Friendly GNU/Linux Thread/Website

Welcome to /fg/lt/—or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, “/fg+lt/”. We are always open to users of all levels, including absolute beginners.

There are many ways to try using GNU/Linux as your operating system. You can:

1. Install GNU/Linux on a virtual machine (VM), using VirtualBox.
2. Boot from a Live CD for a supported distribution.
3. Dual-boot GNU/Linux with your usual operating system (a bit more challenging).
4. Go balls deep, and install GNU/Linux as the only operating system on your computer (hard mode).

Before asking questions, please search for the answers on the resources page.

Please be civil—note the word “Friendly” in every “Friendly GNU/Linux Thread”.

Understand that much of your software from Windows will be unavailable, although maybe Wine can make up for it.

Check out the IRC guide in case you want more real-time discussion.

Fediverse (Pleroma, Mastodon, GNU Social, etc)

/fg/lt/ also has its own instance on the Fediverse. You are most welcome to join and shitp—err, converse with us.

Getting help

• Bundled help and manual pages, where COMMAND is the name of the command you want help with:
  • $ man COMMAND
  • $ help COMMAND
  • $ COMMAND --help
• Your friendly neighborhood search engine:
  • DuckDuckGo
  • StartPage
  • Searx
• ArchWiki—Community support wiki for Arch Linux; most of the configuration and troubleshooting will also work on other distributions.
• InstallGentoo Wiki
  • Category:GNU/Linux
  • Babbies’ First Linux
• Prism Break: GNU/Linux—Software to avoid dragnet surveillance
• The Linux Command Line—Site for a book by William Shotts

More resources (formerly found in the pastas) are available on the resources page.