Introduction
A lot of people love Linux due to its ease of use, great compatibility with almost any hardware and because it's free and open-source!
Linux is not only powering almost 90% of all cloud infrastructure but more people decide to use Linux over Windows or macOS to power their desktop setups or laptops.
If you're a developer or system administrator there are a lot of tools that you can find handy and when it comes to multitasking you can customize the distro of your choice to match your exact needs.
There are a lot of reasons why you should choose Linux and I will try to list some of them and explain why Linux can be the perfect platform for you.
- Linux is free and it's open-source
- It's secure.
- Offers great customization
- There are a lot of distributions that you can use
- It's reliable
- It's user friendly (although sometimes it can be very picky about who its friends are)
Usage
There are a lot of ways to use Linux or take advantage of its powerful features. You can have any Linux distro like Ubuntu and you can also have it as a dual boot setup with your Windows OS as well. If you like the terminal you can also configure Linux as a subsystem on your Windows 10 PC. The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) is a Windows 10 feature that enables you to run native Linux command-line tools directly on Windows.
You can find more information about WSL2 here:
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl2-faq
You can run Linux in a VirtualBox or any other virtualization software solution that you prefer as well. In this way, you can quickly spin up a new instance of Linux when this is needed for testing or to have a development environment before pushing code to production.
Why you should use it?
I believe that Linux offers a lot of features and tools that can speed up your daily tasks and also improve your skills while doing so. You can easily install it on almost any hardware including old desktop computers or even on single board computers like the Raspberry Pi. Additionally, Linux has all the applications that you're most probably using right now with your current OS so you're more than welcome to give it a try.
Conclusion
I would like to know if you're using Linux (feel free to share which distro) and why you've chosen to use it. When was the first time you've used any Linux distro and how Linux helps you to complete your daily tasks and long-term projects? Also let me know if you're using WSL2, running Linux as a virtual machine, dual-boot or just using Linux on your PC or laptop.
That's all folks
Support
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Latest comments (120)
I use Linux for web development , but virtualized as in WSL2 built into WIndows 10.
It handles Docker much better and stable then windows and I can still use my IDEs like Phpstorm and VsCode and also use GUI Tools on the Linux side like GIT Kraken or Chrome with X-Server in own window .
Works like a charm and I love it .
I am using WSL.
Thanks for sharing this, Axl!
Bruh!, I'm even using Linux inside Windows 🤣
This is true! I think that when Windows introduced the Linux subsystem they finally gave a big recognition to Linux in general.
I tried Linux a few times, got a spare ssd in my pc with Kubuntu on it and it looks really nice. But my whole dev setup is in Windows and I have yet to have a reason to switch to Linux. I've never had issues with updates causing trouble and Windows supports everything I need from a dev perspective. If really need Linux I can use WSL. Though my main tech stack is NET Core with Angular so Windows is more than sufficient. I also like to game lots so that's another reason to keep using it. The new Windows Terminal is also a really decent terminal as well.
For me Linux is one of those things I'll have a play around with every now and again.
"but more people decide to use Linux over Windows or macOS to power their desktop setups or laptops."
I think you might be wildly overestimating the desktop / pc market share that Linux has (gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share...)
Great article pal
This may seem controversial, but I like Ubuntu because it WORKS. I started learning dev on Win10, but the buffering and loading drove me insane. I thought my computer may be slower, so I tried out Ubuntu and everything worked quickly. Yes, there is a learning curve. Yes, you have to be willing to learn more about what you're doing. But the effort has paid off, esp when I started learning/working with servers.
After I got enough bills paid to finally buy a new computer, I started working windows again, as surely my new machine would handle it with ease...
And it still freezes all the time...
Also, "wsl is an abomination" so something someone said to me a while back, and I am inclined to agree.
Yes I do, Arch for laptop, Debian/CentOS for servers!
Do you use Windows or you fully operate on Linux for both the taptop and your servers?
No, no MS Windows here!
I find it unusable for my use case (probably because I've been on Linux for ages now); even the rare games I play are running smoothly on Linux.
I find Linux to be comfortable to work with, like I never understood how to link a C library correctly under Windows when in Linux, it pops just right in without a problem.
The command line on Windows is a mess (don't try to change my mind on that).
Thanks for sharing this! I also tend to find Linux easier to interact with.
Nowadays windows with wsl is good and comfortable to use, no need for linux for me.
I also use the WSL2 on my Windows laptop and I really don't need to use my dual boot for Ubuntu that often. I also have some raspberries and several Linux servers which I can use if I need as well.
I did use Linux (Ubuntu / Fedora) in the past, but I have to admit that after switching on MAC I would not come back.
I find Linux not enough ergonomic and hardware must be very strong to have something "correct" (aka memory management).
indeed
windows is boring :D
Linux can be really interesting to interact with, especially when you're doing the first configuration and tweaks on a new install.
I was 14 when I first started using linux. That's 19 years ago now. Ubuntu 4.10 when it was green in the gills. Spent several late night learning the command line, pushing proprietary graphics drivers... When X showed the desktop finally in all it's glory, I was hooked. It was my first PC I built with my cousin's help. I don't even remember the hardware. My next rig was an opteron 165 that I put under water with a 1A-Cooling kit (still works, eheim pump, brass/copper construction of the CPU block). 1.8ghz out of the box, pushed close to 3.3ghz like butter. Ran Ubuntu dual booted with windows XP. Those were the days.
This is amazing! Do you still use Ubuntu or you've chosen another distro?
I am using Ubuntu 20.10.
How long have you been using it?
for about 9 years now
Almost a decade, have you tried using other distros as well?
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