Terms Every Linux User Needs To Know

[@BrodieRobertson]

Good to see that the timestamps are working, I updated my timestamp extraction script after Kdenlive shifted around the file format so it's good to see that nothing changed on KZbin's end

[@CodeAsm]

Oww cool, can I find that script somewhere?

[@BrodieRobertson]

@@CodeAsm I need to push the updated version to my GitHub at some point

[@Linuxdirk]

You can get the timestamps in copy&paste-able format by clicking ... one of the buttons (cannot check right now because not at home). You just need to set and name marker where you want to have the timestamps at.

[@meqativ]

​@@Linuxdirki think he's talking about pushing it in the description automatically

[@dreamcat4]

i appreciate the timestamps brodie, too bad when yt-dlp downloads the video (as a video file container), that those timestamps are not then auto-converted into the 'video chapters' or 'index marks'. however that is probably some limitation(s) of youtube or yt-dlp / dash system i would assume right? eh so nevermind then. in terms of the description section. may i suggest if you just keep the donations and affiliate links section at the very top (above indexes list). because then to move your other stuff like 'social media links' to be anywhere *after* the indexed timestamps. would improve the usability to keep the indexes overall a bit nearer to the top. and more handy.

[@LaughingOrange]

I don't think I learned anything, but it's always good to brush up on the things you already know.

[@luiz8755]

Yeah it's always good to see how someone else explain complex or simple stuff. We may not learn the content itself but new ways to transfer knowledge.

[@heretolevitateme]

This is a nice beginner guide. It might be about 200% more helpful for new people if it included the terms as text on the screen when you said them. I know that's a ton of more work, but might be worth considering.

[@boringsloth]

Great video! While I haven't learned anything I didn't already know, I would've loved this when I was starting out with linux. You explained things very well which I've had troubles finding on my own.

[@gwgux]

Very well covered! Professor Brodie is in the house! Maybe do a video series? Your own spin on how to introduce somebody to Linux and get them to where they can install it, use a package manager, and understand a bit about how it all works together?

[@iodreamify]

Great idea for a video. I know your audience is intermediate or even advanced but i really hope Linux will someday reach a state when all this knowledge isn't absolutely needed for the average computer user to maintain their system.

[@DelticEngine]

Thanks for posting a really informative video, Brodie. Although I've been using Linux for quite a while now, it's always good to have a bit of revision. Sometimes definitions change slightly over the course of time, other times one's own understanding isn't quite there. Content like this really helps clarify things so, at the very least, everyone is on the same page with the same understanding and definitions.

[@katrinabryce]

When people do screenshots of “linux” they are usually showing you the desktop environment. You can also run most of those on other Unix and Unix-like operating systems like FreeBSD, and you likely won’t notice any difference, at least until you do system admin tasks. FreeBSD is a bit like MacOS, and Android, where you update the base system and the packages separately, whereas on Linux, the package manager generally does everything. BSD Init is very different to SystemD, and I find it a lot easier to work with, And in FreeBSD, we have variants instead of distro. Generally the base image is different, but the ports/package collection is the same.

[@victornecromancer]

My NAS is running FreeBSD right now. Never tried it as a desktop OS

[@fury999_]

It's not linux. It's the GNU operating system with linux (kernel) as one of the components

[@generallyunimportant]

@@fury999_ good one.

[@szaszm_]

@@fury999_ except when it's not, like musl + busybox. Despite the best efforts of the FSF, GNU in itself is not a full operating system, even with Hurd. It has nice POSIX tools and system libs, but it lacks a large part of userspace, like anything having to do with GUI. Why can't we just accept that Linux is used to refer to OS distros using the Linux kernel, in addition to referring to just the kernel?

[@fury999_]

@@szaszm_ But why Linux. We should rather use GNU as the general term to refer the operating system because GNU Project is associated with the freedom of computer users. By calling the system GNU, we can spread awareness about computing freedom. On the other hand Linux Foundation is an organization who does not care about free software, they don't use GNU/Linux themselves, their prime purpose is to server the corporations.

[@dandiaz19934]

Dude, thank you. I'm really glad that these videos exist, bc my knowledge of Linux is spotty, so this really helps me fill in the gaps in my knowledge. Especially for terms that I hear a lot.

[@0x7f2c]

where is POSIX

[@GSBarlev]

I used Linux for 15 years without knowing more about POSIX than "it's non-Windows."

[@porterleete]

In a video he made in 2020.

[@flarebear5346]

Bro only people making stuff that has to be portable on linux, mac os and bsd need to know what Posix is

[@BrodieRobertson]

POSIX doesn't matter to most distros let alone a new Linux user

[@casperes0912]

In Sweden

[@citywitt3202]

Truly massive props for not being an elitist, the thing that always got me about the Arch community and one KZbinr in particular was this whole thing of “oh, thing you don’t understand and just asked me? Go read the manual.”

[@junkyardwolf4668]

As a reletive Linux newb (

[@iQKyyR3K]

Good video, maybe getting into systemd and services could've been useful but this is a good resource when I need to get people started with Linux Lingo

[@DashieTM]

Honestly, perfect for people who want to delve deeper into the penguin rabbithole. Well done :)

[@CoolIizard]

What a great overview! I’m linking this to one of my friends who wants to learn about Linux but has always been way too intimidated to try - this is one of the best intros to the terminology I’ve come across, and it’s way better than every attempt I’ve ever made to explain this stuff myself. Thank you for making this!!!

[@yoyonel1808]

Very good introduction to Linux Kernel/OS, very nice ! 🙂 Maybe one interesting thing in linux not present (i think) in your video is the paradigm used by Linux kernel that represent all hardwares (keyboard, screen, mouse, printers, etc ...) as files, IO streams. It's pretty important i think ^^

[@MechMK1]

Linux is one of those things you learn by doing. Either you do the sensible thing and just learn with a VM, or you do it like me, accidentally install it over Windows, then break your Bootloader. While stressful, it also taught me a lot.

[@OcteractSG]

More generally, the word "shell" is used to refer to anything that faces the user. For example, many of the graphical applications on Windows were developed by the shell team. In the Linux world, however, "shell" is used almost exclusively to refer to a program that handles CLI commands (e.g., bash, zsh, ksh, fsh).

[@gimpyo3354]

Thank you. I've been meaning to ask for this exact video for a while. I've been picking things up gradually, but it's difficult as a noob without knowing how and where the system components fit together. It's been like being dropped into a random location in skyrim for the first time and not having a map. Sure i'll figure it out eventually, but having a map makes things sooooooo much less painful. Please continue putting out occasional vids for noobs.

[@davey820051]

This covers a lot of what I spent my first few months in the Linux world learning, and I would recommend it to anyone just getting started. Bonus: I've been looking for the most efficient way to pipe all my personal data to the the Great Leader's RGB

[@mqtic]

I'm in university (CS) right now and I've been considering switching to Linux, I have already switched to open-source alternatives like LibreOffice and Gimp (just these two for now). This video that you made has made me a lot more confident about learning about operating systems and everything about them more in depth, so thank you a lot 🙏.

[@MnemonicCarrier]

Every journey begins with the first step 😉

[@Ariethefloof]

thank so much

[@sirzorg5728]

I wish I had this two years ago. Teaching myself all this stuff took a hell of a lot longer than 17 minutes. Just reading everything off the Arch Wiki wasn't really what I needed, because this is a scaffolding of stuff to later fill in with the wiki. Thank you for making this resource for future linux users.

[@chuckmuckamuck8001]

Hmmm, I always thought/used "flavor" and "spin" as synonyms. You learn something new every day.

[@leelasuelane6544]

Ive been with linux for over 13 years, this video would have been such a help at the start of this journey, very good and quick basics.

[@rigierish3807]

Now that I know about all of those things, this video is only a revision but I can clearly see it being very useful for the past me when I switched to Linux for the first time, because I had to learn it the hard way and progressively. So for newcomers, your video is awesome and it shows the freedom and customization we have in Linux in an easy format.

[@DasIllu]

While this video isn't really news for your target audience, i appreciate having condensed information i can relay in video form to people wetting their feet linux waters (whilst beeing too lazy to read the wikipedia entries...)

[@Mugnmastr]

Thanks very much for making this video Brodie! Its always nice to have a refresher on vocabulary like the terms you described from time to time.

[@williamyf]

Starting with windows vista, and progresively over the years, Windows has moved away from making your normal user account an administrator account. Nowadays, with Windows 11, one must go out of his/her way to make the user account the admin account at the same time. Perpetuating miths goes both ways. Just like some people perpetuate the mith that "Linux App installation == compile code", other people perpetuate the mith that "Windows normal user== admin user". PS: Writing this on a mac. Used BSD in 1995, and Linux in 1996, long before it was cool

[@jescis0]

Not to forget that after some time(about Windows Me or something) CMD is not technically DOS, but is an emulation of DOS or DOS-like command line program! I really don't like how many people don't understand the difference between Apple ][ DOS 3.3~ AND MS-DOS 1.0-6.22! they tend to lump it all together, even though they are from different companies and sources! 🤦🤦🤬🤬

[@TheyCallMeHacked]

When I read the title, I legit assumed you would talk about terminals. Still a good video to explain the basics

[@setoman1]

Wow! You never mentioned Wayland. Incredible self-restraint!

[@lnee]

The display manager does not manage the lock screen it only manages the login screen the window manager of the lock screen or in the case of X11, Xorg does.

[@siuuep7456]

Thanks for the good video! Most of them I already know but some things where good to know as how the gnu/linux part was "invented". I am working with trainees in our company and created a similar internal training where I explain basics of linux and the logic of the filesystem. I think if you understand how the filesystem works on linux, everything makes more sense and you become the kind of "troubleshoot master" you might need to be in the first steps entering the linux community. If you know how the find configs, packages, logs, maybe running socks or pid files and service units, devices etc. you basically understand the idea of "everything in linux is a file" and can compare it with the windows "solution" - "Registry" which is kinda DB (storing simple key / value pairs), and the filesystem "structure" on Windows.

[@SuperTort0ise]

1:57 (stallman will remember that)

[@GridlocSSB]

Honestly, I’d love to see a video explaining what the deal is of why it was (and still is) called a “Display Manager” instead of something more akin to what it actually does; i.e. “Login Manager”

[@BrodieRobertson]

I actually made that video and forgot about it when recording

[@1pcfred]

A Display Manager also allows you to choose from any Window Manager or Desktop Environment you may have installed on your system at the start of your X session. So they can do that. I'm not sure how they know you have them installed though. Distros might set it up? There's probably a config file somewhere. I don't use DMs so I don't know much about them. DMs are pretty useless. I console login and then just startx.

[@in_sound_mind]

Great video! I'm somewhat planning to migrate my wife from Windows to Linux and this video might just be a boon for explaining some basic terminology of Linux. Thank you!

[@mechwarrior83]

Great video, I wish I came across something like this when I was a noob. This video would really benefit from some graphics though.

[@AK-vx4dy]

Make a series !!! I somewhat missed Linux in my young years i quickly grasped things needed to my work but i never have daily driver so window managers etc i see are important but no one explains excatly what is is and some times names are confusing like a display manager

[@theesquag]

This is wonderful, wish I had something like this when I was getting started a few years back

[@Jeffsa12]

I refer to a tty interface as the console or virtual console, as opposed or to differentiate it from a terminal, which IIRC, is a graphical wrapper for the console.

[@TheUAoB]

The Kernel provides TTY interfaces which are exposed as "/dev/tty*". The default TTY is configured in the kernel, is usually tty0, but can be something else such as ttyS0 (serial terminal), this is where kernel (dmesg) messages appear. The fbcon driver which provides a virtual text mode on bitmapped video hardware this is used by the VT subsystem, traditionally however a VGA text mode was used. The Linux Virtual Terminal (VT) maps to tty(n) devices to the alt-function keys. Only tty0 is configured on boot. The init system usually puts getty programs on tty0-6, this allows a user to login, but any program reading and writing to stdio could be used, such as a shell. Graphical Terminal Emulators also connect to the kernel tty devices, in this case, the pseudo-ttys, they typically attach the users default shell to that pseudo-tty rather than a getty.

[@KM-sv4dh]

Thank you Broodie for the video, I did not learn much since I have been using Linux for a couple of years now, but I would definitely learn I had just started using Linux. Maybe starting from lower level then going ip higher (firmware, bootloader, kernel, init, display manager....) would be great, but I don't think I would enjoy such a great intro using DE vs WM then.

[@forrealfrfr]

Awesome video, cleared up a lot of stuff. What window manager are you using?

[@misterdetective8987]

hyprland

[@senoraraton]

He uses Hyprland.

[@napsterblook1]

though he usually uses awesomewm and i got a bit confused since his waybar looks a bit like the awesome bar

[@GSBarlev]

I'm surprised hyprland doesn't announce itself in neofetch (the screenshot say "wlroots wm" which, tbf, hyprland is...)

[@flarebear5346]

​@@GSBarlevtbf I think that is up to neofetch to detect

[@GSBarlev]

That Fibonacci Hyprland(?) flex at 5:00...

[@bjornroesbeke]

I've begun using (GNU/)Linux OSes in 2006 but don't claim to be very experienced with Linux. The DE/WM part was interesting. Perhaps one could delve more into the differences between Wayland and X11? It's not really a program that the user runs, but as a (previously) Windows user, the switch between them made my VNC server become disfunctional.

[@GSBarlev]

That's funny-the way I discovered this channel was when searching for an explainer on Wayland vs. X (and also for an explainer on XWayland).

[@hopelessdecoy]

I too have issues with Wayland, I want to use it but it just seems very unstable and stuff just stops working.

[@bjornroesbeke]

@@hopelessdecoy I don't know if i can complain about Wayland, i stopped using the VNC server and my system has been running just fine, except for a couple of hiccups (it's gnome after all).

[@hopelessdecoy]

@@bjornroesbeke my gnome screenshot wasn't working and KDEs screenshot said I needed kwin (I'm on plasma). Then when I log out it hangs forever logging back in. Otherwise it seems snappier than x11 and I really want to use it. Might be because I have an Nvidia card? Not sure

[@zeckma]

2:05 Yes I am insane, thank you Brodie

[@robert112uk]

Thoroughly enjoyed your video. Can you represent these concepts in a pictorial manner, like the machine being the bottom layer and the kernel above it etc eg? Linux is a bit complicated.

[@dandiaz19934]

Can you please cover what the heck Wayland is? People make a big deal out of it replacing (something) in terms of graphics, but I don't quite understand.

[@LtSich]

thx a lot for all those new users, or those who want to try Linux. All those informations are very usefull for people who want to join FOSS.

[@digitalasylum369]

Thanks! We need more like this!

[@_antoniocouto]

Nice video. Please make the 20 minutes video about DMs

[@BrodieRobertson]

I realised that I already made one and forgot about it lol

[@jasper265]

Great and very comprehensive video. It was interesting to get a complete overview of all the terms I learned piecemeal over time. Also [lee-nus] who made Linux and [lie-nus] at LTT (but I believe neither cares that much)

[@dandiaz19934]

Another question: Can you make a part 2 that includes the word "dependency"?

[@pyrokamileon]

that was a pretty great video that covered so many or the basics 👍🏽

[@MamRadVlaky]

I like how you said "pop_os" and automatic subtitles showed "poo"

[@guss77]

The desktop environment is called Plasma - KDE is the name of the organisation

[@spl420]

Only since 5, everything before was actually just KDE, therefore it's legitimate historical name.

[@Eyuphuro]

I wouldn't say Linux Operating System because that doesn't exist on its own, but a Linux-based Operating System which is an Operating System which uses Linux as its kernel (Android, Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux, etc). Linux is (one of the many) components which make up a whole Operating System. Linux itself can't even boot the device. Nice video ❤

[@RichardBronosky]

This is a great video i wish i had 3 years ago. I've been a sysadmin for 2 decades and only started using a GUI in 2021. It took me months to learn what you covered here in minutes. ☮️❤️🌈

[@EasonTek]

great video!! good explainations on everything, but now we have to see if people actually understand, especially the people who literally bully me for using microG android and firefox😭

[@jescis0]

Im no noob, but there's a lot of people who are! And I've been on irc where many people try to help everybody, but then you get gatekeeper/elitist who makes snarky/insulting comments, which are usually reprimanded with the saying "everyone's a noob at some point!" So thank you for this video! 😀😀

[@1pcfred]

Snarky insulting comments are an attempt to motivate the plebes. The hope is they get sick of hearing it and just put in the work to learn themselves. We do have their best interests at heart. The sad fact is you do have to study a lot. On the bright side most information is obtainable. Then if they ever do have an interesting question they'll be better received.

[@jescis0]

@@1pcfred true! There's no such thing as a dumb question, just dumb people… 😁😁🤓🤓😂😂 seriously, if you exhausted every other resource, then your question might be something to ask another human being! 😁😁 not everyone is smart or a know-it-all for everything! Otherwise everyone could be a football player, mechanic and an assembly programmer! Everyone has a talent for something! 😉😉

[@1pcfred]

@@jescis0 whenever I've exhausted every avenue with something no one can answer those questions anyways. Because I have asked them. If I can't find the answer then it is really obscure. So I don't even bother asking anymore.

[@jescis0]

@@1pcfred I guess, It all is relative… it's even circumstantial… 🤔🤔

[@gor.]

i wish i saw this video 1.5 years ago

[@gorrumKnight]

Saving this to link newbies to, absolutely invaluable reference so I don't have to explain it repeatedly. 😂

[@danielberglv259]

I have never really understood the Gnu vs Busybox argument. As far as I know, busybox is just a single binary that packs a multitude of binaries, including many of the standard Gnu ones. For example 'busybox ls' is just 'ls' packaged within Busybox? But that can hardly make it it's own thing. Busybox seams to be more like an executable archive of sorts like Toybox, but do they use custom written sources for all commands? I always thought they just wrapped existing commands within their own binary.

[@dreamcat4]

what i found interesting is that this explains linux world. but there is whole other world of unix or so-called posix compatibility. with some more older concepts being then closer to the k&r original unix. for example you covered the init, but not the process manager, daemons, and procs (process space /proc folder, versus kernel space). which is like a whole lower layer of concepts and understanding. ontop of which the user land programs are operating. so (for example) a shell is a userland executable, a proc. and so is a terminal program, (or a terminal emulator). so those distinctions were left a bit 'not explained' as clearly as to why / how they are specifically different from each other. and (for example) a prompt is not it's own thing. it is rather instead a feature of a shell executable. (alongside several other major features of a shell executable). so those sorts of distinctions. whereby the relative hierachies of the operating environment gets to be a bit better defined. i suppose also (briefly) it's good to explain how fundamentally x-org api is a c callbacks system. of function pointers thru a runtime library (which is like mac os frameworks etc.). wheras traditional cmdline unix instead uses 'pipes' or 'streams' of bytes / blocks / text. being passed inbetween each other. but then you are going to be loosing quite a lot of people in explaining those more fundamental programming layers. but it's a different communications mechanism. the gui versus the cli. (would be the main fundamental takeaway).

[@1pcfred]

When R of K&R was alive he'd give talks at my local LUG. So Dennis was down with Linux. Just FYI

[@LowPolyPixel]

Thank you this was very helpful.

[@ygiagam]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. This is very useful. Keep up the great work.

[@JessicaFEREM]

I love "noobie camping" videos that are good.

[@qweriop]

You could also cover: flatpak, containerized programs, X11/Xorg and wayland, daemons, xdg desktop portals, .config/.local/.cache. Perhaps for another video for intermediate linux users.

[@Linuxdirk]

Very well done explanations! 👍

[@billeterk]

Nice. Not sure where I’d start for this! FHS might have been worth mentioning

[@BiserAngelov1]

I enjoyed the video nevertheless! A devoted GNU/Linux user since 2007

[@esra_erimez]

Would you consider doing a video about Redux OS?

[@flow1194]

i'm completely new to all things linux and i watch your stuff specifically bc i don't understand anything

[@sodiboo]

2:38 What's with only like, half of these being suffixed with "Linux"? I know that they're all inconsistently referred to as [Distro] and [Distro] Linux in general non-linux-niche media all the time, but what's the point in a list like this, and more importantly why isn't it consistent? I'd also like to point out that "Ubuntu Linux" sounds cursed to me, because i don't think i've ever heard it called as such. It's mainstream enough to drop the Linux suffix. And less so fedora.

[@hopelessdecoy]

You'd be surprised how many people outside the tech realm don't even know what Linux is let alone Ubuntu or Fedora. They don't market on TV or radio and celebrities don't use it. Why would anyone know it at all?

[@shanent5793]

So who's in charge when then Linux colonel switches to user mode? Also it's been 30 years shouldn't he have a couple stars by now?

[@bloodstainedchasm]

preach brother !

[@smithrockford-dv1nb]

Wait, did you ever explain what a GUI is? You used that term, but never explained it (if i recall correctly)

[@bradolson8242]

Excellent description.

[@lightprogrammer]

good video for recap general knowledge

[@BitsOfTruth]

I remember the prompt $p$g in DOS. Or something like that. So..... At point is a prompt called a cursor?

[@darekols]

Thank you.

[@spl420]

9:15 I feel personally attacked.

[@mattwilliams1844]

Key Take Aways => "Centralized Wizard"

[@NikoNemo]

Finally, something useful here :D just joking, Well done!!!

[@woodygilson3465]

A nice primer for beginners. 👍👍

[@MatthewWilliamsX]

Oh no. If I was to pretend to be a new user you would have lost me at "kernel". I've known technically savvy windows users who still have no idea about what makes an operating system. Certainly they'd have less understanding of the many layers within. UPDATE : I watched the rest of the video. I judged too soon. Read further for lols. With most new users - a PC is just a tool. To simplify my conversation with them it boils down to "what make PC good", "why this better". As long as you can convince them that all the buttons they need to learn will be worth it, the interest will grow into learning. I no longer start exploring from the core. I find much more success when explaining from the highest level of computing that the user understands. Addendum : Remember, most people are filled with other knowledge, like the detailed history West European furniture, the names/addresses/birthdays of their favourite sports-ball team, or the refined nuances of nail-polish etiquette.

[@elzabethtatcher9570]

Great crash course for somebody who would have to work on Linux tomorrow.

[@hugoedelarosa]

Package managers are still crazy to me.

[@kc9scott]

“Blob” is an acronym, which stands for Binary Large OBject.

[@BrodieRobertson]

People also say chai tea

[@generallyunimportant]

@@BrodieRobertson i sure would love me some tea tea right about now!

[@szaszm_]

IP protocol, USB bus

[@RichardBetel]

1:54 I have to disagree. No-one was calling it GNU/Linux *UNTIL* RMS had that hissyfit that GNU wasn't getting its due respect and that everyone should start saying "GNU/Linux". My general impression was that people responded with "yeah, I guess he's right..." but then didn't say the GNU part out loud anyhow. Here in Toronto, they built a sports arena in the 80s that was named "SkyDome". For years, everyone said "The skydome" because it made more sense to everyone, but the marketing department for SkyDome's owners freaked out and harassed and lectured and so-on, until people got tired of it and caved. That's exactly what RMS did. I think he was less successful than SkyDome, but I do feel he largely won that fight.

[@generallyunimportant]

there isn't "a nintendo" moment

[@generallyunimportant]

i know this is a bit off-topic but i don't think ubuntu is the best linux dev environment out there. sure, it comes pre-installed with a lot of cool stuff like a browser and a DE but using APT is such a pain and pacman is so much easier ;-;

[@generallyunimportant]

says the guy who dualboots windows and linux so he can do degeneracy on the web+some (mostly rust atm) development on linux and use windows to play skyrim, smh my head.

[@afelias]

Spins are unique to Fedora-like distros? Why did they call them Fedora Tips then?

[@reconstructedrichard208]

awesome video

[@amayra2010]

thanks for helping noob like me

[@Rohinthas]

Could have really used this about a year ago!

[@alpacamale2909]

When will the linux kernel support wifi 6 ax101? I have no wifi.

[@eDoc2020]

It should already work. Are you running an older version?

[@alpacamale2909]

@@eDoc2020 zorin os 16.3. I don't even think the latest debian iso has a kernel that support this card. Also the latest stable linux kernel doesn't support it either.

[@eDoc2020]

@@alpacamale2909 The AX101 _should_ work but there are known bugs. I read one report that it works properly with Linux 6.4 (which was released in June). Ubuntu has a mainline kernel PPA which would give you such a version. There's also a "iwlwifi-ax101-dkms" package you can install using makedeb which should definitely fix it for you.

[@timothyt.82]

I am upset Flavor and Spin are distro specific.

[@dllsmartphone3214]

not every linux user needs to know those terms. i setup time by time a linux notebook for friends and family and done. i say ffff windows. enjoy stability, speed, security and battery saving. they have zero idea about linux and all of them so far refuse to think about windows ever again.

[@cheako91155]

Not going to say what the account is called root?

[@Robert-sj8ld]

👍👍👍👍👍