1 Terminology

As a non native English speaker and a newbie Linux user, one of the main problems I had was the confusing terminology. But now that I’m somewhat of an intermediate user, I hope I can remove any confusions regarding the Linux Terminology.

1.1 GNU+Linux (Often referred to as simply Linux)

A free (as in Free beer and Free speech) operating system. It is an open-source (contrasted to closed source software whose code cannot be inspected by the end user) operating system. It is highly customisable and modular.

Analogous to Windows, MacOS, Android, etc.

1.2 Linux

The kernel of GNU+Linux OS.

What is a kernel? It is the thing that communicates with your Computer (Dell, Asus, etc.) and the Applications you use (VLC, Google Chrome, etc.). Think of it as a kind of translator that takes your input and converts it to language that Computer Hardware can understand.

⚠️*This is a gross oversimplification but this is something that requires a lot of explaining which I’m skipping for now. So, bear with me.*🙂

1.3 GNU 🐐

GNU is a non-profit organisation that strives for the betterment of ‘Free Software’ (Free as in Free Beer and Freedom of Speech). GNU wanted to create a free operating system and worked out most of the parts that made up an operating system. But before they could perfect the kernel of the operating system many people already started combining the Linux kernel (Which was also free) and rest of the finished parts of the GNU operating system (excluding the kernel codenamed GNU Hurd which was and still is unfinished and kind of abandoned). Eventually GNU project also defaulted to using Linux as their kernel and thus GNU+Linux was born.

GNU stands for ‘GNU is Not Unix’. Yeah… The Linux Community has a thing for recursive acronyms. (Unix was a popular OS of the time and deeply influenced GNU+Linux.)

1.4 Distro

Remember when I told you that Linux based OSes are highly modular and customizable. Well it is kind of a blessing in disguise. Because of it’s modularity people around the world tweaked it by adding and substracting features and programs for suiting their needs. This led to numerous operating systems called “Distros” short for distributions as it is known in the Linux Communities.

Popular Distros include Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, PopOS, Arch, Manjaro, etc.

Clarification : Is GNU+Linux the only Linux based OS?

No. Android is an example of an OS based on Linux that doesn’t utilize GNU tools. Alpine Linux is an example of a desktop distro that uses the Linux Kernel with alternatives to “GNU Utilities”.

Important Note : I hope you got the distinction between GNU and Linux. The usage of the term GNU+Linux is a centre of debate among the community. (If only they had named the OS anything else like ‘LibreOS’ or something 🤦). So for the sake of comprehension, from now on please read ‘Linux’ as ‘Operating Systems based on the Linux Kernel’ unless it is explicitly specified as ‘Linux Kernel’.

2 Installing Linux on a computer

Now its time to download and install linux! You can use any disto but I would recommend Endeavour OS for beginners and will be used for this guide.

2.1 Pre-requisites

You need these stuff.

1. A computer that is x86_64. (You can install it for other CPU architectures, but they are beyond the scope of this guide.)
2. An 8GB or higher USB drive. (Could work with 4GB but I haven’t tested it)
3. An Internet connection to download a ~1.9GB .iso file.
4. About an hour of time for installation and configuration