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[This Year's December Days Theme is Community, and all the forms that it takes. If you have some suggestions about what communities I'm part of (or that you think I'm part of) that would be worth a look, let me know in the comments.]
In several of the entries for 2021's December Days about computers I have known and used, the operating systems for those computers are increasingly Linux as the time goes on. After a false start at university, where I tried to make a Linux work on my desktop, most of my experiences with Linux have been smooth for installation and operation, except when I do something foolish and bork the operating system, or it gets crufty enough that it starts not performing optimally and needs to be reinstalled. Those reinstallation points are also when I distro-hop, if I haven't been fully satisfied with the way that this particular distribution has done everything.
I'd say this particular group is bigger than it looks, but mostly that's because anyone with an Android smartphone in their pocket, or an Android tablet, a Kindle Fire, most smart TVs, streaming boxes and sticks, many smart watches, or a Chromebook is also technically a Linux user, as the Linux kernel powers all of those OSes and devices, and probably several of the game consoles of the last few generations as well. People who have to maintain web servers or who have websites they update are also likely Linux users, even if their hosting company is who actually handles the Linux updating and system administration. Many of the things that have been built around the Linux kernel are things that most people wouldn't recognize as any kind of Linux at all, because they have a specific idea in mind of what Linux is and does, and what kind of people use Linux.
( But do you use Linux, bro? )
I've tried a few distributions at this point, and while I'm no expert, I can try to steer people along the way if they're curious but don't know where to start. (As with so many things in this universe that run on open source or free software, knowing where to start is sometimes ninety percent of figuring out whether you're going to have a good experience with it all or not.)
In several of the entries for 2021's December Days about computers I have known and used, the operating systems for those computers are increasingly Linux as the time goes on. After a false start at university, where I tried to make a Linux work on my desktop, most of my experiences with Linux have been smooth for installation and operation, except when I do something foolish and bork the operating system, or it gets crufty enough that it starts not performing optimally and needs to be reinstalled. Those reinstallation points are also when I distro-hop, if I haven't been fully satisfied with the way that this particular distribution has done everything.
I'd say this particular group is bigger than it looks, but mostly that's because anyone with an Android smartphone in their pocket, or an Android tablet, a Kindle Fire, most smart TVs, streaming boxes and sticks, many smart watches, or a Chromebook is also technically a Linux user, as the Linux kernel powers all of those OSes and devices, and probably several of the game consoles of the last few generations as well. People who have to maintain web servers or who have websites they update are also likely Linux users, even if their hosting company is who actually handles the Linux updating and system administration. Many of the things that have been built around the Linux kernel are things that most people wouldn't recognize as any kind of Linux at all, because they have a specific idea in mind of what Linux is and does, and what kind of people use Linux.
( But do you use Linux, bro? )
I've tried a few distributions at this point, and while I'm no expert, I can try to steer people along the way if they're curious but don't know where to start. (As with so many things in this universe that run on open source or free software, knowing where to start is sometimes ninety percent of figuring out whether you're going to have a good experience with it all or not.)
