this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
78 points (100.0% liked)

Linux

61261 readers
414 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I’m on board that we need to become independent from big tech. As someone who is fond of the Mac user experience, from choosing hardware to how you navigate through apps, I need a guide to make the switch, so if you know of any great guides for Mac users, I’d greatly appreciate it!

Edit: you have all been very useful. I now know a bit more how to start and what it would mean to switch!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Sneptaur@pawb.social 1 points 1 day ago

If you're on a Mac, you can likely use an app called "Balena Etcher" to create a bootable Linux USB... if it's an Intel mac, you can just boot that right up by holding option at boot-time. If you're on an Apple Silicon Mac, you are not going to be able to boot most Linux distros there. If you're on PC, you can usually stick the flash drive in and mash F12 at boot-time to get into a menu, select the USB stick, and then it'll boot you into a "live environment" to test with. That way you can just poke around and see if you like it. Almost all distributions come with a live environment by default.