this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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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.
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I'd been a Fidonet BBS sysop for years when I read Torvald's post on comp.os.minux and I was interested, as MS-DOS was too limited. So I downloaded my first "not distro" on a midnight call (300 baud!) to Finland. It wasn't even a distro back then, just a bare kernel and a few programs. Then SLS came out in late '92 and I was off and running.
I've hopped all the major distros just out of curiosity and torture/fun, many times, too many to count. Each has it's own quirks and usability, but they all have the kernel. So it doesn't matter which you run as long as you like it, you're having fun exploring, and it does what you want it to do.