Getting your feet wet with Linux

A quick overview of the concepts, and your first steps.

Part 1: So what even is this Linux thing anyway?

Linux is an Operating System - The software that help you as a human communicate with the magic box on your lap. An Operating System -usually OS for short- takes something that can be read by us normal folks and changes it into something a computer can comprehend. Most of you are probably already familiar with at least the names of some very common Operating Systems: Microsoft's Windows, Apple's IOS, Google's Android, and, the subject at hand: Linux. Believe it or not, Linux is the most popular Operating System today. It's the base operating system of the vast majority of the worlds computers, most servers run some permutation of Linux, and the Android OS for your phone is based on Linux. However, as an operating system for normal people who are unfamilar with some of the more high-concept aspects of computers, it's quite uncommon to find. As of August 2024, Linux only accounts for about 4% of home computers, compared to Window's 65%, and Mac Os's 30%. Why is this? Well, it's a variety of things, but my guess is that Linux is just plain intimidating. There are hundreds of different versions of Linux, each offering different software libraries and configurations. My goal with this thing is to help you figure out how to approach Linux, and