What is Linux?

When you ask ChatGPT what Linux is, you get the exact answer. "Linux is a kernel". While this is technically true, it is also completely unhelpful for anyone trying to actually learn the OS.

The kernel

The kernel is the part of an operating system that talks directly to the hardware. It is the translator between hardware and software. The kernel handles memory, CPU usage, files, peripheral devices and more.

Without a kernel, software has no way to talk to your hardware. Without hardware, software has nothing to run on. The kernel sits in the middle and manages all of it.

Linux is that kernel. It was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and has been developed by thousands of contributors ever since.

So what do people actually mean by Linux?

When most people say Linux, they mean a Linux Distribution. A distribution is a complete operating system built around the Linux kernel. It includes the kernel, a package manager, system tools, and usually a desktop environment.

As of today there are over 600 officially maintained Linux distributions. Most of those are children of one of a few main foundational systems:

• Debian
• Red Hat
• Arch
• Gentoo
• Slackware

Why are there so many?

600 distributions sounds excessive. And honestly, it kind of is. But there is a reason for it.

Linux is open source. Anyone can take the kernel, build something on top of it, and call it their own distribution. Over the decades, different groups of people had different ideas about what an operating system should look like, how software should be installed, and who the target user should be. That disagreement is why so many distributions exist.

Some were built for servers. Some for beginners. Some for people who want full control over every single thing their system does. Some were built just because someone could.

The family tree

The foundational systems above are the parents of almost every distribution you will ever hear about.

• Debian is the parent of Ubuntu, which is itself the parent of Linux Mint, Pop!_OS and many others
• Red Hat is the parent of Fedora and was the base for CentOS
• Arch is the parent of Manjaro and EndeavourOS

This matters in practice because distributions that share a parent also share a lot of DNA. The most obvious example is the package manager — the tool you use to install software.

• Debian-based systems use apt
• Red Hat-based systems use dnf or yum
• Arch-based systems use pacman

If you know how to use one Debian-based system, picking up another one feels familiar almost immediately.

You already use Linux

This is the part most people don't expect.

If you have an Android phone, you are running Linux. If you have ever visited a website, it was almost certainly served to you by a machine running Linux. Around 96% of the world's top web servers run on it. Every single one of the world's 500 fastest supercomputers runs Linux.

Linux is not a niche hobby operating system. It is the backbone of the modern internet.

Which distribution should you try?

If you are curious and want to give Linux a shot on your own machine, the short answer is:

• Linux Mint — if you want something that just works and feels familiar coming from Windows
• Ubuntu — if you want the most documentation and community support available
• Fedora — if you want something a little more cutting edge but still stable
• Arch — if you want to learn how everything works from the ground up and don't mind reading a lot of documentation

There is no wrong answer. The worst thing you can do is spend too long choosing and never actually try one.

Next up: the Linux filesystem — what all those folders in / actually are and how to navigate them.