this post was submitted on 12 May 2026
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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.
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i'm coming at this realization from the opposite direction; my experience w linux made me believe you had to be VERY disciplined about your hardware purchases or you're stuck having something that doesn't work until you fix it.
so i've spent the last decade buy linux-first laptops -- aka generic tier laptops with mac laptop price tags.
i needed a new laptop and my circumstances forced me to buy a cheap/off-brand windows-first laptop and i was dreading having to fix whatever didn't work like i had to do circa 2002; but no, it's just worked.
the people of lemmy made me realize this and wo them, i would be stuck trying to do my thing on broken hardware.
Yep things have certainly changed since then, I remember when it was common advice to new Linux users to generally avoid laptops.
that logic was my exact reasoning for buying linux-first laptops and it gave me an ultra smooth sailing for almost a decade meanwhile this is how i felt learning about everyone else's hibernate/wifi/nvidia/battery-draining problems that system76 solved for me:
imagine that this is how mac people feel. lol
I remember this too. Somehow, despite all the laptops I installed it on I got VERY lucky and only had a couple of WiFi issues, one totally incompatible laptop, and one that would not boot until I got the boot parameters right. I heard plenty stories from other people though. All that said, it's so much smoother and easier installing Linux nowadays that the Windows install where I worry the whole time that MS is trying to reverse psychology me into agreeing to sell my unborn children into slavery.
Welp, maybe even the SDIO wifi on that 200 $ convertible back in ... 2018-ish would work ootb now. Windows 10 struggled already with the only 4 GB RAM, forget webbrowsing, the only reasonable task for such a device.