zarkanian @ zarkanian @sh.itjust.works

Posts

36

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1,888

Joined

2 yr. ago

How do OS updates work in Linux? Is there a "Linux Update" program like what Windows has?

Package managers. Linux had this before Windows. Granted, Linux needed package managers, because of the myriad and complex dependency trees that software can have. I prefer to install software through a package manager because it not only takes care of dependencies for me, it will take care of updates, too. I will only install something downloaded from a website as an absolute last resort. (And then, of course, making sure it's a trustworthy source.)

How does digital security work on Linux?

It's rather complex, but you probably won't have to deal with it unless you have to do some kind of systems administration. On a day-to-day basis, the OS might ask you to enter your password to install software or make an update, and that's the extent of it.

Basically, every file has 3 categories of permissions: user, group, and others, and each category has 3 permissions: read, write, and execute. This is transparently handled by the system for you, though, and I can't even remember the last time I had to change permissions on a file. It's a good thing to be aware of if you have to do troubleshooting, though.

Is it more vulnerable due to being open source?

Just the opposite. Vulnerabilities get spotted sooner because there's more eyes on the code, and they're often patched quicker because anybody can submit a patch to an open-source project.

Is there integrated antivirus software, or will I have to source that myself?

I've never heard of any distro shipping with antivirus software, but I've also never heard of a Linux virus. Of course, I'm sure they exist, but I've just never heard of one. I've been using Linux for over two decades, and I've never used an antivirus or gotten a virus in all that time, and I've never even heard of a Linux user getting a virus. Part of that is due to Linux being more secure and part of that is due to Linux being less popular. If you're writing a virus, you aren't going to try to jump through the insane hoops of Linux security when you could target Windows which is A) less secure and B) has a fuckton more users.

Obviously, use common sense, don't install from untrusted sources, etc. etc., but viruses aren't the omnipresent threat on Linux like they are on Windows.

But if you can turn that shit on like a tap why not do for everyone?

I would think because they aren't aware of it.

I've never had those issues with KDE. I use Garuda dr460nized and Mokka. Both are based on Arch and use KDE.

I never saw my mother and sister having to prove or defend the point that they are women.

Is anybody saying that they aren't?

What do you think a trans woman is, if not a woman?

How is it unilateral if she's agreeing to it?

Yeah, but once the government goes full fascist, you're cooked anyway.

“It sounds like a compelling argument. But it actually isn’t.”

Well, I'm convinced!

He delivered on all of his terrible promises.

I don't follow you. Trump's delivering on his promises, so women shouldn't vote?

You don't need to imagine. She's telling you. She's against it.

Married at 18...oof. This person's gonna be in for some trying times.

I love spiders.

I don't blame anybody for staying with an asshole over being alone. For one thing, being alone really, really sucks. For another, a lot of assholes have clever ways to manipulate you into staying with them.

Women have cats. Checkmate!

I wonder how Scribus is doing these days.

Yeah, whenever I hear people complaining about ads, I'm like "You guys are seeing ads?!"

I could understand if you needed to be some 1337 hacker to block ads, but uBlock is one of the easiest extensions I've ever used. You just set it and forget it. There's zero configuration you need to do.

Of course, if there's some ad that slips past, then you need to do some hacking, but that almost never happens nowadays.

What's the story with the Turkish protesters?

That's funny. I have no problem drawing circles in GIMP. What are you getting stuck on?

People learned on Photoshop, and then they're upset because GIMP does things differently. I guarantee you if somebody had learned on GIMP first, it would be the other way around.

There's nothing intuitive about Photoshop. If you pick it up with zero knowledge and try to do anything, you can't. You have to take a class to learn how to use it, same as GIMP.