Explain Like I'm Five

I will be quick: just an operating system like Microsoft windows or Apple Mac OS.

When you have a computer, you have hardware which is the box in front of you but on that box you can install different software. E.g. windows, macos or Linux.

Linux got its name from Linus Torvalds who was what I'll say the architect and substantial worker of the kernel, ther very core of the operating system

The computer has a few layers. If you write a program, it may do something like let you read emails,but this program is at the top layer and when you do something like save a picture to your desktop, it tells the operating system that the email attachment is to be written to the disk.

Now the hard drive of the computer is managed but the operating system, and the operating system negotiates with the hard drive on where to actually store it on the hard drive.

In a sense the operating system is like a person you give a photo to and say file this away for later.

That person was there when you got the hard drive/filing cabinet and keeps track of what sin which draw and in which removable folders.

Later when you ask the operating system to show it again, it goes back to the filing cabinet and gets the picture without you or the email program having to know the nitty gritty of it was in the 2nd draw , nearly all the way up the back.

The operating system also does thing like operate a the WiFi a bit like a radio and schedules when tasks run on the computer.

Im stretching the analogy here but imaging an office where only one to four people work there. the operating system keeps track of all the things they need to do and make the system function well.

Microsoft made Dos (disc operating system) and windows. Apple made Macos , a long time ago on early mainframe computers there was Unix and Linux is an operating system originally made to replicate the look and feel of Unix.

But it's build under an open source licence so you can download and see all the internals and change them if you want.

Android phones and tablets run Linux.

It's versatile and can be adapted. I've got some 10 year old computers I've reconfigured as a server running Linux that wouldn't be able to run modern windows operating systems.

Edited to add People make up different distributions like flavours of Linux.

Debian is a version which is old and stable. It's not bleeding edge, but their releases are tried and tested.

Ubuntu is one which Ive bee using for a while and I'd call it user friendly.

Gentoo is a distribution which the installation compiles it's source code optimized for each computer it's installed on to be as fast as possible.

Kali is a distribution focusing on network security.

Arch is another distribution.

I hope it helps.

It's a desktop operating system

You can think of Linux as the underlying engine that runs your computer just like Windows 10/11 or MacOS.

Thankfully just like a car you don't need to fully understand the intricacies in order a Linux desktop🤗

A computer has hardware (your hard drive, memory, screen, processor) and software (a web browser, Discord, apps, etc.). Your operating system is what manages your hardware and software, and provides a user interface for you to interact with. Microsoft Windows, IOS and Android are all types of operating systems. They allow you to run software, change your display settings, connect to the Internet and do anything else that your hardware and software allow.

Linux is an operating system, or more accurately, a collection of operating systems that are free and open source. This means that anyone can take the Linux kernel (the base of the operating system), and create their own distribution, or distro for short. There are dozens of Linux distros out there, each serving different users or different purposes. For this reason, Linux is used on a wide variety of devices. Android on smartphones and tablets, steam OS on gaming handhelds, and the software that powers most smart home appliances, these are all different types of Linux distros!

Just like Windows (95, Me,Vista,XP, 10, 11)OS and macOS (Mountain Lion, Yosemite, El Capita) there is a 3rd option. Linux! It’s free and available to anyone and is highly compatible with most if not all types of hardware. Like all things in life, there are caveats and ability to customize to your discretion. Do not be intimidated by the flavors that exist, such as Ubuntu, Mint, Arch and many many more! As an example there is steamOS used on the Steam Deck. This a a divergent version of another open source OS, that is compatible in using for mobile gaming. My verbiage is limited and very very broad and brief. The history of it all stems from one singularity, the kernel or the “brains” of the computer. All variants of operating systems stem from Unix. This is particularly due to use cases of specificity task, or goal of the program to accomplish.

In summary, Linux is and Operating System that gives you control over your machine - not the other way around coughwindowscough. With that power, however, you can also do a lot more harm to your machine if you don't continuously keep learning and stay curious.

It's high risk, but high reward (especially as a new user). There's something about learning how your computer works (via Linux) that continues to captivate me after many years of use.

Communist Windows.

Linux is a vibe. Like a cosmic string vibrating in twelve dimensions all at once.

computer go brrr

I scrolled the comments and every single one is incorrect.

Linux is not an operating system. It is a kernel, which is an important component of an operating system. Operating systems that use the Linux kernel are often referred to as "Linux" for simplicity and brevity, though. It should be understood that when someone says "Linux" they typically are meaning "an operatjng system that uses the Linux kernel".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(operating_system)