It’s just files, how hard could it be 🤷
I fucking wish
Check out dbus and notify.
And then unpack your dracut initrd.That killed a Plan9 (and 9front) fan.
24 years exclusively running it.
Short answer: magic.
Long answer: a stressful full week trying to get everything right, followed by a long, blissful period forgetting how hard it was to get it up and running like magic.
Those weeks were a lot more stressful, and longer than a week, when I used Slackware and started installing stuff that wasn’t packaged for Slackware. I would dread new software. It was the Unifi controller that finally put me over the edge: I wasn’t even willing to give it a shot. I ran the controller on my Kubuntu desktop for a few weeks until I switched the server to Debian.
It felt like a house of cards. Nudge one of those cards by, say, updating a library, and you could easily break something else.
“If you want to know how Linux works, ask a Slackware user,” is the old saying. It’s true…we had to know, because we didn’t have a choice not to know.
After a dozen of those stressful weeks I decided to write down everything new I learn if I can.
The more you know, the more you know that you don’t know a damn thing.
20 years this year and I still am not sure how it is supposed to be pronounced (in english)
it’s pronounced
gifguy over here trying to start a war
yiff*Now I just wanna know whether
GNUisGuh-nooorJuh-nooorGee-en-yooI haven’t used Linux regularly since 2006, which either means I’m out of the loop or an ancient bearer of lost knowledge:
I think it’s “G’noo” like “G’day” or “G’night.”
The GNU project has a page on it:
G’noo be my distro of choice, m’lady
lmao
Gnu like the animal
Wildebeest
the U is silent
It’s
Gee-nyoo
linux
The linux is silent
Line-yoox.
Gah Nuu plus Line-ucks
“As I’ve taken to calling it”
Loon - icks
Loin-ughs
So close the lunatic then.
except it’s derived from Linus’s name, which in finnish is pronounced as Lee-noos, so technically it should be Lee-noox.
In reality tho? Nobody cares
It’s pronounced like Liminiux. Lominoliux is also acceptable.
actually, it’s lomi-lominux
That’s the thing, his pronounciation there is eerlie similar to what I’m used to spanish (where it is pronounced just as it is spelt) that my ol brain kind of does a short-circuit and can’t assimilate the fact that it’s just kind of the same thing in both languages and if it’s in the middle of a sentence I have to go back to speaking my crappy non-native english
Not sure if this helps, but in English (my native language), I would pronounce it with a short “i”, like in “sit”. You could also pronounce it with a Spanish “i” (same as Finnish “i” to my ears). I would not pronounce it with a long English “i” because the vowel length is too long and doesn’t sound right.
It always surprises me how much the pronunciation of Finnish and Dutch resemble each other.
LIH-nucks (rhymes with “tin bucks”).
It is pronounced like that but they don’t rhyme at all
I think it’s /ˈlɪn.əks/ It’s horritic tho, tbh
This gon be another gif or gif situation.
/ˈlɪnuks/
le necks
I don’t know shit about Linux. I just know it’s fast and not Microsoft.
When Linux is working, one does not tempt fate by asking why.
One does not ask how the Linux is working, one only asks if.
🙋♂️: “How does Linux work?”
👨💻: “…does it?”
Everything’s a file.
Communist nerds decided that computer programs should be free, so they made free computer programs for you. It’s better than corpo slop because all the most passionate nerds are sharing their code with each other, and judging every other nerd’s code.
There are also other socialist nerds who have decided they don’t want to obligate the corpos to give them code because it sucks. Welcome to BSD.
Also: people trying to make a point out of whatever motivation.
Need a POC for a research paper? Do it in Linux.
Need an implementation to get investor funding? Do it in Linux.
Need to pressure a large commercial operating system to implement a security model as a state security agency? Do it in Linux! It’ll only take a decade for them to start to trust it, but the company will be pressured by a free alternative have an implicitly endorsed security system!
As someone who uses Linux every day for work, I don’t know how to fix shit. I’m not paid to troubleshoot
But seriously - if you do want to see the inner workings, perform a Gentoo stage 2 to dip your toes in. LFS after if you’re feeling dangerous. Then things will start to come together. But maybe do it on a spare machine… You can/will break things and you will need a fallback to do research. Don’t bother if you don’t care to read manuals, it’s not easy and can be frustrating.
I’ve been working with Linux since 1.1.98, I think, 1.2.13 for sure. That’s probably 32 years.
I’ve built kernels for enterprise distribution as part of a build group. I’ve worked to secure our distribution. I’ve led the security response team.
I’ve never run gentoo.
You think I should ?
If you are happy with the distributions you use, there is no need to try Gentoo.
In my opinion, as a Gentoo user for the last 20 years, Gentoo is the most flexible distribution there is. Gentoo can be as stable as Debian or it can be as (or even more) cutting edge as Arch. Or it can be anything in between and you can even mix and match as you like.
The cost you pay for that flexibility is the compile time it takes to build the packages. And Gentoo is even providing you with prebuilt binaries for a very large amount of packages.
Not sure if you’d gain all that much with your level of experience. LFS might be a better starting point. However, after suggesting doing a stage 2 to a few that were eager to learn more (even though they’d been using it for a very long time), it was generally a positive experience. If you go through the guide I’m sure you’d be able to tell quickly whether it would be useful.
Honestly as a not-used-Gentoo person recklessly throwing around my opinion on the internet…
It sounds like either it can be “Really optimized and crazy performant if you know what you’re doing.”
Or “It’s a fun hobby because you think operating systems are fun.”
Personally it seems cool except I think I’d start to burn out fast if every package install means having to read compilation instructions and edit configs.
Maybe because my experience compiling stuff is always like “What’s your problem this time?! Okay where do I find that package version?!”
Package install doesn’t mean you have to read compilation instructions and edit configs. Usually you just install like in any other distro. (Except it takes a bit longer to finish.)
@MonkeMischief @corsicanguppy portage tree already conains all instructions and follows automaticly. You optionally may override options with use flags unlike binary distros where you only can use default configuration
You should be at the point where you just want simply and easy. Because you have reached the point “I’m tired Boss. So tired.” When it comes to an OS.
So maybe Mint or a Fedora Atomic spin.
I have somewhat similar experience (with far more recent kernels tho, 2.6 and newer) gentoo has some gentoo specific things, it won’t really teach you a lot when you have a certain level of knowledge, and how most parts interface with each other. It’s a fun exercise if you have time.
I once tried Gentoo stage 1 because I felt bad ass and failed miserably. However that also taught me a lot.
Hahah. At least you learned some things. Took me a few goes after thinking I was slick having stage 2 down pat. Then tried some BSDs and was humbled again.
Heh, there was a guy on our local forums who daily drived FreeBSD 20 years ago. They probably still using it. 20 years later, I still don’t know any other people who daily drive a BSD.
I’ve been running OpenBSD since 2.8. I’ve only met one other BSD user in real life and they were baffled to why I’d run it as a workstation OS. Sometimes I am too.
That’s fair I think :)
Comparing to Linux BSD is quite niche, and I even met a guy who uses Linux other than me in real life was like in 2011 for the first time. No one knew what BSD was.
Personally I only meddled with NetBSD for really old PCs.
I guess I can count you as the first person I know who uses OpenBSD now.
i use freebsd on my desktop and server. it’s pretty good. linux emulation is also capable so everything just runs!
hardware compat isn’t as great tho. my laptop randomly stutters with freebsd so i use linux instead
I heard BSD is solid as a server. The person I know had to compile everything but that was many years ago. I would assume you have binary packages as well nowadays?
I never really used BSD and I only know NetBSD a little. I’m actually curious about a NetBSD server but I’m lazy even for my desktop. And I was considering switching my Debian server to Alpine but I haven’t touched that server since 2019 aside from occasional updates, so even that’s a big step for me. I guess the more realistic standpoint is I will install Alpine when my netbook finally dies and have to replace it with another hardware. :)
yes there are binary packages available, so i just use ‘pkg install …’ like ‘apt-get install’. NetBSD also has binary packages and is pretty good. it’s all fun to use, but tbh i don’t think there’s many reasons to move away from a linux system because there’s not many clear advantages
I daily drive OpenBSD. I found it easier to set up than NetBSD which apparently is ass backwards as open is supposed to be harder. for the life of me I just couldn’t wrap my head around getting the amdgpu drivers working on NetBSD.
I also found OpenBSD slightly better supported for various hardware than FreeBSD. Wifi works better on it, these old ass logitech headphones I have work flawlessly on OpenBSD when on FreeBSD they just didn’t work at all and gave off horrible feedback or I couldn’t turn the mic off. Also found setting up a Debian VM much easier on OpenBSD than FreeBSD (still a chore though)
Also OpenBSD for whatever reason probably has the most solid and decently sized gaming community than the other ones.
It’s a great OS that just stays out of your way. really fun to tinker with. Just don’t expect to do EVERYTHING on it. for surfing, certain dev work, etc it’s great.
honestly just installing Gentoo is a great way to learn various aspects of linux. It’s a process, a lengthy one, but if you manage to install it successfully you can pretty much install any distro or BSD with absolute ease and not even think about it.
Proud Gentoo user for the past 12ish years and this is the first I’ve heard of “stage 1” and “stage 2”. This explains the number for stage 3 I guess lol. Even with stage 3, and having dealt with gentoo (still my daily driver to date), I think I’ve learned more than I would have with many other distros.
This and some certification guide for sles or rhel (their documentation in general is very good and thorough).
Tried LFS first. Stayed with Gentoo after for the maintainability.
I just say “everything’s a file” until they stop asking questions
It takes the raw code, bakes it at 450°F for 90 minutes, then does some magic.
… And there are a lot more of those random guys around now.
Statistically yes, but also you’re noticing a lot more because Lemmy creates those guys. Source: random guy. (Although I’m actually the low end “who the fuck knows” on the IQ chart version of this meme.)
because Lemmy creates those guys
I confess, I’m perhaps complicit in that.
I think M$ has had a lot to do with it recently, although lemmy certainly offers a helping hand
Microsoft makes you want to leave, Lemmy tells you it’s not so bad and pushes you to do it.
Under the hood there is this thing in there called “systemd” that does a pretty good job making Linux work, and has made some people happy and some other people unhappy.
Before systemd there was something called “init” or maybe “system v” that wasn’t as good at systemd, especially not at restarting things if there was a problem, but it was real fast and less complicated.
This is not part of the Linux kernel though, i have no idea how that works.
Can i be dewey, but with the glasses?
Close—a few other people use a different unit system to be extra niche. There are tens of us! Tens!
I think most of the hate came from logging and that it went binary instead of just another file
Most of the hate came from people that don’t even read logs nor know what they talk about. You can read journal with
stringsfrom binutils, you can forward to syslog server and store it in whatever format you prefer, you can do a lot of things with journal tbh. (Journalctl is horribly slow, that’s true)
