GNU/Linux

copied from the old wiki. this is shit though, so someone fix it.

Linux at its core is a kernel, the central driving force of an operating system that allocates resources to other aspects of the system. Linux, along with the GNU system (which is closely associated with Free Software Foundation) are now collectively referred to as GNU/Linux, and make up a complete operating system which is widely used today by millions across the world. To read more about the history of the GNU project and Linux, see this article.

Distrowatch

Why GNU/Linux?

The free software philosophy is about an open and shared operating system which not only free as in money, but free as in freedom. The GNU/Linux system gives users more control over their computing experience than competing operating systems such as Windows, which could contain malicious features to them without the user's knowledge.

What's all this about distributions?

There are several distributions of GNU/Linux, the easiest to begin with being Linux Mint . Other variants of Linux Mint exist, a popular being Linux Mint Debian, which is based on the Debian system. There is also Trisquel which aims to be the most freedom respecting operating system available. It will most likely frustrate you as you attempt to get any semblance of real usage out of an OS that only uses FOSS software.

Most distros are at least somewhat similar with each other. The main differences are between the init system, package manager (and the repositories it has access to), desktop environment, and default configurations.

A further list of recommended operating systems are categorized as follows

Recommended distributions

Easy to use and install

Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu)

openSUSE

Linux Mint Debian (based on Debian)

Origamo OS (based on Debian)

Highly customizable

Gentoo Linux  (to the point of being a joke)

Debian GNU/Linux

Arch Linux