outside and get some fresh air.
If this looks familiar, I would like to help you out friend.
After enjoying the sunshine, close your Reddit tab, take a deep breath, and let's start over.
You have two distros to pick from:
- Fedora
- Debian
That's it.
And, it really doesn't matter which. Flip a coin. They both work great, and there's a ton of help online. There's no wrong choice.
When you see:
- #Debian
- #PopOS
- #Ubuntu
- #Mint
- #Kubuntu
- #ElementaryOS
- etc.
Just pretend like those are all just "Debian." Don't worry about it too much. Any of those are fine.
And when you see:
- #Fedora
- #Bazzite
- #Aurora
- #UniversalBlue
- #Nobara
- #Alma
- #Rocky
Just pretend like those are all "Fedora." It doesn't matter. Any of those are fine.
Make sense so far?
Ok, so you flipped your coin. You picked Debian or Fedora.
- Don't worry, you picked correctly.
- No, you're not missing out on some cool feature in the other one.
Now, the thing about Linux is that your Desktop GUI is actually interchangeable....without having to switch to a different distro!
Pretend like you were on Windows, but you could actually just make it *look* like MacOS, but still be Windows. That would be pretty cool right? (Or, maybe not, since you want to switch in the first place. But you get my point.)
Well, that's exactly how Linux actually works. So you picked Fedora or Debian, right? Good choice!
So, now, here are your *actual* choices that actually impact your day to day Linux experience. Take a look at these:
- #GNOME https://www.gnome.org/
- #KDE Plasma https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/
- #Cinnamon https://projects.linuxmint.com/cinnamon/
- #COSMIC https://system76.com/cosmic
- #Budgie https://buddiesofbudgie.org/
Found the one you like best? Sweet! Good choice! Don't worry, you made the right call. No, you're not missing out by skipping the other ones.
All you have to do now is search for "<my distro choice> <my desktop choice>". (e.g. "Ubuntu Cinnamon" or "Fedora Budgie") and install it.
Congrats! You've successfully switched to Linux!
After enjoying your brand new, free desktop, and the fact that you made the right choice...go back outside and enjoy the fresh air again.
(And honestly, why not keep that Reddit tab closed a little while longer. Treat yourself.)