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221

(post is archived)

[–] • 8 pts (edited )

Really, no. It is true that linux is only a kernel, and a complete operating system consists of all the software built around that kernel. Although GNU, supported by the Free Software Foundation, is a vast collection of free software and libraries which are typically incorporated into the Operating Systems known as "Linux Distributions," not all of these "Distros" are actually unmodified GNU/Linux. The lists only the following distributions as true GNU/Linux: Dragora, Dyne;bolic, Guix, Hyperbola, Parabola, PureOS, Trisquel, Utulo, libreCMC and ProteanOS. While other linux-based distributions may utilize GNU sottware and libraries, they are not "free" enough to be considered true GNU/Linux. So there. (and then there is also Android which is based on linux as well)

[–] • 2 pts

A great deal of the software that one uses on Linux is BSD licensed. We don't call it BSD/Linux.

[–] • 1 pt

The Microsoft Windows operating system's network stack was ripped straight out of BSD. We don't call it BSD/Windows.

[–] • 1 pt

Mac OS X was originally built on the Mach kernel derivative XNU. We don't call it XNU/macOS.

[–] • 1 pt

And what's up with this "...comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX"? Linux distributions are not generally 100% POSIX-compliant, anyway. Most normal people don't know or even care about what all this means. What matters is that "Linux," in everyday use, refers to any and all operating systems which use the Linux kernel. geez......

[–] • 2 pts

I use Mint from time to time when Windows is pissing me off. I really don't know much about the history or foundations of Linux, just a 30k flyover understanding of software, and a relativity decent understanding on how the components interact with each other.

[–] • 1 pt

Mint is not considered pure enough to be called Linux because it installs proprietary codecs and drivers out of the box.

[–] • 1 pt

I admit I’m a lame when it comes to this

[–] • 1 pt

I use mostly laptops, and I find Windows to be a better native OS for those given the driver support. For getting things done -- the application space -- Linux is much better. Running a VM is virtually free these days in terms of CPU cycles. You want a lot of RAM, but RAM is cheap. The monetary cost is nothing. I use VirtualBox, but there are other options.

[–] • 0 pt

LMDE with Win7 in a VB VM, 8GB RAM with a 2+GHz dual core CPU is more than enough.

[–] • 2 pts

Funniest thing that's gotten me on a .gov watchlist this month.

[–] • 2 pts

But I like the sound of Linux better.

[–] • 2 pts

pedantry on this tier

No. You are not using a computer. You are using a sophisticated electrinc device by way of a CISC architecture and it's components. Also magnets.

[–] • 0 pt

There hasn't been true CISC for decades. It's really just RISC under the hood.

[–] • 1 pt

Sure but the point is that the post may be right but it's a pedantic argument of semantics (pedantics of semantics :) It's like those people who bitch at you when you call a tomato as a vegetable;

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE NO IT'S A FRUIT!!!

It's an irrelevant difference.

[–] • 1 pt

Wasn't every CISC "really" RISC on the inside? They all translated instructions into simpler operations over multiple cycles.

Of course professor designers like complexity so even with RISC they add pipelines, prediction, parallel execution, dependency tracking, multi-level caching, etc.

[–] • 0 pt

Not always, but the problem with CISC was that the complexity led to increased possibility of hardware bugs which were not possible to change as they were set in silicon. RISC was created to reduce the possibility of such bugs by making the instruction set as simple to implement in hardware as possible. That trade-off resulted in greater memory use (when memory was at a premium) along with being harder to program. Modern CPUs are hybrids, so that if there is a dodgy CISC instruction or a security flaw, it can be patched by microcode.

[–] • 1 pt

This is to separate the boys and men.

I call it linux because it's short and I'm lazy. True traits of good engineers and coders, so I'm told. The most important thing IMO is to understand the difference, but in the real world, it doesn't matter 99.997% of the time.

[–] • 1 pt

NNNNNNNEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRD

[–] • 1 pt

Gotta get a good GIF of a "GNU/Linux" goofball going off on guys who go about their day actually using Linux to get stuff done. Just watch them jump on jam and Jif sandwiches.

Typed on an Ubuntu/MATE Linux desktop, stored on a BSD NAS, and uploaded via a CentOS Linux router.