Linux

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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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Hello, I’m going to be getting a new computer soon and have thought about linux. Questions inside (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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With the new computer and the newer Microsoft Windows updates they have really jam packed their OS with bloat and spyware. That being said I have no idea what I’m doing with Linux, need help with where to start.? What are some general tips? I understand there’s a lot of prebuilt Linux distributions or something what are some first timer friendly ones? Really any help is appreciated because the biggest barrier to entry is the perceived difficulty of actually doing it.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yeah I was thinking the same thing too, technically if we would recreate the file structure on the second drive, move everything there and set up soft links to those folders instead it might work? I need to try it out in a vm

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Some directories can be moved, but you risk messing up your boot process if /lib, /etc, /bin, /sbin, and /dev are not on your root partition. Having /usr on a separate partition is sort-of possible, but even on Gentoo that's an uncommon configuration, and I'd expect less flexible distros not to allow it at all. /var, /opt, /root, and /home can be wherever, though.

It may be possible to put only selected files in your /lib and so on, and then mount another partition on a different drive on top of the minimal one late in the boot process, or even to stopgap things with a carefully-designed initramfs, but I think you'd be looking at some trial and error (and make it more difficult to update basic system packages).

Also, defining what is "just the OS" on Linux is not as easy as you may think. The smallest possible configuration that will get you a running system is a Linux kernel + busybox (a set of cut-down system tools that includes a simple init system, a shell, and a basic device manager). Most of what your distro packages is not part of the OS, strictly speaking—it's optional add-ons that the people making the distro think most users will find useful.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

@Ozzy Exactly what I was thinking. Kind of a PiTA if everyone needed to do that, but maybe an excuse to throw up an open-source script on github for it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Take a look at this, might be interesting: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Overlay_filesystem

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I had no idea this exists and it looks like it might just work, thank you