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submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by someoneFromInternet@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

I found this netbook(?) somewhere in old things and just wonder: can linux be installed on it?

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[-] davel@lemmy.ml 53 points 1 month ago

It’s already running Linux. You just showed us a screenshot of it running Android, which is Linux.

[-] randomname01@feddit.nl 107 points 1 month ago

Clearly not the point of OP’s question though

[-] PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 74 points 1 month ago

the ACKSHYUALLY is strong with this one

[-] Templa@beehaw.org 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Does this means can install any repo on my phone?

[-] davel@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago

If you can root your phone, probably some of them, perhaps many of them, but that probably wouldn’t make for a very good phone.

[-] i_am_hiding@aussie.zone 1 points 1 month ago

Sadly no, because while Android is based on Linux, it is so far removed that the kernel is wildly different. Some teams such as mobian, SFOS, postmarketOS, etc. have got fair dinkum Linux running on android devices though.

[-] MonkderDritte@feddit.de 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

~~As much as a human has of a lizard (lizardbrain). Are we still Lizards?~~

~~And "Android" specifically is a certified package with proprietary apps.~~

[-] davel@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 month ago

Firstly humans having lizard brains is pop science nonsense, and secondly humans and lizards are amniotes. And thirdly, the Android userland is Apache 2.0 licensed, regardless of whatever proprietary apps might or might not be installed on top of it, and the vast majority of Linux distros’ kernels have proprietary binary blob drivers installed in them.

[-] MonkderDritte@feddit.de 4 points 1 month ago

Ok, you got me there. Was a hard day.

[-] tate -5 points 1 month ago

For better or worse the more correct name GNU/Linux did not catch on and is universally shortened to Linux. Android uses the Linux kernel, but is not GNU/Linux, and therefore is not Linux.

[-] rwhitisissle@lemmy.ml 31 points 1 month ago

Alpine Linux users are in shambles.

[-] davel@lemmy.ml 27 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This is some ass-backwards logic. You’re trying to redefine Linux and then declaring that Android does not meet your novel definition. If Android, Alpine, and Chimera are not Linux, then what are they?

[-] Phrodo_00@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Are reading what you write? It's linux so it isn't?

[-] tate -5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
[-] Phrodo_00@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I don't know if it's that cut and dry. If you study a Operative Systems class or buy a book about them, it'll exclusively deal with the kernel.

[-] tate 1 points 1 month ago

If you can give a reference to any such book, I'd be very interested to see it.

[-] myslsl@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Operating System Concepts by Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne is a classic OS textbook. Andrew Tanenbaum has some OS books too. I really liked his OS Design and Implementation book but I'm pretty sure that one is super outdated by now. I have not read his newer one but it is called Modern Operating Systems iirc.

[-] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

GNU/Linux != Linux

Linux is a kernel

GNU/Linux is the GNU userland (tools and libraries) combined with the Linux kernel to form a complete operating system

Android is Linux but not GNU. So are Alpine, postmarketOS, and others I can't think of

Linux is to an operating system as bread is to a sandwich... an essential component, but a slice of bread by itself does not make a sandwich make

[-] tate 4 points 1 month ago

Most of what you said is exactly my point. It's true the word Linux, used properly, refers to a kernel and not an operating system. But that's not the way the word is used in practice, and it is not what OP meant when they used it. They meant " an OS with the Linux kernel and GNU userspace utilities." When the word Linux is used that way, Android is not Linux.

[-] Para_lyzed@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Do you not consider Alpine Linux to fall into the general category of "Linux", then? It lacks GNU user space utilities, though there is never a world where I would not consider it a "Linux" operating system. You seem to be overgeneralizing here and making assumptions about OP's intentions that aren't based in fact. I don't see the point in drawing meaningless lines, here. What you're referring to (as described by the GNU project) is GNU/Linux, not "Linux" by itself. The two are often but not always used interchangeably, and treating them as exactly the same leads to major outliers, like Alpine. I've heard plenty of people use the term "Linux" in practice to describe software running on embedded devices that don't contain GNU utilities, so this isn't exclusive to Alpine. In fact, the only real exception that I see consistently to operating systems that run the Linux kernel is Android, so it makes much more sense to formulate a description of the generic term "Linux" as simply having an exception for Android, though I'd argue that the only reasons that Android isn't viewed as "Linux" is because it is a mobile operating system, it is developed with the sole intention of including non-free, proprietary software (AOSP by itself isn't meant to be the full operating system on any device, but rather a framework), and the fact that the structure of the filesystem and the way apps are run differ completely from the ways of traditional "Linux". It seems to be an exception purely by the fact that it operates in fundamentally different ways than other "Linux" operating systems.

[-] porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Idk (I'm not op) but I think when people say "can I install Linux on this" everyone knows they mean gnu/Linux. Yes, if I'm picking a container base image obviously alpine is also Linux, and if we're talking about kernels then Android is too. But if we're talking about desktop OSes then I think it's close enough.

[-] fossphi@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago

I feel like that's precisely the point they tried to make

this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2024
252 points (97.7% liked)

Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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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