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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Help deciding Os (self.linux)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by utnapishtim to c/[email protected]

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Hi, I'm learning python and I have purchased a 2015 MacBook air. I want to install Linux on it (Ubuntu) but my friend who's a developer told me to leave the MacOs because they are similar as operative systems. What do you think? Should I change the os and switch to Linux? Thanks. Edit: thank you for your replies. There are still so many things I don't understand about programming and os, sorry about that.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Mac OS uses Unix, Linux is Unix Like. At the core their structure's are the same
however despite being the same they have different software packages.

The question you need to ask yourself is: does MacOS have the software I need to do what I want?

For me I need Xcode for iOS development, so that is a yes. But for you, perhaps you may prefer the Python packages on Linux. Or the ease which new software can be installed.

However regardless on what is better or not, know that you can always re-install MacOS afterwords. Macs have a recovery mode that let's you wipe the ssd and reinstall. I used it when I upgraded my 2015 Mac from 128GB to 1TB.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Python is basically the same on Linux and Mac. The command line tools are actually different. Some apps like date or awk work a little different on Mac. You can install gnu equivalents like gawk via brew or Mac ports.