• Luca
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      1361 year ago

      I feel like the only people who actually care are the type who wrap their entire personality around which OS they use

          • @[email protected]
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            41 year ago

            I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

            Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called Linux, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

            There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called Linux distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux!

        • @[email protected]
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          321 year ago

          “I use Linux as my operating system,” I state proudly to the unkempt, bearded man. He swivels around in his desk chair with a devilish gleam in his eyes, ready to mansplain with extreme precision. “Actually”, he says with a grin, "Linux is just the kernel. You use GNU+Linux!’ I don’t miss a beat and reply with a smirk, “I use Alpine, a distro that doesn’t include the GNU coreutils, or any other GNU code. It’s Linux, but it’s not GNU+Linux.”

          The smile quickly drops from the man’s face. His body begins convulsing and he foams at the mouth and drops to the floor with a sickly thud. As he writhes around he screams “I-IT WAS COMPILED WITH GCC! THAT MEANS IT’S STILL GNU!” Coolly, I reply “If windows was compiled with gcc, would that make it GNU?” I interrupt his response with “-and work is being made on the kernel to make it more compiler-agnostic. Even you were correct, you wont be for long.”

          With a sickly wheeze, the last of the man’s life is ejected from his body. He lies on the floor, cold and limp. I’ve womansplained him to death.

      • @[email protected]
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        61 year ago

        I think I can speak for all of my fellow MX Fluxbox users when I say:

        Those people are the worst!

      • Luca
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        211 year ago

        Professionals who use Linux see it as a tool

        Terminally online people who use Linux see it as a personality trait

      • @[email protected]
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        111 year ago

        I’ve only see people upset on social media/forums.

        ha that checks out. same can be said for most topics 😆

        • @[email protected]
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          71 year ago

          I’ve always enjoyed this about my pathetic attempts to get into *nix, but what are directors, then? Are they somehow a ‘file’ as well?

          Honest question - I’m just a Windows doofus

          • @[email protected]
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            1 year ago

            Logically, everything stored to disc is a file. There are no physical folds or branching on a harddrive’s platter. Everything is (this is simplified) listed one at a time, end to end sequentially. A directory is just a special text file that lists all the addresses to files that are logically “inside of it”.

            With journaling file systems (aka modern file systems), this is either replaced or superceeded by the journal.

            Moreso, in Linux, most things are also logically treated as files. In Windows, some settings are stored in a special database known as the registry–Linux has not. It just has text files. In windows, devices are in the device manager, in Linux, devices are just another directory. In Windows you have a special task manager to view open processes, in Linux we have /proc which is a virtual directory. Windows: user permissions are managed with the active directory application. Linux: file permissions. etc.

            This means, instead of using special apps to view things, you can, if so inclined, just navigate and look at files using the usual terminal.

            • @[email protected]
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              31 year ago

              Though to add: many things in your file system are listed as “files” in a directory, but are completely virtual with varying ways on what they do when written to/read from. (Also, linux has streams and files, not only files) E.g. /dev/null will read zeros, and discard data written to. But it has no physical backing.

      • @[email protected]
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        91 year ago

        “I use Linux as my operating system,” I state proudly to the unkempt, bearded man. He swivels around in his desk chair with a devilish gleam in his eyes, ready to mansplain with extreme precision. “Actually,” he says with a grin, “Linux is just the kernel. You use GNU+Linux.” I don’t miss a beat and reply with a smirk, “I use Alpine, a distro that doesn’t include the GNU coreutils, or any other GNU code. It’s Linux, but it’s not GNU+Linux.”

        The smile quickly drops from the man’s face. His body begins convulsing and he foams at the mouth as he drop to the floor with a sickly thud. As he writhes around he screams “I-IT WAS COMPILED WITH GCC! THAT MEANS IT’S STILL GNU!” Coolly, I reply: “If Windows was compiled with GCC, would that make it GNU?” I interrupt his response with “And work is being made on the kernel to make it more compiler-agnostic. Even if you were correct, you won’t be for long.”

        With a sickly wheeze, the last of the man’s life is ejected from his body. He lies on the floor, cold and limp. I’ve womansplained him to death.

    • samsy
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      51 year ago

      I call them yaru-icons. Just for all my Linux buddies without ubuntu.

  • manitcor
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    1001 year ago

    interchange them constantly , sometimes in the same sentence and watch the rage build

    • @thepianistfroggollum
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      111 year ago

      I use them interchangeably and I’ve never had a layperson get that glassy eyed stare they get when I talk about IT stuff they don’t understand.

    • masterofn001
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      71 year ago

      I call the top level hierarchy directories directories. Eg /, bin, boot, lib, var, etc. All directories.

      I generally refer to directories within them as folders.

  • observantTrapezium
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    411 year ago

    I’ve been using nothing but Linux at home and work for 20 years and it’s news to me that these words are not equal synonyms.

    • tool
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      1 year ago

      I’ve been using nothing but Linux at home and work for 20 years and it’s news to me that these words are not equal synonyms.

      The only people that get upset over it are those whose entire personality are based on superficial bullshit like this because they don’t have a personality, or just want to feel superior to someone else, or both.

      I’ve been using Linux professionally for a couple of decades, and using it period since it was hard to install and Slackware came in the mail on ~50 floppy disks. There is not enough “Get off my lawn” in the world for those people.

      I’ll call the path container whatever I damned well please.

      • @[email protected]
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        1 year ago

        It’s like GUID vs. UUID, for most contexts they have the same meaning. Then if the difference matters either the audience already knows this or the speaker needs to be very clear that they are using one meaning over the other.

    • @[email protected]
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      41 year ago

      Same, my entire work uses it, with software that primarily targets Linux and coworkers that are as nerdy as it gets. Never heard anyone ever complain about calling folders a folder.

  • @[email protected]
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    391 year ago

    A folder is the visual representation of a directory. A reasonable desktop GUI exposes the underlying files & directories as file icons and directory windows. If your abstraction leaks, that’s a bug in your code, not something to beat the other guy up with. It is quite possible to be both a Linux dork and a classic Mac dork.

      • @[email protected]
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        211 year ago

        First shalt thou take out the Holy Filter. Then shalt thou Internet four porn, no more, no less. Four shall be the number thou shalt porn, and the porn of the Internet shall be four. Five shalt thou not porn, neither Internet thou three porn, excepting that thou then proceed to four. Six is right out. Once the number four, being the relationship of porn to the Internet, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall wank off.

  • @[email protected]
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    351 year ago

    I think when I’m in terminal I call them directories but otherwise I’ll click and open a folder in my file manager

    • @[email protected]
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      51 year ago

      I personally use both completely inconsistently. I’m sure if I searched my commit history I’d be pretty close to uniformly random lol.

  • @[email protected]
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    161 year ago

    I use both terms. If I’m accessing it from a GUI, it’s a folder. From the command line, it’s a directory.

  • @[email protected]
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    121 year ago

    I am always conflicted because I can never tell if the person I am talking to know what a directory is.

  • SapienSRC
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    111 year ago

    I started out in the 90’s calling them directories and still do for the most part. However, if I’m speaking to the average person I get a strange look when I say directory.