this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2026
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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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Just wondering as ive been told many os's online and then told to not use certain one aswell, i feel confused on what linux os to try someday. i come from windows 10 and i always find i need windows on atleast 1 device, and put linux on the "outdated" devices, but i keep hoping around, i cant seem to make up my mind.

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[–] SwooshBakery624@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sure. I used openSUSE as my daily driver for a couple of years, and after switching to open-source kernel modules, a common problem was when the modules would be updated but their versions wouldn’t match those of nvidia-video or other NVIDIA packages. Or when the kernel would be updated but the kernel modules would lag behind (which happened even more often.) Because of this, some components would get updated while others wouldn’t, leaving you with dGPU drivers that didn’t work.

I had to roll back the system using snapper and lock packages until the problem was resolved.

[–] Cricket@lemmy.zip 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks! What do you mean by switching to open-source kernel modules? I've heard of people having to lock packages with tumbleweed before. I'm glad that I haven't run into these issues so far.

It seems that nvidia drivers are a common cause of issues in many distros. I had heard of Fedora being a difficult one to work with nvidia drivers, but then if I search the web for nvidia issues, a bunch of message threads about exactly that come up for each distro. I would love to switch to AMD GPUs, but apparently they don't work as well as or aren't as widely supported as nvidia ones for graphics and video applications. The whole thing is a pain.

[–] SwooshBakery624@programming.dev 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

What do you mean by switching to open-source kernel modules?

Some time ago, the entire NVIDIA driver stack was proprietary, but recently the kernel modules have been made open-source for new graphics cards. Only older GPUs still use closed-source modules. If I'm not mistaken, GPUs from the 2000 series and newer have switched to open-source modules.

[–] Cricket@lemmy.zip 3 points 13 hours ago

I see, thank you!