231 lines
8.2 KiB
Markdown
231 lines
8.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Linux
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date: 2024-04-03
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---
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So what's this Linux thing all about? What does Linux look like? What software
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runs on Linux?
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## What is Linux about?
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You can find a good introduction to Linux [here](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/introduction-to-linux-operating-system/).
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## What does Linux look like?
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Over the last few years, Linux graphic user interfaces (GUI) have greatly
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improved. Click to view screenshots of the current desktop environments offered
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by the Gnome and KDE Project.
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- [GNOME Overview](https://release.gnome.org/46/)
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- [KDE Overview](https://kde.org/announcements/megarelease/6/)
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## How about software?
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There is a large selection of software for Linux. For quick selection and
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comparison, see the fossfor.us site.
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According to [freshmeat.net](https://freshmeat.net) (a large index of software
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for Linux and other Unices), there are currently over 23,000 projects in
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development. Many of these programs are Open Source and/or free.
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## Getting Linux
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Interested in trying out Linux? Our Getting started page will step you though
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the process of finding, installing, and tweaking Linux on your computer.
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Installing Linux can sometimes be difficult, but the LUG is here to help!
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1. back up all your data (see page on backups)
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2. pick a distribution
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3. decide if you want to dual boot with Windows/Mac or just overwrite everything
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4. install it:
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- come to quarterly installfest
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- stop by the lounge any time and somebody might help
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- do it yourself!
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## Distros
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Choosing a distribution can be challenging! (Though it actually matters less
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than you think.)
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Here's a short and incomplete list to help you choose:
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### Debian-based
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1. MX Linux
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2. Mint
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3. Ubuntu
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4. Debian
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5. Pop! OS
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6. Elementary OS
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7. Zorin OS
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8. Kali (for hackers)
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### Arch-based
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1. EndeavourOS
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2. Manjaro
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3. Garuda
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4. Arch (hard)
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5. Artix
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## RedHat-based
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1. Fedora
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2. Red Hat (usually used on servers, including the UCLA lnxsrvs)
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3. CentOS (Red Hat but without the tech support)
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4. OpenSUSE
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## Minimalist operating systems
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For advanced users:
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1. Void Linux
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2. Gentoo
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3. OpenBSD
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4. FreeBSD
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## Tips for selecting a distro
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If you are a beginner and you don't want to mess with the terminal that much,
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choose a Debian based one like Mint. Most of the Debian ones just work straight
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out of the box. There's also tons of support.
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If you have some experience (or you're a beginner who is fine with using the
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terminal), you can try one of the Arch-based distributions. Installing Arch
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takes a while, but it's actually not too hard. If you're too lazy to install
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Arch, choose a distribution with a graphical installer (like EndeavourOS).
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Here's a quiz you can try: https://distrochooser.de/en/
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## Comparing Arch and Debian
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Choose Arch-based distributions if you want a minimal distribution. Choose
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Debian based distributions if you want stability or ease of use.
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# Desktop Environment
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The **desktop environment** (DE) is what makes up most of the user interface. It
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may include system panels, docks, window borders, backgrounds, and desktop
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widgets, among other things. GNU/Linux has a wide variety of DEs avaliable—this
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page will outline some of the most popular ones.
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It is important to note that no DE is tied to a particular GNU/Linux
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distribution, or vice versa. Thus, if your distribution of choice is Debian,
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you may use GNOME, or KDE, or both GNOME and KDE (if you installed both). You
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can install as many different DEs as you want and try them all!
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The three main desktop environments are XFCE, KDE, and GNOME.
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* **XFCE:** XFCE is designed to be fast and minimalist
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* **GNOME:** GNOME is simpler to use, and looks nicer. Of course, this comes at the cost of performance (the difference isn't that much though).
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* **KDE:** KDE is in between GNOME and XFCE in terms of performance and features. If you are unsure, KDE is a good choice.
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### Tiling windows managers:
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Tiling window managers are a lot more difficult to use, and aren't for
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beginners. Navigation is usually done using the keyboard as opposed to the
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mouse.
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## FOSS Software
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Below is an overview of some popular software for Linux. For more software and
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downloads, check out our Software Downloads section.
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### Web Browser - Firefox, Chromium
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Firefox is a standards-compliant open source web browser developed by the free
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software community with the cooperation and support of Mozilla Corporation.
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Firefox provides all essential features of a browser for the modern web, and
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also a wide variety of add-ons that will undoubtedly satisfy anybody's needs and
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wants.
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Chromium is the open source web browser project from which Google Chrome draws
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its source code.
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### Office Suite - LibreOffice
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LibreOffice is a free and open source office suite. It includes key office
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applications such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and
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drawing program, all with a user interface and feature set similar to other
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office suites.
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Sophisticated and flexible, LibreOffice also works transparently with a variety
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of file formats, including those of Microsoft Office. It primarily supports the
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Open Document Formats (ODF), such as .odt (documents), .ods (spreadsheets), and
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.odp (presentations). Here at the LUG, these are the formats we primarily use.
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Also, many European governments are adopting ODF as the official format for
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electronic documents. ODF and LibreOffice promotes total interoperability and
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information integrity.
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### Instant Messaging - Pidgin, Empathy
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Pidgin is a messaging program that supports multiple protocols, including
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XMPP/Jabber (e.g. Google Talk), IRC, MSN, AIM, ICQ, amd Yahoo!. It features
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many plugins and has a large community surrounding it.
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Empathy is a messaging program that supports XMPP/Jabber (e.g. Google Talk),
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SIP, IRC, MSN, AIM, ICQ, and Yahoo!. It supports voice and video calls (only for
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XMPP and SIP), and has excellent integration with the GNOME desktop.
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### Audio Player - VLC, MPlayer, Clementine
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VLC is famously known as the player that "plays everything." It can handle
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DVDs, (S)VCDs, Audio CDs, web streams, TV cards and much more. You don't need to
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keep track of a dozen codec packs you need to have installed. VLC has nearly
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all codecs built-in. It can even play the file or media if it is damaged!
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- Comparison of audio player software - Wikipedia
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### Movie Player - MPlayer, VLC
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MPlayer is a movie player for Linux. It plays most MPEG, VOB, AVI, VIVO,
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ASF/WMV, QT/MOV, FLI, NuppelVideo, yuv4mpeg, FILM, RoQ, and OGG files, and some
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files for RealMedia. You can watch VideoCD, SVCD, DVD, 3ivx, FLI, and even DivX
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movies too.
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Another big feature of MPlayer is the wide range of supported output drivers.
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MPlayer supports displaying through a number of hardware MPEG decoder boards
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such as the DVB and DXR3/Hollywood+ . And what about nice, big anti-aliased
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shaded subtitles (9 supported types!!!) with european/ISO 8859-1,2 (hungarian,
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english, czech, etc), cyrillic, korean fonts, and OSD.
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### Graphics Software - GIMP, Inkscape
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GIMP is a professional *raster* image manipulation program, and part of the GNU
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project. It is suitable for tasks such as photo retouching, image composition,
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image authoring, or any other task that requires manipulation of raster images.
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Inkscape is a professional *vector* image manipulation/creation program.
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### Programming - Gcc, Eclipse, Qt
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The GNU Compiler Collection contains frontends for C, C++, Objective C, Chill,
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Fortran, and Java, as well as libraries for these languages. It is a
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full-featured ANSI C compiler, with support for K&R C as well.
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GCC provides many levels of source code error checking traditionally provided
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by other tools (such as lint), produces debugging information, and can perform
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many different optimizations to the resulting object code.
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### Games
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A quick list of popular games that have been ported to Linux:
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- Civilization: Call to Power
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- Counter Strike
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- Counter Strike: Source
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- Descent 3
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- Doom 1/2/3
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- Half Life
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- Half Life: Source
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- Half Life 2 , HL2: E1, HL2: E2
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- Homeworld
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- Kerbal Space Program
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- Never Winter Nights
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- Postal 2
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- Quake 1/2/3 (see ioquake3-based projects, such as OpenArena)
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- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
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- Simcity 3000 Unlimited
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- Soldier Of Fortune
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- Team Fortress 2
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- Tribes 2
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- Unreal Tournament
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Here are some fun open source games:
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- SuperTux
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- SuperTuxKart
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- Xonotic
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